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!