Actors

I called boys down for dinner. John enters the kitchen with a serious somber face. He says, "I have something to tell you."
Uh-oh.
"I broke up."
"You mean with Jillian?"
"Yes."
"Did you break up with her?" I asked. He seemed sad about it so I thought maybe she dumped him and he'd been crushed.
"She still wants to be my girlfriend."
"Well you can always just be friends, right?
"I just feel like I'm too young." He says, his eyes now welling with tears.
"Oh, Hunny, are you sad? It's ok."
"I just feel like I'm not ready...I think I may not be the right boy for her."
"Why do you say that?"
"I don't know." He shrugs and now is fighting his tears and won't eat his dinner.
"John you can stay friends, right? You told me you were "best buds" and she's the best girl you know."
"I just feel like I can't do it." He says.
"Well you don't have to do anything you don't want to do and this is why sometimes it's just best to be friends."
"She still wants to be my girlfriend."
"I'm sorry John, everything will be ok."

Cut to 5 minutes later...

John shouts, "Hahaaaa! Got ya!! Hahahahaaahhaaaaaaaaaaa!"
"What?!" I ask totally confused.
"Jillian is still my girlfriend. I just wanted to trick you! Did you think it was real?"
"Ummmm yeah!" Ugh! He totally had me fooled. He even teared up! And had his super-sad-depressed-as-hell-John-face on.
"Wow John. That was some good acting. Are you sure you weren't telling me the truth?"
"Hahahhhaaaaaaaa! I was thinking of when Peter Parker told Mary Jane he couldn't be with her anymore. That's what I thought of."
"Oh wow." I was dooped!
"Don't worry, mom, Jillian is still my girlfriend, everything is just fine."
(Ok good, because I was so worried;)

...Then Jake BURSTS into tears. "Mom!" he sobs. I mean SOBS. Screaming, crying, tears flying. "I'm sad you don't think I'm a good actor!"
"Jake, you are a good actor too. But John just really had me going and that's why I'm so impressed."
Then, Boom! Just like that he stops crying and starts laughing and says, "Got ya!"
Me and John are like, what is happening here?!
"I can totally fake cry!" he says with pride.
John says, "But you have tears on your face and eyes and you're all red in your face."
"I can totally make myself cry. Anytime I want. Haaahahaaaa!"
"Dang. Now I know you can really fake it, Jake." I tell him.
"Well, I actually do cry for real sometimes, like when people hurt my feelings."
"I know, Jake."
Then Jake asked, "So do you think I was a better actor or John or the same?"
"The same, Jake." :)

A little slice of Jake at 4 years old...

4 years old.

Full of energy.

Tiny guy.

Loves a cuddle.

No fear.

Has a lisp.

Loves to wrestle rough with his daddy.

Holds grudges. But as of winter 2011 I think this stage is fading.

Gives silent treatment/cold shoulder. But as of winter 2011 this stage is fading away...yay

Loves to be a helper. Mom's little sidekick.

Has a super duper loud deep throated yell. I mean a serious yell.

Has a nice singing voice.

Eats everything. Loves food!

Loves Superheroes, especially Batman.

Loves playing video games.

Copies his big brother all day.

Loves sports.

His eyes disappear when he smiles big.

Loves to have special time with mom while John is at school.

Jake in Pre-K

On the long car rides home from Sky Valley Academy Jake usually talks and talks and talks. Every other sentence he speaks is "and guess what?!" and the stories continue. On Wednesday 10-3 he told me, "guess what? All the girls want to hug me." I replied, "Aww. That's because they think you are so sweet." He replied, "No. No. It's because I have abs." He was dead serious. I wanted to burst out laughing, but I do not dare because that sends him to level 10 seeing red he hates that. But too funny; he loves abs on lego guys, costumes, and apparently himself.

My Baby Jake is a Pre-Kindergardener!

I can't believe the day has finally come. My baby is in school. Jake started Pre-Kindergarden today at Sky Valley. He was so excited all morning. He kept saying things like: "I'm feeling exciting!" and "It's a big big day!" He attends afternoons so it was quite a long wait for him. When it came time to take some pictures of him, he said he wanted "40 pictures taken." I laughed, and said that was ok, so then he says, "Well, maybe 21 pictures is fine." Jake has not attended pre-school yet but his teacher told me you would never know it. He writes and knows his letter sounds and did everything he was told. She said he made a fast friend, Aidan, and they were inseparable. He does 30 minutes of gymnastics at school, which he was absolutely thrilled about. He loved the trampoline. Get this- John's 1st grade teacher is Mrs. Soucy (Soo-See). Jakes teacher is Mrs. Susie. Too funny.

Cuddle Bear

My Sweet Boy
Asked me to give him a back scratch before he falls asleep. His feet are so sweet.

It's Good To Be Jake Allison

It's been awhile since my last entry so a lot has changed. Jake is now 4 1/2 years old, as he calls it "the bigger 4." Jake still stays home with mom so he has the life. I mean THE LIFE. He wakes up around 9, 10 or 11...whenever he feels like rolling out of bed. He lounges in his jammies while breakfast is served to him on a tray. Then he plays video games, watches TV, has snacks handed to him, maybe plays in his room, and maybe a trip to the store where he gets a treat, hot tub, bath, more games, reading, back in the cozy jammies and cuddles up with mom when he feels like resting. It's good to be Jake...

