The funny farm

As we wake-up with all the energy of summertime and hear little feet hitting the ground at 90 mph way too early in the morning, we know we're in for some entertaining moments, if not whole days. Jacob is constantly acquiring words, concepts, and silly behaviors, but acting like animals sees to be one of the more entertaining games. (As it should be!)
Here's Jacob one morning (as indicated by him still in his pajamas top) sharing some unqiue animal sounds with me. He knows more than indicated on the video, but you can probably still see how his rendition of some animals is rather humorous. -I for one enjoy that the sheep says "da daada". Right now, everything is dada...and though when he needs something i'm "mama!" to him, all other prodding as to who I am is answered with a proud and giggled "dada".

PS-we're not squirrel haters. They just eat all the birdseed which is not for them and are therefore told to go away. Hence, Jacob thinks all squirrels should be told to "GO!".

Jacob goes West...again.

We've made it back toward the west- currently we're with Daniel's folks in Arizona. Until Daniel starts the fall semester ( a couple of weeks), we'll be swimming, eating, and playing out here in the desert! (And I'll be writing my masters thesis, having meetings, and getting closer to my defense and graduation.....finally.)

It's taken a bit of adjusting back to the bone-dry heat, but after some chapped lips, parched mouths, and a few bloody noses (yikes), I think we're all relearning how to balance out the hydration and heat. Jacob has been having a blast hugging and pulling the tail of Izzy the dog, swimming, chatting with great-gramma and great-grampa Pugh, and apparently playing with his newborn carseat as seen below.

I can't believe how HUGE he is now and how, once upon a time, he was too small and required towels for a proper fit in there. Even he thinks that's ridiculous.

Before we left NC, we had a chance to visit the Gallaghers and discovered that Jacob has a special talent. At 16 months, he can skillfully balance spoons on his nose:



We also learned that he needs another haircut after an especially muggy day on the deck...Jacob was sporting the blond fro.

And darn proud of it, too.


Anyway, we miss the east coasters more than we can express but are grateful to have had all the time and visits with everyone! We'll have more photo-ops of Jacob phoenix style now that we're "unpacked" and have located the camera and cord. Love to all!

Every Summer these days we get to enjoy ourselves with a good amount of friends and family. The only exception for the summer of 2009 is that we saw a GREAT amount of friends and family! Thank you to all who made seeing us a priority this year. We cherish our time together and we feel very loved. As we head back to the west coast, we would like to offer this video as a dancing montage set to Jason Mraz's version of Bob Marley's "Three little birds," which Ashley and I got to see Jason perform live two weeks ago (Thanks Grandpa Jeff!).

To all of those who were on CPE this summer, starting a new job, moving, or doing other busy things, 'This is my message to you-oo-oo.'





Mucho, mucho amor!

-D, A, and J.