A special video for Mother's Day! I know you all will love this!

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since last I posted. Things have changed a lot. The title of the blog is no longer appropriate, as we are no longer the Ohio Fullers. In January we moved back down to Birmingham, Alabama, where I started working at Southern Research Institute. I am working only 1 block away from my graduate lab. We are now renting half of a duplex in the Hoover/Bluff Park neighborhood. We are actually only about a block away from our friends Andy, Rheanna, and Brandt Stevens. On the other side we have Rheanna's parents as well as her sister and family.

Jacob has started preschool at a local Methodist church in preparation for starting Kindergarten this fall. He is loving it and doing very well. Owen is our crazy 2-year old. We have no idea where his incredibly curly hair comes from. He is our daredevil and climbs EVERYTHING! They both keep us busy and happy.

We decided this year to actually try and take Easter pictures before Easter, and these are the best we could get. Our kids don't cooperate for the camera. We had a beautiful weekend, and decided to go to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens (where I had originally proposed to Leigh Ann).

For preschool, Jacob had to dress up as some kind of community helper. He wanted to be a fireman, which gave Leigh Ann all kinds of trouble. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find a fireman outfit for a kid in March. We found the hat at Party City, and she found some props at the Dollar Store. But she had to get creative with the coat. She found a men's small sweatshirt (can you believe that? he almost fits in a men's small, and he is only 5!!!!!), and some reflective duct tape, and voila! I thought it looked great, and Jacob absolutely loved it. He didn't want to take it off.


On another note, Jacob, our 5-year old, has just lost his first tooth! One of his front bottom ones. Hard to believe that he is already old enough for that to happen!

Finally - some new pics

Alright, some of you, I'm sure, wondered whether I even remembered this website (that is, if anybody still checks in here). I'm not going to fill in the story right now. I thought I'd just update the kids' pictures, so you all can see how they've grown since the last time I updated. Jake is now 4 1/2 years old, and Owen is 1 1/2. They love each other a lot - Jake is always wanting to do stuff with his baby brother, and Owen idolizes Jake. Anyways, here they are:

A Special Message to Grandma Rice

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA RICE!!!!!

Why It Is So Hard To Get Good Pictures of Jacob

Pretty self-explanatory.

Owen is 1 year old!

Well, Owen has now hit 1 year old.  And he is walking everywhere!  Here is a video of him walking around, and then of him celebrating his birthday - you can see him bouncing along to the singing.

Jacob went as Shrek for Halloween this year.  Leigh Ann found the costume, and then fashioned some Shrek ears for him.  He loved it.  He wore it to his pre-school, then for some trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, then for our Ward Halloween party, and finally for his friend, Lucas' birthday party.  We got a lot of use out of that costume - and Jake cleaned up on the candy.

As you can see (and already saw from my post for Jacob's birthday), Owen loves cake.  He dives right in.  He didn't get quite as messy here as he did with Jacob's cake, where the frosting ended up all over his face, but he still thoroughly enjoyed it.
And why not toss in another one of the cute kid?

Owen and Jacob just had their yearly doctor's appointment today.  They both did really well, but neither appreciated the multiple shots they had to get.  Jacob continues to top the charts.  He is still in the 97th percentile for both height and weight, at 45.5 inches and 47 pounds.  Owen is not really that far behind.  His weight is in the 85th percentile at 26 pounds, but 97th percentile for height at 32.25 inches.  Yup.  We raise 'em big here.  At this rate, they should be taller than me by their 10th birthdays!

4 years down, ???? to go

I cannot believe it - Jake is now 4 years old! The time is really flying by now! In just another couple of weeks, Owen will be 1!!!!! Jacob had a fun day yesterday for his birthday. He started out with opening his presents (mostly Thomas the Tank Engine stuff from both grandparents, and from us), then went to preschool, where he had cupcakes. Then Leigh Ann and I took him to see both Toy Story 1 and Toy Story 2 at the theater, in 3D (which was a lot more impressive than I thought it would be). We then went to pick up Owen from the Bevan's, who watched Owen for the 4 hours of the movies, and we had cake there with them and their daughter, Abby.

As you can see here, Owen really enjoyed his piece of cake!
Jacob, after some coaxing, started to enjoy his cake as well.
Here is the birthday boy, opening up some of his new train stuff!
Here you can see even more of his haul!
And this gives you a shot of just how much Thomas stuff he got! Leigh Ann found the large track at a store nearby for a fraction of the normal price! Jacob loves this new Thomas setup!