Thank You, Papa

Well, I didn't think I'd get time to post this week, but here I am! (Actually, I'm avoiding what needs to be done around here, as usual. :) Our house has been abuzz this week with sounds of zipping suitcases, a whirring washing machine, and credit card receipts printing out at various stores around town. (that last sound is NOT a good one to hear repeatedly...) We are preparing for a pretty big trip and trying to get everything in order. I debated telling that news on my blog until we came back, from fear of the danger of someone figuring out we weren't home. But, burglars beware!! Our house will be occupied the entire time we are gone with family who have big guns, so don't even try it. (okay, the family staying here part is true, but the gun part isn't.)

Anyway, I wanted to blog about the reason for our trip, and I know we will be so busy when we get back, that it won't get done, so here I am now instead.

Mark's grandfather, affectionately called Papa, was a man like I had never known. He passed away a year and a half ago and has been greatly missed in our family. He loved his family so fiercely and worked hard all of his life to provide for them. Mark's mom tells stories about her dad (Papa) working long days as a concrete lather and then coming home and building their house in his spare time. Papa and Grandma enjoyed life to the fullest and were always traveling somewhere. They were known for their dancing ability and their lively conversation. They also saved money for their children's futures and for their own retirement years in a way that fills me with admiration. For what they had, and what they earned, they did an amazing job of taking care of "first priorities first".

To our surprise, we found out after Papa's death that he had left a sum of money to each of his grandchildren (7 in all), as well as to his own children. He decided before he died that a certain portion of the money he was giving was to be used on family vacations, where we can spend time together as a family traveling and seeing the world, two very important things in his own life.

So, earlier this year, it was announced by Mark's dad, John, that our first "Papa trip" had been planned. We were to be taking a European Cruise in honor of Papa in the fall of this year. Now, all of a sudden, it is fall, and we are leaving in just a short time for our wonderful trip. Not only am I excited about seeing countries like Spain, France, and Italy, but I am excited about spending ten straight days with Mark's sweet family, making new memories for years to come. It is my hope that our time together honors Papa and his wishes for us as he dreamed it years ago. I only hope that I, too, can pass something like this to my own children and grandchildren someday as well.

We hope that we will be able to update pictures and blogs as we travel, to keep our family readers updated on our trip (especially our two sweet girls who will be playing with Gammy for the week!) But, that will all depend on how much the internet time costs on the ship. :)

I am so thankful for this blessing---a trip of this magnitude without the financial strain that vacations often cause is beyond what we could have imagined. I am so thankful for a family like the Jacobs who I get to be a part of and get to spend time with this next week. And, I am so thankful for Papa, and the lessons he taught us about being a family and cherishing our time together. I do ask that if you are reading this blog, that you will say a quick prayer for us and our safety as we travel. We are so excited, but also mindful of leaving our little ones behind for a few days away. We pray God's protection on them while we're away and for safe journeys for all.
I'll be back with more fun pictures soon!

And, the pictures I had downloaded for this blog are not showing up for some reason. I'll add them later tonight, I guess! Good old blogger. :)

Baby Kicks

The kicks have started. And, I love it! They're pretty tiny right now, but they're certainly baby kicks! I've forgotten how much I enjoy that part of pregnancy. Well, that is until they start really jabbing you in the ribs. :) Anyway, I usually put most of my baby updates on the baby blog (ourbabyblessing.blogspot.com), but I was tired of looking at Kendyll and Carlie's stroller pictures from my last entry and didn't have much else to say, so that's my blog for tonight!

Yeah for Little Baby Jacobs!

Observations of the Day

Ten things I've learned today....

1) Stroller Derby could be a new Olympic sport. Well, at least for toddlers. This has become one of Kendyll and Carlie's favorite outside activities, and with the weather the way it is right now, it's been a great way to run around and get all tired out for better naptimes. :) We go to the neighborhood basketball court and they race each other all over the place. Carlie woke up asking for "trollers ou-side". 2) Carlie is officially a "peanut". This is her nickname for being so petite and it is true. She had her two year check-up today and she's in the 40th percentile for both height and weight....but the 90th percentile for head size. Hmmm...it kinda sounds like she's shaped like a peanut too.

3) Bubba's really is the best home-cookin' place around. I already knew this, actually, but was reminded again when we had it for lunch today. Nobody makes homemade rolls and chicken like Bubba's. (especially when you're pregnant and starving after a busy morning!)

4) The weather is absolutely perfect right now. Again, not something I really "learned", but something I had to comment on. We spent half of our day outside today and I could have stayed all day. It does make me long for even cooler days coming soon.

5) Labor Day weekend has a profound effect on me, brought on by my mother. It is completely ingrained in my head that Labor Day means fall, and that we put our summer clothes and our white shoes away. I spent the last two days doing just that. I cleaned out both of their closets, got all the fall clothes ready to go, and packed away most of the sandals. And, it is so hard when I know it will still be 90 degrees many days in the coming months. I just can't do it, though! I can't resist the urge to welcome fall and refill my daughters' closets with darker colors and cute fall shoes. (Don't worry...they still wore flip flops to the park today. I'm not competely crazy!)

6) A completely inappropriate #6: Constipation is a part of our children's lives and may always be. Another fact from the doctor visit today. It is really hard to believe that Carlie is following Kendyll's footsteps on this one. Many of you remember the TRAUMA that the pottytraining years (and I do mean YEARS) was for Kendyll and the extreme measure we had to go to for her to be able to progress past diapers. Yep, we're having to start the same thing with Carlie. I guess a daily dose of laxatives could do anyone some good. :) If you need any, come over. We have lots between the two of them...

7) There are nannies who are actually hired to watch the children of stay-at-home-moms in a certain area of Dallas that will remain nameless. Our pediatrician is in this so-called area of Dallas and we ate lunch at the park and played for a while near the office. It is a WONDERFUL park with lots of picnic tables and shade. And, it was a great hour of playing. But, I was astounded that these moms come to the park with their kids and their nanny. These moms then proceed to sit and talk to each other while the nannies push the kids on the swing, pick them up when they fall down, feed them lunch, and do every other "mom job" that I was doing. Very interesting. I have to say I was very thankful to be a "working" mommy today.

8) Floam is absolutely disgusting. Kendyll busted out her floam from the New York Toys R Us excursion. That stuff is the messiest, gooiest, most pointless junk I've ever seen. I still don't even know what you're supposed to do with it. But, just trust me. DON'T buy it for your kids. It's not even worth the five bucks. (Kendyll disagrees, of course, and refused to admit that we should just throw it away. It was obviously so built up in her head that she was in denial of the truth about Floam.)

9) Third pregnancies are quite different than the first two. At least for me. All of a sudden, my stomach has completely pooched and I can't button one pair of pants. Looks like it's maternity from here on out. And, I'm only 14 weeks! The discomfort level is quite a bit higher too. But, I guess that's what happens when your body is stretched and tugged for the third time in the same spots. That has to be bad.

10) I love being a mommy. I can't actually say that this thought goes through my head every single day, if I was to be honest. But, today was one of those days where I really was thankful for my role and for my daily job. Maybe it was seeing mommies who didn't quite see what it was all about. Or, maybe it was just spending time playing outside with my girls and getting to watch them enjoy being children. Or, maybe it was the daily devotional I read this morning on my email that talked about how little our time is with them before they're "too big" for us and how each day should be about them for now. Anyway, I am thankful to be a mommy and I have felt the worth of that job today.

Oh, last thing....a quick birthday shout to two of my college roomies who had the big "3-0" and "3-1" this week. Jenise and Sara, I hope both of your days were wonderful ones!! Happy Birthday!! Love you both!

The Big Apple!

We just got home last night from a great vacation to New York with Miss Kendyll. She and I met Mark up there after his business trip this week. It was a very special treat for all three of us, and was so much fun to experience with her. It's going to be hard to fit all of the fun into one blog, especially with all the pictures! So, I'll try my best to hit the highlights.

Top Five "favorite moments" for Kendyll (according to her):

1. Beauty and the Beast on the second row. She was actually quite scared at first to be that close, but ended up loving it because she got to see "Belle's pretty face" so close, and because Mrs. Potts looked right at her and smiled.
2. The carousel in Central Park. We barely fit that one in on the last day because of rain, and we were so glad we did! It was so neat and old-school, with a juggler, balloons, cotton candy, popcorn, and everything you picture Central Park for kids to be.
3. Picking out her Floam in Times Square Toys R Us. Yes, she got to pick anything she wanted in the whole three story toy store, and she picked a bucket of floam. Hey, we got off cheap with it anyway. Ah, the power of advertising on Nick Jr.

