Playing Hookie

We stayed home from church this morning simply because I did not want Jackson to get sick again. I was not taking a chance with him going to the nursery and being around other snotty noses, coughs, and germs!

We spent the entire day outside! We had a lot of catching up to do since we were stuck inside the majority of the week.

Up First: A long walk with a stop by the park. Jackson had a little rountine down on the jungle gym and did it no less than 20 times! He would tell us to stay put and he would climb up the steps, go over the bridge, climb up more steps, and go down the slide all while giving us a play-by-play!
Then Came: Daddy worked on the jungle in our backyard while Jackson and I go out the chalk. This was a much better experience than last year with the chalk. He LOVED it! He drew tractors, planes, circles, and fish or at least that is what he said it was:) Of course he had to trace my hand! He got the chalk out later in the day as well so I have a feeling this is a new favorite!

After Nap: We went swimming! We heated up the spa and splashed and splashed! I love that it is warm enough in February to do this because if we still lived in WI we would have snow on the ground. I can't wait to go shopping for a new swimsuit and lay in the pool everyday!

Up Next: It is Birthday Week for a certain little guy who lives at our house! I am looking forward to hanging up his birthday banner and celebrating 2 years of life with him!

On the Mend

I think it is safe to that Jackson is finally feeling better! He has been knocked down by the flu and strep throat since Sunday night. Monday afternoon was definitely a little bit scary as his fever climbed all the way up to 105.1 before it started to go down very slowly. We did the tylenol/motrin combination for more than I like to, but we had to keep his fever under control. Nothing is worse than seeing your little one just lay there and cry because they don't feel well. I am so thankful his sickness was one he was able to heal from in a couple of days.

Brian and I rotated days at home with our sick little boy. He did Monday (since I had nothing ready at school) and Wednesday, and I did Tuesday and today. Since he still had a fever last night we couldn't send him to daycare today even though he woke up without a fever and was feeling better. We made the most of it and had a great mommy/son day at home! We spent the morning outside and at the park. What could be better than tractors at the park?!?

One way we really now Jackson doesn't feel well is when he does not eat like his normal self. So, last night I decided to treat him to some frozen yogurt because I knew he wouldn't turn that down. Freshberry did not let us down and actually I loved their flavor of the month; cookies-n-cream! I wish it was on their regular menu:)

It seems weird that tomorrow is Friday since I have only worked two days this week. Tomorrow is Go Texas Day so I better go dust off my pink cowboy hat and find my plaid shirt! Too bad I don't have any cowboy boots, I think that is what I want for my birthday this year!

Five Things Plus One About Our Weekend

Number One: Jackson got his hair cut and I got a pedicure. He always looks so much older with shorter hair but just as handsome! My feet feel rejuvenated and are now ready for sandals!
Number Two: We attended Huntley's 1st Birthday party. Jackson loved the frosting on the cupcakes and the gummy "vitamin" bears!

He also loved Huntley's presents!

Number Three: We rode bikes for the first in a long while. Jackson was so excited and couldn't contain himself. He just kept shaking his finger talking about riding bikes, daddy putting air in the tires, and wearing his helmet!

Number Four: We spent the majority of the weekend outside and at the park. We tried out a new park and I would say it was a hit! This park was a little farther away and Brian was the genius who remembered to bring an extra diaper and wipes!

Number Five: This weekend I finished one of the things I am doing for Jackson's birthday. I attempted to make my own Thomas cupcake toppers. I thought they turned out pretty cute!

Number Six: Just keeping it real, we also experienced a few moments like this one this weekend!

More LOVE...

Just a few things that I LOVE that have happened this past week:

I LOVE that this was my classroom during their recess. It makes me so happy that my students would choose to work on their power points or independently read instead of play. Just today they moaned at the end of independent reading time and begged for 10 more minutes; music to my ears!
I LOVE this little boy more than I thought possible especially when he smiles at me!

I LOVE that our whole staff dressed up as a word to support 4th grade as they prepare for their TAKS test.

I LOVE these jellybeans and even more so since they were a treat from a friend.

Have I mentioned I LOVE this boy and all our trips to the park in this beautiful weather!?!

I LOVE the fact that my mom and Garrison will be here in less than 3 weeks and wish my dad could come too!

