Ally Jacobs

Meet Ally or more affectionatly know by Justin as Allergen. She is one of Riley's Christmas presents.
He loves her so much that he told us yesterday, "I am so glad we got her!"
Ally uses her box without problem and is a good eater. She purrs like crazy when we pet her. She is
about 12-13 weeks old, tiger striped and maybe some calico in there.

We reminded Riley today that she is one of his Christmas presents. He said "But she didn't have a bow on!"

Four Year Check Up

Just a quick blurb to tell you all about Rileys visit to the doctor today...
Height 40 3/4 inches
Weight 36 pounds.
He has finally hit the 25th percentile (he has always stayed in the 1st-5th)
My baby really is growing.....

Santa 2008

Riley went to see Santa today and boy was he excited. He actually told Santa what he wanted (Scooby Doo House game). He did mention to the Jolly Fat Man that we moved our Christmas Tree upstairs this year. Santa was happy to hear that, he told Riley that "I'd have been looking for it, thanks. " They talked about the snow and our rain that we're having and about the weather in Michigan. He told Santa that he'd leave him some cookies and milk. For the reindeer we will leave carrots. :)

Gingerbread House

Our first Gingerbread House.... A bit messy but we had fun doing it. Hope we can try to do this every year.

'O Christmas Tree

Our Tree 2008, We've moved it upstairs into the loft this year (that way we don't have to move furniture around downstairs!

We finally got the Christmas Tree done. The Star is on top now and I think Riley is happy with how it turned out. LOL. Tonight we're sitting here listening to rain and thunder and seeing occasional lightening which makes it seem more like spring (not to mention the 60 degree weather today!) than Christmastime!

Riley posing for me in front of the tree. Note one of the stockings ON THE TREE and the bows that he put on.. The special touches :)

My little Angel!

I've Been Tagged!!!!!

I got tagged. RULES: Go to your picture file. Choose the 4th file....then the 4th picture. POST it and explain the picture.

OK Heather, This was taken Halloween night when we were getting ready to go out to the square. I can never get this child to just look at the camera, usually he's making crazy funny faces and doing wierd things with his hands... Makes me laugh and cringe :)

Megans Thanksgiving Dinner

Megans amazing Turkey. It was stuffed with oranges, lemons and onions (and spices.. Yum--very tender)

Riley, Megan and Seth sitting outside. Megans only break while making dinner. LOL












Baked Squash...










Yummy Yams. We had our second Thanksgiving dinner with Megan, Seth, Jay and Jodi over in Spring Hill. It was a beautiful evening with more great food... (great job Meg) We just helped out in the kitchen.

Riley 'taught' Megan and Seth how to play Operation. That lasted about 15 minutes before the never ending game of hide and seek started. LOL. They had a ball hiding Riley in nearly impossible places--almost as much fun as he had being hid.

We are so blessed to have been able to spend such a nice evening with Megan and Seth--and Seths parents. It is great having them living so close to us--we can see them when we all have some time off. It is great--Riley loves his cousin(s) so much.

Cresent Moon

I took this picture and thought it was so simple and pretty.

First Snowfall of 2008

You may need a magnifying glass to see it, but this is a pic of our first snowfall. No, I know it doesn't compare to all of the Michigan snow, but this is BIG for TN... LOL..

A bit closer so you can see better.

Thanksgiving In Charlotte!

We are so blessed to have family relatively close by and the ability to spend holidays with them. We made our annual trip to Charlotte to spend the holidays with Justins family. The trip over was met by rush hour holiday traffic in Memphis and an unexpected detour on HWY 40 when we should have gotten off on 26. Oops.. Damn Navigon.
On Thursday we went to Charlotte for the Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was a bit chillier than last year but the ride on the train (LYNX) for Riley made up for the lack of candy thrown out at the parade. So sad that my baby only cared about the candy. Our new niece Stephanie(Jasons wife) was in the parade with her grandfather (who is the Mayor of Pineville). After Stephanie made her appearance we got back on the train and headed back to Justins sister and BIL's house for dinner and football (not that I care about it, but it was sad watching the LIONS get totally spanked by the TITANS--from MI live in TN ! :) )
Dinner was amazing as always and we had a great day.

We got to spend several days with Granny and Gramps, Dustin, Gwen, Ed, Jason, Steph and our exchange student 'niece' Teresa.

Happy 4th Birthday Riley!!!

Rileys 4th Birthday party was held today at the Bowling alley in M'boro. Some of his friends came to his party to bowl, eat pizza and cake and have fun. The kids had a ball bowling--very interesting watching 3 and 4 year olds if you never have.

The cake Riley had to have. :)

Riley opening presents with Megan and Seth

Some of the kids at Rileys party. L-R Chidozia, Kendall, Riley and Chibuke. Not pictured, Kolton, Lydia and Caleb.

Halloween 2008

Gearing up for Trick or Treating on the Square.

Riley on the Square.... He had a good time following all the kids around.

