Merry Christmas!

James Family Christmas 2008

The 2008 Christmas season has begun! We had Christmas with my mom's side of the family today. The girls did very well for not having any naps all day, hope they can keep up that Christmas momentum!

How cute is Reese with these hat and gloves??

Ava and Reese with Bebe (my mom) helping them open their gifts.
Great-Grandma James showing Ava how to use her new toy.

My sister (only 3 months to go until we meet the newest addition to our fam) and I.

Yeah, we're cool!

No big deal, just takin care of baby...PANTLESS!

Ava has decided over the last couple of weeks that she can't be troubled with pants and a diaper. Practically every night she has to take them off and refuses to put them back on. She goes on about her night, like taking care of baby, because that's what you do when you're wearing no pants, right??

Stress Free Life! Ha Ha Ha!

Since it's Xmas time, I thought the Ha Ha Ha seemed appropriate, like Ho Ho Ho as we have been practicing with Ava!

On with the post!

I like to look at this picture (courtesy of Pam Cooley) and see our family, with the 2 cutest girls, walking and looking like we are all just serene.....and then I think what would the picture of our family look like after the events that took place last night!

Let me share with you a fun filled Jacob family Monday night!

1. Ava throws her daily "nack" meltdown. She wants a snack and when I say no she throws herself on the floor bawling.

2. Ava decides she does not want to wear pants or her diaper, and won't leave it on.

3. The toilet overflowed all over the back of our house. Ava and her naked butt and Parker kept running back while Seth tried to clean it, which he did not appreciate.

4. Get diaper back on Ava, shut her out of the backroom, she has a meltdown. Reese has a meltdown at the other gate, because she can not get into the kitchen.

5. Ava takes diaper back off, throws it in the garbage. Reese proceeds to open garbage and take the diaper out to play with it. Take diaper away from Reese, yet another melt down.

6. Seth gets everything cleaned up, goes down to the basement to make sure there's no water, and guess what??? Sump pump motor has gone out, water is in the basement and he has to go to Lowe's to get a new part and install it.

7. Ava has to have baby go to bed with her, but makes a pitstop in the bathroom. Baby falls in the tub and Ava gets stuck in some pose going after her, but luckily I saved both of them! :-)

The night did end with the toilet working, a clean bathroom, sump pump working, water cleaned up, diapers on both girls butts, hugs and kisses for all!

Merry Mondays to all and to all a good night!

Yes, I can climb. No, I can't walk!

Reese is bound and determined to do everything but walk by herself! So far, she has climbed a step ladder, yes, literally climbed a step a ladder! And, illustrated by the picture above has pulled a rocking chair from across the room and then stood in it to reach an ornament.

Reese just promise that by the time you are 5 you will be walking so you can go to school!

Blogging is Work!

I can't always keep up with the blogging. I feel like I can only post when I have pictures and sometimes I don't have pictures to post! You know you would be disappointed to log on and see no pictures! So, I've decided to go back to the archives and post pictures from this time last year.

My what a difference a year makes! But then again maybe not......same toilet paper incidents just a different girl now! :-)

Quick girls update. Ava is now asking "Vy" (Why) after you answer her questions. I'm not sure that she understands the word, but she uses it appropriately.

Reese is getting soooo close to walking and she has added "Uh-Oh" to her vocabulary!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ava!

Happy Birthday to our crazy girl! We can always count on you to make us laugh. We love to watch you learn and do new things as you grow. We love you so much!

Happy Birthday baby girl!

My two 1yr olds and they are not twins!

I guess this is where the term "Irish Twins" comes into play. I only have one day left to say, here are my two 1yr old girls who are not twins!

That crazed look in Reese's eye is for the camera, she took a dive for it right after I took the picture.

Happy 1st Birthday Reese!

We can't believe how fast a year flies by!! Reese, you bring such a joy to us! Our family wouldn't be complete without you.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!! Love you!

(This picture is so blurry, but she won't sit still!)

Hand Foot Mouth....We're There! :-(

So, I was considering us lucky, our daycare had a few cases of Hand Foot Mouth about a month ago, and I thought we had had actually avoided it......I was WRONG! In the words of Ava, "Ewwwww, Goss!"

