Thankful for Our Families

Thanksgiving weekend kicked off with Aunt Denise joining us followed by Grammy and Gdaddy coming to town with the girls.  We love that both sides of the family can get together at least once per year.  

We had a delicious dinner at Babcia and Dziadzio's house.  There was enough food for an army again this year, but everything was delicious and we all had a wonderful time.  

Jacob had a great time running around and only slightly slowing down to take a picture with his cousins.

He slowed a little more to change shirts, fluff his hair, and drink some milk in his favorite lounging chair.

On Friday, Jacob napped while Dada chopped down and set up our Christmas tree (or pulled it out of a box in the garage).  When Jacob awoke, he was quite shocked to see a big tree in our living room!  First things first, Jacob made it his business to learn to plug and unplug the tree.  This didn't quite work for us so we moved the plug to a power strip and now Jacob can turn the tree on and off at the touch of a button.

We love Thanksgiving weekend!

October with a Rainy Halloween and Cole Family Reunion Weekend

October in general flew by, but we did make it out of the house a few times.  Or at least that is what the pictures suggest.  Jacob still loves to run and he looks so handsome while doing it.  Just look at that hair and tongue. 

It also looks like Jacob got in a little play time at our local Discovery Center.  Blurry pictures are the norm, but every once in a while Jacob stands still long enough for a clear shot. 

This year Halloween fell on a rainy Thursday so trick or treating was postponed to Friday.  Unfortunately, we missed that too since Friday was spent in the car on the way to Dyersburg for the Cole family reunion!!!  As for our rainy Halloween......Jacob dressed as an indoor Polish soccer player while Mama and Dada enjoyed too much candy.

Friday night, we reunited with Grammy, Gdaddy, the girls, Steve and Beverly, but Saturday the reunion was in full swing when we all gathered to celebrate the Cole family.  It was a little chilly and windy, but Jacob made sure to explore outside.  He was not at all pleased to be herded indoors.  He was even less pleased with the lack of WiFi.  PBS cartoons just do not load quickly enough on Dada's phone.

We took a few pictures with Grammy, Gdaddy and the girls where Jacob is clearly NOT happy.  Grammy, Gdaddy, Ashley, Jaden, Lane and Mama are all smiles while Dada rolls his eyes and Jacob cries.

Building Towers

Jacob sure does love to build towers with his awesome Mega Blocks!  With the addition of each block, Jacob stops to count just how many blocks he has.  The higher the better.

Dada is the master tower holder.  And of course tower building works best without those pesky pants to restrict us...

Why We CANNOT Go to a Botanical Garden

Once Jacob has picked all the rose petals at his height.  He points to the roses he cannot reach and says "this one".  He expects that you will bring the offending bloom to his height so he can take care of removing all the colored petals.  And this is why it is best we do not visit botanical gardens anytime soon.

Actually he doesn't discriminate,........roses, bushes, decorative (plastic) plants.......Jacob will make sure to get rid of some/most of the leaves for you.  Jacob is a little too interested in pruning.  He prunes so much that he ran out of bushes at our house and moved on to our neighbor, Tyler's bushes.  Babcia has a bush with one bare side as Jacob has helped himself to pick all the leaves off.  Grammy has also seen Jacob in action on her decorative plant.

So make note of this beautifully innocent face and keep an eye on your plants because he is not afraid to be too helpful!

Labor Day in Dyersburg

We went to visit Grammy, Gdaddy and the girls for the long weekend and of course we had lots of fun. 

When we arrived Jacob did his usual home inspection to make sure everything is still where he likes it.  Poor Grammy might need to pick up a couple new plants because Jacob plucked some leaves off......he focused on a particular decorative plastic plant that will never be the same after Jacob's visit. 

Jacob really liked when the girls laid out Twister.  He love yelling out out the colors and running across the dots so we weren't really playing by the Twister rules.

Judging by all the smiles, Jacob doesn't mind visiting Dyersburg.

