Florida or BUST!!!

We took a trip to see Uncle Matt and Aunt Jordan this summer in FlOrIdA and it was SOOOOOOO much fun! We have missed them so much and this was our first time going up to see them since they moved awhile ago. Let me tell you it was a wonderful wonderful trip and I am so glad that my dad gifted me with the flight for my 30th Birthday!!! Ill let the trip tell itself thru pics (with of course commentary bc I can NOT NOT comment on pictures). I have issues I know.

At the airport watching a Bubble Guppies Airport Movie! He knew all about the big jets and pilot before we went!

 This was as good a smile as i was gonna get. He was trying to get himself buckled.

FiRsT DaY of BeAcH FuN!!!

You want to do what? Sit and Relax???

WELL WHO IS GONNA GO PLAY IN THE SAND WITH MEEEEE?????

Thank GOD for Uncle Matt and Aunt Jordan!

Whats a beach trip with out a bar trip. Yes Jackson, mom and dad took you to your first bar when you were a little over 2 years old.

HEY there were others with kids there so we thought it would be fine......

Until a lil one threw his shoe trying to be funny and it knocked over and broke a bottle of wine on the floor. Sigh.

Bar time = Over. Embarrasment = High.

Next day redo.....

On our way to boat with friends! Excited about getting out in the ocean.......

Must always start day with yogurt :)

Hold up...I have to wear this, this cheek constrictor you call a life jacket?

NOT happy about this.

Again, thank GOD for Uncle Matt and Aunt Jordan and taking me up to the top of the boat to distract me so mom could be sick downstairs.

 (little did we know a certain bean in my belly was causing all that sickness ;) )

Our trip was cut short in the bay when we all got in the water and quickly got out after half of us got stung by jelly fish. There is one in the middle, see it??

There were TONS of them!

 I was one of the lucky ones that got stung and I think Aunt Jo did too...

But we made up for it at a VERY YUMMY restaurant on the beach that night! 

 Precious......

A wonderful dinner topped off with some DELICIOUS ice cream.

 See? It was a wonderful trip full of MANY memories. It wasnt too long after that we found out we were expecting! What a fun summer we had! Thank you Uncle Matt and Aunt Jordan for being such wonderfull hosts and treating us to a fantastic time in Florida!

ROAD TRIP!!!

     My grandparents (granny and pawpaw to Jack) have some land way out west near a little place called Iraan. They have two log cabins, (with a/c :) ), a warehouse/garage, a grand ol porch swing, fun things to ride out into the yonder, and a skeet shooting machine. Oh and 4 or 5 deer feeders that need filling. We have been wanting to head out there for a while but first it was uninhabitable (to me at least) then we got pregnant (drive 7 hrs pregnant? HA) then Jack was too little, yada yada, you know the excuses. BUT we buckled down and said LETS GO this May! I am so glad we went. We had a blast, worked hard, played harder, and got DIRTY (Jacks favorite part). We also made some very special memories with my grandparents, I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how much that meant. How many kids get to do stuff like this with thier great grandparents???

     I love roadtrips, really I do. I cannot wait until we are old and retired and can just buy an awesome RV and travel the US together. Having the grandkids tag along here and there. This thought scares Taylor greatly, but thats just bc Im a bad backseat driver and being stuck with me in an RV for an extended amount of time is not his idea of a relaxing retirement. I am TRYING to convince him of all the fun he could have in an RV while Im driving it :) Mark my words, I will get my way on this (I say in a Scarlett O'Hara passion). So because I love all things roadtrips I planned our trip all out with stops at state parks for playground play and picnics. And we did none of that. LOL. After polling our Sunday school group, it was decided if your kid is doing fine in the car DO NOT TAKE HIM OUT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.  So he was doing great, so we drove on. DVD players, snacks, magnetic letters on a cookie sheet and coloring pages with stickers were key.

We got there with plenty of daylight to spare and our little guy was right at home with all the rocks (takes after his father), dirt, and his dog. Yes Dixie came too :)

See dirt time. We hadnt been there but a few minutes. Sigh.

And for the record in case you dont know, that dirt isnt like dirt dirt, its like sandy, ashy, stay all over you dirt. You should have SEEN the shower after we bathed this kiddo.

Best Friends :)

With Sunscreen, dirt and wind, we had a crazy hair day every day we were there!

Helping Granny get the corn ready to add to the feeder.

 Throwing the corn out on the ground for the deer later :)

Skeet Shooting, He did not shoot much to his disapointment!

Hugs and Snuggles with Granny.

 Dixie did not want to leave ESPECIALLY when she caught site of that GIANT Jack rabbit on the side of the road.

See!

We love Granny and PawPaw and always have so much fun with them wherever we are. I must say that I feel so blessed that Jackson gets this time with his Great Grandparents. They are two of the most salt of the earth, good people I will ever know. I want to take advantage of every opportunity I have to make as many memories as possible with them and my children. I love them greatly and am so thankful for both of them and all they do for us. I hope one day my children can look back and realize how lucky and blessed they were to have all the times they did with them. I look back and now so appreciate all the museum trips, the summer stays and fun in the pool, Christmas's, Thanksgivings, football and baseball games with tailgates, Galveston trips (The strand and Moody Gardens but MOSTLY the Strand), making crafts together, quick visits during college, family trip to The Greenbriar, ALL of it. ALL. I just want to hold all those moments in my heart and head forever. One day thats all Ill have. I hope Jackson and his future siblings get to hold many in their heart too. Im now crying so Im going to end the sappy stuff now and say that I cant wait to go back out to west Texas with all the family, because of the amount of fun we had :)

Love them!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY JACKSON!!!

I cant believe I havent blogged in a MONTH.(edit:it has now been over a year) Whoops. Alot has happened in the last month, but this post isnt to catch you up, its to CELEBRATE!!

JACKSON TURNED 2 YEARS OLD!!

Look familiar? Nothing like repurposing a banner :)

As a party favor I made all the kids a placemat fitting with the dino theme and their name on it! I had so much fun doing this and they turned out so so cute!! (Side note: Its been a year and we still have ours and use it often!) All I used was scrapbook paper, cardstock dinos (which I traced from a printout online, sticker letters for their names, and then had the whole thing laminated).

I must admit my favorite part was the girl dinos that had little bows in their hair ;) LOVE!

Aunt Nora made these cupcakes for us, and they turned out so so cute. It had edible dinos and rocks on the top. The rocks were milk chocolate and soooo good.

We had a fantastic dinosaur blast at Little Gym and a wonderful day all together. What a lucky lucky little boy he is :)

Happy Birthday Jackson! I cant believe you are already 2. These years are starting to go by fast and you are growing into such a funny, silly, happy, special boy. I can wait to see what the next year brings to our family and see how you grow even more. We love you Jack Jack and cant imagine our life without you. Surely it was boring and we had no fun. :)

Playdates, Super Bowl LoVe and More....

First off please sit back, relax and enjoy my "Luvers Mix" on the music. I like to think Im a fly d.j. (at least my dad and Carolyn think so. Always making me feel special, asking me to make them cds..sigh.. I love feeling special ;) ). So this is a selection of my favorite "Love songs" these days. I dedicate this playlist to my Valentine (no I wont say my funny valentine bc I really truly hate that song) but cupid hit me oh, about 9 years ago and Im still crazy over him, like, WAY crazy. Maybe its hormones. I dunno. Maybe I just got REALLY lucky. No pun intended on that one. Srsly. So these are songs that make me think of him, or make me think of him thinking of me. Yes I compliment myself. Sorry if thats TMI grandma, or anyone who is gagging now, just icky mushy heart stuff, its how I feel. There I said it. Ahhh. Feels so good to share the love. I encourage everyone to tell everyone you love how much you love them. I will be included in that list right??? Anyways to get back to the point at hand, there really hasn't been much going on, yet so much going on all at the same time. Weird, I know.

Lets start with play-dates.

We (the crazy mom association) try to get together once a week with the kiddos. You know the usual 'group': Cassidy, Jackson, Grant, Bryson, Grady (hes part of the group now bc he can sit up) and this last week we had a newby, Madi. Well new to most of the group, not Jack. She and Jack see each other alot, and she is in the same class at school as Bryson. Anyhoo, Gretchen normally works during the week but the kids had a day off from school so she took off too and came on over to our casa for Valentines Craft Day. Oh how I wish I had taken pictures. I didnt. BUT I will say that my kid is REALLY into crafts (YAYYYYYY). We had a craft shop set up on my dining room table (remember I said crazy mom association, I apparently am the leader of the craziness...WHAT WAS I THINKING?!!!) No not really, it was cluttered and messy, but so much fun.

The grandparents are all laughing at the "wonderful" creations made for them. Jackson was very precise on where he wanted all of his hearts and colors.

We had a great time visiting PawPaw and Granny, who took us to their playground down the street. Jack had a GREAT time. He LOVES slides. He also loves static electricity..see:

Here are some more pics from our time:

Learning how to fly an airplane. (This was before he took a step back, tripped and fell on the rock step below. OUCH)

We baby-sat Madi so her parents could go house hunting (I mean, really, can you imagine looking at a fully furnished strangers house with a almost 2 yr old?? I shudder.) Here are some cute pics from that night. These kids are so darn cute together it kills me. They play soooo sweetly and NEVER fight. Seriously. They are either totally gonna get married or just stay Best Friends. Not sure which yet, but they are too fun to watch together.

I love this one. Its like he just said something really funny and she clearly, thinks he is hilarious.

Here are some random pics throughout the last few weeks. He is now truly truly his fathers son, he LOVES chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream....see how happy these two are:

He helped me make...brace yourself... oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies.

Yes, you read that right.

MOMMMMMMM When are they gonna be done?????

BUT I CANT WAIT THAT LONGGGGGG....

WHAT??? Did you just say ONE MORE MINUTE???

Cuteness, I know. Its tough being his mom. Really tough. Someone the other day said, how do you not just literally pinch, bite and kiss those cheeks all day?? I dont know how. I think God gives me strength. ;)

We also had a visit to my bestie Brookes house in Austin for a night. Yep, no pictures there either. That would involve me having to stop talking to take a picture. So yah, not happening. BUT the kids were adorable together and super cute and we had a BLAST. Some times the best medicine in life is your best friend, a glass (or bottle in our case) of wine and you tube.

Super Bowl was last weekend. I think Green Bay won. I was too busy having a grand ol time and watching these two cuties:

Gretchen took pictures and her mom had some fun editing them so Im using her moms pics bc why not?! We were taking their pictures on the stairs and we said "say cheese" and Jack immediately grabbed hold of Madi in a hug from behind and smiled. You can tell his Aunts a photographer. He might as well have said, "How would you like my head turned...am I okay now, oh, okay, I got this, let me improv here".

So thats about it. We are super excited for Valentines Day around here. When I say we, I mean me. Im not sure Taylor even knows its Monday. And Jackson, well, hes almost 2, soooo....

Have a great weekend and LoVe to you all :)

This little light of mine...

I need to update this blog with a few posts, which I will work on today while Jack is at school, but for now, I leave you with this funny video of Jack playing with Dixie. His best friend. He is always playing with her in some way, whether its chase, or throwing the ball for her, more likely teasing the ball with her (he's kinda mean that way), or shining his flashlight (he has several) on the wall and floor for her to chase.

Well, yesterday he found this little flashlight my dad got for him out of a candy machine at Juan's (its high class, let me tell you, thank GOD he doesn't realize its a picture of some war girl on a dragon...its too fuzzy to see) anyways, I digress, he snatched it up as I was cleaning out his huge toy mess of a box in the family room. So he has been playing with it non stop. To give credit to the crappy flashlight makers, this thing is lasting a WHOLE lot longer than I would like. Im impressed. SO, this morning he was teasing Dixie with it and laughing at her so hard, I thought I would video. Sidenote: Taylor got him ready for bed last night, I would have dressed him in cute warm little boy pjs. Just sayin.

Enjoy :) Oh and turn off the volume on the playlist on the bottom right!