Now that summer is over...

I am going to try and get all caught up on what we did during the summer (well, since June).

There were lots of Popsicles, of course. It wouldn't be summer without them.

There was lots of fun in the sun. Here is Anabelle and her friend Christa trying to be big girls lounging out on the sun chair.

And you can't sunbathe without getting wet.

Beckett wouldn't get in the sprinkler. Here he is running away from it. What a funny kid. When I am setting up the sprinkler each morning, he has no problem playing with that one, but he would barely come near this one. I had to run through it with him. I guess he just likes to play with his own sprinklers.

In July, we went to a park in Riverdale that has a splash park that is FREE. It was such a hot day and the place was packed as you can see. Doesn't it look like a blast?
What is that? You say you can't see Beckett and Anabelle? Well that is because there were here:

They just stood on the sidelines watching. I couldn't believe it. I have chickens for children. I tried to coax them in, but I couldn't get them to join me. I got Beckett a little wet, but Belle refused to go in. She isn't much for getting splashed to begin with, so I am not surprised by her reaction. I was very surprised by Beckett though. He loves to splash and play in water. Once again, I guess if he isn't in the comfort of his bath or yard, he doesn't like it. What a goober.

Speaking of goobers, look what I found in my fridge one day. If you can't tell what that is, it is a fire engine toothbrush. Where do they get these ideas?

We also played a lot outside. The kids started sneaking outside if I didn't take them out to play that day, so I tried to take them out each day, usually while I did yard work. Win, win!

Anabelle also got her bangs cut. Here is a picture of what she looked like afterwards. They were starting to get in her eyes and she wouldn't leave in a barrette to keep them back. Besides she looks better with something on her forehead than with them all swept to one side.

My mom cut them, and then my little sister tried to make them look cuter, but instead just made them shorter. She looked fine, but I like them better now that they have grown in a little more. 

For whatever reason, Anabelle's fashion sense has really come out. Maybe it was the laundry basket full of clothes that I need to go through that inspired her, because she would go take out clothes from there and just pile them on. This picture above is of her wearing 3 tops. The outside one is a dress, inside out, and backwards. The next layer is a shirt that inside out and backwards as well. The bottom one is the shirt I put her in that morning. After she got her outfit on, she wanted me to put her hair in a ponytail (I was absolutely floored that she wanted me to) and then the finishing touch is what looks like a necklace, but is actually one of those ribbon-headband-thingies. I couldn't get a good picture of the ponytail. It was sticking strait out. No joke. It was awesome.

Here is another one of her creations. Isn't it divine? I think I should send her to fashion school instead of preschool. She could be the Mozart of fashion, kind of like that 13 year old girl that started her own fashion critique blog and is now being invited to fashion week in New York.  Only Anabelle could start now. Do you think they would have fruit snacks at those things?

I still have the month of August to get into, and this post is long enough, so stay tuned for more exciting adventures in the Jacob family.

CLICK

In a book that I read once, the mom of the main character would say, "Click. My heart just took a picture.", meaning that she always wanted to remember that moment, even if she couldn't take a picture. I had a couple of those moments yesterday and I just want to share.

At the end of Sacrament Meeting, Beckett and Anabelle both snuggled up to each other on the bench. Now that is pretty cute in and of itself, but they were laying down next to each other on the bench, side by side, without falling off. If my kids weren't so tiny, I don't think they would have been able to pull it off. They were both laying on their tummies, looking at each other and giggling. It was one of the sweetest things. Since taking a picture in church probably isn't appropriate, I didn't get one of them, but my heart took a picture. My favorite part was Beckett's onesie hanging out from under his shirt, over his pants. You don't get much cuter than that.

The other one I took an actual picture of. When we got home from church, we all took off our shoes. I slipped mine off easily, side by side. Belle took hers off, and then placed them neatly right next to mine. How cute is that?!

 I love that even though she was wearing them on the correct feet, she placed them incorrectly next to mine. It is the little idiosyncrasies that make life all that more memorable and special.

I'm nervous

Okay, so tomorrow is going to be a little frightening. Beckett is going to the dentist to have his 5 cavities taken care of. They are going to put him under anesthesia for the procedure and I am really scared. I knew of someone that died under anesthesia while getting their wisdom teeth out, and they were an ADULT. My aunt, who is an oral surgeon's assistant, says she has never had anyone die in the 30 years that she has been working, but that doesn't stop the nagging feeling inside of me. I also know how scared he is going to be while they put him under. It is going to be hard for me to watch, probably as hard as his first PKU at the doctors office when he was 2 weeks and was screaming. I cried during that one, and I think I will cry during this. Luckily, my aunt that I mentioned is going to come and hold my hand during the whole thing and then help me take care of him afterwards. I am just praying that we survive the day without a complete emotional meltdown from both of us. Wish me luck!

