Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July!  We're happy to have a 3 day weekend together and have already had some fun family time!  We made star sugar cookies with red and blue sprinkles and funfetti cupcakes when Mark got home Wednesday. 

Mark surprised me with a new grill when I got home from work yesterday (for our 9th anniversary which was Wednesday).  It started pouring as soon as we were ready to use it but fortunately it fits well on our covered downstairs porch and we were able to start the holiday weekend off grilling steaks and corn while Jacob had a blast playing in the rain.

This morning we played around the house and then went to Jacob's favorite breakfast/lunch place.  He ate 2 giant pancakes!  Hopefully he takes a long nap and we can make it to the fireworks tonight.

Enjoy your Independence Day festivities!

Jacobisms

I try to keep a list of some of the best Jacobisms and recently I feel like I'm adding to that list multiple times a day.  Here are just a few recent ones:

"Mommy, be quiet, don't wake the blackberries"

This quote has to be prefaced with a little explanation.  Even so, when he said it he caught us off gaurd until we figured out what he was saying.  Mark and Jacob were home one day and watched part of Nemo.  In that movie Nemo swims out into the ocean towards a boat and his Dad says to him "Don't touch the boat Nemo."    So, Mark and Jacob were playing and Jacob told Mark "Don't touch the butt Daddy."

Nolan recently taught Jacob how to say Monkey in Spanish.  One morning when Jacob wanted to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse we asked him which one (because if he sees an episode once he NEVER forgets, therefore he picks the episode he wants).   He said "I want to watch Mickey's Coconutty Monkey, Nono is my favorite, Nolan is silly!"  He thinks its even more funny to call a monkey a "nono" instead of a "mono" so that's Jacob's spanish word for monkey.

Our conversation on the way to school this morning:
J: Mommy, when I play outside I get hot and sweaty.
Me: Yes, that is true, we live in Florida and it is hot. 
J: Mommy, the desert is hot.
Me: You are right.

Summertime

Oh to go back to the days of summer break.  Today is the first day of summer which honestly seems a bit odd living in Florida where it has been 90 for 2 months now.   Here are a few pictures of us enjoying "summertime" the past few weeks.

Last weekend was Father's Day and we had a low key celebration. Mark had a cold (which Jacob now has) so we went on to dinner Saturday at a restaurant we've been wanting to try and then took Mark our for breakfast Sunday.  Jacob is a big fan of pancakes currently( either plain or cinnamon) and so he enjoys breakfast at a local place called FirstWatch.  He will actually eat 2 entire pancakes( as big as the plate)!  Otherwise it was a low key weekend around the house.   Here's a picture of Jacob with the many wonderful fathers in our lives.  We are so fortunate for all of them: Daddy, Grandad, Pops and Grandad Jack!

Here are just a few Jacobisms to finish today's post.  I've decided it would be much better to post these in videos but they (unfortunately) are not usually caught on tape. 

- We were in the check out line at Publix last weekend and I looked outside and said "Jacob, it's starting to rain". His response, head tilted to the side, "Are you kidding me?"

-After dinner last Saturday Jacob wanted ice cream(kind of off the wall but we've since realized he likes the cones).  We needed to go to the grocery store so we told him we'd go if we could find a place after the store.  We were in a completely different part of town than where we live and didn't know where an ice cream shop was; we were also hoping he would forget about it.  We should have known better because as soon as we got in the car after the store he again told us he wanted ice cream.  When we told him we'd try to find one but we weren't sure where an ice cream shop was he replied, " The ice cream shop is on Bruce B. Downs".  And, he was right.  We were shocked but somehow he knew the name of the road that Twistee Treat is on (we've been there 2 times in 6 months) and that was the ice cream shop he wanted to go to.  It was completely out of the way on our drive home but we went and he enjoyed his vanilla ice cream cone minus the ice cream :-).

-We were Facetiming with Genevieve a few weeks ago and she had to go potty.  Amy asked Jacob if he went pee on the potty and he replied "No, I'm not potty trained yet."

-"Be safe" is also one of his common phrases.  He will come over to us and tell us what he's going to play with and then say, "Ok Mommy, be safe" and walk away.

Jacobisms

Some of these are funny, and some just surprised us with his vocabulary.  

"Look, it's an American flag"

"Momma, I'm enjoying my snack"

"Look, I'm making a combination"

J: I'm not Santa

Me:  Ok, who are you?

