New Blog

Just in case anyone still checks this..... I have started a new blog:

http://www.livelaughlove-angie.blogspot.com/

SwagBucks

Wanted to let everyone know about a new website I've come across ~ SwagBucks ~ http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=459694 . I am always on the lookout for good deals, but I'm also a skeptic, so I wanted to try this one out for a few weeks before I passed it on. Seems to be working great so far!

Basically, it is a search engine, similar to Google. By using the Swagbucks site to search, instead of Google or Yahoo, you can earn points to be used for various prizes ~ my favorite being gift cards :) You can also earn points by referring friends, and rather than me sending you unwanted emails, if you'd like to join Swagbucks, please sign up using this link: http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=459694 ~ that way I'll get some points out of it too!

Let me know if you have any questions ~ happy searching!

1st Baseball Game

Last week we took Jackson to his very first Orioles game. We had such a great time! It was especially fun for Jon, who has dreamed of this day since Jackson was born :)

Jack's favorite part was definitely getting his face painted....we couldn't believe what he picked, especially since last summer he refused face paint at every event we went to. He has definitely grown up in a year's time!

Jackson did really well at the game. He got his sports a little mixed up ~ every time the crowd would cheer, he'd say "Orioles got a goal!" and when Iasked him what his favorite part of the game was, he said "watching the Steelers and Titans play." We stayed until the 5th inning when we left to get back on the light rail before it got too crowded.

Our little Orioles fan sure was tired out by the time we got back to our car!

We can't wait to go back to Baltimore for another game!

life update

Just in case there is anyone out there reading this who doesn't have Facebook and hasn't already heard - Baby Mohr #2 is due November 2! We are so excited to meet our new little one - only 30 weeks to go! :) We were able to announce our news to our families over Jackson's birthday. Today was my first doctor's appointment and I was so relieved and happy to hear a strong heart beat!! Jackson has been pretty excited so far, and is coming up with some really random statements and questions about the baby....

*He's really excited that when I show him pictures on the internet of what the baby looks like in mommy's belly now, he thinks it looks like a dinosaur!!

*A few nights ago, I could hear him upstairs while Jon was giving him a bath, asking his daddy if he was allowed to "toot" in the bathtub.....and found it hilarious that when he did, it made bubbles! Also earlier that day we had been talking about how the baby lives in a bubble of water in mommy's belly. So of course, he put 2 & 2 together, and now one of his biggest questions is "Is the baby tooting in your belly, Mommy?" I honestly do not know the answer to that one!



I thought I had my memory card in the computer to upload some pictures, but I don't, so that will have to wait for another time.

per request :)

So obviously since Facebook, blogs are happening less often..... well I got a little reminder, so here's a post, finally! We've been busy as usual, this month hosting a 16 year old Japanese exchange student, Kana. We are having a good time even with the language barrier. Jackson was very excited to meet her and her first night here asked "Can you teach me the ABC's in Spanish?"

Speaking of Jackson, the little man is almost 3! Tomorrow we will be having a birthday party with our family here, and then next weekend (his actual bday is the 22nd) traveling to Maryland for another party there. When I asked him what he wanted to eat at his party, he said broccoli. I was pretty pleased with that since he comes from 2 non-vegetable eaters ~ it's much more of a challenge to make sure Jon & I are eating our veggies!

We are still working on potty training - what a joy...... the latest comments have been "I want to wear diapers alllll day!" and just a few minutes ago, "whew, reading all these books made me peed!" (in the diaper, not on the potty).

Well, almost time to eat.....we ordered pizza tonight ~ a cultural experience for Kana and a night off from cooking for me :)

Conversations with an (almost) 3 Year Old

Have I already mentioned how much I LOVE this age? I love listening to the new words and concepts Jackson is learning every day. He just makes me laugh :) Here's a few recent funnies...

*A few days ago, he was helping me make a batch of granola...picked up a plain almond, ate it, and said "Well, my mommy is the best baker EVER!"

*Sounding quite surprised, "I don't have a beards! I don't have a beards or a moustache!"

*Learning to tell a joke - "Mommy, I have a joke to tell you - chicken rooster chicken" followed by hysterical laughter.

*Yesterday, when Jon got home from work ~ Jackson knew we were going to a friend's house for dinner (and couldn't wait to go) ~ "Daddy! Go take a shower! You don't want to go to Jonathan's house stinky, do you?"

*Also to Jon, who was changing Jackson's diaper at the time ~ "Stay away from my poopie! It has germs in it!"

