Birthday Parties!

We were able to celebrate Jacob's birthday twice before his real birthday on the 18th. Luke's parents were able to come out for a weekend two weeks before Jacob's birthday and so we were able to do a mini-party for Jacob while they were there. They were nice to get him some little toys, some church clothes, and his favorite- a truck he can ride and push!

Grandma Brenda showing Jacob his new racecars

first time riding his truck! he was so excited!

And so this was the first time Jacob was able to try out cake! He kind of just looked at it for a bit, then looked at all of us staring at him, and then this is him smashing it quickly to his face! Good job Jacob!

he ate the whole thing! he'll probably end up with a sweet tooth like me :)

One week later my friends and I held a birthday party for all our babies since they were all turning 1 just weeks apart from each other.
Here's all the babies! They're actually sitting from youngest to oldest- Jacob(3/18), Jane(3/13), Brielle(3/13), Scarlett(3/6), and Avery(2/20). So yes Jacob's the only boy in the bunch- but check out that move he's making on Jane! ;)

We all have been getting together weekly for playgroups but we've never been able to get all 5 of us together until this party! It's so much fun watching them all play together, especially since they're all so close in age. But even still they're all a lot different and at different stages, but I'm so glad Jacob has friends he can play with even at a young age- and then I get to spend time with all the other moms too! Anyway, back to our party...

here's the kids playing together before we got started


We did a gift exhange and Jacob got the "boy gift"- a little truck that makes noise and talks! It goes great with the little truck that he rides at home!

Jacob with his birthday hat that I made for him- haha :)


all 5 kiddos waiting for their cake! Jacob was getting especially tired by this point...

all he needed was a little cupcake to make him happy- yum!
(And I love how he tries to shove the whole thing in his mouth!)

hardly left a single crumb!

Here's all of us moms with our 1 year old babies! We had a great time!

Jacob's First Year

So in honor of Jacob's birthday today I've made this little slideshow of him through his first year! And I definetly spent way too much time on something that should be very simple- it took me forever to find a way to post this to my blog! And it should embed but if it doesn't show up then just click on the link- and enjoy!
http://www.slideshare.net/kamdecker/jacobs-first-year

Jacob's First Year

View more presentations from kamdecker.

And I will post again soon with pictures from all Jacob's little birthday parties!

My Lucky Charm

St. Patrick's Day is just a little more significant to me this year more than normal just because of the memories that is has brought to me from last year! Last year my mom had just flown into Denver to get ready for me to have Jacob since he was due the 16th. And I remember going grocery shopping for 2 hours last St. Patrick's Day (I guess we had a lot of groceries and I was walking really slow), and I felt like Jacob dropped and suddenly was really heavy- and little did I realize that I would be going to the hospital that night! But we enjoyed the day, my mom and I sat on the porch eating grapes, and the three of us had a nice festive dinner, topped off with pistachio pudding and whip cream- which was amazing at the time!

Luke and I last year on St. Patrick's Day- (last dinner together without a baby!)

But I knew after dinner that the contractions were really starting and we ended up going to the hospital at 3 am that night. And so I am glad that Jacob was not actually born on St. Patrick's Day and made it until the 18th, but the memories of that St. Patrick's Day still make me smile, and I almost feel like it was that same day in my mind. Either way- I like to consider Jacob my little lucky charm!

And last year I remember it was very warm on St. Patrick's Day and today was just as gorgeous-in the low 70's! The best part though is now I have a house with my own backyard so we could lay out and enjoy the sunshine! Jacob hasn't really liked going outside but I made him deal with it today and he finally didn't cry the whole time and we had a great day!

After enjoying sitting in the backyard for a lot of the day, we took a walk and went to the park with his best little bud Jane (who celebrated her birthday last Saturday).

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Happy Birthday to Jacob tomorrow! :)

The Big 25

Last Saturday I celebrated my 25th birthday! I had a pretty good day. I had to wake up early to go to a Women's Conference but I was excited since I was able to see all my old girlfriends from my last ward and so that was a good time. And it worked out because Luke had to go in to work for a few hours that morning but by the time he got home Jacob woke up from his nap and we went out to lunch. The original plan was to then do some birthday shopping but we were both tired from waking up early so we relaxed at home for the rest of the evening. Luke grilled me up some salmon for dinner and then we watched a rebox- pretty typical night! Maybe soon we'll make it up and go to the movies- usually I only go to the movies once a year, to see the Twilight movies, so anything more than that would be especially nice.

