Sunday, October 30, 2011

Beggar's Night!

Tonight was Beggar's Night in Des Moines, so our friends Anita and Mason came over and we went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.  I wish it was a little warmer out and that Jackson didn't have to wear his coat over his costume tonight because he kept having to tell people who he was.  LOL.  Again, he brought home another bag full of candy.  Between Living History Farms, Night Eyes, his school Fall Party, Beggar's Night tonight, and the Trick-or-Treat event tomorrow night at the mall I may have enough candy to feed him until next Halloween!  ;-)

Another highlight of today was Peyton trying really hard to walk...


Another fun filled weekend in our house!  I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Halloween!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Fall Party and Night Eyes!

Yesterday was a fun day!  Daniel was back in town after being gone for a few days for work and we went running around in the morning sending off pictures to grandparents, buying some Christmas presents (yes, I like to be ahead of the game), a quick lunch, and then picking up cupcakes from HyVee for Jackson's school Fall Party.  We signed up several weeks ago to help at the party and when we got there with the cupcakes we were surprised by all the goodies the other families had donated...  boxes of cookies, Little Debbie cakes, Rice Crispy treats, candy, and so much more!  Jackson cracked me up when he got in the room and ran to a seat and immediately had a cookie in one hand and the cupcake in the other licking the frosting off of both!  Those kids were on a sugar high when they left at the end of the school day!  The best part was after we helped setup, we got to run a game of pin the face on the pumpkin.  The kids loved it but even more so did they love the toilet paper mummies (where they wrapped each other in toilet paper)!  Reminded me of a Super Hero Night event we had at the Children's Museum years ago.  Here is a picture of Jackson at the end of the party getting ready to leave for the day...



Isn't he adorable?  He's sporting the new spider hat he made in class.  ;-)

Tonight we went to Night Eyes at Blank Park Zoo.  Jackson was dressed in his Lightening McQueen costume again and Peyton was an adorable pumpkin!  Daniel and I decided to wear our Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts and funny wigs as well.  ;-)




Last year, Night Eyes was pretty lame and we debated on even going again this year but decided to with Aunt Heather and Aunt Amanda and their kiddies.  Going on a Saturday afternoon was so much better then last year because we could see everything and the lines were much shorter!  Jackson and Peyton really racked up the candy there!  Last weekend, we bought a new wagon so we could pull the boys along for events like this.  (Quick side note:  before we even parked the car Jackson was telling us how he really needed to ride in the wagon with Peyton because his legs would get sooooo tired!  We made him walk anyway!)  So we got to try out the new wagon tonight which worked GREAT!  The only thing that bugged me was  people kept throwing candy in the wagon with Peyton.  HELLO - he's 14 months old!  Nothing happened and I got everything away from him except for a licorice stick that he was not about to let go of.  LOL.  All in all, we had a very good time this year and we will definitely do it again next year.






When we got home Jackson couldn't wait to break into his candy but he had to wait until after dinner.  He goggled down 6-7 pieces of candy and was WIRED!!  As he was talking 50 miles a minute he started talked about the fence around the secretary and how did that work.  We thought he had a screw loose until we realized he didn't mean secretary, he meant cemetery.  It was a joke that we heard at Living History Farms the other night about what runs all around a cemetery but doesn't move...  a fence.  LOL!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Living History Farms Family Halloween Event

Last night my friend Anita and I took Jackson and her son Mason to Living History Farms for their Family Halloween Event.  It was a lot of fun (even though it was super cold).  We walked around the 1870's and went to each building to trick or treat, then stopped and had some pop and popcorn before going on a horse-drawn wagon ride, then we roasted some marshmallows and listened to a story in the barn.  It was a lot of fun.

Here are a few pictures that I took...


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

It's Raining Milk (Strawberry Milk that is)...

Today was the first day that I dropped Jackson off at school without walking him to his classroom. I was a little worried about it so i decided that I would stop by and have lunch with him just to make sure he was ok.  Of course, he was just fine.  As we made our way down to the lunchroom, he told me about how he ran into one of his classmates and they walked to their lockers together and then to class.  That made me feel better.  Anyway, Jackson got a taco for lunch and I got the pizza.  We picked up our milk, paid, and then found a seat next to one another.  If you have ever been to school lunch with kids you know that you talk to everyone else at the table more then your own child.  As I was trying to listen to some of the other kids across from us, Jackson took his milk and was trying to open it. For some reason, he then put it under the table to open it and next thing I knew my pants were covered in strawberry milk!  LOL.  I am always amazed at watching the kids in the lunchroom eat (or not eat I should say).  They all talk talk talk and don't touch their food.  Were we all like that as well?  I guess I was a pig cause I always ate all my lunch!  Probably explains why I was a fat kid.

Anyway, we finished lunch and then went outside for recess.  Here is a picture of Jackson running around the track...


After recess I went back to the classroom with Jackson and sat next to him on the rug as the class did a cute counting game with a deck of cards.  Then we went to the library and I helped Jackson check out a book.  He got "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."  Did you know that the song actually have six verses?  I did not know that.  So after he checked out the book, I read it to him and a small group of his classmates.  At the end of the book is the music with all the verses.  So next thing I knew I was singing EVERY verse to them.  LOL.  It was a fun afternoon!

Later when I picked up Jackson from school he handed me a note that said his class was exposed to head lice.  YUCK!  I have been itchy all over all night thinking about it.

Who Needs Toys?

Why do we even buy toys when all he really wants is a water bottle?

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Playing with Big Brother!

Peyton LOVES Jackson and vice versa.  Most of the time they play together so sweetly that we can't help but smile.   Here is an example...


Saturday, October 22, 2011

Peyton's First Haircut

Today we took Peyton to The Lollipop Haircuts for Kids in Urbandale for his first haircut.  Neither Daniel nor I knew what to expect or how Peyton would react to this event but he did AWESOME!


Once they got Peyton in the seat he just sat there and watched some cartoons and held on to a few rubber duckies just like a champ.  He didn't mind the water on his hair or even the scissors.  I was worried that he would be so curious to know what she was doing that he wouldn't hold still.  I had to laugh at the end when they gave us a latex balloon for Peyton.  After working for years at a Children's Museum and knowing that latex balloons are a choking hazard I find myself biting my tongue when people give the kids a balloon.  LOL.  Isn't that horrible?  Anyway, I was glad the whole experience was a good one and that Peyton was his normal cute self!  The whole thing took about 8 minutes and we got a certificate at the end with a picture and a little bag with all his hair. ;-)


 Here's the video as well!

 

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Family Portraits!

Yesterday we went to a place called Portrait Innovations in West Des Moines to have our family Christmas pictures done.  What do you think?








Weekend Trip to Chicago!

This past weekend we tested out the new Grand Caravan on the road and went to Chicago!  The drive was really enjoyable on Friday afternoon as we previewed the songs on the CD I recorded a few weeks ago and then stopped of a simple dinner at Panera...  I even drove 85% of the way there!  ;-)  Shortly after we got checked in the hotel and into our room we were getting the boys ready for bed when Peyton started crying and threw his bottle.  When I went to pick him up his entire bottom was wet (and not from pee)...  EWWWWW!  I could have died!  Anyway, we got that all cleaned up and finally got to bed only to wake up to another "accident!"  Poor little guy!  We made it through the rest of the weekend with no more problems but I only brought three sleepers with us and he pooped through two of them.  On top of that I forgot to pack shoes and socks for him!  Ugh!  Lesson here is that I should not be the one to pack for Peyton I guess!  ;-)

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast a Yolk a local restaurant with some awesome food!  Then we headed over to Navy Pier and went to the Chicago Children's Museum.  Now I worked at a Children's Museum in North Carolina for nearly 6 years and OMG - this was a FUN place!  I loved the water exhibit and the Dinosaur exhibit the most.  Oh, and Jackson liked it too.  Hehehe.  Here are some pics from our day at the Museum.





Sunday we went shopping at the outlet mall in Gurnee (North of Chicago) and had lunch at a fun place called Sweet Tomatoes where they have all the soup and salad you can eat.  We made it back home late on Sunday night.  It is always so much fun to go on a little vacation, but I sure do like getting home!!

Monday, October 10, 2011

All I Want For Christmas Are My Two Front Teeth...

This morning when Jackson got up he couldn't wait to show me his front tooth that came out in the middle of the night.  I'm sure he was up late into the night working on getting that one out!  LOL.  The reason I say that is because his other front tooth has been loose for weeks and I figured it would have fallen first but it was the other tooth in his hand this morning. 

I surprised Jackson today when I showed up at school at lunchtime and had lunch with him.  He was really excited to see me and again couldn't wait to show me his other front tooth dangling in his mouth.  Of course he couldn't eat because of the tooth.  LOL.  Just what Daddy wanted a whole new issue on why he couldn't eat.  But with some encouragement and me cutting up his food he did eat most of his lunch which I was happy with.  Part of the reason I went to lunch with him was to see what it's like and it was CRAZY.  The kids talk talk talk and I swear that 40% of them at our table didn't even eat.  LOL.  The lunch was a breaded chicken patty on a bun with french fries.  Then the kids can get salad or peaches plus milk.  Nothing like I remember as a kid.  LOL.

Anyway, after lunch Jackson and I went to the nurse to see if I could get that tooth out.   I tried, it did that horrible tearing sound (you know what I mean), he screamed so I stopped.  It bleed and bleed tho.  YUCK!  So we gave up and I told him that if it came out that afternoon to go back to the nurse. 

When I picked him up one of the little girls I met at lunch came running up to me and said, "Jackson's tooth finally came out!"  LOL.  I thought it was cute that I knew it from someone else before he could tell me.  But I played dumb when he came out and smiled...


I told Jackson that I believe the tooth fairy pays double for teeth when two fall out in the same day.  He was pretty excited about that.  ;-) 

Friday, October 7, 2011

Sandwich in the Sand, and round and round...

Remember the Belinda Carlisle song, "Circles In The Sand?"  I loved that song growing up.  Get ready to crack up over what happened today!

Jackson had a great morning at school doing good things in class and earning two Panther Prides (a reward system they have at school where if you get 25 Panther Prides, you get a special award from the Principal).  Anyway, for the past week he has been taking his lunch to school.  He begged Daniel and I to get him a lunch box so he could take his lunch like his buddy, Mason.  I was reluctant to do it at first because I have a lot of others things to do and adding the job of making his lunch everyday didn't excite me.  But I gave in.  Everyday Jackson has not eaten his entire lunch.  I'm not sending a feast with him or anything just a sandwich, fruit snack, and some crackers along with a juice box.  But he would eat the fruit snack, crackers, and one bite of the sandwich.  But remember Jackson is ADHD and takes medicine for that that makes him not very hungry at lunchtime.  Each night I would sit down and talk to Jackson about how important it is for him to eat his lunch at school.  Then I started to notice as the week progressed that when he got home he'd be starving and then not hungry at dinnertime.  Ugh!

So today I sent him to school with just a Peanut Butter sandwich and a juice box and told him that he had to eat his entire sandwich if he wanted me to put more fruit snack and crackers in his bag.  My thought was the whole wheat bread and peanut butter have a lot of protein and would help him not be starving by the time he got home from school.  Good idea?  I thought so...

So tonight when I picked him up from school he came out of the classroom and handed me his papers from the teacher and I asked, "How was your day and did you eat your whole sandwich?"  He replied and said it was a good day and that he ate his lunch.  Then the teacher spoke up and said, "Jackson, tell your Daddy the truth about lunch and the playground!"  So evidently Jackson ate the crust off of his sandwich and then took his lunch bag out to recess (which he has been doing) and then took the rest of the sandwich out of his bag and proceeded to bury it in the sand. 

Perhaps this is what he was trying to create?  LOL.
Bury it in the sand... yep, that's our kid.  Hiding the evidence of his leftover sandwich so Daddy would NEVER know.  However, our little genius keeps forgetting that Daddy went to this same school when he was a kid and knows a lot of the teachers there.  So he got caught and got in trouble for burying his sandwich in the sand.  The best part was when I asked Jackson why he did that, "Well, I wanted to feed it to the bird."  Yea, cuz Iowa birds love to dig for their food in the sand.  LOL.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Daddy did NOT like waking up to that!!

So before I can tell you about what happened this morning, I need to back up a little bit.  Last Friday, Jackson woke up at his normal time, went into the bathroom and threw up!  Poor guy.  So we kept him home that day and my mom watched him and Peyton for us while we went shopping for the new Grand Caravan.  Anyway, when we got home, Jackson had not finished his lunch and my mom said that he had been bouncing off the walls and seemed fine.  So I had him sit at the table to finish eating his lunch and all of a sudden he threw up all over the table.  YUCK!  That was so GROSS and I thought I was going to die as I cleaned it up.  But I got it all cleaned up and he seemed fine the rest of the weekend.

Yesterday, Jackson had another really good day at school.  After have a few bumps in the road with some bad behavior a few weeks ago, he has really turned that around and been VERY good!  Anyway, he was coughing a lot yesterday and had to go to the nurse because of it.  He has had a running nose and cold for the last week and I wasn't really surprised when he was coughing a lot.  Last night he started having some diarrhea, but didn't have a fever and we gave him some cold medicine and he went to bed on time.

At 4:30 this morning he woke Daniel and I up staying that he saw some shadows on the ceiling from his ceiling fan and Daniel gave him a hug and sent him back to bed.  At 5:30 I heard him crying and when I went to see what we wrong he had thrown up all over his bed.  (And I thought the table was bad).  YUCK!  So I got him into the bathtub and got him all cleaned up, threw the sheets in the washer and put him back in bed after giving him some Pedialite.  I called the doctor's office and she thought it was probably just drainage from his nose into his tummy that made him throw up.

Then at 11:30 Peyton started crying so I got a sippy cup of some milk and picked him up and he's clothes were wet...  and smelled...  really bad!  He had diarrhea too and his diaper exploded.  BLAAAHHHH!  So 8 hours later, a nap with more Pedialite and some toast... no more throw up or exploding diapers!  Keeping my fingers crossed because I may have to hire a maid to clean up another mess!

Peyton is on the move!!

Here we go...

 

And easily distracted, LOL...

 

Bye Bye Prius!

For months I have been complaining that my Prius (which I loved) was just too small for all of us!  The kids were crammed into the backseat and even the passenger seat had to be slide up all the way in order to fit the car seat behind it.  So this past Friday, Daniel and I went shopping and came home with our 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan!  Isn't is beautiful?





So we have finally become THOSE people with a minivan and I must say that even though it's big like a bus, I haven't had any trouble adjusting to it.  So... bye bye Prius.  I'll miss your great gas mileage the most!