Froggy Morning

So said Jake when I opened the garage door to get in the car to go to school. He looked outside and signed "froggy" to me.

It took me a moment before I realized he was telling me it was foggy outside. Glad there was no plague of frogs to worry about.

Fun at the Playground

Lucky you, you get a video today! It was a nice, sunny day and we went to the playground and had fun.

Animals versus Sandbox

This morning Jake and I woke up and we made up a game involving these cool cards that have pictures of animals on them along with their names. Then Jake asked if we could go to the zoo. Since it was a sunny day (yay!) and we had no other plans, this is what we did.

However, once we got there, instead of seeing the animals, Jake decided he only wanted to play in the sandbox. So Mike and I sat in the sun and soaked up some vitamin D and relaxed.
Fortunately, before we left we did get to see some animals. Today was Thanksgiving for the polar bears so we got to watch as they ripped into their fake turkeys and got whatever treat was inside. Pretty fun. We also said hi to some monkeys and then our little monkey wanted to go back to the sandbox.

On the way out we stopped to get on the bronze goat.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The three of us had a great little meal with my "traditional" corn chowder. We also had biscuits and salad. There was apple pie for dessert.
After the meal we took a walk in the pouring rain. It was fun, we watched the water running everywhere. You can see in this picture how wet Jake's bangs are.
Then we watched the movie Ratatouille together.

Yum

Growing up, one of my all-time favorite snacks was a banana-peanut butter sandwich. Which is simply a banana cut in half with peanut butter in the middle. I still love it, and occasionally make it for myself.

I've made it for myself a few times recently. The first couple times, Jake had a bite of what I made for myself. Then it progressed to him eating it all, and I would have to then make another one for myself. Now he is asking for them for a snack for himself. He has had a banana-peanut butter sandwich every day for the past 3 days now. This morning he woke up and stated he was hungry. When I asked what he wanted to eat, it was "banana-peanut butter sandwich!!"

Just Because

Who doesn't want to see a greener world?

Thumps and Bumps

When you are an active little boy, this happens sometimes. Ouch.
He was running in his classroom and fell and hit a shelf. Sigh.

Home Sweet Home

Yes, he arrived home! After 24+ hours of traveling (which was awful), we were all so glad to have him home. He had a fantastic time in Peru. I haven't been blogging because we've been enjoying each other's company. Plus Jake has had swine flu. Luckily it's been incredibly mild and is almost over and now he has immunity! So we've all been staying home and laying low.
At the end of the summer we'd gotten some sand for Jake to play outside with. He LOVED it and often spent at least an hour a day playing outside with sand and water. However, with the cold weather (plus being sick!) that was not a good idea. My friend Korin, who got the idea from me to get sand, gave me the idea to set it up indoors! Jake has happily been playing with the indoor sandbox for quite some time each day now. (No water allowed, though!!)

Home Stretch

Just 2 more days until Daddy is home, and we are so ready for it! We had 3 days in a row of staying home and being together due to Jake having a bit of a fever, but he is fine now. We were both ready to get out of the house today, though!

Laughing. We've had some good times together. We've been dancing to music and watching movies.

Crunchy Leaves

Yesterday it was one of those warm, sunny fall days in Portland, and we were lucky to join our friends Korin and Ruby and go for a walk at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge.
The two birthday twins were happy to be out and about. We saw a snake, a caterpillar, and 2 deer.
And there were lots of crunchy leaves to play with.


Walk softly and carry a big stick. (Actually, he was pretending it was a gun.)
The whole time, Jake kept asking when we would get to the playground. He couldn't wrap his mind around the concept that we were 'just out for a walk in the woods and enjoying the trees, etc.' So when they saw these bars at the end of the trail, they were delighted and started playing on them. It was hard to get them off!

November!

An update as to what is happening with the Vees...

Mike went to Peru, leaving Jake and me to have 15 days of mother-son time! We made a calendar to show how many days Daddy would be gone and to mark off each day. (It is now day 7.) It is pretty cool for helping Jake to better understand the concept of days and yesterday/today/tomorrow.
Some painting happened.
Cuteness with Theo the cat (they are sharing the same seat!)
And drawing on pumpkins.
I have been battling an ear infection which has been incredibly painful and sucky, but it seems the worst is over. Jake has been wonderful during all of it and we've been playing games, reading books, and generally enjoying each other's company. We have lots of playdates coming up and are keeping busy!