Here is our yummy salmon.

The next day Luke was able to set up my main birthday gift- my new window bench! I was really excited to have some seating and storage in our front living room and I think it worked out pretty well. And I finally did go shopping to get some clothes and things for myself for once. I also finally got myself 2 pairs of glasses- I had been wearing the same ones I had through high school! And then last I got myself a much needed haircut! Feels good to have some new changes! Thanks again to anyone who already wished me a happy birthday!

First Word- "Hi!"

On my last post I mentioned that I was pretty sure Jacob said his first word "hi" and now I'm positive! He says it several times a day on his own. He says it when he sees a new toy, when he looks at the computer he says hi whenever I pull up a new page or video for him to look it, and one time he said hi at the same time that I answered the phone and said hello. He will say hi back if I say it to him but I have a hard time getting him to say it for other people. Luke has heard it now but still isn't sure that Jacob knows what he's saying, but I caught it on video so see for yourself and let me know if you think it counts!

Another Jacob update- 11 months

Jacob turned 11 months today- so that means in only one month he'll be one year old! I really can't believe how fast it's gone so far, because he still feels like my little baby. But he is definetly moving around a lot more...

Jacob has quickly become a stair master. He started crawling up the stairs in December and only a month later he learned to go down the stairs too! I never even had time to buy stair gates, but it's just as well- he loves playing on the stairs! He especially loves playing peekaboo through the railing along the stairs!

Jacob also loves playing with all his little toys. This one is still my favorite- it's so fun! But I imagine we'll get him some fun new toys for his birthday too.

And of course Jacob gets into everything now! Naturally he's always pulling things down, ripping things up, tasting everything in his mouth..you know how it goes. This is him "helping" me fold the laundry as he takes everything out for me! :)

And I am so glad that he has gotten to finally be a good eater. For awhile he wouldn't take any finger foods or anything, but he's made quite a turn in the past few months. He loves to eat table food now, especially whatever and whenever mom and dad eat!

And he's been able to drink out of his sippy cup for awhile too but only recently did I try letting him do it himself- and I think it's so cute when he lays down to drink his water :)

I thought this picture was cute too. He was playing with our friends' dog but kept hitting him and then the dog would hit back, haha! Coco was actually very patient with Jacob as he checked him out. But as cute as little Coco is, I don't think I could ever manage a dog!

One thing I have been really excited about ever since we moved in is that there are several babies Jacob's age! And there are four of us at church that are new moms and all of our babies were born in March, so they are literally days apart in age. So we started a playgroup and it's been so fun so far! They don't really play together much yet but it's so funny when they take each other's toys, or try pulling each other's pants off or race up the stairs together- I love it!

Another thing we did recently in the first week of February, Luke's work treated their team to a Nuggets game in Denver. It was actually really nice because KPMG has a suite there so we had our own kitchen and free food and drinks and our seats were blocked off so everyone could just talk together. And it was Jacob's first game so it was fun to be able to go too.

Jacob loved being able to watch the game and dancing to the music at halftime!

Actually, dancing is Jacob's new discovery! He loves bouncing to a good beat and waving his hands to the music! Luke and I find it pretty hilarious. We caught a good video of him dancing to his favorite pop song- that seems to be the only kind of music he really gets into- girly pop! Anyway you can check out this video and see for yourself!

Jacob has also gotten very vocal lately, making lots of sounds and sometimes he gets very close to saying words. Actually, I swear he had his first word on Valentine's Day. He waved his hand and said "hi" very clearly, twice actually. Luke doesn't believe me but it gave me chills because it sounded like he knew what he was saying- I feel it counted as his first word! And a few weeks before that after Luke left for work Jacob waved his hand and said "buh buh" so that was really close too! Anyway, it's just kind of exciting watching him learn and grow a little more everyday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a nice Valentine's Day weekend this year. We mostly celebrated on Saturday and Luke and I were able to go out to dinner that night and got a REAL babysitter for Jacob! This was kind of exciting for us, even though we have to pay a real sitter rather than letting friends watch him, I'm excited because our new sitter lives just down the street and goes to our church so I think it's going to work out great! And not only that, but her parents knows my family because they used to live in Maryland when I was little- so it's kind of fun that they're our neighbors now too!

