Are You Ready for Some Football?

"Come on Mama! You can play, too!"
Lil' QB in training

Then again, he also looks like a center!

"Hut hut!"

FUMBLE!

5 more days til kickoff! For some of you in certain areas of the Southeast, you can catch the UAB vs Rice game on CSS at 3 pm CST. Please tune in and cheer on the Blazers!

Jake and I stopped by Tyson's office today for lunch and played on the practice fields with Daddy. And in case you were wondering, I snapped some pictures but I joined in on the fun, too! I'm sure we were quite the site to see (University Blvd is one of the busiest streets in town). In fact, the practice fields are a great place to spot lots of fire trucks, police cars, ambulances, airplanes, and helicopters. Gotta love the "big city!" Back to football, the boys and I worked up a little sweat in a game of 2 on 1 (me and Tyson against Jake...seems fair, right?). Turns out, Jake prefers a good ole' game of keep-away to football right now, but that's ok. I think he'll get enough of football in his lifetime...what do you think? Go Blazers!

Last Day of School!

Jake and three of his girlfriends (L to R- Macey, Caroline, and Rose)
Jake being silly and sticking a sticker on Caroline's back...such a flirt!

Caroline playing hard to get!

Jake and his teachers- Miss Kelly and Miss Gail

Today was Jake's last day of the summer session for Mother's Day Out. He actually starts the fall session next week, so he doesn't really get much of a break. He loves it, though! I don't blame him...he's usually 1 of the only boys out of about 8 kids! Needless to say, Jake has lots of girlfriends! One of his favorite girlfriends is Caroline, who was also in his class last year. I like to pick Jake a little early so I can watch him interact with the other kids, and I've been noticing something going on with Caroline for a while; Jake literally lights up when he's around her (as does Caroline) and grins from ear to ear. Jake's teacher says they usually make "googly eyes" at each other and are very protective of each other. So cute! Well, one day, I was telling Tyson about Caroline and Jake started smiling from ear to ear and actually got a little bashful! He even calls her "nigh nigh." I think Caroline is going to be in his class next year (well next week), so I'm excited for them to be together again.

It's so funny to see the difference in girls and boys. When I pick up Jake, all of the little girls are gathered sweetly around the teacher being very nice and quiet. Jake, on the other hand, is usually screaming at the top of his lungs as he runs around the room, tumbles on the equipment, or just destroying the toys. Jake is literally the first thing I hear as I walk down the hall! Last week it was "ROCK ROCK...ROCK ROCK" as he pushed the rocking chair as hard and as fast as he could; the time before it was "YAY!!! YAY!!!" as he cheered himself running around the room top speed. As crazy as he can be, the teachers love him to death. They always brag about how helpful and thoughtful he is; if someone is crying or upset, Jake is always there to comfort them. And Jake is always the first to help them clean up! I'm so proud of my sweet boy.

Jake has really learned a lot this year at school. Not only is he really opening up and coming out of his shell, he has picked up on so many new words and skills that I haven't necessarily thought to work with him on. But most importantly, he's learning to share and to be a good friend and I am so excited about that.

One last thing, as we were leaving Tuesday, the janitor stopped me and said, "he is so friendly. He is just the little welcome wagon and says 'hey' to everyone that passes by." That's my sweet boy! Let's just hope he stays that way!

UAB Fan Day

Coach Summers' Biggest Fan...and "Blaze's" least biggest fan!
The Linebackers getting ready to sign autographs

Keon Harris and Darrion Wilson

"Who's the biggest guy at the table now?"

Jake and Katrell Watters

Jake and Trey Ragland, our kicker

The mystery lady actually stepped out from behind the camera!

"Blaze"...as Jake constantly repeated today!

2 weeks until kickoff!! We are so excited! To kick off the season, we went to Fan Day today at Bartow Arena. Fan Day started with a Pancake Breakfast where the coaches and players served the fans, and then we went to the Blazer Walk and cheered on the players as they entered the Arena for pictures and autographs. The band was there along with "Blaze," our mascot; Jake was not a big fan of either. After some tears were shed (well...almost) and the skin peeled off Tyson's arm, we took Jake away from the Dragon and inside to see the players. The players are all so funny with Jake. For such big, tough guys they sure do like to hold "Big Jake" a lot!

We had so much fun seeing Daddy and his players! These next 2 weeks can't go by fast enough! Go Blazers!

Look Familar?

I ran across these pictures at my Grandparents' house of my sis and me. While I definitely think Jake is a good combination of me and Tyson, there is just something about him that reminds him of Amy's baby pictures (blow up #2). These are all I could find, but what do y'all think?

Look Who Came Home Early...

Daddy! And look how happy Jake was to see him (and Mommy, too)!

How much longer til football season is over?? Oh...it hasn't even "technically" begun. Blah.

The Zoo

"Want a goldfish?"

"These giraffes are so boring, Mom!"

Waving to the Giraffes

Feeding the Swans

"COME BACK!!"

Jake harassing the peacock and the squirrel

Jake's new BFF, the Asian Rattlesnake

For some reason, every animal was asleep while we were there!

Giving the snake "five."

"Can I peez ride on the carousel?"

Jake and I had an impromptu visit to the Zoo today; this was the first time in a long time that we have gone by ourselves, and it was really nice. You see, Jake loves "nakes" (snakes), and it's kinda hard when we are with other people to spend so much time in the Reptile Section. Anyways, he made good friends with an Asian Rattlesnake (I think) as you can see in the pictures above; I was really surprised at the snake, he followed Jake's every move and looked like he wanted to be petted so badly...yeah right! We also spent a lot of time with the peacock who roams freely around the Zoo. Jake insisted on feeding the peacock (and almost every other "aminal" at the Zoo) his goldfish; the peacock was in Heaven! That darn thing followed us around for about 10 minutes. Finally, I let my little monkey out of his cage (the stroller), and he scared the peacock off in about 0.2 seconds! Too funny!

We also rode the carousel for the first time today. Jake hasn't been a fan of carousels in the past, but we were the only ones riding at the time so the guy made sure Jake had a good time. You can't tell from the lack of smiles in the pictures above, but Jake had so much fun and said "wee!!" about 100 times! Fun times at the Zoo!