Jack's Stats...

JACK'S 3 YEAR STATS!!!

Jackson is such a fun kiddo, and lately, he's really been showing us what 3 is all about. 3 years old, that is :)
He had his 3 year check up this past week, and he is a growing, healthy, sweet, caring, courageous, intelligent, adventurous, outgoing, talkative and opinionated 3-year old boy! He did GREAT at the doctor's office, and although he had to have 1 shot, and it did hurt, he took it in stride! He is in the 75% for his height and 75-90% for his weight. The Doctor said, with the way he has continued to grow - progressing very well, and staying on the same type of curve since birth, she expects he'll be around 6' as an adult! Yes, Brian was very proud when I told him the news :).

A bit concerned at first about wearing a "gril's (no, I didn't misspell, that is how he says "girl") sweeping cwose (girl's sleeping clothes)"... he soon, thought it was kind of fun... as he knew the Doctor was just going to make sure everything looked like it was 3 years old! Yep, his head, shoulders, knees and toes are all 3 years old! Whew! What a relief! :)

On the way home, I had promised him that he could get a donut, so we went to Krispy Kreme, and he picked out one with sprinkles! And, he deserved every sprinkle! As we were eating our donuts, he said to me, "Mommy, I don't 'yike' shots. 'Day' hurt 'bery bery' bad, but I still 'yike' docto' 'Mooe' (Dr. Moore)". I just looked at him and smiled and told him I loved him so much, and was so proud of him. He surprises me on a daily basis with how much he is learning and talking (most of the time this is good :p). And, this was a perfect example of Jack showing me, that although he had to get a shot, and it hurt - he still liked the Doctor - and was so matter-of-fact, yet sweet about it. Again, he has his moments... many many moments... but, he is so incredibly loving and just loveable! I was a proud Mama, as I always am, but especially at that moment!

 Our Sweetie!

Goofball! This should have been on our Christmas Card this year... as this is usually what I'm getting these days when I ask him to smile for a picture :p

 Love that Smile :)!!!

 Always an entertainer! 

and... the BEST Big Brother around! He is constantly entertaining Maggie, checking on her, playing with her, making her laugh hysterically and she just LOVES every second he is around... (ok, maybe not EVERY second... there are moments when he and she may rather be an only child, but I think it is for less than a split second!). xoxo

Really... only 14 days until Christmas... Really???

I cannot believe there are only 14 days until Christmas... WHAT happened to it being July, and me thinking of everything I wanted to make, decorate, bake, etc. for Christmas???

TIME to face reality... Christmas is in 14 (did I mention 14?) days???????

I am proud to say that I am just about D.O.N.E. Christmas shopping (sans a few stocking stuffers that still need to be found and purchased), however, it is the crafting that still needs to be done...err... started - and the wrapping. Oh, the wrapping! Oh, the crafting! Like, I said, I had GRAND ideas to do a lot of homemade gifts this year... and some I have done, finished and already given. However, there are still a few more that need to be STARTED!!! So, I'm hoping that I can get them done in time...

We have been enjoying this incredibly fun and special time of year. Today, we went to a little "bazaar", I guess you would call it - to visit Santa! The line wait was, literally z.e.r.o. Yes, you read that correctly! It was GREAT!!! We had anticipated going to the mall and waiting in line FOREVER, so we were thrilled to have made the decision to head to this little "bazaar", and find that there was hardly anyone there, and we also found other fun things to do there! Jack bounced to his hearts content in the 4 different bouncy houses they had (everything was indoors, thankfully!), we all decorated cookies, made some fun ornaments, attempted writing letters to Santa... and Jack danced & high fived a LOT with a piece of pizza.

It was GREAT that there was no line, and there was room for us all to sit... as Maggie wanted NOTHING to do with Santa... but, as you can see... the picture quality was, well... not good. Oh well, it was fun... and just Jackson's smile alone makes this picture PERFECT! (Poor Maggie - still traumatized from potentially having to sit on Santa's lap :( ).



No, Jackson doesn't have frost bite... just the photo quality :) But, who cares... look at that SMILE!!!

After the "bazaar", we headed to have some lunch... at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Jack LOVED the train car in the middle of the restaurant, and we were lucky to get to sit inside of it!

Overall, a really fun day... with more fun that was to come... I'll be posting on that soon... I promise! :)

Jack ready for Spaghetti!

All smiles for this one... but, soon to come was a MAJOR MELTDOWN!

UH OH, she's starting to look tired... here it comes...