A Birthday and the cabin

June was a busy month too. We went to my parent's cabin with just my parent's. We had so much fun. We got in the hot tub, except for Beckett. Last time he got in, he lost his balance and he went underwater and hasn't gotten in for at least a year. But he was happy to go watch Green Eggs and Ham and play with the trains that are kept at the cabin, while we relaxed in the hot tub. Belle loved it. She loved the bubbles that kept coming up. Plus I think she thought it was very fun to take a bath with Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa all at the same time.

We went to the cabin the second weekend in June, which was when we were still getting lots of rain and it snowed up at the cabin while we were there. We were all content to stay inside where it was nice and warm and play games and do puzzles (one of my dad's and my favorite things to do). But Beckett really wanted to go outside and go fishing. I had been talking up fishing with him for a few days before we went up and he was really excited to go. Finally it stopped blowing freezing air and bundled Beckett up as best we could. Here he is all ready to go catch a fish.

Well, when they got out the lake, Matt said to Beckett, "We're going to go catch a monster fish." For those of us seasoned fisher people, we know that that means we're going to catch a huge fish. I don't think that is what came to Beckett's mind though. Let me finish the story and you will see why. My dad got Beckett all set up with his pole, red and white bobber, worm on the hook, the works. Beckett was having a great time holding his pole. Not long after he was handed his pole, Matt cast his fly pole out into the water and caught a fish almost instantly. Matt reeled it in and as my dad was scooping up the flopping fish into the net, Beckett through down his pole and said, "No fish!" and turned and ran for the cabin without slowing down or stopping until he came in the door. When he got inside, he said to me and my mom, "Monster fish." We had no idea what he was talking about until Matt told us what he said. We all had a good laugh.

I am going to toot my own horn here for a little bit. I caught a nice fish of my own. It was a tiger trout and weighed about 5lbs. Not bad. Normally my parent's have a catch and release policy with their ponds, but the fish was bleeding when we got it out, so we had to keep it. It tasted so good.

We also had a few birthdays in the month of June. One of the children's friends had her second birthday party the first weekend of the month. The kids had so much fun with her presents. Here they all are in the wadding pool that she got. We had to tell them to pretend to have water in there because they kept asking to have water put in the pool.

I show you this simple because it totally influenced Beckett's birthday presents. He loved that pool so much that I got him one of his own. He loved it. He has had so much fun with it. Unfortunately I am a lame mom and haven't gotten any pictures of him playing in the pool. But it was easily his favorite present.

He loved all the rest of his presents that he got too. He got some yard games from my parents, a Crockett set and a horseshoes game.

They loved playing with them. My parent's also gave Beckett a computer game that he can hook up to the TV. The mouse makes him frustrated sometimes, but other than that, he loves to play it.

Here he is opening some more presents. He had to wait a long time to open his presents. He has been so excited to open presents that for the last three months he has been trying to help everyone else open their presents, even without their permission.

Here is his cake. I made it. In case you can't tell what it is, it is a train. The engine is supposed to be Thomas. I made the shapes of the engine and cars, but my sister decorated it. She did such a good job. I am not that creative or good at doing it. She is amazing though and has creativity come out of her ear, so I was more than happy to turn the decorating job over to her.

It was a great party. He had such a great time. He loved his Thomas cake. Beckett had been asking for a Thomas Birthday party for like 5 months. We had a Thomas balloon and he wore his Thomas shirt. It was awesome.

One other thing that happened during June was that we came to a firm decision on moving to Omaha. I guess I should say I came to a firm decision on moving to Omaha. I have been excited about doing it, but I have gone back and forth about it, until one day I just made the decision that we were going to do it. Since then I have just felt good about it. I guess Heavenly Father just wanted me to make a decision and then go forward with it. If it isn't right, he will let me know. So far, we haven't gotten any kind of a no, so we are moving to Omaha. Scared or not, it is happening as soon as Matt gets a job and we sell our home. Stay tuned for the update on July.

She is amazing

So today while I was reading to Belle before her nap, I decided to have her count the kittens on the page with me. She has been into counting lately so I thought she would enjoy it. She counted up to 5! With no help! I couldn't believe it. She is a genius. That or she is a master memorizer. I like genius better.

"Up to?" What do you mean "Up to?"

Since I am way behind on updating on here, I am going to do a month at a time. Starting with May. May was similar to April, filled with silly moments. One day in church, during the sacrament, Beckett was asking to get his belly scratched (his favorite quiet church activity). He pulled up his shirt and looked at his belly button and then declared, not too quietly, "Eww, gross. That's gross!" for all the ward to hear. I had a hard time holding in the laugh that was dying to come out. Not one of my most spiritual sacrement experiences.

