Ten

I'm exhausted and while there are a million other things I should be doing right now (like cleaning, laundry, reconciling our back account, etc), I don't feel like it.  So blogging it is. I don't really have one subject to write about so I thought it would be a good time for a ten.

1. It's my sister's birthday and I don't even get to correspond with her. :(  I texted and sent her a little surprise via e-mail (from Nordys) :) but it's just not the same not talking with her.  She is on some sweet boat cruising around with no cell service.  Dang her... miss you seester!

2. We had a little belated b-day celebration for our first born.  She used to be the center of attention but obviously not anymore.  After all, it took me 10 days to realize we had forgotten her birthday.  Oops.  We made up for it though... pup cup with a bone on top!

Loving it!

3. Jackson's new thing is making sure you are watching every new trick he has up his sleeve.  I'm constantly hearing "Mama, watch this" and "look at me Mama."  In fact, every night, I get to watch him jump into his bean bag multiple times prior to bath and/or bed time.

4. For the second weekend in a row, we went somewhere with animals.  This time, it was the Douglas County Fair Saturday morning.  And the best part was that Jackson got to say goodbye to Sassy-Frass the sheep.  She was raised by Deanne's neighbor who is in FFA (so the kids visited all summer) and Jacksie thought it was great that we got to see Sassy-Frass one last time.  She is now someone's meal.  Yikes.

5. Our loan for our refinance closed yesterday.  So excited about our rate AND the fact that we are knocking nine years off our term.  Glad I finally got my act together and took advantage of the historical low rates.  Even though all the paperwork was a pain in the hiney.

6. Three day weekend coming up and we have no plans.  What to do, what to do?  Well we should do yard work since weeds are taking over our flower beds.  We'll see if that happens.

7. Since I've talked about birthdays twice, might as well mention that Jackson turns three in less than a month.  Boo.

8. We had some scorching hot heat last week and through the weekend.  It was in the 90s everyday and I have to admit, I loved the cooler weather we had today.  What did we do to beat the heat last weekend?  Jackson and Dad took a dip in cousin Mikey's pool Saturday evening.

9. I can tell BJ is craving fall... right now he is messing with his walkie-talkies.  Do you think he is excited for hunting season to roll around?  :)

10.  Well I was struggling to think of anything else to write.  So here's something... hug your loved ones and appreciate all you have.  I have a co-worker who is living a nightmare right now.  Her five year old son was diagnosed with leukemia in July and has had a heck of a time with the side effects of the various treatments.  My heart aches for her every time I read one of her updates and as she put it, no parent should ever have to go through this, let alone a five year old.  

Smallwoods

If I had to sum up Smallwoods in one word, I think I would have to say awesome.  After talking about it for some time, we made our first visit on Sunday morning.  Aside from the heat and the smell of wildfire smoke, we had a great time.  Jackson LOVED all the animals and we loved watching his excitement.  We bought a bag of feed and I was actually shocked at how willing Jackson was to feed the animals.  He didn't quite understand the concept of cupping his hand so most of his grain ended up on the ground but that's ok... he still got a kick out of the animals wanting to eat. Now we can't wait to go back this fall!

Feeding... one piece at a time :)

Working on it

Hanging with Dad

Thought this was interesting... the sheep had a ramp

A llama aka a big sheep (per Jackson)

My two boys :)

Summer Saturday

Our Saturday was a typical summer Saturday... started off with a yard sale and ended with a friend's wedding.  Mom came down for the yard sale and brought her stuff.  It was nice to have the help and company (thanks Mom). :)  And it was great to get rid of some stuff that had been lingering around our house.  The rest is going to Goodwill this week!

Jackson and BJ checking out the yard sale

Then it was time to get ready for the wedding.  We quickly showered and I headed out to pick up Danika, Jackson's babysitter. The wedding was up the Entiat valley so we had to leave a little travel time.  BJ's softball teammate, Kevin, was marrying his high school sweetheart (which is near and dear to my heart). :)  Like BJ and I, they dated seven years prior to their wedding and I have to say, their wedding was pretty cool.  My fav part, by far, was that the wedding party walked through the pasture and up to the aisle to Dirt Road Anthem by Jason Aldeen. Oh and the fact that they served Country Boys BBQ at the reception. :)  It was a total country wedding and perfect for them and the setting.

Another favorite part... Steve's wedding attire :)

Skanger boys

Linds & Steve in the blazing heat (we had no shade during the wedding and man it was hot)

me & Linds finally in some shade - it cooled down fast as you can see I have a sweater on

State Tourney

Another season of softball has come to a close.  On Friday night, we drove to Everett for BJ's USSSA Softball State Tournament.  Their first game was at 8am Saturday morning so we definitely needed to get a hotel room for Friday night.  Jackson thought it was great that we were on a "trip" and that he got his very own queen size big boy bed. :)  He's been doing so well sleeping in his new bed, we were hoping that would carry over to the hotel. And it did... he did awesome sleeping in the hotel room which is great since that hasn't always been the case. 

Saturday was a long day as they started playing at 8am and ended up losing out around 8pm that night.  Add in a quick trip to go shopping and a child that wouldn't watch any of the games and you have one tired Mama.  Yep that's right... Jackson loved watching softball all year and suddenly didn't want to watch a single minute of any of the games on Saturday.  Why... I have no idea.  Maybe he just wanted to go out with a bang. :)

Mesmerized by the DVD player

Watching cartoons in the morning

Waiting for a game to start

Snack time

Double fisting

Example of him not wanting to sit still

He thinks he is so funny

10 on 10 August

A couple weeks ago, I took a second Momtography class from Mary of MKC Photography.  She expanded on the first class and talked more about shooting in manual mode and editing in photoshop.  Once again, it was a great class and left me wanting to break out my camera and experiment with different settings. 

Towards the end of the class, she mentioned a project she took part in at the beginning of July where you document one day of your everyday life and then post ten pictures from that day on the tenth of the month. What a great idea, huh?!  I left being excited to pick my day and then preceded to forget until one of my other class members mentioned it on Facebook!  Thank goodness for her because I can't remember anything these days. :)  So here you have it... this post is my 10 on 10.

   

8.6.2011

morning playtime.breakfast.cleanup.juice break at daddy's game.goods.pb&j.keeping cool.it's nap time.bbqing with friends.and a cold beverage

 

 

 

All Boy

I can remember the day we found out Jackson was a boy like it was yesterday.  I thought to myself... I hope I know what to do with a boy!  Now I can't imagine life without my crazy, loud, rough, busy little boy.  He is so much fun and from what BJ's Mom says, exactly like BJ.  :) 

Example A: throwing rocks just like his Daddy did :)

Love my little boy