what's new?

summer is flying by and i haven't had time to do much of anything that doesn't involve the kids. so far, it's been fun and busy, but we may be at the point now where we are getting on each others nerves. carter played on a summer baseball team, and craig coached it. it was a lot of fun, but between games, practices and a tournament, it was a huge time commitment.

craig and i have managed to have some adult friends without kids. we hosted a summer party that was a lot of fun. it was great to catch up with so many of our friends. we ate, we drank, we danced... it was the weekend after my birthday, and also our anniversary, so we had a lot to celebrate.

craig and i went to see luke bryan and jason aldean... that was amazing!! such a fun night. next up is eric church, then tim mcgraw and kenny chesney. we have also had some great family time. craig took off 10 days at the end of june - july. he will take another week in august. the boys each did a week long camp at the school, and next month they will do soccer camp. i took the kids down the cape with 2 of my friends. we had a great time, but i decided to come home early. graham is at a tough age, and is always on the go. i was tired and needed to come back home to my house that is "graham friendly". so, this is a lot of info for one post... but who knows when i will update again. here are a couple more pics.

well... long update with a ton of photos and i'm done!!! trying to get a family picture was a bit of a challenge. but we did the best we could!!!

My Ballerina

we completed our first year of dancing school. i'm so sad it is over, it was so cute and hadley's favorite activity every week. her teacher miss judy was awesome, and she had a wonderful group of girls in her class. from her first class to the day of the recital... hadley was so shy and for the first month held her teacher's hand. each week she got more comfortable, and participated a little more. truth be told, i wasn't even sure if she would get up on stage... but she amazed me. as i was watching her the night of, i was so proud. she was not only one of the youngest in her class, but the whole school. and she rocked it!!!! the theme of the whole night was disney, and since she takes princess ballet, they were dressed like snow white and danced to "some day my prince will come". who knows what type of girl she will become... will she stick with dance? be into sports or art? who knows, but this is a memory i will never forget. my beautiful girl did an amazing job!!!

long time no blog...

hmmm... should i even try to fill in the gaps from the last time i blogged? so much going on here at the jacobs house. life is busy!!! march was madness! it was full of auctions! i was the chairperson for the one with our elementary school. which was a super fun night and a success!!! then we went to a wine tasting auction night with friends... and ended the month with an auction/comedy night for hadley's preschool. oh, yeah and mason's 6th birthday was in the middle of it all. (fun night out to make money for the school)

(mason's birthday party at the movies to see the lorax)

april was carter's birthday, easter, passover, the start of baseball, vacation week, parent/teacher conferences... you get the point.

it's funny, people assume that the little kids are the ones who keep me busy, but really it is the older boys! our lives revolve around their schedules and sports. craig and our friend john coach both the boys teams together, and mason is trying lacrosse this year. but it is all good! i couldn't imagine life any other way. we are loving every minute of it. i just adore all of our friends in town, and being there for the kids. well that is a quick update... with some pictures. i will try to keep up with my blog more often. i do love looking back and reading. maybe i will challenge myself for may to write at least 5 posts?

can't catch a break...

i feel like i live in the house of sick... every day it is someone new, with a new ailment.

first it was the stomach bug... it is everywhere around town! mason had it quick, just 24 hours, but poor graham had it for 12 days. during that time, craig had a couple days he wasn't feeling well. hadley too was complaining that she didn't feel good.

finally graham was better... but wrong, he then got a cold and the nebulizer came out. poor kid... he just looked so sad everyday.

yes, graham is on the mend! finally, let's get back to life. nope, i get the worst head cold, and carter wakes up in the middle of the night with a belly ache.

i am starting to feel trapped! trapped in my house and trapped with sick kids. i don't even like making plans anymore, because chances are someone will be sick.

this weekend i am going to clean and sanitize! (oh, and watch the super bowl... hopefully to see the patriots win big!!!!)

3 down... 1 to go!

(whoops... never posted this)

i think i can say that hadley is officially potty trained!!! yay!!!!

i thought since she was a girl, that the process would have been so easy and she would have been trained 6 months ago. well, what i know is that when they are ready, they are ready.... and last friday, she was finally ready!

we bought some new ballerina underwear... which she loved!!!

there are so many stages i am going to miss as the kids get older... potty training won't be one of them!!!

photo friday - christmas

our kids had an amazing christmas... they were all so happy!!! here's the photo recap of the day...

busy busy...

craig is in his busy season at work... i am not a fan of him not being home for dinner. i am lucky that his job usually isn't like this and he doesn't have to travel. we miss him, and this is only the third day in.

i am involved with doing an auction at 2 different schools, and they are both in march... now that the holidays are over, i am in auction mode. so much to do...

ok... mini-vent over. gotta get back to feeding the kids. how much longer until bed time????

