My New Little Man

Okay, he's really my sister Susan's new little man, but whatever. Check out this sweet little guy...

Of course, I just want to EAT this picture it's so cute.

The new family.

Killing me...

I truly just about can't take how cute my niece Ava is...

Especially when she lives 1400 miles away. :(

Cub Scouts

Jacob and all of his little buddies started Cub Scouts this year. Actually, I don't know if it is correct to call them Cub Scouts, because at their age they are Tiger Scouts. Is Cub Scouts the generic term given to all of them, then they change animals as they age? Or would that just be Boy Scouts? No idea. Anyway, Jacob had to memorize a bunch of Boy Scout information to earn his first badge the other night, the Bobcat badge, and he was pretty proud of himself.

Then they got around to the good stuff. Every year they have a boat race. They give everybody a little wooden boat kit, everybody builds their boat, then they bring them into a meeting and race each other. These boys could not have been more excited about it. Jacob was particularly excited because he and Alan went online to a website devoted to making these Boy Scout boats in a way that they will go the fastest but are still within regulations--there really is such a website. According to Alan, the boat they chose to make was an 11 on a 1-10 scale of difficulty to make. They actually sawed the boat in half and made a catamaran. Jacob was 3 for 3 in the races, and he was completely psyched. After all his hard work, Alan actually missed the races because he is coaching Jacob's basketball team and had to attend the first coaches' meeting. Amazing how one kid can keep you so busy! Here is video from one of the races Jacob won (Jacob is on the left):

Fighting a Losing Battle...

Ever since he was old enough to understand the phrase "when I grow up...", Jacob has wanted to be a firefighter. Frankly, I have not done much to encourage this at all, because the idea of him running into burning buildings terrifies me. I keep making other, less dangerous, suggestions that he completely ignores. I have been hoping that he only wants to be a firefighter because every little boy wants to be either a firefighter or a policeman, and wishing that he will grow out of it.

Well, lately it seems that my wish might be coming true. He has been showing a definite interest in other professions. Unfortunately, however, his motives are not pure. As he has been learning the value of money by saving his own earned money to buy things he wants, he has suddenly become much more interested in how much money various professions earn. And suddenly he wants to become a doctor. It's funny (not really) how in first grade these kids are already aware of which professions are traditionally the "rich" ones.

Don't get me wrong, I would be unbelievably proud if Jacob became a doctor...it's just that I know that Jacob still really would rather be a firefighter. How do you teach your child the value of money, while still de-emphasizing its importance in the big scheme of things?

Here is one of the ways I am trying to do that:

Sigh. This picture is from our visit to the local fire station during a Cub Scout meeting. I still really really don't want him to grow up to be a fireman. But I will always encourage him to follow his dreams and not to base his decisions on worldly things!

Introducing...

My new beautiful nephew, Tyler James Cottrell!



Susan had him this morning at 7:46 a.m. He weighed 8 lb, 5 oz and was 20.6 inches long. I can't wait to see the pictures with big sister Ava holding him! At 18 months, her life is about to change very drastically!

Crazy Hat Day

When we got home yesterday afternoon, Jacob announced that tomorrow would be "Crazy Hat Day" at school. He was very concerned about what hat he would wear. He said that 1) he had to make it; 2) it had to be cool; and 3) it had to be funny. He and I bounced around ideas for a while, which means he spent half an hour shooting down anything I proposed ("What is funny about THAT?" "Mom, really, I said cool"). He got really set on the idea that it would somehow involve a jet plane (cool, he said) and a pirate hat (funny, he said). After a little more discussion, we added one more requirement--that it had to kind of make sense.

Here is what we finally came up with:

Jacob ended up coming up with the concept all by himself. That is a hat from a frog-themed birthday party he went to--we took the eyes and tongue off of it. Then we taped on a platform from his Ben 10 Alien Changer (which you probably know nothing about unless you're the parent of a boy aged 4-10). Jacob drew and colored the body of the jet plane and the wings (notice the flames on the wings), then he cut the body of the plane and slid the wings in. Then it was my job to figure out how to get the plane to "fly." I have to say that when we were done, we were pretty darn pleased with ourselves!

New Post!!!

I actually have a new post down there somewhere, but I actually started working on the post in May, so when I finally hit "publish post" it went below the two or three posts I published more recently. So scroll on down and you can thank me later for making you pass those to-die-for pictures of Ava again.

OH MY WORD...

About a month ago, my mother, my sister Karla, and my sister Susan, her husband and her daughter Ava visited. It was SO good to have them here. I took a ton of pictures, and of course it was ALL about Ava. Is she not just TOO CUTE FOR WORDS?

Michael, Daniel and Ben being Michael, Daniel and Ben

This is from Christmas of this past year, but it is still definitely worth sharing. These are three out of my four nephews, just being themselves...I love my family!

