Jackson's Lane

Hey Valentine!

2012-02-09T23:59:00.001-06:00

Kevin is at a work conference and I think having a good time.... so tonight I had some of my girlfriends over with their youngins for some fun of our own! We had a Valentine/Birthday bash and it was oh so great!

6 amazing moms, 7 brilliant tots = 1 pretty fun night!

I love my little "love bug"... his shirt so darn sweet!!

I whipped this up at 5 pm using some scraps I had around the house, with an hour before our guests arrived and think it turned out pretty cute :)

I'm pretty sure its a good night when two bottles of VC Rose was consumed :)

Happy Birthday to Mommy!

Our little fashionista Georgia with a TB baby outfit!!

ooooh the cake! (and yes we changed b/c I couldn't get choc cake all over that darling shirt since we want to wear it again on V day :)

Jack and Blake finally having some quiet time!

Annie, Jack and Rowan :)

Thanks ladies for coming over and sharing your night with us, we must do it again soon!
xo

Hello.....Ohio!

2012-02-09T23:47:00.003-06:00

I firmly believe that if you have a grandparent alive (great grandparent to your children) that you owe it to them to ensure they meet your children. When you get older you may have the same routine day in and day out, but your excitement comes from family.

Family is key to a young heart.

I had been keeping my eye on flights to Ohio (where my fathers mother lives) and finally found a deal last Tuesday, which would book us for Sat - Mon. So I went ahead and booked it last minute, called my family and told them Jack and I were routed to Ohio in just a few days. With open arms my Aunt Carol and cousin Shelly welcomed us into their home and Jack got to meet my fathers side of the family!

Here in a TON of pictures is our trip up north!!!

Jack was such an amazing little travel buddy, he was SO good on the way there and was really enjoying everything "airplane" related.

We used our $1 store secret again and filled up our carry on bag with tons of new cheap toys, it did the trick and for $20 bucks its worth the trip to your local $1 store! If you are here in Houston, Giant Dollar off Hwy 59 has the best selection of toys for a plane ride!

Mommy isn't no dum dum... lollipops were ready for any meltdowns...as we all know rewarding meltdowns when you on a plane full of people is well... the only way to go. Lucky for us Jack was perfect and so he actually got one as a reward for such a good flight.

The "iPan" or iPad was of course a much needed tool for our trip!

We got in our rental car and head about an hour towards Massillon, Ohio!

The drive was scenic with white snow!! So pretty and Jacks first time to see real snow!

As soon as we got into town our first stop was to see my grandmother in her nursing home. I can't say that first time seeing in her almost 10 years was easy, it was tearful! Jack warmed right up to her and immediately asked if she would play "battle trucks" with him. Of course she did, if you cant tell, my grandmother loves cars, and she was excited to partake in the fun.

After about three hours with G.Millie we headed over to find Aunt Carols house and settle in for the night. Jack got to meet his cousins and had a ball showing off for Katie and Annebelle.

On Sunday we woke up and decided before our visit to GMillie we were going to play in the snow.
So I took Jack and we did a little exploring of our own, and we really had such a blast, I loved watching him!!

I just love this picture of him stomping in the snow with his new snow boots!

We took GMillie lunch and visited with her for quite a while. I loved being able to sit, hold her hand and just talk with her in person!

The next morning we woke up and I captured this picture for my Dad. That hill in the far back is the very hill that he used to sled down when he was a little boy and that building in the back was his middle school (now closed). Just such a neat thing to think my Dad once walked in this very spot Jack was!

We said goodbyes to our family

made our way back to see GMillie

and then stopped for a Cameo Burger to bid our farewell to Massillon, Ohio

Baby boy had not taken a nap on Sat or Sunday, so by the time Monday rolled around he was ready for a siesta! He took a nap in the car from our trip back to Cleveland.

An hour or so later we arrived and decided to check our the Cleveland Science Museum before our flight.
It was such a great place and Jack really enjoyed being able to touch everything in sight!

We tucked baby boy in (we had the entire row on the flight to and from) and headed back home.
I am so grateful to have been able to introduce our loving little to my Dads family. I know they were so excited to meet Jack and we were so excited to finally be together again! Until next time...

Birthday Celebrations!

2012-01-30T11:44:00.001-06:00

This weekend was full of celebration! My best friend Trish came on late Saturday to Houston with her family to celebrate some birthday love.
I finally got to see Trisha's baby again, it had been so long and she is now 8 months and just adorable!

Trish came into town as we were celebrating the two J's - Jennifer and Jessica.

Jenn turned 33 and I will turn 32 on Feb 7.

Aged to perfection :)

Mandy and Megan might have made me laugh all night and we might have been up on stage to sing few songs,but I will save you from those tunes!
Of course we had a wonderful night but Sunday morning was a tab bit hard to wake up to...ha
The party hats came off and the Mommy hats came back on. I got it in gear and took Jackson to his little buddy Kyles birthday at Pump it Up. Kyle is in his redbird class at St. Martin and it was nice to talk to a bunch of parents from his class and put the kids face with the parents!

We played for a good hour and then instead of pizza and cake we headed over to the delicious Tiny Boxwood to meet up with Trish and family for lunch.

We came back to the house where the kids played and I only wish they lived in Houston!

Jack got to open his Christmas gift from The Beshers ...

with a little help from Maggie of course!

He got a little tent with balls and of course they had a BALL of a time!

It wouldn't be a gift from Aunt Trish unless there was a designer involved... love his little Joes jeans!

Such a great pre birthday weekend and celebration for so many great people!

We are celebrating again in two weeks by going to Kevin's parents place in Galveston with our neighbors for a little mini weekend get away! I love February! Birthday fun!

A Night of Magic

2012-01-27T00:28:00.000-06:00

Kev and I attended the TSA Gala and it was such a wonderful night out. We got to dress up, join some old friends, have a glass of wine and most importantly donate to such a wonderful association.

As soon as we walked in we were stopped by the magician to partake in a few tricks...

He really was amazing and somehow made us sign the same card, even though we were certain we were signing different cards :)

We perused the silent auction and there was SO many amazing choices!

Dinner was delish and there were so many heart warming and informational speeches

Between dinner I went back to check on our auction .. to find out that we won both that we bid on! Yay!

1st up our donation to win 4 tickets to Disneyland (California)

2nd was our donation for The Round Top Birthday Collection by Jeff Krause.

I love that every birthday this will now adorn our house for the kid(s) and be in kind of TSA!

We got home and checked on our sweet angel who had a wonderful report from his sitter. You can see why the J.Krause is right up my ally, I love to decorate..I think I need a valentines motif for Jacks bedroom door, b/c I have skipped right over that and gone to Spring.

Our little love all tucked in and a healthy blessing he is.

Poof...we are off to sleep!