2012

wow... looks like i still haven't blogged about christmas, or vacation week.

just a quick update... christmas was a huge success for the jacobs family. we survived many days of seeing our family, and running on little sleep. things were going perfect, until i had emergency surgery.

let me give a little background... ever since i was pregnant with hadley i had these pains that came every 6 moths or so, started at night, and felt like my bra was too tight. they were painful, but i could always sleep them off and wake up the next day and be fine. over the summer they were happening more frequently, and i was going to mention it to my primary at my next physical.

so last week i was experiencing a lot of heartburn, and we went to chili's for dinner on wednesday night and i couldn't eat. i came home and was excited to watch "The Holiday" which is one of my favorite movies. i was starting to experience more pain, and as the night went on, i couldn't sleep and popped more advil than i can count and nothing was helping.

finally at 8 am i told craig i thought it was time to go to the ER.

once at the ER it seemed clear that it was my gallbladder. i had large gallstones, and after many hours there the results of another scan didn't come back good and we were given a 10 minute warning that i would need surgery. everything happened so fast... but at the end of the night, my gallbladder came out and i was resting comfortably.

i was released the next day, and cancelled our new year's party. and up until today i have been very uncomfortable. today i finally feel good... but it was a whopping 18 degrees out today, we just stayed put in our pj's.

i need to upload pics soon for the full christmas post...

nothing really...

not too much to say... just wishing i had a couple extra hours in the day to get everything for christmas done. but it's the same thing every year... i think i'm just about done, and then make a list, and have an "oh, shit!" moment when i realize all the little gifts, and last minute things pile up.

fingers crossed i can keep my sanity this week!!! and here's a couple of photos from the weekend...

our tree and stockings

all four of the kids actually looking in (somewhat) the same direction.

the boys all sporting their patriot shirts... all #12 tom brady!

Merry Christmas... our card!

Christmas/Holiday cards are my favorite!!! i love making mine every year, and love when they start coming in the mail! i hang them all up in my kitchen so i can look at them often. i even have a folder that i keep them all in. one of these days i will put them all in an album. i love watching how all my friends families have grown over the years. and with some families it has turned into our only way we stay connected.

so... here is my 2011 card.

(front)

(back)

i love how the back is a full picture that can be framed by our families and i didn't have to get try to get prints for everyone who wanted them.

Dear Hadley

Dear Hadley,

Happy 3rd birthday to my beautiful daughter! I just can't believe how fast the time is going by... You are a girly girl to the extreme! You love all things pink and are quite fond of the princesses. Aurora (sleeping beauty) is your favorite, because she wears pink!

You are finally settled in at school, and love it! Miss Laurie is your favorite teacher, and she just adores you. She even babysat last weekend, and that was awesome! You have a couple of girls in class that you are starting to get friendly with, but you are just so shy most of the time.

Ballet is your favorite activity, and I just watch in amazement as you follow along and do the routine. You are the youngest in the class, but you wouldn't know it. I wish you could do it more than once a week... i can't wait for your recital in the spring!

You love your brothers so much! You can be kinda a pill at times, and even a little annoying, but you are so lucky to have three brothers who love you so much.

You are a complete daddy's girl. You love to snuggle with him, and play. He has a hard time telling you "no", and I sometimes worry about how spoiled you will be.

You are my best little friend. You always ask if we can get our nails done. And when we do you sit so still and let your toes dry. It makes you so happy, and it is a fun mother/daughter activity.

You are in the phase now were band-aids make everything better. Your brothers never went through this, but i am now stocked up on all sorts of pink band-aids. What can i say? It's an easy fix!

I am looking forward to watching you grow, learn and explore a lot this year. The biggest thing we will be working on is the potty. You are not into it, and show no interest at all. Hopefully something will click soon.

I love you my Hadley... Thank you for all the love, joy, and pink you bring to our family!!!

Love, Mommy

xoxo

happy birthday hadley

miss hadley turned 3 years old on dec. 7th!!! all she wanted for her birthday was a princess castle. she is a girl who loves her princesses!!!

we also got hadley an ornament for her birthday... she loves ballet so much, and when i saw this ornament i knew it was perfect!!!

last sunday we had miss hadley's pink party! we kicked the boys out of the house, and invited a small group of girls and moms over. i made some pink foods and punch, and the girls made a craft, had cake, and then before we had time to do gifts, the birthday girl fell asleep. poor thing!