Football Season 2010 - Week 4

Not a lot of pictures this weekend. Lots of fun, but not a lot of pictures!

So we don't always follow the best diet on tailgating weekends. Who says a cookie is not a great breakfast?!

Jake with his best 4-legged friend, Bruiser
Henry & Jake

(To my family... don't worry!! Pictures to come soon of him in his other team shirts!)

Videos of Talking

Jake talking, saying some of my favorite words.

Naming the people in our family. He has the grandmothers & cousins down. Sorry grandfathers & aunts, we're working on it!

New words he added this week... cheerio (or cereal, we don't know which he is referring to because he says "cheerol") & mommy (which I LOVE!! Sounds more official than ma-ma).

Happy Birthday's!

September 22 - Happy Birthday Mimi!! We love you so much!

September 23 - Happy Birthday Robbie!!

(Birthday pictures to come)

September 24 - Happy 21-month Birthday Jake!!

(I've got some videos of Jake talking, but the videos are taking FOREVER to load. It's 1:30 AM & I've got to get up at 5:30, so I don't have time to wait for them to load. I'll upload them when I have more time:)

So what would a perfect day at home be like for this 21-month old?

He would wake up & mommy would rock him while he drank his milk & she read him a book (Llama Llama or any Eric Carle books)

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Then we would go outside. We'd play on a swing set & anything with a ball. Then we would come inside & make sure every door was closed. We'd play with a cell phone. (Not the old ones that don't work anymore. It must be the one we currently use.)

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We'd have a snack of bananas or Mandarin oranges (& probably read more books)

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We'd let him take a nap while watching either football, golf or baseball

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We'd then stick our hands under running water. And splash. For hours. Then we would sweep the garage floor. And finish up by washing our hands multiple times, each time insisting that we use soap too.

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Once it cooled off, we'd go sit in the car & play. We'd watch a little bit of Sid the Science Kid on the car DVD player. Maybe even have a second snack of goldfish in the car. (Note: the car cannot move while playing. It is only fun to play while the car is parked, turned off & he doesn't have to sit in the car seat.)

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Play with the wii remote. Push buttons on the TV controller. Sit in mommy or daddy's lap & read more books. Have someone drop ice on the floor so that he can pick it up & put it in the sink.

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Have mommy rock him to sleep (the last one is just as much mine, as it is his!!)

Football Season 2010 - Week 3

I actually had the whole week to myself! Robbie was gone on a golf trip. With my work schedule, it would be almost impossible for me to pick Jake up everyday from daycare, plus I was supposed to fly out-of-town for a business meeting. So we decided that it would be a good week for Jake to spend at Nana & Gran's. I was really disappointed that I was not able to get to spend a week of just Jake & me. I'm sure that it would have been stressful, but I think that it would have been a lot of fun. Plus it would be some great one-on-one time. That's one of the hardest parts about working outside the home. It is a horrible feeling of being torn. It doesn't help matters that I was recently promoted, so now I even feel more guilty. But it is something that Robbie & I pray about daily. And I feel at peace that for right now, this is God's plan. (Believe me, I've tried to convince him of otherwise!) I sure did miss my little munchkin waiting for me to get home, but it made me happy to think about how much fun he was having on the farm! So what all did Jake do, while at Nana & Gran's?

He rode the trail wagon Played on the trampoline with his cousin Marrell (My mom has always kept my brother's kids while Billy & Leigh Ann are at work. Jake had fun with Marrell at Nana's Daycare!)

Colored

a lot

Played in the water

Showed off their fancy shirts Nana got them (Marrell's had pretend lace & Jake's had a pretend tie [covered up by his sippy cup])

Ate snacks

Marrell was scared Jake had a weight problem since he is so much bigger than her. So she put herself in control of his snacks. She would only give him one at a time.

Robbie got back from his golf trip on Thursday, so he spent Thursday with Jake at my parent's & then headed over to Auburn on Friday. I took a half day on Friday & drove down to my parent's. Boy was I soooooooo excited to see Jake! I then drove over to Auburn Saturday morning for the game. It was our weekend to help host the tailgate & it was a blast!

The yummy low country boil

Yea! Sweet Madeline & her parents were at the tailgate. Here she is with Summer & Tricia.

Henry making sure no one crossed the caution tape

Regular men tailgaters

On Sunday, I drove back over to Prattville, to pick up Jake. My dad has an amazing muscadine vineyard. He has tons of variety & everything is organic. I've been wanting to take some pictures of the grand kids in the vineyard with my parents. What better time to do that then after church during their nap time. That makes for cooperative kids, right?

Marrell was my only one cooperating

Maddox

Maddox insisted that I take her picture with her little puppy

Marrell

Jake would have nothing to do with any of it

All he wanted to do is ride the trail wagon

Marrell trying to guide Jake

Maddox is such a sweet big cousin

They finally said ENOUGH!

Gran & his grandbabies (Marrell had just popped a muscadine in her mouth)

Thank you Nana & Gran SO MUCH for watching Jake. He had such a wonderful time!

What my dad was picking in all of those pictures.... my own muscadines!

Football Season 2010 - Week 2

I'm a little late posting from 2 weekends ago. Robbie & Jake were spending the weekend in Birmingham, so I actually had the house to myself!

Granddad bought Jake his very own mini kids golf club. Jake thinks he is big stuff now that he has a real golf club. The golf club has a very strict 'cannot come inside' policy though. Because Jake's aim is usually off or other times it is a sword!