So on Saturday I got up and made Luke breakfast which I have NEVER done! I'm not sure why, he's just so good at making breakfast he's always done it. And somehow I burned the bacon, but I was able to make the eggs the way he likes it! Haha I'll have to keep working on it. And Luke and I went to take Jacob on a walk because it seemed like a really nice day but by the time we made it outside it had gotten overcast and windy, so it was a short walk but fun spending time together.
And then our babysitter showed up an hour early so we headed for dinner. Luke found out that there was a brand new Cafe Rio just south of Denver and it's the first one here in Colorado, so we went there for dinner Saturday- and it was goood!
Valentine's day morning we woke up to a beautiful few inches of snow on the ground and trees, and these beautiful flowers for me :)

Sunday mornings I always have to wake Jacob up for church but I hate to because he just looks so cute and peaceful when he's sleeping!

Jacob with his valentine pig- his first Valentine's day!

Mommy and baby love :)

Jacob didn't want a picture with his dad but he loves him too :)

me and Luke on valentines day :)

Hope everyone had a great valentine's day!

James is Home!

So for the past two years my brother James has been serving an LDS mission in Riverside, California speaking Spanish and teaching people about our church. So we weren't able to see him for two years, and he was only able to call home on Christmas and Mother's Day, but then he would send the family an email once a week, usually. So we missed him a lot but we were all soo proud of him and the work that he was doing. James always had a really positive attitude and seemed to have learned a lot and grown from his experiences.

Anyway, so I definetly wanted to make sure that I was home to be there when James got home from his mission. Especially since he had never even met his first little nephew!

So this is the plaque they had of James at the church, along with all the other missionaries from our ward. So before James returned home, Jacob was checking out the uncle he hadn't met yet.

Jacob and James

So the big day finally came! James came home late Tuesday, January 12, 2010, and his plane was late too and so we were all getting a little anxious. Here is the big sign that we made for him!

Everyone at the airport was totally staring at us, but some people were nice and were asking about our James, haha. And when we finally saw him come down past security we all were cheering for him and he was strutting down acting as if he couldn't see our huge banner! I think he loved it though- he said he wanted people to think he was famous when he got into the airport- so we did our best to give him a big welcome!

And it was so great to see him again- he looked so much more grown up! Amazing what two years can do...

Before and After!

One of the nice things about being home for this, was that we were all able to go with him when he got released by the Stake President the next day, and he said a lot of really nice things. And then the day after that we were all also invited to go with him as he reported to the High Council about his mission. And so it was neat to hear about more of the stories and experiences that he had and how he felt about those spanish people that he had served. This picture above was right before he reported, and once that was over he felt like he was officially done as a missionary!

So then James' first Sunday back we had an open house that evening so that family friends could come over to see him and all. These pictures were taken once the party was almost over, but before that, the house was seriously packed! There were a lot of people, and a lot of good food! And it was fun for me to be there with Jacob so that I could see a lot of people that I haven't seen in awhile too.

We used our airport banner as decoration

We put up some of James' missionary pictures on the sunroom doors

Jacob and Mason, so glad Jeremy and Leigh Ann came and so I could see little Mason again- I could just eat him he's so cute!

Our family! (minus Erika, Daniel, and Luke)

James' second family- the Kings. They have their own two missionaries out but they took a family picture with James as their replacement.
These are the two Kings brothers, James' best friends that are still on their missions.

Again, I had a great time seeing James come home and seeing how much he's changed and grown up! I spent a lot of time with him when he got home fixing up his resume and helping him find a job. He did finally get a job for the next few months until he'll be able to go back to BYU-I in April for the summer semester. And then Julia will be going out there for the Fall semester too! It makes me jealous- I wish I could be back in Rexburg with them! I loved hanging out with them while I was home and can't wait until we can all get together again soon!