Question...

I have been wanting to ask this question for a while now...how do you guys make it with your child(ren) through 3 hours of church each Sunday???
We have such a hard time with Jacob...I bring treats (different kinds because he gets bored if I just bring the same kind), I bring toys (books, water bottles, etc), I bring water, and since our church starts at 1pm we make sure he has just woken up from a nap when we take him...which means he won't be tired. I try to feed him food and nurse him right before or as close to right before we leave...and yet we struggle! I often wondered how my own mother did it with 6 kids! When we first moved to Canada my youngest sister was only 8 months and I was only 11 years old...so scatter 4 other children in between us and you have our family back then! I actually asked that very question to my mom yesterday and she said she thinks children nowadays need more entertainment...she said she didn't take treats, or toys or anything to church with her when we were growing up! What? I guess I really was an angel child! lol She said my youngest sister Priscila would just be content to be looking around at people and she didn't have a problem with her through the 3 hour block.
Another issue we have is that Jacob will not sleep unless he's in his own crib, he won't even sleep on our bed or anything...so some Sundays he's tired (because he took an early nap or something) but he refuses to sleep. He's 13 months so it's another 5 months before he goes into nursery... right? So I'm curious as to how everyone else makes it through church on Sundays...
Please leave your feedback...It will be interesting to see the different things that work for other people.
I know all kids are different and what works for you might not work for me...but I'm willing to give anything a try at this point! Jacob's main problem is that he gets bored. Whatever books, toys, treats I bring only keep him occupied for so long...and unless he's in primary watching all the other kids run around and sing etc...anything else is boring for him...( I discovered this when I helped Randy with his class for 3 sundays in a row not very long ago)
I walk him up and down the halls, I take him to the mother's lounge to feed him sometimes, I have even taken him outside for a walk around the church...He is usually a happy child, as long as he's not bored...if he's bored, tired, or hungry it's another story!
So don't be afraid to leave me a comment, I will love to hear what works and what hasn't worked for you!
Thanks!

The Veggies are here!

I am so excited about our garden...it's like our new baby! We have been nurturing and watering, etc, etc...and now we can see some veggies!! The corn has started to tassel, the pumpkins are growing like crazy...We have about ten right now. We had our first zucchini from our garden a couple of weeks ago (very delicious) and now it looks like we have another ready to pick. We've been picking raspberries every other day and between Jacob and me...they're gone that same day! So yummy! Enjoy the pictures...

-Our first zucchini-








-Nala making sure everything is ok in the garden-

what?

We have been trying since before Jacob's first birthday to encourage him to walk...he has opted to crawl instead! So yesterday when he came into the room...crawled to the 'walking toy' and started pushing it along on his own...I was shocked! I had to get it on video!

Garden update...

We are working hard and trying to keep up with the weeds! Weed pulling is like a workout lately...It's so hot out! We have started to get some raspberries and have been getting strawberries since the beginning of June. The pumpkins are looking good and so is the corn. We planted zucchini and it's doing well too. We planted peas and only one of the plants is doing ok...too hot I think. And last but not least the cantaloupe finally decided to grow! We are excited to see what else if anything we are able to harvest...enjoy the pictures! They were taken last week and today the plants are even bigger...

Jacob's Birthday

On Saturday June 21st we had a little party for Jacob's Birthday! It was a beautiful sunny day and everything turned out great! My family was able to make it here on Friday afternoon...and they drove back to Calgary on Sunday morning! It was a rough weekend for them, especially for my dad who did all the driving. Thank you guys so much for that HUGE sacrifice and for everything you did to help to prepare for the party, all the help during the party and all the cleaning up afterwards. I couldn't have done it without them! My sisters are so sweet and encouraging! :)
Randy made home-made ice cream which turned out fantabulous! He was also in charge of the bbqing...the burgers were awesome mijo! I bought a string pinata which is supposed to be a non violent alternative and for younger kids...one of the strings pulled releases all the candy...and it was sponge bob...so I thought, "how perfect" right? Right! It didn't work! My dad was in charge of going around and having the kids pull on it...and by the time the last string was pulled and not a single candy came out he was like "this pinata is making me look bad! what do we do now?" So he went around and had them pull sponge bob's arms and legs off...and still no candy! So much for my non-violent pinata! Finally I think he manually made a hole at the bottom and the candy finally came out! It was pretty hilarious! I couldn't have chosen a better person to be in charge of that! Gracias por hacernos reir dad!
My family hadn't seen Jacob since October of last year so you can imagine how excited they were to be able to spend some time with him, and with us ;) They had been collecting/buying gifts for him for a while now...so now we have our front room full of toys! Thank you everyone who came and for all your help and cute gifts...sorry we didn't keep track of time...next time we'll be better!

Jacob's official birthday was on the 24th and since his uncle Jon wasn't able to make it to his party (aka he was still on his mission) we had some pizza, cake and ice cream on the 24th as well, because Jon got home on the 23rd!!! I must say both times I tried to let Jacob eat his cake...and both times he wanted nothing to do with it! Maybe he'll be like his mom and won't have a sweet tooth! I thought the first time it was because he was overly tired. I think it could have been part of the reason, but on the 24th he still didn't want it...maybe he doesn't like chocolate? Oh well, it's all good! Here are some pictures of both his birthday party and official birthday celebration with his uncle Jon and Grandpa Kevin...enjoy!


















































Party Time with Uncle Jon!