Jacob's October and November Art

October was a big month in preschool beginning with Fall Break!!!!!!  Jacob especially appreciated some time away from all the structured activities.  Of course there were a few days left to learn about the color orange, number 3, and the Triangle!!!  They even squeezed in pumpkins and Halloween!  Just ask Jacob if you need someone to point out a pumpkin....he is the Cole family pumpkin expert.

On pumpkin patch day, Jacob picked out and decorated his pumpkin.  He told us that the pumpkin has eyes, nose and teeth.  Babcia said that the pumpkin made Jacob's tote bag extra heavy so it took all his muscle to carry it to the car!

Jacob also explored his Halloween crafts with some good old fashioned construction paper masterpieces!

Fingerprint dalmation and pumpkin with seeds!

We LOVE opening Jacob's school folder and pulling out his personalized art!  We have a shell shocked knight Jacob and Jacob sitting criss-cross applesauce on a pumpkin!

And then out of no where November happened and we really don't even remember all the art, but apparently the subjects were brown, 4, and rectangle.  Jacob still loves to glue and cut with scissors (luckily he hasn't attempted to style Katie's single long hair with those same scissors), BUT he doesn't really care to color.

Also in November, the kids got down to business with their letters!!!
A for apple
B for some sort of abstract bunny (with ears down low and a fuzzy tail)
C for cow (maybe)
D for dog

And somewhere along the way was some discussion of Thanksgiving and the 5 senses. 

And of course, Jacob is a good apple.

We rounded out the month with a last bit of cuteness for Thanksgiving.  Oh my!

8 months

Katie is 8 months old!!!

We have big news at 8 months!  Katie has tasted banana and carrots!!!!!  Jacob helped out with the first official taste.  Jacob was on board helping with Katie's big moment.  He lovingly posed for a picture next to his baby sister.  He watched her take a bite and then was concerned about the mess and requested a napkin to wipe her face. 

The carrots got mixed reviews, but bananas are a hit and milk is still the primary food group!

When Katie is laid down, she immediately rolls over and since being on her belly is not her idea of fun, Katie complains until she is stood up.  Katie loves to "walk".  She holds our hands and leads us to where she wants to go.

Katie is also the proud owner of a walker.  Even Jacob thinks it is a neat ride since we have caught him trying to climb in a few times.

Katie has started wearing 6 month clothes and she is still between size 1 and 2 in diapers.  Our little Katie is an awesome sleeper until she sees that someone has peeked in on her and then she lets you know that she wants to be picked up.  

Love these two.......even if they go to bed late and wake up early!

October Already?

October was quite a month.

Our weather was something else!  We had hail and Dada ushered us quickly into a bathroom since "atmospheric conditions were ripe for a tornado" - Dada is an amateur weatherman.  Jacob kept asking "what's that noise" and we tried to keep the mood light by answering in overly happy sing song voices "that's hail".  We feel certain that Jacob was only minimally traumatized.....just like our roof.  Luckily, we have very conscientious roofing companies in Middle Tennessee that were happy to swarm the neighborhood as soon as the sun came out the following day. 

Not to worry, in October we also had sunshine and Jacob has been frequenting the park after school.  Here we have Jacob on a nice day posing in his leisure suit and a giant snail.  Don't let the sweet smile and happy disposition fool you........

The weather was not overly cooperative on Halloween when we had a cold front come through.  Brrr.  Luckily Jacob was happy to stay home and play trains, but our Katie got in on the action and dressed up as a skeleton.  And she was the cutest skeleton ever. 

Jacob LOVES to play with trains.  2013 was letters and numbers, but 2014 has been the year of the trains.  Even Katie gets to occasionally touch a piece of track or a train when Jacob is busy reconfiguring a layout.

Jacob has researched these trains extensively and knows all their names, colors, numbers.  We are pretty sure this knowledge will only pay off in an obscure trivia competition. 

One weekend, Jacob had a cold--which is an every other week occurrence now that he is in preschool.  I heard lots of coughing and got up to check on him and found him in the kitchen.....watching videos and playing trains -- did I mention that it was the middle of the night?  Thank goodness Jacob didn't feel like taking the car out for a spin around the neighborhood.

What a great October.