Another time, the kids wanted to watch a movie upstairs. I was all for it, since they play up there for about an hour or so and I can get a lot done. As I was starting to go down the stairs, I noticed a black permanent marker sitting out from a previous day of repacking boxes and labeling them. A little voice inside said, "You better take that with you. They will get into it." I mocked the voice and said back, "Naw, they don't even know what it is or how to use it," and went on my merry way, down the stairs. Later, Belle came down and it was time for her nap, so I put her down and felt kind of sleepy myself. Matt had called and told me that he was going to be home soon, so I decided to lay down and catch some Z's. Matt came home and went to check on Beckett watching his movie, then came down and asked me if I had been upstairs since I put on the movie for the kids. I said no and then he said, "Well, you better not go up until after your nap." I asked him if they had made a mess and he didn't really answer me. I decided to take his advice and take my nap first.

After I woke up, I went upstairs. As I am sure you have all guessed, someone (my bets are on Anabelle) had drawn all over the island thing in the middle of the room. It was quite the mural. I wanted to take a picture of it, to post on here, but I took too long to do it because I didn't want you all to see how messy that room is, and then Matt surprised me by painting over it one night while I was at Relief Society. I really appreciated him doing that (and thanks for Kevin for helping him), but a little part of me is sad I didn't get that picture before it was painted over. Oh well, I'm sure Belle will do something similar again. She has already drawn on the walls with crayon in a few places, so I am sure I will get a picture of her art skills another time.

Belle actually let me do her hair in two pigtails in May, and she kept it in for more than an hour, but not much longer. She looked pretty stinkin cute, too. Unfortunately that was it. She does let me put in barrets now, but she fights pony/pigtails when ever I try to put them in. At least she has cute curls in the back, so she doesn't look like a boy without cute things in her hair.

Another day, Beckett and I were playing with his ball and I felt silly and stuck the ball in his pants. He thought it was hilarious! He laughed and laughed. Of course I had to take pictures.

Something fun that we did was go to the "Day out with Thomas" event at the Heber Creeper. This was our second time and we had so much fun. My brother and his girlfriend took us. Beckett loved playing with the train sets they had setup to temp parents to buy them for their children.

We rode the train for about 25min. Beckett freaked out once we were on the train. He started crying and saying something about the stroller being left behind. After we started moving, he started to calm down. This picture was soon after we got on the train.

Here he is after we were going for a while. (This was one of the photos that didn't get restored completely, but at least their faces made it and they are cute)

We also saw Sir Topham Hat, but that picture didn't get restored, unfortunately. The kids got tattoos on their arms and Belle got one on her face. They loved them and were so proud of them. (bytheway, Mary Kay's eye makeup remover gets that off like a dream) They had miniture golf and the kids loved it. I think Matt and I will have to take them again sometime. Another first for the children was eating cotton candy. I had avoided that sweet as long as I could, but caved this time. They loved it except Beckett hated getting sticky. Then we played with the bubbles and each kid got a free toy. That is what Beckett is preoccupied with in the pictures. It was one of those cameras that have pictures inside when you look through the eye hole, and then they change when you click the button. He loved it. Belle didn't quite get how they worked but was happy as can be pretending to take pictures. I love my kids.

Come back later this week to hear about June and Beckett's birthday.

More cooking adventures

I have the misfortune of not having A/C in my house. We do have a window unit that keeps our house decently cool (we have not gotten over 80), for which I am enormously grateful, but it does defer me from wanting to cook much and risk heating my house any more than is necessary. I have recently decided that I want to avoid cooking at all costs. Matt's mother is a very good cook, and has been asked many times for different recipes by many of her daughters-in-law. The Christmas before she left on her mission, she gave each of her children all of her famous recipes. There are two in there that have come in very handy during the summer, when I have no desire to cook. I know of at least one other friend that is without A/C, so I decided to share my delicious finds.



First is Cold Roast Beef Sandwich Pizza.



1 Boboli crust (a previously cooked pizza crust)
1/2 C. cream cheese with chives and onion (in a tub)
1/4 C. mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. creamy horseradish sauce
1 1/2 C. shredded romaine lettuce
1/4 C. Italian salad dressing
1/2 C. deli roast beef, cut into strips
1 chopped tomato

Combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, and horseradish. Spread over pizza crust.
Combine remaining ingredients with salad dressing, toss together and spread over top of crust.


I added cucumbers as well and they tasted wonderful with it. I highly recommend it. Obviously you can alter the "sauce" to your taste and add whatever you think will taste good. It is a fun recipe and very refreshing and different.



Second is Chicken Pita Sandwiches. I don't have a picture of it to show you what it looks like.

1/2 C. mayonnaise
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 C. cooked chicken, cubed (I like to use canned chicken)
1/2 C. cooked rice (if you do not wish to cook the rice, just go buy some cooked rice at your local chinese restaurant)
1/2 C. chopped cucumber
1/2 C. chopped carrot
1/4 C. chopped radishes
1 chopped green onion
3 pitas, halved

Make dressing by combining mayonnaise, lemon juice, and garlic powder. Combine all other ingredients and mix with dressing. Serve in pitas.


This one is very refreshing as well. It is very good in tortillas as well.


If anyone else has any "no cook" recipes, please pass them along. I need all that I can get my hands on.