Summer Fun

As it turns out Summer hasn't been all that bad... as long as we stay busy that is! Here's what we've been up to the past 2 weeks!

Last weekend we took Max on his 1st trip to the Zoo Park. The boys & I decided that we need a few baby goats to add to our petting farm here at home!

Here is Daddy, Max & Jaxon going down the slide!

Later that weekend Jaxon requested that I cover him in sand... here is waiting to escape!

On Friday night our friends Becky & Anthony, or "the fun one" & the awesome one" as Jaxon likes to call them, came for a visit from Texas. Mommy, "Aunt" Becky & the boys spent lots of time doing what Mommy & the boys do everyday while Daddy & "Uncle" Anthony headed out to play golf. Becky even got to go to a birthday party w/ us and got to experience a playdate!

We spent lots of time building castles, playing in the sand pile, going for walks and even taking naps! Mommy needs "the fun one" to come more often! We all had a great time and hope after spending a few days around these lil' monsters that they'll come back again!

Thanks "Aunt" Becky for playing w/ us & thanks to "Uncle" Anthony for taking our Daddy on a playdate... he needed that!

Goodbye Oprah Show

The Oprah finale aired yesterday. I haven't been this sad since Guiding Light went off the air 2 years ago. As I mourn the loss of yet another daytime guilty pleasure, I wonder what the TV gods will place in her timeslot. So help me God if it's anything like the crap that has replaced my beloved Guiding Light... CBS will be getting a phone call from me!

Goodbye Oprah Show... you will be missed!

Last Day

The dreaded summer break is upon us! And what a way to start but w/ rain, rain and more rain! I didn't feel right about sending Jaxon to his last day of PreSchool for the 2010-2011 year in jeans and a coat but Mother Nature once again ruined our shot of wearing shorts.

Here he is ready for his last day! I fixed biscuits & gravy for breakfast since it's his favorite. Max enjoyed his special last day breakfast too!
Here they both are in their car seats ready to take that final ride to school for the year!

Here is hanging up his backpack & coat for the last time this school year!

It was a great year! It's hard to believe how much he's grown up over the past few months. On the first day of school I helped him get dressed, brush his teeth and put his shoes on... yesterday he did all of those things on his own! He's writing his name, recognizing words and numbers, counting higher than he was back in August and teaching me new songs!

We are very proud of all of his accomplishments and look forward to the start of his 2nd year in PreSchool this fall! But until then I plan to enjoy every minute of our time together... because as everyone says it does, time really gos way too fast!

Maddox - 7 months

This picture pretty much sums up what Max is like right now at 7 months! He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth... I caught him w/ our dog LeRoy's ear in his mouth the other day!

He loves the baby food that I've been introducing over the past month... squash, peas, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, pears, applesauce, peaches and bananas! He hasn't turned his nose up to anything yet! He is sitting in his highchair now and joins us for every meal. He eats better than Jaxon does most days!

Max LOVES animals! He especially loves dogs which is good since we own 3! He will sit in his stroller while I put clothes on the line and watch the dogs the entire time w/out a complaint as long as the dogs are around. He loves looking at the calves and helps Mommy & Jaxon water on days when it's nice.

He weighed 16 pounds yesterday at his "well check" & measured in at 27" long. Most people are telling us these days that they think he looks like Daddy but he is definitely Mommy's boy! He is starting to mimic and is constantly blowing raspberries.

Jaxon is one of his favorite people and will crack up whenever Brother plays peek-a-boo w/ him! Max has also gotten to the age when hair pulling becomes fun and gets tattled on quite a bit for that. Max is excited about Jaxon being home for the summer so he has entertainment all of the time... not so sure Jaxon feels the same!

A Very Bad, Terrible, Awful Crappy Day

WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE COULD VERY WELL BE USED IN THE FOLLOWING POST!!!!

I can't really think of anything worse than cleaning up puke off the dining room floor during supper! OK, maybe having to clean it up off of the carpeted floor would have been worse!

What a way to end a crappy day!

Waking up to two boys smashed between Hubby and I in our king sized bed yesterday wasn't exactly my idea of a refreshing start. Max generally wakes up there anyhow but Jaxon has been doing really good at staying where he belongs in the wee hours of the night. You know you're tired when you don't even realize they've crawled in bed w/ you! And after fighting w/ Jaxon about his lack of eating at the breakfast table I was more than relieved to ship him off to school.

Max of course continued his reign of terror after we got home from dropping his brother off and managed to keep me from getting anything done. I was having a more than feeling sorry for myself pitty party when I looked at the clock and realized it was already time to go get Jaxon. Oh happy day!

