Watermelon Day

It's that time of year again ... it's time for Watermelon Day! This is an annual event at Jacob's school, and while it's nice they do something fun, it's kind of silly. They eat watermelon & do crafts. Kind of like what they do at school, except the parents "get to" participate. HAHA.

So, Jason and I left work early and attended Watermelon Day ....

Each classroom decorates their own watermelon. Here is his classroom's, The Rainbows, offering ...

Jason was a judge of the classroom-made watermelons last year and the school director approached him to judge again this year, but he politely declined. Apparently she's sexist because she didn't ask me. Or any of the other moms standing around. Instead she walked around looking for some willing dads. Lame!

Here's Jacob sampling the featured cuisine ... He tried to eat the rind but found that to not be as tasty. (Tonight when he was in bed he told me, "Mommy, the green part is hard." Good thing I remembered today's incident or I would have been wondering WTH?!)

Oops! I posted these pictures out of order. Amateur!! Anyway, one of the stations was a table with red & green Play-Doh. Ahhh, to be a toddler again. He rolled out his Play-Doh and cut out this lovely tree. And asked me to photograph it. (You can tell it's me taking the picture if you look closely. My toenail is in the corner. LOL!)

Playing Play-Doh ...

Here we are posing at the paper craft table. The goal was to glue pieces of paper watermelon on a green background.

Tah Dah!!!

No one was really sure what this watermelon (shower curtain?) was for, but the children were pelting it with bean bags. (I don't think that was what it was for, as their was a bean bag toss game on the other side of it.)

All in all, an anti-climatic Watermelon Day. Maybe because it was so damn hot outside!

Parent Appreciation Day

Today was Parent Appreciation Day at Jacob's school.  Personally, I think if they didn't charge us for a day, that would be more appreciative, but I don't set the agenda.  However, it was cute.  All of the pre-school kids lined up and sang songs.  Then we had animal crackers and (very watered-down) juice in the classrooms.  

I tried to scan the "program" on our new scanner, but it froze.  (Now it's frozen on "shutting down."  BOOOO!! )  Anyway, here is a list of songs they sang: 

"If You're Happy and You Know It"  (Spelled wrong (your) on the program.  So lame.) 

"ABC Song"

"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"

"Barney Song  (I Love You, You Love Me)

"I Love You Mommy, My Dearest Mommy"

"I Love You Daddy, My Dearest Daddy" 

"Where Are Our Parents?"  (Sang to the tune of, "Where is Thumbkin?"  "Where are our parents?  Where are our parents?  They're at work.  They're at work."  ... kind of depressing!) 

"Hello to All the Children of the World"

"It's a Small World" 

  

Here they are singing away .... 

Or confused and not singing? 

Buzz Lightyear there in the back is crying because he saw his parents and was confused as to why they were separated.  Other children busted through the barrier and ran to their parents.  Mine, sadly, didn't care.  :(   

If you're happy and you know it, show your parents! 

Clap, clap, clap ... 

Getting bored ... losing patience ....

Ok, well at least my kid doesn't have his hand down his pants or his finger in his nose!

This one cracks me up.  I hope his parents didn't notice!  (They're all looking to their left because Mr. Mike, their music teacher is in that direction singing and playing guitar. )  

"Refreshment" time!  (At least the program called them refreshments!   Ahhh, to be in pre-school again ... 

Cheers!  This has been fun! 

Cooking fun

Jacob loves to cook!  He likes to help me in the kitchen, but if I'm stirring something on the stove, I don't let him get close.  So what's the next best thing?  Cooking himself!  

He helps himself to the utensils in our drawer, drags out a pot or two, and gets cooking.  His "food" are his duplo blocks.  

Here is his food .... 

Sampling his cooking ...  

By the looks of the above photo, it looks like he had a couple of different dishes going.  Must be breakfast.  He's still in his pajamas! 

Realizing he has bitten off more than he can chew ... 

