Kaleb and Jakob, BFF since 2011

Shortly after meeting Kaleb, there is one thing about him you will know for certain. . .he LOVES Jakob and fully embraces his role as big brother.  He takes care of him, tries to teach him the right things to do and is so good at playing games Jakob can participate in as well.  Similarly, if you were to encounter my boys for any length of time, you would soon notice that Kaleb has a little mini-me, a parrot who will copy anything and everything he does.  Jakob looks up to Kaleb and wants to be just like him (even if that means sitting in time out just like Kaleb).  For the past 2 years, they have truly been the best of friends and I pray every day that that never changes!

Kaleb meeting Jakob for the first time.  He's showing him how to play cars. . .

. . .and how to play legos.

Smooch!

 Such a good big brother helping to feed Jakob.

 Big/Little Brother shirts.

I was getting ready in the morning and when I came out to the living room, Kaleb had covered Jakob with his night night and laid with him while they watched a show.

 Kaleb loves to climb in Jakob's crib in the morning when it's time to get him up.

 Teaching him how to play dress up.  Kaleb as Spiderman and Jakob as Bumblebee.  

 Best Buds!!

 Kaleb showing a very chubby Jakey how to play a game.

 "Most Awesome Big/Little Brother"

 Kaleb can make Jakob laugh like no one else is able to.

 Enjoying a graham cracker snack. 

Mommy and the boys getting ready to do some shopping at the mall.

Playing in the McDonald's play place. . .and so thrilled Mommy brought her camera!

 "I'm on my brother's team"

 Thor and Jakey ready for a football game.

I'm in my room getting dressed and I hear Kaleb yell "Mommy, come here.  You have to see this!"  Jakob LOVES to tackle his big brother.

Kaleb got a quad for his birthday.  Since Jakob is too little to drive on

his own, Kaleb gives him rides.  We got the best smiles out of them when they were trying to run over Daddy :)

 My boys love a good hide out and the dryer is proving to be one of

their favorite spots. 

Yankee shirts!

"Daddy, don't tickle us!"

 My little superheroes!

Kaleb was sitting like this and Jakob looked over and tried to mimicked him.  This picture really captures how Jakob tires to do EVERYTHING Kaleb does.

November-December 2012

The little ol blog kind of got forgotten about in 2012.  However, in an effort to have everything documented, here are November and December through pictures.  

In November, I took a photography class to learn how to better use my dslr.  I still struggle a lot of the time but when I saw how vibrant the colors were on this particular night, I knew I had to try and capture at least a little bit of it.  Sunsets have always been one of my favorite ways God displays His glory and the colors in this one are crazy awesome.  

When the boys were smaller, I got a pretty great picture of them in the dryer and now they love to play in there.  I've yet to get one that's as good but it's fun to try.

In December, we took the boys on the New Hope Ivyland steam engine.  Jakob really loves trains but both of the boys had a fun time on our ride.  After the train ride was over, we walked around New Hope for a little bit and found a cute little Mexican place to eat.  It was a fun memory that they still talk about. 
   

My boys waiting to board the train.

The train weaved through some beautiful scenery.  Even Jakey
was taking it all in!  

Kaleb and Daddy

Dave had zipped Jakob up in his sweatshirt to distract him towards the end of the ride when he was getting restless and Kaleb wanted to try as well.  

It was fun to decorate for Christmas this year with both of the boys being old enough to help out at least a little bit.  

Kaleb put our stockings on his feet and hands and was walking
around as if he were some sort of robot.  He loves dress up, even if it's
with Christmas decorations.  

 Early Christmas presents :)

One of Kaleb's favorite good behavior rewards is a sleep over with Daddy.  We try and make it super special: order Chinese food, let him choose a special snack and movie and stay up a little bit late.  This particular time took a few attempts because he kept loosing it but when we were finally able to do it, he was pretty excited.

Bath time!   When the weather gets a little too cold and yucky, the boys love to take an unplanned bath during the day to just play for a while.  It's a nice distraction from being stuck inside for weeks.  Bonus: Mommy can get some cleaning done in the bathroom while they play.

 Jakey being super brave and washing his own hair.

 Kaleb always says he likes the way things sound when his ears are under water.

 Cheese!

 Aaaaand. . .he's ready to get out!

We took the boys to a drive through Christmas light display called Lights in the Parkway in Allentown.  It took about 30 minutes to drive through and the boys had a lot of fun walking around the van so they could see everything.  

 Unbuckled = super exiciting!

 

Kaleb got a shaving kit in his stocking and he absolutely loves it! Every time he gets a shower or bath, he asked me to get his stuff down for him so he can shave :)

We didn't get much snow but when we do, Kaleb is so anxious to go out and play.  We dressed Jakob up and took him out as well but he didn't love it as much as his big brother.  He refused to keep gloves on while dragging his hands in the snow so after about 10 minutes, Mommy and Jakob went inside and watched from the window. 

