A big helper...

Bicycle pics...

Job update...

So yesterday we found out that the job back home is only a term position. It would be a definite 2 year position with the chance of lasting 4 years. This was not the way it was planned, but it is the way it has turned out. Now we're faced with a huge decision.
-If he is offered the job- Do we take the risk and move back and hope that another job opens up while we're there? Do we stick with a job that for now seems totally secure and although we don't really like the area where we live we're not miserable or hating life right now. We actually signed another 1 year lease on this house this weekend, though our landlord put in a clause that if we relocate we can get out of the lease, so either way we're doing o.k. here. This is one of those (nerve wracking) times where I wish God really did give us definite signs, like writing on the wall or in the sky or something.There was no question that we wanted this job when we thought it was permanent, now we just don't know if it's a good idea or not. Anyways, if you think of us please pray that we would have direction in this decision. I would greatly appreciate it!!!

When you're a two year old boy you need...

A big boy bed!!! (sniff sniff, my baby's growing up)

2 Years old!!!...

of course we had a toy story party!

the birthday boy with his buzz lightyear shirt

eating some breadsticks and fruit

a new Buzz from Aunt Karen (just in time too!)

books from his Great-Aunts

first Doctor Suess book :)

basketball star

he got more and more excited as he pulled the paper off this one

toy story table

ready for church

handsome boy!

gamma and gampa

Well, my baby turned 2 on Saturday! I got all teary eyed last night thinking about him getting a few steps closer to not needing mommy anymore :( (more about that in the next post) On Thursday Jakob was running a fever of 101.7 and it would not go down with Tylenol. I finally got the fever to go down by alternating Motrin and Tylenol. I didn't know if it was a virus or teething or what so I also gave him lots of vitamin c and colloidal silver. I still don't quite know what he had, I did feel his two back molars on top have broken the skin, so maybe it was that, but I also found out that the hand, foot and mouth virus is going around the nursery at church and I know it was something in Jakey's mouth/teeth area that was bothering him, so it's still a mystery. Jeremy's parents came to stay with us on Friday and Jakob was just not acting like himself. He only wanted to be held by me and he didn't want to eat, play, read or anything. Just lay around pretty much. Friday night he was up till 2 in the morning crying. Saturday I debated whether I should just cancel his birthday party. Some of our family was coming from Tampa and I didn't want them to drive a couple hours just to have a birthday boy who had to go to bed because he was sick. Thankfully Jakob acted o.k. Still not totally feeling well or the happy, friendly Jakob but he still played a little. He ate some pizza and breadsticks (a favorite of his) and some fruit. He looked at his birthday cake and looked at me like eeeww, I am not eating that. Jeremy had to shove a piece in his mouth then he liked it and dug in :) I didn't get a ton of pictures because mostly Jakob was sitting with me. We opened presents all day long (as you can see in the pictures) because there were a lot of them and Jakob wasn't feeling too hot. His birthday turned out good in spite of the teething/sickness issue. I am glad that I decided to just invite family and not do a huge blowout though. Jakob loved all his presents. He has literally played with every one of them since Saturday, but I think the absolute favorites would be:
1. Mr Potato Head (This is favorite number one. He carries Mr. Potato head everywhere!)
2. His Toy Story table. Last night he got a container with little muffins in it, handed it to Jeremy, went to his Toy Story table, pulled out a chair and sat down for daddy to give him a muffin :) so cute
3. His basketball hoop. He likes to climb into his rocking chair and reach over and slam dunk his basketball. Yes, I know a broken limb or boo boo is on the way, but boys have to have a little fun, right? All I can say is this child is more like his Father than y'all will ever know.

Jakob lately...

