We had a thunderstorm during the night. Kate got scared and knocked several plugged in things off the dresser. Jacob came into our bed at 8:30 and Adam woke up around 9am. We went out for drinks and donuts and got back home around 1o:30. Jacob was really excited that Jeanne and Leonard were coming over today for a visit. They arrived around noon. Just before they got arrived, Adam found his way to the dogs water dish. I found his getting his hands wet and then putting them up to his opened mouth. Jeanne and Leonard brought the boys birthday gifts over. Jacob got a remote control hummer and Adam got a large, sit on horse. Adam acted shy by Mommy for a little bit, but he had also just gotten knocked in the face by Truman. Jacob was excited as he watched Daddy put the batteries in the hummer. Jared grilled turkey dogs and brats for lunch. Around 1pm Adam lay down for a nap. Shortly after that we all went outside so Jacob could show them all his animals. First we went to the chicken coop and Jacob caught a couple chickens for them to see. Then we walked over to the goats and sheep's paddock. Jeanne and Leonard are the ones who gave us all five of our goats and it was fun for them to see them now. Jacob asked if they wanted to see his sand so we all followed him up to the riding areana. At around 2:30 they left but not without Jacob asking them not to go. Jared mowed the lawn and I took Jacob inside to rest. Adam woke up at 4pm. The boys stood on a chair by the kitchen window and watched Daddy mow the lawn and then watched him hook the hose up and clean the tractor deck. This evening we went to Bruce's work. He had called and said he found a child's bike seat at a garage sale so we went there to pick it up. Jacob fell asleep on the drive there. Bruce works at the waste water treatment. He gave us a tour of the place. Jacob favorite thing to see was the very large trucks parked in their garage. Though he didn't want to sit in it. Adam sat in the truck with Daddy. We stopped at Salvation army on the way home. I found some nice sketcher shoes for Jacob. While the boys were taking their bath tonight they were both splashing and laughing with each other. I was smiling as I watched them play and Jacob looked at me and said, "laugh". Jacob fell asleep tonight holding a clock that Jeanne and Leonard had brought for him.

Jacob woke up around 8:30 and came in our bed until Adam woke up around 9am. After Jacob was done with his breakfast we played at the table with his moon sand. Adam dumped his bowl of milk and splashed in it on his tray. At 10am we watched Sesame Street. Then Jacob wanted to play together in his bedroom. We sat in there and played with cars until noon. Adam liked sitting in the rocking chair. I got out the big basket of stuffed animals for the boys to play with. Jacob put some in his wagon and pulled them behind his trailer. Adam tried eggs for the first time today and liked them. Jacob and I had an egg and cheese sandwich for lunch. I found Jacob sunglasses and tried them on Adam. Adam wanted nothing to do with them. Jacob wanted to wear them and pretend he was Daddy going to work. While Jacob went down the hallway to “work” Adam waved at him and said, “Baa Baaa (bye bye)”. Adam lay down for his nap around 2pm. Jacob and I lay in our bed and played with his cars. At 3:30 Jacob and I were going to go outside. It started pouring rain so we waited about 10 min until the rain had stopped. I put on Jacob’s flip flops so he could have fun in the puddles. It was almost 5pm when we came back inside. As we walked up the steps to go inside Jacob said, “you got you flip flots all wet”. I told him what I was wearing were called crocs and he said, “oh, I tought dem was flip flops”. Almost as soon as we were inside Adam woke up. Daddy came home soon after that. After dinner tonight I went outside to take care of the animals. I cleaned up the chicken coop and their water containers, which were really dirty. Around 8pm Adam started acting very tired and cranky. I lay him in bed early tonight. He fell asleep right away. Jacob played with his cars and blocks until bedtime. After Jacob's in bed, Jared and I are going to watch a movie and have some ice cream.

Dinner

Jared took a picture of his plate.