Conversations with Jacob ...

Jacob likes to talk. A lot. He also asks A LOT of questions. I'll be the first to admit ... it really wears me down sometimes! But sometimes he says some funny things. I haven't been good about remembering them or writing them down, but I'm trying!

His FAVORITE thing to talk about is Disneyland.
J: Let's talk about what we do at Disneyland. What's your favorite ride?
M: Woody Buzz
J: Mine is Dumbo. What else we do at Disneyland?
M: Hmmm, we get treats.
J: What color treats?

(This can go on for a loooooong time.)

Lately he has this thing about sleeping in our bed. He'll even wait up for me (2+ hours at times - sigh) so he can come get in my bed & talk my ear off :D Here's a sampling of our "talks."


J: Remember I went to Disneyland with Mackenzie and rode the carousel? Then we went on a boat. A tall boat. And there were crocodiles! (This was noteworthy to me because Mackenzie is a girl from school & they have NOT been to Disneyland together. haha.)

J: What do you do at work?
M: (thinking, how do I answer this in a way he'll understand?) Well, I write letters, answer the phone, work on the computer.
J: What color are the letters?
M: White
J: No. You have all the colors.


J: Remember I went on Dumbo with Mackenzie? What are all the Dumbo colors, Mommy?
M & J: (naming colors)
J: You need a ticket to ride Dumbo. I hold Mackenzie's ticket and I gave the conductor the ticket.

J: Remember I went on a Rocket Ship? It was scary! Remember I pushed the button and scared Will? (Will is another friend from school.)

J: Remember I drove the police car? Then I crashed into the mountain and rocks fell. And then I made sandcastles. Big ones!!

J: What's that noise?
M: (thinking silently, "You!" He's a really loud breather.)
J: It's my nose!
M: Yes, it is. Use quiet voice. It's night night time.

J: (stroking my face) It's okay, Mama.
M: Thanks J.
J: It's okay, Mama. There's no dragons here.

What we did while Daddy was working ...

Ok, it wasn't nearly as devious as it sounds. I suppose we could have trashed the house, or I could have dressed up Jacob like a girl or something Jason would be horrified by my doing :/

Instead, we took the train down to San Diego to hang out with my parents. Jacob talks a TON and asks a TON of questions. Allofthetime! So he about drove me crazy on the train ride down, and other people around us moved. sigh. But he had fun & was pretty good. He did throw a fit at every station (fortunately there are only 2 between us and my parents!) thinking it was "our" stop, and freaked out when we didn't get off the train.

But we finally arrived! (Whoops, sans stroller. That got left in the car back at the SJC train station. Sigh again.)

We headed over to Seaport Village with Papa. Jacob instantly spotted the carousel, but I instantly insisted on lunch first. After eating pizza and yelling at birds, "Go away bird! This is not your pizza!" we rode the carousel.


I felt a little lonely waiting for him. I waved every time he went around & he didn't even look at me! (Just the first time.) How insulting!

After paying $21 (!!!!!! Yes, that's not a typo) for 1 shake & 2 cones at Ben & Jerry's (WTF Ben & Jerry?!) we headed home.

Nana & Papa got this very cool water table for their house. Now Jacob says he has a circle water table & a square one. (We'll work on spotting the differerence between a square & a rectangle.)

It has a working faucet & came with lots of dishes. Jacob made us lots of food.

Here he is drinking that gross hose water again :/

Jacob's Laugh

This video is short & silly.  (I used my digital camera sitting at the dinner table.)  But for those of you who just know me, if you've ever wondered what Jacob's laugh sounds like - here he is goofing off with Jason.  He insisted that Jason "hide" under the table and "get him."  He loves the "get me" game where we chase him & then grab him.  

Jacob's 3-Year Photos

I'll have to add some more pictures to this post later since these are the same ones I posted on Facebook.

Jacob with my parents' dog, Zoey. She's hella old, but keeps on ticking!


