Holidays

In the past couple of weeks we've gotten to spend some time in the grand city of (Christmas) lights - Richmond, VA - for a visit with Memaw ...

saw my old high school bud, Robin, and her daughter, Elena, who'll be one next month.

Then back to DC where we had Hanukkah dinner with Grandma Jackie and the Schwartzes.

And the boys got to visit Santa. This year there were no tears - Owen looked polite yet concerned, Jacob smiled the whole time, telling Santa he wanted a belt and sunglasses. Charlotte and Bill were also able to fit in a quick visit to see us all on their way down to Richmond from New York. (Jacob looks a little distressed here, we soon learned, because his finger was stuck in a toy, oops. No permanent damage.)

On Christmas day Jacob woke up and had completely forgotten it was Christmas (see LONG and probably boring to others video below, sorry in advance). Then, to sum up the day, Owen wanted what Jacob got and Jacob wanted what Owen got (see long video again - with Owen in the background admiring Jacob's bike for the majority of it).

And finally, a Christmas day picture with Memaw and her boys.

Oh wait... here's that video - warning it's over 2 minutes long and for some reason Jacob kept answering "Sam and Anderson" in response to several of my important questions. We apparently did a good job of confusing the poor kid this holiday season.


HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome 2012!
I'll be partying way too much tomorrow night to be able to update the blog, so see you in 2012.

Tape

Tape: the. best. gift. ever.

"Rest" time has been a piece of cake this week thanks to a roll of tape Jacob got in his Christmas stocking this year. I don't hear a peep for a full HOUR each day. Today he even fell asleep (for a change) clutching the roll of tape if you look real close.

We wish YOU a merry Christmas

Jacob's preschool class had their holiday show today (then we spent the rest of the day vacuuming ;). He practiced the songs for weeks and it showed. You could hear his voice over the others on many occasions and he was very animated when pointing to the audience to wish "YOU" a merry Christmas. Later I was telling Mike about it and he says, oh yeah, we worked on that song last night. Aha.

"Where's Waldo?"

Aunt Nancy came to watch!!!

... and a happy new year!

Chrismakuh 2011

The 2011 Sherman Christmas Tree

Cousins

(Avery 14 mos, Jacob 3, Heath 2, Owen 18 mos)

We celebrated our third annual Chrismakuh this past weekend with the Wulfows and Shermans. With four children age three and under this year, the fact that the Christmas tree was still up on Sunday night with all of its ornaments still on means it was a success.

Faster than a Roomba

Today we spent the day vacuuming the house.

Okay, not the whole day, but at the time it felt like it.

Thanksgiving, etc.

Working backwards since that's how the pictures uploaded:

Hello mud.
I've always thought I'd encourage my kids to play in the mud and rain puddles without a care in the world; just watch as they discover nature, that kind of thing. But man, cleaning up the aftermath is not fun. I think in the future this will be more of a spring/summer activity where I can just hose them off out back. But they loved it and I do believe they would have stayed out there all day long in the cold if I had let them.

Thanksgiving up on Long Island - The boys and their cousins Heath 2 and Avery 13 mos.

Pajama party with Nana, Papa and Heath

We took Jacob into Manhattan for the day and saw FAO Schwarz, Rockefeller Center, and Times Square. He did so well and said his top three favorite things were: 1) riding the subway, 2) riding the train in from Nana and Papa's house, 3) and going on the escalator at Penn Station. Yep, in summary, we could have just gone on the metro at home. He did mention Santa ice-skating at Rockefeller Plaza as his fourth thing.

Superman

Memaw stayed with us for a few days before Thanksgiving.

Look what we did this week

First, I don't know how I never did this experiment growing up, but I read about the idea on a craft blog and tried it - just mix cornstarch + water = strange feeling mixture but a giant, fun mess.

Second, this morning I asked Jacob if he had any requests for what we did today and he said, "Let's go on an airplane!" I asked if he had any money to buy a plane ticket and he said no. So, instead we took a little trip down to Gravelly Point near the airport and had a great time watching as the airplanes flew right over us just before they landed. Amazing - we ALL enjoyed it thoroughly!

