More reading with daddy

Leigh walking more without his crutches and without his boot. He's even driving! But he's still sidelined by his injured ankle. This translates to even more reading time for Mia. She loves it.

Peanut butter announcement

Reading with daddy

Leigh's been pretty laid up for a couple weeks since he tore ligaments in his ankle. He's still using the boot (sometimes) and the crutches (sometimes). It's been hard for him to wrestle with Mia like he normally does, but he's still being so sweet and playful with her. They've been doing lots of stationary things, like reading. Adorable.

The runaway

One of Mia's favorite new things to do is grab her teeny-tiny suitcase, head for the door, wave and announce, "Bye-bye!" Thankfully, she isn't tall enough for the doorknob, so her plan is foiled.

A big day for Vilakazi

Today was a big day for Vilakazi. As some of you may or may not know, the foundation Leigh and I started earned its official 501(c)3 status a few weeks ago. It was an exciting day after nearly two years of hard work by our amazing board, volunteers and supporters! After that, we felt a little adrift. We'd been shooting for our 501(c)3 goal for so long, it was strange actually achieving it.

So we took time Saturday to have our first ever board retreat. We didn't really retreat anywhere. We actually just went to my office. Our fantastic friend, Kelli Dupuy, was our facilitator and we accomplished so much! We talked about board development, goal setting and fundraising for the next year. We've set a lofty goal for ourselves, but it's going to be so exciting when we reach it! We're going to help hundreds - hundreds! - of South African children next summer. (I hope you will all be a part of it!)


After spending all day together, we decided it would be great to spend even MORE time together. Some of our board members joined up with a few friends to play in this annual trivia night fundraiser that benefits an Oklahoma nonprofit that works to prevent teen pregnancy. (Boy, do we need this group in Oklahoma!) Our team finished FOURTH out of 48 teams! It was incredible, if not overly competitive. We also finished fourth last year. Next year we're totally winning medals. Or stealing medals. Whatever.

It might sound cliche, but Leigh and I count our blessings every day. We have the most amazing friends!

Our own little Beulah, Part 2

Earlier this year I wrote about how Mia can sometimes remind me of our crazy old neighbor, Beulah. Well, she's up to it again, but this time she got Skye in on the act.

Little Miss Chatterbox

Setting yet another world record

For the second time this year, I got to be a part of setting a world record. Last time, Mia and I went to celebrate cloth diapers. This time, I went to play in the world's largest game of Duck, Duck, Goose. (Apparently, this is a generational game. Click here to read about what the heck Duck, Duck, Goose is.) I wrote a column about it, and you can click here to read it.

A visit from Grandma

The bi-monthly meeting of the Mutual Admiration Club was called to order last week.

First order of business: hugging.

Mia has no idea what's in store for her this September. She's getting visits from Carin and Oupa Alfie, Nancy and Grandpa Doug, and Grandma Peggy. And not to worry - Tiamo Jill will be around as always. The Mutual Admiration Club has several more meetings coming up.

A fish from above

Oh my word. We were eating our Sam's Club tilapia and look what I found!

It's a piece of fish shaped like Oklahoma! This must be what people feel like when they see the Virgin Mary in their bathroom tile. (Like the people I wrote about last month.)

Congrats to the Musgroves!

A friend of our recently got married in an absolutely beautiful destination wedding in Colorado. She and her husband are the ultimate outdoors people. They went to Alaska for their honeymoon. Colorado was perfect. When they got back we all got to celebrate at a reception for them. Look at their cake toppers above. That's their little pug, Ronnie, in the middle. Leigh was a total trooper, even though he's still on crutches. Bless his heart. Jacquelyn and Josh were busy talking to all their guests, but we managed to snag a picture with them. From left, the lovely couple, my friend Paige and me. Hooray love!

General silliness

Wearing not one but two hats during potty time:

Kicking back after dinner:

Another use for the chair

As I've mentioned before, Mia loves her new little chair. She's so hilarious when she does what I like to call a run-by-sitting. She'll be on the move, going somewhere as fast as she can, when she plops down in the chair. Then she hops up and continues on her way.

Well, she's found another use for the little chair. She pushed the giant box of dog food across the kitchen and living room, stopping in front of her chair. Then she scoops out a little bit of dog food using a plastic lid that she found God knows where. Deter finds this too dangerous, but Skye is all in.

And another note about chairs: she has a little chair that my dad refurbished for her that's absolutely adorable. In the mornings Mia loves to take the seat off and put it back on. Off and on. Off and on. Who knew a child could love tiny chairs so much?

Proof that young people still read newspapers

The Skye Scratcher

Last month I bought an Arkansas Razorbacks back-scratcher while we were in Fayetteville. Leigh made fun of me, but I still say that it's the best $2 I've ever spent. I've discovered all kinds of uses for it besides just scratching my back, such as petting the dogs. Now that Leigh is laid up with an injured foot, I think he'll come around to my side on this one.

Artist at work

I really love some of the things I get to do for my job. First and foremost, I'm lucky enough to get to write about whatever I want for my columns. I try to pick things that are interesting, weird or otherwise wouldn't get in the paper. Taking Mia along is a bonus for some of those times. Today I had the chance to take Mia to a children's art class at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. It. Was. Fabulous. The teacher was fantastic and the other kids were sweet. (One mom was a little upset about the snack - Nilla wafers and a juice box - because she had never given her 2-year-old son juice in his entire life. Really, lady?)

We got to take a short walk through the museum's main gallery. Mia's favorite part was climbing into an arm chair that was near the end. So much for the art. Then we went back to the classroom and did some finger-painting while listening to classic music. How cultured is that?

The art extravaganza went way better than my idea of taking her to an aerobics class last week. (Click here to read my column about that.) I'll write a column about this outing, too. I'm so lucky.

Coming full circle

The Jacobs came full circle this morning. A little more than a year ago, I went to see a doctor about my torn knee. This morning, Leigh and I went back to the same little exam room at the same orthopedic facility with the same pair of crutches. But this time, it was Leigh who was on the exam table.

He injured his ankle playing soccer. He damaged ligaments but didn't break his ankle. He won't need surgery, but he does have to wear a walking boot for the next month or so. No sports. No running around. And at least for now, no driving.

We'll go back in a week for a follow-up exam and maybe more x-rays if he doesn't get better. So, prayers for him are welcome. The Jacobs family streak of good luck was short-lived.

Sea Lion Show of doom

We went to the zoo and had the chance to take Mia to one of the sea lion shows. She hasn't been before, but we thought for sure she would like it. I mean look at this. Who couldn't enjoy this?


Well, Mia was leery of all this jumping and swimming and splashing and barking.

But halfway through the show, she lightened up. She sat in our lap and watched the show. Even though she wasn't that excited about it, she was slightly interested.

Well, she was so relaxed, in fact, that she peed while I was holding her. The problem was that she was still wearing a swim diaper from playing in the spraygound earlier. Lessons learned: swim diapers must be changed immediately after swimming. They're already holding all the water they can hold.

Mia totally wet my pants. She peed all over my lap. I held her up, and she kept peeing. Afraid that we'd be given the boot out of the show (and the zoo), I put her back on my lap so there wouldn't be any pee in the stands.

It. Was. Horrible.

Miss Playground Bossy Pants

The weather was finally - finally! - nice enough that we could take Mia to the park. She was so happy to be back.


Then she apparently gave some kid the business from her perch atop one of the slides: "Do NOT make me come down there!" -

"Oh, that is IT! I'm coming down RIGHT NOW!"

Play ball!

For once, the Jacobs family had some good luck! We won tickets to get a behind-the-scenes tour of our local AAA baseball team, the Oklahoma RedHawks. We got free tickets, money for dinner and some memorabilia. It was great!

We got to see everything at the stadium, and we even got to go into the home dugout. Mia was way distracted by the groundskeepers, who were sweeping the dirt with giant brooms. You know she was loving that.


We also got to go out on the field! It was pretty neat. Our tour guide even gave Mia one of the team's warm-up baseballs. She accepted it but was then suspicious that the tour guide might take it back. Then she threw it. Then she demanded it back. Then she repeated that process several times. Then we had to go to our seats.

Cullen Jones

I got to interview Cullen Jones. Who is Cullen Jones? The one on the left who was on the amazing relay team in 2008.

He came to Oklahoma City to promote a swimming program for children. Click here to read about it.

How awkward was I? Oh, it was bad. I forgot half my questions and I forgot to ask him some summary questions on video. Why was I such a mess? Because he was nearly naked. That's why. Props to all the female sports reporters who go into locker rooms. I couldn't do it. I need a little more modesty, please.

Never gets old

Pictures of children in sunglasses are cliche ... unless it's your kid. Then it's adorable.

Rub-a-dub, no duck in the tub

We said goodbye to the duck tub tonight. Mia's too tall. We thought she'd be all upset. Nope. She didn't care one bit. In fact, she celebrated by cleaning the walls.

The face of madness

We did it. We went to the outlet mall on opening day. We were three of the 161,000 shoppers on opening weekend. It was pretty busy, but we managed to navigate our way around. It was pretty fun. Mia mostly enjoyed riding in an apple car with Lowly Worm from Richard Scarry.

Fancy dress

Mia's finally big enough to wear this adorable dress. Yes! A friend of mine gave it to me, along with some other clothes her grandchildren had grown out of. So. Adorable. She's going to have to wear this to church until she absolutely can't fit in it anymore.

The Potty Time Blues

Mia's using her teeny-tiny potty. I promise not to post a million pictures of her on the potty.

Fork swap

Sometimes you've got to use a little fork when someone little steals your fork.

Her artistic side

What happens when you leave Leigh to supervise dinner time? Mia ends up coloring with her toes.

Victory!