Amongst, all of the business with the Holiday Season, Brian's Father, Bill will be having surgery on his back on Thursday, Dec. 16th. Maggie and I will be traveling up to Lacey Wednesday evening, to be with Grandma/Brian's Mother, Karen during the surgery. There is some extensive damage that needs repair, and so we are hoping and praying that the surgery goes well, and Dad begins to feel relief of the non-stop pain he has been having for so long now. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers - during his surgery, as well as his recovery.


Maggie and I will travel home either Thursday evening, or Friday morning. As, Brian and I will be going to his firm's holiday party on Saturday night. It should be a LOT of fun, and I'm excited to get dressed up and go out with my hubby!!! I have a gorgeous dress that I found a few weeks ago, and am excited to wear it! Still on the "to-do" list is find some shoes.... eeek!!!! SO MUCH TO DO!!! Could be worse, right? I wouldn't say shoe shopping is on the bottom of my least favorite things to do ;).

Some fun pics for you all to enjoy...

Jack getting all buckled in... with a silly Daddy too!

Maggie, is that you? Yes, it is. You're so cute! And, look too adorable in your winter coat! It is a bit difficult to get her in her seat with her big coat, and she isn't a fan of the wrestling it takes, but once she's in... she's good to go!

With all of the Christmas shopping, I have found some LOVES that I just had to share... they are still at the store, well besides the Safari Chair... I keep thinking I'll find something I like more... or even better, something that is used and I can make it into exactly what I want... so no furniture buying for Maggie's room for now. She does need some type of small dresser/nightstand... but, I have in mind what I want. I'm thinking that will become a project AFTER the holidays! :)

 

Hugs and Loves to you all!

Hope you're all enjoying this incredible time of year!!!

xoxo

Gym-bo-REE!!!

Today we went to Gymboree! I had taken Jack one time before, when he was a little guy - around 10 months or so. And, we only tried the FREE introductory class. It was fun, but at the time, I was doing so many activities with him, I thought that was one we could pass up ...

But, now that Jack is not in preschool and we don't have as much going on (we still have MOPS, and a Mama/Kiddo Group - they don't keep us busy everyday :p)... I decided it might be fun to give it another go... with Jack and Maggie - especially during these cold, wet and grey months. They have a GREAT "Family Gym Play and Learn" class - and today we tried it out.

 All ready to go! Having a hard time looking at the camera... when his cute little sister is making him laugh...

 Ok, I guess I'm ready... :p

 Needless to say, both kids had an absolute BLAST! And, we are now members of Gymboree, and will be attending this same class each Monday, as well as their open gym times.

Maggs strutting her stuff...!!! :)

Found a frog... hmmm... to hold it, or to throw it... (THROW IT!)

(it was impossible to get a picture of Jack... he was waaaaay toooo faaaast, and having way to much fun to stop for something as trivial as a picture, when there was some serious fun to be had!)

Jack was so confident and well-behaved! He didn't even fuss when it was time to go - the class is about an hour long... so both munchkins were tuckered out. Maggie started melting with about 20 minutes of class to go :) She even fell asleep for the first time ever in her high chair at lunch... just as I grabbed the camera, and was about to take her picture, Jack yelled "Maggie say cheese...", which woke her up... darn it, it was very cute. But, she was much happier sleeping in her crib than her highchair!

Enjoy the pictures and videos... it was so fun to see my sweeties having so much FUN!!!

Jack "jump jump jumping" on the trampoline... like Brian said, after watching the video... Thank Goodness he didn't kick the poor little kid that was attempting to climb up on the trampoline as Jack was getting down. He did great... moved himself appropriately! Way to go, Jack!!! :)

Maggie crawling SOOO FAST!!! She had a lot of fun... love when she picks up the frog... shows it to me, and drops it as fast as she can to keep moving... :)

I LOVE the way you see Jack's confidence come out in this one... especially at the end... after he gets off the balance beam... and does an arm pump while shouting "YAY"... I only had to help him on it one time, and for only half of it... I think he just wasn't quite sure what to do! He does now!!!

And, it's BUBBLE TIME... as you can tell they both LOVED it... and this is when Maggie decides she needs a bit of a rest at the end... too sweet! :)

WOW... this seems like it was just yesterday! (ps. Turn on sound...)

This "card" was sent to Brian's Parents "from" Jack in the Fall of 2008. It just seems like yesterday, Jack was such a little guy... and he is now so grown up! I have to admit, this brought tears to my eyes... he is such a sweet boy, and we just love him so very much!
ps. Just came across this, and had to share... enjoy! Especially G & G Weeks. I'm sure this brings back many memories for you both, as well!

