One Boy's Trash...

Is another boy's treasure!
Brian was able to get the Power Wheels to work after some conferring with Jonathan and a few new parts. It needed 2 new batteries, a foot pedal, and some soldering of wires. Thank goodness for handy daddies! You can tell it isn't brand new, but Jackson could care less. He was so excited to ride the 4 Wheeler!

Jackson definitely needs some practice in steering and will wear his helmet for here on out. The 4 Wheeler has 2 speeds and a reverse. The fast speed is well, fast! For a good laugh watch the video below of Jackson riding it for the first time.

A New Do

Last week I went and got my hair cut by someone different. Shh, don't tell Lucy! I went to a friend of a friend whose is starting a salon out of her home. She colored and cut my hair for about $40 less than I normally pay, but it took a lot longer. There were several reasons to why it took a while, but for that one reason I don't if it was worth the money I saved.
As you can see in the picture (even though the picture doesn't do it justice) she gave me layers in the back. This is something different for me. I really like how full it makes my hair in back on top. I also like how the front lays. The haircut is very simple to do. I am worried about it as it starts to grow out in back, especially if I don't get it cut the same or by her again.

Brian likes it, so I guess that is all that matters!

The Weekend Wrap-Up

They say "everything is bigger in Texas!" That was true Friday night at my Aunt's church. They had a fun evening planned for kids with a jumbo theme. They had a jumbo sub, 28 inch pizza, and monster cookies for dinner.

We drew a life-sized Jackson. He drew his eyes, nose, and mouth!

They had a bunch of jumbo games to play. Just for the record I got tic-tac-toe twice against Brian!

Jackson was more interested in rolling the dice than playing the game:)
We all slept in Saturday morning until 8:30! Hallelujah! Then I talked Brian and Jackson into doing some errands/shopping for school with me. Jackson was beyond good the entire 3 hour trip. Yes, he got a new toy for that!

I spent some time relaxing in the pool before the craziness of school starts. Wait, I think it may have already started!

Our pool temperature is 93 degrees. It doesn't exactly feel refreshing when you get in, but it makes the 110 degrees outside a little more manageable.

We spent the rest of Saturday cleaning and playing with Jackson!

Today the morning was spent at church with a little photo shoot after!:)

Jackson and his curly hair! Can't decide if I should get it cut short or not?

Love my boys!

After lunch we tried the Splash Pad again, only to find it still broken. I feel like I should be entitled to a refund of some of my HOA fees. We made the most of being out on our bikes and stopped at the subdivision pool for some sliding and jumping off the diving board.

While Jackson napped, I made some Chocolate Chip Cookie stuffed Cupcakes for my team meeting tomorrow. They are Jackson tested and approved!

We found a Power Wheels for Jackson tonight. Brian (with the help of Jonathon) has been on a mission to get it to work, because we would never buy Jackson one otherwise. I will update later on his progress.

And...that concludes the weekend wrap-up!

Making the Most of Our Time Together

Well, a week has already come and gone. My parents hit the road back to WI today. It is never fun to say good-bye, but w had a great time with them while they were here!

Monday morning we headed over to the Splash Pad to let the kids play. It wouldn't turn on, so we headed to the subdivision pool to have fun on the slide. Jackson and Garrison and Jackson took turn going down nonstop. Katelyn was even brave enough to go down all by herself.

Monday night I made dinner for everyone and we swam again in our pool. Then we had a movie night complete with popcorn and M&M's per Garrison and Jackson's request!

Tuesday evening after the kids recuperated from the Blue Bell Tour we went to try the Splash Pad again. Jackson and Garrison shared the bike trailer and many laughs! Since the Splash Pad was still not working, we let the kids play at the park for a while.
Then, we headed back to the subdivision pool for more sliding down the slide. While we were there Jackson asked if he could jump off the diving board. He was not scared at all. Brian and I switched off catching him and swimming him back to the side. He is such a dare devil!

Garrison jumped off the diving board too. But, only he can sit Indian style as he jumps in!

Wednesday morning we all swam together. Then the girls went for lunch for gyros and the boys stayed home and played. Papa got to put Jackson down for a nap.

Two peas in a pod:) Both "reading" the tractor magazine and loving it. Dad was telling the boys the name of every tractor.

Wednesday night, we went out to eat and then to the mall. The boys and Katelyn rode the train. Jackson has been asking to do this with Garrison and Papa for a long time!

All the kids, Dad, and me rode the carousel. Jackson likes to tell us that "the fake horses don't poop!"

Brian and I took Jackson to Little Gym, and Grandma came along to watch on Monday morning. Afterwards, we met my Dad, Garrison, Katelyn, Aunt Midge, and Aaron at Chuck E. Cheese.

