Gobble Gobble 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

We love the holiday season because we get to spend time with our family and eat delicious food.  Tuesday, Aunt Denise kicked off our family weekend by stopping in on her way through town.  Jacob introduced Aunt Denise to his blocks and puzzles and they played well together.  We even took a walk through the neighborhood since it was such a nice day.

Grammy, G-daddy, and the girls came into town on Wednesday and Jacob got to swim with the girls.  Jacob was so excited to be in the pool.

He kept calling Grammy over to the edge to give her kisses.

After some good swimming, Jacob jogged around the pool and blew kisses to everyone.  He also loved running to Grammy for kisses.  Being the equal opportunity man that he is, Jacob would go straight from Grammy to G-daddy for kisses.  G-daddy commented that Jacob must know Christmas is coming. 

Thursday was the big Thanksgiving meal and this year we didn't have to go anywhere since everyone came over to our house. 

Before we settled in to eat, Jacob got Grammy and G-daddy to stack some blocks.

Babcia still cooked lots of delicious food!  Uncle John stopped over on his way through town and could not get enough of the broccoli casserole.

After dinner, there was a friendly game of Apples to Apples.

Grammy helped Jacob with the iPad.  Jacob loves to play Dora letters and Elmo.

We even went outside to try pictures of the Cole cousins.

but one of us was slightly uncooperative....

All the activity made for one tired baby.

We love family time....

18 Months

Jacob can clearly say Mama, Dada, Babcia, Dziadzia, osiem (eight), and Elmo!  He is adding words every day!  Every once in a while we are surprised with a word that is repeated.  He even repeats certain letters of the alphabet like G and V.  His animal sounds are coming along too.....we have added a mooo and grrrrrr (like a bison).

Jacob loves to walk down the street to visit the puppies.  He stands at the edge of the neighbor's driveway while the puppies bark at him.

On today's walk down the street, Jacob was tempted by big piles of leaves.

Let's not forget that our little guy has some awesome stacking skills.

We noticed Jacob moving all the tomatoes from the window sill to the chair and back again.  Silly boy.

But we are most surprised by how much our little man understands.  Jacob is very good about following directions (when he wants to).  He loves to run back and forth from the laundry basket to the washing machine with the dirty laundry.  He also loves to clean with a towel or napkin......Babcia sets a good example!  Look at that attention to detail.

 Jacob called in management to check his work!

And let's not forget that Jacob can also maneuver his way around the iPad like no body's business!

We are transitioning from the big sloppy open mouth baby kisses to more puckered lip smooches and Jacob loves to give hugs. 

Jacob loves Father Jacob at church and is so very good at church!  During mass, Jacob raises his hands during prayers just like Father Jacob.  Even at home, we have started noticing Jacob sings while walking around with his hands raised.  Father Jacob would be proud.

Babcia and Dziadzio were leaving church with Jacob one Saturday evening and Babcia gave Jacob the car keys.  This may have been a mistake because the little guy loves to click the remote buttons and locked himself in the car!  Everyone gathered around the car and was telling Jacob to click the unlock button, but Jacob let his audience wait a few minutes before he got to that unlock button.

Also, Jacob started driving.  He pushes the button and the bike goes forward.  We are still working on steering.

Happy Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween.  Our little pumpkin dressed up like a pumpkin for Halloween this year!

At first he wasn't too sure about the whole thing, but we distracted him with dada's iphone and stuffed him in the costume.  It probably didn't help that Mama and Dada could not stop laughing.  

I think we can all imagine Jacob sighing in this picture......

Then our little cannibal sharpened his teeth on a little pumpkin.....

And the pumpkin was on the move.....he decided to hit the streets before it got too chilly. 

 Jacob didn't have time to pose for pictures.

Here we have our little guy running down the street to see the neighbor's puppies.  On our way down the street, a little boy passed on a bike and Jacob tried to get a good look, but the costume obstructed his view so he had to turn his whole body.  We could not stop laughing.  

We detoured to a see couple of our neighbors and Jacob rang the doorbell.  He liked peeking into the house.

 The neighbors loved our little pumpkin....but he seemed more interested in ringing the doorbells. 

And, pumpkins do laundry too.

 Happy Halloween!

Florida Wedding Weekend

Jacob loves airplanes.  He is a pro at pointing them out in the sky so this was the perfect time to see how our little superstar would do on an airplane.

Traveling with a baby was awesome.  Jacob was our ticket to all kinds of preferential treatment like getting through security extra fast.

Once through security we checked out the planes through the windows.  

 And burned some energy on the indoor play equipment.

Jacob loved the slide!!!

Finally it was time to get on the plane and it was a full flight.  Jacob did wonderfully.  He played with the ipad and phone and hung out for the hour and a half flight.  No one knew there was a baby on board.

We were lucky enough to have Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle Manoj, Alex, and Dylan open their home to us for our short stay in Orlando.  It was beautiful and they fed us well.  Next time we will use the pool!

Friday we headed to Ania and Josh's wedding ceremony and reception.  Jacob sat with us in the pew and was such a good boy during the beautiful wedding vows.

Here he is with beloved Babcia and Dziadzio.

And of course a shot of the bride's family at church.

After a power nap and a sippy cup of milk, Jacob was ready to PARTY! 

Ania and Josh kicked off the celebration with a first dance...

Then we hit the floor with a family dance!

Jacob got some dance pointers from Uncle Paul.....

Jacob also gave mama a slow dance.....

 As you can see the party was going well beyond Jacob's bedtime.

And this is the best picture we have with Great-Grandpa.

The wedding was lots of FUN.  There was a photo booth that we all took advantage of...

Ania was a beautiful bride.

Saturday we all needed naps..

Our time in Florida went too quickly and before we knew it we were headed back to TN.

Jacob waited patiently for our bags to come out.  

He even checked the bag tags to make sure we had the right ones. 

The weather was NOT as beautiful as it was in Florida, but we were home safely and we saw our wonderful family so we can't complain too much.