Kindle Pick for January

One of my New Year's "goals" was to read more. And with that came the challenge of selecting books I wouldn't ordinarily read. I have a new "favorite thing", the Amazon Kindle, which allows you to read virtually anything you can get your hands on! That includes children's books! Jaxon loves being read to at night by this device! We are currently reading "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and "The Velveteen Rabbit"... both are free for the Kindle. I am looking for some new stories right now for the month of February... suggestions are welcome!


My challenge to myself for the month of January, was to pick a non-fiction book to read. I am a big fiction reader and can honestly say I don't remember the last time I read non-fiction! One of the reasons I love the Kindle so much is because you can use the device to shop online for books! The Kindle Storefront gives you the freedom to shop by categories... fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, children's books, blogs, magazines, etc.!

As I began my hunt for the non-fiction book of choice, I was immediately drawn to a book entitled, "Heaven Is For Real", by Todd Burpo. Other than the title, what grabbed my attention in the description, was that the book is based on stories told to his parents by a 4 year old, about what he had seen in heaven. I don't want to give too much away but this book was AMAZING!!! I very highly recommend it to anyone, whether you believe in heaven or not.

Check out the link below to read more about this amazing piece of non-fiction!
http://heavenisforreal.net/

"Snow" Much Fun

What kid doesn't love snow?! Last week at PreSchool, the kiddos were discussing this wintry delight! Since we didn't have any snow on the ground at the start of the week, Mrs. Amy came up w/ a fun way for them to have an indoor snowball fight! Jaxon must have really been getting into it... he's on his hands and knees at the bottom of the picture!

By the end of the week, they had the real thing to go out and play in! Jaxon tells me this was their snow fort... "You need a good snow fort if you're gonna have a snowball fight, Mom!" When I got to school that day to pick Jaxon up this is what I saw! I sat and watched awhile wondering where everyone else was, he was all alone. The other kids and their teacher were walking back up to where he was sitting... guess he needed a snack! I'm so glad Mrs. Amy captured this... such a silly boy! Yesterday was another SnowDay! We got about 6" and Jaxon couldn't wait to get out in it! Daddy came home a little early to do some scooping so Mommy got to take Jaxon sledding! We had "snow" much fun!!! Daddy did his fair share of pulling the sled too when Mommy had to go back inside to take care of Maddox.

Hopefully we will get to go out again today!

3 Months

On Tuesday, Maddox turned 3 months! He has recently discovered his hands and has been spending lots of his time trying to get them in his mouth. He prefers his fists which can be a little frustrating for him, so Mommy has been encouraging him to try his thumb. He continues to try for the fist!

He is "talking" & cooing, smiling & drooling and almost busting out into those adorable baby giggles! He loves to watch his mobile, interact w/ big brother and take baths! There isn't much he doesn't enjoy but he hates riding in his car seat! Since I didn't do a "Watch Me Grow" photo w/ Jaxon, although I know for sure I have a picture of him from every month of his life, I have decided to include him in each of these pictures as well. I think his feelings get hurt a bit when I ask him to step aside so I can get one of just Max... after all, he's been the most photographed in our home for the longest! It should be fun to look back and see how he has changed from month to month that first year w/ Max as well!

PlayDates w/ PlayMates

Jaxon is always asking to have friends over... can't say I blame him, I used to love having friends over as a kid! Last week we had Andrew come home with us after school. These two had a great time! They enjoyed spending their time playing w/ the new Christmas loot, making sticker collages, playing in the snow and watching "Despicable Me". For snack Jaxon insisted that we make "snow slushies"! Here they are making their slushies! What a fun day!On Monday, Miss Riana came home with us from school. Riana is a twin and the only girl in Jaxon's class. Her twin, Aiden, had a Dr.'s apt. so we got to spend the afternoon w/ her all by herself. I was so amazed at how quiet these two were. They spent their time playing "house", painting pictures, reading stories and molding w/ PlayDough. "Mad Max" was having a rough day so Jaxon & I were both so blessed to have her come. Next time we hope to have both Riana & Aiden come together!

Still Here

For those of you who follow my Adventures, you already know that I am a HUGE Oprah fan. I had been anticipating the launch of her new channel OWN, previously known as DiscoveryHealth, for quite some time. I don't spend a whole lot of time in front of the TV and when I do I'm normally viewing children's programming. But being that this is her last season, I have made it a priority to tune in each week to see what she'll be discussing.

