Big News

We have another boy riding without training wheels. Matt and I have been trying to get him to do this for awhile now, and he's been game - it's just been hard to find time where Matt could dedicate his attention to just Jacob. Matt made it a priority on Saturday morning. Jacob caught on really quickly and before we knew it was riding around the block by himself.

That big smile says it all! Way to go Jakeyman! So proud of you. Woot Woot.

This will make bike rides possible and much easier now....;)

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We had a great day. We headed to Blooming Prairie to meet up with friends and family for the big parade.

Then we went to my cousin Katie's house for a grill out.

We came back to Owatonna for the fireworks. We watched them with grandma, Mattey and Kristin, and Natey. All three of the boys stayed up for the start of the fireworks. Jacob wasn't too sure of them and would cover his face with his blanket every once in awhile. He fell asleep under his blanket. Nolan absolutely loved them and kept pointing to them and making sure all of us were watching. He tried so hard to stay awake but finally fell asleep on Uncle Natey's shoulder. Connor snuggled with Matt while shouting that every fire work was his favorite. We would always meet up with Grandpa Ebeling for the fireworks. We went to the same place that we always watched them with him bringing beer and popcorn. I bet he got a great view of the fireworks this year! I hope we carry on the tradition and keep going to the same place - It's a great view and we have fun lighting some of our own before hand.

Our patio is finally done. Here are some before and after pictures. The boys literally sat out on the deck watching them for hours. Now all we have to do is the steps down from the deck and wait for the grass to come back in some spots. We're excited to use and enjoy it.....

Before:

During...

After...

I forgot to put this in earlier. Mattey shared it with me. At our co ed softball game last week he took Connor to the bathroom and he asked Connor if he had to go #1, #2, or #3. Connor told him there isn't a #3. So Connor's in the stall and there is a little quiet pause and then Connor asks Mattey, "If there was a #3 what would it look like?"

Yeah, Uncle Mattey - what would it look like? ;) How did you get your way out of that one?

Connor has seen this commercial for Listerine mouthwash for kids and kept asking for it. How can I refuse that? It's good for him. I bought it the other day and he asks me, "Mommy, on the commercial for this it says that it sticks to your teeth like magnets. How does that work?"

He also lately tries to turn everything into a special day so that he can sleep with us. He kept wanting to sleep with us, so I told him that he will be able to once in awhile when it's a special night, not every night. Some of the things he's tried to tell me were special - going to a birthday party, watching a movie, playing outside, going to a friend's house...and yes those are all special things, but we have to cut it off somewhere!

We're finally working on riding bike with no training wheels! Go Connor Go!

We're working on the whole consequence thing with Jacob. He sometimes understands, like we'll say "Jacob stop or we'll take a time out in your room"...and he stops. OR, if he isn't eating, we'll say, "OK, Jacob needs to go to his room"...and sometimes it works and he'll keep eating.
Anyways, lately when we try the counting to 5 thing, we all end up laughing. It worked and still works for the most part for Connor. We only had to get to 2 or 3 and he was doing what he was supposed to be doing. However, for Jacob, we'll start counting, "1, 2,...." and he'll just chime right in counting the next numbers and thinks it's funny.