Jake Videos

Here's two funny Jake videos I found on Grace's iPod

The first is an old one of Jake singing the ABC's (the singing is not what I found to be funny).

http://youtu.be/i4piXWBvkZE

The second one is of Jake doing some gymnastics (Grace choreographed and shot the video herself).

http://youtu.be/tcriaqPvI70

Holiday Shows

I should have posted these already, but what can I say, the holidays are busy.

Grace had her very first piano recital before Christmas, something she had insisted when she started lessons that she NEVER wanted to do.  It was a small recital at the music store.  There were ten other kids performing and all their parents.  Grace played "Deck the Halls."  She wasn't really nervous to play (she knew the song really well), but she was very nervous that her teacher said she should bow or curtsy after she played.  We talked about the bow and practiced.  She played her song perfectly (as far as I could tell) but ended up not bowing at all and instead just leaving the stage as fast as possible.
Here's a video from the front row.

http://youtu.be/0XduMu0cCGo

Jake had a Holiday sing-a-long at preschool.  He was not very excited about this and told me beforehand that he would NOT sing.   He stuck to his plan and did not open his mouth, but it was pretty cute anyway.  He just stood there looking miserable (and a little mad), while other kids smiled and did the hand motions (Jake's only hand motion was grabbing his crotch).  After the recital he said he was mad because the teachers made him wear a santa hat :)

Here's the video

http://youtu.be/Si-jhDfDPzc 

SNOW!!

All I can say is that there is a lot of freaking snow and I have a love/hate relationship with it!  It's beautiful, it can be fun, but it's soooooo cold!  It's a huge pain to put on snow boots, hats, gloves, etc. just to go get the mail and to have to get two kids ready is even worse.

It's already snowed a lot more than last year and stayed around a lot longer, which I guess is actually normal.

The kids don't really mind the snow, and luckily I don't have to go outside with them like I did last year when Jake was younger.  Now I just send them out and check on them every few minutes.  Here are some of their favorite activities:

Sledding down the driveway

Into the street :)

Building snow forts

Machines in the snow

 Sledding in the front yard (I'm proud to say that I built this hill for them)

Jake's personal favorite is eating the snow 

New Years Day Sledding!

The kids love sledding!  There is a great spot across the street from our development that has parking, a lot of open space and pretty decent hills.  It's gets pretty crowded on nice days and you have to watch out for out of control sleds.  The kids have absolutely no fear (which worries me a little).  I can't help but imagine all kinds of wipe outs and bruised tailbones (like I got two years ago).   So I just watch, take pictures and hope for the best.

Here's how they do it:

Climb the big hill...

Get Ready...

Get Set...

Go....

Keep going...

Gone...