1st Haircut!

On Wednesday night I had my 1st haircut. It looks great.

However I did scream the entire time.

Thanks Julie for the great haircut.
Lots of Love,
Jakob

Swinging at the Lake!

Today we hung out at the cottage. The morning was rainy, but it cleared up nice this afternoon.

It was so sunny, I had to wear my shades. I love them.

Have a great weekend.
Love Jakob, Mom & Dad

A Visit to Our Special Friends!

This week was a very busy week as usual.

I had a chance to meet some new people again. I feel like I have met everyone in the state, but I keep getting introduced to new people.

The Westenbroek's are very special people to our family. They have been friends of our family for a very long time.

Here are the pictures of our fun.

Their granddaughter Brianna was there too and spent lots of time playing with me. We had lots of fun.

Thanks grandma for taking me over to visit these special people.

All my Love Jakob.

To My Daddy!

Daddy Means Smiles!
Daddy Means Hugs!
Daddy Means Love!
Daddy Means the World to ME!
Happy Father's Day Daddy!
I love You,
Jakob

Sunday was a fun day with my dad on his 1st Father's Day. Mom was very bad with the camera so we don't have many pictures. We went to Logan's for Lunch. Then we went to my Papa's at night. Daddy I like my hat - I want to be just like you.

Good thing mine is clean though. I like to suck on it.

It was pretty tiring at Papa's so we both had to take a little snooze.

I also went to the doctor on Monday. He said I am doing very well. I tore up all of the table paper while we waited. I am now 21 lbs and 28" long. My head measures 45 cm. I am in the 25 - 50% for height & weight. I had 4 shots, but am doing OK. I only drive mom nuts sometimes.

Not much going on this week. We need to clean the house a bit and just rest. It was a busy weekend.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads and grandpas!

We love you!

Jakob, Mandi & Rick

A Night at Frog Hollow Park!

Last night we went to Frog Hollow Park in Wyoming. We went with our social worker Kurt from AAI and a few other families that have adopted through him recently. It was a beautiful night at the park. Here is Kurt with some of the children.

Jakob had lots of fun playing on the slide and with his friends.

Here is Zuri and Jakob playing in the grass.

Jakob loved to play with Ted too.

Here is Jakob's girlfriend Josie!

Luke loved to have his picture taken. Luke is the brother of Josie & Zuri.

We never took our picture with all of us in Ethiopia so we thought we would try last night. Of course there was so much activity it was hard to get the kids to focus on the camera.

Zuri is as cute as ever and very happy.

Stay tuned this week for pictures from Rick's 1st Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's reading the blog.

Have a great day.

Love,

Mandi, Rick & Jakob

A Night in the Pool!

Well this week was a busy one; recovering from our weekend trip, catching up on laundry (thanks Jenna for the help), working, and all the normal week stuff. Thursday night we took some time out to play. My friend Reed came over, he is my next door neighbor. We had fun playing in the yard.



Then I got to go in my pool. I love it. I was in there for about an hour. It was so fun. We have hot & cold water in the garage so mom made the water like bath water.

My friend Reed wanted to come in so bad.

He finally made it in. Diaper and all.

He is a few months older than I am, so he gets around a lot more. I pretty much just stayed in one place. Check out my nice round belly. It is getting bigger.
We have a busy weekend this weekend. My mom and dad have a wedding tomorrow, so I am going to grandma's for a few hours. Then we are going to Byron Center to a park tomorrow night.

Then Happy Father's Day on Sunday.

We will post again soon.

Love you all!

Jakob, Mandi & Rick

Back From Kentucky & I Am 9 Months Old!

Wow - put your feet up and grab a cold beverage. This is going to be a long one. Make sure your computer is plugged into power, otherwise the batteries will probably be dead. Sorry we couldn't post more while we were in Kentucky. We could not get good internet with the laptop. We had a great time. I was very good for mom and dad in the car. My friends kept me entertained and I slept alot. It was a short weekend there, but it was very fun to see my cousins.
Here is my cousin Ryerson. We had a lot of fun playing together this weekend. I really miss him. I can't wait to see him again.

Here is Ryerson in the pool. It was very bright when the sun reflected off the water. He looks pretty cool with the glasses.
I love the water. I didn't like the big pool to much, but the kiddy pool was a lot of fun. I could float in my toy and touch my feet on the bottom. Guess what I just bounced and bounced. Just call me "Tigger".
Riley likes my swim ring too. He doesn't fit in it though so he had to sit on top the whole thing. He played with me in the pool alot.

After the pool we had to try the jumps with the bikes. Here is Gage he has lots of practice at this and can jump pretty high.

Here is Riley testing out the Kentucky ramp. It is definately not a Michigan ramp but it will do. It was lots of fun.

"Air Carter" Good jump man! Can't wait till you come and try our "Michigan" ramps. Well they are underwater right now, with the rest of the town, but next time you come. Can't wait to watch you ride again.
Ryerson and I just hanging out. We spent lots of time just lounging around and playing with toys.


Riley, Gage, Casey and Carter after breakfast. They just woke up. Ryerson and I have been up for hours already. :-)On Sunday I turned 9 months old. I don't really feel any older. However mom says it is another milestone. Mom also said that I get to have my pictures taken at 9 months. Don't you think I have my picture taken enough.

Well I am very tired from the trip and writing this post has taken it all out of me. I need to unpack, but I think I will wait till tomorrow. I just had to sleep. Thanks for reading about my trip. Mom says if you want to see more pool pictures you can click on the link to Mark & Sam's Family Blog on the right hand side. Aunt Sam posted some pictures too. Enjoy.

Good night Ya-all!

Love Jakob, Mom & Dad

We Made It to Kentucky!

Our 1st trip to Kentucky with Jakob. It went well. He took two naps for about an hour. Otherwise he was awake. It took about 8 hours. We had 2 detours due to construction and an accident. Then some extra road construction. We only stopped 2 times.

Riley and Casey did well to. With an hour left we ran out of battery power on the DVD, Laptop & Gameboy. We survived through.

Gage, Jakob & Riley hanging by the bar for breakfast.

Playing outside in the house. Ryerson loved having everyone play house with him.
Jakob is in on the fun too.

Ryerson and Molly playing the yard.

Carter and Macey dancing in the yard.
It is very hot down here. Well the temperature would be great,but the humidity is about 100%.

We are headed to the pool shortly. We should have more fun pictures to post tonight.

We will be home tomorrow.

All our love,

Rick, Mandi, Jakob, Riley & Casey

(Hi Mom & Dad from Riley & Casey)