You Better Watch Out...

You better not cry...


Better not pout...


I'm telling you why!

Because Santa Claus came to Old Town Spring. And Jake was not pleased.

Lately...

I feel like Jake has already fallen under the trap of second child syndrome. Which is a wonder, considering he's the first child. But I just haven't been in the blogging mood lately and unfortunately have not documented our life very well the past couple months either. Don't act like you haven't noticed. But I reeeallly want to put more of an effort into this, especially before Baby #2 arrives, so hopefully 2011 brings lots of energy for me!

I'll do a 15 month post for Jake in January but for now, here is what he's been up to...
Feeding Tucker his snacks, of course. We've had several issues lately regarding Jake wanting to "share" his food. He gets so excited when the dogs want to eat his goldfish, chicken nuggets, sandwich, fruit, etc etc and sometimes spends more time making sure the dogs are fed and forgets about himself. He also likes to make sure they have equal amounts of food in their dog bowls. I am not joking. Tucker gets 2 cups and Maggie gets 1.5 for each meal...Jake takes food out of Tucker's bowl and puts more in Maggie's, bless his heart. Or he'll just transfer the food to the floor for easier access? The dogs just stand there and let him run all over them. We are blessed to have such laid back pets!!

Jake still really isn't into TV, but he likes sitting in his chair and holding old remote controls. In this picture, the TV wasn't even on. He'll occasionally sit for the opening song of Sesame Street but then gets distracted by the potpourri bowl on the coffee table...or toys in the other room...or dogs...or _________ (fill in the blank).

We have since nixed this activity of playing with our glass spices (amateur mom over here!) but everything gets stacked and sorted these days. Notice his tower of spice jars. MegaBloks are one of his more favorite toys (Daddy's too) and he loves to build and build. It's funny seeing his little mind work and how creative he can get. He'll try to stack lotion or vitamin bottles in my bathroom, toys in the bathtub, etc and it's fun watching him figure out what does and doesn't work.

Jake also understands so many words and it's exciting to see him respond (correctly) to things like..."Go get your blanket!" or "Let's take a bath!". He'll search all over the house until he can find his blanket...stand at the bathtub and wait...go to his highchair when you say it's time to eat, and so on. I just have to be really careful when I throw out "Daddy". There have been a couple times I've accidentally said "Daddy's on his way home!" and then Jake will stand at the garage door and eventually start crying if he doesn't show up. So I've learned to call Seth and ask where he is before I mention the "D" word. :)

A couple weeks ago, I thought it'd be constructive to make a gingerbread house. Again, amateur mom. In my head, I imagined how it would go...

Jake would sit nicely at the table and watch Mommy put together the gingerbread house, occasionally gasping at my stellar arts & crafts skills and being so very grateful when I let him have a piece of candy.

Instead, we had...

A mess. That I did not prepare very well for.

Needless to say, he loved the gingerbread house...just not in the way I anticipated!

Jake loves riding his little tractor around. He straddles the seat and actually walks around, dragging the tractor with him. Hey, whatever works!

And never fear, he doesn't look quite this punk rocker-ish anymore. I decided to give him an impromptu haircut during his bath last week. Smart and safe, I know. But we were growing a mullet any redneck would rival and something had to be done ASAP. So I took off about 2 inches in the back (2 inches people. The hair was well past his neckline.) and an inch in the front. I think we will be having a professional do this in the future...

Phew, I feel better!

Attack of the Killer Cribs

I know this isn't exactly what you come to the blog to read, but my kids are taking a final and I have 2 hours to kill.

Drop Side Cribs were banned in the US and become illegal, effective June 2011!

Is this what my life has come to?

But seriously, the statistics are scary...since 2000, 32 infants and toddlers have been killed by malfunctioning drop-side cribs, and at least 14 other deaths are suspect due to the killer cribs.

Not a risk I'd be willing to take and I'm so very glad we don't have one!

More pleasant news promised shortly. Related to Gingerbread Houses, Santa, and the current cleanliness of my house.

(I said it would be more pleasant. Not awesome)

Look, I know.

I'm running out of excuses. I really am.

But due to a special visitor named stomach bug from hell that I had to entertain this weekend, I have not had time to grade 25 research papers that have to be graded by tomorrow night. So that is my current task. Once I get final grades posted I promise I will blog. Right after I clean the house!