Hand Foot Mouth is a virus like a cold, but instead of producing runny noses, it produces blisters in their mouths, hands, feet and behind! The blisters in the mouth are what is painful.

What might you do on a day when you are home with this icky virus, well let me show you!

You eat breakfast, preferably something soft please!

You color, play with toys, and pull everything out of mommy's bag.

You eat lunch and get mad when you called Parker over to give her a piece of cheese, and then she eats it.

You stare at your sister while she is having her breakdown.

You get mad at mommy when she won't let you through the barricade so that you can go directly to the dog food! By the way, could she pass as a Seth baby look-a-like, I think yes!

You play on the stairs when you know you are not suppose to. Sometimes, I forget that we need the gate again!

And then when the gate does get put up, you do your best to get it down!

And finally, you take a group picture!

Ok, so it's not all play time and smiles, I just didn't document the breakdowns that came from the painful blisters! Very sad!

Farm Weekend - Take 2!

We journeyed to Rader's Pumpkin Farm and Ropp's Dairy Farm. Apparently we are into Farm's right now!! As usual an animal at each farm takes a liking to Ava and she freaks out! :-)

At Rader's, I too was a little unglued about the animal that kept following us around. Illustrated in the picture below, a full grown turkey is out and wanders while you pick your pumpkins. I'm sure you all can guess how Ava was acting and really can you blame her?!

We did the usual photo op on the hay bails.

And here's Reese with the pumpkins we picked out.

The owner at Ropp's took the girls on a tour of the dairy farm and showed us the baby calves. It was an impromptu tour so we didn't have our camera. I'm not sure it would have mattered Ava wouldn't get within 20ft of the cows! The little dog of the farm also took a liking to Ava and in turn she screamed and the owner felt compelled to put the dog away. Poor puppy!!! :-)

Bologna on my head

Need I say more?

Waitin on a Cousin!

Ava and Reese are waitin, waitin, waitin on a cousin! Michelle and Lena if you are reading this, that was for you. In high school in the basketball pre-game we would stand in a line and chant, we're waitin, waitin, waitin on the Hornets! I find myself applying that chant in my life still! :-)

Anyways, that is besides the point! My sister, Nicole and her husband Ryan are expecting their first baby in March, and we couldn't be more excited!!!!

We're hoping Baby Davis develops some thick skin b/c Ava and Reese like to pull hair and poke eyes!!!

Congratulations again Nicole and Ryan!

Farm Fun Weekend!

This weekend Ava, Reese, Bebe (my mom) and I had a fun farm weekend! We started on Saturday at Tanner's Apple Orchard and hit Ackerman Farms on Sunday.

At Tanner's Ava was such a big girl. She rode the cider barrel ride all by herself and toured the orchard.

Reese ate hay

And then I made them pose together

On Sunday, we went to Ackerman Farms. Ava felt it was her mission to push a wagon around the whole time we were there. And poor Reese kept getting posed so I could try and take some pictures. Neither one of them would look at the camera but here are a few.

It was a fun get ready for Fall weekend! And apparently Reese likes gourd!

Weekend at Paw-Paw and Grandma Jacob's

Ava and Reese spent the night at Paw-Paw and Grandma Jacob's house on Saturday. Thank you to Paw-Paw for sending the pictures. The girls had fun going to the park, playing with toys and reading books with Paw-Paw and Grandma! Seth and I headed up to Schaumburg to do some shopping. A good time was had by all this weekend!

3 posts in one day!!!

The girls are napping so I thought I would post one more time! Yesterday we had a cook-out with my friends from college. Suddenly we have exploded with babies. One friend was not able to come so we had 2 girls missing, but the rest of them are below. They are quite the site!! In case you couldn't tell, ours are the 2 girls with their fingers in their mouths!

Pool Party!

The girls had a little pool party of their own this weekend. Here is a shot of both of them in the pool, Ava decided it was her job to pour water over Reese's head, which Reese thought was hysterical. Here's a picture of Reese soaked, while Ava remained dry, and then Reese recovering in the beach towel.

I LOVE my sister!

Here's a couple of pictures of Ava and Reese taken last weekend. As you can see Ava is squeezing Reese and LOVING it! I'm a little frightened!

A few more pictures of my pretty little girls!