Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Photography Give Away...COME AND GET IT!!!

So most of you already know, because you have heard me talk about, or read my posts about it, BUT my sister in law Chelsea has a photography business and she takes AMAZING photos. I am lucky that way, I know. Well, she is having a fantastic giveaway of a photo session that you MUST take her up on. Visit her link here and do the things you need to do to win win win!!! :) I promise you wont be let down. And just to get you all drooling over her fantastickness (word?) here are some pics she has taken of us (mainly Jack bc he is MUCH cuter than just us)!!!



And the piece de resistance (as if it could get ANY better).....

Take a look at her website and see, she does some GREAT stuff with that camera of hers!
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

And the final one....

Another giveway and the last one I PROMISE!! LOL


Design Dazzle


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And yet...another chance :)

Another chance to win the Silhouette!
Head on over to:

For a chance to win too!

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Monday, January 17, 2011

This isnt for Jack, its for me.

So I entered to win one of these:
Ahhh I want one soooo bad I can hardly stand it. I even put this on my Christmas List. I might. Just MIGHT forgo getting my hair colored and instead buy one of these bad boys. And thats saying ALOT. Because I just found like 8 gray hairs on my head two days ago. Seriously. I cried. A little. Okay, Alot. In the shower. Because Im dramatic like that. ANYWAYS....I think winning one of these would be awesome. So I did ALL the entries. Im psycho, I know. But a girl wants what a girl wants. And I want one of those, and a hair appointment. After the day I had today, I deserve a special treat. So say a prayer and dont enter bc you further reduce my chance of winning. LOL. Okay so you can enter, but only do it once ;)
But the blog that does the giveaway might be my new favorite blog ever. Seriously cute ideas. So at least go check them out.

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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Conversations with Jack Jack

Todays morning conversation went like this:
Me: "Jackson, what do you want for breakfast, waffles or pancakes?"
Jack: "Noooa"
Me: "Well if you don't want those, I have oatmeal. Do you want oatmeal?"
Jack: "Ohmeal, yah" (with head nod in agreement)
(Oatmeal is served)
Me: "Heres your oatmeal babe."
Jack: "Happy, momma, happy"
Me: "Oh I am so glad oatmeal makes you happy sweet boy".
Jack: (holding spoon out to me) "Momma hewp" (momma, help) "Hewp, peas" (Help, please)
Me:"Oh sure Ill help you, but you know how to eat on your own"
(I help and then give spoon back to him while I continue to make his lunch for school. He has eaten almost all oatmeal, but hasn't touched his apples)
Me: "Jack Jack, you need to eat your apples, can you eat them please?"
Jack: "No ahppas momma, tanks" (No apples, momma, thanks)
Me: "Yes you need to eat your apples, look you can even use your apple to dip in your yogurt".
Jack: "No, tanks"
(Then he eats a few apples)

Just had to write that out. Every day is a fun one with this guy. Here are some more things he has said these days:

The other day we were watching Aladdin on TV and I changed the channel to see what else was on. He was leaning against the chair with a drink in his hand and looked at me, and while shaking his head said "No...No....Noooa...No...Nah.....Uh Uh, No No No...Uh uh" All said in a very matter of fact, just no, way. We laughed hard. Especially at the uh uh, part. And still changed the channel. LOL

He has been saying "Happy" alot lately. And only when he is happy. The first day back to MDO from Christmas break (which I was sure was going to be full of tears and cling-on behavior), he ran down his school hallway, saying "Happy, Happy, Happy" Smiling away. Went on in his classroom and didn't even turn back for a kiss bye :*( I stood talking to his teachers for a few minutes and he kept (seriously) giving me a dirty look like 'why are you still here, don't you have things to be doing'. Laughing now, thinking about it. It was funny.

He also has been saying Si for yes sometimes. Thanks to bilingual Dora, when we ask him a question like, would you like some juice, he responds..."Si, ya".
Silly Boy
Since I missed the last few months of monthly updates (and dont even ask me to remember his achievements from month to month, they all blend together), this will have to suffice! He also is weighing in at 26.5 lbs at last scale check a few weeks ago, is getting taller (obviously) but still cant quite grab hold of a doorknob, only if its a handle can he open the door.
The biggest news is that the other night he sat down on the toilet and went pee pee in the potty!!! YAY JACK!! I am hoping that means we can get him potty trained around his 2nd birthday. This is what we bought for the toilet, (thanks to Bill and Johnna for showing us this cool thing):
It just takes the place of a toilet seat and has the top part (toddler seat) come down on top of adult sized toilet seat. Its awesome. He loves it and I feel its great bc he doesn't have to transition from an independent kids toilet to a big toilet, AND I don't have to clean a little one out. I am sooo not that kind of mom. Not to mention Taylor feels all handy now bc he put it in. Way to go babe. Im so proud. ;) Now I just need maybe a pee pee guard to protect people from getting sprayed when he goes potty. Not naming names on who got sprayed.

