What to do in the COLD?!

What else would we do in the cold besides go out in the cold?! It's been below freezing until yesterday when it reached a whopping 32 degrees. It was a beautiful sunny day so we called up some friends and went climbing. Daddy had to work Dorm Patrol from 6pm Saturday night to 6am Sunday morning so we let him sleep in until 10am. Lucas and I bundled up and went to breakfast...trying to keep a two year old quiet in a house while Daddy is sleeping is nearly impossible. At 10am we met our friends and headed for the climbing crag. The approach was full of snow and a little tricky here and there but it was amazing up at the cliff. The sun was beating down and we were able to wear T-shirts and get a little sunshine. What a wonderful treat after a week in the ice box.

How did we did survive the ice box temperatures? Lots of movies for Mommy and Daddy and fun activities for Lucas. We bundled up in all our best cold weather gear and went sledding in the front yard. As you can tell from the photos, we need to purchase a real sled, however, this plastic sheet worked really well. We also made a Marshmallow Shooter out of an old wrapping paper role. It took Mommy a few tries to make it so Lucas could load it and shoot it by himself. The end result...a super happy boy and a real Marshmallow “Plopper”. It doesn't shoot anywhere but it sure is fun to load and push the marshmallows out. I figure when he gets older he'll learn all about potato gun shooters and real propulsion. We don't need to rush that!

Lucas’ favorite indoor activity is counting to three and saying “GO”, then running all the way down the hallway, jumping into the exercise ball so he roles over it and on to a big pile of pillows. It is great exercise and one easy way to wear out a two year old!

It's Grandpa's real birthday today and he is actually in Colorado Springs for business so we get to have dinner with him. We are all excited to see him and sad Grandma can’t join us. We'll see you soon Grandma.

Last photo...Lucas enjoying Grandpa's Excellent Ribs!!

Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Love, Janelle, Mike & Lucas

Yummy Leftovers

Today for lunch we had leftovers from Grandpa’s party and boy, were they tasty. Lucas hasn’t wanted to eat in a week because of his two year old molars coming in but the leftovers changed that. He’s a true Jakulewicz and loved Grandpa’s super tasty and delicious baby back ribs!! I asked him today, “How are the ribs Lucas?” He responded, “Pretty good, Grandpa did an excellent job!” I couldn’t agree more!

Our FAVORITE!

More Birthday Photos

Hapy 60th Birthday Grandpa J

Only a "party for the hearty" for sure! With a winter storm blowing through Colorado it made for a slow drive to Grandma an Grandpa's house. Well, Grandpa has some real "hearty" friends and family because the house was packed. My step-brothers, Eric and Brian, made a surprise visit from the East Coast...it was a tough secret to keep from Grandpa but we did it! It was a wonderful Hawaiian party in the middle of a winter storm. I'll let the photos do the talking...thank you Daddy for taking such great photos! Happy Birthday Grandpa (Dad)! :)
We love you!
Janelle

Zion Wedding

Lucas is snoozing right now so I have a few minutes to tell you about our past week.

We returned late Sunday night from a five day trip to Zion National Park in Southern Utah and I've been trying to catch up ever since. We hosted our weekly play group with friends and put up a small Christmas tree yesterday which was a lot of fun. We decided to get a potted tree this year and I hope to keep it alive until we can plant it this Spring. It’s hard to explain to Lucas why he can’t eat all the 10 year old candy canes hanging on the tree.

Mike's twin brother, Mark, married Kate on Saturday, December 1st in one of Utah's most spectacular canyons. The week leading up the wedding was full of both fun and stress but it all came together Saturday for a beautiful wedding. Kate looked gorgeous and Mark didn't look too bad himself...I actually think he is quite handsome to tell the truth. hehehehe! Friends and family shared in a touching and very thoughtful wedding. I think many walked away with a greater appreciation for the love between Kate and Mark and their passion for the great outdoors.

Lucas was a trooper. It was a 10 hour car ride each way but he was excited to see what this thing called "a wedding" was all about. Mom and Dad kept telling him about all the people he would see which seemed to keep his spirits high on the long drive. Silly Puddy was the best for passing time…way to go mom! He was able to spend lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson which gave Mom and Dad a chance to go climbing with Kate and Mark. He also spent some time with his cousin Henry. It was fun to see both two year old boys running around and interacting with each other. This Christmas should be lots of fun now that he knows all his Oregon relatives again.

Well, we have a performer on our hands. During the reception Kate gave Lucas the microphone and he sang "Tinkle Tinkle Little Star" (yes, tinkle...not twinkle) in front of everyone. The microphone was the only thing that pulled him away from hanging out with the DJ the entire reception. The DJ was kind enough to show Lucas how all the equipment worked. He had tons of buttons and knobs at his fingertips, what could be better?! We also found out that he was quite the late night party man. He wanted nothing to do with going to bed and everything to do with entertaining himself and those around him. His favorite activities were stacking cups and playing a game of fitting water bottle lids under a clear cup. We don't play with toys during weddings, just cups!