*To the person cutting his hair the other day, who asked him if he likes to make snowmen ~ "No, I like to make J-A-C-K-S-O-N's" (Jon always writes his name in the snow and J just thinks its the greatest thing ever).

What a kid :)

welcome 2009!

seems like blogging is kind of going by the wayside these days for myself and a lot of others now that facebook is more popular. thought i'd at least tell a little about our holidays so we can look back and remember (since my scrapbooking days are gone also...).

Christmas morning we woke up and opened presents and ate yummy chocolate chip oatmeal. jackson had a blast and was so happy and thankful for everything he opened! when we were down to the stockings, he started opening socks and said "oooohhhhh, look, a sweater!" i told him it looked too small to be a sweater, and he replied, "ohhh, a baby sweater!" thankfully he was happy with a new pair of socks. never really knew about his apparent love of sweaters before!

we got the car all packed up and headed to western md to my parent's home. it was a great trip and we were pretty much the only people on the road. we were there for 4 days and got to see a lot of family, some we haven't seen since last christmas!

new years eve we got together with jons family for dinner and game playing....with kids, the days of game playing until late at night are over, and we were home by 9. it was still fun though! jon and i watched a movie, happened to realize it was 1155, so we turned on the tv in time to see the ball drop. i think it's a little gross just how much making out they will show of the people in times square. what's with that?

now it's back to reality. we have been working all weekend on a house project, which i will tell about in more detail later, when i have more pictures. unfortunately i don't know if i have many "before" so you may just be seeing during & after. our christmas decorations and tree are all still up because i like to enjoy them as long as possible! maybe next week.

of course some photos for your viewing pleasure:

hope you all have a blessed 2009!

Christmas Eve Eve Update

Since the next few days will be busy I thought I'd take a few minutes to update a little now. This year we are really stretching Christmas out as long as possible! Since we will be heading to Maryland on Christmas Day, we will not be seeing Jon's family that day at all - so we've been exchanging presents with them over the past few days :) It's been kind of nice not having everything over & done with in one day!

On Friday, Joelle & Marc came over - they were pretty easy to shop for this year considering they have wedding registries, but our favorite thing that we found for them (which was NOT on their registry!) was - "Pimpin' Steins" - I kid you not. These lovely matching Bride & Groom goblets were covered in bling, and the box said something about being a true pimp. I definitely think these should be used on their wedding day, don't you? :)

Joelle's surprise bridal shower was Saturday, and she was actually surprised! It was a fun time with friends & family and it was great to see all the fun things she will have for her home!

Saturday evening was an attempt to do something fun ~ watch a Christmas movie and then have a family sleepover in the living room beside the Christmas tree. Jackson was pretty excited but at around midnight decided he'd rather go sleep in his own bed! We couldn't believe it, especially since lately he begs to sleep with us every night.

Sunday was another family get-together at Jon's Uncle Fred & Aunt Sue's house. It's always a fun time - this year it was a little different because Jon & I were in the midst of a huge rivalry football game - Steelers vs. Titans. Unfortunately the Steelers played terribly and lost, but here's hoping we meet again in the playoffs!

Tonight Jon's parents came over for dinner and to exchange presents. Jackson was so thrilled with his gifts, especially his new Cars MegaBloks set. (I think Jon was just as excited about this!) Jack loves to build and we decided to put away the baby MegaBlocks and go for the 3+ version ~ he is already loving them!

Tomorrow we have a lunch with the family where the kiddos will exchange presents. Church tomorrow evening and then back home, where J will be allowed to open one present ~ new PJs. Christmas day we plan to eat breakfast and open presents here first, then travel to Maryland to be with my family until the weekend. It's such a busy time of year but we never want to lose sight of the true meaning - the best present of all - God's gift of His Son!

One more week!

I cannot fathom how fast this month is going! One week until Christmas! I am so excited and I think Jackson is just going to LOVE Christmas this year!! Not anything totally important to blog about, but I haven't for awhile and I'm waiting for my oven to preheat, so it's a good time. :)

We have been busy getting ready for Christmas, have been sick a few times (thankfully Jackson hasn't gotten sick, just Jon & I), have had our Sunday School Christmas party here, cookie baking, etc etc, so it's no wonder it seems like the month is flying by.

Jack & I made cookies the other day - I cheated (and splurged!) and bought the Pillsbury sugar cookie pre-made dough. I do not recommend it! J had so much fun using cookie cutters and making stars and trees, but when I baked them, they flattened out so much that they just look like huge blobs. Oh well. He did have fun decorating them, especially because Jon was home to help us with that part!

