latest sayings

first of all....doesn't this picture just melt your heart?!? it does mine!!! anyway, i figured i should post these before i forget. here are some of jake's latest sayings ::

(points to the sky) - "birs" - birds

(points across the street) - "hos" - horse

"fi" - five

"josh" - josh (yeah, i know....i've got to start calling josh "da da)

"hat" - hat

"ot" - hot

"bih-bur" - big bird

"now" - now

(puts finger over mouth) "shhh" - shhh

(sees a kitty) - "ma-oww" - meow

(sees a puppy) - he pants with his tongue out (it's cute)

"maaaah" - maggie (momma and daddy's cat)

"choooooo" - achoo! (he pretends to sneeze)

and there's tons of jibber-jabber that still makes no sense but his vocabulary is expanding day by day.

craziness

so here's how the random conversation (with our checkout lady at wal-mart) went today::

walmart lady: wow, you've got a big boy there. he's almost as big as my 4 year old boy. how old is he?

me: he's 18 months. he's just a big boy!

walmart lady: wow...he IS a big boy for his age.

gee-whiz. i mean she wasn't being mean. she was just doing her job and being sociable with her customers. i know jake is often mistaken for a two year old, but a FOUR year old? come on lady....give me a break! you must have a teeny tiny four year old!!! what craziness!!!!

first phone conversation

i've said it before....jake is very observant. he has seen josh and i talking on the phone and he obviously knows how to dial, wait for someone to answer, and talk. watch this :: (don't forget to scroll to the bottom of this page and pause the music)

18 months old

i am so happy that we have such a healthy little boy! yes...he is often mistaken for a 2 year old....but here's why:: he weighs 27 lbs. and 4 oz. (86th percentile), his head is 19 3/4 (98th percentile), and he is 35 inches long (99th percentile). jake grew TWO whole inches in 3 months. i knew he was getting taller....he can definitely reach a lot more things in the house. and he towers over the two girls in the nursery who are both older than he is! jake is wearing size 4 diapers and still in 18-24 month clothes. he is a little ahead of the game when it comes to developmental milestones. an 18 month old is supposed to be able to stack 3 blocks, know and recognize 1-2 body parts, understand simple commands, use 5 of more words and say 2 word phrases.......jake can stack 9 blocks, knows 10 body parts (eyes, hair, ears, nose, tongue, mouth, teeth, fingers, belly button, toes), he understands lots of simple commands, knows and says at least 20 words. in addition to these, he loves to "color" with crayons, uses a fork and spoon (he actually gets most of the food in his mouth), loves to run outside, and can walk up the stairs with the assistance of one hand being held.

jake has some new words:

"shuh" - shoe

"heeey" - hey

"buh-bye" - bye-bye

"eh-mo" - elmo

"guh-ma" - grandma

"pee-pee" - pee pee

"oh gosh" - oh gosh

"joosh" - juice

"peez" - please

"boooom" - boom

some of jake's favorite things are::

*watching dvds. he loves elmo - kid's favorite songs, country elmo, veggie tales, and sesame street. he also likes watching PBS kids. his favorite shows are "the cat in the hat knows a lot about that", "super why", "arthur", and "curious george".

*playing outside. he loves to push his wagon all over the yard. he also loves to throw his ball and knock over the flower pot on the front porch. (one day, he hit it 17 times in a row....perhaps we have a pitcher on our hands too)

*playing in his pool. he loves to splish and splash and drink the water too!

*eating. this little boy loves to eat. some of his favorite things are:: hot dogs, french fries, french toast, pancakes, veggie sticks, chicken nuggets, milkshakes, cheese puffs, enchiladas, chips and salsa, corn pops, fried squash, corn on the cob, mixed fruit cups, and cheese. (those are just a few)

*reading. i love walking into the room and seeing jake with all his books around him. he is just "jibber-jabbering" as he "reads" the books.

*helping. jake is a great helper and a great listener. he loves to help clean the house. he even has his own little broom that ms. barbara bought him. he loves to use the dust pan and brush. he even likes to help me cook. he picks up his toys and puts them back where he found them. he even puts trash in the trash can.