Random Pictures from 2008...

Well, it is clearly too late to do a bunch of detailed posts for 2008, so I decided just to post a bunch of pictures from the year, and try to keep up with this after that. For the life of me I couldn't even figure out how to get these in the right order, so this isn't exactly chronological. I'm not the best at this...

Like father, like son...

With Maw and Paw (Alan's parents) at Easter.

My little Know-It-All telling another child how t-ball should be played.




Jacob showing off his new bat, glove and ball for t-ball.

Jacob playing soccer. Or just waiting to play soccer. The child in the middle is Kyler, Jacob's best friend. He and Jacob are like two peas in a pod.

See?

What did I tell you? Two peas in a pod.

Jacob and Kyler at Uncle John's Cider Farm in the fall.

Jacob eating popcorn cooked over the open fire while camping in our back yard. I desperately did not want to stay in the tent for the night, and shamefully kept trying to convince Jacob that it would be much nicer inside.

I kept looking longfully at the house from my viewpoint right by the fire. Doesn't it look inviting?

The dogs (one of them ours, one of them the neighbors') checking out our tent.

Alan helping Jacob roast hotdogs. (By the way, I ultimately convinced Jacob and he fell asleep with me in our bed while watching a movie. Score!)

Jacob on, what else, the first day of kindergarten, with his handmade sign. We did one for the last day of kindergarten, too, but I forgot to upload that picture and if I tried now it would be ridiculously out of order. Plus, that's 2009, so you'll need to wait another year for it.

He thought he was too cool for school.

But he indulged me and kept posing.

This is Alan and me at Christmastime in Memphis at my brother Jack's house. We have so few pictures of the two of us, because I usually take the pictures.

My sister-in-law, Tina (Jack's wife) and their youngest daughter, Anna.

Two of my sister Karla's kids, Kaitlyn and Michael.

Jacob investigating his Christmas booty as my brother, Jack, looks on.

My sister Karla and me, still at Jack's house.

My sister Karla and her baby Michael.

Karla stealing a kiss from Jacob as Anna looks on.

Anna, Jacob, Karla and Kaitlyn

This is one of my oldest and dearest friends, Deidre (as in our friendship is old, not her). She is so wonderful to try to make the trip from Searcy to see me whenever I am in Memphis. I am SO thankful for her.

Jacob with Deidre's daughter, Shelby. She kept trying to play house and calling him "Husband," and he did not like that at all. He is full force into the "girls, ewwwww" stage.

Hanging out with Maw.

Deidre's daughter, Shelby, posing as only she can. Too precious.

My nephew Michael. 'Nuff said.

Jacob, Kyler and Kyler's sister Jenna playing in the leaves.

They have so much fun together.

I think he was trying to make a leaf angel. Makes sense to me.

Chilling with Daddy on a lazy, cold Saturday afternoon.

Hanging out with Kyler, again. Rough life, to have your food served to you on a tray in front of the TV. I at least made them pull their own crusts off.

This is when Jacob was in the emergency room for breaking his arm by falling off the slide at school. SO pitiful. The bad thing is, we didn't have a coat that would fit over his cast, so we had to cut the sleeve off of a perfectly good jacket. No way he could go without one during the winters up here!

Another cold afternoon. Jacob got out a face painting kit he got from someone in my family the Christmas before, and of course he and Kyler picked the most complicated picture in the book. It took me over an hour to paint both of their faces. They are supposed to be snakes. Eh, I did my best.

This picture is from the front yard, facing our house. I just thought the sky looked cool.

Jacob helping Ashley (Alan's sister) put up her Christmas tree.

Getting an assist from Maw with the lights.

Helping Ashley put the beads on the Christmas tree.

He loves decorating the tree. Ashley had to go back and redo everything he "helped" her with!

The snow looks so pretty off our back deck.

Doesn't it look perfect for Christmastime? After that, as far as I'm concerned, bring on the heat!

Our Christmas tree.

Jacob bringing out Santa's cookies and milk.

Jacob in front of the tree, in his pjs, ready to try to go to sleep.

Jacob at Maw and Paw's house after Christmas.

Abby, Maw's dog, is a bit of a diva. She loves to dress up in different outfits and prance and pose.

See?

Maw and Jacob. He loves his Maw.

What did I tell you, out of order. Shelby and Jacob again.

Shelby and Jacob playing with a toy dog at my mother's house.

Jacob waking my nephew Michael to hug him goodbye before we head back up to the frozen tundra.

Jacob loving on Granny Honey.

Well, that's it for 2008. That's obviously not all we did, but hopefully that gives anyone who cares enough to forgive me for not posting anything sooner. I'll try to do better. I always have the best intentions...