Rain rain DONT go away

2012-01-26T23:51:00.000-06:00

I am loving all this rain, the yard looks fabulous and Jack and I get to wear rain boots!! But it would have been nice if it was a little spread out instead of monsoon days which causes massive flooding in Houston.
Oh well at least we still look cute :)

Splashes, Seersucker & Spills

2012-01-24T22:24:00.001-06:00

If you live inside the loop and are in need of swim lessons I can't say enough wonderful things about St. Street Swim. Chad and his team of wonderful coaches are the most patient and loving group of people in the water this side of town! We have moved from Thursdays with Coco to Tuesdays with Veronica, both of which are such great teachers. While this could easily be a task for Nelvi to take Jack to swim lessons especially now that I don't have to go in the water ... I just won't give up my 30 minutes to watch him in the water. It's so much fun watching his little legs kick and his little arms flap around..all while then looking up at me and smiling as if he was saying "did you see me do that, Mom?!?"

I took the camera with me in the observation area and snapped a few pictures of his lesson today.

He is improving his water kicks each week!

He has been doing this for a while now but I just love watching him do this. Veronica puts him on the edge of the pool and tosses him in, he then has to find his way to the edge while he is fully under water...

..his little hand pops up...

..and he searches for the edge to pull himself up!

Here is swimming with assistance from the base deck to the pool stairs under water..and trying to keep his arms in front of him.

This is not his favorite thing to do, but he has gotten so much better at floating on his back!

a little wave from my big fish!

I found one of Jacks Easter outfits and of course had to try it on, we have a little room in it, but that's ok we have a few months :) I love seersucker and anything with a bow tie....so darling!

and I had to add this picture of him dancing... he cracks me up on a daily basis and if he doesn't look like his Daddy here ...omg!

And last set of pictures ....

My mom got Jack potty treats, so that he can have ONE if he tries, TWO if he goes teetee and THREE for the other. Sad to report that he usually one gets one and he has figured out if he just sits down really quick he thinks that's "trying" and that should surely get him "just one candy" as he says. lol

But apparently one just wasn't enough today..

So while I was getting ready for the gym I heard a loud crash and ran into the bathroom where I saw this...

he had gotten on top of his potty to reach up to get more which ended in them all over the floor...

which of course lots of tears ensued "oh no my candy" was repeated over and over ...

I told him we couldn't eat the candy off the floor after he tried to scoop them up with his little hands...

It was fun.

Oh the life of a two year old!

Legos, Victory Vipers & Rolly Pollies

2012-01-22T21:04:00.003-06:00

I got up very early Saturday morning to go check out an estate sale which happen to just be a few blocks from us. I have always loved this house because the flower gardens are amazing and the house is just grand and beautiful, so when I saw there was an estate sale it intrigued me and I knew I had to go. It turns out the lady that lives in the house fell in love with someone in NYC and just decided to take what she wanted and leave an almost packed house behind. I couldn't believe my eyes on all that was left for sale in this 7 or 8 bedroom home. It was massive and her tastes are impeccable.

Any who I had so much fun checking out this very wealthy family's "left overs", call me weird but its just interesting to me! My score of the morning were two huge tubs full of legos for $10! I got home and the boys were just waking up (told you I was up early!) and so I told Jack I had a surprise for him in the living room. I'm not sure who was more excited, but they had so much fun digging through the legos! Jack still isn't to sure on what to do with them yet, but I'm sure the building will soon come!

This I'm sure is just the beginning to me finding legos all over the house.....

hence finding this one in his crib that he told me was in "time out"...lol

After our morning of legos, we got ready for our friend Avery's birthday party.

Her party was held at her friends place Victory Vipers Gymnastics Center and boy did we have so much fun! Jack right away ran over to the foam pit and wanted to be tossed in!

...Daddy wasn't far behind him :)

Then it was off to check out all the other fun that was to be had.

Avery looked so darling in her Hello Kitty outfit!

My friend Heather is expecting another friend for us! She already has one beautiful little girl (Avery) and she is pregnant with another girl!

After lots of running around we got in the car and headed over to Sienna Plantation.

Since we were in the area we decided to check out a few houses that we had seen online.

The house search for us is always on, we still haven't found the perfect one,

but we are hopeful some new contenders will pop on the market this spring!

But we still had fun at the park and hello another reason we love Sienna....

Snow on the hill for the kids ..just because! So fun!

Then we drove back home and worked up an appetite and thirst for margaritas at Ninfas :)

Sunday we hit the legos again :)

..and went over to our friends Rick and Christine's house where we found some new friends...

That's right...Jacks first sighting of a rolly polly! Oh how I love having a little boy!

Love his little face :) He was giggling so much

Oh and no naps the entire weekend... uh we are tired with smiles :)

Neighborly Weekend

2012-01-15T21:30:00.000-06:00

This weekend we had a low key weekend hanging out a lot with our neighbors.

We went to River Oaks Elementary and played with the rocket launch that Wes brought.

I think Daddy wished we had our own rocket launch, it was pretty cool and easy for the tots too! :)

Jack & Wes

The boys were little risk takers climbing the spider web...

..and look at Wes, he got up there pretty far! Wowzers!

After a run at the park we headed over to Berryhill, where at our location kids eat free on Saturday and get free ice cream. Score!

Debbie is pregnant with another friend for us! So exciting!

oh and don't forget to add the sprinkles to your ice cream!

On Sunday morning we woke up and joined a bunch of our neighbors to cheer on the runners of the Houston Marathon. The race path runs right behind our houses so its been a neighborly gathering spot each year for us.

We were so excited that we got to cheer on our neighbor Mr. Suttles

David was so excited to see his Daddy, so cute!

Bringing out the cow bell for the boys to bang on

and shake shake shake those maracas

there are always a few costumes that make us laugh :) men in tutus...silly boys!

After we got all our cheering in, we walked back to our houses. Of course the boys had to stop and check out the newest fun on our street...a new house will be here soon.

We took naps and watched the Texans playoff (so sad they didn't make it). Then Mommy and Daddy got on running gear and took a jog around memorial park while Jack relaxed in his stroller. After we decided to treat ourselves to Yia Yia Mary's for some hummus (Jacks favorite).

Pretty good little weekend!

Oh and Jack's limp is gone as of Saturday. Thank heavens, that was a long week of worry!

Sleepless in Houston

2012-01-08T22:15:00.004-06:00

So while I hope each and every one of you were sound asleep last Thursday.... my little baby boy was not :(

We were at Texas Children's in the ER...for six long hours from 9 pm until 3 am.