At least we already know what my New Year's Resolution will be!!

A Boy and His Dog

I mean really...

These two are inseparable. Notice how Jake is enjoying a horse & pony show while Tucker is just trimming his nails. Just a day in the life I suppose.

Free ride? Don't mind if I do!

This picture insists on posting sideways. But it just cracks me up!

Brotherly love

For real? This happened people. They were both so pooped after we got back in town last weekend, Jake decided to rest his legs for a couple minutes on the floor next to his best bud. He's even sharing his beloved blanket.

I have a feeling he'll be more likely to share that blanket with Tucker than with a sibling come June...

Giving Thanks

Speaking of thanks, you might not be thankful for the picture quality in this post. But let's just say we were so caught up in spending time with family over the holidays that we just forgot to use the camera!

We had a mini-marathon of a trip last week to visit both sides of our family. We were put to work at Nana's house to help paint the outside of the house! It was sooo cold outside in San Antonio and we weren't quite as prepared as we should've been. Jake had a rough week anyway with another tooth coming in so he would be just devastated if he couldn't go outside to do what he wanted.

1 yr old + free reign of the backyard + paint cans = not the best idea!

But we had so much fun catching up with family...we got to see my grandparents, mom, dad, aunt, uncle, & cousins along with Aunt Rachel and future Uncle Michael. It was so nice to all be together because it had been awhile!

Seth and Uncle David helping Jake on the ladder. Kids don't try that at home!

We thought it was so funny to put that brush in his pocket :)

Seth, Mr. Crews, and Michael painting with Rachel's instruction

See, we had a team! The house looked so nice when we were finished!

Even Jake decided to help out.

He didn't know what to think about being so bundled up!

Before we were in San Antonio, we spent a couple days with Seth's family in La Grange. Jake got to see more aunts, uncles, and cousins and loved all the attention!

Our little musician playing Minaw's piano

Reading books with Granny

He loves to ride around in the wagon at Nonnie & Popo's house!

See, I told you it was bad. No group pictures. I was so disappointed with myself! We had a great time but were super excited to sleep in our own bed on Sunday night - 4 nights in the same room as a one year old and a sound machine were quite enough thank you very much.

We are so blessed to have wonderful families that love us and little Jake!

BTHO Nebraska!

A couple weekends ago, we headed to College Station to tailgate with the Aggies for their game against Nebraska. The best part was that we won! Seth got to go to the game with his parents while I let Jake go to bed at Aunt Rachel's.

Jake loved playing at Rachel's house!

The whole tailgate. It's hard to see but we have all those tents...there were probably almost 100 people in our group!

Jake and Uncle Chase

Taking a break to try and feed Popo
One day we'll get a picture where we're both smiling!

The Anderle Clan

(Seth, Nonnie, Jake, Popo, Mary, Chase, Morgan)

Jake's Little Brother (Maybe)

Oh.

Did we forget to discuss something?

Or shall I say...someone?

Meet Baby Anderle! (AKA, the reason for the recent demise of my blog)

Look people, it is hard to keep a secret. Especially for 12 weeks! Over Thanksgiving we told our families about our big surprise. Jake is going to be a big brother in June!

Let me back up.

Our specific goal in having our 2nd child was to avoid another October birthday. With mine, Seth's, and Jake's birthdays all within a week of each other, I knew I would be checked into the insane asylum by 2015 if I was planning 2 children's birthday parties in one month. Clearly, the good Lord knew this as well. So in an effort to preserve well...everything...He blessed us with a summer baby! :)

I won't lie. I am tired. I am grumpy. I don't feel like blogging. I don't care about cleaning the house. I ate Cool Ranch Doritoes and Apple Jacks for lunch today.

But besides all that...I am so thankful and blessed to be carrying a healthy, happy (hopefully) tiny little baby in my tummy. They even made a guess yesterday that it was another boy (they guessed Jake was a boy at 12 weeks as well). Seth's initial reaction?

"YES! I DON'T HAVE TO REPAINT!"

Little does he know that not painting a new baby room = painting a big boy room for Jake!

So anyway. Now that this is taken care of, I'm going to work on updating you on our Thanksgiving holidays and our recent Aggie tailgating experience. Jake has been a busy kid!

