Jacob was a lot of fun tonight! We trick or treated at the grandparents' houses, and Jacob did his magic tricks for everyone. Kristen even came home while we were there. Jacob stopped her at the door, and told her she had to go back outside and say trick or treat. When she complied, Jacob went over to Grandpa's candy bowl and brought her a piece of candy.

On the way to Elk River, I asked Jacob if he was going to show Nana and Papa his magic tricks, and I referred to him as "Jacob the Magician". Jacob replied, "I not 'Jacob the Magician'...I 'Me the Great!'" (meaning "Jacob the Great!")

Last night we watched The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, which is one of Jacob's favorite movies. Tonight we were driving home, and I hear Jacob from the back seat saying, "I got a tandy torn (candy corn)...I got a rock!"

This afternoon, Jacob went to a costume party at our church, so here is a sneak peak at his costume! When I told Jacob it was a party at church, he wanted to dress up like Pastor, but then he switched back to the magician. When we got to the party, a lady said, "Oh cute, a little magician, do you know any tricks?" She was just trying to be social, but Jacob tapped his wand on his hat, took his hat off, and pulled out a little rabbit puppet...everyone started to clap! He also knows the color changing handkerchiefs trick, the disappearing coin in the little box trick, and of course... "Abracadabra!". Jacob has a costume party at school, and then trick or treats on Tuesday!































Pastor Jacob

Tonight in the middle of dinner, Jacob all of a sudden clanked his glass on mine, like we learned to do during the toast at the wedding reception last night.

Common pronunciations of Jacob's:
"Otay"=Okay
"Fa-la-las"=flowers
"See you tomollow"= See you tomorrow
"hiccup truck"=pick up truck

We went to a wedding today, and Jacob's friend Zachary was in it! As we were waiting for the wedding to start, Jacob kept asking where Zachary was. We talked about the process for the processional, and I explained that we could not called out to Zachary, or give him five as he walked down the aisle. Jacob was so attentive, and whispered when he had a question. The order of the pictures are the order they were taken, and you can see how Jacob's mood changed as we progressed from "attentive, tie wearing" mode during the wedding, to "beyond tired, let's dance every dance" mode at the reception! After the wedding, Zachary got to sleep over at our house!!

Jacob wanted to wash his play dishes in the kitchen sink this morning. I had to get ready for the day, and did not want to leave him unsupervised on the counter with running water, so I put a bin on the kitchen floor with about 3 inches of soapy water in it, and let him wash measuring cups while I took a shower. He's done this many times before, and I reminded him to keep the water in the bin. After my shower, I was actually a little surprised to see no puddles of water on the floor, and I told Jacob what a good job he did. About 30 minutes later, it was time to go to school. I picked up his shoe by the door in the kitchen, and POURED water out of both pairs of his shoes...as I was pouring the water out, Jacob said in his most innocent voice, "How did that water get in those shoes Mommy?" (It was everything I could do to keep from laughing!)
"How DID that water get in those shoes Jacob?"
"I don't know Mommy."
"Did you put water in your shoes?"
"Yes, I did...It's right there!"
He ended up wearing his black dress shoes to school. Jacob stood in the middle of the kitchen floor, looking down at his black dress shoes on his feet, and said disappointedly, "These shoes look silly Mommy."...It was a good reminder of natural consequences, and luckily they were his own shoes!

Last night Jacob slept over at his friend, Daniel's house. It was his first sleep over, and the boys had lots of fun making rice crispie bars, and playing together!

After work today, we went to the hospital to see Jacob's new cousin, Baby Ben! We have been talking about Baby Ben a lot, and counting down the days until he was ready to come out. Jacob was so excited to finally get to see him and hold him!

Jacob and I stopped at the store on the way home tonight. As we were walking back to the car, Jacob said, "I can taste the wind in my mouth!"

Jacob loves having a fire in the fireplace! He asks for one every night. Tonight we were reading a bedtime story in front of the fireplace, and Jacob asked where Jesus was. I told him that Jesus is in his heart, and is with him all the time. When the story was over, he got up, and stuffed Baby Fellow (his little stuffed animal), down into the neck hole of his pajamas. When he finally got it all crammed in there he said, "Baby Fellow is in my heart with Jesus!"

In church, I help Jacob follow along to the hymns by moving his finger along the words as we sing them. He kept pretty busy on his own the first 15 minutes or so. Jacob was sitting on my lap, when he suddenly noticed the large cross at the front of our church. It was right after a song when no one was talking or singing. Jacob pointed and called out, "Jesus died on that cross all the way up right there!" It was cute, and at least a good message!

Today was Hannah's 12th birthday! We learned what a pinata was, and Jacob got to swing at it, and got some candy when it broke open. We took Hannah and her friends to go horseback riding. Jacob was not as interested in the horses, but really wanted to see the hay in the stable. The lady took us into the stable, and as soon as we stepped inside, Jacob kept asking, "Where's Baby Jesus?" Much later, we were driving home in the car, and Jacob decided outloud, "Baby Jesus is in a different stable!"