I left my parents to watch Jackson and took advantage of Brian being off to go up to school. Brian helped me set up and arrange all the furniture in my classroom. I am really excited about the new classroom I am in this year and like the arrangement we came up with! Now, I just need to do some other odd and ends.

We had dinner at my Aunt's house that night. We came back and swam after dinner. The water in our pool is 92 degrees thanks to all the 100 plus days we have been having, so the best time to swim is at night. Garrison and Jackson played with their toy guns from Chuck E. Cheese all night!

My dad got to try kolaches for the first time this morning and like them. I took my parents up to see my school and classroom this morning. Garrison loved my library! He read the whole time we were there. Just shows you how important that piece is to any classroom!

We enjoyed one last meal together at Chick-fil-a and then came home to help them finish loading up. Hopefully they enjoyed their trip as much as we did!

Blue Bell Creamery

We decided to check out the Blue Bell Creamery while my family was here.
It had a few things that drew us to it. 1) The tour is inside and 2) Garrison and my Dad LOVE ice cream!
Jackson was are pumped up to go to the Ice Cream Park:)! He was the cutest in his ice cream hat.
(Sidenote: He asked to go in the shoe store the other day after we were done at Old Navy. I thought that was a great idea. I was thinking I could look at shoes for myself. Well, Jackson had another idea. He wanted me to find him some tennis shoes. As soon as I put them on he wanted to buy them and go to work in them! The Nike's were too cute on him, I couldn't say no. He has asked to wear his tennis shoes everyday since.)
My Aunt Midge and Aaron came along too.
The tour was ok. I don't know what I was expecting to see but I wish I could have seen more of the actually process. I am not sure that is even possible. I do know I don't ever want to work in the Blue Bell Factory. Jackson enjoyed it and loved pretending to make Popsicles with the machine in the last room we stopped in. But, mostly all he cared about was getting ice cream at the end! He asked for the green ice cream.

The good thing about having Brian with us is that Jackson and I got to eat his ice cream. Jackson and I shared Mint Chocolate Chip, Mocha Almond Fudge, and Krazy Kookie Dough. We both liked Krazy Kookie Dough the best! Although after each bite of any flavor Jackson would declare that his "favorite" one!

Garrison just went with classic Vanilla, there #1 selling flavor. Dad went back up and order another scoop of his favorite, Butter Pecan. Blue Bell Ice cream is not sold in WI.

Good thing Jackson takes after me and can enjoy some ice cream every now and then!

After the tour, we were going to eat lunch before heading home. We were trying to find a restaurant that we read about online. We didn't bring the address, the GPS wouldn't find it, we stopped and asked for directions but still were not able to find it. After 30-45 minutes of driving around we ended up driving through McDonald's in order to get home by nap time. I was joking that we would see it on the way home, and sure enough we spotted right off the highway!

It was a fun to do something a little different and it is always a successful day when Jackson enjoyed himself!

Mostly Horsing Around

Sunday morning we got up and went to church. Always a good time to snap some pictures!

All of us and everyone is actually looking at the camera!

Dad and Mom with Jackson and me

Katelyn went to nursery with Jackson and Garrison played his guitar and drew us pictures the whole service.

My uncle, aunt, and cousin came over for a while and we played a game. During the game, I looked out the window and saw this:
My dad was slamming dunking in the pool. When I went out to take a picture he told me, "My mind never stops thinking young!" HA! If you know my dad you know this is true.

Brian couldn't believe he never thought of this. So, of course he had to give it a try!

And whatever Daddy does, Jackson must do too!

The rest of these pictures are just more goofing around in the pool!

Brian loves to tease my mom!

Splashing Grandma

I haven't jumped in from the side in a long time. I actually had a lot of fun!

I even got in on the action of throwing Jackson up. Not nearly as high as Daddy or Papa. He says, "Mommy does little one!"

Jumping in with Papa

Katelyn absolutely loved being sprayed with the hose. She would flail her arms and scream!

So thankful for family and a pool to have lots of fun in!

They're Here!

Saturday around 6 o'clock my parents rolled in. Jackson was waiting at the window and watching. As soon as he saw Papa's truck he was out the door!

Jackson wasted no time getting reacquainted with Papa. He wouldn't let him out of his sight or side. Papa Gary is a pretty funny guy!

We had pizza for dinner and Garrison couldn't wait any longer to hit the pool. Jackson couldn't do anything without Papa.

He asked Papa to throw him up. Not quite the same as Dad, but just as fun!

Jackson then had Papa drawing tractors and semis for him. He can get Papa to do pretty much anything he wants.:)

I think it is safe to say that Jackson likes to have his grandparents here!