Have you been watching...????

I am jumping up and down ecstatic that Jeff Dye made it to the finals! When my friends and I saw him perform in Tacoma for my 30th birthday, I had NO IDEA he would make it this far! We knew he was on this season of Last Comic Standing, but the show had barely started. So we thought he probably tried out and was cut ~ because why else would he be performing in the middle of the season?! He is also from Seattle and his comedy is clean, which I really admire.
Each week that he makes it, I've grown more and more excited. As if I knew him personally because I saw him at the comedy club or something. ;) How awesome would it be if he won and we got to see him perform for $15? SO AWESOME. I think he's super funny and I really hope he wins! My friends and I will be at my house rooting for him next Thursday!

Shamu and Toodles

Since we bought Shamu at Seaworld for Jacob, we let Gavin choose a stuffed animal at Legoland. There was a monkey, giraffe, elephant, and parrot and before I knew it, Gavin was clutching onto all four and heading to the checkout counter. So we narrowed the choice down to two for him, the elephant and the giraffe. He chose the elephant and they have been inseparable ever since. Gavin thought of the name Toodles (from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) all by himself and it stuck.

It's so cute to see them cuddled up with Shamu and Toodles each night and dragging them sleepily to the couch each morning. Neither Jacob or Gavin have been attached to even a binky or a blanket. (Gavin likes to sleep with a blanket, it just doesn't matter which one.) Now they cannot seem to survive without Toodles and Shamu though... they bring back good memories I guess! ;)

Growing up so fast

When you're the mom of a 2 year-old, it's unbelievable how they grow up right before your eyes everyday. Gavin has made huge gains in the things he is able to say and do lately, so I wanted to capture them in writing.

First of all, he has gone from saying two words at a time to connecting full (adorable) sentences. Here are some examples of the things he has been saying.

"What is it Mama?"
"I want Honey Bee cereal." (Cheerios :)
"Uh oh, where my elephant?! Where my Toodles?" (The name he made up for his elephant)
"I watch Wiggles!" (When I turn the T.V. on)
"No... that the sun!" (When reading Goodnight Moon)
"Here we are! I get popcorn!" (As we pull into the parking lot of Target)
"What your name? My name Gavin." (To anybody who will listen)
"Baby mommy tummy." (What I heard him saying when he couldn't sleep last night)

Jacob and Gavin were playing hide and go seek with their Daddy last night and this is how it went.
G: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,40! Here comes!
J&G: Daddy! Where are you?!
J: (Coming up to me for a hint) Have you ever seen Daddy?
M: (Smiling) Nope, I've never seen him. ;)

Jacob is really into CVC words and is able to sound out most of these words independently. C-A-T, that spells CAT. R-U-N, that spells RUN. L-O-G, that spells LOG. Gavin, loving to mimic his big brother, thinks he can do it too. B-M-G, that spell mommy. H-I-Y, that spell couch. Pretty darn cute.

I never thought Gavin would be into puzzles the way his big brother is, but he loves them! We started a few months ago with a 9-piece Elmo puzzle, he went straight from that to 12-piece puzzles, and he actually completed his first 24 piece puzzle today. It's kind of cute because we have a picture of Jacob doing a 24-piece puzzle in the hospital when Gavin was born... so now we'll have to get a picture of Gavin completing one when this baby is born! How did we come up with these crazy puzzle kids? At least it gives me some down time when they are both quietly working at the "puzzle table". (Actually our dining room table, but used mostly for puzzles ;)

Gavin is doing really well in his new big boy bed, but sleeping in the same room as his brother? Not working out so much. He's taking so long to fall asleep that it keeps Jacob up way later than usual. So we're tucking Jacob in another room right now and moving him back once Gavin falls asleep. Not ideal, but these boys cannot seem to fall asleep together! Gavin is probably ready to give up his nap, but with the baby coming, I'm definitely not ready for that yet. So we're trying other things...

...like wearing them out!


I must say, the best use of our treadmill yet!

Airplanes, airplanes, everywhere!

We went to the McChord air show last Saturday for the first time. They haven't had one for three years, and before that, Adam was usually on a trip that particular weekend. Traffic was a little crazy as it took almost two hours to get there and to get home! It was fun to see all of the airplanes though, particularly the ones Adam has flown.

Here are my boys inside the C-17, the airplane Adam currently flies for the Air Force (in addition to the MD-80).


One of the parachuters who jumped from the C-17!

This is the airplane that has recently replaced the "Tweet" or T-37, the first airplane Adam flew during Pilot Training.


Here is a picture of the T-1, the airplane Adam flew during the last six months of pilot training.

These airplanes were dropping bombs in order to re-enact the attack on Pearl Harbor.


All in all, it was a fun day. The Thunderbirds were there as the grand finale, but my camera's battery had died by then. I always have bad timing with that! The boys liked watching the airplanes, but I think they liked the ice cream and free prizes even better. ;)

Five weeks to go!

Can you believe it?! I have a tentative C-section date of August 22! I'm still feeling pretty good, considering how far along I am. I finally felt the familiar rhythm of hiccups for the first time last week and almost everyday since. Between kicks, hiccups, and contractions (I guess it's common to get them earlier and more frequently with each successive pregnancy), my stomach feels like a constant punching bag!

