Breakfast in Bed

Last Wednesday George didn't get home from a trip until after midnight (I guess this means he didn't get home until Thursday). Thursday is our trash pick-up day and they usually come around 6:30 a.m. I asked Jakob not to come into our room and wake up Daddy to see the trash, he could go downstairs and watch.

Sure enough the trash guys came at 6:30 and Jakob didn't come into our room until 7:30. What did he do this whole time? He watched the guys and then got a stool, climbed up on the stool, got my cereal box (Sam's size), a spoon (tablespoon size) and brought them up for my breakfast in bed. He explained he tried to get a bowl but he was afraid he might break it. And the milk was too heavy and I would have to get it myself.

What a sweet boy.

Pool Party

This past weekend we made a trip to New Jersey to visit George's family. On Sunday we visited our sister-in-laws brother and his family in New York. They have a beautiful lot with lots of land and a swimming pool. Jakob was so happy to swim all day long. Uncle Erik, George's brother, has a reputation with the kids of hurling them high into the air at the pool. This is the first year Jakob has been flung without someone catching him. He was more than willing to go underwater. He did have a purple noodle tied around his chest for security.

It was so much different and relaxing to not have to be in the pool with Jakob every second. He swam so well and repeatedly showed he could get himself to the side of the pool if he needed a break. Yeah!

Party With Friends

Yesterday Jakob and his friends got together for a water party. There was a 3-person Slip N' Slide, a pool and lots of water-guns. They had so much fun.

The older boys were in preschool together and we have tried to get them together at least once a week. They are all going their separate ways when school starts and we are hoping to keep up the "play dates". Our move has made this more challenging, however we really enjoy each others company and the boys are always excited to see each other.

We finished the day with a cookout. My friend Claudia showed-off her BBQ skills and made hamburgers and hot dogs galore. We left tired and happy after 5 or so hours. What a great day.

SwimKids "The Sequel"

Today was the last class of Jakob's swim class. Not only has his swimming improved, but he is so much more comfortable in the pool. I asked him what his favorite part of swim lessons had been and he chose "anything that I get to put my face in the water" WOW!!

He didn't get to go to the treasure chest this session, but he loved it all the same. We hope we'll be here next summer and can participate in the same program. Their coaching is unbeatable.

I am always trying to find programs that teach the technique of a sport as opposed to the actual playing of a sport. For soccer we chose a program that didn't emphasis the game of soccer, just the skills he will need when he eventually plays the game. For swimming we found a similar program that taught techniques and skills to achieve the perfect "stroke" and not just the stroke. My hope is that when he starts playing in teams he will have the skills to participate in the game and not have to think so much about the skills. We'll see if it works. The potential is there he will be the kid who stands in the field and picks flowers or watches the airplanes go by. Or the boy who only wants to go to the pool to see the girls. However, he'll have those skills should he decide to participate.

T-Ball

I had signed Jakob up for lots of summer camps just before school was out. We did not know at that time we would be moving to Springfield. That said, Jakob had two T-Ball camps in late July and August at the Rec Center near our old house. The first was the Saturday and Sunday before we moved. It was a great distraction from the stress of packing and planning.

The second camp was yesterday and today. The commute was 30 minutes instead of 10, however we enjoyed it more this time and it was fun to see his progress. Another bonus was a friend from his preschool was also in this camp. If you've kept up with our blog you'll remember the name Jenna and the crush Jakob had on her last school year. He was thrilled to see her and even more thrilled when the coaches teamed them up for a game of catch. Jakob wouldn't throw hard to her for fear of hurting her, but Jenna threw great and Jakob realized he needed to up his game to impress the girl. They were so cute to watch. He is very excited his birthday party is coming soon so he can invite her to his party. Ahhh!

Shopping

Jakob and I have been stuck at home for the last three days waiting for various people to come help us get "things" working in our new home. Today we went shopping.
We drove to Vienna, VA. We started with The Container Store which is one of Jakob's favorites. We bought lots of cool containers to organize our new surroundings. We ended up at Tyson's Corner (this is a gigantic mall) and shopped until we almost dropped. We bought a few outfits for Jakob for school. He is into pants that don't have snaps and zippers. He is so impressed they make pull up pants we had to buy several for the Fall. I bought a new pair of jeans. YEAH. We also visited Pottery Barn Kids and bought a few unnecessary items. Did anyone know there was a Hanna Anderson store in Tyson's? If you did and didn't tell me you're on my list. We didn't buy anything there, but I will definitely check them out when they have sales.
We had a great time. Retail therapy does wonders.
Tomorrow is T-ball. I will try to remember the camera this time.

MOVING!!!

I was taught early in life that if you write everything in capital letters it is like screaming at someone and you should never use more than one exclamation point because it is redundant.
Did I mention we are MOVING!!!
Well, we are moved. It was a lot of hard work and a little bit of fun to start in a not so new place. We tried to make this move less stressful by moving in stages. It worked well until the day after we moved. We still had "stuff" at the old house and the carpet cleaners came early. Arggh. So we rented a Uhaul trailer (which took 3 hours because the lights on George's truck were wired wrong) and managed to get all but 3 items out of the old house. On the day of the walk through with the property manager the house was immaculate and he was impressed. Whew!! (We picked up our 3 items)
We could not have done this move (and saved our sanity) without George's parents. They carried, cleaned, entertained Jakob and unpacked. We sent them home a week later beaten and determined to never offer to help us with another move. We are deeply indebted.
We found some great advantages to not having the Air Force move us. We were not super stressed for 3 days of packing and loading and we have been able to unpack slowly without having to maneuver around boxes. We still have one PODS in storage and are hoping a natural disaster takes our things and we can get the insurance for it LOL.
All in all we are thrilled with our new location. There are lots of advantages to living closer to DC and we are sure to find some great places to run and play.
Once the house is in order we'll have everyone over for a party in the tree house. Did I mention we had a tree house? See you there.