Photo album created with Smilebox

A lot to be Thankful for...

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We sure did. It was a different Thanksgiving than those we've enjoyed in the past, but it was also wonderful and possibly the beginning of a new tradition for us.

And, for that, we are Truly Grateful.



We would have loved to have been with family, but unfortunately due to bad weather conditions, etc., it didn't happen this year. But, we were able to have some great friends come and have dinner with us... and make it feel like it really was Thanksgiving... not just another family dinner. The kiddos were great, and had a lot of fun - especially entertaining our guests :)

Some fun from our afternoon/evening...

Maggie was left alone for about 15 seconds... and I walked into the living room to discover, Little Miss, decided to take every tissue out of the kleenex box! :) But, it was a holiday, and she was having fun... and just the look on her face, made me laugh... so, what was I to do? Other than, continue laughing... and document the incident.

CRAZY girl playing with tissues... who thought this could be so fun???

She is now realizing that I think it's funny, therefore, the showing off really kicks in to full gear!

So sad and dramatic when Mommy tells her that we shouldn't pull every tissue out... (however, it did give me a good idea of a homemade Christmas gift for her... To fill either an empty kleenex box or wipes holder with pieces of fabric for her to pull out and push back in...) So, was this really Maggie being wild, or telling me that this is what she had a lot of fun doing, and Mama should get on that PROJECT... STAT!

It was a bit tough to squeeze us all in at the table... but, we did it! Besides Maggie sitting in her highchair, next to the table. Even Jack had his own place setting. He is the back left hand setting... ie. no china, table highchair, yet matching plastic monkey dishset... :)

ps. It was really fun setting the table, and decorating the house... I rarely use our China, as I am so afraid something will get broken. I have now decided, why do I have it... if I'm never going to use it. With that said, it won't be used on a daily basis, but it will be used for special occassions. It is so beautiful, and incredibly special to me, as it was my Grandmother's and she generously and thoughtfully gifted it to Brian and Me for our wedding. I can not think of any other "posession" I own that means more to me than our China, besides of course my wedding and engagement rings.

Can you tell I adored the table and table settings? It was all so pretty, and made it a true Thanksgiving... but in our own new way! And, the food... WONDERFUL! And, again, so fun to have food that we may not have had somewhere else...

Fun little Food Descriptions...

as we all know, I just did this because I enjoy hosting/decorating and anything in regards to a special occassion/party... obviously all of the food was very self explanatory... I hope... (well, if not, our guests had these cute cards to make sure they really were eating Sweet Potatoes, and not pureed carrots... so really, the cards are now going to be considered a necessity). 

Fun little place settings...

OH, the hours I spent searching for the perfect napkin rings... I don't believe they existed for me for Thanksgiving this year (as my search became a bit out of control... we'll leave it at that)... so rather than purchasing some I wasn't IN LOVE with (as obviously, one must be absolutely IN LOVE with a napkin ring to purchase), I decided a ribbon and leaf would have to do for this year... I will now be on the hunt for napkin rings for all occassions :)
However, I did like the way these turned out... not to mention they were free... as I had everything already!

Hmmm... Think she's ready to eat? I think so. This picture would be so perfect if she were holding a fork in each hand, as well. But, she definitely enjoyed all of the yummy Thanksgiving food!

And, she is a "cutie pie" (ie. her shirt... :) )

I'm not big on cranberries, unless it is with Turkey AND it is Thanksgiving. OR, I am having a Big Town Hero Sandwich that has cream cheese, turkey and cranberry on it... other than that, I usually pass... but, if it is a mantra to keep me calm (perhaps, when feeling uncalm... such as not being ready for guests to arrive, and they do... even fashionably late)... please pass the cranberries, many thanks.

OH, Jackson... when are you going to stop hating to have your picture taken? I hope soon... because you are so handsome ... but, anytime I even attempt to get your picture, you do something silly or make a strange face... such as this. :p

However, he did have the BEST time! Our friends brought their dog, Boulder with them... and Jack was in LOVE, beyond LOVE with Boulder (the LOVE is actually a complete understatement... infatuation may be better wording). Everything was about Boulder. Granted Boulder is a sweet and cute puppy (he's going to be a bigger dog... as he was a bit above Jack's waist - sorry, can't remember the name of the breed...), but he (Boulder) did need to take some timeouts in his crate to relax, especially while we ate, etc. You would have thought Boulder was in jail forever, and Jack was never going to see him again... devastating, to Jack that is.