It is so fun watching Jackson grow and especially hearing the new and random things he says each day. A few days ago, he was pretending to be a fox. He said, "I'm a fox! Don't worry, foxes don't eat people. Foxes eat flies - or something!" Last night he was up in his room, supposedly going to sleep, but we heard him going "BRRR
BRRR!!!" Jon went up and Jackson said, "Dad, I'm freezing!!" Jon said it felt tropical in the room but J heard the spaceheater shut off and wanted it back on. It's just so fun to be able to have real actual conversations with him!

And soon, he may be blogging on his own....I found him doing this the other day....

(Spelled out his name with magnets all by himself!) It should also be noted that the same day, I heard him saying "H - P - R - T - S - D - M - that spells HOT DOG!" He is trying at least! Spelling is his latest phase - he is continually asking us how to spell words. Its so much better than his last phase - stripping down and going to the bathroom in his room during nap time! :)

Thanksgiving Weekend with Tracy

My blogging has been lacking again lately! Since I'm averaging only 2 posts a month lately, I thought I'd try to get an early start in December. We had a great Thanksgiving weekend, although Jon & I both ended up with the 24-hour stomach/flu/yuck bug.

We were so happy to be able to host an International Student for the long weekend. We did this through Hope Community Church, and a few other families from our church joined us as well. Tracy arrived Thursday morning and we were so excited to have her with us! She is from China and currently attending Fairfield University in Connecticut to get her MBA. She has only been in the US for 3 months so this was obviously her first Thanksgiving and even the first time she had eaten turkey. We had quite the busy day! We went to Jon's parents for dinner, then later to his aunt & uncle's house for more food! After that we went to Chocolate World, because how can you visit this area without going to Hershey?! On Friday I decorated for Christmas and Tracy had a day trip with the other international students to visit the Amish. We then met back at Hope Community for a HUGE potluck dinner (my favorite!). Also, each country represented gave a short presentation. Here's an interesting fact we learned that night: People in Australia do not actually say "G'day." The Austrailian student said she has never heard of that until she came to the US!

Saturday was not quite as great! I woke up feeling sick. Jon, Jackson, and Tracy went to the Fractured Prune and I stayed home to throw up. I was feeling terrible, and so sad because we had planned to get our Christmas tree that day. Jon started to feel sick later too, although not quite as bad. Tracy ended up spending the day with the Hixon's and their student. I was sad we missed that day with her, but I am so glad she was able to have fun with their family and bake cookies for the first time ever!

We had to take Tracy back to the church to meet the bus on Sunday afternoon. The weekend went way too fast! Jackson was especially sad to see Tracy go. At one point while she was holding him, she said "OK, bye bye Mommy and Daddy!" He cried when the bus left, saying he wanted to go on it. It's no wonder, because Tracy was so sweet with him all weekend. We hope she is able to come visit us again!

Here's a pic of Jackson & his new friend!

Jon and I are both feeling better. I am still not 100%, but good enough. We got our Christmas tree last night and planned to decorate it, but it was still a little wet, so we will decorate it tonight instead. Yay for Christmas! I just love the whole month of December, with the decorations , lights, and Christmas music!

One of These Things Just Doesn't Belong....

Here's a picture of the bookshelves in Jackson's room. Do you notice something odd about them?

Yes, that's right. A Dwight Schrute bobblehead. The little stinker totally stole it from my computer/craft/misc room and proudly displayed it in his own room. I don't condone stealing (especially MY stuff) but this was pretty funny - so I told him he could keep it in there for the day.

Here's the little guy himself, looking quite innocent.

My Little Monkey

Jackson was a monkey this year for Halloween - although it was amazing how many people thought he was a bear. I guess they didn't notice the banana! Here's a few pictures of him in all his cuteness...

And of course with all the trees in our yard, we've been able to play in the leaves a lot! Jack has really enjoyed that this year. He loves to play hide & seek and be completely buried in the pile.

Quick Story

The other day I put Jackson down for his nap and came back downstairs to get some work done. I heard him whimpering off and on but stuck to my guns and let him stay by himself. Eventually I heard nothing, so I knew he was asleep. Several hours later, I heard him screaming, "HELP!!! Help Me!!" at the top of his lungs. So I went up to see what was going on and was greeted by him standing on his bed, naked except for his pajama shirt. Upon closer inspection, his socks, pajama pants, and diaper were on the floor.....and his bed was soaking wet. Evidently he stripped down, fell asleep, peed and woke up to wetness which scared him, because it took me about 1/2 hour to get him calmed down. Luckily I was planning to wash his sheets anyway because of his sickness. I wasn't planning on washing the mattress pad and scrubbing the mattress though. Oh and Monkey-Monk, one of his "guys" that he sleeps with, got a nice warm washing machine bath too. Just a quick story, hopefully you got a laugh out of it!

