My Young Life

Idaho - Part 1

2011-12-03T11:02:00.007-07:00

This summer we spent two weeks in Idaho with the Young side of the family. It was our first visit there in over three years (it was the first trip for Jaxy). Getting there was a little crazy, but airplanes aside it was a great trip!

Donnie flew standby, and the kids and I had confirmed seats. He made it right on schedule...our story was a little different :)

We boarded our first flight from Atlanta to Denver, and after sitting at the gate for more than two hours (mechanical delay), we finally took off. What should then be a 2 1/2 hour layover in Denver turned into a mad sprint carrying two kids, and three carry-ons. We would have had just enough time time to make it before the flight took off at 10p.m. if we ran really fast.

As they made the first boarding call, lightning struck. That closed the ramp for a mandatory 15 minutes. Halfway through that time, it began to hail - golfball sized hail. That lasted for about 20 minutes. When it was through, we had to wait for every plane to be inspected. We were at one of the last gates, so one of the last planes to be inspected. Finally around 2a.m., our flight was cancelled.

By this point, almost every other flight had been cancelled too, and the hotels were all full. I stood in line to get new tickets, and called Donnie (who was relaxing in Boise at this point) to try to find a hotel for us. At first, I was told we would be on the flight the next night at 10p.m. Then I was told we would not receive our bags or carseats tonight. I pleaded with the lady - "I have two little kids, no toiletries, no carseats, no extra clothes or pull-ups (Jaxy only used them at night, but I wasn't going to share that). I could not stay another night there.

She took pitty on me (probably because Jaxon was screaming at this point, and Sydney was sleeping on my feet), and booked our tickets for the next morning on another airline. So we found a buddy family (another lady with 2 kids; there is safety in numbers) and made our way to the only hotel with a vacancy. It was really scary. I mean REALLY SCARY.

We checked in, walked to the gas station next door and picked up toothbrushes and deodarant, and headed back to sleep (and hopefully not get bedbugs). The next morning we arrived at the airport to find that even more flights than the day before had been cancelled. Thankfully, we were one of the very few planes that actually made it out of Denver that day.

We arrived in Boise, went to Darren & Julie's house (where we spent our first half of the trip), and I showered. Thankfully, our trip back went through Chicago, and we had no weather-related issues :)

The kids had so much fun getting to know their cousins...and their pets. Jaxy still talks about "Lainey's dog Buster." We had a lot of time to hang out and catch up, and let the kids run wild.

The weather was really nice while there, so we spent a lot of time outdoors. We went on a bike ride at one of the many parks. We had a picnic at another one. We went to the Boise Zoo (it was only $.25 with our Zoo Atlanta membership).

Kade has a jumpy house business, so he blew up one of his jumpies, and the kids were entertained for hours. We also went to the old train depot and let the kids play in the water.

Jaxy's 3!

2011-09-07T20:16:00.003-07:00

In June we celebrated Jaxon's third birthday. If you ask him though, he will tell you, "I am not three!!! I am five!"

I think he wants to be big like Sydney. Jaxy is such a sweet little guy. He loves to cuddle and give hugs. He is quick to comfort you when sad, and has an unnatural obssession with Band-aids. We go through a box a week if they are not well hidden.

Jaxy loves to wrestle and play any kind of ball - he likes the ideas of baseball and golf, but still is a little small :). Donnie takes Jaxy to play mini-golf quite a bit, and he tries really hard to hold his club just right.

Jaxon is a carbaholic. He loves waffles, muffins, cereals, etc., and will only eat cantaloupe from the fruit department. Vegetables are gross (I tried to give him carrots once and he asked, "Do you think I'm a rabbit?! I can't eat this."), but corndogs and chicken are delicious.

Jaxy has a sweet, little voice which he doesn't use a lot. He is shy and quiet, but once he warms up to you (which takes a while) he will chat your ear off. He loves the "Toy Story" franchise, and "Cars" also. He likes to have collections - rocks, coins, leaves, invisible trophies...

Jaxy likes to climb, jump, and, when he thinks I'm not looking, dance. He loves The Aquabats, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

He says lots of silly things, but my favorite is when you ask if he needs to go potty, or if he is ready for bed, etc. he responds, "No thanks; I'm fine."

We love Jaxon so much, and are very glad he is a part of our family!

A few weeks before Jaxy's birthday, my mom became ill, and had to undergo a craniotomy. She spent the next 30 days in the ICU, followed by a month and a half in an inpatient rehab facility. Due to these unforseen events, we didn't have a big party for Jaxy.

On his birthday, we ate at Chick-fil-A, saw "Cars 2," and ate a yummy ice cream cake. We invited some family friends to join us, so it was like a mini party. Jaxon had a great time, and after cake, we stopped by the hospital to visit a little with family. We didn't want the kids to see my mom, so we visited with my dad (who never left the hospital), and my sister Jana and her fam.

Jana helped Jaxon and Sydney put on gloves and masks, so they were happy.

Random photos...

2011-09-07T14:04:00.006-07:00

Just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean we haven't been busy over the last few months!

We haven't had a lot of play time, but we managed to catch a half dozen Braves' games (Jaxy asks every morning if we can go see the Braves), and spend some Saturdays at Stone Mountain Park 9the kids love, love, love it here :))

The other pictures are random ones I found on Donnie's phone...

Do you think it was this bad for Dorothy?

2011-09-07T07:23:00.004-07:00

So the South was rocked by a series of tornadoes at the end of April. There was monumental damage across the Southern States, and many people lost their lives. In Georgia, the northern part of the state and then around the center were the hardest parts hit.

Volunteers from all over spent weeks helping people clean and sort, in hopes that they could one day rebuild. Donnie served with a group from our church who traveled to Alabama to help in some of the hardest hit areas there. They worked just outside of Birmingham over Mother's Day weekend (that's why Donnie was not around to take photos :), and why he didn't have a camera...plus he was a little busy)

Mother's Day

2011-09-07T06:37:00.005-07:00

For Mother's Day this year we decided to take some photos of the kids and make little photo displays. Donnie is the photographer in the family, but he was out of town (more on that in the next post), so it was up to me :)

I asked the kids to put on nice clothes so we could go to the front yard and take a few pictures for their grandmothers...they came out in costume. So I dressed them myself. Freedom of expression is overrated, right?

Pre K graduation!

2011-09-07T06:10:00.003-07:00

Sydney finished her first year of school in May. It was only Pre-K, but it was a lot like regualar school. She met at the local elementary school, attended 5 days a week, and she followed the same hours the other kids followed (7:55 - 2:25).

She had three teachers, and Sydney loved them all. She only had 19 kids in her class, 14 boys and 5 girls :). Two of the other girls live down the street from us, so they became pretty good friends.

At the end of the school year, Sydney invited the girls over for an "End of Pre-K Party." Then she told me about it :) We had snacks, made little purses and necklaces, and played pin the tail on the donkey - remember, she planned the party :)

She had a great time, and is now excited for Kindergarten!

Anniversary trip

2011-08-04T10:26:00.006-07:00

For our anniversary this year, we took another little weekend trip to D.C. I really love it there :) And it was springtime, so the flowers and trees were in full bloom :)

We had such a great time last time that we decided to go up a day earlier this trip, and spend three days there. There is so much to do, and most of it is free, so we wanted to go to places and do things that we didn't do last time.

We tried different restaurants (and cupcakeries), different museums, and we even saw a play at the Shakespeare Theatre close to Chinatown (there are many Shakespeare Theatres). We saw An Ideal Husband, which isn't Shakespeare, but Oscar Wilde, and we loved it!

Our favorite museum was the Newseum - we spent 6 hours there! We watched documentaries on Hurricane Katrina, highlights in sports over the last 100 years, investigative journalism (this was in 3D, and was pretty cool)... We saw exhibits on the Berlin Wall, 9/11, Katrina, the First Amendment, FBI and the media (lots of really cool cases from gangsters of the 20s to the Unabomber, and the D.C. sniper.

