Tee Ball..

"I'm going to be a baseball guy!"

Be quiet mommy...

While reprimanding Ron for opening too many cereal boxes (I think you should only have one or two open at a time). It's maybe a weird rule, but Ron and I were joking about who makes the rules. Jackson was a the table watching this and said "don't talk to my daddy, be quiet mommy." All I could do was laugh.

Java train...

We've been meeting my friend Cari and her baby, Henry at Java Train some Fridays. This was the first Friday that it was nice enough to hang outside for our morning coffee. Jackson had a blast playing in the sand box. We'll be back again soon.

Sunfish Lake Park...

Our friends shared an area park with us that we checked out this week. After work we packed up and headed to Lake Elmo to get lost in the woods. Jackson didn't make it far in before he started snoring. This is very unlike him, but after two nap-free school days he was just tuckered out.

Play ball...

We attended Ron's first softball game of the year. Jackson brought along his own bat and ball and had a blast hanging out at the fence cheering on the guys.

The family update...

Jackson and potty training: We are going a bit in reverse the last week or two. Jackson is not informing anyone if he needs to poop for the second time of the day, though the first of the day is still making it to the toilet. I think part of the problem is that he is usually playing and sometimes playing outside, so he'd much rather go in his pull-up than tell an adult. We are working on it and he is getting stickers when he uses the toilet to make it a bit more exciting.

Jackson and the television: We try not to let Jackson watch too much television. However, Go Diego, Go! is helping to watch the boy a little lately. Jackson just loves this program and is learning about all sorts of exotic critters. On our way to the zoo a couple of weeks ago he was asked what animal he wanted to visit first. Jackson's response: "a kinkajou." He's also learning about white tailed deer, anacondas, humpback whales and sea turtles. Plus, he's learning some spanish words as well.

The Big Boy Bed: The big boy bed is working out great. We have yet to have any problems with him crawling out or worse falling out. He knows to stay in bed and sometimes sings or talks to himself for 30 minutes before falling asleep at night, but he never climbs down.

Sara's World: Sara has been busy with school. Her Statistics course this term has been taking somewhere around 16 hours per week to stay caught up and in addition she was enrolled in a History class. The history final was last week and she is now working on her final for Statistics. After this weekend, it's one week of Spring break, and then it's on to English Comp and Marketing on the Internet.

Last weekend Sara and her friend Emily took off for a 12 hour scrapbook day at Archivers, it was great fun and a much needed break for both.

With a reduced staff to get things done at MPR, Sara has picked up some new task that will continually challenge her. While she looks forward to the challenge, the time commitment is going to be hard to keep in check.

Ron's Recreation: The softball season has started. Ron's first game playing with Gulden's was on Tuesday. The gloves and bats were a bit rusty, but things picked up in the second inning. Unfortunately they still lost, but it looked like they had fun doing it.

The bicycling season is underway and Ron is getting a lot of requests to tune-up bikes for friends and family. The task will keep him busy for a few weeks and in some cases, even earn him some extra cash to be spent on woodworking items no doubt.

Hello from the MOA carousel...

I've been meaning to get to this blog post for some time, but haven't. A couple Fridays ago we met our friends The Schmidts and The Chandlers at the Mall of America for dinner and rides. Jackson being the youngest of the three children and never before exposed to the rides at the Mall of America, probably shouldn't have started out on the kiddie roller-coaster. Oops. Dad joined him, as I am not allowed to ride (pooh). Jackson had a look of terror every time they passed the moms who looking on, but no tears were shed. When we got in line for the next ride, I asked if he wanted to ride and he just kept repeating "no thank-you mommy". We decided not to push the issue, but thought that our $17.95-all-the-rides-you-can-ride-bracelet was a huge waste! However we got in line for the hot air balloons and though hestitant, Dad persuaded him and by the second time around he was smiling and waving at his Mommy taking pictures! Success! After the balloons, he went on the train ride, the carousel and the ferris wheel.

