January Journals: Day 20

Oldies but Goodies...

Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we???

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words!

January Journals: Day 19

Jacob got a birthday card in the mail yesterday!!!!

We opened it and gave it to him. He "studied" it, like he does with most things...


Then, he opened it and read it, and apparently, liked it! :)

At last, he decided it would be fun to shake it all around!

Thank you Sylvia Ortiz for remembering Jacob and sending him a sweet birthday card! The cutest thing was, when we read it to him we said the "wheeeee" part at the top of the card, and he immediately copied that and was going around the house with the card in his hand saying, "veeee, veeee, veeee!"

Have a blessed day! See you tomorrow!

January Journals: Day 18

We're talking scholarship potential here!!!!

Have a great day! See you tomorrow!

January Journals: Day 17

Cheeze-It face!

I had given Jacob a bag of Cheeze-its to snack on while we were shopping...he ate along just as happy as he could be with his bag of cheeze-its. The next thing I know...all the cheeze-its were gone and he was rummaging through the bag getting the last of the little crumbs he could. He had crumbs on his face and crumbs all over his shirt. I snapped a picture as quick as I could, but even still this picture doesn't do it justice! Ha! Silly boy!

January Journals: Day 16

At least 4 times a day Jacob wants to play with...The VReader. There's one game that he can kinda do on his own, so that's what he wants to do. He will pick up the box (not the lightest thing in the world) and bring it over to us, and say, "game," although it sounds more like "gun" if you ask us! Then, he will say please over and over until you agree to play the game! Ha!

Here's a small sequence of pictures of this very thing...

In route...going to bring this "gun" to mama!

If I could just open the box myself....

Saying please...

Have a great day! See you tomorrow!

January Journals: Day 15

Jacob is really into puzzles lately. We decided to put them into large ziploc bags and teach him to open the bag, get the pieces out, and clean up by putting them back in the bag. This way we don't lose many pieces. So here's Jacob working on a puzzle this morning. Yes, he's in Christmas jammies...our theory on that is...if they still fit, we're wearing them regardless of the season. Ha!

Putting the train (Locomotive) in first.

Hey Dad, how am I doing so far?

"Ha Ha! I did the airplane all by myself!!!"

Concentrating...making it fit just right takes alot of thought!

The last piece...

and....the last piece goes there! Great job Jacob!

I love these chunky puzzles by Melissa and Doug. They're great!

January Journals: Day 14

Let's talk about DEON...shall we?!?!?!?

This is Deon. (If you would like to know a full history of Deon the monkey you can read his history at the bottom of this post.)

This is where Deon lives...

This is what happens to Deon each and every day, throughout the day!

Jacob loves his "Deon!"
This is how Jacob shows "Deon" just how much he loves him...going in for the KILL...

Jacob says, "I got-cha where I want-cha, and now I'm gonna eat-cha!" We realize this is a little bit nasty. In fact, ALOT nasty. But, what do you do? Deon's face is soaked most of the time. Ewwwww!

Oh, No! Poor Deon, he got dropped on the floor! Jackson can't believe it!

Whew! Ok, Deon you're safe now! Jacob gives Deon some hugs!

We put Deon back where he belongs, safe and sound.

Bye Bye Deon. Until next time!

The History of Deon...

Deon is a monkey, Jacob's favorite stuffed animal/sleeping buddy. He got his name from Jacob. One day, when Jacob's mommy was putting Jacob down for a nap, she couldn't find his monkey. At that time, Deon was not Deon, he was just "monkey," real creative, I know. So, Jacob's mommy realized that Jacob was looking around in his bed for monkey, and so she started calling out for "monkey." Jacob thought this was very very funny and began laughing as his mommy was searching the room and calling out for his monkey. Through his laughter, Jacob said, "Deon," which his mommy really believed was him saying, "that one," but it sounded so funny to Jacob's mommy that she decided Jacob had named the monkey Deon and that she would go around the house yelling for "Deon," the monkey. This made Jacob laugh even harder, which Jacob's mommy thought was pretty cute. Jacob's mommy searched the house and found "Deon" in the guest bedroom and returned him to his rightful spot, with Jacob for naptime. Thus, Deon became Deon, and Jacob sleeps peacefully knowing that Deon is safe and sound as he falls asleep biting his face!

January Journals: Day 13

This is what we've been doing alot of lately.... Ha! Even with snow on the ground we've managed to get over to this store at least 3 times in the last week. I guess you can say that mommy has been busy with some projects and also with ideas for this big guy's 2nd birthday!

We've also been doing alot of this too...We've been working on saying "Ready, Set, Go!" I usually say the "Ready, Set..." and Jacob will chime in with "Go!" or sometimes, "I Go!" So cute!