*dancing. his new favorite song is "the ants go marching" and he loves the part when we sing "boom, boom, boom". he sways back and forth and then stomps his feet!

i love watching him grow and learn every day. i just wish time would slow down just a little bit. i can't believe that in 6 months my little boy will be TWO!!!!

happy school year

it's official. summer break is over. the school year has started. i seem to have a pretty good little class this year. i have 18 students....one of my smaller classes, believe it or not. today was a great day, but i sure am glad it's over. there's a book called "first day jitters" (so cute.. if you've never read it, you should) and it talks about a girl who isn't ready to start school yet. she's nervous and makes a million excuses of why she can't go to school on the first day. turns out....the girl is the teacher. teacher's have first day jitters too and my kids were amazed that i was nervous about the first day just like them. although i didn't tell them this.....i was most nervous about how 4 of them were going to get home....i had no idea and their parents weren't quite sure either! so a huge thanks goes to our assistant principal and the clerk for figuring it all out! so happy school year to myself and all my fellow teacher friends! may these next 179 days go by ever so quickly!!!

first family beach trip

this year we decided to take our first family vacation. we went to folly beach and stayed at the tides hotel. the trip down was nice because we left around nap time for jake, so he slept most of the way. when we arrived, the staff was so nice and offered to help us with unpacking and taking all our stuff to our room. after we unpacked, we took jake down to the beach for the first time. here is a video of his first time on the beach. after a few minutes, he was fearless. i'm pretty sure it's safe to say that jake likes the beach. (make sure you go to the bottom of the page and pause the music)

also, here are some pictures from our first day at the beach.

on day 2, we went to the beach rather early....around 8ish. jake charged the water!!! he really enjoyed playing in the sand and filling his bucket up with water. we went back to the room around 10:30 and started getting ready for lunch. for lunch we wanted to go to jestine's kitchen, but the line was way too long to wait in with jake. so we went to jim and nick's bbq restaurant. yummy....it was delicious!!! then we decided to take jake to the sc aquarium to see the "fsh" as jake says.

on day 3 we headed out to the beach around 9:30 and stayed until about 11:00. jake enjoyed walking in the water with daddy and playing in the sand. he even picked up a few shells and put them in his bucket. a really nice random lady took our picture for us too. we went back in, took showers, and headed down to the restaurant on the pier to eat lunch. then it was time to leave to go to shelby and timmy's wedding at the charleston tea plantation. it was a beautiful wedding. needless to say...we were all tired after this action packed day

on day 4 we all woke up rather late. 9:00 am to be exact. so by the time we ate breakfast and got ready for the beach, it was about 10:00 am. we met up with some of our church friends that went to the wedding too. we sat under the pier for about 3 hours. then we all went to lunch together too. fun times!!! oh, and jake pulled a "john" (my brother). you see....my brother john used to fall asleep while he was eating when he was little. jake did that for the first time today!!! it was super cute!!! after that, everybody went their separate ways and we went back to our room and crashed.

just a few other random things that happened on this trip were ::

jake learned some new words -

nope

"fsh" - fish

bye-bye

pa (like just saying the first part of paci) - paci

we asked jake tons of questions and jake would either nod his head yes or no ::

"jake, do you like the girls in bikini's on the beach" - nods his head yes

"jake, do you want to go to the water" - nods his head yes

"jake, do we need gas in the car" - says "nope"

"jake, do you like to eat dirt and worms" - nods his head yes

"jake, do you want to go home" - shakes his head no and says "no no no no"

we had so much fun on our first trip to the beach and can't wait for many, many more family vacations with family, friends, and in the future, more babies.

blessed

tonight at our church we had the opportunity to listen to missionaries from turkey. pastor orhan and his wife and son gave their testimonies. pastor orhan's wife went first. she converted to christianity after meeting pastor orhan when they were dating. she is such a sweet lady and her testimony was amazing. please pray for her.....she is having to go to trial when they return to their country. as she was sharing the gospel with someone in turkey, that person said that she was forcing him/her to become a christian. so now she has to go on trial for it. she could get the death penalty or be in jail for a number of years. so please keep the orhan family in your prayers!!!

their son went next. he is 15 years old and just learned english one year ago, so he didn't need the translator. his testimony really touched me. he is one of the only christians in his school (keep in mind all his school mates are muslim). his teachers mark his scores down just because he's a christian. he is picked on, bullied, and often beaten up by his classmates for being a christian. yet he still proclaims the name of his Lord and Savior proudly. he has just recently been given a death threat in his country and will need a body guard for this school year. despite all these negativities....he has become the top scholar of his school. impressive, huh?!?

pastor orhan went last. and boy did he preach it!!! he (through the translator) talked about how we need to actually be a christian and not just go to church, sing, listen, and go home. we need to go out and spread the word of Jesus to others. that's what He has commanded us to do after all! pastor orhan has a little building in turkey that he and a few other christians worship in. there is actually a police station at the bottom of the hill that their church is on. even though the officers are muslim, they are nice enough to watch out for pastor orhan's church building. please pray for pastor orhan as he witnesses to people in turkey.

after the church service, we went to our preacher's house for a cookout. pastor orhan's wife was just in love with jake. jake actually let her hold him!!! it was such a sweet time of fellowship! after tonight i just feel so incredibly blessed to live in a country where i can believe in Jesus and not be persecuted for it. i can proudly say that i am a christian and not get death threats. as i mentioned earlier, please pray for pastor orhan and his family as they travel back home and await his wife's trial.