A couple of weeks ago I hosted a baby shower for a friend from the Embassy with a few other ladies. With everyone bringing food it meant I could focus on decorating and doing fun projects like icing a zillion cookies! The shower went off without a hitch and everyone had a great time! The mom-to-be didn’t want to be the center of attention so we made it a family affair! Here are some pictures!

Katie and Haley made AH-mazing cake balls. Red velvet with chocolate icing were the best! I am going to have to make those at home at Christmas time!

the kids decorated onesies that we hung on this cute line

Sweet mom-to-be!

Katie and Jeremy found the best dad gift ever for when he has to come up with dinner!  Being away from the US we hadn’t seen this but they found the pizza cookie combo box at the commissary! So funny.

On Father’s Day we took a little day trip to Adelboden. The weather was iffy. It rained the whole time we drove, stopped while we were out and about and drizzled the whole way home. So, we got pretty lucky weather wise. We went up in a gondola and had some amazing views of the mountains and waterfalls in surrounding areas! Adelboden is about an hour and 20 mins from where we live so it was a perfect distance with the little men.

After Adelboden we stopped for a nice lunch on the way home. We had spotted a Steakhouse on our way to Adelboden and decided to give it a try. We pulled up hungry and may I say a bit cranky…when we got to the door they greeted us by telling us that they wouldn’t be serving until 2 pm. Ummm, okay. So we drove around the village and found a river to explore. We headed back to the restaurant and had a great lunch! They even had American BBQ sauce!

The boys have the best dad ever, I must say. He has what seems to be endless patience even on really tough days and invests SO much time and energy in them. They sure do love their dad!!!  Happy Father’s Day, Seth! I appreciate all you do for our boys! Glad we got to celebrate you!!

In addition to it being Father’s Day we also got to have Jenny along! We are enjoying her month with us! We are over halfway through and don’t know if we will let her go back!!

I promise I will get back into the swing of things with blogging again! Jenny and I took an Indian cooking class on Saturday night and the house has been smelling of peaches, strawberries and cherries so more on jamming and yummy stuff to come!! Oh, and a baby shower that I did! Lots of backlog to catch up on!

On the 21st Owen turned 18 months old…..a whole YEAR and a HALF!!! And today, Jackson is only one month from turning 4!!!  They both have check-ups next week at the pediatrician so I will have real stats next week but while I have a minute I thought I would reflect a little on what our boys are up to these days. Warning: this really will bore 99% of you, read at your own risk!

At 18 months old, Owen is on the run. He is such a ham, still! His sense of humor continues to blossom and the parroting he is doing is only making it funnier.He has a contagious laugh and will work himself into a laughing fit if it means he can get Jackson laughing too.

He only started walking about 4 months ago but he now speed races around the house with Jackson, dodging the corners of the dining room table and plowing through anything in his way. He has an aggressive little streak, likely out of the need to survive having a big brother, The nice part though is that most times before he launches into a pinch or punch he yells “Owch” so you know something is about to hurt.

Owen has had a language burst over the past few weeks. His current words are “momma”, “daddy/dadda”, “jack”/”jackson”, “milk”, “bre”/bread, “cookie”, “dri”, “ink”/drink, “ju”/juice, “more”, “all done”, “all gone”, “nana”/banana, “pupu”/dog, puppy, “woof”, “duck”, quack”, “cockadooo”/rooster, “baaa”/sheep, “cow”, “mooo”, “cat”, “bu”/bug, “wash”, “bye, bye”, “thank you”, “chicken”, “hot”, “flower”, “apa”/airplane,…and my tired brain is sputtering out. “Jenny” is his latest addition. My cousin is here for the month and he has been smitten with her since she arrived!  Lots of these words he has done off and on but over the past month he is trying new words and getting much clearer. I know leave it to the Speech therapist to worry, but folks, the boy is a pacifier boy and his tongue and words are evidence. I have not been willing for him to give it up at bedtime so I have had to accept the fact that he is just naturally going to have some less articulate time. Pacifier + good sleep= happy baby and mommy, which consequently leads to a healthier communication environment, right?!   Despite the pacifier he is surprising us daily with new words!

