The Garden

This year we decided to take a part of our side yard that we don't really use and do a huge veggie garden with our neighbors. We had jokingly told Sarah last year that maybe we should do one big garden over here since we had the space and in January she came to us to see if we were serious. Well we decided to go for it. So we tore up the fence and moved it back to creat more room and to fix a drainage issue we had going on behind the garage. We had a truck load of good dirt brought in and the guys got to work with the tractor and with shovels. They got it all smoothed out and we were set. So it was about March and the beginning of April that we really got it going. It has been a learning experience for us, we have never done a veggie garden before so it was nice to do this with them and use their experience to guide us. We planted just about everything you can think of and hoped it would grow. Kerry also came up with an idea to use rain barrels so he constructed a base, brought home (2) 55 gallon containers from work that they were going to throw away and went to Lowe's for all the PCV piping and stuff. He also made it so he could connect the air compressor to it so us the sprinkler. All went well until he tried to use it the first time and forgot to turn down the air. BABOOM!!! He blew up one of the containers... It was pretty funny! Luckily he had brought another home to switch it out anyway it all worked out in the end and we learned a lesson!! Here is a picture of what he built

So now it is July and we have enjoyed some squash, a few ears of corn (this did not do so well, will be making changes for next year), lettuce, some peas, and Lainie's favorite cucumbers!! Right now we have watermelon and cantelope doing really well so we are excited to see those growing and our tomatoes are starting to get big!!

It has been a learning experience but I think the kids have enjoyed watching nature at work and learning how to grow your own food.

Here are a few pictures
This is how we started it

Lainie standing next to the corn

Cucumbers

Cantelope with tiny ones starting

Our Watermelons!! I am excited even though I can't eat them!! The kids will enjoy these though

March thru July... Big Update

Wow, it has been way too long.... So let's rewind a bit and update this blog.

Well since March we have had a lot going on. Nikolas played soccer all spring and had a great coach this season. He learned so much more about "how" to play the game and improved his skills. I am excited for him to play again this fall with this new found confidence. He really enjoyed playing goalie which is kinda cute considering how small he is, it made me crazy nervous but it is all fun anyway. His team actually made it to the finals and ended up in second place receiving the silver medal.

The first weekend in April was my big Cooper River Bridge 10K run. A few friends and I had been training for this race since last fall and it was finally upon us. Unfortunately the cold weather we had all January thru March was not too friendly to train in so I was not as prepared as I had planned on being, but in the end it all worked out. I had only ran the 6.2 miles ONE time prior to the race so I had set my finishing time goal to 1 hour 15 minutes based on that one run and my average mile speed. Once I got over that bridge (which is 2 miles of the race) I felt a sense of accomplishment!!  I actually ended up finishing the 6.2 miles in 1 hour and 10 minutes so I was very happy with that for my first big race!! 40,000 people ran this race but only in the end did it feel really crowded. My friend April and I had a great time and plan to do it again next year if possible.

May was a big month too, Lainie was finishing preschool and we had a few parties to attend to celebrate this occasion. We had Water Day which is always a fun time. It was bittersweet for me as this was my last one ever but we had a lot of fun. Lainie's teacher and I gave the kids a little pre graduation party one day and we toasted to their future success in Kindergarten. THEN the big night arrived... my last baby graduated from Stepping Stones Preschool. I am so sad to leave that place. So many wonderful people there and I hate that I won't be seeing them regularly anymore but I do plan to stop by! I had thought that Graduation Night would be sad but it was not too bad, the kids were so adorable up there singing and showing off their moves that you could not help but smile. So now I am a Mom of 3 elementary aged children!!

June..... End of school for the boys!!! Nikolas finished up the 1st grade with very high praise from his teachers. He got great grades and we are excited about his future, he is such a bright child. Nikolas got the Best Artist Award from his teachers because of his love for drawing. Alex finished the 4th grade on a good note and he is so smart and does well when he wants to but I think most 10 yrs are this way. This year was very bumpy for him due to struggles with his teacher (we actually changed classrooms in March to help with this) and struggles dealing with some not so nice boys in his class. Socially the move worked out great! He loved his new teacher and the students he was now with were much better behaved all this made for a much better learning environment. His studies however took a hit with all the change but in the end he worked hard and pulled up his grades. He was a trooper and did was he needed to do and for that we were very proud of him! Here are some pictures from thier end of year parties!