There is a huge room full of newspapers, current and over 100 years old. There is a section dedicated to people who have lost their lives while on assignment for a media outlet, and a studio where you can try your hand at reading the news in front of a live camera.

The Newseum is one of the few places you have to pay for, but it was definitely worth it!

Donnie has a friend who works for Senator Lee (R - Utah), and he hooked us up at the Capitol Building. Normally, you have to set a reservation up for a tour way in advance, and wait months to get tickets to view Congress in action in their respective chambers, but Donnie's friend set us up when we randomly called a day before we arrived.

We met with his friend, and Senator Lee's intern (interns are who give the tours). They took us on a private tour. We even went to places the normal tour does not go :). We were able to step out on the back deck of the building - the place where the president gives his inaugural address. We were not surprised to see guards with M-16 assault rifles :)

We also went down a little stairwell with markings from soldiers who tried to storm the Capitol, but were fought back and killed, and saw a really cool bust of Washington. We also saw all of the normal things too, like the old Senate chamber, the Rotunda, the place where people lie in state, all of the statues, paintings, and even a few Congressmen (like John Boehner, who walked right past us with his security detail. He is even more orange in person...)

Donnie's friend also gave us tickets to the viewing area to sit in the galley in the House chamber (they were still in session). Unfortunately, we were near the front of the line when they had to evacuate the House because of crazy protesters (it was tax day after all). It was still a great tour!

Before the evacuation...

After the evacuation...

the rotunda

a bust of George Washington

This is the view from where inaugural addresses are given; they take out part of the front railing, and add a stage.

The guy in the far left is the weapon-toting guard.

The pretty springtime flowers in front of our hotel, and pretty much everywhere in D.C.!

In line to see a famous celebrity...

Just kidding! This was actually the line to buy yummy cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake.

An old newspaper at the Newseum

Hide and Seek

2011-04-14T08:02:00.002-07:00

"1,2,3,4,5! Ready or not, here I come!" That is Jaxon's favorite thing to yell. At all times, and in all places. We get really strange looks at Target. At home, he usually hides behind the bathroom door, and laughs so hard that you can't help but find him. Last week however, he was gone. I could not find him! I looked everywhere, without any luck. Then, I went into my bedroom, and noticed the pillows were a little crooked...

This is now his favorite spot - game or no game.

He often carries around Toy Story Pull-Ups as well...

Sydney's 5!

2011-02-17T19:52:00.003-07:00

Sydney's birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so we had a family party at out house. We had dinner, cupcakes and icecream, and a lot of fun! It was nice to celebrate with those we love.

Although we didn't have a formal party, we did have a modified "play date" a few days before her birthday at Monkey Joe's. Sydney invited her two little friends from church, and a little girl from her class at school. They had a great time playing, and we had pizza too.

I can't believe she is already 5! It seem like just last week I was begging the baby in my belly to "please come out tonight," and now she is already in school. She is very creative. She loves to draw and make crafts. She loves to sing, dance, and make up stories.

When she brings home pictures from school, the descriptions aren't just "a girl and rain," but "This is a little girl who loves to play outside. Today it is raining, so she is really sad." The picture will be a picture of a girl with a frown, surrounded by large blue dots of rain.

She is very kind, and always willing to help. She has a beautiful smile, and a cute little laugh. She is the best big sister, and a great first daughter.

Snow!

2011-02-17T19:03:00.004-07:00

So, Sydney said it just isn't Christmas without snow, and it starting snowing late Christmas night. We woke up the next morning to play in the "snow." It didn't stick around too long, and by the time a snowman was erected, our yard was more "leaf-covered" and less "snow-kissed."

Sydney wanted the snow to come back, and a few weeks later it really came - with a whole lotta ice too. The snow started falling on Sunday night, and by Monday morning you couldn't leave your house. Not that the snow (5-7 inches) was so crippling, but the ice was unbelievable! People here just aren't prepared for this type of weather since it is so rare.

We went out and played for a little while before Donnie had to get back to real life. He had an important trip, but we couldn't get out of our driveway, so he packed up his hiking backpack, and set out on foot to catch the Marta train to the airport. He sat at the airport all day, and was finally rerouted through Salt Lake, where he spent the night, before heading on to Orange County. He was there all week, so he missed the craziness around here.

Sydney and Jaxy had a great time. School was closed the entire week, so we took it pretty easy around here. In fact, we had no choice but to take it easy, as we could not get our driveway clear until Friday. There was plenty of fun around here with the snow and ice - our neighbors used the car-less roads covered in ice as sledding hills.

We had power, blankets, and plenty of food, but when Papa Johns starting delivering again Friday, we jumped on the chance to have something I didn't have to cook :)

We went a little stir-crazy in the house all week, and it was really hard for me without Donnie and adult conversation. I was happy when Saturday rolled around and we made it out of the house (to Target), and Donnie came home.

In summation, I hope Sydney never asks for snow again :)

2011-01-05T20:45:00.003-07:00

We decided to take the kids to Disney World over Christmas break – it was awesome! We stayed on site at the All Star Movie Resort (and we had a dining plan, which was free with the hotel, but saved SO MUCH money), for 5 days, and bought the park hopper tickets.

We were really excited. This was the first time for the kids, so we weren’t sure what they would think of the whole trip. Jaxon was thrilled from the very first step onto the bus (our hotel had shuttles to each park); Sydney, on the other hand, took a little work. The first few hours were spent like this:

ME: Sydney this is the happiest place on earth, so you better start acting like it!
SYDNEY: Blah! I don’t want to do this. Everything is scary…

Donnie helped her work through the attitude (hers, not mine), and by dinner time on day one, she agreed that this was, indeed, the happiest place on earth.

My grandmother joined us on Sunday and stayed until we came home on Thursday. It was so great to have her there. She was Sydney’s ride partner, and helped her to get excited about the different rides – especially “It’s a Small World.”

We would all spend the day at the parks, and then after dinner, we put the kids to bed (with Grandma in charge), and Donnie and I went back out to ride the “big” rides. It worked out perfectly! We saw shows and rode most of the rides/attractions with the whole fam, and then hit the major roller coasters at night when the lines were better, and we didn’t have to entertain the kids while they were tired.

The time went by way too fast; I guess that means we had a fun time :) Sydney is already begging us to go back, “how about we go to Disney World for my next school break?”

We have A LOT of pictures, so we are going to break this up into a few posts :)

Disney World part 2

2011-01-05T19:05:00.009-07:00

Blogger is not cooperating with me and the spacing with pictures/info is all messed up. So, rather than spend another hour trying to fix it, just read the "captions" at the top and then scroll through for the pictures.

Jaxy was adamant about riding with Daddy on every ride, which worked out well (smallest person with person with longest legs :))

Aladdin's magic carpets was one of Sudney's favorites - and Pirates of the Caribbean is the other...

When we rode the tea cups, Donnie was nice enough to spin us super fast!

Sydney loved the Cinderella statue by the castle (Cinderella is her favorite princess).

The water at Epcot was a source of fascination - so was Captain EO, which was weird, even for Michael Jackson.

The Norweigian troll scared Jaxy, but Grandma toughed it out.

At Hollywood Studios they had an amazing light display - complete with fake snow!

2011-01-05T18:00:00.003-07:00

At Animal Kingdom, Jaxy played a few carnival games and won a medium prize all on his own! Sydney opted for having a Cinderella crown painted on her cute little face.

Each park had Christmas trees. This is at Animal Kingdom.

Our hotel had two buildings dedicated to Toy Story - complete with giant statues. Jaxy was in heaven!

While Jaxy braved the roller coaster in Toon Town ("The Barnstormer"), Sydney went to meet the princesses. Pochahontas was actually at Animal Kingdom...

Sydney hung around with Grandma a lot. Here they are in front of Cinderella's castle and at Minnie's house for tea.

