Jakob Here......

Jakob here.  Mommy has taken a siesta....I mean sabbatical...from updating the blog which I find rather annoying so I'm going to fill in for her.  I mean....it has been ages since you have read anything about me and my bozo brother and that is borderline neglectful on mommy's part.  So here goes.....

I am glad to be done with winter.  Really.  Mommy kept trying to put me out in the white stuff that Jeffery called "snow" and encouraged me to have fun but I did NOT like it.  I just cried and wailed my head off and eventually, mommy would take me back inside. It was a terribly cold winter.....for Virginia.  Lows in the single digits, highs in the teens, wind chills in the negative numbers.  Jeffery and I both got a little stir crazy.  And all this being cooped up inside only led to Richmond being a cesspool of germs this winter.  At the beginning of March, mommy looked at a calendar and realized that since Oma and Papa had been here at the beginning of January, she had only been healthy for about 5 or 6 days.  And the moment one of us got healthy, someone else got sick.  Stomach bugs, colds, bronchial infections, the Flu.....you name it, we had this past winter.  By the time the last round of stomach bugs hit in the middle of March....Mommy was ready to burn the house down and start afresh.  

Get me out of this stuff!

Daddy's big boy helper

Super Hero of the Snow Brigade

Mommy and Jeffery -- how can they look happy in the snow?

Jeffery tried to play soccer in the snow.  Silly brother!

Feeding snow to the geese at the Garden

I'm still not sure about this white stuff

Ah....much better.  No snow!

Why did daddy make us come to the Garden on such a cold day?!

But now, with warmer weather and sunshine and cool breezes, everyone is in better, happier, and healthier spirits.  :)

Jeffery and his friend playing Red Light, Green Light

Daddy has made it to two NASCAR races this spring.  He drove 3 hours down to Martinsville, VA to catch that race in March.  He said it snowed on him as he was driving down there.  :(  But the race was one of the best he'd been to.  He was then able to make it to the Richmond race as it had been delayed an entire day due to rainy weather.  He says Jeffery gets to go with him this summer to races at Southside Speedway.  I want to go too but Jeffery says that I'm the "baby" and can't go.  I cry foul!  Daddy says I can't go until I know all of my numbers because of NASCAR drivers.....like Jeffery.  Grrrr.

Ready to go racin at Martinsville

Jeffery and I are becoming really good friends.  He likes to be helpful to mommy and tattle on me, hold my hand and walk me different places, and he loves to chase me around the house.  I like to hit him.  Preferably with something like a train in my hand.  We wrestle like bear cubs and mommy is already seeing a wrestling scholarship to University of Nebraska Kearney (where our friends, the Bauers, coach wrestling) in our future.  And I love trains almost as much as Jeffery loves trains!  With our TV, we can watch youtube videos of real train footage and I get so excited when mommy puts those on for us that I do a little happy dance.  

The Pedersen Brothers

Let's see......I think you need a more detailed update on me and Jeffery.  

Jeffery: Mommy and Daddy are amazed at how he changes every week.  They say that he is having some owly 3 year old moments and getting him to eat meals is somewhat of a challenge these days but on a whole, they say he is a good boy.  They talk about his kind heart and gentle spirit, his love for horse play and being with his family.  Mommy, Daddy, Oma and Papa all agree that he is a "force of nature".  Whatever that means.  :) He is VERY passionate about trains, NASCAR, and baseball.....still.  They are constantly amazed at what comes out of his mouth.  He is excited about his ABC Mouse program and doing "projects" with daddy like learning how to cut, trace and draw lines, and learning how to read.  Mommy and Daddy have decided to keep him home next year instead of sending him to preschool and he will instead do ABC Mouse.  He has art history lessons with daddy where they look at pictures by Van Gogh, Giotto, and Vermeer and he will tell you that crayons (not paint) are his "medium".  His favorite music to dance to right now is still the "Happy Song", a song by the Black Keys, and Praetorius's Terpsichore Dances from the 16th century.  He comes down almost every morning, asking to listen to Bach.  He is now, on a routine basis, sitting by himself in a pew at church within view of daddy and he loves to watch the smoke and hear the bells and watch his friends who are altar servers.  He tries to get me to say "Christe" and "Laleluia" :) all the time.  

Now for my update: Mommy and Daddy are floored at how I change every day.  I am walking around and trying to run everywhere.  I am saying "Mama", "Dada", "Dog", "Cat", and "let's see".  I love to clap my hands and wave and I am one of the most tickilish little kids daddy has ever seen.  :)  I love to watch trains and, like I already mentioned, I like to wrestle with Jeffery....and smack him when mommy and daddy aren't looking.  I love to sit on mommy and daddy and cuddle with them....something that they say Jeffery never did.  Score for me!  I am playing better with Jeffery's Thomas trains and tracks.  I actually move the trains around instead of just being a tornado and destroying the track layout....though that was fun too, as was seeing Jeffery's reaction of immediate despair.  :)  I still love mommy singing to me and reading to me.  Mommy thought Jeffery was/is a picky eater but little did she know about me!!!  HA!  Jeffery looks like a lover of all food compared to me.  I have to keep mommy on her toes, you know.  I can't let her start thinking that just because I'm the 2nd child, that she knows what she's doing.  :)  I love to play peek-a-boo.  Everyone says that I was such a somber and reserved baby.  I still am when it comes to larger groups.  But at home or with people I know....I make everyone laugh these days at just how silly I am.  Really people!  I am a hoot!!!!  :)  Oh!  And I adore animals.  ADORE them! 

So that's the update on us.  We were excited for Easter and the Easter bunny.  Mommy tried to do a pinterest egg craft with Jeffery using shaving cream and food coloring.  He had a blast but it was a complete failure in the end.  Ah well.  And then we got dressed up for Easter in our southern finery and had a glorious day.  

Pinterest Fail!

Come to my house, Easter Bunny!

My brother is a handsome guy

Daddy and Jeffery playing with the new track the Easter Bunny brought

For once, I'm leading the way

Master Jeffery

Master Jakob

So excited about the easter egg hunt in the backyard

Mommy thinks this could be an add campaign shot

Daddy teaching me to hit the ball

And.....that's all for now.  Mommy says that she will be better about posting.  She is currently writing one about all of the transformations that happened at our house in the last 3 weeks....thanks in large part to Oma and Papa being here and lending lots of manual labor to certain projects.

She says that we have a full summer ahead of us with lots of exciting plans and then she said something about getting to go on a plane to Arizona for my Aunt Julie's wedding.....which I guess I get to be in pictures for but don't get to attend.  Humph!  But then we might stay in Arizona with Oma and Papa for a week or so which would be really neat as I haven't been out there since I was 4 months old.  So Yay, hopefully!  So, for now.....I guess I will close this post.  Thanks for reading and I hope everyone is having a great spring!

Love, Jakob.....and Mommy