Also in June, our baby turned 5 yrs old!! Can't believe how fast these past 5 yrs went by. We decided to have an all girl Tea Dress Up Party and they all loved it. The girls had the best time getting their hair done and make up, then treated all the parents to a fashion show. We finished it off with lemonade and cupcakes. Lainie said it was the best birthday party ever so I know she enjoyed it.

So now it is Mid July and we have had a good summer so far. Alex spent a week at Park Springs Christian Camp and loved it!! He learned a lot, had so much fun with his best friend, Lars and connected even more to his relationship with God. He makes me so proud. Nikolas spent a week at Scout Camp and a week in VA with my parents and Kerry's folks and he had a great time being an only child for a week. Lainie has been having fun with me for the most part but just started attending the Gymnastic Camp they have gone to for the past couple of years. They love playing in the gym there.

Here are some pictures from Alex's week at camp and Nik at Scout Camp

The Camp took this picture of Alex and I just love it!! It is so him!!

The kids just finished one VBS and start another one tomorrow at our church. Alex has another week of camp thru a friend's church and he is looking forward to that because they do fun activities every day. Then Alex will go stay in VA for his week with the grandparents and during that week Nikolas has a soccer camp to get ready for the fall.

We now have about 4 weeks until our BIG Annual BEACH Vacation and I am most excited about this as we are staying Oceanfront this year and I can't wait to wake up and sit on the deck and drink my coffee and listen to the waves!! When we get home from that it will be time to send these kids back to school.... So that is our big update and what is going on here in the Jacobs House. I will try to keep up better with this incase anyone is following or reading along.

Soccer!!

http://www.winkflash.com/PHOTO/myhome.aspx

I have elected myself "unoffical" team photographer, so I started a page for our Soccer team, here are some pictures I have taken so far from our first 2 games. There are WAY more for Game 2 than Game 1 b/c I came up with the idea of doing this about half way thru the first game. I noticed that not too many other parents had cameras so I just started clicking away. I have captured some pretty good ones I think!

Incase anyone is out there

Well it is now March.. it has been 2 months since I last posted and we have been busy... We had Basketball and Cheerleading (for Alex and Lainie) which ended last week offically with the Awards Show. Now we move on to Soccer for Nik and he is excited. I am excited because he has an awesome coach, hoping this will really kick start his love for soccer even more having a wonderful teacher and coach.

We have had a few illnesses... Nik had the flu but thankfully it was very mild, only had a fever. Allergies are affecting us all right now and hoping that improves.

Will try to keep up better but who knows...

SNOW!!

Well this has been a very interesting week. It snowed about 6 inches on Monday, snowed all day long, then we got ice all night long. Guess what that equals in the south... NO SCHOOL for a week! That is right, kids have been out of school all week. Snow in the south is almost always gone the next day because we get our temperatures back into normal range (40-50 degrees) but this week we have struggled to get into the mid 30's every day. So ice covered roads are everywhere!! Thankfully around our area most roads were clear by Wednesday and Thursday but many back roads were not.

So it has been a nice little vacation around here, sleeping in, watching movies, playing Wii (now Lainie knows how to get her games going and play by herself). Playing in the snow for the first couple of days was fun but the ice made it hard after that first day but the boys did go out and slide around.

Now we have many days to make up, hoping they will just right off a couple of them and not take away our Spring Break.

Finally got MY Christmas Presents today!!

Kerry gave me gift cards to Dicks to get some new running shoes and cold weather running gear... Finally got there today. Then had to try them out. So happy with my new shoes!! It was fun shopping and trying on new running clothing.

Busy weekend ahead...
Pinewood Derby in the morning (yeah!!) Alex made the Ghostbusters car and Nik made an army jeep. Then we have Lainie's first cheerleading event and Alex's first basketball game. Busy afternoon!!

New Year... welcome!