On Tuesday, Oprah had a couple on her show who have survived the most horrible tragedy imaginable! Chris and Lori Coble lost all three of their children, Kyle-5, Emma-4 and Katie-2, in a horrific traffic accident in May of 2007. But their story has a dramatic twist of fate... almost a year to the date of the accident, they welcomed triplets... a boy and two girls!

Out of such tragedy and heartache came such a wonderful reminder that God preforms miracles! And even when we can't understand why or how he could take such innocent lives like those of the Coble children or that of the nine year old girl lost in the Arizona shootings this past weekend... He's still here to help us get through the tough times.

As I was driving Jaxon to PreSchool this morning, Maddox screaming in the background the entire way to and from, I kept in mind... they're still here! I have my babies... and for that, I am grateful even when they are screaming!!!

For more on Chris & Lori's story, check out Oprah.com or chriscoble.com!

Here's Proof

Remember how I said Jaxon's been teaching Maddox all sorts of things?! Here's proof! He's been showing him how to "smile pretty for the camera"...


how to make towers out of our Legos...


and most importantly, how to be a great playmate!

SnowDay

I'm "double posting" today because Monday was a SnowDay here at our house. Last year at this time we had already had several SnowDays w/ the difference being that it didn't interfere w/ PreSchool. I woke up in a panic fearing that Jaxon would be crushed to discover that PreSchool had been called off for the day due to the weather. I was pleasantly surprised to find that he was quite the opposite... he was so thrilled that it had finally snowed that he could have cared less that PreSchool had been called off!!!

Luckily the weather was rather mild and he was able to spend time outside enjoying his beautiful SnowDay!

Social Butterfly

Maddox is quite the social butterfly these days! On New Year's we spent the evening with some old and new friends and their children... we are party animals!!!

Here is Maddox w/ Lisa, my oldest and dearest friend! She's gonna love that I refer to her as my oldest friend!!!

And here he is again w/ some new friends. Little Emma is two weeks older than Max and Kysack (sp.) is 6 months.

On Sunday, Maddox was honored as a new member of our church. Here he is w/ a few other new members. Samuel, (the other little guy being held), was born in August. He is the brother to one of Jaxon's bestest buds, Ethan. I have a feeling that those 4 boys are going to get into lots of trouble together one day! Max's other church friends pictured here are Cash, (in the white shirt) and Andyn, (in the brown)!

Brotherly Love

A friend loves you all the time. A brother is always there to help you.

Proverbs 17:17 God's little boy makes friends with others;
Those friends include his sisters and brothers.
True friends are always a gift from above;
Make it your goal to give Brotherly Love.

For Christmas our boys were given a book from their Texas grandparents called, "God's Wisdom for Little Boys: Character Building Fun from Proverbs". It's full of fun riddles, rhymes and Bible verses (all taken from Proverbs), that help to impart God's wisdom to the little boys in ones life.

Jaxon & Maddox are well on their way to becoming good friends. Over the past two weeks we have been spending lots of time playing together. Jaxon is quick to remind me that, "Max wants to play too!", if he wakes up in the middle of our alone time together. It's really amazing to see the way Maddox watches Jaxon and even more amazing watching Jaxon teach Max! Jaxon's been reading to him, teaching him all about cows, trucks, trains, planes, spaceships... the list goes on and on!

The picture above was taken New Year's morning. Jaxon had just woken up and the first thing he asked was, "Where's Max?" He asked me then to take their picture... and what a sweet picture it ended up being! Upon reviewing the image I thought to myself, now that's the picture of true Brotherly Love!

EAT Less, PRAY More, LOVE Lots

Can you guess what my New Year's resolution is?! That's right... EAT, PRAY, LOVE... some more, some less! I like the idea one of my fellow Mommy bloggers had of setting goals instead of making resolutions. Often times a resolution gets broken two weeks into the new year... setting goals seems a bit more realistic. With that, my goal for the year is to EAT a lot less than I have been, PRAY a lot more than we have been and LOVE lots & lots!


All of these "goals" seem like very easy things to do and not only will I benefit from them, but so will my family. I also plan to PLAY a lot more, READ a lot more and TEACH a lot more. Jaxon's number one request ALL DAY LONG is, "Play Mom!" And while I will admit there are times I'd much rather be cleaning... he's right, I do need to PLAY more!

Send me some inspiration... new recipes, cute prayers you say w/ your kids, fun ideas for playtime at home, good books you're reading right now (whether it be to the kids or for yourself). I love feedback!