One of Jakob's favorite things to do is make collections of things. He will go digging in his toy box and pull out every Toy Story character he owns and stack them all in a big pile on the floor. Lately I walk into a room and there's a row of toys, -kinda like his little farm animals all lined up-. He also takes all my hairclips from my bedroom and lines them all up on the arm of the rocking chair :) Jakey has a little dog named scout (it's from leap frog) and scout sings songs about Jakob, teaches Jakob how to spell his own name and teaches him animal sounds, etc. Well Jakob has one favorite song that scout sings, so he will push his little button over and over and over (skipping all the other songs) till he comes to that same song again. We love the way Jakob is choosing things he really loves and what he doesn't like so much. Jake's vocabulary is growing a little. He's still a pretty quiet guy, but he has learned to say "hey!" Whenever he grabs the wii remote and pauses a movie/show we're watching he'll look at me, smile and say "hey!" There is a small Bible -that his grandma got him at the hospital when he was first born- that has always been on his dresser and the other day I took it down and showed it to him and he loved it. Sometimes when he wakes up from his nap he will reach over to his dresser and say bah-boll. Lately it has been raining so much down here!!! I had no idea that when they said rainy season they really meant it. I mean we have rain/thunder/lightning just about every day. It feels like we live in the amazon or something! Jakob loves the rain. He will run around in it (when it's not lightning and say rain-rain-rain) He also has a Veggie Tales book that he will bring to me and say bob, wawwy (larry, -it's so cute to hear him say this-) and he will whisper (I think cause he's not sure if he's saying it right wau-wa (laura) while he points to the characters. So we don't have a ton of talking going on but he is saying a lot more variety of words these days. Anyways, that's just a small run down of what my little fella is up to lately. We are getting ready for his 2nd birthday on Saturday! I cannot believe he will be two. It's so funny because presents keep showing up via Fed Ex or UPS and he can see the picture on the front of the box and he's so happy, but then I hide them and he has forgotten about them. I think opening his presents this year is going to be very exciting :)

My new obsession...

Is eyebrow powder. Have you ever used it before??? I can never keep my eyebrows looking somewhat the same so I was looking online at some eyebrow shaping kits. I got this one from Sephora for 10 bucks. I figured for 10 bucks I would give it a try. I am now obsessed with the brow powder. It fills in any spots where I have no brows growing or where they're sparse. It also has brow wax so once you get your brows perfect the wax holds them in place. The only thing is it looks weird if you do your eyebrows and the rest of your face isn't made up, so I mainly use it for church or special occasions. The eyebrows look more dramatic with the powder, and somehow it makes my makeup look more elegant 
(that's the only word I could think of besides dressed up). Anyways, I don't know why I felt the need to share, but I really love brow powder :p (lol)

Haircut...

New haircut 

Wedding stuff...

A friend from church makes hair bows. All the little girls at the church are running around with cute bows in their hair. I asked her if she could make me something to wear in my hair for Kara's wedding. The flower is on an alligator clip so if I cut my hair short between now and then I can clip it onto a black headband and wear it that way. I will definitely not be wearing it as I am modeling below, this is just so y'all can see it in my hair :)

Here is a link to the dress we are wearing, the color is apple:

http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Cotton-Sateen-Strapless-with-Ruching-and-Pockets-83312_Bridal-Party-Features-Fashion-In-A-Flash

It will be really cute huh? I don't have facebook, but for those of you who do and want to check out some more of her stuff you can go to  the tortoise and the hair bows on facebook

EWWW!!!

Every two years I renew my hairdressers license. A magazine arrives in the mail with a lot of reading in it and some questions to answer in the back. Usually I just look up the answers (which by the way are all in bold italics in the reading) and answer all the questions, the material hasn't changed since I graduated from beauty school 10 years ago...wait a second..
-Seriously, I graduated from beauty school 10 years ago in February. Aye-yae-yae. Another reminder of my ever increasing age :)- Anyways, I don't pay attention to what the book says. It really is just the basic stuff you learn in school. One woman who used to cut my hair 
(and works at a nice salon) had her husband do her continuing education for her while he was playing a game on the computer, it's not rocket science. For some reason I started reading about nail salons. I didn't like doing nails in school, especially pedicures. It's just plain gross. Anyways, the book was telling about all these diseases people have contracted in nail salons. I'm talking people died from MRSA and people have lost fingers and toes because they are infected with staph or the herpes virus because the salon was using unsanitary implements and stuff. Ewww. Needless to say that killed any inclination I had of ever getting my nails done at a nail salon again. Yes, I have been to nail salons before, I was even contemplating going a couple times to get ready for Kara's wedding. I guess I will just continue to grow my nails and take care of them myself. Sometimes too much information is just too much :)