I love his little Vans. So cute. I just got him a new pair recently though. I think these are too small now.



He looks so serious here ...



This picture is funny to me. First off, I look funny. I can't put my finger on what it is though. My eyes? Was I squinting? It just doesn't look like me. To me. Also, I think it's funny because Jason can't sit cross-legged.

I like this one because my hair looks really blonde :P (It's not that bright/light in person. Though I wouldn't mind .....)

Jacob goofing off. What else is new ;)

All photos taken by Julie Cruz at http://www.lot116.com/ She's the best & Jacob doesn't mind smiling for her. A bonus!!

Summer - Ghetto Style

So, what do you do when it's almost 100 degrees out and you don' t have a yard? (And you're feeling way to white & bloated to put on a bathing suit and head to the pool.)

Open up your garage and pull out the water table! Thankfully Jacob thought it was good times. Me ... I felt a little WT drinking beers in my garage sitting on a tailgate chair :P Jason was indifferent. HA!


Here are the boys playing with some little floaties in the water.


Jacob likes playing "kitchen" so he was making coffee with this yellow cup.



I know you can't tell from the photo, but they were having fun ....

Jacob, getting his drink on. (I personally find it disgusting that he drinks hose water, but he's 3, so I'll let it go!)

Offering me some. I'm an expert at pretending to drink coffee/hose water.

Jacob is not. Notice the front of his shorts? That's where half of the coffee landed. LOL!

Easter

Unfortunately I spent Easter Sunday with a horrible migraine so I wasn't much company :( Fortunately, it was family that came over & they were understanding! Better still, I had cooked all of the food, wrapped Jacob's presents & stuffed his eggs & basket the night before so I was ready to go.

Not sure who snapped this photo. Me looking depressed & my cousin Emilie looking happy with some wine ;)


I did manage to get a couple of shots of Jacob with some of his Easter basket goodies:

I'm looking at this picture now & realizing that he hasn't opened the sidewalk chalk, the lollipop, the play-doh or candy. He was totally into the Thomas trains & the book though. He also got a CARS Tractor Tipping jump ramp thing that he really likes. Good times!

Egg Hunt Party

The night before Easter we took Jacob to an Egg Hunt Party at his co-worker's house. She did a really nice job & Jacob had a lot of fun. There was an outdoor egg hunt with plenty of eggs for all of the children, and later there was an outdoor viewing of "Bolt" which I'm pretty sure is Jacob's new favorite movie. Since then he's been talking about doing things "with" Bolt. He and Bolt are going to Disneyland together. They dug for dinosaurs together?


Back to the hunt ... before it started, Jacob thought it was hilarious to sit on his Easter Pail. We can't get him to sit on the dang potty, but he'll sit on this!

Laying around ....

Whoops! Fell off the pail. Hilarious stuff.

The actual hunt begins ...

He wasn't super aggressive about hunting for eggs, but Jason & I didn't exactly mind. The last thing he needs is a ton of candy!

Pre-School Easter Egg Hunt Party

The week before Easter, Jacob's school hosted an Easter Egg Hunt party. I wondered how they were going to do it with so many children of different ages - but they did a really nice job. Each age group has their own outside play area, and the "eggs" were hidden out there. The eggs were paper, and Jacob's class had to find a total of 5 different colored eggs. The older childrens' eggs were numbered and they had to find ones numbered from 1-10.

Some of the "hidden" eggs:


Jacob selecting his:



Making a weird face, while posing with his egg:

Holding up a goody bag he made:

Here he is glueing his eggs on his basket:

Once they were done hunting for eggs, they could go out into the main courtyard where other activities awaited. Here he is coloring a giant paper egg with Daddy:

And stickering a plastic egg:

Posing with his egg. I have no idea why he is holding things in front on his face these days!

Pretty excited about that egg!

And we couldn't leave without him getting inside the giant tree planter & running around.