Thursday during the day was a normal day for Jack, once I got off work we went to play at a friends house and again all was normal. We ate dinner at our friends house played a little more and then around 6: 30 pm decided to head back over to our house. Kevin said that as soon as Jack walked in he noticed that he was walking funny but thought its because he needed a diaper change. Once the diaper was changed he then asked me to come in and I immediately noticed his leg doing some very strange. He had gone from playing normal to somehow coming to our house and walking with a very pronounced limp leg. It was odd, scary and confusing. We kept asking him if his leg hurt, we attempted to check him ourselves and he was acting if nothing was wrong, yet when he walked something was VERY wrong. It was not the look of "oh maybe he just hurt his food" ... this was scary, his leg would sway out far to the side and did it every time he took a step. So after many calls and talks with our pediatrician we headed to the ER. I won't even go into the frustrations of people using the ER as a regular Dr for colds, but we were there for six long hours, and our poor son was exhausted and wanted to go to bed. The ER Dr did rule out a few things (with xrays and exam) for us but really wasn't able to give us any answers on what this was. The next morning the leg kick out wasn't as far, but it still was there, so we took him as requested by the ER Dr to our Pediatrician office, where he was checked out again. He still is walking a little funny but the kick out isn't really there anymore, so all we can think of is that he played a little to hard and strained something, but with that you would think there would be some pain associated somewhere... however he was no showing of pain anywhere. When the Drs moved his legs and joints in every different direction there was no flinch and no cries. He otherwise has been acting 100% normal, no fever, eating fine and running laps in our house like a two year old does. His limp basically isn't holding him back, its as if he doesn't he know he is doing it. Which to me was/is the scary thing about it.

Such a mystery but we are glad each day he is showing improvement and that is what our Dr is looking for.

I think this was around 1 am in our patient room, poor little guy was so tired but just couldn't go to bed. Thank heavens for the iPad

But even with all of this... life with a toddler still moves on!

We stayed put on Friday and Sat morning put up the Christmas decorations. The front door felt a little bare so we found a few things around the house to put this together.

We all needed a little cheer to perk us up, we were so tired!

We have read through just about every book in the house this weekend ...

...and we took a few warm baths to help with the leg.

To keep it interesting we brought in shaving cream to play with!

Saturday afternoon we wanted to get out of the house, so we headed over to The Badeaux casa for some football cheerin, chip munchin, and toy playin'

The little boys took over the media room with Winnie the Pooh... lol

While the big boys took over the living room with jumps and high fives

Everyone was so excited that the Texans won the 1st round of the playoffs, it had sure been a while!

And we sure hope its a while before we ever see another ER!

Here is hoping to this is gone just as fast as it came on.

Oh never a dull moment :)

Looking forward to a New Year

2012-01-02T23:02:00.000-06:00

The end of the year always brings the time when we stop to take a moment and reflect about what the year has brought our families. We love that we started this blog as a baby book for Jack and its given us a way to look back with ease! We often sit back and go through previous months and say "oh my look how little he was". Jack has certainly turned into a little boy and is continually developing and blowing us away with his smarts.

To put it simple 2011 was excellent! (That is Jacks favorite word right now).

I wonder if 2012 can get any better, but I know it will. We will take all that we have learned, gained and accomplished and apply it to have even more for this year!
More happiness, more love, more family time, more friends, more opportunities and just more smiles!
I'm looking forward to capturing a new year!
xo

New Years Eve

2012-01-02T23:01:00.000-06:00

Year end means I'm busy as a bee with work, deals often close at the 11th hour and that can mean late hours during Christmas and New Years. Jack is at an age where having a sitter is a great few hours for us and really fun for Jack. We have a few sitters on our list that we have from care.com (which has been really great for us). We were very last minute with our plans since I was in limbo with work, but we ended up still having a really great night and everything came together!

We got a cancellation reservation to Philippe, which is one of my favorite Houston restaurants, yum!

We then came home for a few minutes to make sure I didn't have to save any lives at work (sometimes I think with all the "urgent" or "emergency" emails we get during year end, I might as well call myself a Dr.. ha)
Then we again were so lucky, I reached out to my friend Maura totally last minute and she graciously made us VIP for here:

Discovery Green was packed, I don't even know how many people were down there, but the VIP area (yes I know I like saying that...thanks Maura) was so spacious..and had free drinks and outstanding food!

Oh the yummy food.... this was my favorite..
I might have had two scoops of ice cream on top :)

complimentary glow sticks galore.... I even got to take a few home for Jack :)

and the countdown begins...

ha ha the lights were so bright :)

Kevin and I might have just been going willy nilly...
but it turned out to be the perfect way to ring in our new year!

New Ride

2012-01-02T22:57:00.001-06:00

Jack has been really enjoying his new car! We have picked up a few of our friends and taken them around the block. The batteries need charging after all these trips but it's been so cute to watch Jack drive.

Leaving the house to go pick up a friend...

Pulled in to our friends..

Both of them were fully alert and stopped when they saw a real car. Jack would pull over and say "big car, wait your turn"

Wesley was really curious about the wheels

Our three cars :) ha! love it!

Then our friend Klein came over and Jack took him for a spin.

Look at how Klein was holding on! So so so funny, he is 11 months old and loved it!

Jack actually is a pretty good little driver, here is some video of him taking to the streets!

Memorial City Mall

2012-01-02T22:56:00.000-06:00

Daddy went golfing today and it was a little chilly/windy outside so I decided we would go check out MCM. I went to the mall this past weekend and prior to that had not been there for a while. So I was surprised to see how clean and organized the toddler play area is and made note. We live so close to the Galleria that we really have no reason to ever go to MCM, but now when it comes to indoor play, there will be no more Galleria. The Galleria doesn't have any rules around age limits and often poor Jack gets trampled by older kids. At MCM there is a height requirement and there is someone guarding the front to ensure that everyone follows the rules! It was so refreshing not to have to worry about baby boy getting pushed down. So we spent a few hours at the mall checking out the new sights and really had such a fun little morning together!

I just love this sweetheart, he waves at everyone, and just loves it when they wave back.

So if you see a kid waving to you while they are in a train at the mall...

take the second to wave back ..it really makes them so excited!

Here is our video from the train

After our train ride we got a mini cookie and it sure was scrumdiddlyumptious!

Look at that cookie mouth, someone really enjoyed his morning!

Potty Treats

2012-01-02T21:13:00.000-06:00

We are trying something new. Mimi found this treat dispenser and put Jacks Potty Treats on it. We started tonight letting Jack know that he would get 1 m&m for sitting on the potty, 2 for going potty and 3 for going ..well you get the idea. He of course really liked this idea and wanted to even cut his bath short so that he could go sit on the potty again.

Lets see if this works, I have seen our neighbor going through the potty training and it looks a little exhausting... but we all have to do it so here we go :)

I hope that we won't have to keep blogging about potty business for long!

Pretty Paper 2011

2011-12-31T14:00:00.002-06:00

We loved opening the mail in December, we got to see so many beautiful families, thoughtful messages and we especially loved the cards that gave us a chuckle! I am sad to see my mailbox dwindle down to bills and junk mail, but we still have the cards up to make our playroom merry and bright!

This was our Christmas card choice for 2011 and we couldn't have been happier!

Oh and don't forget the bling that was on the card, so festive and fun!

Cajun Christmas

2011-12-30T21:16:00.000-06:00

We woke up Monday after Christmas and Jack went straight for some more of his new toys. While he might have been a little overwhelmed on Christmas Day, he for sure is putting all the toys to good use now!

Jack has two names for these dinos..."Rawr" & "Spikey" ..so cute.