4. Seeing Tarzan on Broadway and getting to hug "Jane" after the show. The show was amazing with all kinds of flying butterflies and flowers, as well as cool acrobatic monkeys.
5. Visiting Dylan's Candy Bar. This candy shop was two stories of candy from floor to ceiling, with a yummy ice cream shop too! Even the stairs were "made of candy"! Kendyll got to fill her own bag with whatever sweet treats she wanted and she picked some good stuff! Her favorite candy of all was the sour watermelon straws and the marshmallow lollipop.

Other things we did that didn't make Kendyll's Top Five (but that she keeps talking about constantly!):

1. We saw Uncle Chris! Mark's brother, Chris, lives in Boston, and made the trek down to spend Friday with us. It was so much fun to spend the whole day with him and watch Kendyll be SO excited to hang out with him. 2. Lunch and tea with Nellie at American Girl. One of Kendyll's surprises was tickets for lunch with her American Girl doll at the big store in NYC. We had three courses of yummy food with Nellie in her own chair with her own teacup. The store was so much fun and Kendyll got a new ballerina dress for Nellie and a nightgown for Carlie's baby. (I also did some sneaky secret Christmas shopping behind her back!)
3. Central Park Zoo! Now, I was severely misled by the "zoo" I had pictured in my head, mostly from the movie Madagascar. Just so you know, there are no lions, giraffes, zebras, elephants, or tigers at the Central Park Zoo. But, there is the most hillarious swimming polar bear and a great penguin exhibit too. We had a great time laughing at the animals and Mommy eventually got over the fact that Madagascar was completely misleading. :) 4. Dinners out with our big girl. Both nights, we went to nice places and Kendyll did an amazing job of minding her manners, eating well, and enjoying being "all dressed up" like a lady. The first night was "Da Rosina" for Italian and the second night was "City Lobster & Crab Co." for wonderful seafood. We had great food the whole time we were there, breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

5. A long rainy day in New York, which was actually fun in an unexpected way. We had fun bundling up, buying close-toed shoes for Mommy & Kendyll (since we only packed sandals), and getting hot chocolate and cafe mochas every time we saw a Starbucks. (notice the hot chocolate all over Kendyll's mouth in pic below! :)
6. Enjoying Kendyll's first subway ride, bus ride, and taxi ride all in one weekend. We were pros at every form of transportation by the time we left, and Kendyll's favorite was by far the subway. She's such a great New Yorker!
7. Hanging out on Saturday morning at the Children's Museum of Manhattan. Although it was a little bit too young for Kendyll, she still found some fun. And, we got to have our one and only "star sighting" of the weekend. Our daughter played for a long time with "Gita", the daughter of Marcia Gay Harden. She is such a nice woman and just sat and played with her little girl the whole morning. (You can see her in the picture below right behind Kendyll. We never wanted to do the whole "You're a star! Can we take your picture?" thing...so that's the best we've got.)
8. Living like locals. Our hotel was in a residential part of NYC on the Upper West Side and we loved it! The local streets are so neat and it made us want to move there and live in a brownstone townhouse for way too much money just to walk around like the local families do. We found our favorite "local" deli for both an ATM machine and great breakfast. Andy's Deli had great fried egg sandwiches (i know, sounds gross.) that even Kendyll gobbled up. The place was packed with local families ordering breakfast to go. We felt so cool being non-touristy.
We had such a great long weekend and feel so blessed to have had this one-on-one time with Kendyll. Trips like these make me realize how big she is and how much older she acts than I sometimes expect! She did so great the entire weekend, and the joy in her parents' eyes as she experienced so many "firsts" was just completely cheesy. :) I was crying at the end of Beauty and the Beast, not only because of the absolute beautiful set design and singing, but at my sweet little girl's big eyes and smile as she clapped so hard and as she enjoyed all the sights and sounds of Broadway. Even if she doesn't remember every detail of this trip when she's older, her daddy and I will. And, we look forward to many more trips with our kids as they grow older to experience the world outside our city.