I want to dance like Daddy

Jacob has reached a milestone I have been waiting for foe-eh-vah! The man can dance! I was excited for this for a few reasons:

a. It's always cute to see a baby dancing (he actually even dances better than this video now because he only hears the word "dance" and gets his groove on...mommy doesn't have to get hers on for him to do it anymore).

b. Because it's some sort of cognitive benchmark. Maybe a cognitively cool benchmark?

As for 'c', enjoy Jacob's stylings first.

And c. Because if Jacob's daddy dances like this...

(Repeat pic, used previously to show off Matt's lustrious mane.)

...then Jacob's gonna be one cool, funky dude.

Jacob darling clapped as he walked, and walked, and walked and walked

In honor of the pioneers (who truly and bravely did walk and walk) Jacob decided that July 24th, Pioneer Day, was the right day to show off his walking skills. He's been "walking" for a week now, but he still prefers crawling when he wants to get somewhere in a hurry. And yes, we know our lives will change now that he's walking. Hee.

Also, Jacob decided to up his walking proficiency on the day that Grandma Jan came to visit! She's been a big help and we're loving her visit. Expect full blogumentation soon!

Bedtime Rituals are for Parents too!

Every night before we got to bed we sneak into Jacob's room and get a big "parent paycheck".

We thought we'd share the wealth. Enjoy.



Cha-ching!

Baby Dracula

Please be warned, the following pictures are somewhat alarming (and gross) because

JACOB TOTALLY LOOKS LIKE A BIG BAD VAMPIRE!

Don't worry though, he's actually just enjoying a healthy snack of blueberries (for the antioxidants).












Look at those hands stained red by the spilt juice of the bluberries.



Aww shucks. He's no vampire, he's my baby!



Any tips on how to get this stuff out of my favorite bib?

Neigh-bear. Hee.

On this most auspicious day

We celebrate in admiring retrospective our dear husband & father.
























Man, is he wierd!

But I wouldn't want to be doing all this with anyone else.
Happy Birthday to our truly wonderful Matt.
We love you..."always and forever".

Bizarro World

This weekend we have been living in a bizarre world indeed.

Firstly, we took Jacob out to eat with us Friday night and kept him up until 10:00 pm...about 3 hours past his usually unflinchingly rigid bedtime.

Due to perhaps his late bedtime (sleep begets sleep, right?) he was up from 1:00 am to 3:00 am and gave us a chance to finish the Braves game we started watching at 10:00 pm.

Jacob woke up at 7:00 am and then AMAZINGLY fell asleep after we put toys in his crib in a fruitful effort to buy us some more sleep time.

Nice socks, huh?



Mommy actually got to bang out 4 hours of quality thesis work in our room of all trades.



Daddy took care of Jacob and apparently taught him how to cook.



Jacob took a nap without socks or pants on. I guess I don't need to dutifully cover those tootsies for naps as much as I thought I did.



And lastly, in a spurt of mid-summer's energy we got organizing. So, our closets are all clean...



...and our house is a mess.



I guess some things aren't too bizarro though. Jacob is still his sweet, good, mild mannered little self.



Sort of.

Looking Toward the Future

That's right, Jacob won't always have copious amounts of Cheerios and cheese chunks at his disposal. Someday he'll be on his own, and he'll have to provide all of his own cereal and dairy needs. Let alone veggies! So, it's a good idea for Jacob to develop talents that he has that might fetch a price in the future. Lately he's been practicing his spinning in the kitchen. Easter eggs, an old phone, toy rings and water bottles are his preferred items to spin. Check him out in action.



Note how he bends down to watch the phone in motion. He wants to make sure he creates a quality spin.





Yet again, look at his attention to detail.





Please, let us know what you think Jacob can do in the future with this impressive skill. We've only thought of one so far, and we don't really want him in the circus.

Also, not only can Jacob spin objects, he can spin himself! SPOILER ALERT: We were listening to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and you can hear all about Tonk's patronus if you're not careful and lots of my wheezy laughter trying to drown out said book on tape. I guess I could have gotten up and turned it off...hmmm...well you just turn the volume down!

Enjoy.

I'm a gonna gi' cha

I'm a gonna gi' cha



I'm a gonna gi' cha



I'm a gonna gi' cha



Gi'cha, gi'cha, gi'cha, gi'cha, gi'cha!



Ciao.

Fourth o' July

Now that Jacob has turned the ripe old age of one he has a broader vista of events like the fourth of July...having now experienced two of them. His first fourth of July was spent driving Grandma & Grandpa Gamette to the airport and striking sultry poses, like this one, with momma.



Now we've got a different baby on our hands. One who looks overheated and/or sunburned in the following picture, but I swear he is neither.



So, we went to what I assume amounts to Norcross Georgia's Freedom Festival. This basically includes a bunch of "country" booths crammed onto Old Norcross's main street and a fabulous, wonderful, awe-inspiring concert "on the green".



This concert had it all. The Sugar Hill Stake Choir sang (go us!) and the Gwinnett county community band performed. Four marines who had served in Iraq presented the colors.



They also did a beautiful tribute to our servicemen and women by singing all of the anthems of the Armed Forces and inviting those who had served in those branches to stand during the singing. If you look closely you can see that there was more than one person who had served in the Air Force in attendance.



It was wonderful. The evening was also very illuminating.

We learned that those "country" people made annoying marshmallow guns. Thusly we learned that Matt is a walking target.

We learned that Jacob will stay up past 7:00 if there are enough loud drums to mesmerize him.



We learned that trains are kid magnets. (You should have seen all of the kids in an absolute dead run to watch the train go by...and yes, this looks dangerous.)



We also learned that Auburn people/fans/alumni are, in fact, "slackers" (kidding)...for you, my dear Machoo.



Lastly, we learned that if I hear lyrics like these:

Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this is our motto: "In God is our Trust!"
And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

I will cry, cry, and cry some more. (The face is a joke, but those tears were fo' real.)

1 Safari Pool: $7.99

10-ish gallons of water from the hose: 20 cents
1 floppy blue sun hat: $10.00



2 kids in a pool: priceless



Yes, it's come to this, I couldn't resist but write my own MasterCard commercial. My friend Emily and her son Neal came over the other day (she and I were in the same ward growing up in Utah and both miraculously married auditors that brought us to the ATL) and we played in the pool (or poo' as I call it).







Oh yes, and some clover-ey weeds smeared all over Jacob's face: free







I can't believe I caught the two of them looking straight at the camera. Now that is priceless and rare indeed.



Happy Summer!