Jack is pretty much the Hungry Hippo champion around this house... although its pretty funny that he has already tried to be a little sneaky toot and thinks he is being so clever by using his hands to put the marbles in the hippos mouth while at the same time pushes the lever.

We were keeping busy as we were anxiously awaiting my family from Louisiana and Colorado to arrive! We were so excited when they got here and Jack loved every minute of having his cousin, Toni Rose to play with!

Kevin holding Evie while everyone got settled, I think Daddy would love a girl :)

ha ha Jack is so funny! Check out that face! Trying to see what TR had going on!

Such a lovely photo with all the cousins + iPad... toot!

We did another round of Christmas and we loved seeing little TR's face light up with joy when we spoiled her with dolls galore!

We decided that we were done cooking and so a trip to Rudy's BBQ was on the agenda!

and after we were so full, couch time was just in order for us all! Jack took to Uncle Dan right away :)

Once these two recharged their batteries they were back to playing and jumping!

Such a fun day and now that TR lives just a few hours from us in Louisiana we can't wait to do it again! Now if we could just get Aunt Vonnie and Uncle Dan to move from Colorado!

Geaux to bed sweet angels!

Christmas Afternoon

2011-12-30T21:13:00.001-06:00

Well if I thought the morning was over the top... the afternoon was another Strehlow/King event that would provide for hours of unwrapping, laughs, good eats and fun games!
We got cleaned up from the morning...

and you guessed it more bouncing occurred.

and Jack was busy playing with his new toys..

which gave us time to set the table!

Oh I would have loved a beautiful family picture on Christmas...

but this is what I had to settle for...because someone was TOO busy with his new toys to take pictures!

My beautiful grandmother!

Oh darling Jack we could have had a four generation picture... but nope, you just were not interested!

because you were busy bouncing! ha

Grandma & Gpa Strehlow arrived and spoiled us with a bus load! Thank gosh Jack was there to help...

My grandmother and Mom had a little surprise for us all and dressed up as Mrs. Claus and Santa's Elf...so so so much fun!

oh dear, look at all these treasures....but at least we tried to be green as Grandma Strehlow took the bags back so we could recycle them for next year!

Jack had a hard time in the afternoon, with a missed nap and so many people...he wasn't as attentive as we would have liked, but that's ok, we have many more years to get him used to our Christmas traditions! He did however love this mega phone that Grandma & Grandpa Strehlow picked up.... and funny that we actually needed to use this a few times to get everyone's attention! ha

Aunt Stacy & Uncle Joe might be the reason for getting my husband into shape! He has been playing XBOX Kinect every night since ...jumping up and down, punching, bowling and balancing on one leg.. he is all over the place with this box!

Several hours into this fun, we needed a break ... so we moved over to indulge in food!

We finally did get through all the presents and a big thank you to everyone!

I just wish we had my Dad and the Wisconsin/Ohio family could have been with us too! Maybe one Christmas :)

Its not a gathering without a go round of the game Loaded Questions... it's such a simple but fun game that everyone can play with ease!

...and guess who won? Mommy!

It is so nice to have such great families that blend together so easily! That is truly a Christmas blessing!

Christmas Morning

2011-12-30T21:02:00.000-06:00

Jack woke up around 8: 30 am and came in bed to snuggle with us for a few minutes until I reminded him that Santa had come ...

and this is what happened once he ran out..he tested everything!

We did Christmas morning with just the three of us and we sure had a great time!

We didn't want for much, we might have gone a little overboard...

but this is how we do it, and I'm ok with that :)

And so in pictures here is how Christmas morning unwrapped...

Shout out to Lawren, my amazing bestie who adorned me with Kendra Scott and Mamas sippy cups!

(yes he kept taking "bounce" breaks between gifts..ha)

Taking another break for a little breakfast fruit on his new table.

And that sums up the morning......quite a haul if I say so myself!

What a good year it has been and we are all so thankful!

Jackson was born on June 25th, so Christmas marked his 2.5 year mark and we couldn't have had a better morning. I'm not sure how we will top this, but we shall look forward to many more 1/2 year marks!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-30T18:13:00.000-06:00

The tree was decked with treasure...

Christmas carols were sang with friends...(pic to come soon)

Cookies for Santa were out....

A good little boy was dressed in stockings and Christmas best to prepare for sweet dreams ahead...

and...

then....

oh what fun.....

a toy assembly marathon started and we realized we were in for a long night.....

1.5 hours later (no joke) this little kitchen was put together by Dad.

Note to self the $10 "steal of a deal" mini kitchen from Walgreens, isn't such a steal ...lol

Dad was tired and needed a break so I told him I would put together the next toy.
Oops mine only had two parts and took 5 mins to put together :)

Thank you Papa & Edith for a super easy toy!

Up next was the trampoline for one... compliments of Papa.

Hey I'm starting to see this little trick, spoil the grand baby and Mommy/ Daddy put the toys together... ha ha we are on to you Papa!

and what 2 year doesn't need a new set of shiny rims.....

with a bow on top and ready to go!

To all a good night.....

at 1: 22 am ..Merry Christmas!

Hayrides and Hot Chocolate

2011-12-30T17:39:00.000-06:00

My sweet friend Heather sent out the most darling invitations for a Christmas Open House.

Her husband, Scott, put together this awesome hayride for us to all cuddle up in and take a drive around Greatwood to look at Christmas lights.

And cookies on the sleigh...what could be more perfect than this!?

Jack, Kev, Mimi and myself hopped up on the sleigh and grabbed a spot!

Avery the mini hostess, with cookie mouth of course! :)

Heather promised hot chocolate and cookies and boy ..she did not disappoint...

Such a neat idea and we all had so much fun. There were some super awesome displays, and though I didn't have my camera with me, I was thankful for another Mama that was taking all these pictures!

Here are the displays from Heathers house, oh how I need some of these!!

I can't wait to do this again next year! Thanks Heather, Scott & Avery for having us over it was just perfect!

December Pen Pal

2011-12-29T19:39:00.000-06:00

Look at all the fun goodies we got for December!

This blanket came in the package and hasn't left Jacks side! He LOVES this blanket!

Thank you Thomas for a fun three months of pen pal, you are the best!

Sew Happy

2011-12-29T19:36:00.000-06:00

I wanted a new table runner for Christmas so Nelvi and Jack made one...and it turned out so perfect! :)

Such a big helper ..maybe he can teach mom a few tricks on the ol' machine!

River Oaks Lights

2011-12-27T21:50:00.000-06:00

Every year since we have moved to Houston one of my most favorite things to do during the holidays, is to go over to River Oaks and check out all the amazing lights. So we packed up the car, stopped by McD's and grabbed a little gogo dinner and drove around with lots to set out eyes on!

This house always has a Santa for a few nights leading up to Christmas Day.

Just magical!

