Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 #43 & 44

Apologies for the super late posting and picture overload! I think I've been in shock the past couple of weeks that my baby is already a year old, so I've been weepy and reminiscent looking back at old pics and trying to keep her from growing anymore. Despite my best efforts, she is growing so much each day.

Up:

• As I'm sure you saw from the post I made last week, Kennedy had a great birthday. She annihilated her cupcake and has loved all her new 'girly' toys. She still enjoys playing with brother's cars, but it's nice to have some more feminine options around now! She was even a champ on her one year check-up. My poor baby had to get 6 shots and have her blood drawn. Though she screamed during the process, she was super happy the rest of the day - it didn't slow her down at all! Her stats were 30" tall (92%) and 20.4 lbs. (36%) - tall and skinny just like brother and daddy!

• I hosted my first baby shower last weekend with my friend Amy for our good friends Brent & Heather. They will be having a little boy in mid Nov. and I can't wait! We lived with Brent while  he and Mike were in EWO training for 6 months in San Antonio. We've they've had the pleasure of being stationed at the same bases thus far! Anyway, it was a co-ed shower and was a lot of fun! There are something like 8 babies being born in our squadron before the guys deploy next year - crazy!
• We just made our final trip to the pumpkin patch this weekend and Mike got to go with us. It was definitely colder than last time, but I don't think we really noticed 'cause we were having a great time. All the pics are on Facebook, but here are a few highlights:

Jackson with his friend Annalise on the barrel train. He threw a fit when Mike was going to ride with him, but had no problem sitting next to a pretty girl!

• Last year after Kennedy was born, we put her in a pumpkin to snap a photo for her birth announcement. I couldn't help but do it again this year and she enjoyed it much more than last time!

Last year...

Much happier this year in the pumpkin

Daddy carved Mickey in the pumpkin this year, but to Jackson this is Toodles!

Down:

• It seems like this time of year (every year) fills up so quickly; like we aren't super busy the whole year until the final quarter of the year when everything happens. I'm not complaining too much 'cause I definitely like to stay busy. I just wish we had more hours in the day so I didn't feel so rushed to get everything accomplished!
• Jackson has developed quite the attitude over the last week and has started to 'talk back' as my Mom used to call it! Time outs are helping, but he is so bull headed it's hard to get through to him when he's in that state of mind. Pray that he reverts back to my angel boy - I miss him being so sweet :(

More Pics:

Fun with Mr. Potato Head mustaches!

Mike decided to keep his on after the photos were finished! 

My beautiful sunflowers from Brent and Heather!

The afternoon after the shots -someone feels better!

Silly kids!

How do you sleep like that?!

Kennedy in her cute puffy coat! It keeps her so toasty in our cold weather out here.

The kids were playing in the coat closet trying on all the hats. Jackson said look mommy a fashion show - I think he's been watching too much Minnie's Bowtique!

Favorite Thing:

As I've mentioned before, Mike has an obsession with smoking meat in his electric smoker. The kind he has also lets you smoke cheese too. We bought this block of cheese - Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese - for him to smoke, but needed some shredded cheese for something else, so thought we'd just use some of it since we already had it on hand. Oh my gosh, once we tasted the cheese we were hooked. It is the best cheese I've ever tasted. We  have been buying it ever since just to munch on and shred for other things. It is so good that we couldn't even think of smoking it. Sorry folks, this is just one for the locals!

For a block this size it's about $7.50, but it lasts a good while.