Addie walks...

Family Update

Addie: I have learned to stand up as you can see from the video below.  I'm having fun with my new skills and even mastered it in the bathtub and on Mom and Dad's bed. I think I'll wait awhile to take my first step, it's kind of fun to have mom and dad encouraging me.  My two incisor teeth are trying to make their way through my gums making for some rough moments of sleep, but when I cry out mom or dad comes to the rescue to find my nuk and pat my butt.  My favorite time of day is meal time and I'm happy as long as there is food in front of me, and if there isn't I will whine, grunt and point until I get what I want. I am still drinking from a bottle before I go to bed, but mom tells me I need to give that up soon.  I am happy to get cozied up in my crib around 8pm as long as I'm a bit drowsy I will drift off to sleep all on my own and besides one waking when I can't seem to find my nuk I sleep until 7am or so.

Jackson: I am thriving in school.  I love group time, where we read stories, sing songs, dance and participate in other group activities.  My friends at school are Isaac, Hugh and Julia... but just so you know, Isaac is my best-buddy.  I am taking a Spanish class once per week and love playing Que Color? with my mom.  I'm pretty good at most colors but it's more fun to ask Mommy.  I'm going through a growth spurt and love having maple and brown sugar oatmeal for breakfast, some days even having TWO bowls.  After school most days, we have 30 minutes or so before Dad and Addie get home that I work on homework; I'm practicing patterns and letters and learning rhyming words.  Mom and Dad went to conferences last week and were very proud of my progress.  I didn't know it but I was not getting enough sleep and sometimes having trouble listening and following directions in the evenings because I was just plain tired.  Mom and Dad moved my bed time up by almost and hour and I'm feeling much better about it.

Ron: I've got my first product up on my Etsy site. You can check it out here: Ron's Etsy Site. My big event at the community center is Spooky Splash this Saturday. I thought it would be fun to create some of those picture boards that kids could take their pictures in during the event. Sara came up with some designs and we worked to create some pretty neat ones! I'm still in volleyball on Thursday evenings and trying to get out with friends on occasion.

Sara: I am finishing up a Policies and Strategies course and about to start eight more weeks of intense school work on Monday. I have just signed myself up for more responsibilities at work and hope to continue to carve a path for myself and my career. The photography opportunities seem to keep cropping up and I am loving getting out there with my camera. I've started Christmas shopping, which is well ahead of my usual routine so that the holidays don't seem so crazy.

Addie stands

Addie is still not walking, taking her sweet time and preferring a faster method, crawling.  However, last night she learned a new trick!

Zoo Boo

My mom, Ron and I took the kids to Como Park's Zoo Boo and had a fun time.  Jackson was really excited about being an astronaut and happily put on his costume on his own.  He even told grandma that he was Buzz Aldrin, not Buzz Lightyear when she asked.  Addie was not so excited about being a giraffe but made it most of the way through without tears.

Jackson had a great time running into pirates and farm animals but was less excited with it came to super heroes, star wars characters and was definitely not happy about seeing the urine cup. (Weird I think for a child's event) 

Pumpkin Carving Time...

I love carving pumpkins and I can't wait for the day that my kids will participate with me. We went on a pumpkin hunt, found the perfect pumpkins and when pumpkin carving time came, the boy wanted nothing to do with it. The girl was content to watch but liked it none when I put her hands in the pumpkin goo. Jackson thought the insides were disgusting and wouldn't even come near! But two pumpkins were carved at our kitchen table while two kids looked on.

 

 

My photography

I've been lucky enough to have been asked by some friends to take pictures of their families and children lately. I feel so honored to help my friends capture these precious memories on film (it's really digital, but film sounds better). I'm no where near as good as I hope to one day be but with practice and a keen eye I hope to continue to take better pictures.

I don't know where this business will take me, if anywhere so I decided to keep it simple and just create a blog for my photography for now. Feel free to share it among your friends, okay... please, share it among your friends. The more practice I get the better I can be! And the more money I earn the more equipment I can purchase. Better equipment = Better photos!

My photography blog can be found here:
http://photographybyslh.blogspot.com/

Two loose teeth

On Monday evening Jackson was horsing around in the kitchen.... this is not a surprising sentence in the least.  Ron had given Addie an insert from his woodworking magazine to tear into pieces, crumple and generally make noise with to keep her entertained for a half second before she threw it to the floor.  Jackson slipped on the insert.  This should have been the end of it, but Jackson has an adventurous spirit and decided to see what it felt like to run and slide on said insert.  Well it didn't feel good.  Jackson slipped and went face first to the kitchen floor without a moment to put his hands out to brace himself.  He smacked, teeth first into our hardwood floor. 