PJ switcharoo

2011-12-27T21:41:00.000-06:00

Last week around 11 pm when Jack was supposed to be sound asleep, we heard him shuffle around in his crib. We didn't think much about it since he is a sleeper that moves around a lot. After a few minutes of quiet and we thought we were good to go to bed. All of a sudden we heard "Daddddddddddddddddy". So Kevin went in his room and then asked for me to come in. Jack had decided after being asleep for several hours, he was waking up to undress himself and demanding a pj change into his Lighting McQueen pajamas...omg what? Yep...so we changed him and then he went right back to sleep.. so odd, but so funny!

Oh the life of a 2 year old :)

Executive Santa

2011-12-27T21:34:00.000-06:00

We are loving Kevin's new job, case in point...

This fun family Christmas luncheon for all the employees children!

Jack spotted Santa and kept his eyes on him the entire time...

He was really shy with Santa ... soooo cute :)

..but he for sure knew to wait around for a treat from the ol' bag

yay for a lunch date with Daddy AND Santa, it doesn't get much better!

New york meet Texas

2011-12-27T21:26:00.001-06:00

Kevins best friend Jason comes into town for Christmas, and his sweet mama always puts together a little holiday party for us all to come say hi! Its so nice getting together, there are so many laughs and I know Kevin and his family wishes Jason would leave NYC and move back to the lone star state!

Jasons sister, Renee, has a baby boy just a few months older than Jack, so this year was super fun for the boys to get to play together!

Lots of book time from Uncle Jason

Pumpkin Bread

2011-12-27T21:15:00.002-06:00

This is such a holiday treat for us every year when my Dad makes his amazing pumpkin bread....oh so good! Jack loved it too and those two loaves are long gone! DELISH!

Austin Fesitvas

2011-12-27T21:13:00.000-06:00

Two weekends ago Kevin and I got to go down to Austin for some friend time while Jackson had some Mimi time! They had so much fun and even made this darling little gingerbread house together.

I got to have lunch with my best friends mom, while my best friend was off in Egypt and then London for Christmas! Jet setter!

My other bestie came over to hang out while I got ready to head out to our party for the night. Loved getting to see the twins and Jacks god parents!

Sarah and Andy were such great hosts and we really enjoyed our weekend away. Sat night was Sarah's 30th birthday/Holiday party at their beautiful Lake Austin home.

Sugar Sugar

2011-12-13T22:47:00.001-06:00

Tonight Grandma and Grandpa came over with a warm pot of the most delicious beef stew and all the fixings to make gingerbread cookies. When I say all the fixings.... I mean anything you could think of Grandma had!

Look at this sugar wonderland......wow and yum!

I think my favorite thing was the eyes, how adorable!!

Jackson's favorite thing were the sprinkles...well actually everything was his favorite. He had enough sugar to last him for all of next year. But this is what grandparents are for, to load you up with sweetness and leave with kisses!

So lets take a look at our work... first up we have Jackson's lovely decorated sprinkle masterpieces

Then we have Grans beautiful stocking and well I'm not sure what to call the thing on the right? ha ha ha ha

and well don't you know Mommy joined in the fun

here is my Mrs. Christmas Tree, that we gifted to our next door neighbor Wes for a late night birthday treat.

This sweet little boy wanted to even share his own cookie.

He was walking around demanding for everyone to "take bite"

After we cleaned our fingers,
we took out our flash cards and books for little refresh on our words we are learning.

Then Grandma introduced us to Hide and Seek, which Jackson LOVED playing and wanted to "do again" over and over.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10, ready or not here I come......

Daddy picked some good hiding spots, including our completely messy and overcrowded hall closet.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for such a fun evening.

I know this little sugary smile makes our family so happy and complete!

Ok and now back on break :) ha

Neighborhood

2011-12-13T22:23:00.000-06:00

When we first moved on this street, we loved our neighborhood but we were not very neighborly. We had our own friends and did our own thing as a married couple not really engaging other than a wave when backing out our driveway. Once we had Jack we realized how much fun it could be to meet all our neighbors and become friends. We are have been lucky to have a great group of kids on our street!
So this evening we dropped off a small note and our Christmas craft to all that have been such great friends to us over these past two years with Jack.

Introducing a new member of team SQUIRT

2011-12-13T21:55:00.001-06:00

Ok there are too many cool things that happened not to post about so here we go. Today during lunch at 12 noon to be exact we took Jack to Saint Street Swim. Today is not our normal class day, today was TEST day! We have been in Mommy and Me class for a long time now, I love this swim school, one because its so close to our house and two because the instructors are so loving and patient. He has done very well this past year in our class but I noticed Jack acting up and this usually means he is bored. So I decided to test him to see if he could advance to the next level (squirt). The next level requires them to sit on the steps and stay seated (this is a big deal for a 2 year old), it also requires long under water swims, diving for rings and fully submerged ear floats with no squirms. Basically these are big boy moves that I know he can do but its not something we do every time in his Mommy and Me class. He was testing with one other little girl, and let me tell you in the observation room, I was a little crazy. I was so excited, I kept saying "omg he is amazing, omg look at that, omg he is doing it, omg he nailed it"... I was annoying myself, but I was SO proud of Jackson!! Sadly the little girl he tested with didn't make it to the next level, so I'm glad we waited to test until I really knew he was ready.

After a full year of swimming with him on Thursdays during my lunch, I'm going to miss our time in the pool together, but he is a growing boy and little squirt fits Jack well! Congratulations love, we are so proud!

Ice Skating

2011-12-11T21:27:00.002-06:00

When Kevin decided to go as in house counsel and leave the big firm life, I knew it would be the best decision for our family. We ran and never looked back.... and boy have we been so much happier! Daddy is home for dinner almost every night and I think he has had to work one weekend in six months. Its just been so wonderful and we are very thankful to have been blessed with this opportunity. When he was leaving the firm I told him that I would miss the fun events but kissing those goodbye was 200% worth it for the time that we get as a family.

So on Friday when we got a knock at the door with these ice passes couriered to our house....

I was thrilled! Going in house I realized means that you still use outside counsel and so now Kevin is on the other side as a client. This event was hosted by a firm that rented out the entire ice rink at Discovery Green and all the fixings were free. I admit I felt like a little kid, anything you wanted was free. Kevin and I were both nervous about taking Jack on the ice but this kid has no fear! He was on the ice lickidy split and was doing so good! They had a mini rink for the kids and Jack took one look at the other kids and figured out what to do. He was actually really good and of course insisted that he didn't need our help :)

We took our try in the big ring for a few turns but Jack preferred the toddler rink which was fine by us!

L&W had such a good turn out, but who wouldn't say yes to this invite!? So fun!

If you are asking how we have energy to do all that we did this weekend, I'm not sure! We are so worn out but it was a blast! So with that being said I will be taking a blog break until Christmas :)

Addisons Christmas Open House

2011-12-11T20:44:00.000-06:00

The Ring Family hosted a Christmas Open House this afternoon for all the tots!. We got Jack ready and I was so excited that our holiday wreath belt fit this year! Jack had a blast and looooooooved the cookie/tree making station that Sarah put together. They have such a beautiful home and were so gracious to open it up to a bunch of crazy toddlers this afternoon!

