Happy 1st Birthday, Garrett!!

Happy Birthday, Garrett!

For Garrett's birthday we had to celebrate the night before because Russ was out of town (Florida) for an orthodontic conference on his actual birthday (not that Garrett knew the difference or even understood what was going on!). We blew up balloons and let he craw after them, try to lay on them and watch in amazement as they floated around the room. We opened presents, which he didn't really get, but what he did understood were the cool new toys that he could play with after they were out of that silly wrapping. We had some friends, the Johnsons, over for cake and ice cream. Garrett wasn't really into his cake -- he put his fingers in it and them smashed his sippy cup of milk into it (which ended up on the floor and all over the carpet!). But, all in all it was a great birthday.

Here are some fun things about Garrett: He loves to suck on wash clothes in the tub; the only word he can say is, "Quack", and especially loves to say it when he is in his duck towel after his bath; he can take steps (giant steps where he picks his feet up quite high) while holding onto my fingers; he loves books and gets so excited when I open them; he loves fruit - especially pears, strawberries and grapes; he loves to do 'Patty Cake' and as soon as I start singing he starts rolling and throwing it in the oven (the shortened version, I guess!); he has five teeth (one on top, four on bottom) and one on top about to break through; he loves to chase balls around the room (especially tennis balls that have a little bounce); he is a tease and loves to do silly things to make Cole laugh (like banging his head against the high chair at lunch); he gives slobbery kisses that are wet, yet precious; he is so much fun and a delight to have in our home. We love you, Garrett!

New toys -- sweet!


Why don't those silly balloons stay in one place?


Presents -- what am I supposed to do with these silly things?


Unwrapping and looking for what is inside... Cole was a big helper!


Birthday cake -- don't touch it, it might be good! What a handsome little guy!!

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! Saturday morning the boys woke up to a bunch of hearts that lead from their bedroom to the kitchen table where their valentines were waiting for them. Each boy (Russ included) had a small valentine as a place mat for breakfast and little gift. Cole got a pair of sunglasses (that he has been asking for) and a pez (his favorite treat right now). Garrett got a Tonka garbage truck. Russ got a bunch of treats. Grandpa and Grandma Guymon sent a zebra and tiger cup full of animals, a small beach ball, and lady bugs that do tricks for the boys and a platter that says, "Home - where you are always loved" for Russell and I. Grandpa and Grandma Jacobson sent the traditional valentine with money for each of the boys and money for Russ and I, along with an "UnValentine" book. All of the valentines were on the table and the boys were thrilled to open them. Russ made pink waffles and even made a heart waffle for me!

After Garrett went down for his morning nap, Cole and Russ went to play in the snow and even made a small snowman (the snow here isn't great packing snow, so they did great with what they had to work with). Cole was decked out in all of his snowgear (thanks, Aunt Teresa!), complete with sunglasses. When Garrett woke from his nap he watched them play from the glass door, with his nose pressed against it. It was just a little too cold for him to go out. While the boys played outside and before Garrett woke from his nap, I was able to play with my new digital scrapbooking program (thanks again, Karen!!). I think I am addicted to digital -- there is no mess, I can do it while the boys are around (and don't have to worry about who has grabbed the scissors off of the table), and the pages turn out far better than I could have made them look. Plus, you can manipulate the pictures and get exactly what you want. It's fantastic! Too bad that I printed two years worth of pictures before we moved that I will have to do the "old way"! I love traditional scrapbooking, so it will be fun to do both!

All in all, it was a great day for Cupid at our house!

Friday Party Night

Last weekend Russell had a scout camp out, so I decided that if he was going to party, then the boys and I were going to party too. Not that Russ was really partying -- he was stuck with five twelve-year olds that were harder to get to obey than our two year old. The scouts were more interested in the laffy taffy jokes than the dutch oven dinner (BBQ ribs, potatoes, cobbler and ice cream) and weren't even able to start the fire (large logs and paper on top of the logs is not a good formula for a successful fire). They camped on a night when it was about -10 degrees and were just in an enclosed pavilion with a wood burning stove. But it was freezing -- a cup of water was left out and froze solid by morning. I was happy to be home in a warm house, enjoying a fun evening with the boys.

After dinner we popped popcorn, got a little bowl of treats (M&Ms, sour worms and Mike & Ikes, covered the floor with pillows and blankets and sat down to enjoy a movie. I'm sure you can guess what movie we watched -- Thomas the Train! Not exactly my idea of high quality entertainment, but Cole was thrilled. Garrett even sampled his first Mike & Ike and became a fan. I had to force it in his mouth the first time, but once he sampled the goodness, he kept coming back for more.

I decided that every Friday night we are going to try to have a "Friday Night Party Night", just to change things up a little bit. We have the same routine every night and it was fun to do something out of the ordinary. The boys were still bathed and in bed by their bed time, so I think it was a successful night for all of us! Here's to many more...

Cole couldn't even wait for the movie to begin before he started into the popcorn!


Treats -- my favorite part!


Self portrait -- we look like a rowdy group, huh!

Computer Craze

Cole recently learned to work the mouse on the computer. We would sit together and play "Thomas and Friends", where I would help him with the mouse part and he was thrilled. One day left the computer on and ran upstairs and when I got back Cole was maneuvering the mouse like a pro and could play the games I had previously been helping him with. I know this might not seem like a big event, but I was so impressed with Cole and that a 2 1/2 year old is capable of maneuvering around a website -- I didn't learn how to do that until high school!

thomasandfriend.com -- a favorite site at our house!!