He gets just a little attention from his cousins, but he doesn't quite know how to share picture space...

With just Ashley around, Jacob strolled her around the backyard fence many many times.  He likes to make sure that Gdaddy has an straight fence.  So far he has not found an issue with the craftsmanship.

Jacob also let Grammy and Gdaddy play with his puzzles.  They didn't always get all the pieces in correctly, but Jacob was there to fix their mistakes.

Luckily Grammy and Gdaddy didn't mind being corrected.  Next time Jacob will help them work on their alphabet.

After all his hard work with Grammy and Gdaddy, Jacob invited himself to enjoy an apple Ashley had prepared for herself.

What a fun trip we had. 

Atlanta Trip

Jacob took us on a little trip to Atlanta while Babcia and Dziadzia were in Malta for Uncle Paul and Aunt Annemarie's wedding.  Sadly Malta was not in the cards for us since we didn't think we would survive the plane trip with our active Jacob.  Atlanta is just like Malta, but much closer and slightly less scenic?

Before we started our journey, Jacob raced around the driveway and took care of some bubbles that were flying around.  He runs after those bubbles like it is his job.  

We stopped in Chattanooga to stretch our legs and take a little tour of Ruby Falls.  Jacob was a little tense going down in the elevator, but who could blame him since we descended about 1100 feet into a mountain.  We were glad Jacob wasn't too confident in his cave exploring since we weren't sure what to expect.  

The walk to the Falls included some interesting rock formations.  Our favorite rock formations were named turtle and bacon.

We made it to the falls and it was beautiful.  At this point Jacob was comfortable enough with the cave to walk.  Dada was thankful that there weren't too many places for Jacob to explore off the path.  

The tour was surprisingly nice and the perfect amount of time since we were ready to stand up straight once it was over.  Before leaving we got a nice view of Chattanooga.

Once we arrived at Aunt Denise's home, Jacob had a new place to explore.  He didn't love her motion activated night lights, but the stairs were new and exciting!

While in Atlanta we enjoyed the Georgia Aquarium.  It was a great stop and we would absolutely do it again.  Jacob loved the fish and even sat through a dolphin show with the help of some contraband snacks. 

 Jacob thought that maybe he could reach out and touch those fish.  They were so close. 

Since the weather wasn't cooperating, we didn't make it to the Atlanta Zoo, but it is on our list of places to go.  We came home a little early and instead enjoyed the Nashville Zoo!  Jacob especially liked the goats.  He liked them so much we were a little afraid they would retaliate from all the love, but they must be used to having their ears pulled.

We also enjoyed the Discovery Center in Murfreesboro, but didn't take pictures there.  Jacob was very concerned about not seeing his Babcia for so many days and struggled to understand why we didn't stop over every day.  Jacob was done with us three days into the week, but he pushed through until he saw his beloved Babcia again.  

4th of July and Bathtub Fun

We spent the fourth of July in Dyersburg and Jacob loved the fireworks on the third, but wasn't too excited about them on the fourth.  Luckily Jacob is a sound sleeper and slept right through most of the night shows.  However, he did get some good play time in.  He showed Grammy his love of letters and numbers. 

He also watched Ashley with her phone. 

At some point this month, Jacob found a love of the camera.  He now stops, looks, and smiles!!!!  Here he is in action in the bathtub.

Doughboy 5K 2013

It has become an annual tradition to run in the Doughboy 5K.  Jacob first attended as a baby in 2011 and cheered Dada on from the sidelines.  Then Jacob "jogged" in the stroller with Uncle Paul and Dada in 2012.  And this year the Cole family ran together. 

Just like any elite athlete, Jacob warmed up with a little light jogging.

Once Dada caught up with the little sprinter, we attempted to take a pre-race picture in front of the fountains, but Jacob was a little preoccupied with winning or possibly eating.  I am sure all the champions dine on Cheez-It crackers and milk before taking on such endurance challenges. 