He chooses his breakfast, usually eggs or pancakes or bagels, or cereal. He loves fruit too. He loves kiwis and blueberries. His favorite foods are bagels and cream cheese, Chinese orange chicken- he calls it "wet chicken"-chicken nuggets, vegetables like red peppers, carrots,pretty much all fruits and vegetables, orange juice, pizza, noodles, salami, lil smokies, and whatever is on my plate.

He loves to play Wii or his DS gameboy. He likes me to watch him play Wii. His favorite games are: Lego Star Wars, Sonic, Super Mario Bros. His favorite TV show is Wild Kratts. He also loves Batman. His favorite movie of the moment is "Diary of a Wimpy Kid Rodrick Rules."

For Christmas this year Jake asked Santa for a Nintendo 3DS and a Batman guy. He got both. He loves them to death. He also received a 3D Mario Land DS game, Star Wars DS game and big stuffed Mario (from Grandpa Allison and Grandma Carol), Sonic Black Knight Wii game, Skylanders Wii game, Broncos uniform, Minnesota Vikings Jersey, Pillow Pet & Mr. Freeze (fom Reese), Power Ranger Wii game and a book (from Grammy & Grandpa), Halo guy (from Aunt Leslie), Marvel Super Heroes magnetic dart board, Star Wars Lego and Hot Wheels (from Noyes family), a Robin Lego mini figure (from John), and lots of stocking stuffer toys and candy. We went to the Rooses' on Christmas Eve and several family members told me & Mike how impressed they were with our boys; how well-behaved they are. I got a card after Christmas from Aunt Pam and she wrote Uncle Tom was still talking about how impressed he was by John and Jake. That makes me proud of them. (It must be all the yelling and threatening I do at them everyday lol:)

Jake loves to go to the hot tub and jump in yelling "cannon ball!" And he holds his breath under water now. He likes to run sprints and show me how fast he runs. And he does run fast! He's got a lot of energy. He's always jumping around and doing gymnastics moves and he loves to dance. His favorite song is "Sexy and I Know It" by LMFAO. He demands it played in the car. Too funny.

John is still the center of Jake's world. When John is at school Jake asks a few times if it's time to go get him yet. "Now is it time??" When it is time, Jake stops whatever he is doing immediately and gets ready to pick John up from the bus stop. He hugs John BIG when John gets off the bus. Same thing when we drop him off at the bus stop in the morning. He hugs John and says "I love you" and waves and blows kisses til we can't see John through the bus window anymore. So sweet. Will they always love each other this much? I hope so. The boys get along pretty good. They fight and yell but they get over it fast and play constantly together. They like the same stuff.

The boys still love to wrestle each other. But they love to wrestle their dad even more. They team up on him and Jake says he rescues John from dad. He loves to climb all over dad and sit on his shoulders. He loves his daddy. Jake is over the infamous cold-shoulder stage but he still gets really mad at you for the littlest reasons. If you say something he wanted to say first or help him too much with something he yells and says, "I'm mad! Yew didn't wisten!" But he says it with a lot of rage. He'll stomp upstairs to a self-put time-out and then appear about 5 or 10 minutes later with the sweetest most infectious smile and say, "Mom, I'm sorry." And all is right in the world again and he is happy as can be.

Jake is still a tiny guy. I think he weighs 31 lbs or so. He's skinny with 6-pack abs, maybe 8-pack. He has a tiny body but he packs a mean punch. Watch out. We went to Big Al's a few weeks ago and dad bowled a terrible game. I was winning big and loving it so I made fun of Mike laughing and called him a "loser" (it's rare that I am better than Mike at something sport-ish so it was a glorious feeling) and it was as if a switch went off in Jake's brain. His smile vanished and his brows lowered and he came at me like a freight train. He punched me! And he said, "DON'T CALL MY DAD A LOSER!!" He was so upset. Then he got in big trouble because nobody punches mommy. But it was kinda funny because he was defending his dad and just lost his cool. Hmmm, sounds a little like stories from his dad's childhood...hence his nicknames: Mini-Mike a.k.a. Chachito.

Jake is very sweet and kind and happy and affectionate most of the time. He is the best hugger ever. He loves to hug. I can look at him when I'm stressed or tired or annoyed and he gives me the biggest eye-squinting smile and it makes me smile too. Jakey!

Jake

Jake
Jake Jake Jake.
So sensitive. So feisty. Such a temper. Sucha crybaby.
One might say he takes after his mom.
Or one might say he takes after his dad.
I say the latter.
All you do is tell him something so small and he freaks. He cries and screams and rubs away. He says "you're hurting my heart mom!" with such a sad pathetic face full of tears.
Then after I try to explain to him that he needs to be a big boy and stop overreacting, he screams at me "IT'S MY TURN TO TALK!!"
So I say ok go ahead Jake. And he says, "I'm not talking!" as he crosses his arms shrugs his shoulders and bows his head for a classic "Jake-style- giving you a cold shoulder grudge holding ignoring silent treatment"
Ok.
Breathe.
And God Bless his future teacher.