LOVE

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.

Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
And over all these virtures put on LOVE, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

Those verses are from Colossians 3:12-14 and mean so much to me. They were the verses spoken and used to guide a message from our pastor at our wedding. But, I have actually had to live out what they are saying. I am also making these verses my 4th scripture for memorization.

I spent most of my Valentines eating chocolates from my students and loving on my little guy as Brian had to work late. He did pick up a romantic dinner of Subway! But I was the lucky recipient of at least 25 texts of things my love loves about me, it really was sweet!

I LOVE that I get to spend everyday with my Valentines!

Just Go With It

I will admit that I am one that likes to have everything planned out (yes, even my clothes for the week) and if my plans don't work out well let's not even go there! Brian is always a laid back easy going guy and yesterday I was able to just go with it pretty well:)

Having a ball at the park until...
Jackson poops and we have no diapers or wipes with us, so I just go with it and let him stand up the whole way home for obvious reasons!

That afternoon I was getting ready to go to the outlets for the Gap's Buy One Get One sale and I listen to my messages and we have a babysitter for the night. I just go with it and enjoy my quick shopping trip to one store instead of many because that means it is DATE NIGHT!

On the way home from the Outlets Brian and Jackson decide they want waffles for dinner. I just go with it even if it means buying pancake mix I wouldn't normally buy because I get a night off from making dinner!

Enjoy blowing bubbles with my boy until Aunt Midge came over so...

My love and I could go see Just Go With It!

We both really enjoyed the movie and thought it was really funny! So if you are looking for a good movie to see I highly recommend this one.

New Favorite Pastime

Last Friday while I was home with Jackson I was really wishing we had some playdough. I thought he would have fun playing with it. This last weekend I picked him up a pack. Brian let him play with it one night when I was at a meeting for the first time and he LOVED it! He sat for 45 minutes that night playing with it. Daddy even made him a bowl for his berries!

Each night after dinner he wants to cut and make things with his playdough. He calls each color out and wants to empty each container.
He gets really excited when he makes something by himself. Each time we get the playdough out he is content for a very long time!

Here he is in action and we are practicing for his birthday next month!

Home Improvements by Mel

We were able to complete Jackson's room the first 2 days Mel was here. His room is not complete by anymeans! We are in the process of ordering pictures for the wall, hanging a shelf or two, and we still need to purchase a dresser that matches the bed. We did buy a black cube organizer to hold some toys and books but it is not really worthy of a picture by itself.

Just to show you what the previous owner's left us in Jackson's new room. It feels so good to have all the wallpaper gone upstairs! We painted 3 of the walls gray with an accent of Bayside blue. I am really pleased with how it turned out.

The project that took a longer time was the staircase. We were taking out the old staircase and replacing it with rod iron spindles and new posts and rails. Mel had made the posts and rails at home and brought them with him when they came down. He was able to stain them to match the book shelves he made for us last January.

A comparison between the entryway we saw when we first toured the house to now! I do believe I like what I see now A LOT better:)

It seemed to be a very tedious project. After the new staircase was complete we realized that the off-white walls leading upstairs and in the upstairs hallway looked blah.
Mel then taped off the upstairs, textured, and painted the walls Restrained Gold. It made a huge difference in the feel of the upstairs. I love how it looks when I walk out my bedroom and walk down to Jackson's. Now we just have to get some things up on the walls up there too.

After painting the upstairs and liking it so much we decided we would repaint the entryway and dining room the same color. Brian was going to do that but thanks to the artic blast of cold weather everywhere Mel had some extra time and did it for us!

Thanks for all the hard work Mel! Once again the end result is perfect and improved the look of our house a great deal!

A Very Interesting Week

-All week long the meteorologists were predicting cold temperatures and a chance of snow on Friday. While the midwest and east coast were getting dumped on with snow the temperatures were dropping here. Mel and Sharon were going to leave Tuesday morning so we went out for a last hurrah and let Jackson get his first ice cream cone after dinner. However because of the roads in Dallas and Oklahoma City they were stuck in Houston for another night!
-Tuesday Mel and Sharon packed up with hopes of leaving Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning rolled around and I got up to work out like any other normal day and half way through my workout the power went out! About 40 minutes later it came back on there was however not enough time to shower and get ready for work. So I finished my workout, freshened up, and went to school. When I arrived there we had no power or running water due to a broken water main. All day we experienced rolling black outs and stinky restrooms all day!

