Jacob Lost His First Tooth!

Today is a big day in the O'Donnell household. Jacob lost his first tooth!!! He has been wiggling it for weeks. He was in the playroom and came running down the stairs yelling, "MY TOOTH FELL OUT! MY TOOTH FELL OUT!" He is super excited to see what the Tooth Fairy will bring him!

Jacob is SIX!!!

Today Jacob turns six. SIX! We have had such a great time celebrating his birthday. Over the weekend we had his birthday party at the Baxter YMCA. The kids were so good and had such a good time. Miss Donna took all the kids to the workout room and did a 30 minute class with them. They pretended to be lions, seals, and dinosaurs. They bounced on the exercise balls. Then they played with the big parachute. They all left the party exhausted!

Today Jacob had his party in his classroom. Jacob had to bring in 6 pictures from birth to 5 years old. Tod and I had to write the Story of Jacob's Life to read in front of his class. We followed a rough outline provided by his teacher. Jacob's teacher has a Celebration of Life when each child turns six. It was such a special ceremony!! She lit a big orange candle to represent the sun in the middle of the room. Then she laid out 12 pieces of paper with the months written on them. She also had five candles that she lit for each year of Jacob's life. I couldn't read Jacob's story because I was so choked up. Tod read the story just as choked up as I was. After he read each year of his life, Jacob would walk around the "sun" on the months and his classmates sang "The Earth Goes Around the Sun..." Jacob would stop on November then we would read the next year on his story...etc. After he walked around the circle 6 times he blew out the five candles then he blew out the sun candle. Jacob's teacher, the teacher's assistant, and myself were all wiping away tears. Tod held it together better than we did!!

After the ceremony, Jacob served all of his friends cupcakes that he made last night. It has been such a fun morning. We are going to pick up Brady from school and then go eat lunch with Jacob.

Here is the story that we wrote...

Celebration of Life
Jacob O’Donnell

Jacob Thomas O’Donnell was born on November 19, 2002 in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, North America, on the planet Earth. He weighed 9 pounds 6 ounces and was 22 inches long. When Jacob was a baby he needed to be taken care of all of the time. He couldn’t talk and cried if he wanted anything. He had to wear diapers, drank lots of milk, and slept most of the day and was awake most of the night.

When Jacob was one year old he could already walk and was able to say “Mama” and “Dada”. He loved bath time. Jacob would splash so much that everyone was soaked when he was finished..

When Jacob was two years old he learned to catch and throw. He loved all kinds of sports and could hit a baseball with a bat and a golf ball with a club.

When Jacob was three he asked Santa to bring him a pair of scissors. Santa left a pair of red scissors in his stocking. Jacob loved to cut, and cut, and cut. He even cut up his pajamas while he was still wearing them!

When Jacob was four he went to Disney World . He rode every roller coaster, met Mickey Mouse, and watched the fireworks over Cinderella’s castle.

When Jacob turned five he decided his favorite color was black, and he loved to draw. He also started Kindergarten at Springfield Elementary School in Fort Mill, SC in Mrs. Carroll’s class. Jacob also decided that he wants to be a Rock Star and a Pet Store owner when he grows up. Today, Jacob turns six. Jacob is funny, loving, creative, sincere, and full of curiosity. We can’t wait to see what adventures our six year old will bring!!

Mommy! Stuck!

The adventure continues with Brady. Usually when I get ready in the mornings, Brady watches PBS and has a snack. Today, while I was in the shower, he decided that he would rather have raisins instead of pretzels. I'm not sure how long he was "hanging" out because I was in the shower!! All I heard when I turned off the water was, "Mommy! Stuck!" Also, you can see that his pants were falling down! Never a dull moment!