Lets see, Jackson is a maniac these days, with LOTS of running around. He and Dixie take turns chasing each other around the house (not kidding). He also had a blast playing at Cassidys house yesterday. He especially liked the play BBQ pit, and the childrens table and chairs (which I think might be a good Birthday gift for the little man), but he REALLY loved this:
Yep, this is DEFINITLEY on the list. Its win win, he loves to jump, squeals and laughs with merriment while doing it, AND it wears him out. I am praying we get one of these!

So thats what Jackson has been up to these days, I am sure I will have much more conversations with him that warrant a publishing. He is a funny funny kiddo. Have no clue where he got that from ;)
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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Play-date Poem & Bowl Game

To the kids we've known
since they were born
oh how they've grown
oh how they learn.
they play and swing
and have a great time
it really is a wonderful thing,
when they don't even whine!
As the moms we have stayed good friends
so that our children will grow together.
But its always surprising in the end,
when, like birds of a feather,
they stick together.
They truly enjoy each moment to play,
this time it was without any anger, or grabbing.
I cant wait for another day,
for a best friend play-date to happen.
*Thank you Kristen for the pictures, SOO appreciate it!*


Remember this...
When they were just little babies. First play-date ever, and I remember being excited bc Jackson could ALMOST sit up!!! Wow, it goes fast :)
*He no longer tries to stick his hand up Cassidy's shirt. (I dont think she would let him even if he tried! LOL)

Now then, that was Friday morning, which even though the ags lost that evening, was the BEST day ever for me. You know I am a social being and that being said, Friday hit every social love I have: friends, family and Good (no pun intended ) food and drinks. We had the playdate in the morning, with lots of donuts, kolaches and fruit. Then Matt and Jordan, who were in town for a wedding came by to play as well, then Troy and Chels joined us. After kiddos left we all went for lunch at Goode Co's BBQ. The weather was GORGEOUS so we sat outside and Jackson was so adorable and sweet and the company was perfect. It was so wonderful. I was sad to leave them all there on that ol wooden patio BUT it was 1 and wayyyy past nap time. I just am soo so happy we were able to have lunch together. Now that Matt and Jordan are in Florida I truly take those moments and cherish them (as Jordan put it on facebook). That evening was the Cotton Bowl, Ags vs. louisiana. Bleh. Thanks though, to our recent intervention, we weren't embarrased to have friends over to watch the game! So, Adam, Gretchen and Madi came over! They brought Los Cucos fajitas with them YUMMMM, THANK YOU!!! Madi and Jackson played so cutely together, they didn't want to even eat dinner really, bc they were so excited to see each other. Jackson kept giving her hugs. It was too cute.
Jealousy starts already, I was thinking to myself after the 5th hug he gave her..."he doesnt hug me like that or that much either". Boo. Sigh. Kidding, kinda. Anyways, since the game was so late we decided to give the kiddos a bath (together) and try and put them down for the night, hoping Madi would be tired and crash in the pack and play. Welp, it worked!! So we had a late night Friday night, but it was full of good friends, good food and LOTS of belly laughs. (Thanks to Brooke for the texts, they had us laughing hard).
Here are pictures from the bath, which I die laughing at bc Jackson is so obviously unsure of what exactly is going on.

It looks like he is thinking "Uh, mom, you know there is a girl in my bath....rightttt??"
"Mom, I just don't think this is right."
But then when she started splashing him, he was like "Oh hey, this could be fun",
2 minutes later and a soaked bathroom floor, it was party time in the tub! LOL. They both woke up the next morning (Madi had gone home late that night) asking for each other Jackson- "Mah-ee?" Madi- "Jahhh-son?" So so so so CUTE!

