A new me

Before 

After



My head is so light now. I love it. My hair was just barely too short to donate it, unless I wanted a bob, which I am not willing to do. I am going to make that a goal though. I am going to grow my hair out long enough to donate it. It probably wont be for a few years, but I am totally going to do it. In the meantime, I am going to just enjoy my new hair.

An essential for shoveling

This morning I went outside and started shoveling the snow slush. Anabelle insisted on coming out to help.

 I can't believe I forgot my purse. What was I thinking?!

Its December what?!

We started November off with Matt getting the 1st off for his birthday. (Yes, I know his birthday is on the 29th of October, but he wanted the Monday after instead of the day of his birthday) So, to celebrate his birthday, we went to the treehouse museum with the kids. We had a blast.

Beckett getting into the drums

Future xylophone phenom - Miss Belle



Fire Chief Anabelle - you can see her bandaged head from her bonk on Halloween in this picture

Everybody loved it. I was afraid that Beckett would get hung up on the Train sets they have at the front (terrible placing if you ask me), but luckily he willingly walked away after he had played for a few minutes and wanted to explore all over. That place is awesome. They really encourage children to use their imagination, instead of telling them what to do. They also have a lot of arts and crafts for them to do. I highly recommend that place to anyone with toddlers or older. Matt thought that place was super cool too. He was looking at everything as intently as the children. They had singing time, but the chillin's weren't really diggin' it, so they went and milked the fake cow instead. Thanks to Matt, Beckett learned how to squirt the water that comes out of the utter all over the place. Boys will be boys. We looked at more displays, played with more cool stuff, and then finally found the computers (I'm glad we didn't discover this until the end or we wouldn't have seen anything else). We hung out there for about 15 min. and then it was closing time, so that was the end of our fun. It was a blast.

Matt also installed a new toilet one Saturday. All by himself, I might add (well I helped a smidge). The kids loved the box it came in and spent the next week or so having me or Matt lift them in and out of the box. They also discovered that if you tipped it on its side, it became an awesome slide.

I wish I had that kind of energy and imagination.

Speaking of imagination, here are some of Anabelle's latest fashion creations:

Notice that she has them put on sideways, meaning one of her legs is through the top hole. It has created a triangle of no underwear. Thank goodness she is still in diapers.

Another winner

You can't see it, but she isn't wearing any pants with this outfit. She just really wanted to go outside and play in the snow that wasn't there.

I don't know if you can tell, but she has on all of her underwear, plus those green swim trunks from before, under those pants. It created quite the bulging effect.

Okay, I am going to confess something. I don't like to let my kids do things that are messy. I have a hard enough time cleaning up from daily life, let alone purposely letting them create a mess. You remember when I let them finger paint with pudding? Yeah, that was the last and only time we have done that activity. Maybe I can do it again someday in the future, but for now, the thought of all that clean up gives me a headache. (I am still finding pudding splotches on my blinds and wall) Playdough isn't quite that messy, but it still is a lot of work to me. I hate it when they mix the colors and Belle still tries to eat it. It really isn't that fun for me. Despite my feelings for playdough, I have tried to realize that it isn't about me, it is about the children having a fun and learning, so I just need to chillax. So, what did I do? I pulled out all the play kitchen stuff and let them have at it.

Thanksgiving was a blast. We spent it with my family. I made homemade rolls and pumpkin pies (only the crust was not homemade) for the first time. The pies turned out awesome, but I made way too much roll dough. They rose faster than I could get them on the sheets to bake them. Then I cooked some of them too high. The ones that weren't burned where very good though. Over all it was a good experience. I guess one of my new hobbies is cooking now. I am not a gourmand by any stretch of the imagination, but I have really enjoyed trying new recipes that I have never made before. Also, I have started to improvise a little and I am feeling quite confident in my abilities to do that now. (My spaghetti sauce is starting to get pretty tasty if I do say so myself)

Anyways, back to Thanksgiving. The kids had a blast with their cousins. They went sledding for the first time and they loved it. I am sure there are some of you shaking your heads at me, wondering why Beckett has never been sledding before now. He is 4 years old for goodness sake. Well, the truth be told, I am a chicken. I hate going down hills not slowly. That is why I don't ski or snowboard. And because I don't like it, I have never encouraged Matt to take them out. Plus, we have no idea where the good sledding hills are in Ogden. Luckily, my fears have not ruined my children. They went sledding before and after the feast.