It had been raining and there were giant puddles under all of the swings on the playground. What is it about little kids and puddles?! He immediately headed for the swings and ran straight through all 3 puddles soaking his only pair of shoes fit for cold and rainy days!

After dragging him to the car kicking and screaming because he didn't want to leave we managed to make it home just in time for him to complain about what we were having for dinner!

When everyone was done grumbling about lunch I decided to sneak off to the shower for some much needed down time since it'd been a few days but was rudely interrupted by my mouthy 4 year old who informed me that he'd be joining me! After a "coming to Jesus meeting" w/ him in his bedroom I ended up having to take that much needed shower w/ both my boys because Daddy had to get back to work... GRRRRRR!


Later we headed to town for Max's 6 month "well check" where his Dr. informed me that he'd only gained a pound and a 1/2 since his appointment 3 months earlier. I wanted to bawl! I do nothing but feed that child all day & night... he should have gained at least 30 pounds!!! Sure I may not be the best Mommy in the world but skipping meals is not even an option at my house... heck, they eat better than I do!

Since Big Brother was being a good boy I rewarded him w/ a trip to the library where he ironically picked a book called, "NO, I Want Daddy!" Immediately afterwards we headed straight over to Soinic so Mommy could drown her sorrows in a large Diet Vanilla Cherry Coke and kiss up to one her boys and fatten up the other by treating them to a chocolate shake!

That brings us to the beginning of the end! Feeling guilty about our "coming to Jesus meeting" earlier I decided to ask Jaxon to pick what he wanted for supper. Considering the fact that my son needs a bracelet like the diabetics wear, only on his explaining his issues w/ chicken nuggets, I should have known that would be a bad idea! I even called it while feeding Max that he'd probably end up throwing his choice of supper back up anyway! And since supper time is my time to vent to Daddy about my day and vice versa, neither one of us thought anything of it when Jaxon (who has water aversions), asked for a drink of water!

What came next ruined eating supper for me... which is OK since I blew my calories on my huge Sonic drink earlier! And my dining room floor needed a mopping something terrible, plus Daddy was forced to help which sometimes is the only way I can get him to. So as awful as it was to clean up the puke... it was a blessing in disguise! Only a Mommy can say puke can be a blessing!

Jaxon's 1st Track Meet

I've never been a big fan of sitting at track meets. It's always hot, usually windy and I find myself spending most of my time waiting for it to be over! So when I got the newsletter from Jaxon's school stating that he and his classmates would be participating in their annual track meet, I wasn't real excited!

Being a first-timer Mom I didn't have a clue as to what was going on... Jaxon wasn't any help! I asked him what events he'd be competing in and he looked at me puzzled and said, "What's a track meet?" Not knowing what to expect we packed our lunch and headed out the door.

Here are some highlights from our day!

Here are the PreSchoolers warming up... Mrs. Amy looks about as confused as I was!

Here's Mrs. Amy explaining to the kids what they were doing for their 1st event.

Their first event was kicking a soccor ball into laundry baskets... Jaxon's turns usually ended in the upsetting of the baskets!

Sharing some encouraging hugs while waiting their turn to throw the ball next in the football/baseball toss.

The obstackle course was a fun way for the kiddos to get some wiggles out!

Here is Jaxon in mid summersault!

Moving on to the balance beam!

If they had offered Limbo as an event when I was a kid at these track meets I would have signed up! Instead all we got to do was throw a softball threw a tire!

Here's Jaxon waiting patiently for Riana to finish her turn!

Most of the kids did army crawls toward the end to make it under the bottom rung... Jaxon did his army crawl all the way back to the back of the line!

Standing long jump was the final field event of the day. Here's Jaxon getting ready to jump!

Here he is in mid-jump....

and here he is landing in the pit!

The best event by far was the sack race! Here are the kiddos all lined up and ready to race!

All of the kids recieved "partcipant" ribbons for their efforts... they were all very excited!

Here's Jaxon holding his ribbon!

Believe it or not I'm actually looking forward to next year's meet! Who knew track meets could be so much fun?!

Cleaning Lady Needed

Know how I know it's time for me to get busy and do some housework?!

When my kid has to eat his cereal from the chip & dip server!

The BIG Field Trip

Jaxon's PreSchool class went on their final field trip of the year yesterday. For their BIG trip Mrs. Amy chose two really fun locations in Lincoln, NE. The class started their trip by visiting an indoor playground called Lost In Fun. Jaxon asked several times if he would really be getting lost there and was a little nervous about me not going for fear that he might really need to be found!

He quickly discovered that he wouldn't be needing rescuing and must have really enjoyed the foam pits because he went on and on about them when he got home.

Jaxon & his good buddy Aiden swimming in the sea of foam!

