Jake takes Daisy for a walk

Spring is definitely here in Texas! We love being outside and are excited that we can once again take a walk after dinner. Jake has definitely outgrown a stroller, there is just too much to see and chase after on our walks now. Sometimes he will ride in his wagon, but most of the time he wants to be out exploring. Last week, he wanted to take Daisy out with us, which Daisy was very excited about. We were about 3 houses away when Jake asked if he could hold the leash. We decided to let him have a try and he did great! I didn't have my camera with me that day, so the next day I was sure to take it with me. Jake just loves being the 'big boy' and walking his Daisy Duke!

Taking a quick break on Daddy's shoulders

He is SO proud of himself!

A Trip to the Children's Museum

Two weeks ago, Jake's good buddy, Carter, had his birthday party at the Museum of Nature & Science. We have been wanting to take Jake their for a long time, especially to the Children's Museum section. Jake had an absolute blast!


The Children's Museum is divided up into little neighborhoods: The Big Backyard, The Farm, the Water Room, etc. Everything is hands on for the kids, with costumes, props, and lots of other fun things. I was hoping Jake wouldn't be too shy and clingy. He has been getting over his shyness little by little. Thankfully, he did great at the museum and was ready to explore everything.

The Big Backyard was our first stop. It had all sorts of gross, I mean, cute animals to look at.

Here is Jake with his face all pressed up at the snake's window.

Walking the balance beam.

He loved this station! It had all sorts of cool circuits on it and when Jake pushed a button different areas would light up.

Crawling through the tunnels.

Crawling through the 'spider's web'

The Water Room: His favorite thing here were the giant rubber ducks! He loved pushing them down the waterfall to make a big splash.

There were several areas with heat sensing cameras set up around the museum. They were a big hit with Jake.

He also loved the magnetic gears. We had to pull him away to move on to the next area.

Fireman Jake coming through!

Jake absolutley loved this area. It was all sorts of loops and tunnels that balls were winding through. He was mesmerized!

The Farm: Saying "Hi" to the chickens!

Yes, he was trying to tip the windmill over.

Farmer Steve!

They had a 'cow' that the kids could milk. Jake thought it was pretty cool.

Jake's hands down favorite of the day was the hot air balloon station. You pushed a button down for about 30 seconds. When, you hit the button it lit a burner, which sent the balloon up into the air. We easily spent 30 minutes doing this and/or watching other kids do it.

Then we had to go upstairs and watch the balloon some more.

Here is a video of Jake taking his turn at the hot air balloon.

Carter, thank you so much for inviting us to your birthday! We had THE BEST time!

Potty Training!

Well, I am attempting to get my blog going again after a year off! I had hoped to start with Christmas, but it was just too much and too overwhelming as I get myself back into the 'blog-mode!' So, I will begin with our first big event of 2012, potty training! After most of the business of the holidays had passed, we decided to attempt potty training with Jake before we went back to school. I was fairly certain he was ready. He had been sitting on the potty for months before bathtime each night and occassionaly he would actually go. I knew he was seeing it a lot at school, since about half his class was potty trained. So with fingers crossed, we gave it a try!

Stephen and I each read, "Potty Training in Less than a Day." This was the book Stephen's mom used and swore by. We pretty much followed the model set in the book and kind of tweaked it a little. Stephen had basketball practice over the Christmas break so I knew it would be mostly my job to get our mission accompolished. One morning I felt extra brave and decided it was time! Overall, Jake did really well. We had a handful of accidents in the first hour, but he had the process down really quickly. Over the next few days, he did great. By the end of the week, I was brave enough to let him wear 'big boy underwear' to Daddy's basketball game and he made it accident free! Yay! That was 3 months ago and he's been great ever since. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Now, he still will not do his 'big business' in the potty. He knows what he is supposed to do, he just won't do it! Urgh, so frustrating. Here are some pics I took of the big potty training day and fun video when we took a lunch break.