Omaha Zoo

We had a short, but GREAT trip to Omaha. Mitchell was a REALLY good boy on both legs of the drive and he LOVED the zoo! Here are some pics....

Daddy and Mitchell looking at the jelly fish

Daddy and Mitchell in front of the shark tank. After staring at the fish excitedly for quite a while, Mitchell said "I can't see Nemo." We both laughed :)

Mitchell and Mommy in the 'bubble' looking at the penquins. See the black and white spot at the top? That's a penquin coming to say hi!

It was no surprise that Michell LOVED the train ride around the zoo! The only trouble was that he was so enthralled with the train itself that we couldn't get him to notice the animals we were driving by!

Mitchell and Daddy outside of the Butterfly exhibit...likely saying "Look at those butterflies, Daddy."

My stylin' men in the 3D movie. You should've seen his little hands reaching out trying to grab the animal figures flying at us!

Running around in the jungle exhibit...he got filthy! Look at the mud on his jeans! Oh, well!

We felt like we had the perfect day for the zoo. It was 55ish degrees, so a little chilly, but definitely nice enough to do everything we wanted to do! Not only did the cool weather help to decrease the crowd, but there was also a Nebraska football game, so there was hardly anyone there! Perfect for us!

Mitchell and I headed home this morning and left Jacob behind for another week of work. His LAST WEEK in Omaha this year...hopefully!

Visit from Taby and Dylan

Taby (life long friend - feels like it anyway!) and Dylan came over last night for dinner. It was GREAT to catch up even though we had to stop and start our conversations 8,000 times for "yes, boys", "don't do that", "play with this", "here it is", etc :)



Mitchell gets a big kick out of his older role model :) He was constantly entertained just watching Dylan...made for a great evening for both of us!

We're headed to the ZOO this weekend in Omaha! Jacob is up there for work this week and next, so instead of him coming home, we're headed there! We're hoping the weather cooperates!!! We're looking forward to a change of scenery and some family swims in the hotel pool - yeah!

Taking advantage of the weekend weather!

What a GREAT weekend! It was nearly 80 degrees in Kansas City, so we spent lots of time outdoors taking advantage of it! :)

We headed to the Shawnee Mission Dog Park again...which I've decided is MUCH easier to do with both Jacob and I rather than just me. With one two legged boy running in one direction and the other four-legged boy running in the other, it was a bit too much for me to handle on my own! Ha! It's getting fairly tough for me to carry Mitchell for long distances too (even if he would let me)...the extra tummy weight is already enough for me to handle!

Here he is watching Tex swimming in the lake. I feel like I should knock wood when as I type this, but he has listened to my "only doggies can swim" directions VERY well and doesn't even try to get in the water (as I feared he might)!




Playing airplane with Daddy on the walk back up!





Blazing his own path through the weeds...




So happy to be outdoors!



Well, I'm officially feeling VERY pregnant. There is absolutely no confusion from strangers these days. I'm beginning my 28th week and it's scary for me to think how much bigger I could get in the next 12 weeks! Despite the fact that I can certainly feel myself slowing down a bit and starting to struggle with normal bending over type tasks (bathtime, etc), I have no complaints! This little boy is being very nice to me...now let's just hope that will continue once he's out of the womb!

Conversation with Mitchell :)

Me: "Mitchell, are you excited to have a little brother?"

Mitchell: "NO. Just Mitchell!"

Me: "Honey, you're going to have one whether you like it or not. It'll be fun to be a big brother. Now we just have to figure out what to name him. What do you think we should name him?"

Mitchell: "Ummmm....name him Mitchell."

Christmas and Birthday Ideas

I added some birthday and Christmas ideas for Mitchell to the left for the grandparents & aunts. Please don't think you HAVE to buy from this list. I'm sure he'll love anything, but I created it in case you wanted some ideas. He's pretty easy to please :)

Fall Photo Shoot

We took Mitchell to the local Arboretum on Sunday for a Fall Photo Shoot. You may see some of these resurface in this year's Christmas card! Let me know which ones are your favorite!!!

Photo #1 - A moment of rest on the stairs

Photo #2 - Mitchell and Mommy's belly (27 weeks!)

Photo #3 - Ol' blue eyes

Photo #4 - Who knows what's about to come out of that mouth :)

Photo #5 - Mitchell and Daddy in front of the waterfall

Photo #6 - NO kisses, Daddy!

Photo #7 - Off into the sunset

Photo #8 - Angelic boy

Photo #9 - Hello, world!

Photo #10 - Family Photo

Photo #11 - Mitchell and Mommy

Photo #12 - Holding Daddy's hand

Photo #13 - Here's lookin' up at you!

Photo #14 - If you're happy and you know it...

Photo #15 - Like Father like son

Photo #16 - Family Photo w/ pumpkins

Jacob turns 30!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!