The Pink Pig

2010-12-04T10:36:00.005-07:00

We took the kids to ride the Pnk Pig last night. Sydney really looks forward to it each year. Every time we drive past Lenox Square she asks if it's close to Christmas yet so that we can ride the pig. Jaxy just likes any train - pink or not.

After the Pink Pig we went to a hibachi restaurant. It was the first time for the kids. Jaxon loved the "fire", but Sydney hid on the floor until I could assure her that the volcano fire had stopped.

She recovered quickly when she saw the broccoli and carrots on her plate (she gave the mushrooms and shrimp to Donnie, so everyone was happy). Jaxon and Sydney both liked using chopsticks, and they really liked the dipping sauces.

All in all it was a fun night.

Just smile and say okay

2010-12-04T10:24:00.002-07:00

On Wednesday we told Sydney we would be meeting with her teacher the next day for a parent-teacher conference. We told her that we were going to talk about her. She then looked at me and said, "My teacher might tell you that I have been bad, but you just smile and say 'okay', and then don't really listen to her."

After I managed to check my laughter, I began to worry. We were not sure what to expect when we met with her teacher. Thankfully, the conference went well, and Sydney is doing a great job at school. Her teacher said she listens well and follows rules (why not at home?!), she is doing great with her numbers, letters, sight words, and math with manipulatives.

She loves art time, and she is very creative. Ms. Parker said that all of the kids have too explain their pictures so that they can lable them (to show the state Pre-K board when they check up on the program). She said most kids will say, "that's me," or "that's a dog." Sydney likes to tell a story: "This is a little girl who loves to play outside, but she is sad today because it is raining,"
That picture was a girl with a frown and large blue dots (rain) all over the place.

Most of her pictures were that way. Sydney has always been very creative - and a little dramatic too :-).

The only thing she really needs to work is resting time. Sydney refuses to lay on her mat and sleep, so she sneaks books under her blanket and "reads" while everyone naps. She hasn't willfully napped for me in 3 years, so I'm not much help there.

O Christmas Tree

2010-12-04T09:29:00.005-07:00

We took the kids to pick out a live tree this year. They had a lot of fun, but it was really, REALLY cold, so we didn't spend too much time at the lot. Luckily, we were able to find the perfect tree pretty quickly.

The man re-cut our tree, and tied it to the roof of the car. He handed Sydney and Jaxon a string each and told them to "hold on tight so tthe tree doesn't fall off." Sydney thought it was funny, but Jaxy took it pretty seriously.

We decorated the tree the next day, after school.

The only way to get these two to nap...

2010-12-04T08:50:00.006-07:00

is to let them run wild at the aquarium and hope they pass out at home.

"I not Jaxy, I Woody"

2010-12-04T08:17:00.004-07:00

That is what I hear from Jaxon about 15 times a day. For his birthday (about 6 months ago) we saw Toy Story 3, and everyone bought him a present along those same lines. Thus began the transformation...

Fast forward a few months to Halloween. By this time, Jaxon has been watching Toy Story (the first one) on an almost daily basis, and playing with his birthday presents non-stop. Jaxon picked out a Woody costume, and proceeded to wear it every day. The only time he would take it off was at night when he would change into his Woody pajamas that eerily resembled his costume.

See Jaxon not only tells me his name is Woody, he tells everyone he sees his name is Woody. He cannot be in the house - or out of it - unless he is in full costume. On the one hand, we have definitely used all $19.99 of this costume, but on the other hand, it is time to scale back a little.

Jaxy, I mean Woody, has made multiple trips to the grocery store, the bank, the post office, the aquarium, the zoo, the museum, Target, and a little bit of everywhere else in full costume.

The worst part of it all is the costume is "hand wash only!" AND we only have one, so hopefully he outgrows his obsession before the costume is reduced to shreds...

Halloween

2010-11-03T19:46:00.005-07:00

Sydney chose a Halloween costume in September, but Jaxon was a different story. Everytime we asked what he wanted to dress up as, he would tell us "a super bad guy." We could not figure out exactly what that meant, so it was a little difficult to buy a costume for him.

Finally, the Monday before Halloween, we went to Party City, placed Jaxy in front of the costume wall, and told him to choose anything he wanted. He eventually opted for his other obsession - Toy Story. Jaxy has been in a Woody and Buzz lovefest since he saw Toy Story 3 for his birthday.

We totally made a mistake with the whole costume thing though, he wore the costume 24/7 the entire week before Halloween, and now we are on Wednesday after Halloween, and he continues to wear the costume non-stop. it is the first thing he asks for each morning - "Mom I need to be Woody!"; and it is the worse part of each night - "Jaxy you need to wear pajamas to sleep, not your costume."

It wasn't so bad last week when we went trick or treating at the aquarium one day, the zoo the next, and then a party at church...but when I had to run into the bank, or the grocery store, or when I pick Sydney up from school...I get a lot of strange looks.

At my parents' ward party, another little boy came dressed as Buzz Lightyear. Jaxon was totally fixated on this kid. He kept walkinh up to him and checking him out. When the kid would walk off, Jaxon would ask,"Mom where is Buzz Lightyear going?"

When trick-or-treaters came to our house, Jaxon would tell them, "Hey guys, I'm Woody!" I think his grip on reality is slipping a little. At least he's cute, right?

Washington D.C. part deux

2010-11-03T19:21:00.004-07:00

At the risk of being the weirdos who force their "friends" to sit through six hours of videos of their incredible trip, here are a few more photos of D.C.

Washington, D.C.

2010-10-31T16:32:00.014-07:00

Last weekend Sydney and Jaxon stayed with my parents, and Donnie and I took a little trip to D.C. It was kind of a last minute trip, and it was short (we took the first flight up on Saturday morning and the last flight home on Sunday night), but it was so much fun!

It had been a while since Donnie and I did anything without the kids (we have never left them overnight since Jaxy was born over 2 years ago), so we wanted to do something special. We had such a great time, and the weather was perfect.

On Saturday we started at the Spy Museum. We did an interactive spy mission at the museum, and then we did "Spy in the City." Spy in the city is a GPS-guided 1.5 mile tour. Each person gets a little device to help you as you travel the city trying to solve a case. Each case is based on a real CIA file, so it was kind of cool to work on a "real" spy case.

For us, there was a NASA employee trying to sell government secrets to Russia. We were to find out who the employee is and then intercept the delivery of materials. We were sent a picture, and we had to find out which street corner it was shot from, and then we had to go there. We then were sent around to various places (Department of Justice Building, Navy Memorial, FDR Memorial, the Old Post Office, Benjamin Franklin statue, a cathedral, and old bank building...and a few others I can't recall right now).

At each place we were either given a clue by "finding a fingerprint" with our special scanner, intercepting audio transmissions, or cracking codes from parts of different monuments. In the end we found the girl, took the package, and she was "apprehended by federal agents." We watched that last part on our little video screen :-) It was fun, but I don't think we'll do that part again.

We walked through the National Mall, and Donnie took A LOT of photos, as we checked out the sights. We headed over to the Holocaust museum next. We spent a little over two hours there. It was a very sombering experience. It's just sad that so many people can be convinced to support such evil. It was pretty neat to see toward the end of the exhibit a giant wall with names of people, listed by country, who actively worked to help Jewish people during Hitler's crazy campaign. There were so many people who saw a wrong and stood up for the right. Unfortunately, so many people still had to suffer, and even lose their lives.

We left the Holocaust museum when it closed, and headed to Chinatown. We walked all around, checking everything out, before we decided on a Texas BBQ place for dinner. Donnie is still baffled how I managed to drag him to a BBQ place in Chinatown...

We walked down to a frozen yogurt place back by the spy museum for a treat after dinner. There was a hockey game in town, so it was pretty crazy around Chinatown. And BTW, that was seriously the best fro yo I have ever had. We hopped on the Metro and headed back to the hotel after that. It was only 8p.m., but we walked all day, so we were pretty tired.