"ummm, that was some good chicken"

Around 9am Jacob and I went outside to get a chicken out of the freezer for dinner. Jacob said, “dat already gone, I love dat chicken”. We played with his tractors in the sand for a little while. While Adam was eating his breakfast Jacob and I played with the cash register and his cars. He pointed at his tractor tire and said, “dis got tix hundred tires”. Then he crawled his hand towards me on the counter and said, “hi, I a lobber (lobster)”. Adam danced really cute during Sesame Street. He wouldn't dance the same when I got the camera out to take a video. Jacob had me tie his wagon onto his dump truck and he had lots of fun today pulling it around. He piled lots of books on it to pull behind him. I went through Jacob’s dresser and packed away clothes that don’t fit him anymore. Then I organized his drawers. I got out the moon sand to play with at the counter. Adam walked around the house carrying the package that Jacob’s fishing pole came in. Both boys took naps today and woke up around 5:30. They both woke up at the same time and wanted Mommy to hold them. They sat on my lap and we cuddled together. Then Jacob wanted to show Daddy the moon sand. I went outside to take care of the animals. Took the boys out on the deck to play until dinner was ready. We had chicken (farm fresh), carrots, and potatoes for dinner. I wasn’t sure I wanted to try the chicken but I did and it was good. Jared was really excited about this meal. The boys ate very well. Adam liked everything put on his tray. Jacob really liked the potatoes and carrots and tried some chicken. This evening we went back out on the deck until bedtime. We read to the boys outside. After the boys were in bed we watched the season finale of Lost.

Jacob watching Daddy start the fire.

Tears because of the harness. Happy with Mommy.




Watching Daddy from the porch.

"Hey, he picked one".

"I got a little piece".
Jared's large poker stick - couldn't get too close to that fire.

Jacob poking the mud.

Around 7am Jared and I went outside to put the broiler chickens in their crates on the trailer. At 7:30 we woke the boys up and took them, in their pjs, out to the car. Adam saw the chickens and leaned towards them because he wanted me to take him closer. Jacob got in the car and said, “dears a lot of chickens in dear, on dat trail (trailer)”. Sarah, the amish lady who is butchering the chickens, came out to help us unload the chickens. Jacob waved at a couple little girls. We got home around 8:15. Jacob handed Daddy his lunch and told him to have fun at work. He waved at the window as Daddy pulled out of the driveway. Jacob was really tired and sat on the couch. He complained about being tired and then said, “look Mommy, I tad (sad)”. We got out his matchbox vehicles and played at the counter together. After that he wanted to play with his cash register. We put bar code stickers on things for him to scan. Adam likes to climb on and off of Jacob’s bed. I moved laundry from the dryer to the basket and then the washer to the dryer. Adam took dry laundry out of the basket and put them in the dryer. After lunch Jacob was walking with his camera pointed at his feet and said, “dat my camera on my feet walking, you wanna see?” “I love my camera”. After I was done dusting I showed Jacob my dirty rag. He made a funny face and said, “how messy”. Jacob was running down the hallway pulling his wagon, which had Adam laughing really hard. Jacob laughed and said, “look, Adam’s laughing, I made Adam laugh, you wanna see” as he ran to him again. I vacuumed the house and the boys ran up and down the hallway and into our bedroom. Jacob would tell Adam, “hurry, here comes Mommy” and they’d both run to our bedroom and fall down on the dogs bed. They were laughing so hard. While the boys were napping (Jacob fell asleep during his rest) I folded a huge pile of laundry that was on our bed and got everything, but the boys clothes, put away. Then I did the dishes and cleaned up things in the house. I went outside to spray off the chicken poop and feathers that were on the trailer. Jared came home around 4:30. We got a few things ready for picking up the chickens. We woke the boys and put them in the car. Jacob stayed asleep until we were almost there. When he woke up he said, “what we do-in here?” Sarah had our chickens in a couple big tubs of water. Jared and Sarah packed them into a couple containers. Jared said the water was ice cold. We brought a cooler but didn’t need it. A cute little 3yr old girl rolled it back to the car for us. When we got home we had a table set up outside with the scale on it. We weighed the chickens and packaged them up. They were smaller than we planned. Most weighed between 3-4 lbs. Smallest chicken was 1¾ lbs and the largest was 4 ¾ lbs. Mike from Jared’s work stopped by to pick up his chickens. He helped us package them up. Adam watched and Jacob played in his sand. Jacob came and sat on my lap and watched me type the numbers into the computer. He said, “I love sitting on you lap”. We packed the chickens in our freezer and then left for dinner at fazoli’s. There was a hot air balloon in the air. Jacob said, "I wanna tee dat hot air balloon". I told him that some people were up there and he said, "dears fire up dear". Back at home we stayed outside until almost dark. Jared started the woodpile on fire. I put the harness on Adam, which he really does not like. I sat on the porch with the boys. Took the boys inside for their bath and to get ready for bed.