Oh good god... I thought he would come up missing all of his teeth, but luckily after wiping away the blood we were able to see that they were all still attached.  Our mouth bleeds ... a lot.  At two minutes to five Ron made a call to the dentist who asked a few questions, told us not to let him eat anything hard and he'd see us in the morning.

Jackson had x-rays done at the dentist to confirm that the teeth were not fractured.  We are told that the concern is now that the swelling can damage and kill the nerve but there is no way to know now.  So, we wait.  His gums are purple and so far his teeth are white but we won't know for a while yet how much damage was done.

Poor Kid!

If we didn't have leaves...

A couple of posts ago I wrote that i didn't think we should have to rake leaves if we don't have any mature trees in our own yards. While I still feel that way, if we didn't we wouldn't have moments like these:

Addie is 14 months...

At 14 months Addie is doing a lot of things....

babbling while opening pages of picture books

going to bed on her own mostly every night around 8 pm and waking around 7:30

still having one bottle of whole milk before bed

saying words like puppy, shoe, sock, baby, ball, go, mama and dada

climbing stairs... a lot of them

eating everything that is put in front of her

showing anger when she doesn't get something she wants

taking a morning and afternoon nap still

playing in the bathtub

smiling to show her 3.5 teeth

and looking fabulous in her size 18 months clothing


And not doing others...

walking.

giving up her pacifier. (okay, this one is our fault)

Happy Fall...

Happy Fall! Thanks Grandma Pam for my scarecrow friend!

Look at my new trick...

And a wedding...

This weekend Dame and Tasha tied the knot aboard the Afton Princess and after we took a cruise down the river St. Croix. I was a bit worried about Jackson's behavior, down the aisle and during a wedding but this young man surprised me! He had to walk the long dock to the boat with bridesmaid Ashley, that he did not know. All I could envision was Jackson throwing a fit and landing himself in the St. Croix, without a life jacket. But instead, he was a little gentleman, he took hold of Ashley's hand and made his way to the boat without incident. Inside the boat he stood patiently and paid attention to the ceremony. When talk of the rings began, he started tugging on the string that held the ring to his little puppy that he carried. Jackson didn't know it but the rings were already tucked safely inside Josh's suit coat in the event that the above scenario happened, the rings wouldn't end up in the St. Croix too. He took his job very seriously and was proud of himself, but not half as proud as his mom and dad. And dear Addie, was adorable!

The wedding was beautiful and the company spectacular, we couldn't have asked for a better day to celebrate.  When all was said and done, we piled in the car and headed toward home.  Jackson fell asleep about ten minutes in.  When we got in the door I laid Jackson on the couch, and that's where he slept for the next 1.5 hours!

I am a robot...

This is what you get when you are 3.5 and you ask your mom to help you make a robot.  Jackson was pretty proud of his robot and even brought it to school for free-choice sharing day!

Grayson

Jackson is now getting to the age that having friends really matters to him.  He is happy to play with his mom, dad and baby sister... but playing with friends is far more exciting. He talks about which of the kids at school are his friends and who he likes to play with Joe, Ethan and Issac are some of the more frequently mentioned ones and he sometimes talks about helping Caley and Julia with the soap dispenser in the bathroom.

The other day we were looking at photos in Jackson's room. He has a picture of himself as a baby, one sledding with his dad and one of him and Grayson on his shelf.  He was telling me about them all and when we came to the one of Grayson, he said "this is me with my best friend!"  I thought it was cute and pretty cool that we have friends with a boy so close to Jackson's age to play with.

 A couple weeks ago we had Grayson over to celebrate his birthday. (Ron had mixed up the dates of Grayson's birthday party and so we had our own).  They both climbed into the toy box that Ron built for Jackson:

Good Caramel

Because it tastes so good, I had to share.  I love caramel apples, have since I was a little girl.  As an adult, I never wanted to get messy eating one so I stuck to apples and caramel dip.  Well last weekend we went to the apple orchard and I bought a caramel apple for Jackson and I to share.  However, he threw a fit on the way out of the orchard and I took an aggressive approach to punishing him; I ate the whole apple on the car ride home while he watched and cried because he "didn't earn the caramel apple." And let me tell you... that caramel apple was divine!  Far better than apples and caramel dip... FAR better.

So I was at the grocery store one day this week (which happens often with a family of four) and saw apple dip.  I was tempted, but knew that it would never compare.  But they did have kind I hadn't tried before, Abdallah caramel dip.  Let me tell you all... this stuff is fabulous.  I found it at Festival Foods and it was the same price as the "other brand."  It can be found online too, here. If you are dying for the best caramel apple now that Fall is here, this is the way to go.

Photography (Jordan)

And the photography posts continue.  Though this is the last of them, for now.  I don't have any other jobs on the calendar.  Last weekend I took pictures of Jordan for his senior photos. Here are some of the best ones: