April Post

I am finally blogging again, thanks to Terri's gentle reminder :) At least I can get one in for the month of April!! I just haven't been able to find much time to check email, let alone blog! We have been loving the return of spring, and with the nice warm weather (with the exception of the last few days) we have been outside doing YARD WORK!!!! Many of you may have driven past our house and seen huge piles of ivy...we have been spending much of our time pulling these vines out of the ground. For those of you who haven't seen our house, the yard is pretty much a disaster. It seems that the people who lived here before us didn't enjoy fresh air or sunlight. Hence the ivy taking over everything. Its not that ivy can't be pretty, it's just that we'd like to give grass a chance. Along with the ivy, Jon and Jerry have been taking down small trees, shrubs, and branches...pretty much anything that gets in their way. And we have the railroad ties for my long-awaited fire pit!! So we are making progress! We did have a pretty bad setback when Jon got TERRIBLE poison ivy this weekend!! I really wish I would have taken a picture to gross you all out. It was bad. He finally did go to the doctor's last night and after starting some medication he's feeling much better already today.

Jon is taking down ivy...but really I think it's just an excuse because he loves to climb trees!

In other news, Jackson is learning new things every day! He is picking up so much vocabulary and repeating everything! He does have some trouble with p's, b's, and d's .... for example, Peeps (Jon's dad) is called "Beef" and Pap (my dad) is "Bapf." Which brings me to my story... Jackson has been fascinated with all things outside this spring, and I've been trying to plant flowers, so he's been "helping" a lot. He also loves to watch butterflies and the birds at our bird feeder. We went to Kmart the other day and were walking around the garden section smelling all the flowers and all of the sudden he starts saying (in his loud toddler voice) "Hi Booby!" Over and over again. I couldn't figure out why he would be saying this or how he even knew the word for that matter, so I tried to get him to stop and eventually he did (after getting some strange looks from other shoppers.) Later that night we were watching our bird feeder and he started again "Hi Booby, bye booby".... finally I realized he wasn't being ornery and saying booby...in his mind, he's saying BIRDIE! So this definitely makes a lot more sense but at the same time I'm hoping he learns some better pronunciation soon. Not yet as evidenced by last night when Jon walked in as I was holding Jackson up to the window to see the birds ....Jon said "what were you looking at?" Jackson's reply: BOOBS!

What is it with taking pictures lately? This is what I got when I asked for a NICE SMILE.....

Birthday Party #1

We decided to have an early birthday party for Jackson last weekend so Hiromi could experience an American birthday party for a 2 year old! :) We had an Elmo theme (so excited that this is Jackson's favorite and all the decorations happened to be on clearance at Target!) Jon's family all came for cupcakes and ice cream. For the first time, Jack really loved opening presents so that made it even more fun! Birthday party #2 will be held tomorrow with my family in MD.


Some pics...
Elmo cupcakes (suprisingly easy)...

The Aftermath... (also note that Jackson contracted the lovely 5ths disease, which is basically nothing except it looks like he was slapped across the face...the red cheek is not icing...it's rash!)and Opening presents!

Hiromi

It's been a long time since I've posted...we're currently at my parents (with high speed internet) so I thought it would be a good time to catch up! We recently had the pleasure of hosting a Japanese exchange student in our home for 2 1/2 weeks. We had a great time with Hiromi and are so glad she became part of our family! Jackson was especially attached to "Homie" as he called her. Here's a picture of the 2 of them -

We miss you, Hiromi!!

A Great Valentine's Day!

Wow, what a fun Valentine's Day we had this year! Jon called me around 6 am from work to tell me that Jena's water had broken and she'd be on her way to the hospital soon - WOW! Talk about unexpected! Needless to say, there was no more sleep after that, but it was definitely an exciting way to begin the day!

Jackson and I went to a Valentine's party at a friend's house that was so special - the kids helped the moms make little pizzas for lunch, and we also ate heart shaped cupcakes! Jackson had a great time at the party and slept ALL afternoon after all the excitement!

