Jackson Boy Turns 2!

Tuesday (April 3rd) was Jackson's 2nd birthday! I think he had a great day. He goes to Mother's Day Out on Tuesday and hadn't woken up in time, so Daddy and I serenaded him with Happy Birthday to wake him up. I made his favorite homemade donuts for breakfast (don't be flattered it's just fried biscuits). Then he got to eat cupcakes at school with all his friends. After school we took him to McDonald's for chicken and fries! When we got home all his presents were sitting out, he was so excited and just started tearing into them. This is the first time he's really gotten excited about presents. Present opening came to a quick halt though after he opened his new golf set. He had to go out and play some golf before he could even continue! Sounds like he's already taking after his Daddy! Then we sang to him and he had another Mickey cupcake! All in all - a great day! Thanks family for being so generous - he has way more toys than we have room to put them which is a good problem for a kid to have! It's so hard to believe how big our 'baby' is getting. He's the sweetest kid and it's hard for us to remember not having him in our lives!

Jackson eating his donuts on his birthday placemat!

Mickey Cupcakes!

Jackson's class at school on Tuesday before the mess!

He's the birthday boy!

Notice Lyndis is under the table!

Presents....for Jackson?!

Kennedy watching the festivities!

The golf clubs were quickly moved outside in an effort to save the TV!

Getting a lesson from the pro!

We do birthday kisses, not spankings!

Jackson giving us a concert through Mr. Potato Head's microphone!

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down - 2012 #14

Up:

• Thankfully, I can report to you that my children were much more well behaved this week than last. I think they knew Mommy couldn't handle much more. I was so dreading this week because it's Spring Break here and Jackson didn't have his usual Tot Time or Mother's Day Out this week; the one day I took the kids to Boise, they were fabulous. So thankful!

My chubby little girl all decked out for warmer weather!

Gosh he looks big in this picture - he is going to be 2 next week!

Kennedy having fun swinging too!

• I finally got brave and cut my hair! I absolutely love it! Hopefully I can keep it looking this cute all the time. I didn't tell Mike, so he'll just be surprised tomorrow (no, he doesn't read the blog)!

Before - Sorry, it's hard to take a pic of yourself.

After! I LOVE it!

• I did it! Six weeks by myself with both children and no Mike. I don't want to have to do that again for a long time, but it gives me a boost of confidence to know that I'm capable of doing it without going completely insane. Mike should be home tomorrow and I will be so happy to have him back and maybe I'll even be able to sleep better too.
• We have our pick-up back now. The car hauling service delivered it this week. It looks and drives great, you definitely can't tell that it was ever in an accident. That is one more load off. Now we can work on selling the Vue.

Down:

• This week had some major downs. One of my friends in the other squadron here lost her husband/one of Jackson's friends lost her daddy. He had just been deployed a couple of weeks when his plane (F-15E) crashed, although he did eject, he did not survive. They have two kids, one is 4 and the other 2. My heart is breaking for her and those sweet children. In times like this it is hard to figure out God's plan and how it could involve taking such a precious life. All I can do is pray for her, her children, their family and the air force family that everyone will find peace and stay strong. I hope you will also keep them in your prayers as well. Life is so precious and it is so sad that it takes tragedies like this to remind us of that. If you feel compelled to offer monetary support in addition to prayer, there is a link on my facebook page to a 529 plan set up for their children.
• To top off that bad news, another friend of mine had a close friend/pilot also die that had just gotten back from deployment last week. He was married with four daughters. Then I opened up the base paper to read about an Idaho native that was killed in Afghanistan that leaves behind a wife and 3 month old twin daughters. After that, another friend on facebook posted an article about an airman that died last March, he was married with two kids. His two year old son died this week of asphyxiation after reaching for something on the top of his dresser and getting pinned by the drawers. Again, so hard to trust in God that he has a plan as to why these things happen. All of this makes me want Mike home even more.

Favorite Things:

  On to something more upbeat, a salute to all things Reynold's! I'm all about convenience and quick clean-up and these products help do just that! We've used Reynold's products for years. I think I use the foil on a daily basis and wax paper and parchment paper are a must for baking cookies. However, they have taken convenience to a whole new level with three fairly newer products. The Slow Cooker Liners are probably the product I use the most. It is so easy to just pop a bag in the crockpot and then toss it out when you are finished. The most clean-up you have to do is wipe off the lid! The Non-Stick Foil is great for making Jackson's favorites - chicken & fries. No more breading stuck on the foil or the pan, everything just comes right off. Even if you are cooking something greasy, the grease just beads up on the foil. Finally there is the Pan Lining Paper. My sister-in-law, Laura, is the one that informed me of this beauty! It is parchment paper on one side and foil on the other. You simply put the foil side down into your casserole dish and voila - no clean up! Now you can volunteer to do the dishes and have your spouse take care of getting the kids ready for bed. You'll have enough time left over for a nice peaceful glass of wine before heading to tuck them in! Anything to make life easier is a winner in my book!

