Crazy Eights and the Elephant Walk

Did anyone else ever play that game?? I don't know why....but Crazy Eights was my favorite card game as a child. Did your deck have that happy/goofy looking clown on the Crazy 8 card? Mine did...wow, and I thought THAT was crazy! :) As of this past Saturday I am now CRAZY-38!! :-D I had one of the best birthdays ever! And instead of mourning the fact that 50 is less than 12 years away, I decided to enjoy my last 2 years "in my thirties". So, lets get this party started!!!

First, my parents took me and Kaden out for a pre-birthday lunch. :) Kaden really enjoyed the bluesy music and the ribs.


Then Mike took me out for dinner and dancing on my birthday. This picture (yea, I know....we're not totally centered due to the fact that I am holding the camera), was taken at PDK airport. Ring a bell anyone???

We went here on one of our first dates... :) you know....when Mike made HIS first move. :) (He would beg to differ on this point but he doesn't know how to log into this blog so I guess you won't here his opinion! :-D) Oh and for the dancing we went to one of our sister churches downtown(St. John the Wonderworker). They were having a Valentine's/Swing dance to raise money for a mission trip to an Orthodox Orphanage in Guatemala!! We couldn't pass up the chance to support these college students as they were sacrificing their spring breaks for a place that is very near and dear to our hearts! :) And I'm happy to report that Mike and I had a great time dancing and didn't pull any muscles! (I don't recall getting that tired in my twenties after only dancing about 5 minutes....hmmmm)

Today I dropped the K-man by my parents so I could go to a HUGE consignment sale at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds. I did okay but it's tough to find nice looking boy clothes that aren't already very worn! Shocking...I know. So anyway, here's Kaden, play by play, on the way home. He *loves* his bunny that his Grandmother Jacobs gave him. They must have played him really hard though! We weren't in the car 5 minutes before he was totally sacked out! :)

I'm feeling verrrrrrrry relaxed....

I'm feeling a verrrrry relaxed crick in my neck....

Mommy, quit looking at me and pay attention to the road!!

And last but not least, my son gettin' down with the Elephant Walk! (This is a favorite Henry Mancini tune of my fathers.......can be seen/heard in the movie "Hatari" for the John Wayne fans out there) :) Okay, so I'm trying to upload this video but it's taking forever....hopefully it will appear soon...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

The Blue Moose is Dead

On the docket for today:

• The Blue Moose is Dead
• 3 months
• Tupperware party

The Blue Moose!
After 22 months the moose is finally dead! When we first got Fezzi he came with his favorite animal...the blue moose. It even made a cool moose sound....until he bit through the sound device, that is. Over the past almost 2 years we've given him other toys/animals, but they rarely last the day. Nothing has the strength of the blue moose! The blue moose has gotten Fezzi through many a hard day. You know it's such a dog's life these days. ;-) When other toys have let him down, lost their stuffing, or a leg or their head...the moose has always held on. But now look, it's guts strewn all over the floor. Poor fezziwoo. This is a sad day for our doggie. By the way,if anyone knows of where we can find a replacement moose, we have a fluffy doggie that would be VERY grateful. :) (The blue moose didn't come with any tags so we've never been able to track down where it came from)3 Months!
Wow, our boy has been home 3 months. That makes me smile. He's so much fun. How did we end up with such a sweet boy? Wow. I thank God every day for our boy but I am still in awe. This time last year we had pictures of him at 5 days old and 1 medical report and that's it. What a difference a year makes! :)

Fezzi conferring with the K-man on their strategy for the day.

Daddy showing mommy the optimum way to feed our son while spending quality time with the dog.

Did I mention that Kaden got a haircut? I finally had heard enough comments about his Hawaii 5-0 sideburns so I had my hair lady trim the sides. Yea, yea, he looks really cute but it made me sad. Where did my baby go??? Okay, no more hair cuts until he's 10!! :)

Daddy's hoping he might get a role in the next Rambo sequel. :)

Tupperware Party!
Kaden has finally discovered what any healthy toddler does....the tupperware cabinet!! At first it was no biggee for me. He liked to hold a lid, maybe a bowl...."oh that's great Kaden! Boy this being mommy thing is easy!" Ha! Now he has graduated to rearranging ALL of the tupperware across the entire kitchen floor. He particularly enjoys this past time while I'm cooking burning hot liquids and foods on the stove and in the oven.Mommy, why do you keep putting this stuff up when I'm not looking?? I had it all set out exactly as I wanted it....

3rd time is the charm!

Socially Secure??
Thank God, we finally have our son's Social Security Number!....or rather it should be coming in the mail in about 2 weeks. I try to be patient....I know dealing with most government agencies isn't really what you would call "fun"...but why does it always have to be so difficult? We went to the Soc. Sec office in December...waited over an hour...then found out we needed another piece of paper. That finally came a few weeks ago, but this time I checked online AND called the Soc. Sec 800 number to make sure we had everything we needed before trekking over there again. We headed that way yesterday but the parking lot was totally full, it was crazy. I didn't think Kaden would be happy to sit in my lap in a crowded room for 4 hours so we decided to try another day. Today the parking lot was again packed, but we got there in the AM instead of the afternoon so I hoped it wouldn't be too bad. Well, 2+ hours later we left the Soc. Sec office with our receipt! And I must say that the K-man was quite a trooper...only whined a bit here and there.