Sunday we ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and then caught a shuttle to the Metro. We took the Metro to the Archives station, and then we walked to the capitol building. It was actually quite a walk, but Donnie wanted to take pictures, so we pretty much took the long way a lot :-).

We decided to walk from there through the National Mall to the Museum of Natural History. That weekend there was a national science and engineering festival on the mall, so we checked out a few of the tents, and took a pic with two of the stars of NCIS:Los Angeles.

We spent a few hours at the Natural History museum, and then walked down to the White House. It was crazy how crowded the sidewalk outside the front gate was! We hit a food truck for a quick snack, and walked over to the Washington monument and then the Lincoln Memorial. We checked out the Wolrd Ward II Memorial. It was quite impressive. Donnie took pictures of the Georgia post, and the Idaho post :-).

We walked beside the reflection pool on our way to the Lincoln Memorial. The water was pretty dirty...it was not such a good reflector. We climbed the stairs to the top and took photos from inside and outside the monument.

We then walked out to the Arlington National Cemetery. Although we were walking pros by this point, we took a guided tour around the cemetery. It was neat to learn the backstory of the cemetery, and to have someone point out the more famous of the graves, and also the different areas. We stopped at JFK's gravesite, watched the changing of the guard ceremony, stopped at the original house, and then back at the gift shop/visitor's center. It was such a good tour.

We then headed to the Metro, and on to the airport. It was pretty late when we returned to my parents' house, but Sydney wast still awake. She needed to let me know that she was just going to stay with Grandma and Granddaddy. Apparently we were not the only ones who had a fun weekend...

More Halloween fun

2010-10-31T16:15:00.003-07:00

Obviously, I am a little behind in my posting :-).

So the week after we put together the pumpkins, we made Halloween puppets for FHE. Once again, we let the kids choose. Jaxon chose the evil scientist, but Sydney chose Frankenstein - I thought she would go for the witch, but she wanted the crazy monster. Then again, Slasher the Komodo Dragon is her favorite zoo friend (closely followed by the dead zebra).

Anyway, here are their creations.

Mr. Potato Head Pumpkins

2010-10-31T15:51:00.003-07:00

This year we decided against carving pumpkins (disaster from 2 years ago), and letting the kids paint pumpkins/cover pumpkins with stickers (last year's craziness), and opted for Mr. Potato Head pumpkin kits.

The genius who came up with this idea is so my new best friend. Seriously, call me and we will go to lunch. Anyway, there are quite a few different kits to choose from, so we let each kid pick one. Jaxon choose a "monster" kit (it really is more like Frankenstein), and Sydney choose a princess one (imagine that :))

We bought each child a pumpkin, opened their kit, and turned them loose. Donnie helped Jaxon, but it wasn't because he needed help, Donnie really had fun with the kits too :-).

Student of the Month

2010-10-01T20:26:00.003-07:00

So yesterday when I picked Sydney up from school, she informed me that next week they are having a special reading day at school. She needs an adult to come read to her class for about 20 minutes. She chose Grandma Forest Park, and then proceeded to tell me how excited she was for reading day. She mentioned nothing else about school.

We went and picked up Donnie and then went to the natural history museum. We watched an I-Max movie, looked at all of the exhibits, and then, at closing time, we headed back to the car. So it had been a good 3 1/2 hours with Sydney...

As we were leaving the parking lot she said (VERY grumpily), "I had to go to a party today during rest time." Donnie and I exchanged confused looks and he asked, "What kind of party did you go to?"

She picked up her bookbag and pulled out a certificate and a bumper sticker. Sydney went to the cafeteria to have ice cream with her teacher and principal because she was chosen as student of the month!

She didn't really understand until Donnie told her how special it is to be a student of the month, and how proud of her we are. He totally talked it up, and we took her out for frozen yogurt. Once she understood it was a good thing, she was really happy.

That's when the problems came... she now expects us to put the bumper sticker on our car, and doesn't understand why we said we could find a "better place" for her award.

BYU game

2010-09-20T06:30:00.005-07:00

Last weekend we headed down to Tallahasse to cheer on the Cougars. It was my first BYU game (live, in person) in two seasons, so I was pretty excited. It was Jaxon's first football game ever.

We made the trip down with my parents on Friday. On Saturday we took it easy, and although our hotel had a "breakfast" we opted for Krispie Kreme doughnuts instead :-).

At noon we went to the BYU tailgate party at the Civic Center. There were quite a few people there, so it was nice to see other BYU loyal in Tallahassee. We ate lunch at the "party," and gathered a few items to chher on the cougars with. Cosmo and the BYU cheerleaders came and lead everyone in a few cheers too.

Sydney liked watching the cheerleaders, but Jaxon was deathly afraid of Cosmo - to the point that his little body was shaking.

Some friends of ours came down to the game too (we had seats together), and so we met up with them at the tailgate party and took the shuttle to the stadium together too.

The game did not turn out as I would have liked it to (READ: BYU lost), but it was still fun, and I am glad we went. At halftime, the cougars looked like they were finally getting a handle on things, and we were back in the game 13-10, but we never scored again after that.

In the stadium we were prpetty much surrounded by a sea of red, but luckily, there were 10 of us, and two more sets of Cougar fans on the row in front of us, so we felt pretty comfortable - well, except for the weird guy who kept rubbing my back as he said, "I hate to be ugly, but you know you came an awfully long way to get beat up real bad, right?"

I tried not to go back for any drinks after that...

We spent the night again Saturday, and went to church in Tallahassee on Sunday. There were at least 5 other cars of people there who were in town for the BYU game too. That didn't seem to stop the two adult speakers in Sacrament meeting from making cracks about BYU though. Really?

Here are a few pics from gameday:

First Day of School

2010-08-09T17:11:00.006-07:00

Today was Sydney's first day of school! We went last week for open house and met her teachers, and walked around the school. She was very excited!

This morning she woke up at 7:15, and Donnie pointed out that this was her first time up before 9 in three years. It was a little early for her :-)

When I picked her up (after 6 1/2 hours), she was excited to go home. She said school is "awesome," and she made two new friends - "one boy and one girl, but I don't know their names. The little girl had on a pink shirt and a pink and silver skirt with five silver buttons. The little boy had on a green shirt and boy shorts." I guess fashion is more important than names...)

She was very excited about lunch - "a chicken sandwhich, an orange, and a milk in a box," but not so much breakfast - "Umm, I think I ate a pizza."

This morning when I dropped her off, I walked with her into the library (Pre-K through 1st grade meets there before school officially starts). Other parents were in there waiting around, so I grabbed a chair and sat with her. When her teacher came in and called for her class to line up, I followed the other parents.

Sydney and I walked hand-in-hand to her classroom, but when we arrived there, she gave my hand a little squeeze and said, "Okay Mom, I'll see you this afternoon." She hung her bookbag in her cubby (she chose it at open house), and ran to the carpet to sit down. She never looked back.

I made it all the way back to the car without crying, but then I couldn't help it. The crying episode was short lived, however, because Donnie was waiting in the car with Jaxy, and he started laughing at me. then I was too mad to cry.

She loves to learn, and she loves to be around other kids, so we know she'll have a great year!

Jaxy wants in on the action too. We had to buy a bookbag for him, and he wore it all day long - he even napped with it. He was very excited to go to Sydney's school to pick her up this afternoon too.

What we've been up to

2010-08-04T08:09:00.011-07:00

We have had a really busy summer! Here are a few snapshots of what we've been doing:

hanging out at Stone Mountain, playing in the sprinklers, visiting the aquarium, and playing in the backyard.

Braves' Game

2010-08-03T06:55:00.008-07:00

The BYU Alumni Association hosted a "Mormon Night at the Braves" last night, so we took the whole family to Turner Field to cheer on the home team. Dale Murphy was a special guest last night. He played for the Braves from 1976 until 1990, and quit impressively so. He was a great player and a great guy. His jersey, No. 3, was retired after he retired from baseball in 1994.

