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.

..and now you know the rest of the story.

After the fourth of July, Jacob and I stayed in Green Pond for about another week, then returned to NC and have since been playing (i.e. dressing in daddy's clothes), visiting the library, and having family visit.

As a picture recap: Jacob adored Green Pond and all the popularity with family, kids on the beach, and essentially anyone that would look in his direction in response to his gibberish or delighted calls.

Lucky for us all, Jacob was again a trooper for the 11 hour car ride back to NC. With teething thrown into the mix of traveling early and long, being patient, and playing so hard the whole week up in GP, Jacob crashed on the couch about an hour after arriving in Raleigh.

Jaocb picked up Daniel's shirt and somehow managed to get it on. Perhaps there was a bit of daddy assistance. Made for some pretty funny pictures of how small Jacob really is...

Jacob's other cousin, Parker came to visit this past weekend!

JDP loved having Parker and his Aunt Tally here (as did everyone else). They were pretty funny together- laughing at the mischevious antics of the other.

But, Jacob wore Parker out. He literally played until he dropped- and it was hilarious.


We had the chance to get some professionals shots yesterday of the boys together...but they were quite sub-par as both boys felt smiles were unnecessary...Jacob smirked and Parker stuck out his tongue.

But they are cute.

And we love them!

After the not-so0great photo shoot, they got some pool time. As you can see, Jacob was still reserving his smile. Go figure.

Though he's getting feeling blah what with getting his first molar and a cold, Jacob still wanted to break it down. So, as he's been doing for the past week, he turned on our clock radio and went to it. As a side-note, in this segment the country station is a result of it being the only station not on a commercial break; however, Jacob does tend to dance and sing most with country crooning.

Happy July 4th / JDP at 15 months

Jacob is officially 15 months old now. While he weighs the "textbook" amount, he is a bit shrimpy on the length...for us that means we have a bit longer before knobs and dials become a major issue- that is, only if he doesn't climb up somewhere!
Jacob at 15 months is still the rambuntious, curious, and hilarious kiddo he's been from the start (thank goodness!). He can now point out his or anyone's belly button, nose, eyes, mouth, and on occassion, point to his ears. He's able to understand most commands and chooses to follow most all of them except "come". "No" is also sometimes a game, but he just pushes boundaries rather than actually following through on the prohibited action.
He continues to eat like a champ and explore his taste buds as summer delivers delicious produce. Whenever in the presence of watermelon, Jacob feverishly begs for a taste using his signs for 'please', 'more', and 'eat'. And, of course, he tried hot dog on July 4th at the Green Pond parade and seemed to really dig in (not starting a habit there....yikes).
Green Pond has been good to him giving him the freedom to go swimming, play in the sand, chase squirrels, wave to everyone, go for wagon rides, run in the field, and spin in circles until he keels over. He's also getting spoiled with love from all of the Chell clan...fortunately, the love and giggles are mutually shared!

Here's some of the "wild life" in Green Pond encountered thus far:

Jacob playing air drums with uncle Josh

Devouring and washing down a hot dog with ketchup



A Pugh July 4th!

Taste of GP

SO, Uncle Josh has the "professional amateur" pictures of some of Jacob's adventures in Green Pond...but here are some to post until we upload those photos.

Les cousins

Last weekend, two of Jacob's cousins, Colby (center, 14 months) and Samuel (right, 2 1/2) were in town for a wedding- along with their parents, of course! Jacob adored having more family and fellow mischief makers living with him for a couple of days.

They had so much fun banging on pots...

Yelling at squirrels eating the birdseed...

And chatting it up.

(I'm uploading the video)

Sadly, the only shot of these adorable boys jazzed-up for the wedding. I had the camera with me the whole time...but failed to get more photos.

Here's the wedding aftermath: it was about 9:30 pm on Saturday night. What can I say, we like to party hardy.

There are more to come- and now we're in NJ with the whole Chell family. Craziness is already ensuing and I'll prove it with pictures soon!