Every day I feel more and more thankful for our friends and family. Every time I see all the Christmas Cards up around my kitchen from all of you, it fills my heart full of gladness and happiness. I love our life, and I love our support system all around us. Thank you to each of you for being a part of our lives. You make it all special :) Yes I am nostalgic today, have no clue why, but just roll with it and get all special person feeling inside. Your welcome. ;)
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Sunday, January 9, 2011

Fun Times = Good Times!

We have had a wonderful week. I mean it has been AWESOME. No real temper tantrums, no screaming, no embarrassing moments, ahhh sweet baby jesus THANK YOU. I haven't posted about this (yet) but for a month or so our sweet boy Jack was channeling black. By that, I mean he wasn't as sweet and angelic as he was for the first, oh 19 months of his life, he was instead, channeling the dark days of an almost 2 year old.

To make it short and sweet bc really, who wants to rail on their child for public display (I mean we all have to keep our skeletons in the closet eh?), I had a real struggle with Thanksgiving and Christmas where he didnt want anything really to do with family, only mom and dad and was SOOOO WHINEY!!! So whiney that I thought I am going to have gray hairs ALL OVER. It honestly was so bad that Taylor turned to me on one joyous car ride (yes we went thru a small (thank god) phase where he wanted to only play in the car, not get in or out, just play and a multitude of meltdowns occured from being thrust unhappily into the car-seat.) anyways, and Taylor said "I think every time he screams or lets out a whine, my blood pressure shoots thru the roof and I get 2 gray hairs". I laughed and said "OH YAH". I kept thinking this is not normal. Everyone (who has kids that is) was saying "oh no, its normal". And would chuckle at our dumbfounded astonishment and the personality change and new behavior methods needing to be enforced. I think what makes it worse was the look that the family members would give you. Not that they were judging per say (some were I will warrant that) but just that look that says, "Oh dear, you must get a hold of that". Or the look that says "Wow". It was embarrassing. Now I am not saying that those days are over (I am sure I have many more ahead of me) BUT I will say that something changed for me.

I had a VERY embarrassing moment in front of my grandparents. My stoic, always in control, grandparents. The ones who are from the old school rule of thumb. You know what Im talking about. The ones whose children NEVER acted like that. Why? Bc they didn't reason with their kids. They just said this is the rule, you break it, there are consequences. Consequences being a switch broken off a bush from the backyard. How did we get so far from that? I am weaker than my grandparents. New age I guess you could say. Or maybe I can blame it all on being a school teacher and taught to reward reward reward, give give give. Mom says Im just a nice person and have a hard time being mean. (She must not hear my inner thoughts! LOL). To be completely honest here though, I will defend myself a bit by saying that I have NO, ZERO, ZILTCH of a problem disciplining my child in public or by myself. Ask anyone who was in line by me at Hobby Lobby a few weeks before Christmas. But when you throw in Taylor, or my family, or his family, I get all guilt ridden and cant bring myself to spank him, or even put him in time out really. Its so sad. And miserable. And Im working on it. After the embarrassing moment at a public restaurant with the grandparents I called mom the next day. I prayed the night before, asking God to show me what the right way to handle him was. Because obviously my way wasn't working. So mom says, "Girl, you have GOT to let him know who is boss. You have to mean what you say, you have to get mean sometimes. Because if you don't, this wont be a phase, it will be your life." Wow. That haunts me. I know that, have ALWAYS known that, but sometimes it really soaks in when you really need the advice.

So Taylor and I changed somethings. And its working. We were around family this week, and he was great. We were around friends, and he was great. We went to school after Christmas break and he was running down the hall to his teachers saying "happy happy happy", went into his classroom and did'nt look back. He no longer whines for my attention and when he does, I say "I will not talk to you until you can talk to me without whining" and turn my back. It works like a charm. He is a smart cookie and he knows now, the best way to get mom and dads attention is without being a whiney pants. We have been out to eat and it was wonderful. We had friends over and it was wonderful. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about the next week, but for right now...it is fun times which = good times. For all. I feel more in control, more self assured and confident and ready to teach my child how to be a good kid and furthermore a responsible adult.
Wow, so much for keeping it short and sweet, guess I needed to vent a bit. Ahhh don't I feel better now!

But so that you can see for yourself how funny and cute my little guy is here is a video of him opening his new toy from his Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Troy. HE WAS SO HAPPY and I would say this is probably his new favorite toy. (Ignore the jelly stain on the white shirt - was a school day ;) Thank goodness for bleach! )


I couldn't leave this post with just bad stuff :)
Stay tuned, Tuesday will be more good stuff! A recap of our week and weekend!
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Monday, January 3, 2011

Merry Christmas 2010!!!

You know that you haven't been posting in a while when you hear crickets as you sign in to your blogger account. Yikes. I know I know, bad, bad, bad. But Im back.
Love the shirt? My friend Gretchen made this for Jack :) SOO ADORABLE!!!

For a while we werent sure if Jackson was gonna get really into it this year, but over the last 4 months or so, we started getting super excited bc he was noticing things and of course I think it helped that I started playing Christmas music and reading Christmas books the 2nd week of November! By Christmas day the boy would say "ho ho ho" when asked what Santa says, although when placed on Santas lap, this is his reaction:
and he also had an uncanny ability to name every baby he saw "baby jesus" (sounds like "baybee jeezss").

We started off Christmas with a yummy dinner and gift opening at my dads on the 19th, and Matt and Jordan were in from Florida for two weeks so they were able to join us.
YAY!!! Jackson got some wonderful things; a cozy coupe and a VERY loud music set that he personally loves to play. He says 'ma-ra-ca' as he shakes his maracas. It is very cute. And I might add I think he might have a real future in the music biz. THANKS Gay Gay and Pop!

This Christmas was a wonderful Christmas that I had, personally, really been looking forward to. The most exciting thing was we had it in Tyler at my moms and ALL of my siblings and their spouses/significant others were there. Becca and Ryan, Megan and J.P., Sonorah, Matt and Jordan, Troy and Chels, and of course Tess and their newest member, Huck :). Total headcount 14 (including us and Jack ) and paw count, 8. The food was delish but the company even better. It truly was a wonderful time.We took Thursday to travel on up to Tyler stopping at my grandparents house to drop off Dixie (I don't know who was more excited about the stay with great grandparents, Dixie or them!) and do a little gift exchange and lunch. Granny and Papaw gave Jackson some amazing gifts which he loves! He especially liked the GeoTrax Toy Story Set with Buzz, Woody and Bulls-eye figurines. He immediately said "BUZZ" when he saw it. He loves those little fellas, he carries them around and puts woody on Bulls-eye and then makes the "da da dum da da dum", horse sound, but it sounds like 'da da da da da neighhhh'. After we left we made another pit stop at Taylors grandparents house in Palestine. Mimi and Buddy got Jackson a dinosaur ball and he was loving that too. When he saw the ball he said 'roar' and then said 'nahsor' which stands for dinosaur of course ;). We got into moms at about 5 o'clock and honestly we did'nt leave the house except one time the whole 4 days we were there!

Here are some pictures from Christmas morning which came WAY to early after a late night for mom and dad Christmas Eve. Yes, Jackson woke us up at 5:45. GASP. So we piddle paddled around in our room with the dvd player for as long as we could to let everyone sleep and keep him from all of his toys set up from Santa. Then we got up and this was his expression....
it screams "all of this for me???"
"Woah, are you sure??"

He LOVED his gifts and kept going back and forth to all of them. And now....I have a helper when its time to clean! YES!!!
THANK YOU BIG to my siblings and their spouses, grandma and pa, for helping to put it all together Christmas eve. After the festivities of the weekend were all said and done everyone was T-I-R-E-D, including pa and huck,
and Jack too,
who fell asleep while we were packing up to leave Sunday morning. :) He actually got sick Christmas day and didn't sleep well the remaining nights or naps :(, so he was truly truly exhausted!

Then this last week The Johnston's came down and Santa visited their house too! They brought us a ton of goodies, had an intervention (we got a brand new gorgeous t.v. after 10 years of our good 'ol square tube t.v., who we loved but apparently the family were happy to replace for us! LOL) and ate a wonderful lunch with us. We loved having them come for a quick but lovely visit. Jackson LOVES his new bike (we take it to get mail every afternoon) and he got another train set that he also is in love with. Most importantly he got a Buzz Light-year Figurine which he now carries with him all the time. He even takes it to bed with him. He loves his 'buzz'!
Uncle Jack, Aunt Livvie and Madi were also able to come too and they got Jackson this adorable riding zebra that turns into a scooter also. He loves pressing all the buttons and riding it around the house. Well actually backing it around the house bc he hasnt quite nailed scooting forward! LOL.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year as well. We love you all and will leave you with some Christmas time pictures we had his Aunt Chelsea take for us. Here is a link to her photography website if you would like to get some great pictures taken as well!
And my personal favorite:

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