It was a great time with family and friends. We did lots of little hikes and even Lucas made it to the top of Angel's Landing with his Mommy and his new Aunt Kate. I apologize for not having any photos of the wedding to post at this time. We couldn’t find our camera for most of the week but discovered it after the wedding. I will update the blog when I get some copies. I will attach photos of our new Christmas tree, Mark & Lucas, Kate after the wedding and Lucas' cup game.

This weekend we are off to Grandpa Jakulewicz's 60th bithday celebration come snow or even more snow!

Lucas’ Funny Quote of the Week

“Mommy, I’m not eating Sloppy Joes…I’m playing with the Fire Hot…Daddy is sad.”

This is what Lucas had to tell me when I came home one night. Daddy and Lucas had just finished dinner, one that Lucas was not interested in. In an attempt to get him to eat, Mike told him, "I'm soooo sad that Lucas won't eat." Lucas didn't seem to care if Daddy was sad or not and really it just became a good story for Mommy. Instead, he was much more interested in the “Fire Hot” which is a little camp stove called a Jet Boil. No secrets around this kid, he tells all now!

Love, Janelle

Thanksgiving 2007

Back to Bug's House for Thanksgiving...
With good friends willing to open their home to us we headed back to Lander, WY. Lander is a great small town of about 7000 people (no Wal-Mart) with excellent winter climbing 9 miles up Sinks Canyon. Daddy's dream comes true! Despite cold weather here and there we had some superb days climbing and it was always nice to come home to a real house (not a tent as we did last year in Moab, UT). We climbed, cooked and ate a ton of delicious food. Lucas got to eat not only turkey but snow on Thanksgiving Day. I think snow was his favorite only second to marshmallows on the sweet potatoes.

Before heading out of town, Grandpa Jakulewicz stopped by and visited Mommy and Lucas. He was even roped in to reading a few books which could have easily turned into 20 books. Lucas loves books! It was a nice visit with Grandpa for sure. Thank you.

Another exciting activity for Lucas was going to the climbing gym and wearing a harness for the first time. At first he wanted nothing to do with it. So, we put it on the floor and ignored it. Within 5 minutes he was asking to put it on. He has climbed before with us helping him in our home gym but this was a whole new experience getting into a harness, using a rope and learning to use the up and down commands. I think he loved telling his dad what to do..."Up Please"..."Down Please"...this quickly turned into "Faster Down" and "Faster Up"...HE LOVED IT. The higher and the faster down the better. A true adrenaline junky living' up to his middle name. Daddy and Mommy were soooo proud!

We hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving! We love you all.

Our next adventure is driving to Zion National Park for Mike's brothers wedding. It should be a great trip visiting lots of family and friends.

Love, Janelle

Bug's House?

I forgot to explain..BUG is our friends golden lab who lives in WY. Lucas and Bug became buddies when Bug found out that Lucas drops food on the ground during meals!

Here's a picture of the artist at work and one of Lucas making dirt soup....yummy!

Bug's House

What a busy month! We have beautiful weather so we are trying to take advantage of it as much as possible. It was a slow climbing season this fall during Sep and Oct due to the cold bug floating around our house so it's been nice to get outside again. We went to Lander, WY last weekend and had a wonderful time. It was the first time Mike and I were able to climb by ourselves with Lucas. The secret...HOT CHOCOLATE in a little thermos perfect for little Lucas hands. It kept him occupied for hours. He also is a Super Chef...he makes the best Dirt Soup anyone has every seen. He learned all his skills from our good friend Grace. Thank you Grace - your soup recipe was the key to our happy boy and our climbing! :)

Lucas has also taken up painting. He loves to paint so we are getting more and more creative. It looks like we'll have lots of homemade Christmas presents this year from the artist!

Oh, his addiction for appliances continues. We bought a new blender this week and Lucas was soooo happy and excited he could hardly contain himself. He played with it for hours while telling our cat (Taz) just how cool it was. "This is a cool blender Taz!" he would repeat over and over! Too cute!

We'll be back soon.
Janelle

November 1, 2007
Welcome to the Danger Zone...
Today is my first day staying home with Lucas after separating from the Air Force. It's also the first day for our new Blog which is two years and two months over due. It looks like we will be doing some memory "flash backs" to cover the past two year of Lucas growing up.

Last night was Halloween and we had an adorable Yoda come to visit us this year. We all headed over to friends house for some yummy dinner and then it was out for Trick or Treating. Yoda was a Trick or Treat Charmer for sure. He took full advantage of taking multiple treats if the bowl was at his eye-level, his favorites were the Blue Ones. Yoda quickly realized that nice words like "Happy Halloween" and "Thank You" accompained by a BIG SMILE worked well in the Trick or Treating business. We have enough C-A-N-D-Y to last a long time!

I'll post photos of Yoda soon.