Jacoby is Seven!

We had an awesome day celebrating Jacoby's seventh birthday.  To say the last seven years have flown by would be an understatement.  We are so proud to be the parents of this boy and love watching him grow, learn, and become his own person.

So, on to the day:

Our theme was Legends of Chima by Lego.  Yes, technically our second Lego party, but a much-loved activity in our house.

 Jacoby invited two friends from school.

 Building Chima speedorz was our main activity at the party.

 Birthday treats were cake push-pops, popcorn, blue jello 7's, and blue punch.

 Busy building their speedor racers.

 Racing their speedorz

 And having a great time!

 Ready to eat and celebrate!

 Opening presents 

 Trying to get four boys to pose for a picture...hmmm.

 Playing our favorite Lego bingo game.

 The birthday boy and his latest Lego creation: Cragger's Commandship (Lego Chima set)

 He's quite the master builder.  This was not the only set he received today, and he did manage to complete 2 out of the three before and after the party.  I asked if his brain hurt, but he said no.  (:

Lego crayons and notebooks are going to school tomorrow to serve as our birthday favors for the class.

Birthday Interview

1.  What is your favorite thing to do? build with Legos

2.  What do you want to be when you grow up? be a Lego instruction maker

3.  What is your favorite food? pizza

4.  Who do you like to spend time with? A. (friend from school and party attendee)

5.  What do you do really well? I play and build things with Legos

6.  What makes you laugh? Morgan

7.  What is the best time of day? evening and playing with friends

8.  What are you afraid of? nothing

9.  Who is your best friend? L. (friend from school and party attendee)

10.  What do you like to do with your family? play games

11.  What do you love to learn about? dinosaurs

12.  Where do you like to go? Montana

13.  What is your favorite book? Yoda Chronicles

14.  If you had one with what would it be? build all the Lego sets on my wish list

Happy Birthday, Jacoby!

February Happenings

Our days have been busy.  Warmer temps have come and melted the snow away, so we've been enjoying some much needed time outside.  The boys are doing really well.  We had a good parent/teacher conference with Jacoby's teacher.  He's doing great in first grade and we're really pleased with his teacher and progress.

Justin continues to work extremely hard on his dissertation.  He's hoping to have it mostly completed by the time he starts teaching his graduate course at the end of March.  I'm working hard to keep my head above water.  I found out on Friday that I'll be able to stay at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays this summer with the boys.  So looking forward to it!
   

 Jacoby's Valentine's Day box

The boys' Valentines

 Always doing art projects...

 I found winter coats and boots for the next few years at the thrift store...all for $17!

 We've been watching the Olympics, and sometimes we have picnic dinners too

 The boys got a Lego table (my first Ikea hack) and small Lego sets for Valentine's Day

 We spent a lot of time outside, enjoying the beautiful weather.  The piles and piles of snow have melted, for now.

 Jacoby has been saving his allowance for weeks and did some extra chores to be able to make a special purchase

 And here it is...he's been talking about this set for awhile.  He put it together all by himself.

 Snack at the park

 Enjoying the three-day weekend...a typical morning at our house

 An upcoming event next weekend...Jacoby invited a couple of friends over from school.  We're excited to celebrate his special day.

A Ski Day & A Birthday

We went up to Winter Park for the day to ski.  The boys took a half day lesson, so Justin and I got in a few runs on our own.  The mountains have gotten a ton of snow, so the skiing was great and the boys had a lot of fun too.

They were the only two kids in their lesson, so they got a lot of one-on-one time with the instructor. They went on the chair lift and skied the green runs.

It was a beautiful day in the mountains...I heart Colorado (even when our team doesn't bring home the Vince Lombardi Trophy)!

 When we picked them up, the boys wanted to show us what they had learned.  Word on the street is that Morgan E. likes nothing better than to point his skis straight down the hill and let 'em go!  This should not surprise me in the least!

 Jacoby is more cautious and controlled (thank goodness one of them is!) and he's ready to start making turns, etc.

 Did I mention that Morgan thought he was going to be taking ski jumping lessons?!  Guess I know what we'll be watching on the Olympics!  They were pretty whipped by the end of the lesson.

 

In other news, the boys sleep together on the weekends.  They are still crazy about Legos and incorporate them into all aspects of their play.  School is going really well for both.  Jacoby just started the 18th Junie B. Jones book (she's now a first grader too!).  We finished up Freckle Juice and are reading Paddington Bear together.  I think we'll move back into the world of Roald Dahl this spring.  

 

I had a terrific birthday.  The boys spoiled me with picture frames they painted, a cactus, a laser level (sweet!), flowers, and a lovely dinner.  They made the day very special.

Thumbs down for winter...

Well, we're trucking along here.  100 days of school, birthday prep, Valentine's Day--you name it, we're working on it!  It's nice to have some projects to keep us busy.  I don't know about all of you, but I have a serious case of the winter blahs right now.  It's been a tough, cold, snowy winter, and I cannot wait for spring.  I thought maybe making plans for my garden and flowers would help...but, not so much.  So, we'll just focus on the upcoming birthday extravaganza and some other activities coming our way.  Hopefully spring will be here before we know it!

 My readers at the library

 We got to try out this zippy thing for a few days.  Apparently, our Subaru did not get the message about staying the course and not creating waves this year.  Major repairs took place last week, draining our bank account and ensuring that we'll be hanging on to the car for a long time (like, the boys will be taking it to college).  Definitely did not help with the winter blahs.

 Hey look!  My very own Orc!

 Jacoby checked out a chemistry book from the library this weekend.  So he and Morgan decided to embark on several science experiments.  Here they're doing sink and float tests.  Jacoby documented their results.  Legos float, by the way, in case you were curious.

 We also had to break out the vinegar and baking soda to make a homemade volcano.  Morgan picked orange food coloring for the lava.

 We enjoyed a beautiful day at the park before the weather turned nasty again

Checking out the frozen lake shore

Hope you all are staying safe and warm!

A Quick Update

Well, we survived our first week back after the long winter break.  I actually don't have much news to report.  Justin continues to work long, long hours on his dissertation.  The boys and I are keeping busy.  Jacoby had a growth check last week and has grown almost an inch since October, so he's up in the 93rd percentile for height.

One of the best conversations we've had so far in 2014 occurred last weekend when the boys inquired how old they had to be to move out of the house (sniff).  When I told them that kids usually move out sometime between 18 and 20, the boys started making plans for their future.  Jacoby plans to move to Boulder, drive a VW Beetle (more fitting than you know for Boulder) and create the instruction manuals for Lego sets.  Morgan plans to move to New York City (over my dead you-know-what), drive a police car, and be a dentist.  So, now that we have all that settled, here are a few pictures from our week.  (:

 We spent a decent amount of time outside over the weekend playing in the snow

 The boys were over the moon with this snow pile

 Discussing all things Lego first thing in the morning...they love being the first ones up in the house.  They creep downstairs and quietly play until we get up.  They also really enjoy getting their own breakfasts on the weekends now.

I stenciled one of our walls.  Turned out great and was super easy (my inspiration came from: here)

Hope you all are having a wonderful week!