New soccer goal!--May 22, 2011

For the past couple of weeks, Pat and Oliver have been working on making their own soccer goal! They used PVC pipe and even made their own net! (We all, including myself, spent our fair share of time tying knots in string to get the net finished!) This afternoon, they carried it outside to try it out and it was a huge success!

I realized I haven't posted a picture of Baxter for a long time, so I took a quick photo of him resting while we were playing outside! He can be such a pest, but I guess we do love him!

Oliver shooting as hard as he can!

Pat would toss the ball to Oliver so he could head it into the goal!

Oliver and Pat

Eli decided he needed to get into the game, too!

Eli showing his true feelings about needing to share the soccerball with Oliver!

Pat trying to explain to Eli how Oliver would like another turn, too! (Which I'm pretty sure just went in one ear and out the other!)

I debated about whether or not to post this picture, but I decided to...sorry Pat! It just cracks me up! Oliver's got a pretty strong kick!

Crazy boy!--May 19, 2011

I think I've mentioned how much Eli likes to play in his crib, but it has now turned into how much Eli LOVES to play in his crib! He begs to go in there by yelling, "Cwib! Cwib!" And as soon as I put him in, he jumps around and flops all over the place! Every time he flops down he says, "Oh, man! Fall down!" You'd think that Eli playing in his crib would be great...the only problem is, he thinks I (or Pat, or Oliver) need to be in his room with him! If I try to leave, he yells, "Mama, ah you?? Come heah!" (Mama, where are you? Come here!)

I was trying to Eli dressed while he was playing in his crib, which I won't ever do again, and this is as far as I was able to get his shirt on! Jumping in his crib with his shirt on his head...it can't get much better for him!

"Ah, Mom...I'm having a little trouble getting this shirt off of my head!"

Oliver and Mr. Berry--May 19, 2011

Last week was Oliver's spring/end-of-the-year party at school. I helped with the party, which was fun, but also a little sad. Oliver has had such a good year in first grade and has really liked his teacher, Mr. Berry. I'm sure next year will be just as great, but since I do so well with change (Ha! Ha!), ending one thing and starting something new causes a little sadness/anxiety/apprehension. Thankfully, Oliver seems to be very flexible and "go-with-the-flow" with most things, so hopefully ending first grade and starting second grade won't be too much of an issue.

Anyway, I forgot to take pictures during Oliver's party, but did remember to get a picture of Mr. Berry and Oliver (along with his new kite that he won during a rousing game of bingo)!

Go Chiefs!!--May 14, 2011

We aren't huge football fans at our house, but for some reason Oliver really likes the Kansas City Chiefs. Over the years I've been able to find Chiefs football jerseys for Oliver at garage sales, and recently found one for Eli, too. One morning Oliver had his on and thought Eli should wear his also, so they could play football together! As you can guess, there wasn't too much football being played, but they were having fun together!

Oliver and Eli

What a couple of goofballs!

Fishing!!--May 9, 2011

Lately, Oliver has been BEGGING to go fishing, so last night we headed to one of the little lakes in the neighborhood!

Eli was getting a little restless while we were waiting for Pat and Oliver to get the fishing gear ready, so he took off down the sidewalk around the lake. Here is comes...

...and there he goes!

This picture makes me smile...Oliver is casting and Pat is ducking!

The 3 Jaberg fishermen!

My boys!

Oliver finally caught his first fish of the season! When he pulled it in, Pat said, "Wow, Oliver! You caught a whopper!" And Oliver replied, "Oh. I thought I caught a catfish." Ha! Ha!

Soccer pre-game show--May 7, 2011

Oliver had his last soccer game of the season this weekend. Before the game started, Pat was warming up with Oliver and Eli decided he needed to out on the field, too!

Eli's newest trick at Oliver's soccer games is to run onto the field as fast as his little legs will take him, giggling the whole way, until Pat or I run and grab him! He thinks it's a fantastic game...Pat and I, not so much!

Reading time!--May 9, 2011

I'm really excited how much Oliver and Eli enjoy books! Oliver went through an early reading stage where he would get frustrated and not want to read, but he has really picked up reading again lately. Pat and the boys were sitting and reading so nicely, I just had to grab the camera!

After reading the same book over and over and over again, as requested (or rather demanded) by Eli, Pat started to read the book as fast as he possibly could. When it was Oliver's turn to speed read, the "dog" and "frog" in the book started to turn into "flogs" which was absolutely HILARIOUS to Oliver! He got the giggles so badly that he had a hard time reading!

Hat Parade!--May 2, 2011

All of the first graders at Oliver's school were asked to create/decorate a hat. After much discussion on what he wanted his hat to look like, Pat came up with the idea to decorate a hat with patches representing Oliver. So, Oliver and I ironed and sewed 30+ patches and buttons on his hat! He had baseballs, basketballs, footballs, soccerballs, race cars, books, dogs, school supplies, and much, much more on his hat! We also put a number 7 (since he is 7 years old) and his initials on it. Let's just say that local sewing stores got a lot of business from us to create this hat! But, Oliver thought it was pretty cool!

Then, all of the kids brought their hats to school and put on a "Hat Parade" program for the parents. They each modeled their hat as another student read a short description of the hat. I was pretty proud of Oliver...all of the other kids read just one description, but he was asked to read the descriptions for 4 of the kids with special needs that weren't able to read. He did a really good job!

The kids also sang several "hat" songs which were very cute!

Playing outside--May 1, 2011

It was so nice outside the other evening, and we took advantage of it! Eli did some serious mowing!

Smiley face!

Eli has also learned to loved his car! In one of his "No, David" board books (which he LOVES) one of the pages shows the main character, David, riding his toy trike down the street saying "Wheeee!" That is one of Eli's favorite pages and he now and sits on his car, pushes off, sticks his legs straight out and yells all the way down the driveway, with no regard to his speed or the end of the driveway!

Off he goes!

My big, big boy!

Oliver and his friends recently discovered that a very small bump in our front yard makes a good place to jump their bikes. (He's not going to be very happy with me when I tell him of my plans to put brick around the area, and make it into a flowerbed!)

The sheer joy of being a one-year-old running around outside!

Oliver on his "scootboard"--May 1, 2011

At a garage sale last week, I found this scooter for Oliver for a couple of dollars. He already has a scooter, but this one swivels and has four wheels like a skateboard, but has handles like a scooter. Anyway, he was thrilled and he and Pat named it his "scootboard." He desperately wanted to try it out at the dirt track at the park, so we took him there on Sunday (...I know, we should have been at church, but we decided to have a family day!) He had so much fun "jumping" the small bumps! And no, he didn't just come from a soccer game...he chose to wear a pair of his soccer socks to keep his legs warm. Some people choose to wear pants on cool days, my son chooses to wear shorts and long socks!