We celebrated one night early since he'll be in Omaha the night of his actual birthday. I'm not sure who enjoyed the cake more, Jacob or Mitchell!




Daddy decided to help Mitchell feel better about the mess on his face by joining in :)

By the way, one of Mitchell's favorite sayings lately is "Mitchell's making a mess."

As his birthday present, Jacob FINALLY got to pick out the new flat screen TV he's been eyeing for years now! We watched our first BlueRay DVD on it last night.

We couldn't ask for a better husband or daddy! Happy, HAPPY birthday, Jacob :)

We had a busy, but WONDERFUL Halloween! We took Mitchell to a friend's Halloween party in the afternoon, complete with an inflatable bounce house! He's never been in one before - and had a BLAST! In fact, this morning he was still saying "bouncy, bouncy".

He had so much fun that our little tiger slept all of the way home....

We carved our pumpkins too :) Mitchell wasn't quite sure what he thought about reaching his hand inside to pull out the seeds, but he warmed up to the idea! He was extra impressed when we put "fire" inside the pumpkins!

We headed over to the neighbors to begin trick-or-treating! Mitchell caught onto to it MUCH better than we thought he would! Of course, it made it easier to follow the bigger kids :) He started out in the wagon, but before long demanded that he "run fast" on his own.

He would go up to the door, say "trick or treat" and then tell them "Happy Halloween" before heading the next house! We were surprised how much he seemed to grasp the concept!

Grandpa and Sherri came over to wish the little tiger a Happy Halloween too!

He is already asking for "Mitchell's candy" this morning! Halloween is great! Too bad it only comes around once a year....

Happy Halloween!!!!

Here are some pictures of our little tiger! We're really excited to celebrate Halloween today! We're going to carve pumpkins, go to a friend's Halloween party and finish the day off with some trick-or-treating with neighbors! Couldn't be better :)

Attention please!

Mitchell's in this phase where he REALLY wants you to play with what he's playing with or watch what he's watching...constantly dragging your hand to play cars with him or watch Dora with him. He was taking a bath the other night and I was sitting next to him folding some laundry. I guess I wasn't paying enough attention to him because he said....

"Momma, ATTENTION please! I'm in the bath!"

It was hilarious :)

I'll post some pics of our little tiger tomorrow!

22 Months!

Our little man is 22 months old! Hard to believe he'll be 2 in 2 short months!

Mitchell and Jacob had a fabulous bachelor's weekend at home! They went to Mitchell's 2nd movie "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs". Mitchell was VERY entertained with the movie, and actually paid attention! :)

They also went to the Chiefs game on Sunday! Apparently Mitchell wasn't quite as entertained as Jacob thought he might be, but they still had a good time. When I asked him if he had a good time at the football game, he said "Chiefs football game!", so at least he remembered who he was watching!

Mitchell had a little breakdown at Home Depot over the train that they have set up to circle one of the Xmas trees. He is OBSESSED with trains these days!

Ms. Mary today informed me that she continues to be entertained by Mitchell's vocabulary! She was struggling with the 6 kid stroller that they use for walks. She couldn't get it over a crack in the sidewalk and was rocking it back and forth to try to gain some momentum. Apparently Mitchell caught on to her frustration and said "Just take your time!" She looked at him in amazement and said "what did you say?" He repeated "Just take your time." She just had to make sure to tell me as soon as I picked him up :)

We're counting our blessings that we're not quite seeing the terrible two's glimpse through yet and enjoying our happy little boy!

Pics of Tex & Mitchell

Here are the cute little pictures of Tex and Mitchell that I UNSUCCESSFULLY TRIED to post a few weeks back.

Aren't they just an adorable pair????


"Let me try that tongue move"

"Riding" Tex

"This is soooo fun!"

Playful pair!

They are such good little friends! Tex could NOT be more tolerable dog friend to our toddler :) I can only imagine that their bond will continue to strenghten over the coming years!

Watching Mitchell Watch Mitchell

Yes, I know that sounds redundant but Mitchell LOVES to watch videos of himself...and other kiddos too! :)

Here is a little video that I filmed of Mitchell playing pool at my Mom and David's. Sorry the first part is a little slow, but the end is really cute :)

Here is a video of Mitchell watching the video of himself. He literally cracks himself up :)

In case you need help deciphering "Mitchell speak" he says "Mitchell More" during the video, and "Watch it one more time" at the end. Clear as day to me....but might be a little tougher for virgin ears :)

Although he doesn't say it in this short clip, when watching this video he usually also says "See Gracie" (the dog) and "Grandma in there". Thought you might like that, Mom :)

Well it's a bachelor pad at the Folks household this weekend! I'm on the board of a national charity and we have our annual board meeting ALL weekend in yucky, cold Detroit! Jacob and Mitchell have lots of fun things planned, including manly things like trips to the local hardware stores and Mitchell's FIRST CHIEFS game on Sunday! Hopefully the weather will be nice so that they can enjoy it!