J: I'm Jacob <big grin>. But I'm delivering presents

"I don't like green beans when my knee hurts"

And a sign we live in the big city now:

Me: "Jacob, are you drawing?"

J: "No, I'm looking at my map."

Me: "Oh, what's on your map."

J: "I'm looking at the interstate, I need to check the traffic"

Mr. Muscles 

April & May

It seems this it turning into monthly catch up.   Time just seems to be flying by and life is super busy.  My graduation weekend was a month ago today and we had a great time celebrating with family and friends in Gainesville and Tampa.  It was a special weekend and very surreal!  We spent graduation day in Gainesville at a nice reception for my department, graduation, and then dinner at a local favorite, New Deal.  Then we spent the weekend in Tampa with family and had fun showing everyone our new stomping grounds.  My parents stayed for a week afterwards and played with Jacob while Mark and I worked.  At the end of the week they gave us a night away.  It was our first  since Jacob was born and was chilly (for Florida) and rainy but a nice quiet evening without "Mommy, come get me" at 6:30am.   In addition to having the full attention of family for over a week Jacob also got to go to the zoo 3 times that week.  He was in heaven!

Otherwise life is busy.  Mark works in Gainesville Monday-Thursday while looking for jobs here.  Jacob, Bailey and I work and school and play and look forward to Thursday evening when Daddy comes home.  I'm enjoying my new job and looking forward to a busy summer with a new group of students in the lab and some fun research projects starting.

The better way to catch up is probably in pictures so prepare for the picture overload below.

Graduation day by the fountain

The best mentor!

Graduation reception

AuD/PhD Best Buddies

I'm officially a Bull Gator now.  Go Bulls!

It's official :-)

Hooding

Mr. Entertainer at Sweet Dreams Ice Cream after dinner

He had 11 adults singing and laughing while we enjoyed ice cream at the end of graduation day.

Family picture

Fun with Aunt Claire at the beach

An aunty pow wow

Leave it to Pops to bring the graduation fun

My amazing new "rock" from Mark.  He painted it on a brick from downtown Gainesville.

Bubbles at the park

Jacob's new water table.  Thanks Aunt Claire & Uncle Michael!

Dinner on the beach.  Awesome view!

Now much of a sunset but a quiet evening on the beach.

Date night :-)

Our Clearwater evening

And the next morning . . . major storms but nice colors.

Great breakfast place!

Clearwater Aquarium

 

Spring Fever (literally)

Well, we made it through March and it was quite an eventful month!  The first half I spent writing non stop and preparing for my defense.  Mark spent a lot of time in Tampa being Super Daddy while Jacob was sick.  He had a fever for 8 days which ended up turning into sinus stuff and was treated with antibiotics.  He finally improved . . . for a week.  Another fever started last Monday and Mark spent another week home being Super Daddy while I was at a conference in Orlando.  What started out once again as what the doctors thought was a virus ended up being diagnosed a strep on Sunday and his 7 day fever finally broke Monday.  So Doctor Doctor spent her first official full time work day as Mommy Mommy yesterday snuggling with the little man while Super Daddy went back to work.  The antibiotics helped quickly and he's finally feeling a lot better but we're glad it's April and hoping everyone can stay well this month!

In the couple days we had this month that J wasn't sick we went strawberry picking which was a blast.  We got 12 pints of super fresh and delicious strawberries for $6.  This was J's 3rd season picking strawberries and it's turning into a fun family tradition.

Phinally Done!

Wednesday I successfully defended my dissertation and other than a few edits which have already been submitted I'm done with school.  It's a great but odd feeling.  So much of our lives have been devoted to this over the past 5 years.  I am looking forward to doing something other than writing every evening and weekend!

It was made clear to me by Jacob yesterday though that my title as Mommy trumps all.  I was telling Jacob that it was an exciting day because I was done with school and a Dr. Dr.. He immediately, and very seriously told me "No Mommy, you're my Mommy Mommy!" :-)

We had a good time in Gainesville.  Jacob and I drove up early Wednesday morning.  He played with Mark while I defended and we then played at the Pitkins for evening.  Thursday morning Jacob and I had a breakfast date at The Bagel Bakery and had a play date at the park with Max and Genevieve.  It was so fun catching up with them.  Then I had a quick meeting on campus before we drove home all went out for a yummy dinner to celebrate.  

My new title: Hannah W. Siburt AuD, PhD

(That's going to take some getting used to)