January Almost Gone

I can not believe that January has nearly come and gone. The Pirosko gang has been busy, busy for sure. Jacob continues with pre-school two mornings a week and karate, Ta! James is playing more and more with big brother... and fighting, but we won't talk about that here :)

Two BIG happenings since Christmas. (1) Chris hit the 4-0 mark! We celebrated with friends cabin-style at Soda Springs, Tahoe. The cabin was so great- fun was certainly had by all. (2) Our dear friends, the Howes House, finally welcomed Venor and Eveylne home. It all happened so quickly (after a 2 plus year wait) as the children were granted Visas as a result of the devastating earthquake (and a huge lobbying effort that followed by the adoption community). We are thrilled beyond words for the Howes Family.

I will keep this entry short, as work is calling, but I must share a funny story from this morning. Jacob and I were working on his letter "O" homework pages. He was on the page where he "free-hand" writes capital and lower case letter "O's". Two of the "O's" were really close together, nearly touching. Here is the dialog that transpired:

Jacob: "mommy do you know what these two "O's" look like?"

Carri: "a number eight?"

Jacob: "No mommy, that would mean it was sideways."

Carri: "a snowman?"
Jacob: "No."
(after a few more guesses on my part...)

Carri: "I give up, I've given it my best guesses, tell me."

Jacob: "I will give you a clue."

Carri: "O.k., great."
Jacob: "Mommies have these to nurse babies."

I nearly died. He then proceeded to turn the two side-by-side letter "O's" into donuts, the sprinkle/candy kind.

Jacob has really started to turn-up the all important life questions. "Where do babies come from?" And my typical answer of "mommies and daddies who love each other" doesn't cut it anymore, he is all about body parts. He has also asked "how does somebody who dies get to heaven?" Discussions about one's soul, God, and heaven stepped it up a notch. This is a tough concept for adults to comprehend, let alone explain to a four year old.

Merry Almost Christmas

The house has been full of Christmas Music (thanks Pandora!), hanging new LED lights (thanks Chris), tree trimming, cookie baking and decorating, candy making, present wrapping (and peeking!), and most of all anticipation. We had a great pre-Christmas visit with Grammie Diane and Pap Pap last week as well.

I have one fun story to share (there are so many). Jacob brought home a pre-school made gift for mom and dad. It was nicely wrapped in tissue paper and ready to be placed under the tree. Well, Jacob had other plans. He decided to tear open the paper and destroy the plaster hand print to "gift" us special "jewels" that were encased into the lovely hand print. After my initial, "what are you doing!?!" I just went with it... especially when I saw him pick out his favorite red heart "jewel" and "wrap" it in paper and put it under the tree for me. Maybe this pre-school gift idea is best suited for little girls who don't seem to see the "jewels" as having super hero power. Or maybe archeology is in his future. Boys! Smiles.

Precious Moments

One of those moments when your heart gets all warm and fuzzy just looking at your boys playing. Precious moments.

Jacob had this brilliant idea of what to do with his Halloween Candy. Decorating left-over cupcakes from his end of season soccer party. Cool for three reasons: (1) Jacob thinks these extra treats are way cool and (2) it helped empty his Halloween pumpkin and (3) the cupcakes have been left untouched on the counter for 3 days!

Jacob is learning about stop lights at pre-school. Therefore, I am constantly being instructed by my four year old to "STOP" Red Light. "Go" Green Light. and "Caution" Yellow Light (not slow, I was informed). And I thought it was hard to get things done with two little boys before this fun game began. Smiles.

Ta!

Moving on to Karate.

Jacob and his little best buddies Kenny and Von are loving karate. The instructor is simply

amazing as he keeps a class of 30 students of all ages and skill levels engaged and moving for an entire hour. It is exhausting just watching. Since Jacob will never be a giant (sorry buddy, it is all in the genes) a little self defense and self confidence can not hurt :)

Jacob's Favorite Day of the Entire Year

HALLOWEEN of Course

(my little sweet tooth)!

We had such a fun Halloween day and evening with friends. Jacob was in all of his glory. James was a trooper. Only 363 more days until Halloween. Although Jacob was trying to speed-up that countdown yesterday by knocking the leaves off of the Oak Trees at the park (when all of the leaves are gone it means it is Halloween... my stalling tactic each year when he starts asking in July when Halloween will be here). Too cute.