It is so nice to be able to meet up with friends who have kids of the same age. While it's a lot of action, and a bit hectic, it's so much fun for all. Thanks guys.

What's that smell?

Why does the baby's room smell like garlic? A visitor of our house today could maybe ask this question. And the reason is that Jackson got into the spice drawer this morning and managed to open a bottle of garlic bread spread on his way to the baby's room and then... he threw it!

Likes and Dislikes...

Jackson's Likes This Week: His new Ikea chair, non-dairy chocolate shakes, playing in the sandbox, helping dad clean the garage, riding his trike, taking a bath, ginger snap cookies, hamburgers on the grill, playing with the neighbor kids, doing "homework", eating dinner at Ikea, riding the teeter-totter, tofutti ice cream sandwiches with Grandma and Papa, cheering for the Twins, Creative Kids Stuff Store ("the toy store")

Jackson Did Not Like This Week: Coming inside and dairy-free fruit dip

What Mom and Dad Did Not Like This Week: Jackson got into his first "fight" at school. His teachers aren't sure what happened, but it was over a toy. He and "Ian" (so he tells us) had a scuffle. Jackson came home with scratches on his face and ears, I'm not sure what the other tot looked like, though I'd like to know.

Bean bag toss...

The new outdoor game, bean bag toss. I guess it's okay that he stands this close?

Grand Ole Cremery...

On Monday evening we took a trip to Grand Avenue, making stops at Creative Kids Stuff, Bibelot and Grand Ole Cremery. This was my first trip to Creative Kids Stuff... what an amazing kids' store. Jackson had loads of fun playing with the Playmobile toys and the play kitchen. He didn't want to leave when our shopping trip was over. I went in to find some unique baby gifts for friends who have recently had babies and came out with $42 worth of toys for my own child. We bought a great play fruit set that velcros together so that you can pretend to cut pieces. We also got a new thermos to bring to school, since we left our other one behind at Chula Vista. And a third thing that I can't remember!

And what is a Grand Avenue trip if it isn't followed up with a stop at the Grand Ole Cremery?? Knowing this stop would be made and that they wouldn't have dairy-free ice cream, I packed a chocolate sucker from Jackson's Easter basket. He was perfectly content eating chocolate, while we ate peppermint bon bon and coffee break ice cream. We took a moment when we were done with our treats to take this photo:

Thank You Easter Bunny...

I made some time to upload photos today from Easter. Jackson had a really great time. We started the day telling him that the Easter bunny came to visit and he hid a basket for Jackson in the living room. He wandered around and got a lot of hints before finding his basket next to the couch. After finding the treats he played with his new Dora painting book and ate his very first peep.





After a shortened nap we got the boy ready to head to my cousin Tinker's house for a family Easter celebration.

Is it Spring?

Jackson and I played outside for much of the afternoon, since the weather was so nice. He had a great time drawing on the sidewalk with chalk. He met a little neighborhood boy, 7 year old Daryel, and they drew pictures together.

Fire hydrant...

Jackson and the corner fire hydrant had a little go around (the fire hydrant left a mark.) He's lately taken to eating apples, something new, but I need to take the first bites to expose the white parts.

Happy Anniversary...

Four years ago today, Ron and I were married in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was a beautiful ceremony with 41 of our favorite family and friends in attendance. While I will always have my complaints, I think that I am a lucky lady. Ron has given me so much in the last four years, including our wonderful little boy and the baby girl that is on her way.

We'll be heading off to eat dome dogs for dinner and watch the Minnesota Twins to celebrate our four-year union, a perfect way for the two of us to celebrate. (What will we call dome dogs, when we aren't in the dome anymore?)

Easter eggs and cookies...

Coloring eggs

Putting stickers on our eggs.

Time to make cookies.

Waiting...waiting

Ta-Dah!

Likes and Dislikes...

