10

1. I heart my new laptop!  Hence the increase in blogging the last few days. :)  I bought photo editing software at Costco on Saturday and had tons of fun messing with it on Sunday.  Here is my first attempt at editing a photo.  What do you think?

Original

Edited

2. When I picked up Jackson from Deanne's Monday afternoon, he had a new owie.  One of his daycare buddies had tripped and then Jackson tripped over him when they were playing outside.  And of course, his heavy head was his landing spot.  He now has a large wound on the left side of his head and he is running a temp today. :(

3. I had forgotten how much I love the natural high I get from running.  It was a nice day Sunday so I decided to get out for a quick jog.  I am now wondering why I took five months off.  To me, running is the best workout... it makes me feel great, clears my mind and tones my body better than any other workout.  So here's to more running in my future!  Good thing the weather is getting nicer.
4. BJ has his first softball tournament this weekend.  I'm excited to take Jackson to the fields to play and to watch his Dad.  I'm sure we will have lots of batting practice once he sees his Dad batting.  Good thing we can go outside now! 
5. Jackson has been talking more in sentences lately.  It's fun to hear him string words together and I actually feel like I'm understanding more and more of his language.  BJ and I feel like he is on the brink of talking A LOT!
6. Due to the crazy nature of March Madness this year, BJ has already wrapped up his work bracket.  Now we are just waiting to see if he is going to win our other bracket.  He just needs UConn to lose.  Go Kentucky!
7. Since we have been watching a lot of basketball lately, there have been frequent bouts of yelling or should I say cheering at the TV.  When BJ and I get excited, Jackson chimes in "Go Huskies"!!  Do you think we are UW fans in this family or what?!
8. BJ and I started catching up on Grey's Anatomy.  We were six shows behind (now four) so we thought we should probably get on it!  It is such a great show... once we start watching, it's hard to stop. Good thing we don't watch any other shows.  We would be too far behind to ever catch up!
9. My friend Pia had her baby girl last week.  Just over eight pounds of pure sweetness. :)  It was so great to hold her just minutes after she was born.  So happy for Pia and Dave.
10. It was Papa's birthday on Sunday and we headed over to celebrate that evening.  Jackson had a great time helping Papa open his gifts.  Here are some of my favorite pics from the evening...

Hay and Kyla blowing out the candles

 Jackson with his cheesecake he wouldn't eat

 Papa's helper

 Papa with his grandkids

Should Have Known

It was a little too quiet in the other room.  Once I realized it and got up to check, I couldn't help but laugh.  Jackson had taken every single kleenex out of a brand new box that I had just put in the living room.  Literally, I think I had used one kleenex out of the whole box.  Needless to say, our living room was a mess and he thought it was great.  It was hard to be mad at him because I was trying not to laugh the whole time.

The mess...

 The empty box, note Jackson in the background rolling around in the kleenex

 It was everywhere

Hoop Time

In honor of March Madness, we shot some hoops one evening this week.  It was a beautiful day and since BJ was outside organizing our shed, Jackson and I decided to play outside too.  There was a bit of dog poop to pick up so I worked on that (with Jackson's help) and soon the yard was clear and ready for play!  Jackson would find the piles of dog poop, point and say "Mama poop... ewwww gross!".  It was pretty funny... he makes me laugh everyday.

Working on his dunk

 Intense :)

 High fives all around

Ten

I know it is a day early but time for another ten...

1. Today, I received my new camera lens in the mail.  :)  One of my questions for Mary at our Momtography class was what kind of lens she recommended for taking good quality pictures up close (it is hard being so far away when I use our zoom lens).  And she covered it before I even had to ask!  So, I was way excited to receive it in the mail today and start taking pictures.  Some samples...

There she is in all her glory (BJ goes "that is it?")

Not so happy about all my picture taking

2. We are right in the middle of March Madness and we are loving it!  There is nothing better than a good upset - well, other than when it screws up our brackets.  I have to brag a little... I was sitting in the #1 spot after the first round.  Being the only girl I was pretty proud of myself.  Go Ohio State! :)
3. Jackson's new favorite food as of late is Kashi whole grain crackers.  Why?  I'm not sure.  They taste like cardboard but for some reason, he will choose them over any other crackers in our pantry.  In fact, he ate some with dinner tonight.  We'll see how long it lasts.

The cardboard crackers

4. BJ is gearing up for another softball season.  His team has practiced a couple of times and he says his shoulder has felt alright.  Keep your fingers crossed...

5. St. Patty's Day was last week and I was feeling like a bad Mom because I hadn't bought Jackson a cute shirt to wear to daycare.  Well, good thing I checked the size of his last year's St Patty's Day shirt.  It was a 2T and I was able to squeeze him in it again.  I know he doesn't care but it made me feel better!  :)

6. I finished our taxes tonight.  My motivation... dropping over $1K on new tires for BJ's truck today.  I hate spending money on things like that.

7. Yesterday, Jackson chased Hunter around the house for probably half hour straight.  He thought it was hilarious and it was fun to watch Hunter because I think she enjoyed it too.  She is so good when it comes to him and we are so thankful.  He brings out the puppy in her. 

Waiting for Hunter to come back in from outside - I think she was trying to escape

8. We ordered a new laptop!  Yay!  It is coming from Costco.com and I CANNOT wait.  It will make my life so much more convenient, which I need right now. It probably won't be here for another week but I'm sure I will check the status everyday. Next up... photo editing software.  Another item I cannot wait for.

9. I love how much Jackson is learning everyday.  Today when I picked him up from Deanne's, he had learned a new song.  He sang it for us multiple times tonight and each time, it made my heart happy.  I just love to see him smile and be goofy.

10. And I have to finish up with another Jackson item... his favorite book right now is Love You Forever.  We just got it a couple of weeks ago and it quickly became the book we have to read every night.  I don't mind it other than when it makes me choke up and I struggle to get through it.  I just don't want him to grow up. :(

Seriously?

Our child is a destroyer.  He can walk into a perfectly clean, organized room and have it looking like a tornado went through it in two minutes flat.  We try to keep the toys picked up but sometimes we just don't have the energy... especially when we know it will be destroyed again once he wakes up.  I took a pic the other night when he dumped out his lego bin. 

And you thought I was kidding...

 Here's what happened when we brought home new boxes of diapers and wipes from Costco last weekend.

 Yes, that is him throwing the box - had to get him under control after this one :)

Momtography

Wow, what a great Saturday!  It started off with a trip to Great Harvest for treats with my two loves and then we came home and I was able to whip up a quick batch of banana bread before heading out to my Momtography class.  When I returned home (post photo session with Jackson), BJ had taped the PAC10 title game so we capped off the night watching the Huskies win in OT! All around it was just a great day. :)

Now to talk about my Momtography class... all I can say is that it was awesome!  Mary from MKC Photography was nice enough to put on a class to share her knowledge of photography.  She did an amazing job and I left feeling inspired and with a full brain!  I now want to buy photo editing software so I can play around with our photos, that is after we get a new computer (this one is about to go belly up so I'm trying to talk BJ into a laptop). :)  And I thought it was great to get Mary's view point about blogging and her encouragement about taking the time to document your kid's lives through pictures and words. 

After she taught our class portion, we all met up at Washington Park and brought our photo subjects (which of course mine was Jackson).  He loved all the toys which were great for photo ops.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the afternoon.  And I'm proud to say many of them were taken on my Manual setting - which means I had to control everything. :)

This one is a little dark but I just love this smile

Looking so grown up :(

      

My Little Helper