Speaking of the K-man, he has a lot to say these days....although he doesn't waste precious time forming actual words. He's too busy being creative and expressing himself in a variety of octaves.

Let is snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
As most of you have already heard (or got to experience yourself), we got a whopping inch or so of snow last week. On Wednesday night and then last Saturday. Kaden wasn't sure what to think of it at first, but he eventually warmed up to the idea of cold snow...tee hee.

Granddaddy Jacobs introducing K-man to snow.
Kaden's Mom and the K-man

In other news....Fezzi and Kaden seem to have some unwritten agreement : you slobber on my stuffed animals and I'll slobber on yours. I have given up on trying to keep Fezzi from grabbing Kaden's stuff and vice versa. They often seem to prefer each others. I'm sure the dried drool is quite tasty. Bleh! Speaking of that, I caught Fezzi-woo cuddled up the other night with ...guess who's toy ?? :DAnd NO, I swear I did NOT put Piglet with Fezzi...he did that all on his own! :)

Christmas, Incriminating Evidence, and Snowboarder Hair

What a slacker!! I haven't blogged for eons! And I'm sure you had all but lost hope that I would return....or more importantly, that you would see any more pictures of our little punkin! Well....rest assured, help is on the way!!...or at least lots of photos. :) Not only that, but today ONLY you will get 3 blogs for the price of one!! Yes, that's right...for as little as 19.95 you can see 3 updates below instead of just 1. (Note that this offer does not include a bamboo steamer and all checks should be written out to "Susan McKinley's Shopping Fund". Void where prohibited.)
Christmas (Blog #1) (Pictured above, all the Jacobinis except Cyndi :( who was taking the picture. I don't think we ever got a photo of all of us...need to get one of those cameras with a timer next year!)

Christmas 2007 was filled with much joy for us (big surprise, eh??) It was a bit surreal to be spending Christmas day with our son. Its been wonderful to have him home, but I think I had gotten into the routine, gotten used to the stinky diapers and messy bibs. :) It took my breath away on Christmas to realize that our son was REALLY home....all those times I feared we wouldn't see him by his first birthday, feared we would have another Christmas with no child.....and here we were....celebrating the birth of Christ with our child in our arms. Wow. The Lord is good and I continue to give Him thanks for allowing us to raise this sweet little boy.

We had a great Christmas watching Kaden eat Christmas paper and chase after the doggie toys. We also greatly appreciated all the wonderful gifts sent to Kaden. Thanks Aunt Ethel and Eugenia !! And thanks to Uncle Chuck, Aunt Sandra, Uncle Jerry and Aunt Betty for remembering the poor neglected Fezziwig. He has greatly enjoyed and already decapitated the doggie toys you gave him. :)

My brother hosted the extended family at his house (about 25 people) and Kaden got to meet many of his aunts and uncles and cousins for the first time. He and we were worn out but very thankful for a happy day.

Mike chillin with Uncle Rick's new puppy... (notice that he's so relaxed the tongue hangs out....of the puppy, not Mike!!)
Kaden's "Cars" garage given by Uncle Bob, Aunt Elizabeth, Charlotte and Charity has already been put to good use by both our son AND the dog. :)
Pictured Below: "I'm so happy to have this garage to play with!"
Pictured Below: "Don't you be messin with my garage OR my tractor and farm animals! I'm a rough, tough cream puff!"
Incriminating Evidence (Blog #2)
Below you will see exhibits A, B and C. As the evidence will prove, our son increases his desire for discovery and yearning for exploration daily.
Exhibit A...mysterious material found on hall carpet. Shreds seem to form mysterious shapes. Could these shapes form a secret message ???

Exhibit B...potentially hazardous material has strength to wrap around bathroom doorway. Was someone using this to climb out a window? Hmmm.....

Exhibit C: Aha!!! Caught in the act!

Other venues of discovery seem to include Mike's mouth. Do we have the making of yet another McKinley dentist??? Oh and Mom McK, no, that's not dirt on Mike's face...yes...it's what you think it is...:-D

Snowboarder Hair (Blog #3)
As you can see, this little one continues to bring adventure and excitement with each new day. Its so fun to see him discover new sounds, better ways to stand up or grab things and new ways to laugh and be silly. One day in particular I thought his hair was quite entertaining, (I figure I'll show these to his first girlfriend ;-) ) so I had to grab some pics.

Wuzzup mama??Laugh all you want! I'm getting a groove on! Take me to funky town!And after nap time, it was still funky. Maybe he and Fezzi could both be snowboarders?? I don't know...I don't think we're quite at Glenn Plake status yet. :) So there you have it. Hopefully you didn't have to refill your tea or coffee to get through this fabulous, adventure packed 3 blog update!

Kaden's Mom