Subway + Tweens = not a good time

Subway
I took Jake to subway for lunch. A special treat while Johnny is at school. Big mistake.
First of all there were 25 people in line. 2nd- my 3 year old was the most well behaved kid in the place. There were a few dozen middle school choir kids eating and in line. They had some concert or something.
The boys were crazy hyper. The couldn't stand still and kept bumping into me. They were all like a foot taller than me and potty-talked like toddlers. All I kept hearing was everyone talking down to everyone. Especially the girls. I would be the worlds most frustrated middle school teacher. I swear I couldn't handle not screaming at them.
The boys actually tattled on a girl telling their teacher "marys sayin bad words!" so the passive push over teacher goes to talk to Mary and while she's gone the boys talk about girls u-know-whats and "dropping it like it's hot" while they messed with the thermostat.
Then the crowd clears a little and I thought we were going to eat in peace. No. Two angry bully girls sit behind us and proceed to talk nasty about every kid that walks by, all the girls they hate and think are ugly.
At one point Jake decided to tell them when they spoke a bad word. Lol! He said "whoops! Bad word!"
I hope those girls' voice cracks at their choir concert.
Just kidding :)

Guess who's not wearing a diaper anymore???

No more pacies...no more diapers...you know what this means? My little angel baby is a big boy. (tear drop)

PA (pacifiers anonymous)

JAKE: Hello. I'm Jake. And I'm an addict.
(hello, Jake)
JAKE: I'm addicted to my pacifier. Last night was my first nights sleep without a pa-pa. It went ok. This morning I told my mama that imma big boy and not a baby. I think I made her happy. I'm taking this one hour at a time. It's not easy.

The Batman Party

Jakes 3rd Birthday party was a great time! The weather was amazing. It felt like summertime. We played 3 games outside and sat in the sun all afternoon. Jake was excited to see his Grammy and Grandpa, Uncle Zach, Aunt Elizabeth, Aunt Megan, Uncle Uri, and cousins Emma, Will, Ava, Reese, and Tate. Jake is so thankful for all his gifts and fun memories. Happy Birthday to Jake!

The invitation.

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Welcome to The Batcave!

The cake I made. It's supposed to look like a building in Gotham City. It looks a little jenky, but the kids liked it. I used 2 cake mixes, one yellow and one I colored blue. For the frosting I used black food coloring mixed with white frosting to make it gray. I used yellow candy for the lit windows and chocolate for the doors. We already had all the little guys. It was my first try at making a cake like this. I've learned my lesson to freeze the cakes before I frost them!!

It tasted yummy!





Jake slept in until 10:45am on his party day. When he woke, he was so amazed to see all his Batman decorations.

The best surprise...Batman showed up for Jake!

Here is The Batman, Spiderman, and Bubble-Wrap Girl! Does Reese know how to pose or what?

I wish this picture wasn't blurry, Reese was so cute and so proud of her Bubble-Wrap Girl costume! She even showed me her special super powers. Talk about a girl that can get into the party! She is her dad's daughter!

The Batman was amazing! We did not know he was coming!
So of course we had to offer The Dark Knight a beer.

"Pin the Mask on The Robin." I drew this Robin on poster board. I was so proud of myself, and then of course Jake decided he needed to help me color him, hence the scribbles.

The after shot. I think Will was the closest--his mask is underneath the rest.

This game was "Toss The Ball To Smash The Villians." At the bottom of the baskets was a picture of The Joker and The Riddler.

Ava even liked this Game!

Emma looking sweet. And SO grown up!

This is Will tasting his super sour candy making a his super sour face!

We played a game called "Stomp The Bad Guy." We filled Blue, Yellow, and Black balloons with a couple pieces of candy, blew them up, and taped a picture of a villian on the balloon: Poison Ivy, The Joker, Penguin, and The Riddler. We dumped the balloons in the backyard grass and the kids stomped on the bad guys faces to get their candy.

John with some of his candy from the balloons.

Jake with his candy bag.

We also had relay races. Girls vs. boys. John and Will vs. Emma and Reese. Jake decided to eat candy and watch. The girls totally dominated. It was fun to watch them compete and have fun.

Uncle Zach holding Miss Ava and Baby Tate. What a handful!

Jake, Reese, Emma, John, and Will sitting at the table ready to eat pizza. Jake is sitting in a baby chair, it was supposed to be Ava's seat. Jake, you're 3 years old, not 3 months!

Jake holding his new Iron Man 2 car.

Iron Man 2 sunglasses!

He was so overwhelmed with all the gifts.

It's Jake's party and he'll cry if he wants to. He had a few meltdowns. Remember, 3 is the new 2.

Jake's new Spiderman Trike from Grammy and Grandpa.

He loves it!

Look at Ava getting in on this action!

Here she comes...

Jake is worried Ava will steal his trike!

Happy Birthday To Jakey!

Aunt Megan and Baby Tate! Look at his smile! He is SO precious.

What a happy, sweet, little man.

Our neighbors brought this blow up cake for the party. Jake loved it!