The second part of their BIG trip was spent at The Lincoln Children's Museum. Jaxon & I had spent some time researching these two locations before they went so he could see what was in store for the class. He was really excited about the prarie dog holes and couldn't wait to find out if they could climb inside them... as you can see they were big enough to climb in and apparently you also needed to be in costume for this part!!!

Costume change!



Transportation was a BIG hit w/ this male dominated class!
Fire trucks, baggage carriers, airplanes & semi trucks were crowded w/ little guys in Linn Lutheran t-shirts!

And after their many travels the kids made a stop at the grocery store to pick up some supper! Jaxon & his friend Cody must really enjoy shopping together... this is the second time now that they've been grocery shopping together!



Astronaut Jaxon suited up for his first space flight... hope ground control was ready for a wild ride!



Here are 5 out of the 7 PreSchoolers taking advantage of a much needed rest in the BIG red chair... what a fun way to end a fun day and even more fun year!

Dreading Summer Break

Ok, I'll admit it, the idea of my 4 year old being home from school, every day for the next 3 months is causing me serious anxiety! Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, but Tuesdays and Fridays for the past 10 months haven't exactly been our brightest days! (Tuesdays & Fridays are Jaxon's days off from PreSchool in case you were wondering!)

The one thing I am NOT going to miss about PreSchool this summer is picking him up from PreSchool! I love taking him to school! Watching him go running down the stairs into his classroom, greeting his teacher and friends, leaving feeling as though he is about to have what he will tell me later was a "great" day! But the minute it's time for "Brother" & I to get back in the car to go pick him up I begin feeling that heavy feeling of dread that comes over me on school days, anticipating the ongoing fight to get Jaxon in the car!

The fight is always the same. "I don't want to leave!" "I want to stay and play w/ my friends!" "They need me Mom!" "Our house is boring!" "Can't (fill in any one of his 6 classmates names, it changes everyday) come over today?" This goes on the entire way home and some days through our lunch period. He then gets over it and gets on with his day as though the fight never happened. I, on the other hand, sit and fume about this daily occurrence and vent to anyone who will listen.

I know he gets bored, I get it, so do I some days! I know he misses his friends, so do I some days! I know it's been hard for him at times to share his time w/ me, w/ his brother... it's been hard for me too! Explaining all of this to him is not only impossible but a huge waste of time!

So in an effort to try and keep us from killing each other this summer I have decided to try and do some special Mommy/Jaxon Days where I take just Jaxon or Jaxon & a friend on a little outting! Other than spending everyday at the pool and the park... what are some ways to keep us from going completely insane this summer?!

Holy Mud & Water

Jaxon: "Mom, do you know how elephants stay cool?"

He comes over and asks me this while I am counting calves so I'm not looking at him when I reply...

Me: "No, do you?"

Jaxon: "They cover their body in mud... like this!"

That's when I stop counting and look down at Jaxon.

Me: "Holy mud!"I run inside to grab my camera. When I return I find Jaxon in the front yard taking a bath in his swimming pool!Earlier I ask Jaxon, "Why is Max's head all wet?"

Jaxon: "I was baptising him Mom!"

Swimming pools are a great tool for summer time fun... they are also great for physical and spiritual cleansing!

Mother's Day the Motherhood Way

One of my favorite things about being a Mommy is watching my little ones eyes light up! To kick off our Mother's Day Weekend I surprised the boys w/ a trip to a new park in our neighborhood! And boy, oh boy did those little peepers twinkle!!!

Jaxon has been learning all about music at PreSchool for the past 2 weeks so this extra cool contraption was right up his alley. Using rubber mallets, kids can make beautiful music by striking the wooden and metal bars placed on this piece by a company called soundplay.com. Jaxon played me a special Mother's Day tune!

The park is split into 2 areas, one for kids ages 2-5 and the other ages 5-12. Jaxon enjoyed going back and forth from one area to the other. Both sides offer lots of cool things for kids to try. Jaxon was immediately drawn to this wooden B-17 airplane placed in the middle of a sand pile. He told me he'd sure like to have one of those in his sand pile at home!

And for a child who absolutely LOVES playing "McDonald's" this was a fave of the day! Jaxon spent lots of time inside this little playhouse taking my order!

Max gave the baby swings a test run but quickly decided he liked his car swing at Grandma's much better!

They both really enjoyed being able to swing here together! Mommy has decided we need one of these at home!

While playing we noticed a name we recognized etched on one of the fence posts inside the park! Before we left we decided to take a picture next to it to say a special thanks to our friend for helping to make this fun, new park possible for us to play in! Thanks Dylan!

Hope you all have a great Mother's Day!