A few weeks ago, we mailed out invitations for a Fall party to a couple of Jacob's friends. Jacob was in charge of decorating the invitations with stickers, and bringing them out to the mailbox. He helped get pumpkins, go grocery shopping, put up balloons, etc. Today was finally the big day! The kids went bowling, and then came over to Jacob's house for pizza, pumpkin painting, playing, and ice cream sundaes. This was Jacob's second time bowling. The first time, he granny bowled, but this time everyone got to use a ramp to push the ball down the alley. It went really well, and the kids did great!

Jacob continues to ask about Christmas every day..."Christmas coming?", "Christmas here?". We have an advent calendar to start December first, and yesterday we made a paper chain to help count down to starting the advent calendar. Jacob asked about Christmas in the car on the way home today, and I asked him if he remembered who's birthday is Christmas. He remembered it was Jesus, and we talked about what a stable was, and a manger, etc. and we started learning the song Away in a Manger. I asked Jacob if he thought the cows liked seeing baby Jesus in thier stable...yes they did, Jacob told me. And the sheep?...yes, the sheep too! And the donkeys?...yes. "And the alligators too!!", Jacob proclaimed from the back seat. It's a completely different perspective when you think about alligators in the nativity scene! When we got home, I got out some hay from the nativity, and let Jacob see and feel what it was like.

Jacob has been really into pretending he's a fire fighter the past few weeks. We've been talking about what to do if there was a real fire, and we've had fires in the fireplace the past few evenings, so we talk about where it's okay to have fire in the house and where it's not. Tonight we set off the smoke detector, and practiced crawling over to the door, and going to our meeting place outside. Jacob even remembered that it's the firemen's job to get toys and blankets out. It went pretty well, but it's something you hope you never have to use.

Tonight in the car, Nate was trying to teach Jacob the joke "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Jacob kept asking where the chicken was, so we were trying to explain that you tell a joke just to be funny. Jacob said, "That's not funny". We had Jacob try telling his joke to me for practice, and I laughed. Jacob thought it was funny that he could make me laugh with this "not so funny joke", so he kept telling it over and over and over...until we convinced him to save the joke to tell Grandma tomorrow!!

Jacob loves Minneapolis!! He points it out when we're driving, and he knows it's where Mommy works. Tonight we ate dinner in Minneapolis, and he was so excited! Several times during dinner, Jacob would call out, "We eating in Minneapolis!!" You'd think we were eating in Disneyland, but it's so fun to see him all excited!

This morning, he came out to the kitchen with this crown, and I showed him what a cape was. Jacob told me that, "Kings have happy mouths", and gave me this huge grin! He called himself "Jacob the King".

I came in to get Jacob this morning, and he was just waking up. I asked him if he wanted to sleep a little bit more, or wake up now, and he said, wake up now!...(then he sang) "Hi-Ho the Dairy-O...wake up now!"

Today Jacob and I went to the pumpkin patch in Wyoming, MN. We saw them shoot a pumpkin out of a cannon into the air, there was a petting zoo, and we went out into the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins. Of all the pumpkins there were to pick from, Jacob liked "the little baby pumpkins" the best. He also loved the roosters!

When Jacob wakes up in the morning, the first thing he has to do is sit on the potty chair. This morning he went into the bathroom to go potty. I was in the next room getting some clothes out for him, and I hear this gentle little voice say, "Penis, wake uhhhhhhhp...time to go potty."

We were eating dinner, and Jacob saw a garbage truck drive by. He said, "There's a big, blue garbage truck! It's big and big and strong!...like me!"

Playing in the leaves!

Friday morning, Jacob and I were rocking in the rocking chair, and he noticed the Christmas lights outside. We keep them up all year, and just turn them on at Christmas. Jacob and I talked about the weather changing, and the fall and winter holidays, and all the things that would happen before it was time for Christmas lights. Then yesterday, we were outside playing and we tested the lights to make sure they all still worked. Jacob got so excited when he saw the lights come on! He started skipping around the yard cheering, "Christmas coming!!...Christmas coming!!" He made a Christmas tree out of play-doh, and even bedtime prayers included "Thank you Jesus Christmas coming". Today we got out a few fall decorations, a little scarecrow, and some pumpkin window stickers to try to distract him from the Christmas theme. We even learned what a strobe light was, and he got to dance in front of the mirror!

This afternoon, we went to the family fun festival at our church. Jacob got to ride a pony and play some games. At the end of the church service this morning, we had just finished singing the last song, and clear out of the blue, Jacob looked over to Grandma and asked, "Grandma, you eating chicken tonight?" He just makes me laugh!

Came across a cute video over the weekend from when he was 1 year old. It's at the end of the short video link.