The Sick House

In the past few days, all 3 of us seem to have gotten bad colds. Well, I thought they were all bad colds....some of you by this point have already gotten a phone call from me warning you that my child may have exposed yours to pink eye! So yeah, Jackson had what I thought was a cold earlier in the week, and we noticed on Wednesday before church that he was rubbing his eyes, but he tends to do that when he is sick or sleepy anyway, so we didn't think anything of it. When we picked him up from Puggles, his eyes were all gunky, and to make a long story short, I took him to the doctors the next day and he not only had pinkeye, but a double ear infection to go along with it! I felt so bad! He is one easy-going guy though, and really wasn't acting sick at all. The doctor was amazed that this is the first time he's ever been on antibiotics.

Last night we were still able to go out to dinner for an early birthday date, thanks to my MIL who kept Jackson for us. Neither of us felt awesome so we were back to pick up J before 8 and came hope, all took medicine, and went to bed! Thankfully we are all feeling better today, because tonight is INSOMNIA.... our youth group all-nighter!! This is something Jon and I honestly look forward to every year. It is such a fun night...starting at the church at 830, going to Carlisle Sports Emporium for gocarts, roller skating, laser tag, etc, and then Bowling, then back to the church by 6 am. I am praying for continued healing so Jon and I can both go and stay the whole time!

Here's some pictures of my sweet sick boy....taken today after I put some cream on his poor runny/stuffy/chapped nose. Even being sick he of course still had to be silly for the pictures. He's been in a great mood all day and it is hilarious listening to him singing in his crackly sore throat voice. He is a trooper!

It's The Thought That Counts

The other day I woke up really motivated to be a good wife & mother, get a lot of stuff around the house done, and have dinner made good and early so that i could just pop it in the oven when I got back from my dentist appointment. Oh the plans I had. If they all had worked out, it would have been magnificent!

Unfortunately, I spent a good portion of the morning on the phone for various reasons....MOPS planning stuff, making appointments, etc. (and of course chatting with a friend). I then decided to be a "good wife" and make Jon some iced tea, because I knew he would be excited. (I am lucky that he is easy to please!) I boiled the water, steeped (is that a real word?) the tea bags, added the sugar, and let it sit out on the counter for a while to cool down. I poured myself a glass and put the rest of the gallon in the refrigerator so it would be good and cold by the time Jon got home from work. I had a few more things that needed to be put in the fridge, and as I added them on the shelf, evidently I was pushing to make them fit a little too hard...and all of a sudden, the entire gallon (minus one glass) of iced tea had tipped over and was pouring out. A gallon didn't look like that much when it was safe inside the pitcher, but when it was all over my refrigerator and floor, it looked like an enormous flood. I ended up having to take out 2 shelves and 2 drawers full of food, wipe all the food off and shove it (carefully this time) on one of the top shelves that were still dry. The shelves and drawers were so sticky they all needed to be washed so I stacked them up in the sink and tackled the floor next, while at the same time trying to keep the dog to stop licking it up and running around in it.

After I got the floor unsticky, it was time to wash out all the shelves and drawers. As I stared at the massive heap in my sink, my eyes drifted downward and I had to laugh - somehow the way the sun was shining through all the glass, it had created a rainbow on my floor - God does have a sense of humor! I tried to get a picture but the rainbow disappeared too fast.

Finally after everything had been washed and dried, I could put everything back in it's place. I had to roll my eyes when I saw this printed on the shelf the iced tea had been sitting on originally:

Evidently Whirlpool did not take iced tea tsunamis into account while labeling the shelves.

In summary, the unexpected refrigerator cleaning took me most of my morning. The eBay packages I needed to send just had to wait until the next day. I did get dinner made (a yummy asparagus and chicken casserole) but it had to wait until after my dentist appointment. And thankfully, Jon and I each still got a glass of iced tea out of the day.

PS...the good news is that while all this was going on, Jackson was playing away in his toy room, and only came out to say, "mommy, you made big mess. whyyy?"

2 1/2 years ago...

2.5 years ago I was in the hospital enjoying my baby boy's 1st day in the world! Actually, more than likely at this time, I was stuffing my face full of the delicious hospital food! (Not a joke....I think most people who have give birth at Womens & Babies would agree with me).



