Harvest time...

We're waiting for the last of our squash to ripen before the frost. Over the weekend Jackson helped to pick this beauty. (He wanted his bicycle helmet on, we don't make him wear it to play in the yard)

When we started to pull out our tomato plants to take them to compost, Jackson started to cry. This summer he spent a lot of time in the garden with us picking only the red tomatoes and adding them to the basket. Just as I am, Jackson was sad to see the tomato plants taken out to prepare for winter.

Monday Feature: Likes and Dislikes

Likes: Bob the Builder, stickers, pumpkin muffins, goats at the appple orchard, corn dogs, sticks, new Thomas the Tank pajamas, coloring, singing Wheels on the Bus, wearing his bike helmet, harvesting vegetables, dried apples, the library, puzzles, the color yellow, and putting groceries away

Dislikes: Okra and cleaning out the garden

Jackson sings his ABCs...

A family update...

Berry Intolerance: Jackson seems to be having problems with strawberries and raspberries, so we are refraining from letting him eat either.

Dairy Intolerance: Jackson has had a problem with ear infections every since he was an infant (six in just over a year). Back in April we were referred to a surgeon to talk about having tubes put in his ears. We decided not to go the surgery route and instead on the suggestion of our chiropractor we've taken him off of dairy. Since then, he has not had even one ear infection. About 4 weeks ago we introduced yogurt in his diet and a day later he developed a cough and fluid in his ear, so we took him back off. We are about to try this again, to know if it was a coincidence or not.

Vocabulary Update: Jackson's vocab is really taking off. He's using two words together, such as, "Mommy's Car" "Wet Hair" "More Please".
He knows just about every animal sound we can think of teaching him, our favorites are bee sounds, seal sounds and lion sounds. My favorite of Jackson's latest words is cucumber. It sounds a bit like cuememember... it's too cute.

Favorite Toys: Fixing things with his toy tools, playdoh, books, remotes, see and say, toy trains, tractors and sand box toys.

Sara: I am busy with my Macroeconomics class at Century. We are in week 5, and I got an 86% on my first test (not as good as I had hoped, but I'll take it). I have been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and am tying to convince Ron that we should have a chicken coop in our backyard, he does not agree. I am still plugging away at work and enjoying the new excitment of the public radio world, the new Public Radio Tuner iPhone application.

Ron: Ron is busy as ever at work, many projects on his plate, keeping him busy and on the clock more so than I would like. He went to his 20 year class reunion this last weekend at Jimmy's in Vadnais Heights... he came back after 12:30, getting a ride home, and it sounded like he had a pretty good time catching up with folks all the way back to elementary school. Ron's softball season has ended (I'll have to check where they ended up in the standings) and his volleyball season has already started.

That's pretty much what is new in our world. It seems like before we know it another page is being turned over in our calendars (or whatever the equivalent is of that in our Outlook calendars).

Monday Feature: Likes and Dislikes

Likes: gigantic rocking horse at The Renaissance Festival, Yo Gabba Gabba dance mat, trains, rice crispies covered bananas, corn flakes, dehydrated apples, climbing up on the dining room table, "helping" put laundry away, reading Goodnight Moon, hiding behind the shower curtain, Dolly Parton, playing with radios, sweedish meatballs at Ikea, juice, cornbread

Dislikes: Not being able to climb on dining room table, cooked carrots, going night-night

Jackson sings...

These are the songs that Jackson has been singing lately:

Twinkle Twinkle
"Ink kel Ink kel ittel aaaaar
Hoow eeeyee da ta doa aaah
Up aaaabovvv dattaa daaa ddaa hiiii
Ink kel Ink kel ittel aaaaar"

ABCs (I have a video of this I will post his week)
A B C D E F G H O O O O O P Q R S T U V blah blah blah Now A B C.

Ring Around the Rosie
Asses Asses aaaa aaa DOWN!

From The Wiggles, when we get in the red minivan he sings:
Ooot Oottt ch ug ug red caaar! Which is really Toot, Toot, Chuga, Chuga big red car

No More Berries!!

Second encounter, the culprit: Raspberries. Like the strawberry reaction we've had another and maybe even slightly worse (I'm pretty sure two of the spots were hives). I wish that we would have recognized this sooner, as each and every exposure to the fruits has the potential to make the allergy worse. So it is no strawberries, raspberries, or kiwi until Jackson is at least two when we will try again. I guess it's good we are now heading into a season without fresh berries, so the absence from our diet won't be so hard to manage.

Honk, honk...

On the way to the Farmer's Market over the weekend from the back seat came:
"Geese!! Geese!! Honk Honk!"

From the front seats, Ron and I giggled, he is just so smart.

A little bit of song and dance and dress-up too...

Monday Feature: Likes and Dislikes

Likes: seagulls, elmo movies, geese, fishing, wearing my gloves, garbanzo beans, counting 1-2-3, singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Singing his ABCs, playing with sticks, corn, stacking cups, pancakes, raspberries, dried apple slices, talking on the tele, kicking balloons, sweet tart suckers, mickey mouse stickers, playdoh and dairy-free jumba juice

Dislikes: anyone helping him to eat, cranberries and loud lawnmowers

The cute giraffe...

Jackson is going to be a giraffe this Halloween, provided he doesn't gain an ounce or get any taller between now and then. I found a Haloween costume for Jackson at Once Upon A Child the other day. I brought it home, washed it and Ron put it on Jackson to make sure it would work. We put the little giraffe hood up over his head and guided him to the full-length mirror to take a gander of his new look. Jackson's response when he saw himself in the costume: "Cute".


I'm not sure where it came from, cute is not a word often used in our house. But let me tell you it sure was cute to hear him say it about himself.

Another Jackson update: When asked who his girlfriend is, he says "Reagan". A little friend of his from school. Who would have thought it would already be obsessing over members of the opposite sex at such a young age. Oh brother!

We're back from vacation...

Ron, Jackson and I just spent the last 4 days on Pelican Lake at Breezy Point Resort, north of Brainerd, MN. We really enjoyed our time together, and Jackson was an absolute joy to travel with, he loved our adventures and was great fun at all times. He found great pleasure in watching the geese and seagulls from our patio door, getting corn for our hooks so that we could reel in the sunfish, swimming in the kiddie pool, playing at the playground and in the sand.

We all found our favorite stop on the trip to be The Chocolate Ox in Nisswa(we biked the 7 miles to and from), the best candy store in all the land! They had the world's best selection, and a lot of nostalgic choices, from Wonka Bars, Lemon Heads, Boston Baked Beans and Mallo Cups to a massive collection of Jelly Bellys, Sweedish Fish, and Gum Drops. We settled on some Grasshopper Malted Milk Balls, Sweedish Fish and fabulous turtle-like treats, all to be washed down with a bottle of Bubble Up. Jackson was given a Sweet Tart Lollipop by the owner when we arrived and was content clutching and licking while we perused the shops in Nisswa.

Here are just a couple of photos from our vacation. I took 118 photos!!!

Jackson loved hanging out on the beach
We took the trail 14 miles into Nisswa
Jackson helped to reel this one in
Ron tried teaching Jackson to skip rocks

A food allergy...

I'm beginning to think that Ron is right about Jackson having an allergy to strawberries. This is the result most recently:

A trip to the zoo

We took Jackson to the MN Zoo again over Labor Day weekend. Our membership was a smart purchase this year, we've really made good use of it.

The fair round two...

Our second trip to the fair was much more enjoyable, we didn't feel rushed, and even though the temp reached 90+ degrees we had a great time. The best part about having to push a stroller at the fair, is that we have room for a cooler full of pop and water!

Jackson's fair food in both round one and two: Sweet Martha's Cookies, Corn Fritters (mom's favorite) Taco from Taco King, Sno Cone, Hamburger and Fries in the Collesium, and a pickle on a stick!

Round 1 of fair in photos...

We had round one of the fair the first weekend it was open, but I didn't make time to get the photos up on the blog. Here they are:

We first made our way through the animal barns, hoping that since the heat of the day hadn't set in, neither would the smell. My allergies were so bad, I'm not sure if it worked or not. Jackson got to pet this cute baby pig, in the pig barn, but would have nothing to do with the pig ears on his head!
Like the good dad that he is, Ron took Jackson down the big slide!
And mom attempted a trip on the carousel, but Jackson decided to ride in my arms and not on the horse.
It wouldn't be a trip to the fair without Sweet Martha. I think we wore the kid out!

Dancing bug at The Fair