Jacob excitedly watching Daddy put his fort together.

Jacob helping Daddy.

Both dogs liked the playhut, Truman got stuck.
"Look Mommy, I made a airplane".

This morning Jared left for work but came back and stayed until 8:30. He wanted to take the car keys to the auto shop and talk to the mechanic. Jacob was excited to see all his new toys on the couch and wanted Daddy to put up his Cars playhut. He played in that and played with his new matchbox vehicles. Then he got his fishing pole and said, “I got me own fishing pole”. He used the tackle box to hold a couple of his cars. He took his remote truck for a drive up and down the hallway. Next he carried his unopened cash register over to me saying, “I can carry dis, I am strong, I wanna open dis, please Mommy open dis”. He held a pretend $10 in each hand and said, “which one you want, dis one, dis one” while showing me each one. He gave me the bill and some coins and said, “I got you fifty dollars”. The he said, “let me go get me semi truck and I pay it”. He played some more with his fishing pole and tried to cast it into his tent. Then he cast it across the room and hit the tv. I decided casting was better done outside. He still enjoyed walking around with it and watching the fish drop to the floor when he pushed the button. Then Jacob took some pictures with his new camera. Adam woke up around 9:45am. He was really excited to see the Cars playhut and crawled in and out of it many times. He also liked playing with the remote dump truck but instead of pushing the lever he wanted to pull it around. I didn’t want the wires to get broke so I put it up and we went inside the playhut together. Jacob wanted to come in with us and brought his matchbox cars. He didn't want Adam to play with his new cars so he ran to get Adam his matchbox cars. While Adam was eating his late breakfast I dumped the $7 in change from Vikki, Rody and Kenzie onto the counter. I got out his bank and he had fun putting the coins in it. He stacked the coins on his semi truck and pushed it around saying, "dis my money truck". I had Jacob push the answering machine button and he was excited to hear Grandma singing Happy Birthday to him. He sat on the couch with a smile and pushed the button to listen again. After lunch Jacob played a game on the computer. Adam played with his ball popper. He loves to give Truman hugs. Around 4:30pm Jacob and I went outside. It was a cool, sunny day. Jacob wanted to take out his fishing pole and his camera. Daddy came home and picked up the branched from the tree he had trimmed the other day. I hoed the garden. Daddy found a snake and brought it over to show us. Jacob liked touching it but didn't want to help hold it. He took a picture of it before Daddy let it go and we watched it slither away into the woods. Jacob rode his tractor around the yard with his camera in his lap and would stop to take a picture. Adam took a long nap and woke up around 6pm. I think he was tired from a busy, off schedule day yesterday. He really likes to steps and the deck by Jacob's sand. At 6:30 we went in for dinner. Around 7:30 we went to town. Jacob fell asleep almost a soon as we were on the road. Adam was really happy and talking alot. When I'd look back he'd cover his eyes and want to play peek-a-boo. He'd move his head and want Daddy to move his head the same way. Then he was moving his arms like an orchestra leader. We got home a little after 9pm. We pulled Jacob pictures up on the computer and all sat at the computer to look at them together. There's lots of fun things that can be done with the pictures he takes. Jacob was so tired at bedtime that he didn't even want to read. We did talk about his day which many times, like tonight, starts out by him saying, "no me go at playground day (today)". Tomorrow is chicken butchering day. We have to be there at 8am and pick them up around 3 or 4pm. Jared's really looking forward to it. I feel bad for the chickens.