conversations with Jacob

Jacob is getting to such a fun age! There is a certain conversation that gets repeated often. Most usually when we are getting in the car to go somewhere.

Little J: where daddy?

me: daddy is at work.

Little J: oh. where joe?

me: Joe is at school.

Little J: oh. (repeat several times)

We also have this one occasionally:

me: What does the cow say?

Little J: moooooo

me: What does the sheep say?

Little J: baaaaaaaa

me: What do 3 singing pigs say?

Little J: La La La

me: What do you say?

Little J: no no!

me: What do cats and kittens say?

Little J: (very softly) meow

we've also added:

me: what does Santa say?

Little J: Ho Ho!

me: what does mama say?

Little J: Love you!

Chinese New Year

Last evening we enjoyed our dinner with a few decorations celebrating the Chinese New Year - year of the dragon.
For dinner? Lettuce Wraps and Pork & Ginger Potstickers. So yummy.

Catching up

I just realized that I haven't posted anything here for awhile. I guess we've been busy? Actually, after all the hustle and bustle and craziness of the holidays, we've just been trying to get back into a "normal" routine. This includes Joseph going to school three days a week and all of us heading off to Bible Study on Tuesdays. I'm also trying to tackle (cross-off) items on my list of projects. I don't know if I'd classify it as a New Year's Resolution but I am trying to do more of those "someday-when-I-have-time-I'd-like-to" things. I've been blogging about them here.

Here are a couple of pictures I've snapped of the boys.

Joseph's wish list

A couple of weeks ago when I dropped Joseph off at school his classmates were busy cutting out pictures of things they wanted for Christmas and gluing them on paper. Joseph brought his creation home that evening but I didn't really take a good look at it until this morning when I was taking pictures of his crafts (and throwing away the originals - shhhh.) As I looked at the pictures I realized that not a single one was just a random cut out. He really would like each and every item.

Mickey Mouse Hat - um, total favorite.
Legos - always - good thing he got some.
iPad - who wouldn't and the kid loves anything electronic on which he can play games.
GPS - the kid loves a map.
Jump Castle - have we mentioned that Jump Zone is his favorite place after Disney World?
Chuggington Playset/Thomas the Train - also loves trains
Hot Wheels & Trio building sets - yep - loves/has those.

Homemade gifts & Christmas Elf Weekend

I had so much fun getting into the crafty, homemade goodness of Christmas this year. Most afternoons while Jacob slept you would find me listening to Christmas music while sitting at my sewing machine or in my kitchen.

One morning my friend Jenny came over and we whipped up these great snowmen shirts for both of our families to wear as Christmas jammies. I also made our family matching flannel pajama pants.

I also made this little onesie for our niece Ava . . .

with a matching fabric tutu.
Additional projects: bacon jam, brown sugar scrub, photo books, embroidered towels, placemats and hand print ornaments for grandparents' Christmas trees (and ours).

The weekend before we left for Christmas my sister-in-law made a quick trip here so we could work on some secret Christmas Elf presents.

Our primary project was an iPad cover for my mother-in-law's iPad. We loved it so much we made one for each of us! And monogrammed them so we could tell them apart.
We also made this little Hogwarts onesie for our niece.Additional projects: jars of Christmas Scent,

and lots and lots and lotsof Christmas baking

and chocolate dipping.