Lil' Swimmers

Jaxon had been begging to go to the pool since the day our last snowfall melted! I finally gave in last week when the thermostat read 84 degrees in our house and I was feeling too cheap to turn on the air! I thought just maybe if we spent enough time away, the house would cool down... yeah right!

This was Max's 1st trip to the pool. I had the baby sunscreen packed, the Lil' Swimmers ready to go, his ultra violet sun rays protecting swimsuit set w/ matching sun bonnet, pool toys, towels... you get the picture, pretty much half the house! And in the fashion of my bad luck, after I'd hauled everything but the kitchen sink in w/ us, the water was too cold for him to get in!

AND since Big Brother was too excited to eat lunch he of course was starving after 2 laps across the baby pool which turned into an early snack of a giant Pixie Stick which he dumped 1/2 of on the concrete and got the rest wet so it wouldn't come out the plastic tube! Needless to say, we stayed for about an hour and a half before he was ready to get home and eat!

Can't wait to go back!!!

It's A Bird, It's A Plane... It's Actually a Turkey Buzzard

Jaxon is obsessed w/ eagles! He thinks anything w/ a set of wings (other than an airplane), is an eagle. For some reason that is entirely unknown to me, our community has an over population of turkey buzzards! Jaxon started spotting them some time ago and points them out every time he sees one which ends up being at least a half a dozen times a day.

At first I tried explaining to him that these creatures of the air were in fact turkey buzzards, not eagles, but after the first handful of arguments I decided that battle was best left as a victory to him. Besides if he thinks those winged carnivores are in fact majestic birds, why not let him be in awe for the time being!

Above our small town the turkey buzzards are constantly circling. Since Daddy's work is in town he sees the "eagles" all of the time. Jaxon was thrilled when Daddy brought home an "eagle" feather for him from work the other day.

Two weeks ago on "Library Wednesday", Jaxon picked out a book called "Running Owl the Hunter", (he picked the book because there was an eagle on the cover). In the story Running Owl goes hunting for an eagle so he can collect a feather to wear in his hair so that he will look more like his father who is a hunter.

Jaxon has been trying to come up w/ a way to get that "eagle" feather that Daddy brought home from work, in his hair. If he ever figures it out I'll be sure to post a picture of Running Jaxon the "turkey buzzard" hunter!

Summer Reading Challenge

One of my fave Mommy blogs is http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/! The reasons it's one of my faves is because of her amazing book reviews!

Last year she started a tradition of Summer Reading w/ her family. This year she is challenging her followers to join them. She is posting reminders to fill in tally sheets & at the end of the summer (August 26th), you will be automatically be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card from amazon.com.

You may enter 1 tally sheet per week, per household... read more books, get more chances to win! Entering is simple... I encourage everyone to check out this challenge!

Jaxon & Maddox were able to enter 19 books this week. We are beginning a new chapter in our reading Adventures this summer by diving into "chapter books"! We highly recommend the MAGIC TREE HOUSE books by Mary Pope Osborne. After picking up "Dinosaurs Before Dark" on Wednesday, (the 1st in her series), we have now read it 3 times!

Join us this summer in this fun reading challenge... and as always, we'd love to hear what you are all reading!

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!