Now he asks almost daily, when he can see Boulder, where is Boulder, does Boulder like "...blank...", if he (again, Jack) goes poo poo on the potty will Boulder be able to come over...

Yes, it is a bit out of control. However, if Jack goes poo on the potty, I will be the first to drive over and pick Boulder up and bring him to our house for a playdate with Jack! I'm hoping this happens soon... as I prefer not to drive in bad weather....

Our first family of 4 Thanksgiving was a SUCCESS! We pulled off a wonderful meal, fabulous decor, and most importantly the opportunity to give thanks for all that we have been blessed with. Also, our friends. They were the best. So much fun! They were wonderful company to have for Thanksgiving! It made me fully realize, that even if you feel a situation is out of your control (such as not being able to be with family on a holiday), it still deserves to be celebrated... and in a fun, grand and thankful manner. For that lesson alone, I am so THANKFUL for our wonderful Thanksgiving and my AMAZING little family of 4. I could not be a day without each of you, and you each made Thanksgiving our own.

With that said, I am already scouting out ideas for next year... I adore table settings and holiday decor... so I think it's best for me to start thinking of ideas now for next year... what if it starts snowing in September? YOU NEVER KNOW... and I most definitely want to be prepared to throw a GREAT Thanksgiving Feast... (to be cont'd. in approximately 11 months...)

ADORE, LOVE, ADORE these settings (above and below)... however, I am GOING to find the perfect napkin rings...

And, now that Thanksgiving 2010 has passed, it is my MOST favorite time of the year....

CHRISTMAS!!!!!!
I love EVERYTHING about Christmas. Really. I realize that is a bold statement, but, honestly, I cannot think of anything I dislike about Christmas. I love it all!

We (cross your fingers... especially in front of the weather man) will be traveling to Lacey to spend Christmas with Family! To say I am excited is an understatement. I have most definitely decked the halls at our house, but didn't "go all out", since we won't be here on Christmas. BUT... we are home for a majority of the season, and that deserves festive decorations!

This (below) is so very true...

especially when you have gifts to wrap, gifts to finish and begin making, neighbors to "elf", Christmas outfits to find AND matching shoes (oy vey... long story... but this shoe search for myself for Brian's Firm Holiday party is becoming e.x.h.a.u.s.t.i.n.g.!!!), parties to attend, baking to do... and of course, kiddos to snuggle before they go down for nap!

And, this is now how I truly feel about my LOVE for hosting/throwing parties/celebrations. To some, all of the decorating, special food, favors, games, etc. may be wasted time. But if you truly enjoy doing something ... is it wasted? I don't think so. And, it can be anything you enjoy, as long as you don't allow it to become stressful or unhealthy.
I will be the first to admit, I have let that happen many times in the past... but, have really worked on setting limits for myself, as in... how can I do what I LOVE and ENJOY without taking on so much that it becomes stressful... that is a lesson I am learning... slowly... but still learning...

Again, we hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Each of us has more than we can ever list to be THANKFUL for... and maybe rather than only thinking of these things one time per year, we could think of even one thing we are thankful for each day.

I am incredibly THANKFUL for my family, more than I have ever been before. And, not just my family of 4, but, My side of the family, Brian's side of the family and our incredible family of friends. Without all of you, we would not be where we are today... for that... Thank You.

Happy 17 months, Miss Maggie!

Today, Maggie is a whopping 17 months old! We are so proud of our sweet munchkin!
She is doing great - besides having a cold (yes, once again...) - and a minor bump to the mouth today, when Jackson pushed the train table to get a "lost" train, and "didn't realize" Maggie was standing holding onto the table. She was a trooper, and is fine!

Tomorrow is her first day of physical therapy - and we hope that she'll be walking alone soon! She has been taking one or two steps from one thing to another in the past week. So, we know with a little assistance, and some learning of exercises for us to work with her at home on, we will have a walking.... errr... running girl in no time!

Sweet Maggie, we cannot believe you are 17 months old... you are as sweet as ever, and everyday we are thankful you are a part of our lives. We love you so very much!!!! xoxo

 Loves scrambled eggs for breakfast...!!!

 mmmmm...

 Silly Girl...

 Happy 17 months to the sweetest baby girl ever!!!

ps. She is also learning to help me out with cleaning up after breakfast... keep up the good work, Maggs! ;)

Think...

Katy Perry "Fireworks"

This song/video will always be a constant reminder of my Friend, who's Daughter "M", is fighting for her life. And, as a little girl, has more strength, determination, and motivation than most anyone I know!
She will win her battle, and so will the rest of us who are struggling in one way or another.