Sarah pouring us some whiskey eggnog...the most perfect holiday drink!

How cute is this little hot chocolate bar?!

How clever is this, Sarah had ice cream cones out so that the kids could make Christmas trees!

Jack and Addison going down head first! Such brave little souls!

Thanks Ring Family for hosting the perfect Open House! We hope you make this a tradition! SO FUN!

Lights in the Heights

2011-12-11T00:04:00.000-06:00

This was the second year for us to enjoy such a neat annual light event here in Houston.

We had a few of our friends over for pizza and then we headed out to enjoy the night.

Jack woke up from his nap to see his stroller transformed...he was thrilled that HE could control the lights!

Smiley baby boy ready for his friends and lights!

Costco pizza is the best!

We were on the hunt for hot chocolate and settled for wine, not so bad :)

This house was our favorite, the dance party for the kids was amazing!

and while this picture is fuzzy, it gives you an idea of how popular the dance party house was!

It took us a while to get the kids willing to leave the dance party but we did and found other fun things to look at!

This house was my favorite last year, and again is my favorite. Its just so beautiful!!

Christmas Carolers

Super duper fun night, we will be back again next year!

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus

2011-12-10T23:28:00.002-06:00

Toddlers are creatures of habit. The past few Saturdays we have had birthday parties or events where we have dressed up and Jack has put two and two together. So this morning when I had the nice Christmas john john laying out for him to wear, he looked at Kevin and I and said "Happy Birthday", then followed that by singing the birthday song and asking for cake...ha! He has figured out when I pull out a nice outfit he has to be going to a birthday party. So he was sort of right, as today the Christmas Party at St. Martins Church was indeed a celebration of baby Jesus, so we called it Happy Birthday Baby Jesus party, and we sang the birthday song to baby Jesus on the way there. Once we arrived there was so much for us to do!

Making reindeer food

Gingerbread cookie decorating

Pictures with Santa

Nativity stickers

Jack didn't get cake, but cookies will do!

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!

Adventures in Babysitting

2011-12-10T23:07:00.001-06:00

Ok so maybe we didn't meet Thor (if one of your favorite movies is Adventures in Babysitting you will get it), but I think we still had a pretty fun night. We took care of Wes on Friday night while his Mommy & Daddy went to a holiday party. We had sooooo much fun! We did everything we normally don't do, and so I'm pretty sure this is why the boys didn't want the night to end.......

This is all normal stuff, we do.......

(How cute is this picture?! Of course I might have posed the arm, but they are the cutest little things!)

this is not normal stuff... but dance party on the table was so fun the boys chanted "do it again"

...and eating ice cream before bed time, probably isn't going to induce sleepy time, but it was yummy!!

...back to normal after ice cream. We went into Jack's room to read books...LOTS of books!

Then off to a bubble bath!

..more books :)

We tried to lay them down in Jacks room but they were just toooooo excited, so we decided to try the living room and watch a movie to help get them nice and sleepy.

...we finally got them to bed around 10: 30 pm... Toots! But it was so much for for Jackson (and us!) and we welcome Wes over any night for a sleepover!

iPan

2011-12-06T21:52:00.000-06:00

Jack calls my iPad, the iPan, and in two year old logic, its not mine, its his. We know who is boss around here, and he proves it every day.

Just as we had finished our craft project, I walked to the kitchen to pick up some water with my camera in hand. As I strolled back to my office to start my day, I looked in the living room and saw this...

He made Nelvi lift him up, and the best part is she of course had no clue why she was doing this. He was telling her "over there" and he was surfing all the spots where we "hide" the "iPan" ....he is for sure getting more clever by the day! It made us laugh once I told her what he was doing...toot toot!

Sweet Rise and Shine

2011-12-06T21:43:00.002-06:00

This morning we rolled out of bed to see Mimi bright and early waiting for us! She brought with her a bag of goodies to make candy cane reindeer so that Jack has little gifts to pass out at Christmas, while I realize this might show off the the reindeer a little early, I just had to share the pictures because it was too sweet!

But first we started out showing Mimi where the birds and the bird houses were on our tree...

..then it was over to show Mimi his train (Daddy played around with the set up and changed it up for Jack)

..and over to Jacks tree to find the Ski Bear, where he repeatedly said "I don't know, where is it?"

...thank gosh we found it!

We got dressed for the day and ready for our craft project with Mimi

So much fun and I love that I too did this with Mimi when I was little! Jack still has a while before he can really sit still for an entire round of crafts, but he was a perfect helper counting out two eyes for the reindeers! So cute :)

All of this done before 9 am! Wow!

November Pen Pal

2011-12-03T19:14:00.001-06:00

Ooops we are a little late with our Nov pen pal this month, both us Moms got so busy but finally made it to the post office!! We are so thankful for our pen pal Thomas, he surely knows how to pick out some really cool treats for his pal!

Jack woke up from his nap to find his pen pal delivery...

This was so cool that you could go online and put your name and print out coloring books!

We sent what we are thankful for in toy form and Jack sent this

Wonderwild Birthday

2011-12-03T18:57:00.000-06:00

Jack's best friend (next door neighbor) Wes had his 3rd birthday today at Wonderwild!

Look at the difference between the 2nd birthday...

... and the 3rd birthday!

We had so much fun this year celebrating!

Debbie did such a great job and decorating! Love this banner!!

Keeping the Dads busy!

Do you see Jack?

Big jumps on the jumping pillow!

The kids from our street, love them so!

Cutest useable favors!

Happy Birthday to our best little buddy!

Morning reads

2011-12-03T18:25:00.000-06:00

This morning I went to get Jack milk and I came in to him reading one of Daddy's books. He was finding all the sight words he knew, so neat!

Jacks shirts & keeping them clean

2011-12-03T18:15:00.000-06:00

If you look at Jacks shirts you could very well call me an applique queen, I love them so much and have been adorning Jack with these sweet shirts for every season since he was little. My amazing friend Tiffany has her own business and is my go to person for all of our monogramming and appliqued shirts. Tiffany is the most kind person and she knows our family so well, that I usually just pick out a design, tell her the name and say "you pick out the fabric and font." Because she is so busy she has more fonts and fabric choices that are not posted, so I let her just pick and I have always been so pleased with all her work. Or I find a picture she posted and say "do it just like that".

Here are a few examples of what we have in Jacks closet right now. We of course have a ton more but as Jack gets bigger I put the old ones away and more are ordered. :)

If you need inspiration or want to see what else she might have just look under each tab of her website and you will find yourself wanting to place an order right away! Have fun and tell her I sent you!

I have a few colored shirts but I think white looks the best with the designs so this stain sticks stick has become a household staple. Jack wore this shirt to a birthday party today and got red juice all over it. So as soon as I got home I soaked the shirt with this stick and its back to perfect white!

and just as I came back in the living room to do the post I realized we had Jack in this shirt that Tiff did :)

Special Delivery

2011-12-02T16:07:00.003-06:00

We have become very good friends with the post office and our mail carrier this past week!

