Good, Better, Best

Here's what's been going on recently at our house (BESIDES making plans for Jeff's wedding in Boise!)

Jacob LOVES puzzles. He's gotten REALLY good and fast at 24 piece puzzles. His new 60 pc puzzle takes him about 15 minutes. It's amazing. He likes to make all of his puzzles and then line them up on the table. He's pretty proud, can't you tell?!

Mmmmm. Ice cream. I don't think you can be a Simpson without liking ice cream!

We went to the fountains for the first time this summer. The fountains are a park with great sidewalk fountains and waterfalls the kids can play in. It's ALWAYS a hit!

Jacob and Emma are best friends. He loves to smile at her and she loves to smile at him. He's also pretty proud that he is big enough to hold her.

Emma's been outgrowing her swaddling blankets and that means it's harder for her to sleep. One night she finally fell asleep like this. Potential thumb sucker? I'd let her arms out more readily if it would help her sleep but her hands still keep her awake. She woke up shortly after I took this picture.

But she sure is smug about her new Houdini skills! Michael came up with a genius method of swaddling her. Now we wrap just her arms (pretty loosely) and then tuck the blanket under her and not around her. Then we swaddle with another blanket around her. It works like a charm and she can't get out at all!

Jacob is really interested in drawing letters and writing words. Usually he writes words with help (we sound it out for him and prompt recognition of the sounds) but one day I saw him in our toy room looking at the alphabet and sounding out words. I asked him what he wrote and he said something along this line: "my train track crossing gate has a bell that goes 'ding ding' when a train goes across it." You can kind of see that starting on the right and moving to the left. He still hasn't gotten the concept of left to right or top to bottom but he's getting there!

Rachel likes to help. And it doesn't matter what it is either. Helping generally leads to playing though. Here she was helping me fold laundry and ended up wearing Daddy's basketball shorts. Not quite a princess dress but close enough!