Daddy and Riley on the Square

Arghhhhhhhhhh

We took Riley out last night to celebrate Halloween. He was so excited. We first took him to Murfreesboro where they trick or treat on the Square. There were a lot of kids out there. It was so nice to see all the shops owners handing out candy. It's amazing how many stores are downtown that we didn't realize were there. We also went to the hospital to see "mommies friends" and then onto the mall. After all the Halloween magic, went up to Nashville to see Meg and Seth (oh and my brother in law Jim was here with us on the trick or treating journey), Jay and Jodi too. We had a really nice time and made it home just after midnight (had a late night stop at the video store and Walmart for milk.) Riley passed out in the car (big surprise) and mommy wasn't far behind... We had a fantastic night with the cutest pirate in the world. :)

Beautiful Fall Day

It was a beautiful day in Tennessee today. The weather is getting cooler, the humidity is gone. We took The Little Man out for a bike ride to the spring. Justin and Riley skipped rocks and posed for pictures for me...

He is always doing some action (or bad guy) pose for me.

This picture cracked me up... Riley was pouting (OMG he is sooooo much like me it's scary!) because we told him we had to go in for dinner. He wanted to play with the neighbors... :(

Rileys First Haircut... on his own :(

Let me start by saying Riley has had scissors in his hands non stop for about a month now. He loves to cut paper, he is always making something. Well.... Today at lunch I was sitting across from Riley and noticed a big chunk of hair missing from his bangs. I mean big chunk... Mom is not happy at this point, cause this hair was there this morning. Daddy must have fell asleep on Riley duty because the said hair went missing sometime between 1030am and 2pm...
This child always complains that his hair is getting long and he "Needs to see Miss Beth." I will add photos when he wakes up from his nap. For now, we'll leave it be. Cutting his bangs to that level might be social suicide, so for today, we won't. :)

Riley & Aaron

Aaron and Riley Reunite. Our friends moved to East Tennessee earlier this year and we haven't seen much of them. On our way home from Charlotte on Monday, Lee Ann, Matt and Aaron met us in Knoxville for a visit! Riley and Aaron ran around McDonalds, having a ball. Riley, being the elder child, felt the need to feed Aaron as much as possible. Aaron being newly independent, ran all over the place.
It was so nice seeing them again--it has been far too long :)

Walden Farm Pumpkin Patch

Riley being helpful, picking up the pumpkins.

Chibuke (Riley's cousin :) and Riley

A little different than most years, on the pumpkin instead of in front of. Our annual trip to Walden Farm was made with good friends this year. We went on October 2nd and the boys had an amazing time. We checked out the animals: baby pigs, mini horses, calves, goats and chickens. Riley and Chibuke pet a few of the animals but mainly ran around like crazy, picking up as many pumpkins as the could. It was nice to have our friends with us this year. Miriam, Chidozia and Chibuke came with us and we also ran into several people from work :)We had a great time this year as always. Riley picked one big pumpkin and six (YES SIX) small ones. Our small ones have been painted black and will be turned into Bats! Will post pics after they are done.

We're still here....

Jonathon, Riley and Joseph and the baby chick.

Hailey learning how to play soccer.


Jenn and Riley-Lake Michigan

Cam and Riley in one more competition.

Wow.. It has been over a month since I have blogged. Things are better in our family now. My dad had his surgery in August and has/is recovering well. He is going to hemodialysis three times a week and doing well. We were able to go home one more time to check on things and "see for ourselves" how everyone was. This trip wasn't quite so rushed and I must say not one minute was spent in the hospital. (dialysis clinic yes, hospital no).

We spent a few days with my mom and dad in Ludington and spent alot of time with Casey, Cameron and Hailey. The boys love hanging out though they get on each others (and our) nerves after a while. Hailey is amazing!!!! She is the most beautiful little girl and has she ever grown. Not talking so much yet--though is she is anything like Cam, once she starts, she won't stop! Cameron is so smart. He is big brother like to Riley just like he is to Hailey. We took the boys to the beach and lunch one day and had a blast. I ended up getting sunburned because there was so much wind coming off Lake Michigan, it felt much cooler than it was. It was amazing. We actually went to the beach 3 times while we were there.. If for nothing else, to splash our feet in the water. It is one of the biggest things I miss about Michigan!

We also spent a couple days with Justins family. We celebrated Gordon's 70th!!!! birthday with him-he's pretty amazing. The kids had a ball running around the yard, eating cake and ice cream and just being kids. Riley got to play a lot with his cousins (and Aunt Char & Uncle Scott), Jonathon, Sadie and Joseph. He loves Sadie and talks about her all the time. Though this visit he really bonded with Joseph. He also of course loves playing with "That big guy" (Jonathon).. Justins cousin Val came down with 3 of her boys too. Henry, James and Jude are getting so big and we always love to spend time talking with them! It amazes me every time we go home how much everyone has grown.. AMAZING....

Though our trip was nice, it is always nice to be home.. Michigan messes with our allergies and makes us crazy. Things are getting back to normal in the Jacobs house. Gearing up for fall.. We are getting so excited for our upcoming trips: Oct.3 to the Pumpkin Patch, The weekend of Oct. 10 to Charlotte NC for our nephews wedding, Riley's 4th Birthday Celebration-Mid November and Thanksgiving we're headed back to Charlotte for our yearly tradition with Justins family. In the meantime we're content hanging out at home, playing soccer on the deck and just enjoying the weather as it cools down and the leaves on the trees so subtly change. Happy almost Fall to all!