We had perfect seats - not necessarily the best seats, but for our family, they were perfect. We sat right beside the Mets bullpen, down the third base line. We were only three rows back, but we were on the inside isle (right against the bullpen), so the kids had a big "play area." They could move around without bothering anyone, and they watched the Mets' relief pitchers alot when the action on field was stalling.

We also had a steady supply of cotton candy, Reese's pieces, and blue slushies going :-) We missed the meet and greet with Dale Murphy, but we made it in time to see him throw the opening pitch. The weather was great (a little overcast so the temperature was not in the 90s like it has been for the past month), the kids were happy, and the Braves won (4 to 1), so it was a great night :-). Even the one thing that started out as a hassle ended up being great...

Sydney needed to go to the bathroom 4 times during the 3 1/2 hour game. The last time I was a little annoyed because it was the 8th inning, and since the Braves were ahead, the game would be over soon. I asked Sydney to try to wait, but she was adamant. Reluctantly, I took her to the bathroom. As we were coming back to our seats, we were walking right by the bullpen wall, and I heard someone whistling. At first I didn't pay it any attention, but after the second whistle, and a "Hey!" I turned to look.

Raul Valdes, one of the relief pitchers, was trying to get our attention so he could give Sydney a baseball from the bullpen. Sydney was so excited! She proceeded to tell us for the next hour (the rest of the game, the walk to the car, and the entire drive home) what a great time she had at the game, and how happy she was to have a real Braves baseball.
Jaxy had fun doing the Tomahawk Chop (especially when the Chick-fil-A cow would do it too), and watching the "fireworks" (for every strike out the Braves pitch, the Atlanta Gas light display shoots a burst of fire into the air). When Chipper Jones hit a home run, they actually shot off real fireworks, so Jaxy liked that too.

The view of home plate from our seats

Left field

Watching the action

Jaxy checking out the Mets' bullpen

Sydney stood at the bullpen wall and watched for a long time.

Sometimes she saw this:

Our battery went dead before we could get anymore shots of Sydney with her ball (Valdes is No. 22, or the bald guy in the bullpen picture)

Jaxy pointing out the "fireworks" after a strikeout.

No one wanted to cooperate for a picture; they just wanted the cotton candy guy to hurry it up.

It was so much fun. This was our fourthj game this season, and we are already making plans to go back for a fifth!

Fourth of July

2010-07-08T06:44:00.007-07:00

We spent the weekend in the north Georgia mountains with my family again this year. We went up Thursday and stayed until Monday, so it was a nice long break from real life.

On Saturday, the guys went fishing (Donnie and Ben went golfing after that, but my Dad went to the hospital to have a fishing hook removed from his middle finger :-)) The girls spent that time at the new and improved Babyland General. Sydney found a new Cabbage Patch doll and a bag of doll accessories.

Jaxy was kind of out of his element. In fact, the only thing he wanted was a car from one of the displays. They have a limited edition Nascar doll (seriously?) and at the top of the display area is a big car with a doll all dressed up like a racecar driver. Jaxon yelled, "Car Mommy! Car!" like a million times

It was nice to spend time with so many members of our family (this was the first time we were able to hang out with Moe and Kat since they moved out of state in January), but we missed those who weren't there (Angela came up for one afternoon, but Jason and his family were unable to come).

Barbershop

2010-07-08T05:43:00.003-07:00

So, Allison and fam came up yesterday to visit, and while here, Donnie gave Quin a haircut. It was Quin's first haircut, so it was a hard time for all.

Allison was sad to see all of his beautiful hair chopped, and Donnie was afraid to mess up Quin's hair. He kept saying to me, "I don't want to be the guy who ruined Quin's hair. what if Allison doesn't like it when I'm done?"

Well, the upside of it all is that 1. Hair grows back quickly, and 2. Allison asked him to do it (granted after weeks of pressuring from ALL of my family), so she could only be mad at herself.

Another high point, we gave Quin a lollipop and sat him in Allison's lap, and he was the best kid ever! He sat completely still while Donnie buzzed about his head with clippers. I wish my kids were so cooperative during haircuts :-)

So, here are a few pics - I ran out of room on my camera, so sorry Mom that I do not have more!

Jaxy turns 2!

2010-06-27T18:04:00.005-07:00

I can't believe how fast the last two years have flown by!

Jaxy has changed so much. He is sweet and loving, but he is also a little rowdy. He loves trains, heroes and bad guys. He likes to run, jump, and wrestle (mainly his sister and she doesn't like it one little bit).

He gives the best hugs, and has the sweetest little voice. Although he can be quite loud at times, he is also the first one to inform us if we are "too loud!" That is probably his favorite phrase; well, and Sydney did it (which sounds closer to "Didney do it.")

We had two little birthday celebrations for him this year. One on a Friday when we could do something fun with family, and the other was really just a dinner with cake and ice cream on his actual birthday (which fell on sunday this year).

Jaxy loves Toy Story, so we went to the theater and saw Toy Story 3 with my parents, Jana, Ronnie, Katie, and Emily. It was in 3-D, so I wasn't sure how Jaxy would react to that, but he kept his glasses on almost the entire time. He can't stop talking about the movie now.

He received a lot of Toy Story toys for his big day too. He has a Woody, Buzz, and Rex doll, a Mr. Potato Head, a Toy story racetrack, a rocket sprinkler, and a tricycle.

Some friends came to dinner on his birthday and gave Jaxy a superhero cape and mask (from the incredibles, and my friend made it herself - it's very impressive).

Fireflies

2010-06-23T06:02:00.003-07:00

One of the best things about evenings in the South is chasing fireflies. Every day when Donnie comes home, Jaxon asks to go outside and see the fireflies - okay, so it's actually more of a command, but you get the point, he's excited to see fireflies.

Jaxy's summer cut...

2010-06-01T14:50:00.004-07:00

Jaxon needed a haircut, so Donnie took matters into his own hands.

Before:

After:

Happy Memorial Day!

2010-05-31T18:19:00.003-07:00

I love holidays! Not just one, but all of them. I especially love Memorial Day because it is a day all about remembering. Remembering family and friends who have died, remembering all of the brave men and women who fight/fought for our freedom, remembering just how blessed we are to be here...

I know some people like to go to special services, and others like to visit graves, but personally, I like to spend time with family and friends and share stories about our loved ones and heroes who are no longer with us.

It's probably because cemeteries creep me out, and I am not an early riser so I can't make it to special ceremonies...

Anyway, today we celebrated by enjoying America's passtime - we went to a Braves' game. I was a little worried because according to The Weather Channel, there was an 80 percent chance of scattered thunderstorms today, so I thought for sure we would get rained out.

I was also a little worried because we were taking Jaxon and Sydney with us to a game at 1 p.m. (super hot, and right during nap time). And I was worried because we were going with a group of friends, some of whom we went to a game with last month and the Braves lost miserably. If they lost again today, surely our friends would think we brought some kind of curse a long with us and would not want to go with us again :-).

Thankfully, my fears were all for naught. The weather was hot, but hot and sunny, so not a drop of rain. Jaxon had a great time at the game, and showed no signs of missed naps (Sydney, on the other hand was not exactly the ray of sunshine one would hope for). The Braves won 9 to 3, and are now in first place in their division.

The best part of the day (other than being with friends and family of course) was after the game. The Beach Boys gave a concert at Turner Field. I absolutely love the Beach Boys, so I was very excited for this! Only two (Mike Love and Al Jardine) of the original five were there (two are dead, and the other is Brian Wilson), but they sounded great!

Donnie and I stayed with our kids, but the rest of the group took off. We moved to seats close to the visitor dugout, and we had a perfect view, and the sound was great. Jaxon and Sydney fell asleep about halfway through (they played for about an hour and a half), but Donnie and I enjoyed it :-).

They sang my most favorite song, and a lot more. Sydney's new favorite song is "Help Me Rhonda," and she has not stopped singing it since she woke up.

So that was our wonderful day, we hope all of you had a great day too!

