Jackson's Singing Debut

So, talk about being behind with blogging...this is from last June. Jackson did a little musical theatre group and this was his little solo.

Jackson liked to act shy and embarrassed at times, but don't believe it, it is all an act.

And don't you love kids with microphones?? I think they talk even louder when they have one!

breathe, breathe, breathe...

I am feeling a little, mmm, shall we say stressed these days. I had hoped to be tying up all lose ends with work and start out December free to decorate, bake and enjoy. It isn't going to happen and I think I am mourning that a bit. Here I am, one week before December hits with 5 sessions left to edit, orders to be placed, a newborn session tomorrow, kids, oh yeah they take a little of my time, a house to keep up on (somewhat), errands to run, company for the holiday. I am feeling a little maxed out to say the least.

and to top that off, Jackson is going through one of his spells again...everything is a power struggle. Right now, in fact, he is on Santa's naughty list. Yes, I am that mom that manipulates with something as wonderful as Santa. I am sure much of the problem is my preoccupation with life. He is a boy who needs lots of attention and affection and I think I am falling short right now.

It is just a season, I realize this, but I sure can't wait until it ends.

So please, when I don't return calls, emails or just plain flake out...please cut me some slack and just call or email again. I promise I have every intention of getting back to you, my brain is just on overload.

Off to clean up my studio for my newbie session tomorrow.

Is Jackson too young to take morning duty with Paige??

Since P has been waking before dawn and also many times through the night, D and I are exhausted so we decided to close our door last night and let her put herself back to sleep instead of running in when she starts to cry. So, this morning after a nice night of rest we both awakened at 7:30am. D opened the door to see where the kids were. He heard voices from the bathroom and peeked his head in to find P on the potty with books and J sitting in the chair, waiting for her to finish. Oviously he had helped her out of her crib and onto the potty. D came back to bed and this is the bathroom conversation that followed...

J-"Paige, you're not allowed to wipe."
P screaming as she always does-"but I need to wipe."
J-"then ask me to help"

Then, after he helped her get her hands washed he took her into her room to get dressed and this is what we heard:
J-"Paige, you need to wear long sleeves."
P screaming as always- "I don't want long sleeves."
J-"But you have to."
P-"No."
J calmly-"alright, then I guess you can just freeze."

hmmmm....I think he may be ready to take on some more of my parenting duties. He has learned well from me and is doing a pretty good job!

Dear Santa...

Jackson wrote his Christmas list today...on his own. I am pretty impressed at how he sounded the words out. The only one totally off is the one he asked me about and I didn't listen closely and told him the wrong thing!!
(robot, spy kit, magnetic transformer, bug kit)

just another day in the life...

today was one of those days that ends before you realize it started. It was a whirlwind. I am ready for my family photo sessions to come to a close for the season. The last two weeks I have had three sessions each week and for me, that is killer. It takes me up to 10 hours to completely edit and post a session, so you can do the math. It is a lot. I know it is a short time each year and it allows me to have a little extra for Christmas gifts (I love giving gifts...definitely one of my love languages). I picked up Paige's Santa gift today and things are slowly coming together. It is a good feeling. Douglas told me he wanted to wait until he felt the Christmas spirit to shop which he then proceeded to tell me might not happen until Decemeber 22. Not happening baby. Your anxiety ridden wife can't handle that kind of stress and procrastination.

So back to the day...one full of excitement...carpet cleaners, grocery shopping, doctor appointment, back to the grocer for prescriptions. Exciting. Then the rest of the day. fwut, gone. J is having a slumber party with my dad who is here visiting until tomorrow and Paige is still screaming for me in her crib. Her new "big girl bed" remains in the boxes upstairs with little hope of being assembled anytime soon. She was demoted back to the crib after some peeing incidents and you know what, I like her there...no getting woken up all night long!!

D is a crazy man trying to finish up some applications by Sunday. It has been a long year. I miss my time with my man. We have to sneak it in where we can, but I do miss of evenings together playing games, watching movies etc. Life is always a-changin.

And now, I need to get a few things done. Just want to be better about updating this thing. Life is passing too quickly and I am enjoying motherhood lately, which I can't always say. It feels really good.

we indoctinate them early!!

Paige was having a hard time falling asleep tonight and D texted me to tell me that she was up in her crib yelling,

"BYU cougars!"

Halloween

I never really enjoyed Halloween until I had a husband and kids. I love planning costumes out (I usually start about July) and have really enjoyed having a family theme. Of course, it is a good thing I start so early, because I was still frantically sewing hours before the Halloween party to complete the costumes.

I thought J wouldn't go for the tin man idea, but he loved it. When people would ask what he was dressing up as he would enthusiastically tell them, "tin man". I think he confused a few people! Paigie loved that she got to be "Doroffy Ann" (her full name) and had the "no quace like home" line down pat.

Douglas is such a good sport. Have I ever mentioned how much I love this man. He lets me dress him up and laugh at him repeatedly EVERY year. I am one lucky woman.

Can't wait to decide what we will be next year...I am thinking twilight...or Harry Potter...or 50's peoples. The possibilities are endless and you will just have to stay tuned....

**note that her shoes are on the wrong feet**

Jackson's First Day of Preschool

Age four has been very refreshing with Jackson. He has hit such a great stage and we may, someday actually have another child now. He has given me a run for my money, but at the same time is such a loving, caring, social little boy.

This year I put him in the infamous Miss Debbie's preschool. He loves it. I am AMAZED at the knowledge he brings home everyday. He is so excited to come home and show me all the things he worked on. It is fun to see him excited about learning.

He is starting to sound out words which is really fun for both of us. He is such a smart little cookie (mom bragging....I am allowed to since it is my blog :))

The first day of school he had to decorate a visor. I let him go through my stickers and decide what he wanted. He choose a tent and campfire because he likes to camp with his dad. He choose Lightning McQueen, the color red, watermelon, pirates, cake...and a few more things which I forget. He was quite proud of his hat.

I am so excited for him to go to school. (and not just because I get a break.)











Can't wait to see how much more he learns this year!!

I love this little girl.

She makes me crazy nearly every single day and yet I think she is the cutest, sweetest little thing around. She loves to snuggle with her "guankie", and I love that she calls her brother "gwuder bear" and all her "p's" sound like "c's" like "airquane". She has no problem getting dirty. She loves clothes. She loves to brush her teeth. She won't watch 2 minutes of TV. She does not like to be thrown in the air or spin really fast. She always has to give me a million kisses and hugs before bed. She loves oatmeal and isn't motivated by sweets (don't know what that is like). She has the cutest curly hair and often asks to wear it "coorwier". She loves nursery and always, when asked what she had for a snack replies "marshmallows." She is all I could ask for in a little girl and more. I love you Sissy Bear.

Summer Fun

Should I be embarrassed that I am just posting these. I am a little. My dear friend Anne and I felt the need to submit ourselves to heat and misery in order to entertain our children for the morning...okay, actually it was noonish...what the h-e-double hockey sticks were we thinking? Just in case you are unaware, St. George is nuclear hot in the summer and since I choose to wear many layers at all times, we were feeling the heat. Mental note, do not plan outdoor activities, in the summer, at noon.

Anywho, I digress, as usual. We thought this park would be perfect because it has a covered playground, splash pad and swings. What more could our children want in a play area. We loaded the crew in Anne's mini van and off we went. It was a bit of a drive. (I won't comment on Paige in the car...let's just say, not fun. REALLY. Ask Anne.)

The park was a hit, but you know what?? We had to FORCE our children to get in the water. What is wrong with them. I think it was 115* out. Painful hot. They were all red faced, panting, yet we had to threaten them (in a nice, motherly way) to get in the water. Even I was "accidentally" getting wet. Kids are weird sometimes.

It was fun though. I am grateful for a kindred spirit who wants to do all my (and her) hair-brained ideas.


Cute little Miss P. Can I mention that I love this swimsuit. I wish I could still wear a hot pink swimsuit with a tutu on it. It would be great to hide my mid body muffin top.

Mr. Mason


Miss Marissa
.
Jackson and Mason trying to avoid getting wet.

Joe, not a fan of the water either.

J man swinging.

and hanging.

self portrait of yours truly. My glasses are really dirty. I think I am just used to it now. There are always little finger prints on them.

Cutie Pie

My bosom friend Anne.

My Favorite Time of the Day!