I wasn't surprised how much Beckett loved the sledding. He loves to go out and help shovel and play in the snow. Belle surprised me though. She had a blast. She kept wanting to down over and over again. I was so proud of her.

Matt had to work the day after Thanksgiving (lame), but I got to go do Black Friday for the first time ever. I went to the Shopko just down the street at 8 in the morning. It was easily the busiest I have ever seen that place, but compared to probably everywhere else, it was pretty empty. You barely had to wait in line for your purchases. No one was fighting over something. No one was getting trampled. I walked in, went straight to what I needed, grabbed them, and then purchased them. I was home by 8:30. It was so easy. I was shocked that one of my purchases wasn't gone already. It was a 7" portable DVD player for $39. Granted, it was that price after the mail-in-rebate, but come on. That is a screamin' deal.

The next day, Saturday, we had a get together with some of my roommates from the Maple House. It was so fun to see some of them and chat and get caught up and see all the new babies. They are such great girls and I was so lucky to live with them for two years and still keep them as friends today. Even to this day, no one believes that there were 10 of us in the house and we only had one fight the entire time I lived there. And it wasn't even a big one. The kids had a blast playing together too. Here they are running around:

Here are some goofy pics of the kids trying on my glasses. I couldn't resist putting them on here.

Also in November, Matt and I decided that we are going to stay in Utah for a few more years. We aren't sure how long exactly, but definitely long enough for Matt to get his bachelors all done, which is now going to be in English. Then we can figure out where we are going from there. (Sorry to all our Omaha family and friends that want us out there. Things just weren't clicking for us to get out there. Maybe it will be easier in a few years.) (Sorry to all you Utah people that really wanted us to get out of here. You are stuck with us for a little longer.)

I guess I should do a little update on everybody. Anabelle is growing up so much. She loves babies. I have started babysitting two days a week for a friend that needed someone to watch her kids while she is at work. She has a little baby boy and Anabelle just adores him. She is constantly trying to get him a toy or is patting his head. She is just so sweet with him. She also loves her own babies. She frequently sleeps with them. She is going to make an awesome big sister someday. She is also the favorite of the boys already. Almost everytime we do something with a little boy about her age, they just love her. We are going to really have to keep those boys away when she becomes a teenager. Belle also loves to dance and sing. She mostly sings when she thinks no one is around. She will take my little hymn book and go hide and sing from it. It melts my heart. She is also quite the talker. A lot of people might not think so because she gets so shy around other people, but she is Chatty Cathy at home. She also loves to read. Here is a video I was able to sneak of her reading to herself:

Beckett is potty trained. He is also really starting to become more independent (finally). He is going to primary easier and easier each time. Today, he just walked straight in without hesitating. Granted, Matt was the one to take him, but he did it. I couldn't believe it. He has also started asking to go to school. I was floored the first time he said that to me. I hope he continues to feel that way once he really does go. He is still super addicted to the computer, but he is a lot better about getting off, especially if I use a timer and say he has to get off when it goes off. So much easier. He too has become really cute with the baby that we babysit. He will bring him toys to play with and things like that. I hope this will stick for when we do have another baby because he didn't even act like Anabelle existed for like the first 6 months of her life. (For the record, I am not pregnant. Yes, I would like another baby, but not right now. I am just thinking of the future.)

I am doing much better with my depression. It has been harder with the winter setting in, but I don't feel anything like I did a year ago. I actually get dressed everyday, before 10 am even. And we leave the house. Feeling good. :) Like I said earlier, I have started cooking as a hobby and I have taken one of those free cooking classes they offer at Macey's. It was really fun. I was the youngest person there, but it was a lot of fun. If anyone wants to join me, please give me a call. I would love to go with someone. They give out samples and have a drawing for a prize. Plus, you can get your grocery shopping done after the class is over. Also, I have started doing yoga. Livia Taylor teaches it. It is so great. She is a good teacher and I feel like I am really starting to get the flow of it (after a month or so). We are always look for new people to join our class. It is only $5 if you pay in advance and they offer free babysitting. How awesome is that?! Check out the link for more info if anyone in Ogden is interested. The more the merrier.

