Covers and Zoo

This morning Jake was funny. We'd already been up for awhile and I was in the bedroom making the bed, putting clothes away. Jake peeled the bedspread back, hopped into bed, and pulled the covers over himself like he was going to go back to sleep. Too cute.



Then Jake and I met Wydeko and Melisse at the zoo. We had a great time.

Two little boy birds in a nest.
Fish! Always a favorite.
More fish.
A cool tractor with a very cool driver.



We went through the Great Northwest exhibit and saw black bears, bobcats, eagles, a cougar and lots of ducks. Then we went to the grassy area and sat and had snacks and the boys ran around. Melisse and I enjoyed the sunshine while chatting.

Mashed Strawberry

This is what happens when Jake finds a leftover strawberry somewhere while playing with the lemon juicer...

Mashed strawberry! He's completely serious about his cooking...

Vee Grandparents

Last Sunday we went to Chehalis, WA to see Mike's father's family. Mike's parents had driven down from Anchorage to spend the week there. We went to Mike's Uncle Byron and Aunt Zoe's house for a birthday party for his grandma.


Throwing the ball with Grandma.

One of the stairs to the treehouse broke, and Jake insisted that Grandpa fix it. So they got some hammers and fixed it together. So cute.


Beautiful trees on the property!
Mike and Jake with Mike's Grandma Mabel in the background, as we celebrated her 92nd birthday!
Jake loved playing with the camera.
On the way home... reading in the car.
Monday Grandma and Grandpa drove down to Portland to see our house and to play with Jake some more. We all went to dinner at Chez Jose. Such a nice visit!

Hoop!

Jake got this nice hoop and ball set a while back, but he was too young to set it up then. He was over at a friend's house playing with his hoop and ball and I remembered that he had this! So Mike set it up in a temporary location and Jake had fun.

Thursday Thirteen #13

So this is #13 and my last Thursday Thirteen post. I just can't do this anymore :)

13 Goals I have for this Summer:

1. Keep running. Harder now -- I had been running in the mornings 4-5 days a week but now I have to switch to running in the afternoons since Mike is now gone by 6:30am Monday through Friday!

2. Mike has a new job!!! So this goal is to make Mike lunches more often than not to take to work. He is a glazier's union apprentice and right now is working on the high-rise buildings being built at the bottom of the OHSU tram here in Portland. Yesterday he totally, nonchalantly said that he was working on "floor 9 or 11 of a 30-floor building." Yikes! Anyway, his hours are AWESOME -- 7am to 3:30pm which means that when he gets home I can go running.

3. Related to running, I want to go get that jogging stroller I got, fixed! We're just waiting for Mike's new paychecks to start rolling in :)

4. Register for and run at least one 5K benefit run. Luckily, I have a friend who plans to do this with me.

5. Take Jake to the zoo at least once a month. It's fun to learn about all the animals.

6. Go berry picking, starting with strawberries in June. Then raspberries and blueberries. Lots of jam and frozen berries! Maybe I'll even get ambitious and go peach picking.

7. Build gates on either side of our house. This is a project that Mike and I have been putting off for more than a year now, mainly because the project is rather complicated, sigh. But we need to put them up so we don't have to worry about Jake leaving the backyard when he is outside.

8. While in the backyard, I want to dry more of my laundry outside this summer. Not only is it a cost savings but it is the right thing to do, environmentally as well.

9. Read at least one book a month this summer. I've really been on a book kick lately, and that's been fun. I've been able to do that partly because Jake plays more independently now. I also want to treat myself to at least one of Juliet Marillier's books this summer -- ahh, fantasy!

10. Speaking of reading, I want to take Jake to the library every few weeks. We went to the library yesterday to get Jake his very first stack of books! I have such fond memories of going to the library when I was little -- I would take about 12 books home at once and have a hard time deciding which one to start reading first.

Jake with the books we got at the library yesterday.

11. Go hiking! Really, we just have to put it on our calendar, pick a hike, plan the food, and GO!

12. Go to Black Butte Ranch at least twice (more, if we can). It is just so nice there and Jake LOVES the pool area.

13. And finally... organize my photos. I have tons of photos that I've taken over the past year just sitting in boxes, waiting to be put into photo albums and organized. I especially want to do this while I remember what was when and also because Jake LOVES looking at the 2 photo albums that I have organized so far from his first year of life. He's not so interested in the albums from before he was born, I think because he doesn't recognize most of the people in it. So this last goal, I think, is going to be the hardest to accomplish as it will require some Jake-free time for me to do it.

23 Months and Cuts

Today Jake is 23 months old and today so far has been about cuts!

This morning he was cutting up his strawberries with his own little knife. So far he has only been practicing on wooden produce with a wooden knife, so this was fun for him.
Happy!
Funny boy.
Then we went to get his hair cut! These are the before pictures...
His past experiences with haircuts have not been good. He has hated having someone snip at his hair. Actually, the third time wasn't that bad but his hairstylist (aka "mama") isn't that skilled and Jake got what my mother not-so-affectionately referred to as the "bowl cut".
So we went to Kid's Castle Cuts which was really cool. The waiting area was filled with toys!
Then Jake chose this red car to sit in for his haircut. Even then, he wasn't too sure about it.
He was pretty serious the whole time, even though "Scooby Doo" was playing on the TV.
Halfway through...
The finished result.
Definitely not a bowl cut.
He appears to be somewhat happy about his new 'do.


23 months old... hard to believe he'll be TWO in a month! He's been doing some fun new things this past month -- one of the things that cracks me up is that he'll often respond to things by saying "oh, okay". It's hilarious. Also a lot of things are "mine!" He'll point to strawberries and say mine! He loves to clap when happy about things, and say YAY! when he "gets" (understands) something. He has gotten taller and now weighs 26 pounds. He can throw a ball soooo well -- throws perfectly and throws it straight. He is starting to sleep through the night most of the time now, I'll tell him that "milk is sleeping" if he wakes up before 5am and he will go back to sleep. Pretty soon he'll be ready for his own bed next to ours. Small steps. He's still such a sweetheart, he'll now sometimes initiate kisses and hugs for mama or daddy or grandparents or even friends. I love watching him grow and change.

Catch-up

I'm behind on blogging and putting up my pictures. Here is picture catch-up!

Friday we went to Jamison Park to enjoy the hot weather. Jake looks cute in his swim shorts.
Sunday Jake and I showed up at the farmer's market at 9:55am (it opens at 10). Luckily my mom was already in line for the strawberries, she was about the 10th person in line! We got our strawberries when the market opened at 10, and I'm pretty sure they were all gone by 10:10! Yum, so glad we got some.
Look closely, you can see strawberry juice on Jake's nose and around his mouth. He is such a strawberry monster.
And loves to be outside!
What is that cat doing on top of my clean (and drying) laundry??
Monday Wydeko came over to play. The boys just love each other now and have such a good time.