Happy Anniversary

Today marks the 4 year anniversary of our wedding! It's been an amazing 4 years. I'm sad that I won't be spending my anniversary with you, Goines, as I'll be traveling to Fresno for my Grandma's funeral. But, I can't wait to have a wonderful celebration soon on Sunday!

You're the best, and I love you so much!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Bill!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Bill!

We hope that you're having a fantastic day!!

Curious George!

Saturday we headed out of the cold city and went over to the Discovery Museum for the day. They just began a great Curious George exhibit/play area, and Jake was super excited about it. The Curious George books are one of Jake's favorite series, so he knew what was going on each display. He played a little golf with Papa and loved the touching Curious George statue!

A Little Cheering up

It's pretty hard to be sad when you're around a two year old who is happy nearly 99% of his day. So, we went up to visit Nana and Granddad today to give them a little Jakey TLC. He was in heaven playing with his Nana (who he hasn't seen in three weeks) and his Grandad and Tia. Nana and Granddad pulled out their guitars and recorders for Jake to play with, and he was overjoyed. Fun afternoon up on Kings Mountain today!

Goodbye Grandma J

This afternoon my fantastic Grandma Jennie passed on, and is now back with her true love Grandpa Martin and her son Uncle Danny in heaven. She created quite an amazing legacy (3 children, 8 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren) all of whom will carry on bits of her throughout their lives. She was an amazing woman, with a long fulfilling life...today is just 18 days away from her 90th birthday. I love you Grandma Jennie and will miss you.

Cason's 2nd birthday party

Cason had a great birthday party on Saturday (Cason's Mom was in my Mother's group, so we have known him since he was 6 weeks old). Lori and Vivek have a fantastic home in Walnut Creek with a backyard the size of 4 Marina homes. Jake had a blast playing with all of Cason's toys, and Papa taught Jake a little bit about basketball!

Riley Playtime!

We briefly got to see our friends the Zimmermans on Saturday evening after a full day in Walnut Creek. It was short and sweet, but Jake and Riley still made the most of it, and ran around for a good half hour straight together. They are both super excitable, so they were screaming away in excitement the entire time...super cute. Next time we definitely have to meet up at a park where they can run around and play together.

Playtime with Lindsay and Jonathan!

Saturday we spent the day over in Walnut Creek, visiting with Lindsay and Jonathan, and going to Cason's 2nd birthday party. For some fun time for Jake, we went to the fantastic park right next to Lindsay's place, where once again, Jake spent much of his time in the train play structure. Jake was even lucky enough to play a little with Jonathan on his big fancy guitar!

Great Father's Day!

We had a very nice Father's Day yesterday! We let Josh sleep in (doubt he really was able to as Jake was screaming his head off at 6:30am though), and then we went out to breakfast. Afterwards we packed up the car and decided to take advantage of the gorgeous day and go to Golden Gate Park. My Dad and Sister joined us (as my Mom is still in Fresno with Grandma Jennie) for a picnic and some games with Jakey. We brought the baseball bat, bubbles and a frisbee, so we had plenty of fun in the sun. My sister brought up my Dad's Father's Day crown (Fredrikson tradition...no way Josh was going to wear one!), and presents. Josh finished his THIRD Father's Day with a long run, and enchiladas...followed by drinks with our friends Dan, Katherine and Tessa...what a day!

Happy Father's Day Papa!

Happy Father's Day Papa! We Love You!!!

And a Happy Father's Day to Granddad Jon and Grandpa Bill! We love you too!

Our guitar player

Jake continues to be obsessed with his guitar....it now only has two strings, but that doesn't stop him! He now gets into this hilarious stance, closes his eyes, and just belts out whatever is on his mind. It's quite hysterical!

sadly, the entire video is refusing to post to the blog at the moment...I will try again later.

Jake quote of the day:

As I'm driving to work and to drop off Jake this morning:
Jake: Mama, work?
Me: Yes, Jakey, Mama is going to work today
Jake: No work Mama, play trains with Jakey today!
Me: I'm sorry Jakey, Mama has to go to work today
Jake: NOOOO, no work Mommy! Play trains with Jakey!

WHAT...I couldn't believe it! It's been getting very hard for Jake whenever I leave him at daycare these days....it was never an issue before, but all of a sudden he has started getting clingy...and now he can say things like the above!! Way to rip my heart out Jakey!

Grandma Jennie

Today I would like to honor my wonderful Grandma Jennie on our family blog. This week she has been admitted into a Hospice Care facility, and has therefore, been on my mind frequently. My Grandma Jennie, from whom I am named, is truly an amazing woman. My heart is warmed when I think of all of the fun memories I share with her. My sister and I spent a couple of weeks a summer with her down in Tranquility, CA, and we SOOO looked forward to it every year. She is the most amazing baker you've ever met (yes, Erica and I were both introduced to baking by our Grandma Jennie, and will forever carry on her love and passion for the craft). We would bake biscotti or blueberry muffins together in her great 70s kitchen, and then play in the endless farmlands that surrounded her home. She loves to cook and entertain, and I remember vividly long tables of food and family for every little occasion (yet again, another passion of hers that both my Mom and myself share as well). Grandma Jennie is always dressed perfectly, with her hair done (I have many memories of the hair salon with her), jewelry shining, and lipstick on. Playing in her bathroom filled with makeup was my first experience with hairspray and lipstick. She has an enormous heart and fantastic card skills....I could go on and on, as she is just an amazing, strong woman! I am so glad that my son has been able to play frequently with his only Great Grandparent. I will always look up to you Grandma Jennie, and I love you so much.

Great gift for Jake!

For Jake's birthday present, our wonderful friend and upstairs neighbor Katherine took these amazing pictures of Jake and surprised us with these prints. Katherine's husband Dan is a real guitar player, and therefore Jake's idol at the moment, as Jake is beyond obsessed with music and "guitarmans". So, it looks like Jakey got to go upstairs and play guitar with the real guitarman Dan while Mama and Papa were gone one day....wonderful shots Katherine and we so appreciate the incredibly special gift (Katherine Emery Photography for all those looking for a fantastic photographer in SF!!!)!!!

Last party post

Jake's birthday was truly a blast. Clean up turned out to be a breeze, as all of the fantastic Goines family pitched in, and boom...it was all done (HUGE thank you again!!)!! Jake was so wound up afterwards, he didn't take a nap all day long. This is what he did all afternoon instead...run around in his diaper with the large bunch of balloons to end his big day!

One compilation of the little video I took from his birthday as well:

Great family and friends

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful friends and family who care about our son. Here are some of the many great shots from yesterdays big birthday party: