Three

Last Thursday, our baby boy turned three. Tear.  I cannot believe how fast the last three years have gone and how much Jackson has enriched our lives. He is truly a blessing and I can't even begin to express how much we love him. 

On his actual birthday, we let him open a few gifts in the morning.  His favorite... a CAT that moves and makes all sorts of noises.



Then on Saturday, we celebrated his birthday with a get together at the Wenatchee Riverfront Train Station.  The kids had a blast and I was so thankful to have the train to entertain them.  It was a cloudy day, but we escaped most of the party without getting rained on.  The last train ride was a little wet but the kids didn't mind.  :)  Overall, it was a great place to have a birthday party!

BJ helping them get the train out :)

Waiting...

Train ride #1

Next up... lunch

Jacksie and his daycare buddies (there are three Jackson's in this picture!)

On to presents

Waiting for another train ride

All aboard

Jackson's cake - wish I could take credit but obviously can't - Amber from Top Tier Cakes did an amazing job

Blowing out the candles

And a movie to go with it - thanks Mom for the video (even though I know you didn't do it on purpose) :)

Yum!

Buddies

And today, BJ and I took him to his three year checkup.  He was a trooper through all the usual doctor visit stuff.  Here are his stats:

Height: 38 3/4 inches (84 percentile)

Weight: 34.8 pounds (77 percentile)

I have to admit, I was a little shocked about his weight.  I feel like sometimes I practically have to beg him to eat and here he is at the 77 percentile. What?  I never would have guessed it.

Jackson @ 3...
- still isn't potty trained but... we are working on it
- is talking a ton and says 'that's fine' and 'why' all the time
- will tell us his tummy hurts or any other excuse to try to get down from the dinner table early
- knows directions better than most - he can tell us which way to go to Deanne's, Costco, the grocery store, etc.
- loves movies and will put his own DVDs in
- still only drinks apple juice and milk when he is at home
- finally likes taking baths (thank God!)
- is best buddies with Hunter and gives her kisses when we leave in the morning
- just started preschool and is SO proud to show us his work
- has a temper and gets frustrated easily when his toys aren't doing exactly what he wants (or us for that matter)
- loves to say 'just' when only one of us is home...'no Mama it's just Dada'
- recently figured out he can get out of his big boy bed so we get frequent visits from 4am on
- is highly attached to the people he loves and has a hard time when he has to leave
- will touch my belly and say 'Mommy's baby'  :)

Love you bubba man.  Can't wait to see what the next year brings!

End of Season Camping Trip

Last weekend we spent three days up at Alta Lake for an end of season camping trip.  Many of BJ's family members joined us and it made for a fun and relaxing time.  Well, other than the fact that night one Jackson came down with a nasty cold and we basically pulled an all nighter because he couldn't sleep.  Night two was minimally better and so by the time night three rolled around we were exhausted.  The next morning I woke up with a stuffy nose and by Sunday night I felt horrible.  And BJ was about a day behind me.  Let's just say we are still trying to recover.  And we are wondering if we are jinxed... this was the third camping trip in a row that Jackson has gotten really sick.  Let's hope we break the streak next year.

We had lots of fun activities to fill our time while we were up there.  Here are a few...

Board games

 Bean bag toss

Darts or rockets according to Jackson

 Dump trucks (which reminds me... I stilll have to clean this up so it can come back inside) :)

Ladder golf 

  

Smores (my favorite)

Overall, it was a great trip even if Jackson was sick.  Great times with great people!

Surprise

We feel so very blessed to be adding to our family in April 2012!

It has been a long road and we were a little unsure we would be able to have the family of four we always dreamed of.  So I feel more grateful than ever to be able to bring another child into this world.  This pregnancy has definitely been different than the first and it now makes me realize how lucky I was the first time.  This time I've been battling nausea and exhaustion which I didn't deal with at all with Jackson.  I'm now 10 weeks along and seem to be feeling a little better... well other than the horrible cold I'm battling.  Pregnancy = no medicine = feeling crappy.

My first belly picture at 6 weeks. Yeah those people that tell you that you grow faster with the second... they weren't lying.  I look like I did when I was 20 weeks with Jackson.  In my defense though, it was in the evening (when I always look bigger) and we had just eaten enchiladas. :) 

More to come later... I feel my bed calling my name.  I think my average bed time this week has been around 8:30pm.  We are a lively bunch.

10 on 10 September

I don't have a lot of time to write, so this will be short and sweet.  For the second month, I'm posting a 10 on 10.  If you missed last month and want more details, you can view it here.  It was a lazy Saturday so these pictures are definitely a reflection of a our everyday lives (not that we are lazy everyday, just sometimes on the weekends). :)

9.10.11
good morning sunshine.dvd time.the never ending chore.my sweet boy.cousin time.fresh fruit.begging.go dawgs.sweet treat.summer flowers

Choo Choo

Last Saturday, we finally made it down to ride the train at Riverfront Park in Wenatchee (big thanks to my Mom for letting us know it was running)!  We knew Jackson would love it as he spots trains miles away when we are driving.  It was a hot day but luckily we only had to wait one time to ride on the train.  I was actually quite surprised at how popular it was. Jackson had a blast so it was worth the sweat and cramming into a tiny seat. :)  

Waiting for our turn

 Ready to get going

 All done

On another note, Jackson started preschool today at Deanne's.  I was surprised to hear that he sat, listened AND followed all directions.  Pretty proud of my wild man...

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.