And Then There Were Two, Again...and Again

We all grew accustomed to Jack being here with us in the mornings. Jacob always asked when he was coming and wondered who would be bringing him, his mommy or his daddy. He, quite often, would tell me how much he liked Baby Jack -- even better than he liked his own sister. I am sure this was because Jack wasn't mobile yet, so he couldn't really get into Jacob's toys. The first thing Annabelle said when she woke up in the morning was, "Dah" or "Jah." Those were her words for Jack. And I became attached to the little guy. He's just so cute and has the most adorable laugh. So, when his mom told me they would be moving, we were all very sad. Of course, we are happy for Jack and his family because this is a good move, but we sure do miss them!

Jack, want me to read you a story from the phone book? This is the best book EVER!!

Let me hold that pacifier!

EYES!!

It's been a few weeks, now, since Jack has been at our house, but Jacob still asks, "Is Jack coming today?" and Annabelle still says his name from time to time when she sees a toy that Jack played with while he was here. The good thing is, Jack and his family didn't move too far away. At least, they're still in the same state. Hopefully, we'll be able to see him from time to time.

So, Jack left....and then there were two -- only two children in the house. But not for long! The following week, Katie came over since she was on spring break. Jacob was very excited to have Katie around again. They played, nonstop, from the minute she walked into the house until she left. Each day she was here, the two of them took off running at full speed all....day.....long. They had so much fun. Annabelle had fun playing with Katie, too. And Katie enjoyed playing "little mommy" to Annabelle, helping to feed her breakfast, trying to carry her around the house, etc... :)

Katie loved her new swim goggles. For a day to two, she would not take them off!

We had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. Before I hid the eggs, I filled several of them with things like fruit snacks, little chocolate eggs, and raisins. Jacob and Katie were extremely happy with their findings. When they had found and opened all their eggs, they asked if they could have another egg hunt. So, I brought all the eggs back inside and refilled them. Only this time, I used stickers instead of candy. After finding all the eggs a second time, they began opening them one by one to see what was inside -- stickers. Jacob said, "I don't have any candy in mine!" Katie responded, "I don't have any either!" The tone of their voices let me know they were disappointed. Where was the candy? They eventually got over it. They liked the stickers, but I guess, to a kid, candy is like the forbidden fruit. When they are actually allowed to have it, they want all they can get!!

Katie doesn't realize it, but her crackers are about to get stolen.

Like I mentioned earlier, Katie and Jacob played hard all day long every day that she was here. Jacob was exhausted at the end of each day. To give you an idea of just how tired he was, check out this video that I took at dinner one night:

Heath went for a run and pushed Jacob in the stroller. Jacob fell asleep soon after they left the house. I let him sleep for a little while when they returned home, thinking he might wake up after a few more minutes. I was wrong. Obviously, he was way too tired to even wake up for dinner.

Now, once again, there are only two children in the house. I can't really say that it's any quieter around here. Jacob and Annabelle are two very busy children. Jacob doesn't know the meaning of the word "quiet" and Annabelle gets more vocal everyday. Not to mention, their favorite pastime is getting into trouble. Those two, alone, definitely keep me on my toes.