Those who know me well know that morning isn't my favorite time of the day. I wish I awoke and could jump right out of bed, but I would rather lay around for 30 minutes and slowly wake up. Every morning we have a traditions that the kids wake and come and climb in bed with me while I wake up. There is nothing as perfect and little Jackson and Paige snuggles first thing in the morning. It makes me sad to think that some day they will be too old for it...I hope that day is FAR FAR away.

Random Picture History

These pictures are old...summer old. I just don't get this thing updated like I wish I could. I spend enough time on my computer that when it comes to "recreational" computer time, it just doesn't happen. So, here you go...some picture documentation of the last six months!

We like pipe cleaners around here. We create all sorts of works of art with the bendy things.


I had a wedding the weekend of father and sons so it became father, son, and daughter for douglas. Good thing the kids have no problem being messy. This was also the infamous trip where D had a run in with the neighbors new surburban. Good times.





Jackson always feels the need to make this face when pictures are being taken of him. Weirdo.

Cookie dough...a favorite past time in our home.






All of my siblings came for the fourth. It was a good time. Nothing like lighting firecrackers at 6pm and totally light outside.

















We all took the kids to the splash pad. We took the wiggle bikes and raced them down the sidewalk and into the water. It was pretty fun!



Douglas in his super suit.

Cute little girl. She would carry a toothbrush around all the time if I allowed it.

Day 4

This is actually the last day I actually took pictures. We woke up early and drove the remainder of the way to Tikal. It was amazing. Just no other way to describe it. To think of those people building such massive structures just boggles my mind.

So this is a picture of the path carved by the leaf cutter ants. They would carry pieces of leaves 3x the size of their ant bodies. Pretty crazy. It kind of makes my head itch to see large quantities of insects in any given place.


One of the temples

Close up of the stones that are used to construct the temples.



Still good looking.

Mi mama y yo (gotta use some Spanish...we were in Guatemala). It was SUPER muggy there. And hot. And sunny. I am not keen on any of those things, but it was still worth it. I also saw some howler monkeys swinging in some trees. No howling though. I had hoped.

I also got bit on my bosom by an ant. No joke. It killed and itched for quite some time. I felt like I had ants crawling in my shirt the rest of the day. I think he thought it was his anthill. Ha.







I guess this is the scene in a Star Wars movie.

















So, no where in the US would you EVER be allowed this close to a ruin, much less climb on it.



Just starting to unearth another. They are all over this area.

So I passed on climbing this one. I am not much of a heights person and though I knew I could get up, I think going down would have freaked the bejeebers out of me.

My brave hubby did it though.


After we were finished at Tikal we got back in the van and drove the 8 hours back to Guatemala City. It was a long drive. Don't worry though, I kept everyone entertained with a myriad of games such as "20 questions" and think of a song with "this" word in it.

Monday was D's big 31. I got him nothing. hmmm. I guess he still gets to be married to me, what more could he want? Ha. We had a nice dinner and then went to the really nice, new mall to see "Angels and Demons" The theatre was as nice (or nicer) than any theatre in the US and they sell caramel corn at the concession stand. I am almost tempted to move to Guatemala just for that very reason.

Oh, I forgot, the last day the guys hiked the Volcano Pakai (spelling anyone?) I was lazy and bowed out. My back and feet bother me so much and by the last day I was feeling it (though my new tennis shoes are now making a world of a difference with that problem). The lava was actually flowing and once again, unlike the US, they let people climb it and play in it, if they choose. The guys spent most of the time throwing in sticks and watching them go into flames. My parents have since taken hot dogs and marshmallows to roast up there. True story folks. How many people can say they have had a marshmallow roasted over molten lava. Few, I am sure.

I know we have pictures from that event, but my organization lacks a bit and I may need to hit up my dad for another disk. Maybe D was smart enough to take the disk and hide it from me so I couldn't lose it. Good chance of that too. It is amazing that I can keep all my client's stuff findable, but when it comes to my own, my brain is overloaded and I seem to misplace things ALL. THE. TIME.

Anyway, story for another day.

I went shopping with my mom that day to pick up a few little souvenirs. Got J some really tacky Guat. shorts which he wears regularly, some really nice placemats (that I am yet to use), napkins and cute vege and fruit napkin rings. I got an assortment of other little things including a slingshot for J which he uses to shoot marshmallows in the back yard. We made it very clear when giving it to him that they were the ONLY approved ammo.

And there you have it...Guatemala. Oh yes, did I mention how FABULOUS it is to travel without kids? It is.