Matt is super busy with work. He has started doing photoshopping for his job. It kind of stinks. I am glad that he is home while he does it, but he is still working. Luckily, he isn't under a specific time crunch, so he can stop and help with putting the kids to bed and stuff. We have been staying up pretty late since he started doing that though. He hasn't finished until 1 or 2 in the morning a few times. Yuck! On the positive side, Matt has found a new TV show that he loves. I enjoy it myself. It is called Top Gear and it is hilarious. I have found myself laughing pretty hard at that show. Yes, it is a car show, and frankly, I could do without all the car tests they do on there, but they do some of the funniest challenges on that show. They also do some really cool stuff too. They made their own aquatic cars, a convertible van, and a lot of other crazy things that usually end in disaster. I highly recommend it, especially if you love British humor (which I do).

Well, I hope you all had a great Thanksgivings and that you enjoy your Christmas this next weekend. We love you all and are so grateful to have each of you in our life. We hope all is well with each of you and that Santa brings you all that you asked for on your lists this year. Merry Christmas!

Vote for Justin (again)

Remember last year when I posted a few times about voting for our friend, Justin, on Unlock Xbox so he could have his game made and win a contest. Well, his game was made and it is now in the final weeks of the contest. They announce the winner on Dec. 28th. His game is awesome. I haven't played it, but I have seen it. I have watched Matt and some others play it and it is really cool. 

Also, Justin wants to become a game designer, so this would be an awesome launching point for his career. Please help him out.

You can vote on Xbox live. We don't have an Xbox, so this is how I am doing my best to help him get the votes he needs. Please help them out. Good luck, Justin!

Question

Which bear is best?  Just kidding. I can't pass up a good Office quote.


Seriously though, have any of you had people from Russia and the Middle East viewing your blogs. I made my blog so that you shouldn't be able to find it on search engines, but apparently that doesn't apply to the Asian continent. I don't want to make my blog private because it seems kind of like a hassle, especially for my tech-unsavy family members can view it if they like, but that is kind of creepy. It almost makes me wish that Google didn't have the Stats tab where you can see where people are viewing your blog. Maybe I am just freaking out. What do you think?

And now for October





So October was a big month. The most exciting thing that happened was that I finally decided it was time to potty train Beckett whether he liked it or not and it is done. I am calling it official. He made it through church last Sunday in his underwear without an accident, so I am calling it. We are still having a problem with poop, but that will come with time (I hope). How it happened was this - one day I was at the grocery store all by myself and I saw all this Halloween candy. I was looking at and thought that they would make great potty treats, so I bought a few bags and went home. The next day, I told the kids that if they sat on the potty for 2 whole minutes (with a timer going) they could have a potty treat. Anabelle was all over that idea. She already loved to sit on the potty, so the treats made it all the more sweeter (literally). Beckett was much more willing to sit on the potty, but he wasn't too thrilled with the rule that he had to do it sans diaper, but he got over it real fast when he saw the Nerds packages. I did that for about 4 or 5 days, with zero accidental pees or poops in the potty.  I was about to give up on my plan, when I talked with my counselor about it, and she told me that really it was me that had to be "potty trained". She said it is really the parents getting so tired of changing diaprers that they finally buckle down and get serious about potty training. I thought about what she had said and it made sense, but I was still a little affraid of the accidents that I knew would follow after I made that decision.

As it turned out, a few days after that conversation with my counselor, we were about to be completely out of diapers for Beckett and I was on the fence about going to buy more. Matt basically replied, "Nope. Let's just do this." With hesitation coming from me, we went forward and just put him in underwear after we changed his last diaper. Beckett wasn't too thrilled, but he got used it, probably because they were Thomas underwear. Matt gave him lots of juice and then promtly left to do something at a friends house (what a guy), taking Anabelle with him (thank goodness). Beckett was playing on the computer (big surprise) with a towel underneith him (I believe in being prepared for these kinds of things) and of course, he started peeing. He kind of freaked out and quickly stopped. I put him in the bath to clean him up. Of course, he thought this meant that he was free to pee as much as he liked. He did have enough smarts to try to get his feet out of the water as he did this. Oi! Naturally I promptly took him out of the tub and put him in clean underwear and sent him back to the computer with a fresh towel under him. Not too long after that he started to pee again. This time I got wise. I immediately took him to the potty and set him on there. He was okay with it, until he accidentally started peeing again, and this time he had no control of stopping it. He didn't know what he was doing and it kind of got on his foot, which really freaked him out. This experience really didn't seem encouraging to me because he seemed really upset about the whole experience. We told him we would go get a toy for peeing in the potty. After he picked out his new toy (a dinosaur train, his new favorite show) he started to see that this might actually be an okay thing to do.

We did the sticker thing for him to earn his next toy, a motorized Thomas. Unfortunately after he got his toy, he stopped going potty. That is mostly my fault because I put him in Pullups instead of underwear. So on Monday I hit the potty training hard and he has been doing ever since, with of course an accident or two. Now I need to start thinking about when I am going to potty train Anabelle. I think I will wait till next year. Give myself a little break before I start the whole process all over again.

Beckett modeling his new underwear

Now on to the rest of the month.  We had a sleepover with some cousins. My sister-in-law Marcey and her girls came over for a visit one Friday afternoon and they ended up staying the night. We had a blast. I think we should have people sleepover more often.

L-R: Julia, Jessica, Beckett, Anabelle, Josie

 My sister and I were making a red velvet cake one day and Anabelle wanted to like the bowl (she is just like her mother).  



I bet you didn't know Anabelle was a vampire



Another big thing that happened in October is Matt turned 30. We celebrating by going on a date to a murder mystery party. It was a disco themed one and it was extremely unpredictable. I was a hussy that slept with a lot of guys and would kill them when I was done with them. I was also a martial arts expert and a member of Chuck's Angels (reference to Charlie's Angels). Matt's name was hilarious - Knight Feva. He was a bar tender and a gigolo. He also turned out to be the bionic man because he had a run-in with a shark. I couldn't believe all of the twists they fit into that storyline. They all gave us some really good laughs. Thanks Shana and Sharice for putting it together. I think Matt really enjoyed his birthday. I am kind of mad I didn't take pictures. Oh well. Maybe we can recreate them and take a picture.

The next morning we went out to breakfast with my parents to the Segolily Cafe in Bountiful. The only way to describe their food is good old home cooked food, done gourmet style. They make all of their food and sauces there. We wanted to have their sweet ricotta cheese spread so that is why we went for breakfast. It is so good. I had their cashew french toast. Unbelievably good. I don't remember what Matt had, but I know he enjoyed it. I highly recommend that place. The place itself is really cool too. It is an old victorian home redone to make it a restaurant. I love it.

One present from my Dad was to come up and help Matt do some handyman stuff around the house on the 30th. I guess this gift was more for me than Matt. Matt's friend Kevin came over also and helped them work on our furnace and ducts. I really appreciated both Kevin and my dad coming and helping out. I know Matt couldn't have done all that work all by himself.

Later that day, I got the kids all ready for Trick-or-Treating that night. My little sister helped with Anabelle's makeup.

Anabelle is a ladybug. That costume was worn by my little sister when she was about the same age. Her nickname was Bug and so the costume was perfect. It was kind of surreal to have Anabelle wear it 15 years after my little sister did and she looks just as cute, maybe more, but don't tell Sara I said that. Here is proof:


Here is Sara in the costume

  Beckett is a Jack-O-Lantern in that picture. Right after that picture was taken, Beckett immediately stripped down to his underwear so I couldn't get a full shot of him. He wouldn't put it back on and then wanted to be a lion. I didn't get a picture of him in that because as soon as we got to my brother's house to go Trick-or-Treating with cousins, he freaked out when one of his cousins came in dressed as a clown, face painted and all. That did it for him. He refused to go out and just stayed downstairs playing with the train set. So just Matt and Anabelle went out. She didn't last long. Matt said she just stood their with her bucket and wouldn't say anything. She would say it when he practiced with her, but I guess she had stage fright when it came time to perform. Also she came back with only like 10 or 12 candies. Beckett promptly took half of it. Oi!

After the kids had been back for a while, they were all downstairs playing. They sounded like they were having tons of fun. Suddenly, Matt came upstairs with Anabelle in his arms and her head was bleeding. She had fallen off of a chair playing with one of those basketball, arcade games. She somehow gashed her head open. Luckily it stopped bleeding quickly, which surprised me, because head wounds are known for bleeding terribly. Once it was all cleaned up, you could see how wide and deep the gash was. Another lucky things was that we were at my brother's house, who is a doctor. He looked at and said it wasn't bad enough to go to the ER, thank goodness. He had some small butterfly bandages (I highly recommend you have a stash at your house) and got it on. Then we iced the goose egg. I couldn't believe how brave Belle was the whole time. She was obviously crying when Matt brought her up, she stopped while we were cleaning it up and that was it. She totally let me put the ice on her wound and didn't fight Matt pushing the wound together to put on the butterfly bandage. (That is how they work by the way. I have never used one and didn't know what they did, but they work to pull the wound back together and leave a minimal scar on deep wounds. You do have to give it some help though by squeezing the skin together and then putting the bandage on. Kind of a cool thing.) She was such a trooper.

