Hammered by Jackson

Last year I picked up a bird house making kit at a thrift store. Over the weekend Ron threw up the garage door and brought Jackson out to the shop to build their first bird house together. Jackson learned to use a real hammer and Ron's fingers were thankfully out of the way. Check out the look on his face as he slams down the hammer:

Sawzalled by Jackson

The new house had two tall arborvitae trees in the middle of the backyard. They were in an awkward place and blocked the view of the swingset so they just had to go. Jackson learns to use a saw with a little help from his dad. I thought he wouldn't like the vibration, but he didn't mind. He is just an inquisitive kid and wants to learn about everything!



Mom learns too

What? No ice?

I know this is quite the odd time to be sharing ice fishing photos, while the sun shines bright outside. We are having unusually warm temperatures this Minnesota March! But it's the first time I've uploaded photos from the camera in the diaper bag in a while.

While there was still ice on the lakes Ron and his friend Russ took their boys ice fishing on Bald Eagle Lake. It was Jackson's first time fishing and he brought home many a fish tales.

Jackson and Grayson had a great time and were lucky enough to catch some fish:

The park...

This week we brought along a picnic dinner to the park by lake and had a blast playing! Jackson made a new friend while there, 5 year old Ryan. Ryan came to the park dressed as Batman... what 3 year old wouldn't be excited to play with Batman? While Jackson played, Addie spent her timing enjoying the swing.

I'm Sweedish...

Happy St. Pat's to those Irish friends out there. I explained to Jackson that he isn't Irish he's mostly German, some French, Russian, Indian, Hungarian and Sweedish. And he says "I'm Sweedish, because I'm sweet!"

Straight up...

Addie is now able to sit up on her own and play. After a bit of time she gets a little worn out and falls back. And sometimes she gets a little too excited and throws herself back, so it's always a good idea to have a pillow behind her. Jackson likes bringing her toys to play with while she sits and sometimes he likes to take her toys away from her to play with them himself.

From seed...

Ron and Jackson are working on growing seedlings for the garden this spring. They have planted rosemary, peppers and tomatoes.

7 months...

At 7 months Addie you...

don't have a single tooth.

can sit up on your own.

use a nuk to go to sleep.

don't complain unless you are hungry, tired or poopy.

have eaten carrots, squash, peas, green beans, oatmeal cereal, rice cereal, peaches, applesauce and bananas.

go to sleep around 8:30 pm and mostly sleep until 6 am with a few wakings when you are missing your nuk.

are still 100 percent breast-fed.

are wearing 12 mos. size clothing.

giggle when tickled under your neck.

put everything in your mouth.

love to play with paper.

Photo Shoot

The girl is almost 7 months and she's a beauty. She has officially started to sit up on her own and can stay up for a few minutes by herself without any support. She's also making raspberries, which is so cute. Pllllbbbt!

The awesome bows are from the Etsy shop Baby Boutique. My friend Allison had a baby girl and she needed a beautiful bow... and so Addie got a couple too!

Having Fun...

In the evenings after dinner we do what we can to bring a little fun to the house. After a long day at work Ron and I are usually pretty exhausted so it takes all we can muster to entertain these guys. Lately lincoln logs and games of go fish have been on the table for family nights:


Jackson, do you have a tiger shark?


No, Go Fish!


Addie watches on


Now the fun part; knocking it down!

And some nights we have babysitters so that Ron and I can have a lovely dinner at Everest on Grand! That was last night. Auntie Mell and Grandma Pam got to keep our kids busy for the evening and from what I heard, they had a great time doing it.

Wordless Wednesday...

Namaste and numbers...

This last week Jackson took up yoga. He follows along well with the instructor from the Fitness section of On Demand. It's a good way to calm Jackson down and he gets pretty excited setting up his very own yoga mat:



I've also tried out a new method to teach Jackson his numbers. He's been able to count to twenty for a while now, so we are working on recognizing the numbers when written. This worked pretty well, though his favorite part was eating all the cheerios at the end!



Jackson did his early childhood screening on Friday. It's a health and development screen that's required before a child enters kindergarten and is done in a child's third year. He scored a 23 which is super!

The wall of chalk...

I think Ron thought I was a tad crazy to want an entire all painted with chalk board paint, but we did it. Or should I say, he did it. Because afterall, I didn't pick up a paint brush, but was a great supervisor instead. It's pretty dramatic!

What Addiebean is up to...

She's enjoying music


She likes holding on to the remote control



So far she has a lot in common with her daddy.

Random Thoughts...

I almost forgot how good a full night of sleep feels; I was reminded last night. Dear Sleep, You were greatly missed, please don't go away again anytime soon.

We have a wall of chalk, I'll post pictures soon. I'm excited to keep the painting projects going. I don't like painting and the clean up is even worse, but our house looks so much better with some color on the walls.

The warmish sun has returned and I'm thrilled to be outside again. I'm hoping to get out of work early today to come back home and enjoy a walk with the family.

We took Jackson and Addie to Afton Alps to take in all the skiers. The Olympics inspired Ron to get the boy out on some skis. There were kids his age, maybe just a little older out there. So we'll try skiing next year! I'll start shopping for a helmet now.

I can bake! I made my first cheesecake over the weekend... and it turned out beautifully. We topped it with blueberries and all had a delicious dessert last night. I'm going to need to take up exercise if I keep baking like this.

The weekend cooking menu: Chocolate chip cookies, Cheesecake, Chicken Verde Enchilladas and Fish Tacos.