(We unfortunately did not have time for a hair cut before the weekend. That hair was a stringy mess!)

Mimi helping Jake with his swing

Granddad Jake & GG Kathy were in Birmingham on Saturday, so we were super excited for Jake to see them! Here is 4 generations of Bush men!

Football Season 2010 - Week 1

So this past weekend kicked off football season. YEA! I don't mind actually watching football (college, not pros!), but I really just love all of the fun that goes with college football. Everyone gets together, you get to eat good food, hang out with great friends & talk lots of smack. What's not to love? This season will definitely be our most interesting yet! Last year Jake was only 8 months old. He was not very mobile & would basically just sit in any one's lap that would hold him. This year he is 20 months old & running around everywhere. More challenging, but a lot more fun!

Jake - last year

Jake - this year
Helping daddy set up

Trying to keep him out of the way!

Jackson (Robbie's nephew) ended up wearing the same shirt as Chad. Twins!

Blowing the shakers in the fan

Jake sitting in Mr. Chad's lap watching football

Jackson!

Mimi & Jake tailgating

Jake enjoying some tailgating fruit

Funny boys!

Aunt Andrea feeding Jake a cupcake

Judy holding the newest tailgate member, Owen

How precious is Owen?!?!

Daddy & Jake

Owen's big brother Henry & his friend Diana

Henry & his dad doing double duty... driving the RV & taming the tiger

Our attempt to take a picture of all of the kids. Being the 1st tailgate of the season, we were missing a few, but boy aren't they cute?!?! (Alex - 1 year, Owen - 6 months, Jake - 20 months, Henry - 2.5 years & Jackson - 8 years)

The Bush's

Our family

Jake & Henry playing with Bruiser

Jake giving Bruiser a hug

Jake & Henry with their dads walking to the game

Jake - last year at the game

Jake - this year at the game

Jake & Granddad

Jake taking it all in

Granddad, Jake & Mimi

On Sunday, we stopped in Birmingham so that I could see my best friend, Amanda & her family. Both of our in-laws live in Birmingham, so any time we can both plan a trip there at the same time, it is awesome! I didn't take too many pictures, because I was too busy watching Jake have so much fun with all of Sellers & Gabe's toys! Sellers was so sweet. He drove Jake around. I didn't get any picture of Gabe:(

I got to meet their newest family member. Sweet baby Beck. Such a beautiful precious little boy!

Jake loved the car. I'm pretty sure he put it on his Christmas list!

Before we left Birmingham on Monday, Granddad gave Jake some golf lessons.

Our little Phil

And when you are done playing golf, you can use your golf club to sweep the patio.

Football Season Disclaimers:

1) I do not mind going to all of Auburn's home games. I knew when Robbie & I were dating that this is something that he loves to do & has done his whole life. I'm just so glad that he loves something that I enjoy as well (football, not Auburn!) and we get to do it together. It does make it more hectic, now that we have more stressful jobs & a little munchkin, but we make such great memories, it is worth it! I feel very lucky that the Bush's are generous enough to share the RV with us. It definitely makes it nice that we don't have to sit in game day traffic, we can tailgate having our own private kitchen & bath & Jake has a cool/warm place to hang out or take naps. I do feel bad for Robbie & his dad, because they do all of the work with the RV, but I try to be a good co-captin! But the best thing about Auburn is our friends there. They are such wonderful friends! Robbie & them have been friends & tailgating together since they were all in school at Auburn. They have been so sweet to welcome me to the group and I love seeing how each season the group expands because we add new little ones!

2) Jake will not be attending all of the games with us. He is fun, but also a lot of work! So for many of the games, he will be dropped off at my parent's for the weekend. We will bring him to a few. We took him in for the 1st game. He did okay, but since it was a long day & it was a 6:00 PM (7:00 our time) game, we knew he wouldn't last long. He made it almost to halftime (Jake & I spent the 2nd quarter walking through the tunnels). I do have to thank the Bush's though for their great seats that they share with us! We are on the the first row right out of the tunnel. So we don't have anyone sitting in front of us & we don't have to climb any stairs (I CANNOT imagine carrying our little 35-lb weight up a ton of stairs!). We are also on the end, so we don't have to climb over anyone. They are VERY kid friendly seats!

3) I am STILL NOT AN AUBURN FAN! I love the city of Auburn, I love our friends in Auburn, I think that they have a great school & beautiful campus. But I do not like them & I will never cheer them on! I can't. I was raised my whole life watching & hearing about Alabama football. Both of my parents went to Alabama so we grew up touring their campus and hearing about their love for the school. I had planned on going to Alabama for college. I was accepted & ready to go. At the last minute though (for reasons that at the time were completely stupid, but I'm so glad they happened) I changed to Troy. So while I love Alabama, because of my family, I am a Troy fan. But I will never cheer for Auburn! (Don't worry, Robbie feels the same about Alabama. He cheered for Texas during the championship game. I could have killed him!) Thankfully we can both agree on Troy, so that is the one team that we can both cheer on together!

4) I do not know what school Jake will pull for. Robbie, his parents & his grandfather all went to Auburn. My sister, my parents & grandmother all went to Alabama. My brother & I went to Troy. We just want him to go somewhere he can get a scholarship! Some people raise their kids in multilingual environments. We are raising our son in a multi-school environment! He'll probably grow up to be a TN Vol!

Happy kickoff to the 2010 Football Season! Have a great time pulling for your team!!