Today you are 2

Dear Sweet Boy,

Today we celebrate the day you were born, the day our lives were changed forever in the best way possible.

Today is your 2nd birthday! I'm excited and a little sad. Your birthday is so bittersweet for me. To see you growing and developing is a joy; to see you getting older and more independent is also a joy and a reminder of how time flies. It seems like just yesterday you arrived in all your tiny baby perfection.

Today we celebrate 2 of the most amazing years of our lives with you our sweet little boy.
There will never be words to express the love we feel for you. God has blessed us so greatly with the boy your are and we are so thankful God chose us to be your parents.

Our prayer for you our sweet boy is to know God's love for you. The love we have is just a sample of the overflowing love of our almighty God. We hope we will be able to teach you God's word daily so that you will be filled with it and live by by His word according to His will.

I know that this next year will be filled with so much fun, learning and new experiences. I hope that during this year I will remember to take time and enjoy every moment. No matter how big or small it may seem. And even during the struggles that are sure to come that I would show you the joy you have given me. I pray that I will always make time for you & that you will know just how important you are to me.

My sweet baby boy you have changed my life in so many ways(daddy's too) in just these 2 short years. I look forward to our year ahead and all that God has in store for you.

Happy 2nd Birthday my sweet boy!

With more Love then you will ever know!
Mommy


I will post a 24 month update later this weekend....for now I am enjoying my sweet little boy!!

Happy Birthday To Me

I love Birthdays!!! Even my birthday maybe it is because I haven't hit the dreaded 30, but really I am totally looking forward to 30! To me birthdays are just fun. It is the one day of the year that is really all for you...why not celebrate no mater if you are turning 2 or 92!!! So for me yeah for Birthdays. I enjoyed an entire week of Birthday celebration with small things like a piece of cake, or starbucks! Then Saturday night Jason & I went out to dinner and then spent Sunday(my actual bday) with family. Which for me was a great birthday celebration! But the real reason for this post is to tell you about my great surprise. My very best friend happens to be an AMAZING baker and cake decorator. She does it as a hobby, but could totally beat out some of those Cake Boss people any day. Last year she made Jake's 1st birthday cake and this year she is on assignment again to make Jake's 2nd birthday cake. Because mine and Jake's birthdays are only 5 days apart I never anticipated her making me a birthday cake. But Friday night I was pleasantly surprised with a giant cupcake of yummy chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting...YUM!!!


Which brings me to my next reason for sharing about her most amazing surprise cake for me and the many other wonderful cakes she makes. She has started a blog!!! Yes, you can see all of her amazing work on her very own blog Spoonful of Frosting...is that not the cutest name ever. She has already posted several post of her past cakes, but there will be more post to come. And she hopes to include recipes and other yummy things too!!! Please be sure to check out her site and leave a comment. If you have an upcoming event she can make you a wonderfully beautiful and delicious cake too!!!

Popcorn Jack-o-Lanterns

Jake & his cousins made popcorn balls at their Nana's house over the weekend. All the boys thought it was so much fun. Not sure if they enjoyed making or eating the sticky popcorn more. But it was a fun little fall "cooking" project for all of them. Jake's favorite part was the chocolate we used for the face of the jack-o-lantern.

2 Year Photo Session

Pumpkin Patch

Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater

I love this time of year...even with all it's busyness. One of our favorite things around here is anything pumpkin. I should clarify anything sweet with pumpkin (no pumpkin soups for us). And of course pumpkin scented things too. Growing up we used canned pumpkin and really only enjoyed the usual pumpkin pie. Then Jason growing up always had fresh straight from the pumpkin but still just pumpkin pie. The 1st few years we were married my mother-in-law would do all the work and then just bring over some containers of pumpkin for us to keep in our freezer. Easy I can handle fresh if I am not doing the work. But then last year we got this great idea that we would do the pumpkins ourselves. I had a great magazine article all about how to do your own pumpkins. I have been expreminting for several years now with all things pumpkin. Our favorites now include pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie of course, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin waffles and pancakes too. Each year I try a few new things to make variety in our fall (well really all into the year) pumpkin consumption.

This year we did our pumpkins and ended up with 18 cups of pumpkin in the freezer (9 2 cup containers). I think last year we had 14 cups!!! Needless to say I will be making yummy pumpkin treats all the way until next years pumpkin puree party. Stay tuned pumpkin patch pictures coming this week.


These are our 2 pumpkins (no idea what kind they are...my mil got them for us)
Here is Jake scooping out the seeds
Here they are cooking in the oven with a little water on the baking sheets and water underneath
Scooped all the mushy yummyness out of each pumpkin and put it in the food processor (no pictures of the food processing step)
And there you have it our 18 cups of pumpkin yummy puree....I am thinking some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are just around the corner

Blog Question?

