Routine

I haven't posted since the night before Jacob's birthday, and now, his birthday seems so long ago. It has been a crazy, busy summer. After two years of Bob working 80 hours a week, it has been so nice to have our whole family together for two months without work. He heads back to school Wednesday, which means we are all getting right back into a routine.

Jacob will be in preschool three days a week this year instead of two, and for three hours a day. I am going to miss him so much! Even though he went to school two days a week last year, three days just seems like so much more to me!

I want to get back into posting about the boys and our daily life again - I really appreciate looking back on what we have done together.

I don't want to spend time blogging about the summer and trying to recap, but a quick run-through of our summer: a week at the in-law's, lots of weekends at mom and dad's, a visit to see our nephew in Florida, getting rained on from the tropical storm Debby, beautiful time in St. Pete for Bob's conference, 9 days camping in Door County, tubing, kayaking, countless trips to the library/zoo/museum, tried out new parks, played with lots of friends, bounce houses, a first trip to the "real" gymnastics place, bike rides, staying up late, and having fun as a family.

Joshua has really blossomed lately. He has so many words and phrases, and is really started to talk a lot. He knows a lot of animals and their noises, almost all vehicles, and some colors. I am really going to work on colors and shapes when Jacob goes back to school and we have lots of one-on-one time. Joshua loves to laugh and play games. He is a sweet, sweet boy (with a temper in there like no other!). He is very stubborn with what he eats, which is a change for us since Jacob will eat about anything and always has. Joshua just recently started doing puzzles really well, but he hates to sit for very long. I remember Jacob having a very long attention span for a toddler, and Joshua is the opposite. Although, it does make me appreciate the times he does sit down to do quiet activities. He LOVES Buzz Lightyear more than anything, along with Mater. Those two characters are the way to get to his heart! Jacob calls Joshua "Jooshies," which is funny to hear him say out in public when people ask what his brother's name is. Joshua really hangs in there when days get long or naps get thrown off, and he is very adaptable and flexible. He gives the most adorable hugs and kisses, has a great imagination and loves to be close to his brother.

Jacob is just starting to put together big concepts and continues to make us laugh. He has recently enjoyed watching Scooby Doo. Today at lunch he wanted to tuck his napkin into the neck of his shirt and said, "We don't want to waste any of this food, Scoob," just like Shaggy does. Jacob loves watching the Olympics and pretending to win the gold medal in various events. Jacob surprised us when we were camping with his love for the water. He loved tubing off the pontoon boat, enjoyed trying the paddle board, and really understood how to move the kayak pretty well. He shocks us with his understanding of things we ask him to do, or how things work. He is still obsessed with the Titanic, natural disasters, and wrecks. He had a little scare when we were camping and was terrified of dying, but luckily that was short lived. He is looking forward to going back to school, but loves to spend time at home. Jacob's memory is still like a steel trap, and you cannot tell that kid anything you don't want him to remind you of later. He has a long list for Santa already. Jacob continues to grow like crazy, and I'm positive he will outgrow me much quicker than I would ever want him to.

I am looking forward to getting back into a routine with the boys, but I think this summer will always hold special memories for all of us. We have spent so much time together, and have done a lot of traveling and time just the four of us. I am shocked at how well the boys behaved all summer considering how off their schedules were and off many places we were constantly going. Sometimes you wonder what they are thinking, but we are so proud of them for being the sweet, polite, nice and funny boys they are every day.