I can't believe that his little hand can do so much!

Wrestle Mania

Russ and I were able to go to a wrestling dual -- #1 Iowa vs #2 Iowa State. It as so great! It is the only date that we have been on alone (besides the graduation festivities) since Garrett was born. Cole's nursery teacher and her family watched the boys and Cole had so much fun that when we went to pick him up he told us to "go away" because he wanted to stay! It was nice to have a little time alone, even if it was watching men roll around on the mat. Seriously, I love wrestling and was thrilled to be there. All of my brothers wrestled and I respect the sport and those that participate. The whole crowd was decked out in black and gold (Go Hawkeyes) and Russ and I were no exception. Russ got his hoodie for graduation from his sister Katie and I got mine on one of those early morning deals the day after Thanksgiving. So, we fit in and looked like real fans. Hawkeye gear is a wardrobe requirement in Iowa City and you can wear anything as long as there is a Hawkeye somewhere on the clothing. There were 15,595 people in attendance - a new record for Iowa.

One of the funniest comments of the night was when the announcer said, "One point red for grabbing the equipment." Russ leaned over to me and said, "Is that what they call it now days?" He was a little confused if the announcer was talking about the athletic equipment (knee pad) or the other type of equipment that is easy to grab as well! Too funny! Hee, Hee!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of November

THE GOOD: I love playing and walking in the leaves -- the smell, the sound of them crunching underneath my feet, the autumn colors -- it just isn't fall without it! This year we took advantage of a warm day outside and even got a few cute pictures. Oh, I love the Fall!!

Cole loved being buried in the leaves

Garrett in his beanie -- I just love beanies on babies!


THE BAD: When I say bad, I mean tough, not really "bad". Russ' Uncle Myron came for a visit and we had a fantastic time! He came to lecture at the Ortho school, but we took advantage of every second while he was here. He played with the boys non-stop (Cole crawled all over him any chance he could!), reviewed some cases with Russ, took us grocery shopping (thanks for the diapers, formula and baby food!), and even had time to fit in a morning of pheasant hunting. It was a fun weekend and were were so glad for his visit!

The "bad" boys


THE UGLY: The night Mryon arrived Garrett had an ear infection, so we started him on Amoxicilin. It was a ten day treatment and throughout the next week he continued to be fevered. Finally his fever broke and then next day he was covered in a rash. When I say covered I mean it was on every inch of his little body -- his scalp, his fingers, his bum, and everywhere in between. He had an allergic reaction to the amoxicilin. We stopped the medicine on Saturday and figured the rash would go away and we would wait it out. But, after his morning nap on Sunday morning the rash had gotten worse and he also had hives. I decided we should get it checked out and took Garrett to the Quick-Care, just to be safe (I know I'm a little paranoid, but when it comes to my kids I don't take risks). Our neighbors took Cole to church (Cole was a champ and went by himself, not to mention that he didn't even wet his pull-up the whole three hours of church because there was no one there to take him to the potty!) The only person working at the Quick Care was a nurse practitioner (heaven forbid we actually see a doctor) and she took one look at Garrett and told us it was out of her scope and that we should take him straight to the ER. We arrived at the ER and they looked at us like, "Are you serious?" They gave him a dose of Benadryl and sent us on our way. It was expensive Benadryl -- I could've bought the whole supply at Walgreens and still been money ahead for all we spent of the visits. Oh, well -- better safe than sorry! I felt so bad for Garrett and there was nothing I could do but wait until it went away.




What an exciting few weeks! I hope Thanksgiving isn't quite as eventful as the first few weeks of November. But, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly are all pretty cute if you ask me!!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love the orange and black colors, dressing-up and trick-or-treating, pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns, and candy and more candy. I love it!! This year was no exception and we had so much fun the week of Halloween. We water colored pumpkins that I later hid for Cole to collect and put from largest to smallest, made a Dracula box that we put a few treats in, made pumpkin sugar cookies, decorated them and took them to Russ at school, made a seven layer dip that looked like a spider web (for book club) complete with a tootsie roll spider, sang Halloween songs, carved pumpkins, went to the ward's trunk-or-treat (Wednesday night) and trick-or-treating. I think I enjoyed myself more than Cole and Garrett did.

Trick-or-treating was so much fun. We went to an older part of town that had the most beautiful old houses that have been restored and taken care of. Russ' program director, a professor, and classmate live in the area so we were able to visit all of them and show off our little guys. Cole was so darling and polite. He said "thank you" and "Happy Halloween" at almost every house, without having to be prompted by his parents. Garrett was mesmerized by the lights, sounds, and costumes. He just observed everything and didn't make a peep the entire night.

As for the costumes -- it was a drama this year! I was trying to be so frugal, so I waited and waited to find costumes. We found Garrett's cow costume at a second hand store for $5 -- what a deal! Cole was going to be a spider that a girl in our ward was going to loan us. I even had Cole learn a Halloween song called "The Very Scary Spider" to go with the outfit. Well, when I got the outfit it was black crushed velvet with purple satin and black lace on it. Not quite what I pictured my little guy wearing. My cute friend, Traci, saved the day and sent us the fire fighter costume. It arrived the day before the trunk-or-treat. Thanks, Traci! I would hate to have to explain to Cole in years to come why he was draped in a crushed velvet costume!! After all the drama and stress, they sure looked cute!! I think next year I will start a little earlier and be a little more prepared...

Darling kids! Aren't their costumes so cute?!


Decorating sugar cookies (and eating them too!)



Carving pumpkins -- what a great jack-o-lantern