Our love for this season is huge and I hope Jack as he grows loves it more and more each year. Growing up, giving in small ways to put smiles on friends faces is our way of doing, and it makes it so special to have Jack here to help.

So when we were in line at Micheal's Craft store, Jack and I decided that our friends needed to have these adorable Dear Santa letters.

So we crafted a note and found Santa's address ...

...stuffed them in our mail enevelopes

..sealed them with a kiss...

..and off they went! I hope all our friends have been nice this year and in return stockings full!

While I would love for my close girlfriends to all live in the same city, we don't, so so instead of a Christmas playdate where I would shower their little bitties with something sweet I'm doing it via mail and spreading my love via gingerbread girls/boys on shirts. Are they just not the cutest? Of course Jack got one too!

There is another Mama who is perfect at spreading cheer, and her boys Carson & Slade sent us a really sweet surprise! Our first paper advent calender! I thought it was the cutest idea and Jack loved it!

He wouldn't just settle for opening Dec 1st, and so Dec 14th is missing its chocolate too...ha

My love for Christmas cards, oh dear!!, I have no fret when our Christmas card list grows each year because it just means I get to see more lovely faces on our card wall. December mail is my favorite, I treat each card as a present and get thrilled to see whats inside!

I shall wait another week or so before I post the design we picked, its one of my favorites so far!

From Texas (with boots) to your home, I hope our mailings make you smile bright!

Staycation

2011-11-30T23:15:00.000-06:00

Kev and I are having a little staycation as they call it, where you don't leave your city but still pretend to be on vacation. We took a few days off work to hang out together and its been so nice! Since we have Nelvi we are enjoying the day time to ourselves. We ran a few errands together in the morning, and I even got Kev to get a pedicure with me, that took some begging and there are no pictures, sorry Olson. ha!

So after the morning we headed over to the movies.

You know when Kevin is on vacation because he gets all scruffy from not shaving and tries to convince me that he is going to keep it and grow it out. Of course that never happens :)

Kevin picked the IMAX and we just went with what the ticket cashier said was best, so the showing of Born to be wild was our movie. It was narrated by Morgan Freeman and we both really enjoyed it, well the only ones to enjoy it this afternoon!

We got home and then decided since we had such a fun day, we wanted Jack to have a little fun too. Yup, Chuck got a visit for dinner. Jack knows him by name and can get you there from our house, by saying "turn this way" and he can positively route you there with just two turns! Our CC is super clean and we were maybe one of 5 fams there, so it was perfect.

Perfect little day and looking forward to tomorrow!

At Christmas, all roads lead home.

2011-11-29T20:58:00.005-06:00

I wanted to wait until December 1st to post this, but I was just too excited about our house and seeing that all my friends are just on schedule with us, it's time to share our home for the holidays!

But before I get to the pretty, lets talk about the ugly. The ugly called our garage. I'm certain had we waited until after Christmas the producers from the show Hoarders could have filmed our pile-o-tastic garage! It was getting so bad, and while its not the best way to spend a vacation day, Kevin and I took the day off to tackle this beast! We live in an 1800 square foot house, and while eventually I would love to get to the burbs and live in a huge home, but in the city we are at capacity of this darling ranch home, so all our stuff that we don't use just "goes to the garage". When that happens, you get this....

But we did have fun sorting through it all...sad to say my Halloween costume that I made out of boxes that won me the coveted 1st prize a few years back...is laying on our curb. It was just time to say goodbye..

While we were working really hard, Jack was inside putting together and sorting the ornaments for our main tree in the living area. He also went on a play date with our Nanny and her friend and she wore him out. He came home at 1: 30 pm and napped until 5: 30 pm! So having Nelvi help us in the garage was a life saver, yes we needed three people! wowzers!

So on to the pretty...I did Christmas a little different this year, but first I will start with the basics that we have always done...

The living room tree :)

I did add these new bird houses to go with our birds that we had.
The houses came from target, and I think they are just presh!

Jack helped sort through all the ornaments

and a few minutes later (our tree is so easy to put together)....

I took one of my burlap coffee bags and just tossed it at the base and it was complete!

..and just so happy that my birds have homes now. Though if you are thinking what I'm thinking they are going to have to lay off the Christmas caramel corn to get in that hole...ha!

The stockings are hung and ready for stuffers

The entrance to the play room has the same garland with a new ribbon, I always hate to take it down, it feels so bare come February!

Our Thankful tree has turned Merry!

This beauty is from Kev's sister and I love it by the front door, as it still smells so good!

We have a few Jolly fellas around the house that make me smile. This one is in my office.

The guest bath has a charlie brown tree, and Jack loves to check it out during his baths!

What's different this year? Well we have the most adorable "sweet treat" tree that is done in the kitchen, with all sorts of drool worthy delights but they are also very breakable and this Christmas Jackson is showing a ton of interest in the trees. So I decided that putting a tree up that has what looks like candy and cake all over it wasn't the best idea. Along with my Christopher Radko display I put them away for a year in hopes that next year we are in a larger house that has a spot to put these treasures out of harms way.

So instead of those I actually did a different tree that I have not done before and this one is so special! You see the first Christmas after Kevin and I got married, his Mom brought down a huge container full of boxed ornaments and I had no clue that they would be for us.... She let Stacy (Kevs sister) and I go through them all and pick the ones we wanted. Stacy and I put a system together to ensure we were both happy with our selection, we sorted and then did "ok you pick one, I pick one"... and I think we both left thinking we scored! The ornaments are Hallmark, and were purchased all throughout the years of Kev/Stacy childhood. They are also all in the original boxes, which is just too neat ! We each received enough for a full tree and I saved mine knowing that I would want this for my little boy or girl! So when I pulled them out for the first year I was so excited to remember that I picked out a lot of the ones that were boy/sports related Santa's, how appropriate for our little Jack! I actually have a full tree worth of sassy pink ornaments (that I always did in college on my tree) so if we ever have a girl we have a tree for her too!

I debated on where to put Jacks tree and finally ended up picking his toy room, because we purchased a train to go around the tree. (train is from Walgreen's best $30 spent, and they still have them! It has real train sounds and even blows smoke!) He has woken up every morning and made a bee line for the tree, while the ornaments are fragile, I have been letting him touch and explore. He has been very gentle, and after all its his tree, so surely he has to be able to touch.

Here are my favorites from this tree...

And this one seems to be Jacks favorite right now, each morning he has looked for the white ski bear.

I love this Days of Christmas house and looking forward to Dec 1st to start opening the doors! Though our little boy has figured out something must go in them, so we will be filling one at a time the night before!

No house is complete without a few simple decorations out front...

...I told Jack the big light on top of Willimas Tower is our light for Santa,
it will help him lead the way to our house!

So there you have it, Christmas cheer has arrived at our home!
Now its time to rest on the couch with the hubs and call it a day!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-27T17:51:00.001-06:00

We had a fun packed Turkey day with our family, and it was so delightful!

