A Front Yard Circus!

Jacob was invited to his friend Hudson's 2nd birthday party on Saturday. His mom, Katie, is in my Friday playgroup and she is actually due with her 2nd baby a couple of weeks after me. The party was held at her house and it was circus themed. Let me tell you, she must have started planning this party the day after Hudson turned 1. It was fantastic!! Unfortunately, I was not born with that creative gene (sorry Jacob.) There was a snow cone machine, popcorn machine, cotton candy machine, games and prizes for the kids, dress up costumes, and "Cookie the clown" was there to entertain the kids. I really don't think Jacob could have had MORE fun. I told Katie that I will be hiring her to plan Jacob's 3rd birthday party -- if I am brave enough to have it at our house, that is.

As soon as I gave Jacob a magician's wand, I regretted it. Here he is hitting the trees with it:





That circus tent is the cake. And it was ALL cake. Amazing.



Jacob leading the limbo line with Cookie the Clown:



He couldn't wait to have cotton candy:



And he LOVED it:





These things were hysterical. The kids were supposed to get in them and knock each other down:



Mooommmm, I can't ride the horse with my popcorn. Take it!



Taking a whack at the pinata:



And any fun day wouldn't be complete without Daddy throwing Jacob in the air

Monsters and Dragons and Dinosaurs, oh my!

Jacob's imagination has sprung to an entirely new level lately. I'm not sure what sparked it, but in the last few weeks, we are slaying imaginary dragons in the bushes and running away from monsters in dark corners. When we're driving, he likes to point out dinosaurs in the trees and on the road..."Mommy watch out! There's a dinosaur!" I'm a little confused as to whether or not we should be encouraging this type of play (which we usually do) because I'm not sure if the fright factor is something of concern. There was a period of time when he wasn't sleeping so wonderfully recently and we thought maybe it was due to nightmares which I was attributing to the whole monsters/dragons/dinosaur introduction into our lives. Fortunately, the night wakings are subsiding (knock on wood.) I do find this phase hugely entertaining though. Now, if he ever starts talking about seeing ghosts or imaginary people, I may have to find a way to deal with my own nightmares regarding that situation. I've always been freaked out about hearing stories of small children saying that they "see people" that we don't see. Jacob, please don't do that to mommy.

On a very different note, Jacob started a new preschool on Monday. We decided to take him out of the other school for various reasons but mostly because there wasn't really much true learning going on (that we saw) and it just felt like a glorified daycare. And, when we made the decision to switch, he had been having some rough days at the school (crying during his whole nap) and we just felt it was time to try something else. Unfortunately, we had to give 2 weeks notice and in those 2 weeks that he had left, he apparently fell in LOVE with his old school and made a friend named Ryan that he never stopped talking about. Great timing. So, Monday was a rough day for him since he was at a totally new school and this "Ryan" kid wasn't there. By Wednesday, though, he was crying because he didn't want to leave his new school -- which was an awesome sign. I'm really excited about the skills he's going to learn there and love and nurturing he'll get. I just keep praying we made the right decision!

On the baby front...no news yet. I was officially "full term" on Tuesday when I hit 37 weeks which means that baby can come any day now without any concern. I am not holding out that baby will come super early, but I keep sending up prayers that baby will come before they want to induce me. Don't worry -- I won't be consuming any castor oil this time around, but I have no problem trying to walk this baby out of me and eating lots of pineapple. :)

37 weeks:

Gotta love paint!

Mark and I decided a couple of weeks ago that we wanted to paint the entire interior of our house. Don't ask me why we make these decisions when we have so much going on (8 months pregnant no less), but this is how we roll and I'm getting used to it. Who would have thought picking out paint colors would be so stressful?! Thank goodness we hired the most patient painter on the planet because after we changed our minds 3 times, I thought he was seriously going to throw his paintbrush in the air along with a white flag.

I have to say though, the results are outstanding. We've always been big fans of color in a home and when we moved into this house, the walls were sparkling white. I always wonder why builders don't put some sort of creamy beige on the walls, if anything to make the beautiful white crown molding "pop". I think the colors we picked did just that and I'm excited to share the transformation on the blog.

By the way, Jacob and I spent one entire afternoon watching them paint our family room and he was mesmerized. This room has extremely tall ceilings and one of the painters was up on this gigantic ladder trimming the tops of the walls. Jacob just kept saying "be careful!" ha. I was a nervous wreck watching him up there.

Family room before:



Family room after:



Kitchen before:



Kitchen after:







Master bedroom before:



Master bedroom after:



Master Bath before:



Master Bath after:



Guest Bedroom before:



Guest Bedroom after:



Guest Bathroom before:


Guest Bathroom after:



Office before:



Office after:



Front/Formal Room before:



Front/Formal Room after:



And these are just a few shots of the entryway and foyer. Unfortunately I don't have before pics:

One of my favorite quotes so far

Mark, Jacob and I went to PF Changs tonight for dinner to round out the long birthday/holiday weekend. On the way home, we were chatting with Jacob:

Me: "Jacob, is the baby in mommy's tummy a boy or a girl?"
Jacob: "A girl"
Me: "What should we name the baby girl?"
Jacob: "I want to name her 'Mommy'"

And my heart just melts.

Daddy's Triathlon -- a true "labor" day

Mark did his 2nd triathlon this morning in Plano. I am so impressed (but not surprised) that he did so well given how little training he had time to fit in during the last month. On top of that, it was about 90 degrees out there today without even the slightest breeze. Jacob and I were sweating bullets so I can only imagine what Mark was going through. Mark had to go very early in the morning so Jacob and I drove up separately and found the perfect shady spot on the bike path to cheer him on as he came around twice (they did 2 loops on the bike path). Jacob was super excited to scream "go Daddy, go!" After he finished the bike, we caught him in the middle of the run and then waited for him at the finish line. Jacob and I were so proud! Congrats babe on another big physical accomplishment! After I pop this baby out, you have inspired me to do one with you!! XO XO XO!!

Jacob showing off his Wildcats T-shirt that Mommy had made for him. The back says "Broxterman" with the #12 on it (Mark's football # in college).



Of course we can't go anywhere without a handful of matchbox cars...



Daddy on his 2nd loop on the bike path



Daddy waving to Jacob



On the beginning part of the run (this is when I felt really bad for him -- it was scorching outside at this point.)



More running...



The finish line...



Daddy finishing! (Unfortunately I didn't catch him under the balloons)



Ahhh, what a sweet reward at the end

"What's in a name?"

Ah, Shakespeare. You said it.

Mark and I are a little bit concerned that we don't have a set name for this baby yet (boy OR girl). We have a long list for both but nothing is standing out to us as "the" name. We didn't have this kind of trouble with Jacob and I'm not sure what's different this time. Is it because we don't know the gender? Or is it because we have grown incredibly indecisive in the recent years? I personally think it's the latter -- and if you witnessed us trying to pick out paint colors for our house this last week, you would completely concur. I can't tell you how many times we changed our minds (even after they had started painting!!)

I'll be posting before and after pics of the house soon. The entire interior of the house is painted now and even though it was a stressful week, it was worth it because the colors are fantastic!

A couple of weekends ago, I forgot to mention that our close friends, Julie and Tom and their baby Kate came to visit for the weekend. We had a great time just catching up and taking it easy. I love that we are now only a 3 hour drive away, and I hope to be spending even more time with them!! Here are some pics from their visit:











Jacob trying to give Kate a big HUG: