Colorado

We had a nice and relaxing trip to Colorado last week!

View from Dad's place

Jackson had one shower in the outdoor shower and then we decided that the sink was easier.

We visited a ghost town where the chipmunks are spoiled by the humans feeding them every day. We also saw lots of humming birds.

Riding the 4-wheeler with daddy.

Feeding the dog

Down the hill (in green) you can see the outhouse and the red building to the left is the outdoor shower.

Jackson played in the dirt a lot!

Just hanging out

This is the shed/building/whatever you want to call it that we stayed in.

The "main house." There is a fridge, stove, oven, sink with running water, long table for eating and playing games, and several beds/pull out couches.

Hopefully that gives you an idea of visiting Dad's place. It's nice to be out in the middle of nowhere forced to do NOTHING. Lots of eating, playing games, sleeping, reading, and talking.

A Much Needed Night Out

Tonight Jackson got to go to dinner with his good friends, Jacob and Luke. We had a lot of fun! First, we had some yummy Mexican food and then we had some ice cream from down the street.

It was VERY hot out tonight!

Mommy and her little dude.

Jacob is a great photographer! (I love that little Luke is in the bottom of this picture. I think this captures perfectly what it's like to be a mom to a toddler!)

Special friends

A rare family photo

My Girls

I just wanted to send a quick BLOG hug to my 3 very best friends in the whole wide world. I love these girls so much. The memories and love we've shared over the past 19 years are priceless and so important to me! We've had a lot of additions to our little group here recently and it's been hard for us to be in different towns and states. Thankfully, we each have a blog and we have had so much fun keeping up with all the little ones this way. I know that no matter how far apart we are or how long it is between visits we will always be super close.

I love you Amanda, Katherine, and Lauri.

More Summer Fun

We've had a lot of fun recently! I sure do love spending time with this little guy! Here are some things we've been up to:

Reading some books



Getting another hair cut (love the little spikes up front!)



The Frisco library has a great children's program. I've been wanting to go for a while but since Jackson has been still taking 2 naps it just never seemed to work out. We have gone down to one nap a few days and one of those days we took advantage of the extra time and went to the baby (walkers to 17 mos.) story time. It was so fun! We sang songs, learned sign language, and read a book. Jackson is usually very much a mama's boy but look at how brave he was! I had a blast watching him. He was so interested in everything. It's funny to watch the difference between boys and girls. The girls were all standing right by their parent and dancing and doing the hand movements and the boys were just running around or sitting in their parent's lap. At first I felt like I had to try to keep Jackson right by me but then I noticed the other parents letting the kids walk around if they wanted. Because I'm really trying to encourage Jackson to let go of me a little I sure didn't want to stop him! So, he basically stood right up front most of the time and then would walk around some of the other parents and kids. I just kept thinking...please don't let him pull another kid's hair (he's been doing that some recently.) The children's story time is taking a break until later in August so we won't be able to go again before he goes back to daycare. I just wish I had known how great their little program was sooner!



Poor Grayson has to hide a lot these days!



Destructor in the kitchen again, probably for the 10th time that day!

Jackson had his 15 month check up. Here are his stats: 21.15 lbs (20- 25th %) and 31.3 inches tall (50-75th %.) He seems to be a growing boy!

We've been going to the pool a lot and Jackson is definitely getting more used to the water. Maybe next summer we'll do some swimming lessons?

Jackson will be taking his first plane ride tomorrow to Colorado. Wish us luck! We'll post pictures when we return.

Fifteen Months

Jackson is fifteen months old! Here's what's going on with Jackson right now:

• PICKY, PICKY, PICKY - my has he become picky! He is not eating any vegetables right now. I'm so sad about this. He is no longer eating cheese and some of the other things he's always loved. He's even saying no to fruit sometimes! He still says yes to milk, yogurt, crackers, cheerios, nutri-grain bars, and turkey hot dogs. I really want him to be a healthy eater so I'm hoping this phase passes. We'll see. We even try to sneak things in - like today, I hid one black bean in a slice of banana and he immediately knew something was wrong and pulled the black bean out! I am thankful that he still likes milk and water. I've never given him juice because I just don't see the point in all the sugar and very little nutrient value. I wonder how long I can hide it from him?
• He has 6 teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom.)
• He is walking so fast these days and is into EVERYTHING!
• He is talking a lot but none of it makes sense yet. I feel like he's on the verge. I've heard him say "ba" for ball once and he will say "moo" after we say it. We still hear mama, dada, and nana for banana.
• This kid sleeps like a champ. I know I am SO lucky. He sleeps about 11 - 12 hours at night (unless he gets to bed late) and 2 - 3 hours in naps (2 naps a day still.) I am very nervous about starting back to day care. I don't want to go back to terrible napping. I'm going to be optimistic for now. I usually sing him 2 - 3 songs, put him in bed and leave the room. He sometimes fusses for a few minutes and then goes right to sleep. Like I said, we are lucky!
• Today we went through one of those carwashes where you stay in the car and Jackson totally freaked out. I've never seen him react like this. He was terrified. He cried, screamed, and seemed to try to scoot as far back in his car seat as possible. He watched those big scary blue things drop on the car with such fear in his eyes. I was so surprised that he reacted this way.

Another shot of his after dinner hair. We cannot take this kid anywhere!



Loves to crawl under everything!

Jackson is thinking, "Hmmm, daddy's computer is better than mine!"

Playing under mommy's sink.



Destructor (as we like to call Jackson) has been through the kitchen. And this is actually better than usual. What's the point in even trying to clean?

Can I just say that I really miss this sweet hair! (This was Feb or March, I think.)

That's it for now. Have a great weekend!

Happy Fourth of July!

I love Independence Day! It's so nice to see all of the flags out and see people enjoying the day off with their family and friends. I'm so proud to be an American! I feel especially proud having a dad that served our country in Vietnam and a brother who is currently serving our country in Iraq. We are so proud of Uncle Alex for his bravery and sacrifice. And I think it should be noted the sacrifice that his wife and little girl make as well while he is away. We love you Aunt Jessica and Emma!

Also, a special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Aunt Courtney today!!!!!!! And, by the way, she recently found out that she is going to have a baby BOY in November. Yea!


Jackson and Daddy this morning

Jackson with Uncle Alex in August before he went to Iraq

God Bless America.