We gave Jackson his Valentine's presents - a stuffed animal fox (again from Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss) and a Captain Hook hat, hook & sword for his dress-up box. He LOVED all his presents and still has barely let go of the fox. After our dinner of heart-shaped meatloaf we went over to see Joelle, Marc & Owen and await baby news. We were so excited to hear that baby Avalyn Jean was born! She weighed 6 lbs 5 oz - a great size for being at least 3 weeks early! I was able to go to the hospital later in the evening with Joelle & Marc and hold her....soooo tiny! It is hard to remember that Jackson was once almost that small!! I would love to post a picture but I'm bummed that I forgot to take my camera last night! Adorable - just take my word for it :) We are hoping to go back this afternoon so Jon and Jackson can meet little Ava.

Congratulations Ryan, Jena & Owen!!

Mr. Independent

I am happy to report that the terrible twos stage seems to have taken a break for now, after just a few days. Hooray! Our new phase is "independence." The picture is from this morning (note the bed head) when after I changed Jackson from his PJs into his clothes for the day. He decided that he wanted to put his pajama shirt back on (new Toy Story pajamas that he's been loving to wear lately!) and tried for quite awhile to get his sweatshirt off. This was as far as he got, but refused to let me help him. So after about 10 or 15 minutes (and a cold arm) he humbled himself and said "Help Mama." By this point, he was fine with leaving the sweatshirt on and saving the PJs for later. I am excited that he loves the PJs though - one of those great random finds at the Disney Store for $3!! We've also watched the Toy Story movie 3 times this week!And just to clarify on the last post...if you want to try it but aren't crafty, don't be scared! :) You can make cookies or do whatever! I really wasn't expecting to get out of making something quite this easily!!

Pay It Forward

Have you heard about it? Pay it forward? A friend of mine had posted about this and I decided to take up the challenge! The rules? For the first 3 to comment on this PIF post who want to particitpate: You will get something handmade from me, maybe not anytime soon, but sometime within the next 365 days. Here's the catch...if you decide to participate, YOU must do the same on your blog, and make something for the first three people who comment on YOUR PIF post. You never know what you will get! Doesn't this sound like fun?!? (I must say the catch for me was the 365 days! NO PROBLEM with that time line!) :-)

Terrible Twos?

This past weekend I was able to go away with MOPS friends on a shopping trip to Philadelphia!! We had a great time, found some good bargains, and Jon & Jackson had fun at home. I came home Saturday evening and everything was fine....then came Sunday morning when the Terrible Twos hit! For the first time ever, Jackson didn't want to go to church - "no no no mama" with lots of screaming. I don't know what has gotten into the boy but he is definitely going through a rough phase right now - yelling, pushing me away, tantrums, etc. Now I know this is something every child goes through at some point, but I wasn't ready for my quiet laid back easy to please son to do this!! Last night was especially interesting as we had Josh & Christy over for dinner and I spent the entire time in the other room with Jackson because he was throwing a fit! He had only been spanked once ever in his life, but this week alone it has been 3 times. Not fun. After last night, poor J & C won't be wanting kids anytime soon! Thankfully, Jack is getting back to his old self and had a wonderful morning, when I took these pictures. Besides the little phase he is going through, his personality is starting to change a little to - into a crazy silly little boy!!

A few updates on Jack for those of you who don't get to see him & hear the funny random stories on a regular basis:

He is starting to PLAY with TOYS!! Instead of spending hours upon hours reading books, he also loves to play with Mr. Potato Heads & also is again a huge fan of his Little People. I am so glad that he will probably always love to read, but I'm also glad that he is starting to be a KID and PLAY!!

He loves to count, especially to 6. I often hear him saying "one, two, three, four, five, six, GO!"

He loves to pretend! I love that we can already see his little imagination at work as he feeds all his little people animals (and then proceeds to give each one an Eskimo Kiss - one of his other new favorite things).

Not much else new, we have been keeping ourselves very busy as usual and are looking forward to March when we will be hosting a Japanese exchange student for 3 weeks!