Jacob even took a quick picture with the Doughboy himself.  The Doughboy is limited in how far he can crouch and Jacob was fairly uninterested so we quickly moved on.  

We had a good run and Jacob proved himself to be the fastest Cole once again.  He never broke a sweat and finished in front of Dada and Mama.  I would say he was the fastest baby, but we were passed by a woman with a double stroller.  Jacob was a little ashamed of us and said we were no longer allowed to eat pizza.

Until next year!

Father's Day Weekend 2013

Jacob was on the social circuit this Father's Day weekend.  Saturday, he attended Alex's birthday and was very excited to have other people around to chase him.  Chasing is the new favorite thing so it is even more difficult to get a clear picture of Jacob.  

Jacob also got to spend time with Uncle Paul on Saturday and Sunday.  Uncle Paul is leaving for Germany on Wednesday so we made sure Godfather and Godson got some good bonding in.  Jacob made sure he got Skype figured out.  Sunday morning he opened Skype and saw Uncle Paul's picture and said "Unc Pal".  That is a solid first step.  Now we just have to work on the attention span and complete sentences.  We are sad to see the best Uncle/home maintenance guru/cardio parter leave, but we hope to see him and Annemarie over the holidays.

On Sunday, Uncle Paul got a cute video of Jacob reading the letters on the back of the Altima and now Jacob cannot get enough of watching himself.  He prefers we leave the video running on continuous repeat....

Also this weekend, Jacob celebrated Father's Day by letting Dada chase him through the house.  Many many many times.  Jacob will take you by the hand and say "cha che" which is loosely translated to "chase me".  And then he is off.  We can barely keep up. 

Visiting Dyersburg

We stopped in to see Grammy and Gdaddy during a long weekend in May and it was wonderful.  Jacob enjoyed walking through the neighborhood and touching all kinds of new mailboxes.  Unfortunately there were not many flags to touch.

Jacob settled right in.....running in circles through the house.

 And playing with the iPad under the table.

It is Jacob's routine to wake up really early and play when at Grammy and Gdaddy's house.  Thankfully the Internet connection doesn't take a break. 

Walking Around the Neighborhood

Jacob still loves to walk around the neighborhood.  He is a minor celebrity and most of our neighbors know us because Jacob is out so often.  Jacob will not turn down an opportunity to walk and averages a couple miles per day just in the neighborhood.  He has even worn out the bottoms of his sandals. 

Prime walking opportunity is immediately after Jacob and Dada pull into the garage.  Jacob knows the routine and does NOT enjoy when anyone messes with his walk.  Even rain does not deter him.

He has gotten into the habit of touching each mailbox and tapping the flag.  He also stops to touch and read any numbers he comes across.  There are even a couple signs that have caught his interest and he stops to give them a little shake. 

He also enjoys running up the front walks of some houses and sits on their front steps.  Luckily, he is still cute so those neighbors don't seem to mind and are not surprised to see him resting on their front step.

Jacob targets the same houses daily. 

Some days he is dressed properly...

But there are also days when pants are optional and the neighborhood gets to enjoy our little diapered streaker...

Sometimes Jacob steps behind the electrical box and performs a little speech with hand gestures included.......we might not know what he is saying, but he sure is passionate about the subject.

Fall Creek Falls Mother's Day

Mother's Day was beautiful so we ventured to Fall Creek Falls.  Cousin Basia was in town from London and she joined us.  Getting to the park was an adventure since we took the back roads which could whip up a case of carsickness fast!  Once there, Babcia, Uncle Paul and Basia were very brave and tried their hand at some suspended wooden bridges.........while we worked on making sure Jacob didn't fall into the water.

We kept a solid grip on a certain little boy since he has no fear and really wanted to step into the water.

Obviously Jacob had a great time.....

Jacob is happiest when he was on the go outside.  We have to jog to keep up with our little runner.

We all had a great time and will definitely do this again.  Happy Mother's Day!