Have a blessed day! See you tomorrow!

January Journals: Day 12

Look who can climb?!?!?!

You may not realize why this video is such a big deal, but if you listen closely you can hear the effort (grunting) that it takes for Jacob to climb, which is why it has taken him so long to accomplish such a task as climbing. But he's done it! Yay! Now we're going to have to be on the ball...we're learning feet first to get down! Ha!

January Journals: Day 11

Wow! is Jacob's new favorite word. He says it alot.

You have to admit, it's a really fun word to say!

Enjoy the video...

Have a WOW day!

January Journals: Day 10

This morning we woke up to a nice blanket of snow! Beautiful!

After nap time today we went out in the snow to build a snowman and "enjoy" the snow. Jacob's favorite part of being outside was stomping in the slush with Daddy. We were out there for about 20-30 minutes and made this!

I wanted to get a happy picture of Jacob and the snowman...but....this is what Jacob thought about his REALLY cold hands. He had reached his LIMIT and was ready to go inside. So I snapped a picture anyways and we went back in.

Thanks for checking in with us today! See you tomorrow! Have a blessed day!

January Journals: Day 9

Back in October we did a family photoshoot with a good friend (and old roommate) Kathy Mitchell and her husband Jeremy. She did a fabulous job with pictures of us and got some wonderful ones of Jacob. Many of which became part of Christmas presents for family members. :) Here are a few from the photoshoot...

In just 2 and a half weeks our little guy will be 2 years old. This is SO hard to believe. He's doing better than we could have ever imagined! What a blessing to be a part of God's miracles.

January Journals: Day 8

Messing around this morning with Jacob...

We brought this extra car seat into the house a while back and Jacob seems to find a use for it in the house... Ha! He walks over to it, sits down, and tries to buckle himself in. So funny! We ask him, where are you going? He says, "ome." (home) Funny!

Have a blessed day!

January Journals: Day 7

Believe it or not, this is also our silly son! He spent a half an hour standing just like this watching the movie Cars. In true "Nascar" style, he is watching cars go around the track in the movie, sporting the low pants, showing his diaper, and belly for the world to see. Ha! No offense if you are a Nascar fan...

January Journals: Day 6

Is this REALLY our child...is he REALLY almost 2? Because he looks like he is about to start kindergarten in these pictures!?!?!?!?!?

He looks like my dad in this one... ;)

What a cute kid...and so good at smiling for the camera now. I tell him to say cheese, and he smiles big! Yay!

January Journals: Day 5

This video speaks for itself!

January Journals: Day 4

Since I didn't get to do an update about Christmas with the Tuley family...I'll post that here for Day 4 of the Jan. Journals!!

We went to Atlanta the weekend before we left for California. We had a special family dinner at Maggiano's and then came back to the Grands house and opened gifts. Uncle Biggie went high and in style with a motorized BMW for Jacob. He even added a horn and lights to the car. Jacob was pretty excited to open it up and get inside!

Here's the best picture we had of the family...I know...we need to work on better pictures...

Jacob opening a gift with Daddy.

Jacob making a gingerbread house. He enjoyed the spice drops! I think he had about 2 or 3 in his mouth at one time. Ha!

Eating a gingerbread man...

Jacob saying "Cheese!!!"

Have a great day! See you tomorrow!

January Journals: Day 3

Jacob and Jackson LOVE each other! They really are such good friends! Jacob can now open Jackson's crate and let him out when we have guests over....that's FUN! :) He can also lay on top of him and easily roll off with a big laugh! When Jackson needs to go outside, just send Jacob to the door and he'll open it for him, deadbolt and all. If Jacob starts to cry during a nap, Jackson heads right to his door and sometimes goes right in. We've got our hands full with these two, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

January Journals: Day 2

Jacob is growing up so fast...and he's ALL BOY! He loves his new car track from Papa Bear and GJo. Unfortunately, so does Jackson! Ha!

January Journals: Day 1

Hello friends! January is a special month for us, mostly because it was the month that Jacob came into this world. But it is also a month where you can begin new goals, when you have the energy to go for your resolutions, and can see things in a new light. So, I have decided that in January I will be posting something everyday on the blog. I am calling it the January Journals.

For the New Year we celebrated by having a day of fun, football, and eating Cheeze-Its. You can see that we have the "Family size" box of Cheeze-Its to snack on in this house! This morning after Jacob woke up, he went to the pantry and pulled out this box. Maybe this will become a New Years Day tradition?!?! Who am I kidding...If I have anything to say about it, then this will be an EVERYDAY tradition! Ha!