Fall Back

I found a few pictures I've been meaning to share that span summer to the present, including: Owen's first haircut picture which was about 4 haircuts ago, but I must document it here; my birthday (11/11/11 this year!!!) which is represented by Jacob below holding the appropriate accessories; a rainy day craft fair with the girls; Jacob & Owen with some of their buddies (Sarah and Stacey's boys this time), Gabriel, Henry & Lyle - are you noticing a trend with our friends?; and just a few of our afternoons outside.

Jacob is currently obsessed with how old everyone is ("how old you are?" is usually how he introduces himself to new people), mainly because he's using the information to gauge when he will be able to do certain things (go down the pole at the playground, ride a two wheel bike, go to college, things like that). His other obsession is littering and trash. Most playgrounds end up much neater after we've visited than they started, to my chagrin. I vaguely remember when he asked what litter was, now I just wish I'd been more careful about how I answered. Oops.

Owen is 17 months. We are amazed at how much of what we say he understands. On the one hand he is so polite that when I tell him to go get his jacket to go outside, he usually brings mine with his! On the other hand he has been caught several times climbing on top of the dining room table and he doesn't give the impression he feels bad about it. He is very determined, wants to do everything the way Jacob does it, and his current obsession is the potty (refer to earlier post).

Halloween 2011

Here are our little zoo animals on Halloween night on their way to trick or treating.

And the night before at our neighborhood parade where the boys were thrilled to learn there was a rescue truck they could tour.

Without Owen's full costume on many people mistook him for Eeyore. Some even thought Jacob was just a plain old monkey. But nope, Owen was an elephant & Jacob was an orangutan (he corrected anyone who guessed otherwise).

Possibly TMI

WOW! What a wild Saturday night - a second post in one weekend and it's not even Halloween yet. I just had to share this Owen story. All these months he's been watching as we are in the process of potty training Jacob. He's been dragged to countless public restrooms, perhaps witnessed a few "emergencies" behind a tree at the park, and definitely knows where to find me and Jacob when he yells he needs to go pee pee at home. So tonight I was making dinner and Owen comes to me and says "pee pee" with no provocation, he takes my hand and walks me to the bathroom, lifts the lid, and starts putting on the potty seat. I sat him down with all his clothes/diaper on, and I swear he poops right then and there. I couldn't believe it.

Now, I'm no fool... I've seen this tease before (though a few months later with Jacob) and it didn't lead to potty training any earlier, but I still just about died laughing. The rest of the night all he wanted to do was go "pee pee", and anytime Jacob had to go, Owen dropped whatever he was doing, made a beeline for the bathroom and had his "turn". I taped one of these moments as we were just finishing dinner.

Monkey Sighting

I just don't bring my camera with me enough anymore. Even if I did I'd really need a third arm to get any pictures. So you may begin to notice a trend of pictures where the boys are strapped in, like this one from this morning.

SPOILER ALERT! Jacob is going to be an orangutan/Curious George for Halloween this year (again, since the costume still fits - yay!). He spent most of the day today in his costume, at the grocery store pushing his own little mini shopping cart, at the playground, walking home on the streets of Bethesda. He tried to eat his lunch in it, but I wasn't having it since he's still not quite what I would call a tidy eater.

I won't tell what Owen's going to be, though. That will remain a mystery.

Speaking of little Owie. He is 16 months now and he understands so much of what we say to him -- he's quite polite and very helpful, especially when asked to put away things like his shoes, socks and jacket. It's such a change of pace to have one of your children hear what you say the first time and then do it. He has 12 teeth, including 4 molars which grew in exactly when he turned 1. He babbles and means what he says. He has lots of sounds that are "words" for things like shoes, socks, basement, belly button, please, water, truck, toothbrush, book, among other things. He walks and climbs very well and seems to have an adventurous spirit (at least on the playground). He wants to do whatever Jacob is doing most of the time and the rest of the time he's just trying to survive being a little brother to a very busy, opinionated, curious, and fast-moving three year old. He and I get to spend our Tuesday and Thursday mornings together just the two of us while Jacob is in school and it's delightful.

In other news, it might snow here tomorrow and it's only October. Sigh.

Pumpkin Patch

We went on our first trip to the pumpkin patch this weekend and we'll be making lots of apple pie this week. The boys got to see lots of farm animals up close, play in the hay, pick apples and choose a pumpkin. Owen didn't stand a chance of staying awake for the car ride home and Jacob practically asked us if he could go to bed tonight. Success!