Man Cannot Live on Fish Alone

Seth just reminded me I haven't blogged in weeks.

Oops.

I'll be honest with you. For once in my life, I haven't thought a whole lot about this blog. I feel like we've been so busy lately! Between somehow getting behind with school, Jake dropping his 2nd nap (saddest time of my life), and a house that never manages to stay clean, I haven't had quite as much time to sit around. So there. Weak excuses, I know.

So let's catch up.

Jake now has 7 teeth (4 on top, 3 on bottom). You would think those 7 teeth would help him explore the wonderful world of food but we seem to be content with the goldfish. Ohhhh the goldfish. I blame this on the church nursery. Goldfish are their snack of choice and we always get reports of, "He just takes all the other kid's fish!". Just what a proud parent wants to hear! Every once in awhile he'll eat a great meal, but mostly he picks around at his tray and consumes something along the lines of 3 grapes and a cracker.

It's a wonder we just now passed the 20 lb mark!

But Jake is definitely busy these days. He's picked up his pace to more of a brisk walk which makes it a tad more exhausting to keep up with him. I never understood why children wore people out but now I get it. And I can't explain it either! It's semi-embarassing.

But he keeps himself busy...
It seems that Jake is getting an early start on his yoga. A master of the downward facing dog!

A couple weeks ago, we met Seth for lunch at Northshore Park in The Woodlands. There were many many ducks which were a big hit.

Jake kept squatting down like a duck and would try to follow them. Pretty sure he would've walked straight into the water if I'd let him.

I'm almost tempted to get some ducks for the backyard because they would entertain for hours!

Being a goof on the playground

Looooves going down the slide!

Phew. Now I feel better. We should have more to blog about soon...we're heading up to College Station tomorrow to help cheer on the Aggies and then seeing lots of family next week for Thanksgiving. I'll also be trying to talk Seth into putting up Christmas lights but he mostly tries to avoid the subject.

Please.

PLUS, my sister Rachel and her boyfriend Michael (fiancee!) just got engaged! We are so excited for them and can't wait for them to tie the knot. See? Lots of things going on :)

Happy Belated Halloween

Jake's 2nd Halloween has come and gone. It's hard to believe he's gone from a 7lb baby cow (last year) to a 19lb walking, jabbering, goofy dog! Let's just hope I have a couple more years of cute costumes before we have to surrender to demands of Transformers, superheros, and popular TV show characters :)

At first he wasn't too sure about his costume (Jake really didn't like the hood) but I got him to smile for a couple pictures...
We went to our friend, Beckett's house to trick or treat with some of our friends. The boys all had a great time together! Look at them eating dinner like big kids (even Seth - ha!).



Look - Mario and Luigi were there! Check out those 'staches! They were not letting go of their pumpkins. They knew better than to risk losing that candy! Thankfully Jake didn't quite catch onto that part yet.

Riding around with Beckett the monkey

Jake wasn't too sure what was going on but he caught onto the "walk up to the door and walk back down the driveway" part real quick! He loved following the other kids around.

Sheila and her monkey.

Now we're left with a pumpkin full of candy and somehow we Jake only ended up with 2 packages of Skittles. Sigh.

Old McDonald Had a Farm

Well, looks like we have a helper around here! It's such a relief really. I hate to sweep. Luckily our firstborn is a p-r-o.

Mom, leave me alone. I am busy working!
Sizing up the broom. We now have one a little more true to his size thanks to Toys R Us and some store credit.

Last week we got to visit Old McDonalds farm in Humble with our friend Noah. The boys weren't quite sure what to think of the place and sure as heck didn't want to sit still for pictures. Paula was bribing them with Puffs and Noah was not pleased that Jake was getting some of his food!

"Give it back, friend!"

"Who are you looking at??"

Checking out all the animals

Jake was still half asleep from the car ride when we got there. He just stood and stared for the first 20 minutes or so. I'm not sure Paula believed he could really walk - ha!

Where am I??? And why am I wearing this weird skeleton shirt?

Stare down with the cow

I think Jake and Noah will be all about Old McDonalds farm next year when they can run around, play on all the playground equipment, and jump in the hay piles! And I think I need at least a year to prepare myself for the itchy mess involved with said hay pile...