And my this boy can eat! We went through a long phase where he threw almost all of his food and refused things we thought he liked. But, whew, after letting go of the battle and giving him some time to get his opinions out there he is now eating most things and throwing very few things.  He is a little porker!! the boy can eat an entire cheeseburger and some fries on the side. These Kolb boys move so much they need lots of fuel I guess!

Owen’s favorite toys these days are the toys Jackson has! But if he has to choose on his own he gravitates towards his bike, putting his sippy cup in the cup holder and tearing around! He also has a couple of stuffed puppies that he loves. Yesterday I saw him set his puppy down and he plopped down on the floor on his tummy so he could see eye to eye with the pup while talking. So cute.  He also enjoys climbing, preferably on chairs and onto tables and beds. (My blood pressure remains in the dangerously high level these days)

oh yes, I would be leaving out a whole chapter of this story if I didn’t mention the 18 month old emotions. It’s a roller coaster…but in some crazy way I love this age. The lows are low and dramatic but he snaps out of it so quickly. He can be flailing one minute and then something catches his eye, he shakes it off and is happy again.  He has learned time out and “making things right” when he gets up from time out and pats Jackson to say sorry.

And Jackson. He continues to be a joy! I must say that 3 was much harder than 2 but as we approach 4 I see a new maturity in Jackson. We have struggles with him daily with attitudes, talking back, etc but it is amazing to be able to reason with him now that he is older and to see his personality really forming. Jackson continues to be energized by being around people. Young and old he befriends and enjoys! It’s neat to see him form friendships and care for people. Jackson has a big interest these days in helping. Whether it be in the garden with me or helping Seth with fix it projects. He wants to be right there, close enough so you can feel his breath Ha, ha.

Motor wise Jackson is loving riding his pedal-less bike, running, climbing trees and being non-stop active.  He came in last week from working in the yard with Seth and had a huge scrape on his chest. He has climbed a tree and decided to let himself slide down. Ouch.   His legs are covered with bruises as evidence of his fun!

Jackson is a hysterical little talker. He is now adding every “actually” “suddenly”, “all of a sudden” and “you know somethin’ nelse?” that he can. He is tuned in to every conversation that occurs and I often hear him telling people on the phone about happenings I never knew he heard about. It is nice that he can now carry on long conversations with his grandparents without needing prompting. If anything though I am usually having to bribe him to get the phone back because he always has something more to say. This is when I should apologize to my parents for being such a talker but really I am getting my payback so I will save my apology for some other realization when Jackson becomes even more like me.  Laugh it up, mom and dad.

Jackson’s favorite toys currently are legos, trains and anything superhero dress up! He loves reading books and loves one on one time. He wakes up each day and asks “who are we seeing today?” and “where are we going?”.  He continues to take a nap most days because he moves non-stop and needs the time for his brain to SLOW Doooown.

The boys are learning daily how to play together and be sweet brothers. There are moments of peaceful playing and times (ummm, lots of moments, maybe hours) when war breaks out and they are both in attack mode.  They are getting sharing awards and kind word awards. Any little attempt to reinforce the sweetness.

And so they grow!!!

It’s official, Owen has now worn the cape and has now earned superhero status! Looks like I will be needing to order him his own cape soon! Jackson suited him up and with pure glee he ran around the house with his arms up!

In other news, Seth FINALLY got word this week that he has been tenured. The tenure board got delayed his year so we have been not so patiently awaiting word. It’s not quite like University tenure in that he could still get fired but it is job security in many ways. The biggest benefit is that he is now off probation which means he can be put up for promotion. Very exciting when you work in a government job!  Bring on the promotion, pretty please in time for buying a house!!!

Congrats to Seth and Owen on their recent promotions!  We are all sleeping better at night with with the addition of another Super hero and a tenured officer