Well, I think that about wraps it up for October. I am all caught up now and hopefully stay current on here from now on.

Wow! I am doing really good

So Beckett has been addicted to PBSkids.org lately and the only way to keep him and Anabelle, who is addicted to sesamestreet.org, off the computer is to have it off completely, which means I never am on and I never get to update on here. Sorry.

Well, here is the month of September: It was a crazy month, but let's face it, what month isn't. The first part of the month was spent (and by that I mean mostly the $$ kind of spent) getting ready for the big Jacob Family Reunion. I can't believe I spent as much money as I did. But it wasn't my fault that everybody was having sales on everything I needed so I just bought two so I would have extras for after the reunion (that and I really wanted to buy everyone's affections). Matt's mom came and stayed with us the Saturday before so she could ride with us to the family extravaganza. We were so excited for her to come. We had not seen her for more than a year and a half, due to a little thing called a mission in Australia. The kids soon fell in love her and we had a great time before we had to share her with all the other Jacobs. Beckett kept saying, " I just love you Grandma Jill." We are all doing our best to become her favorite and I think Beckett is well on his way.

The reunion was in St. Anthony, Idaho. Matt's brother actually found a place that could house all 50 of us. It was called the Three Peaks Lodge. It was awesome. There was no way anyone could be bored at that place. The 2 slides were awesome and were almost constantly being used by someone. The kids had a blast playing with all the toys and big wheels that they had their. The big boys did too. They kept riding them around the big rumpus room and then skidding it across the floor. Boys will be boys.

A lot of the family went to see Yellowstone and to some beautiful waterfalls that were near by. We weren't one of them. We liked just staying at the lodge playing games. I wish we had gone to the waterfalls, but I have grandparents that live in Idaho Falls, so it would be easy to go see the falls another time. Besides, I had to stay at the lodge to keep baking more cookies for everyone when they got back from their sightseeing.

One of the days of the reunion we attempted to take a family picture of everyone. It turned out pretty good considering the size of the group.

We also had some family olympics. The first event was a race to move an Oreo across you face. They started at the forehead and then move it to their mouth. If they did it, they were rewarded with eating the Oreo and a point for their team, if not, no point and no Oreo. Matt totally did it.

I was not able to participate because I had to watch Anabelle on the playground. Don't pay any attention to Matt's brother standing there. He had his own child to look after, so therefore he could not possibly watch Anabelle. It is a shame. I really wanted to participate in embarrassing myself. :)

There were many different games played, mostly scum and 2s & 10s, and of course it wouldn't be a Jacob gathering without playing a rousing game of Balderdash. That was one of the most silliest versions that I think has ever been played. It was hilarious.

Matt's mom came home with us from the reunion for a day and then caught the train to Colorado to be with Matt's brother. Her train left at 4am on a Sunday. So rather than risk sleeping in and missing the train, we all stayed up (well, I tried) and watched Matt's new favorite show, Rubicon, which was super intriguing. It easily kept us awake until it was time to leave.  I recommend the show if you are looking for something similar to Lost and the Bourne movies.

The next few weeks were pretty boring, honestly. We did get to have some friends that we hadn't seen in a long time visit one afternoon. It was wonderful to visit and catch up with them. Unfortunately, as they were getting into their car, Beckett was running to come inside and he tripped and fell. Usually when kids trip, they scrap up their knees, but Beckett went from his knees, to his chest, to his face and scrapped it off.

It was the worst thing to watch happen. It really went in slow motion. Luckily for Beckett, he is related to Wolverine and his face was almost all better in about a week. He still is a little red around the eye, especially when he cries, but I am so happy that it healed so quickly and well. It was so hideous to look at. Honestly it started to look worse after I took this picture.

Matt got a raise from his work in September also. That made our month.

Um, I can't remember anything else about September.