Bath Time

I don't often get a chance to take pictures of the kids in the bath so here is a bunch all at once. Seems like the bath and bedtime routine can be so hectic but it is also so fun because both kids love the bath!

Our Little Prairie Dog

Rachel loved the prairie dogs at the zoo so here is her doing her best impression of a prairie dog underneath the outdoor furniture covers.

Bigger, Bigger, Bigger

Jacob is getting bigger, bigger, bigger as Rach would say. Here is him "sitting" in Rachel's chair. He loves his toys, especially chewing on them. Jake got both bottom teeth in last weekend (not just one as in my last post)! So we are thinking he is working those new teeth.

Basement Getting Closer to Complete

Well, here is a whole bunch of pictures to show progress on the basement. The walls are painted, the flooring is installed, and the bathroom is plumbed and usable. The major items still left are building the bar (see picture with purple exercise bar to show the base and location of where it will go), installing the ceiling, and finishing the trim work. But we can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Mike has done an excellent job with all the work. I am so proud of him!

Neighbor BBQ

Here are some pictures from the BBQ we hosted this past weekend for some of our neighbors on the court. It was a really nice time. The kids were all playing games together and the adults were acting a lot like kids at the end of the night! We all said that we have to keep doing this in the winter when we hardly see each other since no one is outside!

1st Tooth!

You can't tell from this picture, but Jake got his first tooth this weekend. Wow, at 4.5 months old that is pretty early for teething. We had noticed that for the past week he had been drooling like crazy and chewing on everything but thought it was still too early. Well, Jake proved us wrong because that first little bottom tooth came through on Saturday. Poor kid you could tell it was kind of bothering him on Saturday and Sunday. But he handled it pretty well considering...

Rachel Loves Her Books

Here is a picture showing how much Rachel loves to "read" her books. She can recognize almost all her letters now. She can even tell you what letter certain words start with if you sound it out... (i.e. Jacob starts with "J"). Her favorite book right now is Curious George Discovery Day. It is a good book but after 3 weeks straight of reading it at least once, sometimes twice, a day I kind of wish we could move on to a new favorite now!

Uncle Pete and Katence

One of the really neat things about the weekend of the baptism was that Uncle Pete and Cousin Katence came early on Saturday to spend a couple days with us (Aunt Summer couldn't make it because she had to work :-(

Rachel and Katence had so much fun as usual, getting treated to pizza, ice cream, and they took a bath together. Mike and Pete got to watch Michigan lose AGAIN on Saturday together (at least they had each other's shoulders to cry on).

And while Katence let me give her a bath and put her PJs on at night, she definitely was always making sure she knew where her Daddy was. What a little Daddy's girl! And Pete certainly does take care of his little girl. So here are two pictures of them as a salute to Daddies and their girls.

Family and Friends at the Baptism

In the row behind Mike and I, you can see from the left, Cal, LeeAnn (Mike's mom), my mom, and my brother Jeff.
Here is my mom, my dad, Jake and I before the baptism.

Here is Jill at our house. She flew all the way in from Phoenix, Arizona to be the godmother. WOW! That was so great for her to be there. She also got Rachel and Jake some really neat presents that they loved - Rachel got a sleepy time Dora doll and Jake got some light up gear toy. You can tell she has been a teacher because she knows exactly what the kids would love!

Here is Mike's brother Jordan and his girlfriend Katie. Amazing we got this picture of Jordan because he was snoozing on the couch in the basement for a long time at our house... he had a late night at work the night before the baptism.

Another Family Picture (Yeah)!

Here is our family... what a great picture. Wish Rachel would have taken her thumb out of her mouth for this one, but it was enough to just get her in the picture. She might of shown a tad bit of jealousy on Sunday because most of the attention was focused on Jake. She did great though and was really sweet to Jake by helping open his presents and then showing them to him.

After the Baptism

This picture shows Jake with us, along with his Godmother Jill and his Godfather Pete. Jill is my very best friend whom I have known since middle school. I am so happy that we have remained close through all these years; she was the maid of honor in my wedding and now my son's godmother.

Pete is Mike's younger brother. Don't they look alike in this picture? Pete is such a good father and thus we knew he would be a great godfather as well. Plus he can teach Jake, along with Mike, all about football.

Two Kiddos

Here are a couple pictures of our two beautiful children. Sometimes I look at them in amazement because I can't believe these children are Mike and mine. They are just so smart, so special, so loving, so wonderful. I hope they grow up and remain close to one another.

I am also surprised how much Jake resembles Rachel when she was a baby. They definitely look different but have a lot of similar features.

Jake and Mom Before the Mass

Here is Jake and I before mass. Doesn't he look cute in his little outfit? Jake borrowed my friend Katie's son's outfit. It fit him pretty good, although the suspenders were a little big.

Jake's Baptism

We celebrated Jake's baptism this past Sunday. It was wonderful. A lot of family and friends came to help us celebrate. Here is the cake we got for the guests, it consisted of cupcakes made into a cake which is really neat and less messy (no cutting). Rachel was excited she got to have cupcakes and got to eat one for Jake since he was too little.