Seven boys

Got to spend the morning at the zoo with Gretchen and Becky and our 7 boys -- though, only 5 of them made it into our group picture below; we did the best we could. Gretchen was in town from Houston and had her kids Ollie and Drake with her. They are about the same age as Jacob & Owen. So fun to see her and I just wish she lived closer! We watched in awe as Becky arrived with all three of her boys, including baby Jack (pictured), walking up that gigantic hill at the zoo (who thought that would be a good idea, making a hill from the beginning of the zoo to the end?). She's an inspiration!
Very fun day together.

The result of me saying, "Hey everyone look at me for a picture!"

Jacob likes sitting in the panda's lap. Owen likes to sit next to his brother.

The First Month

I've been home with the boys full time now for a month and you might have noticed my blogging has declined ever since. I've been asked how it's going and I would say there have been lots of good days, some not as good days, but as with any "new" job, every week has been easier than the last. I've learned a ton about myself and the boys in the process and while it's been a big adjustment, I'm pretty proud of surviving a month where it rained, or threatened to rain, just about every day (preparation for winter I suppose), getting through the last two days of September without giving Jacob even one time out (HUGE!), meeting some new friends for me and the boys, and getting out the door with all of us dressed, fed, and not crying by 8:45am on school days (usually). It's the little things that keep you going. We'll see what fun October has in store!

Here's a picture of the boys in a particularly loving moment on one of our many strolls through the neighborhood. Also, Jacob loves to bike down the hill on our street, but going back up is quite a different story. So I'm including a video of his first ever successful attempt at biking back all the way up the hill by himself - I spared you the entire event as it did take about half an hour (we had to make a few stop for snacks to build up his muscles).

Jacob Preschool

Jacob's first day of preschool (2 days a week/age 3) was today. His teacher is Miss Rickerby, and while he has gone back and forth the past few days over whether he was excited to go to a new school or not, this morning he just walked into the new class with his new sneakers on, and his new school bag on his shoulder and made it work. I was so proud. Not a tear or a tantrum, nothing. Really nice job Jakey poo. Afterward he said his teacher was nice, that she was funny and talked about skateboards and wheelbarrows and that, quote, "I thought to myself, mommy, I don't want to leave." I'll take that as a good sign.

Rewind

So, back to August...
After 11 years working at C-SPAN, traveling to something like 46 states with the C-SPAN Bus, getting to work with a group of awesome colleagues/friends everyday, having the chance to promote shows and initiatives and collaborate on videos, and write scripts and newsletters (among many other things), for an organization I was proud to work for, I decided to leave it behind for now and stay home with the boys full time. Who knows what the future holds, but after weeks/months of going back and forth it feels good to have finally made the decision (though, I do reserve the right to change my mind on whether it was a good one now and then - depending on the day :o). Very surreal and daunting at first, but I'm slowly getting a grasp on it all. I really missed my boys and feel fortunate for this opportunity.

Me and some of my best buds, Marty, Heath, Rachel, Chris & Doug

And, Brian. Don't be fooled, he's crying inside.

But, I'll be back - for any of you Spanners reading this - for many visits.

Jacob's turns 3 & the beach

Have a seat, this could take a while.

Jacob is three!

At three Jacob is talkative, energetic, independent, clever, confident (except with dogs and other live animals), curious, inquisitive, persistent, and potty trained. He sleeps in a big boy (toddler) bed, he's a protective (usually) big brother and even seems to like having him around most of the time. If you ask him what song he wants to hear, 9 times out of 10 he'll still say "All the Single Ladies" and some of his favorite books include anything Curious George, Amelia Bedelia, and Alexander (and the no good, horrible, very bad day). Having said that, there is a chance he skipped the terrible twos and might be saving them for three, but the jury's still out.

We celebrated his birthday during a week at the beach in the Outer Banks, NC with Memaw, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Steve & the boys

Our annual beach picture is getting harder to accomplish.

Cousins: Owen (15 mos), Anderson (7), Jacob (3), Sam (10)

We had great weather and such fun playing in the water and sand. Owen only ate a little bit of sand this time and Jacob loved going in the ocean. And they both slept sooooo well! We're moving to the beach. Great week, even with a little mid-week earthquake and Hurricane Irene approaching which caused us to evacuate a day and a half early. Can't wait to go back.