Ok this is going to be totally irrelevant to my family who reads for Jake/family updates so feel free to tune out on this one.

To my blog friends....
I am sure this is probably totally easy, but I just can't seem to figure it out. I want to be able to make a word a link. Like if I was to say "I just read this great post over here you should go read it." But I want the reader to be able to just click on the word here and go straight to the blog post. Or "I really want one of these." And then the reader could just click on "these" and go straight to a picture on amazon or something like that. Does that make sense?

Alright, feel free to email or comment and help me out.

28 years

My mother-in-law made these aprons when Jason was little. Recently when we were at their house she asked me if I wanted the little one for Jake. I just had to have a picture taken just like Jason & his dad had. It is crazy that Jason & Jake are exactly the same age. What a treasure to have the same apron that Jason wore when he was little. And let me tell you Jake loves the apron and always asks to wear it. I didn't notice until right as I was about to publish this post that Jason & his Dad are wearing almost the same color shirt 28 years later.



Jason & his dad March 1981

Jake & His Dad Oct. 2009

Selfish...I know

Ok, I am just going to admit it...I don't like Jake's birth-date. I know it sounds crazy, but don't think less of me for it. First, I absolutely love celebrating his life and he is the most amazing blessing we have received and of course I love him to pieces and pieces every moment of each day. But still the verdict stands I don't like his birth-date. I am hoping that by posting this I will come to terms with it and hopefully by next year when we are getting ready to celebrate year #3 I will have accepted the date of his birth.

Here is the problem! Jake was due November 16th. My entire pregnancy I thought I would have a November baby. Even at my amazing baby shower in September my friend decorated with the flower of November (chrysanthemum) because he was going to be a November baby.
Then on my birthday Oct. 25th we got the news that they would be inducing me because my blood pressure was getting a little higher then they wanted. I checked into the hospital Oct. 29th and my sweet boy arrived the evening of Oct. 30th...after a c-section(I "had" to have...post for another day). So there I was no longer with a November boy, but an October boy.

Which brings me to my next problem his birthday is ONE day before Halloween...did you catch that? Probably not because you saw Halloween and instantly your mind began to wander. Oh the yummy chocolate candy and fun dress up close. Yeah, I thought so...same problem with Jake's birthday it is just too close to stinkin' Halloween. Just think when he goes to school his birthday will be overshadowed by Halloween. Oh, I know he can have fun Halloween parties, but really? Is that fun? Birthdays are all for you your one special day that is ALL about you. I really feel for people with birthdays close to Christmas...Halloween is nowhere near as big a deal as Christmas. But still I struggle with these things.

But the month of October just seems like such a blur almost. I love fall it is pretty close to my favorite season (a close 2nd to spring). But the start of Oct. just seems like there is so much to do. Going to the pumpkin patch, picking out Halloween costumes, & of course planning a day to celebrate the wonderful blessing in my sweet little boy.

Then there is this one other problem...My birthday is ONLY 5 days before Jake's birthday. Yes, I am an adult and don't really celebrate my birthday with parties and such, but still October was MY birthday month. I didn't have to make up excuses of why I needed pumpkin cheesecake from Olive Garden every week...(hello it was my birthday month...you celebrate the whole month.) I still get my special treatment and my sweet mom takes me shopping & out to lunch every year for my birthday (now we just have a little boy hanging out with us too.) It all just seems a little overshadowed by this sweet little boy who is almost 2.

Which is why I feel a little guilty about not liking his birth-date? He is the most amazing, wonderful, sweet, little almost 2 year old (in just 25 short days) boy in the entire world. (or at least in my entire world) I want the whole month to be about him and the wonderful life we were given in him. But then a little part of me still wants the whole month to be all about me...just a little! So the that is when the ugly guilt comes up. I have had my years of celebrating me...Jake totally and whole-heartedly deserves his years of pure Jake celebration. And don't get me wrong I know that becoming a parent is about a whole lot of life change and I am willing to make all the changes neccessary and give up whatever so that he can have the best!

But just for today (20 days before my birthday) I needed a to vent a little and just get if off my mind. Like I said in hopes that after outing myself for the feelings I have about 1 of the greatest days of my life...I will put my big girl panties on and just get over it. HELLO...he will have this birth-date for the rest of his life. Oh, and don't worry we celebrate his half birthday too se he really gets several Jake celebrations all through out the year...what am I saying....every day (just about) is a Jake day.

Ok...we will not get back to regularly scheduled program. No more whining from this mommy. I have a Halloween costume to pick out & a bubble birthday to plan for my precious almost 2 year old. (struggling with that too...2 just seems so much more of a big boy then turning 1).