I woke up early and headed out to run the Turkey Trot with my friend Jenn. I ran the entire thing and finished in about 30 minutes, that's pretty good for me! It was a great way to kick start the holiday.

This picture is actually after we ran, I'm hoping the race photographers caught one of us that I can replace as we crossed the finish.

We said bye to our friend and then it was time to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It's one of my most favorite things about the holidays. Jack watched it for a little while but lost interest when the commercials came on...boo!

We got all cleaned up and we were over the moon about being off from work for several days! We even have off this coming week! Yay for a nice break!

Before we left to Great Aunt Dorthy's house we stopped by to play with Wes. Notice the game flag was out at their house...

but don't worry we had ours out too! And we won :) Even more reason for excitement at our house!

We love having Jack's cousin that is just a little younger at Dorthy's house.

I'm certain they will always be dressed so darling for the holidays together!

Jack kept saying "open the door, animals please" ha ha! We read so many books where there are always animals in barns, so duh Mommy, when there is a red barn in Dorthy's yard, there MUST be animals inside!

This room has been the "kid" room since Kevin was little, and it still served its purpose on Thanksgiving!

Great Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Joe

Grandpa Strehlow & Aunt Stacy

The beautiful Grandmas!

Jack was schooling Laura on how to use the iPad

It was getting late so we left and headed back home, where we put our little boy to bed and Mommy suited up for a full night of shopping! I got my trusty clip board that I made and checked my list twice... and off I went to pack the sleigh!

I was out from 8 pm to 6 am... I had so much fun, I got everything I wanted and I shall do it again next year! However I was EXHAUSTED when Jack woke up. So I took a long nap on the couch while Jack watched The Lion King.

I made sure that one of the six of these $99 power wheel cars were mine. It was actually pretty organized in the toy area of Walmart, so I was in and out pretty fast.

One pretty cool Thanksgiving if I do say so myself!

Jack is reading!

2011-11-23T17:06:00.000-06:00

First check out these pictures from this morning...he finally let me do his hair and I thought he looked so darn cute!

This is "show me excited"

This is "show me strong man"

and well this is...Mommy I'm done ..see ya later!

We started a few months ago with Meet the Sight Words, a DVD series that Grandma Strehlow purchased. I wasn't sure on what to expect, but it has proven to be the best purchase!! A sight word is any word that is known by a reader automatically. Sight words are the basis behind the whole-word approach to reading education. There are three discs in the set and we have now gotten through all three with great success! My mom was over the other day and wrote out a few short easy sentences using the sight words that he has recently learned...and he was able to recite them all! I finally was able to capture it today on camera :)

A light just switched one recent morning and he is all about words now, he tries to spell everything. For example we were in the car and just left The Home Depot, when I over heard him trying to recite the word Depot. Bless his heart he was a few letters off, but he is trying and doing so well! He is even sounding simple words out, such as bus (he did this last night). He can spell off memory simple words such as cat and dog. I know it will soon that he is putting all this together and reading books to us!

I am so proud of our little guy, he amazes us all every day!

Renaissance Fesitval

2011-11-20T21:45:00.000-06:00

My Mom received several free passes for the Ren Fest and was so nice of her to pass 4 of them to us. We invited Uncle Joe and Aunt Stacy to go with us and hang out for the day. I had never been to this festival before so I wasn't sure what to exactly expect. After a very long drive we finally arrived and I was so surprised.... I had in my head that it was going to be one large tent with a bunch of odd people, but it was really a mini theme park with neat standing buildings and many theater stages. There were still very odd people and odd characters but it was so intriguing and the fact that it was free for us to get in was huge plus. I don't think you will find us there every year, but its something that was great to experience! We really did have a great time with our family!

Jack was a trooper, we arrived right during his nap time,

so he was really such a good little boy the entire day!

Odd characters but the food was good! Jack ate the entire corn on his own!

Hands down the BEST kettle corn we had ever tasted! We had none left to take home, we had the entire bag, so delish!

Probably my favorite picture of the day... Mom what is on your head!?

On our way to watch the joust

I couldn't believe how many people attend this festival!

Then it was over to watch the magic show, which was one of the best performances I had seen in a while, really!! This guy was from Paris, France and he was so funny! I even got pulled out of the crowd...eeek!

I was so pleasantly surprised at our time today. The crowd was a little rough around the edges so to speak, but it was fun people watching and always a great time with Joe and Stacy!

Via Colori Festival

2011-11-19T20:47:00.001-06:00

This morning we headed over to the street festival where artisans were busy at work with chalk making beautiful portraits of their choosing. There were so many neat ones to look at, and it would have been even better once they were all finished but it looks like they all had some work to do!

With highs in the high 70's it surely doesn't feel like Christmas is around the corner...but we still had a fun morning enjoying the beautiful weather!

There were so many amazing projects going on, it was awesome to watch these masterpieces come to life!

We got side tracked for a little while because the park had ducks for us to go check out...

If you are ever looking for a place to take photos the darling old houses off Bagby Street are perfection!

We take Jack's Easter pictures here every year and just love them!

I had not been inside the houses, because I believe are reserved for tours and the doors have always been locked. However because they were decorating them for the holidays one of the doors was open...and we invited ourselves in....

The wood on the walls is just delicious for pictures. I had grand ideas for pictures with Jack, but he was not interested, so I took advantage of a picture for myself! Love those walls! Aaaaamazing!

On to the next house, isn't this porch just delightful!?

After perusing the houses we got back on track for the festival...

We found a free booth that we could do sand art, fun!

Some of these artists were amazing, we couldn't believe our eyes, the definition was unreal!

Then we found these sweet twin brothers who were in 8th grade. We watched them for a little while and decided these boys were the winners in our eyes!

High five!

...and so Jack placed his vote!

You were to go around putting dollars in the buckets to vote on your favorites.

I love how there were big corporations and sweet little families that all had entered in the competition.

They ALL were so talented and we loved being able to share the morning with them in action!

Turkey Tots

2011-11-18T15:44:00.000-06:00

This afternoon for lunch I had a special date...

with the cutest little tots and my darling little boy!

I'm so thankful that I have a job where I'm able attend all of Jack's events...today was a Turkey Tot luncheon!

I couldn't get him to wear a hat if I tried, but I walk in and guess who has on a turkey hat?!

His little hand, isn't so little anymore...

If you ask what Jack is thankful for, I'm sure there would be a lot of great things that came to mind, but one thing I know would be on the list would be bread! This boy loves bread!

And surprise, he actually tried the Turkey, he LOVED the cranberry (out of the can) and ended up eating quite a bit of turkey because of it.

On roll numero dos at this point...

Oh but these tots go sooooo excited when Mrs. Hooper (Head of school) brought over the pie!

They were all screaming for "cake", ha!

Jackson really liked his "cake", I'm pretty sure this was the first time he had tried pumpkin pie. Its Mommy's favorite, so there will be more opportunities in the coming days to have another bite of "cake" for Jack!

Loved lunch with my Turkey Tot!