Anyway, not my point. My point is that my sweet baby boy is 2 1/2 years old today! In some ways, it doesn't seem possible that it could be that long, but then again, in some ways I can't imagine life before Jackson! And then when I think 2 1/2 is halfway to 5....wow! :)


So for those of you who don't get to see Jackson as much as we'd like....here's what he's been up to lately:

*He LOVES to pretend. And I LOVE to just sit outside the room listening to him making up conversations for his animals or Little People. It's hilarious!

*He still reads like it's his job. His latest thing is reading out-loud to us. Sometimes he makes up stories (and words) and sometimes he has the book pretty well memorized and will and least get the main ideas across.

*Can be heard singing about 85% of the day

*Current phrase: "Two more minutes!" Said pretty much anytime it is time to go to bed, get his diaper changed, etc.

*Favorite song: the ABCs - and many other made-up songs that are sung to the tune of the ABCs, also is enjoying Sunday School songs, especially Deep & Wide...("Deet - Wide!")

More Jackson cuteness to come at a later date, but for now I need to go get dinner ready.

Cedarville Alumni Reunion

On Saturday we went to Blackrock Retreat in Quarryville, PA for a Cedarville Alumni gathering. We had a good time with lots of our church friends who have gone to Cedarville - the Witmer, Nicklas, Feucht, and Griest families were all there. Good food, fun hayride, and a scarecrow making contest....although we were a little disappointed that our Mr. T scarecrow didn't win! Here's some pics of us with Mr. T.... (and note in the first picture, the one over Jon's shoulder is the one that won for funniest. Funnier than Mr. T? I don't think so! Just because it had a Jeff Beste name tag....argh.)

Fun Fort Friday

Since Jon worked long hours out of town this week, he had today off! He and Jackson had some male bonding time while I went to MOPS this morning. When I got home, we decided to go to the Fun Fort. When the Fun Fort was built, Gramps had a fencepost engraved for each of the grandkids. It was Jackson's first time there and of course we had to take his picture next to his Daddy's name!

Fun Family Weekend!

We had a really great weekend! Saturday evening, Jackson got to spend some time with Bobby & JoJo while Jon and I went to our friends PA wedding reception (they got married in Michigan). I was excited to get a little dressed up and go on a date! To give you an idea of how long its been since we've gone somewhere dressed up....we had to go shopping Friday night because all of Jon's "nice" pants have cargo pockets :) Anyway, we had a fun time at the reception and laughed a lot sitting at a table with our friends!!

Sunday we decided to go to Hershey Park - even though it was SO HOT, we had some free tickets to use and didn't want them to go to waste before the end of the season! It was Jackson's first time at Hershey Park and he had a BLAST! Can you believe this kid and how much he loves rides? He officially now goes on rides that I refuse - aka The Scrambler. That's great - my not quite 2 1/2 year old is braver than me! He did mostly the kiddie rides, but his favorite was definitely the Scrambler. I can't believe his size could even go on it, but he could! Jon said Jackson just laughed out loud the entire time! We spent several hours in the park, but when Jack almost fell asleep on a (pretty tame) kiddie ride, we decided it was time for a little break. We went to (air conditioned!) Chocolate World and got a yummy milkshake! It was a great day!!!

I wanted to write a caption for each pic but did the layout wrong....so as you can see...

#1 - Jack and Daddy rode lots of rides together!

#2 - Sleepy guy drinking our milkshake

#3 - Ready for the Scrambler! (Daddy taught him how to hold his hands up on the rides!)

#4 - Almost a Hershey Kiss, but just a Miniature for this year!

ChuckECheese!

Last weekend we all went to visit Joelle at college, do some shopping (yay, IKEA!), and take the boys to Sesame Place. Unfortunately, it poured all day Saturday so we improvised and went to Chuck E Cheese instead. It was a hit....thanks to Jon and Joelle getting multiple 100 ticket winners, the boys each got to pick out some cute new toys!

Another big even that happend recently is that our house is now pacifier-free! Jack has been using his paci only at night since he was 1 and I've been dreading taking it away. I noticed a tear in it, so I just cut the tip off and gave him a little speech about how sometimes when babies grow up to be big boys, their pacis sometimes break. He saw his paci and said "EWWWW....it broke!" He threw it in the trash! He has been doing pretty well without it....at night it just takes him a long time to fall asleep without it. The first night he slept through the night, but last night he woke up twice. The biggest problem has been naps....he's been not as sleepy for naps as it is lately, and now he really has a hard time. I am not ready to lose nap time, since that's when I get the majority of my work done! So today he is upstairs "resting quietly" and reading books in his bed.