Paycheck

Today I got my first paycheck in three years. I didn't think I would be emotional about a piece of paper. After talking to some of my stay at home mommy friends about the monotony of our daily lives, I decided to do something about it. I have been volunteering at Jacob's school once a week. This is very rewarding. I get to participate in his education. It may be as simple as making copies, but I feel like I am being useful. Well, Brady's school called me to be a substitute for his class. I have to admit subbing for a 2 year old preschool class isn't my cup of tea. Lots of runny noses, whining, and a strange sense of organized chaos. After school I took an hour nap! I did feel useful and loved seeing Brady with all of his classmates. They were all so adorable. Today I received my paycheck. My paycheck. That sounds nice.

Beard?

I keep learning the same lesson. When the kids are quiet, they are most likely up to something! Brady was up in the playroom as quiet as a mouse. Jacob went up there and quickly came back down and said, "I think you need to see this!" Brady went wild with a purple marker. When I saw Brady's face i was shocked!! Jacob wasn't sure if it was OK to laugh. I made sure there wasn't any marker on the carpet, walls, or furniture. Nope it was all over his face! I busted out laughing. Then Jacob started to laugh too. Brady didn't get the joke. He just kept saying, "Beard! Beard!" Tod was sitting in his office reading the paper. I showed him his son and he almost spit out his coffee all over the paper! I stripped Brady down and realized that his face was not the only area he marked on. His legs were completely covered in purple marker. I could barely get him in the tub because I was laughing so hard. Thank goodness for washable markers!!

And......ACTION!

The other day I asked Jacob what he wanted to do now that his golf lessons were over. He said that he will have to think about it. A few days later he said he knew what he wanted to do. He said, "Mommy, I want to be on commercials and then have my own show." Thanks Nickelodeon!

Ok...where do I begin with this adventure? I spent an afternoon researching acting/modeling sites, contacting the Better Business Bureau and looking at talent agencies in the area. I found one that seemed to be the best in the area and they had an open casting call the next Saturday!! I had no idea what to expect. We only needed to show up with a photo (didn't need to be professional) and clean hair! We can do that! After signing in, we waited for all the other hopefuls to show up. There were about 100 people there and only a couple of kids. The agent spoke to us for about 15 minutes and told us about the company and what to expect. She hinted that they were not looking for kids at that moment but wanted to see everyone anyway. Jacob was part of the first group. They had to walk the length of the room and then say a few words in front of the judges. The judges gave you a card that said to come back tomorrow or a card that said No Thank you. Jacob didn't seem nervous at all. I was a wreck! There is no way that I could have gotten in front of 100 people like that! He walked then gave the judges his picture and his information sheet. The agent fed him some lines. He said them kind of monotone and not loud enough for anyone to hear. We got the No Thank You card. When we were leaving Jacob said, "That was fun! Can we do it again?" Sure!

I emailed the agent for some feedback. I told her that this was our first time and I hadn't prepared Jacob for the casting call. She said that he did fine. They just were not looking for kids and she didn't have the heart to turn us away. She wants us to come back in January or February! Well, I think we will need to work on some of our "acting" skills!

I'm so proud of Jacob for getting up in front of all of those people. Even though we didn't get picked, he did a great job. We will go back and try this again at the beginning of the year!! Nickelodeon here we come!!!

Halloween

We had such a great Halloween. Tod's parents always come to our house to pass out the candy while we take the boys Trick or Treating. This year our friends, the Ellis', came to Trick or Treat with us. Jacob, Christopher, Brady, and Andrew ran from house to house full of excitement. Brady gave out first. We put him in the wagon while the others kept going. Finally we had to tell the boys that it was time to go back. "Aw Man!" was their response. After unloading their candy they ran around for about another hour then the sugar high wore off.

Tom and Connie brought their new puppy, Bentley, to visit us. The boys were overwhelmed with excitement. Bentley was so good with the kids. Whenever the puppy was in his cage he had lots of company! Jacob tried to figure out how to get Bentley in the top bunk to sleep with him. He was sad to find out that he sleeps in a kennel (which Brady unsuccessfully tried to get into). It was nice to have a puppy around for the weekend.