Zoo mania

2010-05-13T17:32:00.006-07:00

We can’t get enough of the zoo apparently – we have upped our visits from once a week to twice a week, and during Spring Break, we went three times!

The kids love the animals, and I just love getting out of the house.

This kid loves trains!

2010-04-16T13:39:00.004-07:00

The Easter Bunny brought Jaxy a few Thomas the Tank Engines and a whole lot of track. He has since spent every waking moment building track and racing trains. He has even convinced his granddaddy to join in a few times.

Pictures!

2010-04-07T15:38:00.005-07:00

We went on a little walk to a park by the university president's house to take a few pictures. The park is beautiful, but Jaxon was not to pleased with the idea of posing for photos.

Here are a few shots (we have a bout a million of Sydney, who was more than willing to strike a pose, but only posted a few)

Easter Egg Hunt at great grandmother's house

Do you think this kid likes candy?

Sydney wanted to make sure she didn't miss a single egg

Loading up on candy-filled eggs

Katelyn and Sydney checking out a giraffe's skull at one of our many trips to the zoo during
spring break.

Birds of a feather

Jaxon sneaking a taste of Quin's cake - this was encouraged by his aunts Angela and Jana...

Quin's birthday: before cake

After cake

Getting ready to celebrate Donnie's birthday

It's been a while

2010-03-11T13:18:00.007-07:00

So I haven't posted in a couple of months - but not because of a lack of things to write about :-)

I know this is really lame, and sort of a slack job, but once again, I present you with two months in rapid review:

In January we celebrated Sydney's 4th birthday. She had so much fun at Katie's birthday party that she decided to do the same thing, so we celebrated at Michael's. Sydney chose to decorate aprons. She loved choosing paints, stencils, and glitter to decorate her princess apron with. We invited a few of her friends and some family too (for some reason the teenage boys were not so in to decorating princess aprons).

The week after her birthday, Sydney started back to a preschool co-op. It is a cute little group of 5, and they all seem to get along well. They have been on a couple of field trips already - one to PetSmart and the other to a fire station. They all thought that was pretty cool.

The weather started to show signs of improvement for a week or so, but it was all a trick and a few days before Valentine's Day it snowed again! The kids were so excited - well, Donnie and Sydney were excited, Jaxon just wanted to hang out in his big red car.

There was actually enough snow to build snowmen this time, so we had a little family in a yard for almost two days :-)

Valentine's Day was nice. Donnie made breakfast, and gave us all gifts. Church was cancelled because of the snow, so we just stayed at home and relaxed.

The rest of February was spent battling colds, stomach flus, and overcommitted schedules.

Sydney gave her first talk in Primary on Feb. 28. She spent all week telling me that she wanted to "song to my friends about Jesus," but when the time came, she actually spoke and did a great job!

She can't read, so we didn't write anything down, but it went something like this:
"Hi, my name is Sydney. I know Heavenly Father and Jesus love me, and I love them. I know
Jesus died for us. I am thankful for Jesus. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

She was really proud of herself, and the next week she said the prayer in Primary all by herslef. She really is growing up so fast.

Last week was my birthday. Donnie made breakfast, and let me sleep in. That night we went to eat ribs with the kids and came home for birthday cupcakes and ice cream. Donnie bought season tickets to Theater of the Stars for me, and I am really excited to see Phantom especially.

On Friday, we went out to dinner with our friends at Pura Vida, and then came home for cookie cake (my most favorite birthday treat) and ice cream. It was a lot of fun, and my friends gave me a couple of good books, "These Is My Words" and "The Middle Place," chocolate, a spa bath set, and a gift certificate for a pedicure. It was the perfect birthday (and really nice since I was able to spread it out an extra day).

Today is Donnie's birthday, so it is his turn to be spoiled! Unfortunately, he is a little sick, so it will not be as nice for him as my birthday was for me :-).

A few weeks ago, Sydney and I went to buy Donnie a present. I always want to buy him the perfect present, but he is hard to buy for. He never wants anything, and so I can never get any ideas from him. Well, Sydney and I were coming home from a birthday party for her little friend, and it suddenly hit me.

There is a driving range close to our house that Donnie likes, and since the weather (hopefully) is going to brighten up soon, I thought I had the perfect present. I bought Donnie a gift card for 6 buckets of balls, and while I was there, I talked to the owner to get a few more ideas. I decided to buy Donnie a private lesson with one of the shops pros. She is actually a golfer on the LPGA, so I thought it would be cool for Donnie to take a lesson and get a few tips from her.

I was so proud of myself for coming up with a good Donnie gift. He would be so surprised when he opens his present - except that I had Sydney with me. So I spent the next 15 minutes explaining to Sydney what a surprise is, and how Daddy would be so happy if we wait and tell him on his birthday. I told her not to say a word.

As soon as we walked through the door, Sydney said, "Dad! Mom and I bought you a birthday present today. It's a surprise from that place where you hit golf balls."

Thank you Sydney. Next time, I am shopping alone.

February snow day

Sydney's "preschool" group at the local fire station

Snow day!

2010-01-09T14:47:00.005-07:00

Something freakish is happening around here. For the last two weeks, the temperature has barely risen two degrees above death. Then, last Thursday, it snowed!

I know, many of you are saying, "Winter = cold weather," and yes, it is January, but this is also GEORGIA. Maybe Mother Nature didn't get that memo.

The snow started about 3:30 p.m., and stopped falling after only a few hours, but we ended up with...wait for it...ONE INCH! The temperatures never rose above freezing (and probably won't until Monday afternoon).

Sydney could not wait to go outside and play in the snow Friday morning, but was only met with disappointment when she realized she could not build a snowman or throw a snowball.

This is a shot from New Year's. Sydney loved the fireworks - from a distance, Jaxy wanted to touch the pretty "colored lights."

We really need to keep an eye on that kid!

Christmas

2010-01-04T20:27:00.006-07:00

I know I am a little behind in posting, but since we just finished packing away our Christmas decorations (I mean JUST - Donnie is loading the boxes into the attic as I type), I think I am doing pretty well.

We had a great Christmas. We were able to spend a lot of time together as a little family and as a big family too.

Donnie's family has a tradition of gathering on Christmas Eve for a "shepherd's meal" and a little nativity program. This year Donnie's sister who lives here was kind enough to invite us to her house the Monday before Christmas for a shepherd's meal. She also invited a bunch of other families over for the night too.

Everyone brought food to share and then we followed the same program that Donnie's Idaho family does. His mom put together a great booklet with the scriptures and hymns, and we used that as a guide.

It was nice to spend time with others and to have our kids engaged in the story of Jesus's birth.

We continued our new tradition of taking the kids to ride The Pink Pig at Macy's. Sydney loved it (we took her back again last Saturday), but Jaxon wasn't so big into the loud voice-over accompanying the ride. I was a little disappointed with his reaction - especially since we waited for one hour and fifteen minutes to ride the thing.

We also spent a day at Stone Mountain. They had a lot of cute activities going on, and since it was pretty cold we spent a lot of time indoors at different shows. Sydney really liked one show where four elves sang Christmas songs from around the world (as Santa moved from place to place he would call the elves to report his progress and they would sing a song from that area).

Some of the songs were strange - like the Italian Christmas donkey - but others were really fun - like when the kids were able to shake maracas and sing "Feliz Navidad."

We grabbed some hot chocolate and stood outside to watch the Christmas parade and visit with Santa. Sydney ran right up to Santa (when it was our turn), umped on his lap, and started listing her desired gifts. Jaxon took one look at the man in red and started screaming for his life.

We were finally able to have a picture made, but only after I sat down in front of Santa and held Jaxy in my lap. He did appreciate the candy cane Santa passed out afterward though. He also liked looking at all of the lights. Almost every tree in the park had some sort of decoration on it, and Jaxy would excitedly point and yell, "TREE!"