I just moved all of Gavin's things out of his old room and into his new room with Jacob. I can't believe I got all of his clothes and shoes to fit inside Jacob's closet and dresser, but somehow I did it. The baby's room looks so different with only baby outfits and supplies in there. It makes everything that much more real and exciting.

Adam and I can hardly wait to find out if this baby is a boy or a girl! It took a lot of willpower not to find out at the ultrasound, but now we're getting so close. :) I found a cute Baby Gap outfit for our baby to go home in, one in pink and one in blue. Right now, we're leaving the nursery as it is in case it's a boy. If it's a girl, we'll have to have a painting/decorating party (and change the name of my blog?!) I'm going to hang up all of my newborn boy clothes and my friend gave me all of her newborn girl clothes. We're set!

Legoland!

(Start two posts down at the beginning of our trip ;)

We spent our last day in San Diego at Legoland. This place was so much bigger and more impressive than I thought it would be! We took one look at the map and knew we were in for a packed, fun day.

I thought it would be cute to take a picture next to Lego mom. ;) She sure has an easy job!
Jacob was really interested in the map. He held it wherever we went, wanting to know where we were and where we were going.Jacob and Gavin digging for dinosaur fossils
Gavin could have spent the entire day squirting water at these lego animals!
Seriously... thank goodness Gavin was 36 inches. This was the height requirement for almost all of the rides!
Jacob wasn't so sure about this ride, holding on for dear life... however, Gavin was smiling from ear to ear! These lego cars were like go-carts and so fun to ride (once Jacob figured out how to step on the gas ;) He even got an official lego license to take home with him.
Gavin loved galloping through the forest on his horse. Giddy-up!
Half-way through the park, there was a pirate-themed area with a water park and waterslides. Jacob and Gavin got in their swim suits and ran around like crazy. If you were in the wrong place at the wrong time though, this entire bucket of water came down on you!
This was my favorite ride by far... especially since I couldn't go on the roller coasters. ;)
Our last stop was mini-land, where entire cities had been built out of legos. Adam and I took a picture outside of the Luxor, where we last stayed in Las Vegas.

New York City
The Sydney Opera House
Mount Rushmore
Who could forget Bob the Builder in legos?

Jacob went on a Dragon roller coaster with Adam and wasn't interested in any rides that appeared "roller-coasterish" afterwards. The funniest thing was when we asked him what he favorite part of Legoland was, he smiled in excitement and said, "The dragon roller coaster!" Who would've thought? It was a great day though... we only waited in one long line for a pirate ride. All of the other lines were ten minutes or less!

As for the airplane rides? They went really well, mostly because of this.

Hanging out at the Beach

We decided to take the day in between SeaWorld and Legoland to relax at the beach. It was fun that you could walk across the street to get to the ocean, but we spent most of our time at the bay. The kids loved playing in the calm water, without the scary waves crashing at their feet. (Although they were pretty brave with the ocean waves, as long as their hand was clutching ours ;)


Here is a picture of Mission Bay as you walk outside of our hotel. They would even bring lunch right to you on the beach!

We rented a powerboat so we could ride around and explore Mission Bay. There is nothing I love more than being on a boat, with the cool wind blowing. The boys were statues, looking around in awe but not moving a muscle. I guess they were scared of falling in! At one point, Adam had to go to the bathroom so he jumped in the water. Jacob started screaming (he apparently thought Adam couldn't swim or would get eaten by a shark, leaving us to fend for ourselves :)


There was a carnival on the beach just a mile from our hotel. On Tuesday nights, all of the rides were half-price so we went to check it out.
Jacob will go on any scary ride imaginable, but he WILL NOT ride a horse on the carousel. How crazy is that? He chooses the seat everytime! At least another little boy his age felt the same way and they talked the entire ride. ;)
We couldn't figure out why Gavin was crying until we saw that Jacob wasn't letting him ring the bell.

Sea World

We made lots of fun memories in San Diego. Here are some pictures to capture our vacation at a glance. Our hotel had a rainforest theme, with trees, parrots, waterfalls, pools of enormous fish, and ducks waddling around the pathways. It was a beautiful walk from our room to the swimming pool or the bay.


We had breakfast at our hotel and then were off to SeaWorld! (Jacob loved that the placemats could be used as a pirate mask :)
We headed straight for the Shamu show as soon as we got there. At the beginning of the show, there was a huge tribute to the heroes who serve our country and the audience applauded for families in the military. I was in tears of course, not only as our family stood, but everytime I saw a "Here's to the Heroes" sign around SeaWorld.

Jacob is clapping with the music to Shamu
Gavin and Jacob couldn't get enough of watching the sea lions swim and play
Here we are at the dolphin show... they can splash almost as far as the orca whales!
SeaWorld was definitely kid-friendly, as this entire Sesame themed area was filled with fun things to play on and climb! It was a great break between the shows, but you had to stay latched to your kids so you wouldn't get separated.

This was a cat and dog show that Jacob and Gavin loved. Dogs were jump roping, cats were leaping from high structures... it was pretty entertaining!
We walked through the shark, penguin and polar exhibits. In this picture, Gavin was in a polar bear cave and just heard the loud howl of a polar bear!
We let Jacob pick one treat for the afternoon, whatever he would like. Leave it to a four-year old to choose blue cotton candy!We ended the day at a tidepool, where you could touch all of the sealife (as long as it stayed in the water ;)