Addie at Grandma Jans

So our wonderful nanny, Nicole is back at school at St. Ben's and summer is coming to an end. This is the beginning of a new chapter for the kids and it's the first time that the two diverge. Since Addie came into this world, Jackson has been by her side every day until now; Jackson is headed off on a new adventure which I will tell you about in another post.

And Addie will now have Grandma Jan to accompany her on her adventure. While Ron and I are off at work Addie is staying with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Joel at their house. We are lucky to be able to keep her out of childcare for a while longer, it allows us to save some cash and for her to get more individual care and attention. Everyone is adjusting well, though I am sad to report that my days without Addie will be longer now as Ron will be the one transporting her in the morning and evening. To make up for it, I stayed home from work a couple of extra Fridays to be with just Addie for some additional time.

Zucchini Bread

Jackson and I made our first loaf of zucchini bread for the season. Jackson really likes to be in the kitchen with me while I'm baking or cooking and sometimes actually does a great job helping. This time he shredded all of the zucchini for the bread. Yum!


He's wearing a giraffe halloween costume that is two sizes too small... I don't ask, I just roll with it.

Play-doh

Sometimes I think Ron and I have more fun perusing the toy aisles more than the boy. We like toys. And I will readily admit that I bought this toy just as much for myself as for Jackson. Fun with Play-doh:

Would you like fries with that burger?

Camping at Lake Elmo

Well we took another camp adventure all the way to Lake Elmo! Along for the ride were: Grandma Pam and Bill, Mell, Terry and Luke, Tinker, Nancy and Malak. We've had some bad luck camping, but this one takes the cake. To begin with I have allergies, I don't like to admit this because I've never had allergies. Well it's time to face facts: whatever is in the air outside in August makes me sneeze and sneeze and then sneeze again. And while I sneeze I itch my poor throbbing eyes.

Things were going pretty smooth, the camper was set up, we'd had dinner and Addie took a bath in the dishpan! After dinner though we had some visitors at our campsite; the good ol' mosquito and friends came out to play and they didn't play fair and in the end we forfeited and went to bed early. After quite the task of getting kids to sleep in 90 degree temperatures with high humidity, we woke in the morning and got a good start to the day, however my allergies were getting worse. We enjoyed a bike ride, ate some snacks and headed to the beach. We had a lovely time swimming and the kids were great.

At this point I had made many runs back and forth to the bathroom with Jackson, which was a block away. Sometimes I would run with him in my arms, sometimes I would bike him down in the trailer, sometimes my mom or Ron would take him. Sometimes he would make it in time, sometimes he would not... wait... I think more often than not... he wouldn't make it. Oh wait, let's clarify: he never made it!

At 5:30 pm on Saturday night we were plum out of underwear or pants for the boy. We were frustrated, sneezing parents and had already decided that we would leave after bonfire that night. And then he pooped. He pooped and we packed up the camper.

We got kids in the car, hitched up the trailer, said our sad goodbyes and off we went, looking forward to our air-conditioned house and beds. While Addie screamed (too tired and hungry) Jackson fell asleep before we even left the park.

Thump, Thump, Thump!!! What the hell is that???

A flat tire.

You have got to be kidding me.

You're not?

Damn.

Flat tire.

We pull over and while the sun beats down on him, Ron works to change our flat tire on the trailer (without a jack). I hold a screaming Addie. Wait, she's screaming AND grunting.

Lovely. The girl has pooped.

So I change a stinky diaper and Ron finishes the tire change.

P-I-C-K-L-E

The Birthday Girl

We had a glorious day for Addie's first birthday party... the weather could not have been better, breezy and sunny. Addie started the party off well in her pink tutu dress with flower petals inside, she welcomed family from both sides:

Bumpa, Grandma Pam, Bill, Nancy, Tinker, Donnie, Candy, Mell, Terry, Josh, Lisa, Luke, Dame, Tasha, Grandma Jan, Great Grandpa Kolar, Jim, Steve, Kathy, Mike, June, Linda and Chris.

We served up Jimmy Johns for dinner (thanks cousin Dame!)and had a beautiful cake. Addie ate the large chocolate cake set in front of her like it was nothing. She was neither surprised that she had a cake to herself or bothered to share with her brother. She was however, sad when it was taken away!

I'm one year old!

Warty little buggers...

The new activity around these parts for Jackson is mowing the lawn. While Ron and Jackson mow the lawn, they watch for jumping toads. Then they get down and collect the toads and put them all in this little jar. Thirteen is the record in just one mowing! All is fine and good until they bring the jar in the house to show mom. I do my best not to be creeped out and tell Jackson how cool it is.... but in my house? All I can see is Jackson dropping the jar and thirteen tiny baby toads hoping into every nook and cranny of my house. Get the toads out of the house, I say.

My what a year brings...

This weekend is cousin Lukie's birthday party and we are so excited to attend. Ron asked at the dinner table where Luke's birthday party was held last year. I reminded him that we were unable to attend because we were in the hospital with Jackson. I was 9 months pregnant with Addie and Jackson was sick. It was a scary time for all and even thinking back, a lump forms in my throat. Last year at this time Jackson developed a blood disorder called ITP. For some unknown reason his platelet count dropped to basically zero, meaning he didn't have the ability to clot blood. We had to pull him from childcare immediately and I stopped working in order to do everything we could to protect our sweet boy from getting hurt.

Last Friday I went to the doctor because of a lump in my breast. Dr. Ashford said I should get in for an ultrasound and mammogram... so I went to the desk to make the appointment, doing my best not to panic. When the appointment desk woman took me back to Dr. Ashford to tell him that they couldn't get me an appointment within the week, Dr. Ashford said that was ridiculous and absolutely not good enough. Well, panic set in. I did everything I could to hold back tears as the nurse made the call to United Breast Center to get me in. They were able to get me in the following Monday. I had to come home and tell Ron the news and all I could do was bury my head in his chest and cry. What if somehing happened to me? What if my kids never to know me? It was a terrible weekend. I tried to continue to hold it together so that the kids wouldn't see me upset. But in the end everything has worked out. The doctors at United Breast Center tell me everything has tested fine. Though they want to continue to watch it and I have another appointment in three months.

What this post is really about is that I'm so thankful that we all have our health. It's easy to lose track of the wonderful things in our world and after some scares, I'm so thankful to have two healthy kids hanging around me. Yesterday, Ron and I took the kids on a long bike ride all the way to the library, climbing some pretty steep hills on our bikes. While my legs burned, all I could think of was how happy I was that we were all able to do it.

The year of the superhero

You may remember that for Jackson's third birthday we had a superhero birthday party. Kids made masks and capes and saved the world as cape crusaders. This cape and mask has made its way to the dress-up bin and makes an appearance occasionally.

Stick Monster

So he says "Mom! Would you tape these to me so that I can be a stick monster?!?!" And Mom says "Uh... okay?"

Wordless Wednesday (Pigtails!)