A Day of Firsts

Jake has been looking forward to Saturday and hoping that it would be a sunny day. All through the week, including Thursday when Mommy and Daddy both went to his school for their art gallery, and Friday when it was so nice he got to run around in shorts, he knew that Saturday was "the day". Luckily for him, Saturday did bring a sunny Morning, so our day's plan was put into action (regardless of what the weather forecast was actually calling for).

We started out the morning by going to Jake's FIRST new swim class. The class is called Parent Preschool because by the end of his lessons, the goal is to have the parents weened from getting in the pool with our children. If he succeeds in this, one or both of us will have no excuse but to work out at least once a week when he gets into the next class and we don't even get in the pool with him.

After his swim class, we came home and played for a little bit before scarfing down a lunch and hopping in the car to head to East Lansing. Jake knew he had to take a nap in the car to be "happy" later, and he actually did. It might be the FIRST nap he's taken in the car since he turned 2 (you may recall he turned 3 a month ago).

We drove through quite a storm getting there, and then were trapped temporarily in the parking deck, and then the Student Book Store, but eventually Jake got to go into Spartan Stadium for the FIRST time. It was also the FIRST time for Papa, Meme, and Alison as well. Dan and Colin also met us there for the Green and White Pracitce Scrimmage, but I think Colin might have been in the stadium before. (If not, another FIRST!)

This was our FIRST time going to the stadium knowing that Michigan State would win, and they eventually did. The Green team had a great comeback at the end to come within 1 as regulation time expired. After being moved back for excessive celebration, they lost the option to go for two, and successfully made the point after try tieing the game. We decided to take off at that point, but were still close enough to hear the stadium errupt as the White team eventually won in overtime.

After leaving the game, Jake got to feed the ducks in the Red Cedar for the FIRST time along with Alison.

Then, after Church, we all headed to Michele's and my favorite East Lansing restaurant, Charlie Kangs where Meme and Papa both, reluctantly, had their FIRST orders of Bibimbap (without the spicy sauce) served in a hot stone bowl. Luckily they both loved it!

We then wrapped up our fun day with their FIRST trip to Melting Moments. Alison pulled a rope-a-dope, getting Jake excited to order vanilla ice cream and then switching her order to Snickers after he ordered his. Luckily he enjoyed his plain vanilla ice cream and Alison plowed through hers before helping everyone else finish theirs. Meme also had her FIRST scoop of gelato and loved that too!

You can find our updated pictures here.

Happy Easter

First of all, we'd like to wish everyone a Happy Easter.  Easter Sunday finished off a whirl-wind week for us.

Our week started on a very sad note when our Aunt Vickie passed away after a 14 year battle with cancer.  With Michele out on Spring Break, we were able to re-arrange and work around the busy week she already had planned to get up to Flint to be with our family for the viewings and services.

Besides the services, we crammed the following things into the week:

• Jake's three-year photos and a new family photo
• A trip to Frankenmuth for Jake and Mommy to play at a water park wth Grandma and Grandpa
• A play-date with Isabelle, Jack, and Helena
• Two fun days of day care including a marshmallow drop from a helicopter on Friday

The weekend found the Pruss Family in on a quick visit from St. Louis.  It was great to see them again.  Jake and Elle played together so well, it was almost like they never left.  We can't wait to get down to see them longer sometime this summer.  Jason also got to help Michele and I put up a new playset for Jake in our backyard.  We capped the night off with some dinner from East Side Marios before they whisked away to see more family and friends in their quick 4 day trip which includes almost two full days in the car.

On Easter, after Jake hunted for Easter Eggs in the house, we went to Church and then found a little time to play in the backyard before lunch and naptime.  MPnA then stopped by for lunch before we all headed over to MKnE's house where Great Grandma, Melissa, and Uncle John were already asking for their turns to hold Emily.  GnGT also came down for Easter dinner, so Mark and Kelly had a FULL house.

Here are all the photos from the past week.  Hopefully the new photo service doesn't throw too many people off while looking at the albums.  We were very happy with dotphoto for several years, but there were just a few "geeky" things they weren't providing, so I figured I'd go ahead and give Picasa a try.  Right away, you should notice that the pictures are a little bigger.  I also think the service loads a bit faster.  Lastly, if you ever wanted to order prints, there are now more options, including the option to print them out at a local Walgreens!  This is more of a grandparent feature, but you never know when you might want to throw together a random scrapbook of our family!

Lastly, we want to congratulate our friends Ryan and Heather who welcomed their new son, Isaac on April 6.  He was born weighing 7 pounds and 3 ounces and measuring 21 1/2 inches long.  The whole family is doing great!  Now we have an even bigger reason to get up to Traverse City sooner than later.

Fun at a Museum

Last weekend, Michele took Jake to the Hands-On Museum in Ann Arbor. They met up with Melissa, Steve, and Jack. Michele said that Jake had a lot of fun, and can't wait to go back. Hopefully, next time, I won't have to work and will get to join them. You can see the pictures here.

Jake had his three-year check-up today. He was so excited for his "big boy check-up". It made his day when he got to pee in a cup. Of course, a little while later he had to poop and said he wanted to go in a bucket! The doctor confirmed that he's doing well health-wise and was happy that she hasn't seen him since the fall! He's now 35 3/4 inches tall, and weights 28.6 pounds.

The doctor also confirmed that while the two's might be terrible, the three's are horrible! She nailed some of the responses we've already begun seeing, like the fact that any decision we give him seems to result in a melt-down. Apparently, at two, they just say what they want. At four, they know what they want. At three, they just say whatever, and then decide they want the other, or the first, or both, or none, and completely lose it!

On that note, Jake got his "big boy bed" converted back to a crib tonight when he decided that he didn't need to sleep, and kept getting up and pounding on his door. So, after he screamed for an hour that he needed to go potty, needed water, need to get out, and eventually resorted to just saying "no no no" over and over, Michele broke down and took him into our bed. Good times!

Switching topics, someone from Michele's school passed along some photos from the staff meeting when she was awarded with the teacher of the year award. You can see those photos here.