-Mel and Sharon made a few calls to relatives in the midwest and the Texas Department of Transportation and reluctantly decided to be safe rather than sorry. Mel made the most of another day at our house and repainted our entry and dining room the same color as our upstairs in the morning. Then Papa and Grandma picked Jackson up early from Miss Sandy's to play. That night we went out for dinner and ran a few errands. Whenever we would go from the car to the store or the store to car, Jackson would say "Brrr" and pull down his hat over his face and say "Keeping warm!" He is a hoot!

-By Thursday Mel and Sharon had enough of us and Houston and they were up and on the road by 6:30 in the morning. Thankfully we had power all morning and I was able to shower before I went to school today. Now there was a 60-80% of snow for Friday and everyone was hoping for a snow day. By 10 am school was cancelled and I couldn't have been more excited! I didn't let my students in on the news until Mrs. Thomas announced it at the end of the day and they worked hard all day. Believe it or not this week was one of the best for student behavior in my class! I am praying it continues into next week.

-I left right after buses to go get Jackson. I was ready to spend a "Snow day" together on Friday. I was a little bummed because Brian wouldn't be coming home. He had to spend the night downtown because of the inclement weather coming in. His work put him up in a hotel right down the street. The cold weather made me want chicken chili. I had everything at home except the chili beans and you can't have chili without the chili beans. So after I picked up Jackson we headed to Kroger. I knew the stores were going to be busy but I didn't think they would be CRAZY! Thank goodness I used to be a checker at a grocery store and no one else likes to use the self check-out lanes or I may have had to leave the chili beans out of the chili.

-Jackson came down with a fever and was extra clingy. I spent the night cuddling with my boy and watching Thomas. He woke up at 4:30 and it felt like he was burning up. I went to get him tylenol and could barely scrape enough out to get him the dose he needed. I laid next to him the rest of the night and prayed his fever would go down. At 7 o'clock we got up and I looked outside for the snow, nope we got none! It was a good thing Brian stayed downtown or he wouldn't have made it to work. They closed down all the freeways due to ice.

-Jackson and I bundled up and headed to Target right at 8 o'clock to get tylenol. No one was out on the streets and the store was empty except us and the employees. Since we were out I grabbed a latte and we headed back home were we stayed all day long!

-Jackson perked up after each dose of tylenol. We spent the morning making a tent, playing in it, and reading books in his bed.

-Brian finally made it home and we made some cut-out cookies for Valentines.

-They both have my my heart!

-The shop vac is the best way to clean up!

-Frosting the day away!

-We saw the sun today and it warmed up into the 50's. We enjoyed every minute of it!

-Wow, that was a long post and a week I won't likely forget for a while! Now how about a Packer victory tomorrow?!

23 Months

Dear Jackson,

Every day you are becoming more of a little boy and less of my baby! You are looking and acting so grown up these days. You can and do say any and everything letting us know what you want and still surprising us with what you do know.

You surprised me when you asked to go poopy on the potty. You go pee on the potty all the time especially after your naps and before bed. However, some days you want nothing to do with the big potty. That's ok, you have plenty of time to master it! You still love going to the Pet Store. You laugh at the cats and try to pet them, smile at the mice, and watch the fish swim forever.

You are really getting into pretend play. It is so fun watching what you do and seeing what you pick up from what Daddy and I do! You love to know what everyone is doing and want to help. You will drop everything to come and help mommy mix up brownies or cookies! I bet your wondering what happens to all those goodies we bake:)

You are ALL boy! You love anything truck, car, train, ball, dirt, outdoor, and rough and tough play. You also love reading books, coloring, and music you can dance to.

You are a HAM! You crack your daddy and me up all the time. I love your facial expressions when you ask for something or tell me something really important and then you end by saying "ok?" You are a very polite boy- using please and thank you ALL the time!
You love your new room and bed! You are now sleeping like a champ and so are mommy and daddy:) I am so thankful for your life and love you more each day!

In one month you will be 2, I better get busy planning your Birthday celebration!