Jackson likes: coloring Easter eggs, putting sprinkles on Easter cookies, Go Diego Go, riding his tricycle, petting bunnies, doing "homework", helping daddy drill, making chocolate non-dairy shakes, pretending to cook, playing Simon Says, eating "cheese" burgers, washing dishes, playing with his airport.

Jackson does not like: being quiet in the bookstore and not getting enough sleep.

Counting in Spanish: I had just about given up on teaching Spanish numbers to Jackson when he was counting yo-yos in an Elmo book and said "Cinco, Seis." Yay! So we'll keep working on it.

Spanish vocab so far: Ojos (eyes), Pelo (hair), Boca (mouth), Hasta Luego (see you later), Gracias (thank you), Amigo (friend). I did get a Muzzy video from the library (geared at teaching toddlers Spanish), and had hoped he would enjoy it more but he thinks the Muzzy characters are "scary." Maybe Diego can teach him a thing or two.

Cute "Jacksonism" ahead...

Ron pulled open the shades in Jackson's room to rouse the boy from dreamland. Jackson's response: "The sun is poking me in the eye."

Big Boy Room...

It's coming together...

A family update...

Potty Training: Jackson is starting to work a little harder at school potty training, up until this week he had been using diapers at school and only occasionally trying the potty. He is now in a more rigorous plan with his teachers to have him trained while at school. Jackson is still in pullups and often gets too distracted and tells us "potty" as he is peeing in his pullup. Though we are still pretty consistent when it comes to poop... thank goodness!

Big Boy Bed: Jackson spent his first night in a big boy bed on Sunday. It took a lot of work to get the little guy to sleep, stories, singing and "petting." Grandma Pam took a turn, Dad took a turn, Mom took a turn, and finally Dad had luck. Like I said in an earlier post, Dad got a little too nervous and slept the first night on the floor beside the bed. The second night was awful! From big boy bed to crib, to big boy bed to crib and a lot of screaming in betweeen. We finally gave up and left him in his crib to cry himself to sleep. Then Ron moved a sleeping Jackson into his big boy bed so that he would wake there in the morning. Round three has us looking up. I read a few books while laying next to him in his big boy bed. I left him with a flashlight and an I SPY book and told him he had to stay in his big boy bed or we'd have to spend the night in the crib. I left the room, he read his book and sang songs for about 20 minutes and sleep! Yay! Let's see how night four plays out.

Food Allergies: We are due to make an appointment with the allergist one of these days, but since I've been going to the doctor so much, I've been putting it off. Jackson has officially been dairy free for one year now. And in the one year, he has had but just one ear infection: success. He has also been peanut and tree nut and egg free since last summer. I'm beginning to get anxious to try milk and egg again, and will do so after we talk with the allergist. We'll hold off for another year or two until we try any nuts again.

Our House: Since the fire in the stove we have had a lot of work done in our home. Painting, cleaning and our ducts cleaned. We've really gotten in the spririt of spring cleaning and the place is coming out rather well. We (Ron) replaced the stair runner to the upstairs, repaired some plaster upstairs, put in a new railing, put a closet system in for Jackson and a myriad of other things. It feels good to purge, clean and organize!

Ron: Ron is looking forward to the start of softball season in three weeks (hard to imagine since there is snow on the ground today). And spending the break in between sports on home improvement projects. He has a list of wood working projects awaiting the return of good weather and is being kept busy by the two year old in the house.

Sara: Sara is once again being kept on her toes with school work. Half way through History and Statistics classes has proved to make her go cross-eyed. It's been a long time since high school math, and she wasn't any good at it then either. She still finds a few hours during the weeks to read the Twilight series and spend a couple hours scrapbooking with friends. The pregnancy has been a bit rough this go around, the sciatic nerve problem is back, and feeling far more tired this time around has her pretty drained(I suppose it's because there just isn't time to nap this time).

The cutest face..

Isn't this the cutest face you've ever seen? What's not to love?