We also made ornaments again this year. Sydney made a reindeer (Rudolph), Donnie made two snowmen on a sled, and Jaxy and I made a gingerbread house (using foam and stickers). He tried to eat more than he tried to apply, but it still turned out well.

On Christmas morning, my parents came over for breakfast, and to watch the kids open their presents. We had to wake Sydney, and she was reallyy sleepy. When she came into the living room, we told her to go see what presents Santa brought for her, but instead of running to the toys and checking them out, she sat across the room staring.

Santa brought Jaxon a vacuum cleaner (seriously, that is what he really wanted), and he wouldn't put it down to open his presents. Sydney really enjoyed unwrapping her gifts, and when she finished, she moved on to her brother's.

That afternoon we went to my grandmother's house for dinner and more presents. It was nice to spend time with family and enjoy some yummy food.

On New Year's Eve we went to my parents' house for food and fire works. We spent the evening playing games, waiting for midnight. Allison (and her family), Jana (and her family), and Mauri's kids all spent the night too, so it was a packed house - which made it that much more fun.

Now the fun is over, and it is back to the real world. Donnie still has a few days off before classes start, but I am back to early mornings, so the fun is over.

It's the holiday season...

2009-12-17T11:23:00.004-07:00

Our Christmas tree will probably not make it to Christmas morning. Jaxon has taken to systematically removing every ball, ornament, piece of ribbon, etc. from the tree. Thankfully, he can only reach the bottom two-thirds of the tree, so the top third looks pretty.

When Donnie first put up the tree, the ribbon was neat and even, the ornaments were well placed, and the balls were evenly spaced. Donnie did a really good job. Now, he would prefer that I not mention he put up the tree himself.

Hip Hip Hooray!

2009-12-17T10:12:00.004-07:00

For months we have been trying to convince Sydney to help out around the house. We gave her a little chore chart (only three a day), and a piggy bank to collect her allowance (a quarter a day if she completes all three tasks).

Everyday, I would remind her to do her chores, but she never lifted a finger. Finally, I gave up. I haven't said a word to her in probably three weeks, and her piggy bank still sits with 50 cents in it (that was our starting gift).

Yesterday, I walked into her room to find her singing a clean up song, and picking up her toys. Then she pointed out that she made her bed, and was almost ready to vacuum (we have no carpet in our house, only two little area rugs). It was one of the greatest days ever.

What every little girl aspires to be

2009-12-09T18:08:00.002-07:00

Today as we walked around the zoo, Sydney turned to me and said, "Mom, when I grow up, I want to be a komodo dragon."

I wasn't sure where to start - people do not grow into animals, or of all of the animals to choose from, why would anyone choose a gross, scaly, belly crawler with a pitchfork for a tongue?

Two Months in Rapid Review

2009-11-29T16:51:00.008-07:00

We have not given up on the blog, we have just been REALLY overcommitted lately.

Between work, school, church callings, date nights, babysitting, and trips to th elibrary, zoo, and Stone Mountain, we have little time for computer fun.

That said, here is a little update on our fam.

Sydney started taking gymnastics and ballet the second week of October. She loves going to class, and even has a little friend who calls her Miss Sydney and smothers her with hugs each week. There are five little girls in her class. They are having a recital in mid December.

She has also been diligently working on her block-building and people-drawing skills. She has decorated her walls with pencil marks, and her floors with giraffes made out of blocks.

Jaxon is diligently working on his block-deconstructing and tackle-your-sister skills. He is pretty talented in the latter.

Jaxon is still the most mellow kid ever. He is so sweet and loves to cuddle too. He likes to play with Sydney, but can sometimes be a little rough. He likes to follow his dad around the house and copy him which is super cute.

Donnie is pretty busy with school these days. This semester will be over in three weeks, and then he only has one more semester of classes, so the excitement is building (too bad he still has another three years after that!).

Here is what we have been able to cram into our schedule:

OCTOBER
We took Sydney and Jaxon to Disney on Ice. Sydney calls it Ice on the Hedge (I have no idea where that came from). She absolutely loved it, and we did too.

For Halloween this year, Donnie carved a pumpkin, and Jaxon and Sydney painted one. I was on clean-up duty - it was almost as fun. Sydney dressed up as a kitty and Jaxy was a puppy.

We went to my parent's ward party from 4-6 p.m. and then we trick or treated for about 2 hours. It was cold and rainy, so Jaxy and I mostly stayed in the car while Donnie, Sydney, and our niece Katie knocked on doors. We ended up with over 7 pounds of candy - yes, Donnie weighed it. Unfortunately, we did not have our camera that day, so I will have to get pictures from my mom.

NOVEMBER
We went to Katie's birthday party at Michael's and Sydney made a jewelry box. She calls it her treasure box, and has it filled with stickers and paper dolls.

We spent Thanksgiving at my grandmother's house visiting with family and eating lots of yummy food. I went shopping Thanksgiving night with my mom, three sisters and three sisters-in-law. Old Navy was open so we popped in after dinner to buy some clothes.

The real shopping started at 3:30 a.m. Friday. My mom, Al, and Jana and I met at Wal-Mart and by 7:30 we were finished and eating at Cracker Barrel. Donnie and I are done shopping for the year, and Santa is finished with our kids as well. The biggest shocker is that I actually came home with almost half of the money that I left with, so Donnie was pretty happy.

We finished up the weekend watching BYU beat Utah with some friends and eating more yummy food, so it was a great week.

Now if only magic little elves would bring all of the Christmas decorations down from the attic for me...

Pictures

2009-09-29T11:43:00.003-07:00

Jaxon will ham it up for the camera at home, but take him to an actual portrait studio, and tears will follow. I learned this truth the hard way.

I wanted to take Sydney and Jaxon to Sears for pictures, so I made an appointment at the one Allison takes Quin to and we decided to make a family trip. When we arrived everything seemed okay, but as soon as we walked to the spot where the camera and lights were set up, chaos ensued.

Sydney wanted to touch/hold/climb on every prop available ( she especially liked the random fake flowers). Jaxon... well I can't really describe the way Jaxon reacted other than this: you know that scene in "The Grudge" where Sarah Michelle Gellar is washing her hair and then suddenly realizes that someone else's hand is masaging the shampoo in? You know, and then she starts screaming like her worst fear ever is coming true? Yeah, that was Jaxon.

My anxiety about the whole situation was not appeased by the fact that Allison could just set Quin on the platform and he would smile, and giggle, and look super cute. Why couldn't it be that easy for my children?

We ended up with only three of Sydney and one photo of Jaxon. Sydney did well for her first three shots and then she just wanted to play with the props and so she was completely uncooperative for anything more. In Jaxy's one shot you can only see one hand - the other hand is tightly gripping my chest, and appropriately cropped out.

Next time Donnie is in charge of picture day!

Go Cougars!

2009-09-06T18:24:00.004-07:00

We are so excited for college football! We love, love, LOVE football. We also really LOVE BYU! Now with satellite, we can watch every game this season!

We went to dinner with three other couples last night, and then headed back to one of their homes to watch No. 20 BYU take on No. 3 Oklahoma. We were not disappointed - BYU won 14-13.

Most of the headlines today focused on the injury Sam Bradford (OU's quarterback, and reigning Heisman trophy winner) sustained, but for us, it was all about BYU's victory.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705328123/cougars-stun-sooners-14-13.html

Haircut

2009-09-06T18:19:00.004-07:00

I knew the time would come eventually, but even with all of the mental preparation, and the realization of the obvious need, it was still hard.

Jaxon had his first haircut. Donnie was so kind as to do the honors. I know that Jaxy needed a haircut so that he could see, but it was still hard to see him with a “big boy haircut,” and not my cute little crazy-haired baby.

Hanging Out

2009-09-06T18:08:00.005-07:00

I finally have a little extra time, so I thought I would post pictures of Jaxy and Sydney during their free time – aka every day of their lives.