Daddy and Kaleb built this cool snowman!

Happy 2nd Birthday Jakey!!

Sweet little Jakob Olaf was born March 3, 2011.  I can't believe it's been two years already!!

 

Jakob had a really fun time at his Mickey birthday party!  It's so cute to see him with his little friends :)  We thought about having his party at a fun place but ultimately decided that he's only 2 and we'll wait to do that until he's a little older and will remember it.  At this point, he just loves to run around and play with his friends and his new toys. 

Kaleb loves to help Jakob open his presents.  He's such a good big brother!  You can also kind of see the Mickey shirts that they're both wearing. 

Jakob wanted nothing to do with his smash cake at his first birthday but he dug right into his cake this year. . .

 

. . .and then he got mad that his hands were messy.

Daddy helped Jakey open his presents from his friends. And, it's hard to tell but Daddy is wearing a Mickey shirt too.  What a good sport!

And now, a little birthday photo shoot.

He loved posing with his new Thomas train.  He wanted Daddy to tickle him. . .and then he wanted him to tickle Thomas too.

Dino Exhibit

In February, the Hubs and I took the boys to the Dino Exhibit at the Philly Expo Center.  We thought they would like it, and sure enough, it was a hit!  The dinosaur models were so cool!  They had buttons that you could push to make them move their arms and heads and they also roared.  Jakob was a little hesitant at first because it was so loud but he soon warmed up and he and Dave took another lap around to look at them all again while I waited in line with Kaleb for the moon bounce. 

When we first walked in, they had a green screen that they asked you to pose in front of.  Usually we don't buy the ($17!!) souvenir photo but this one actually came out pretty good so we couldn't resist.  

Here is Kaleb pushing buttons to make the dinosaur move his arms and head.  This was one of his favorite things to do with each of the different dinosaur models. 

Daddy and Jakey :)
 

Kaleb
 

Kaleb and his fave: the T-Rex.
 

They also had some stations set up where you could touch and compare different features of the dinosaurs.  I think Jakey is carefully comparing the teeth of four different guys. 
 

Kaleb is dusting for fossils.  Jakey tried this as well but he didn't like the feeling of the sand on his hands.  
 

There was an area set up with about 20 of these little dinosaurs that the boys could climb all over and just run around and get some energy out.  This room was really great for Jakob but Kaleb enjoyed it as well.  Here he is getting ready to jump off the dinosaur.  
 

 Like big brother, like little brother.

Kaleb did a couple of the moon bounces but Jakob wasn't big enough to do them.  He and I spent some time coloring while we waited for Kaleb to finish up.  
 

All in all it was a really fun time and we'd definitely try and do something like this again!  What a fun way to make memories with our boys.

There's no such thing as an insta-perfect child.

We've been having some really rough days with Kaleb lately and this morning was no exception.  As I'm arguing with him, trying to get him out the door for school, I decided it was time to pull out the big guns.  That's right folks, I fake cried.  Any other moms ever do this?  Kaleb has only seen me upset a couple of times so in my head, I really thought this was going to be a slam dunk: insta-perfect child.  Kaleb typically has a pretty tender heart but apparently when it comes to his momma, he's like the Grinch before meeting Cindy Lou.  I got nothin' from his three-sizes-too-small heart.  I wish I could tell you that it worked like a charm and we skipped into school holding hands but, alas, that's just not the case.  I'd also love to tell you that when we picked him up from school, everything was hunky dory but, again, that was just not the case.  (He did manage to get a smily face from Mrs. Allen, further proof that I'm the lucky one who gets to see this side of him).  He continued to be fresh, I yelled some (which had the same effect as the fake crying), he lost his hulk PJs for 4 days (since he's 4 years old) and had to go in his room and write out 3 ways he was going to change his attitude (now that I'm thinking about it, he should have had to write 4 ways since he's 4 years old.  Ahh well, another day).  (Also, I'm a little obsessed with parenthesis!!) 

Not a bad list!  However, the real gem of this little project is the drawing at the bottom.  I asked him to tell me about his picture and he said "That's us driving in our mini van and that's mommy yelling at me and that's me just sitting in my seat".  Awesome!  We can chalk this morning up to a mommy semi-fail.  Hopefully we all just need a little nap and in a couple of hours, the Kristiansen fam will be blissfully celebrating Jakob's 2nd birthday at Red Robin!!  Bring on the ginormous burger and extra fries. . .this momma needs it today!

*When I originally wrote this, I wrote "honkey dorrey".  The Hubs quickly corrected me and said it's spelled "hunky dory".  Anyone else think that sounds like a compliment for the fish in Nemo?