Kiddo Speak

Jacob Speak
Over the course of the last year, big brother Jacob has come-up with some very silly nicknames for his little brother. Mostly silly that is because we do have some clues as to where a few of the nicknames originated. Who knows where he dreams-up the other silly names. We love them. So much so, Chris and I find ourselves referring to James in these enduring terms:

Mow-Mow (Pronounced: Wow-Wow, but change the "w" to an "m")

Munko (origin?)
Cooper (one of Jacob's preschool mates has a little brother named Cooper)

Gilbert (origin?)
George (which technically is his middle name after his pap-pap)

James Speak

James has started to repeat the funniest things. Chris, Jacob and I love huddling around James and each taking turns saying, "Boo!" "say Boo James" "say Boo James." "Boo!" And then we all start clapping and giggling as he lets out the most adorable "boo" and grins from ear-to-ear.

It just occurred to me last week that James has started to roar when ever he picks-up a teddy bear stuffed animal (he has many in his crib... a crib that we just lowered as he is pulling-up on everything), a dinosaur toy (we are a house with a 4-year old boy so have many of those too), or a lion (mostly in his books... we have MANY of those in our house because we are huge kiddo-book zone). James will just keep letting out his too-cute baby "roar!" and yes smiling from ear-to-ear.

Pretty soon we will have two talkative little boys to contend with in our household. We often get told that Jacob is a very articulate little boy. He has been from an early age. We can only hope that James follows suit. But, be careful what you wish for... as they say: "first we teach them to speak and then we want them to shut-up." Bring it on... I now have an i-pod. Smiles.

Settling into a Fall Routine

Above Photo LEFT: The perfect back to pre-school photo: Spiderman backpack, Dino sweatshirt, mountain patrol shirt, his blanket, and the obligatory over-the-top smile.

Above Photo RIGHT: James was squealing with joy as he and Jacob rode the "pretty pony".

Thanks Auntie x2 boys.

Go Sharks!

Chris and I have had the sheer JOY of watching Jacob start his organized sporting career. It is probably safe to say that we are a little over-the-top about the whole practice and pre-game hype. Jacob eats it up though! It has taken a few weeks, but I've finally mastered the socks, ankle guards, cleats, and shin guards. Jacob has two terrific coaches (and mostly terrific parents- there has always got to be one, no?) who never forget to provide a treat at the end of each practice. It is all about the snacks baby! The Pirosko's are in charge of game snacks for the season closer, Halloween Day. We are not taking the responsibility lightly... a little parental competition dare I say?!? Mostly kidding.

James has officially mastered the crab-crawl and loves assisted walking. He is starting to play with brother more and more (yeah!) and his little vocabulary increases weekly. His latest: ah-oh!, thank you (well he kind of says it), and tractor. Although Mama is still his favorite word :)

A few oh so cute stories to share before I sign-off:

1. In early September Jacob was having a rough week (almost dinner in his room level) listening to mom and dad. Let us just say that his little world closes in pretty fast when he is consistently out-of-line. Evidence, Jacob: "mommy, are you going to send my jammies to somebody else?" I had been collecting a box of James' items to pass along to a friend expecting her first baby. Talk about a turn-around in behavior. (For the record, NO I had not threatened to send away his P.J.'s.)

2. Moment of the Month: Imagine Jacob and I flat on our backs (James is laying flat on my tummy snuggling) in the back yard, staring up into the swaying pine trees as the winged-pine seeds whirl and twirl to the ground from way up high and a variety of little birds chirp into the wind. What a sweet moment. Besides the beauty of the moment... an opportunity to talk about reproduction in trees and migratory bird patterns of course! What can I say?

Side Note #1: man-o-man is there a BUMPER crop of pine seeds this year. Might this mean a wet winter is ahead of us? Side Note #2: Jacob, our little collector... has taken the opportunity to collect as many pine seeds as he can possibly manage. If there is something to collect, Jacob is the little-man for the job.

3. I put a photo of my mom, sisters, and I (Lake Tahoe: Girl's Weekend 2009 baby!) up on the refrigerator. Jacob immediately declared: "mom, you can't go on a boat vacation without me." How he knew it was a photo of us gals on a boat cruise on the lake is beyond me (did I say, "Lake Tahoe: Girl's Weekend 2009 baby!"... o.k. I already said that... can you tell that we had FUN?) because we are standing in front of a life preserver with mostly sky in the background- no boat in sight. The photo could have been taken anywhere. Jacob has seen a life preserver at swim lessons, but not associated with a boat. Go figure. So, to the part of the story that is extra-cute. The next day, Jacob: "Mom, if I bring candy corn and candy pumpkin snacks, will you take me on the boat trip next time?" Heart melting, "of course Jacob," I reply.

The Pirosko Family is settling into a fabulous fall routine- we've even gott'en our first "family" cold of the season. Now nothing says "welcome back to pre-school" than a fever and snotty nose that is passed to each family member over a two week period.