Jonas Brothers concert

2009-09-06T16:53:00.004-07:00

For Emily's birthday, Jana bought 4 tickets to the Jonas Brothers concert. Jana didn't want to be the only adult, so they invited me to tag along (thanks so much!). Of course I went as an "adult," but secretly (or not so secretly really) I was excited.

We listen to a lot of Radio Disney with Sydney around, so I actually knew some of the songs. They had three opening acts - Honor Society, The Wonder Girls, and Jordin Sparks.

I really like Honor Society (well, now). They are kind of a poppy punk group. The Wonder Girls only sang one song, and it was a little too much for me. Jordin Sparks was enjoyable too.

Then, the Jonas Brothers took the stage. They played a concert in round. The stage was in the center of the arena, and the main platform rotated 360 degrees. They had two side stages as well. They played a lot of songs - close to 20 I think.

They were entertaining - spraying foam at the audience, jumping on trampolines, dancing, jumping over microphone stands, playing guitars, pianos, drums (the brothers themselves, their band also played a little bit of everything), not allowing any dead moments on stage...

They opened the show with Paranoid, but with all of the pre-teen girls screaming, it was hard to tell!

A Date with Daddy

2009-09-06T16:01:00.007-07:00

Donnie decided that he and Sydney need a little more quality time together, so one Saturday each month they have a special date. They spend the whole day together doing things just for Sydney.

Their most recent date was a trip to the Fox Theatre in Atlanta to see Dora the Explorer live. Dora lost her teddy bear and she had to travel to The City of Lost Toys to find him. She had help along the way from Boots, Bennie the Bull, Azul the blue train, Map, and Backpack. She also had to watch out for that sneaky old fox Swiper.

Sydney ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! She tells me about her little trip everyday. She walks around the house singing songs, and pretending to be Dora.

After the show, they went to Krispy Kreme for smoothies and doughnuts - lucky!

Prepping for the future

2009-07-28T19:16:00.003-07:00

Sydney has found her calling in life. Donnie and I were talking about careers we should encourage our children to pursue ( I know, they haven't even started kindergarten yet...). As we began shouting out what we thought would be winners, Sydney interrupted us and informed us of her choice - "Mom, how about I be a veterinarian."

Donnie, curious, asked Sydney what veterinarians do. Her reply?

"I will help animals feel better, fix their owies, give them shots, feed them, and put them in cages," she said.

Donnie asked, "Why will you put them in cages?"

"Dad, that's where animals belong," she replied matter-of-factly.

Do you think we spend too much time at the zoo?

Regardless, we feel pretty comfortable with Sydney becoming a veterinarian. We need to work with Jaxy still. He spends his days walking around the house carrying a football and wearing Sydney's princess necklace.

I'm not really sure what career that prepares him for.

Game Give-away

2009-07-28T19:05:00.003-07:00

Cat over at 4 Nuts in a Nutshell is sponsoring a really great contest with the help from Thinkfun. Don't miss your chance to enter and win a game! You can also check out Thinkfun's site and preplay a few of their games. They have really great products.

Of course the best reason to check out the contest is to check out 4 Nuts in a Nutshell!

The Little White House

2009-07-20T20:36:00.007-07:00

My cousin Holly has spent the summer filling an internship at The Little White House in Warm Springs, GA. Saturday, we went to visit her there. This was Donnie's first time, and my first time in 18 years. We had a great time and learned a little too.

We went down there with Jaxon, Sydney, my grandmother, and niece Katelyn, and we met up with Holly, my aunt Kay, and her new daughter-in-law Amber. Holly gave us the grand tour and answered all of our crazy questions.

You enter the property through a museum of sorts. They have a timeline of FDR's life and then quite an extensive collection of things he used/had/what ever at the Little White House. There is a lot of information available about the president and his life - before and during office.

We watched a video about FDR and his affinity for the home in Warm Springs. When he was 39 he contracted polio after attending a boy scout camp, and remained paralyzed until his death. He had a car designed with hand controls so that he could drive around in GA, and they had the car on display. It was pretty neat.

FDR helped turn the resort town of Warm Springs into a rehabilitation center for children with disabilities. The natural springs ( and not so natural pools) helped the children and president move around and enjoy a little bit of freedom.

After seeing the activities he enjoyed in GA, and seeing him drive around town, a lot of people thought FDR could walk and would send him canes. The museum had quite the display of ornate, hand-carved canes intended for FDR.

They also had a display on FDR's fifth cousin - Teddy Roosevelt. His big stick was a little intimidating with all of the spikes.

When you leave the museum, you walk on the grounds, passing a "hall" of flags, and a fountain. The kids loved throwing pennies into the fountain. After they cleaned out aunt Kay, they hit grandma up for her loose change too.

Finally you make it to the Secret Service and Military Guard posts (unmanned now because their is not a president to protect). Passing through the gate you see the servants' house and guest house, and then the white house behind them. The white house isn't very big:

There is a small kitchen with a pantry (mostly filled with dishes now).

The dining room and den/study are attached. They still have all of the furniture in there

from the day FDR died.

FDR's secretary had a room with a private bathroom attached.

FDr's bedroom is just off the dining room. His bathroom links his room to Eleanor's - only she

didn't stay there very often.

There is a lot more to say, but it is late, I am tired, and I am already rambling, so...

After catching up on the history lesson we headed over to Kay's house for food and fishing (must be nice to live on a lake :-)).

What a stud!

2009-07-20T20:32:00.002-07:00

The pictures say it all...

4th of July

2009-07-20T20:14:00.004-07:00

We are very thankful to live in this country, and for all of the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. We are very grateful for all of the men and women who serve in the military - past, present, and future - and for the sacrifices they have made so that we can live in a place where democracy prevails.

To celebrate the 4th, we headed up to the north Georgia mountains with family to relax and spend time together. This was such a great trip, and I must give credit to my sister-in-law Kat for pulling it all together. She found the place and invited the rest of us to join in the fun.

The house we stayed in was perfect! It had absolutely everything you could need and then some: 6 bedrooms, pool table, ping pong table, air hockey, foosball, giant projector screen, Wii, movies, plaground, lots of outdoor living space, grill, swimming pool, and a hot tub. We had such a great time!

AND...if all of that wasn't enough, the house is just down the road from Babyland General - the place where Cabbage Patch Kids are "born" and "raised" until they are "adopted" by a loving family. It is pretty neat and all of the kids loved checking out the hospital/museum.

Plus, we saw the "birth" of a Cabbage Patch Kid while there. A CPD (Cabbage Patch doctor) enters the cabbage patch when the magical crystals begin to glow. He hooks the mamma cabbage up to an IV of imagicillin, and the bunny bees (pretty self explanatory) sprinkle magic over the patch.

The CPD tells the story of Xavier Roberts and how the cabbage patch came about. As he finishes the story, the CPD presents the new baby and asks for name suggestions. People shout out their ideas and that's the name the new kid takes. It is pretty entertaining.

Jaxon's birthday

2009-07-15T06:44:00.004-07:00

We recently had a party for Jaxy's first birthday. I can't believe how fast the last year has flown by!

Jaxon is such a great kid. He is funny, sweet, and the best cuddler (is that a word?) EVER. He is very laid back, and has the best smile. We feel so blessed to have him in our family. We love him very much.

Jaxy is adventurous, curious, fearless, and bites like a rabbid dog in a Stephen King book/film. That last trait we could probably live without... Like Sydney, Jaxy loves animals and likes to bark like a dog and growl like a lion/bear/dinosaur/monster (they all sound the same).

For his big celebration we had sandwiches, fruit, chips, cheesesticks, and cake and ice cream - the ice cream was Jaxon's favorite. We had bubbles, water balloons, and a kiddie pool set up to entertain the kiddos. It was a nice relaxing day - if you don't count all of my crazy "Donnie we have to cut the grass, clean the ceiling fans, and rearrange the furniture before any one gets here" nonsense!

We're getting closer

2009-06-20T16:14:00.002-07:00

Only one week until his birthday. Do you think he can do it?