Well the New Year is starting with a bang around here... back to our busy as usual lives! I really am going to commit to a less stressful year once we get thru this school year. But I guess with 3 kids you are going to be busy even if they each only do one activity.

Our holidays were wonderful, kids got new toys and books but thankfully we did not get as much as usual. Their big gifts for a BB gun for Alex and a new Ventrilquist Dummy (he saved up and paid for a portion), Nikolas got a new bike but it was too big so Santa is exchanging it for some new Polar Express Train cars for his train and Lainie got a new Princess Vanity table and bench for her room.

Now we have Nikolas' 7th birthday coming up so busy times are ahead.

I have offically signed up for the Copper River Bridge 10K run in April so I will be spending a lot of time running and training over the next few months. Eased back into it after a month break due to the cold weather and the busy holidays. A few friends and I will be running it together and training for it. It helps to have the support. Hoping Kerry will walk the course behind me. His parents are coming down to watch the kids.

So hope you all had a nice holiday and look forward the new year!

Tis the Season

Well it is the start of the holiday season once again. Thanksgiving was a relaxing holiday for us this year as we celebrated early when Kerry's parents came to visit last weekend. Black Friday was spent on the computer for a few hours looking for deals only to realize there were none on the items my kids really wanted. There is the only problem that they really don't NEED anything or specifically WANT anything making it harder to choose. Alex does WANT a new ventriloquist dummy this year as his 1 and only gift. And all the other 2 wants is those silly Pillow Pets! They have been told it will be a much smaller gift pile this year for many reasons and they really don't need anything so they seem okay with that. We will choose an angel from the Angel Tree for each of them to choose a gift to donate as we do every year and probably give more to a child from the children's home my local Mom board supports at Christmas. That is how we will give back a bit this holiday season.

So once again it has started, tree is now up and lights are on, maybe decorations today! Lainie asked if Christmas was next week since we were putting up the tree. Hard to explain it is another month away. Too big a concept for a 4 yr old. Seemore our Elf on the Shelf magically appeared yesterday and he will be watching them closely!

So Happy Thanksgiving and the start of the Holiday Season!

The Workouts....

Well I had said I would keep things updated about our new work outs and I have not said much because we have been slack to say the least. This work out is really hard to commit to with Kerry's schedule. We just can't seem to get up early EVERY day. We have managed to do it every couple of days but I hate that we can't do it every day. I don't think we will get the same results if we don't. BUT I am committing to a future 5K this fall and a 10K in the spring so I am on a dedicated training schedule. My neighbor April is an avid runner (she has done a marathon, which impresses me) and she will push me and keep me motivated I think. A group of 4 of us went for a run the other morning and that was fun as well, kept me working because I did not want to let the group down. So if I can get runs in I will be happy but I know that Kerry really wants to do this P90X, I am mainly doing it to keep him motivated and I like the challenge. I have time to do it daily but we just don't have time to do it together. Oh well, time will tell!!!

Boy oh Boy.. time flies!!

So shocking to me that it is already October!!! September was a busy month and now it is just going to get busier. We are finally into a nice rhythm with homework and afterschool activities. But this week we will be adding in Wednesday nights at church. This will be a new thing for us. We are looking at joining a non denominational church here call Concord Christain, we were introduced to this church by Alex's friend Lars and his family. His Dad is the Worship Minister and leads the band. He is a great musician and we enjoy listening to him play and sing at the beginning of each service. We have slowly be trying to get more consistent with attending and now if we add in Wednesday nights I won't feel so bad if we miss on Sunday. But we are signed up to take a 10 week class on Sundays that I think will be really beneficial for Kerry and I since we have not been always rasied in the church or consistent about going. We decided last year that we really wanted to find somewhere that we would all feel comfortable. We attended one church for awhile but the kids were not happy there so that made it difficult, here they love it and that is the key! So I look forward to The Journey Class as it will give us all the basics about the Bible and about this church so we can solidify ours there. And last week the boys started a Taekwondo class on Thursday nights so we will be busy every night except Mondays and Fridays! So at least I get a break here and there.

So I will try to get better about writing and journaling here about how our weeks are going incase anyone is interested and to help me remember my feelings.