Non-Stick Foil

Pan Lining Paper

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down - 2012 #13

Trying very hard to stay positive this week, but if anything else happens I don't know what I'm going to do. So we'll start with my very short list of ups followed by a long list of downs :(

Up:

• I've gotten a lot of cleaning done this week and have a pretty good stack of stuff to get rid of! It always make me feel better to clean out a space and not have it look so crowded.
• Kennedy started eating baby food today! I would normally wait 'til closer to six months, but this girl has been showing that she is more than ready. Sure enough I was right, she's a pro. Here she is enjoying her green beans!

Down:

• So this is going to be more of a paragraph than a bullet point! The week started off pretty bad. On Tuesday night we went to a spouse's meeting that we quickly had to leave early from because Jackson couldn't stop screaming/crying. Wednesday and Thursday Jackson has some type of stomach bug thing and had horrible diarrhea; the kind that requires baths and outfit changes. Friday was a fairly normal day, but then there came Saturday. Every single thing set Jackson off into some type of tantrum. When I told him he had to go to bed early he started throwing another fit and went limp. I literally drug him up the stairs to put him in bed. Then he thought he could put off bedtime by taking forever to pick out his books. I put an end to that and just put him in bed and said good night! Shortly after I put Jackson to bed, Kennedy decided to scream like no other. She was not wanting to take her bottle and wouldn't stop screaming. I literally went out into the garage and sat in the car to feed her so she wouldn't wake Jackson up. Then she vomited her entire bottle on me and while I was trying to get back into the house to clean us up the door knob slammed into my hip bone - so painful. Finally, after changing us both, it took an hour of walking around with Kennedy to get her to sleep. So far today...Jackson was horrible in church. He kept running away from me, crawling under the pews and throwing his milk. After we got home from church I put Kennedy on the floor to play. Jackson proceeded to open a drawer and hit her square in the head with it. Then while I was feeding Kennedy he decided to use 4 different walls upstairs as a canvas for his artwork. SERIOUSLY! The kids doesn't even color 2 lines when you give him paper, but give him a wall and away he goes. Oh, I forgot to mention that Jackson also locked me out of the house twice this week. Once when I was taking out the trash and another time when the maintenance man was re-lighting our hot water heater. Thankfully I either had keys or another door was open. Please, Please pray for my patience and sanity.
• While feeling sorry for myself this week I realized that in the past year Mike has only been home one full month - October. Probably the only reason he was home that full month was due to the mandatory 2 week reconstitution leave after his deployment and the birth of Kennedy. So hard to have a family with a piece always missing out on the action.

Favorite Thing:

The whole line of Magic Erasers! I love them all - the normal one, bathroom and kitchen ones too. Thankfully they work really well on crayon!

Before 

After

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down - 2012 #12

Happy First Day of Spring! So we aren't exactly experiencing Spring in Idaho yet; it's snowing today, but hopefully we'll get a glimpse soon!

Up:

• My baby girl turned 5 months old yesterday! She is such a happy girl these days and has these ear piercing screams when she gets super excited.

• We had a lot scheduled this week, so it has really flown by! Jackson's Mother's Day Out program took a field trip on Thursday to an indoor play place. It was so great to literally just let him loose and not have to worry about him. Even Kennedy had a good time socializing with other babies! Then on Saturday the kids went to the 'Give Parents a Break' program for a free day of childcare. I had a productive day shopping!
• Watching Jackson with Kennedy just melts my heart. He is so sweet to her...always hugging, kissing and trying to comfort her. The other day she screamed in the car and he asked why she was screaming. I told Jackson Kennedy was sad because she dropped her giraffe and he said, "it's okay Kennedy!" He even shares his coveted blankie with her!

Down:

• While Jackson has his super sweet side, he has also mastered the art of taking advantage of situations. Every, and I do mean every, time that I'm feeding Kennedy or anything that involves my hands being tied, he decides to act up. It is so frustrating.
• Kennedy can't seem to get on a schedule. I don't remember Jackson being this way. She goes to bed at the same time every night, but aside from that her naps are sporadic and sometimes she wakes up at night starving and other times she sleeps all the way through. I've been working on synchronizing naps with she and Jackson, but it's not as easy as I thought it would be.

Kennedy playing with Jackson's 'Khaki Blankie'!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Kennedy!

Cutie Pie!

Jackson and Kennedy before church on Sunday in their matching clothes. I found that shirt on clearance for $4 for Jackson while I was shopping on Saturday.  Jackson wasn't smiling because he was still chewing his mini wheats!

Loves her feet!

Favorite Thing:

 There is no better diaper rash treatment in my opinion than A&D Ointment. It seriously clears up any and everything. Plus you can use it as a first aid ointment for burns etc. Jackson calls it his butt crean (cream)! If you are a mom, I highly recommend it. I've tried Desitin, Vaseline, and Boudreaux's,  but none have compared to A&D! Make sure you get the ointment instead of the cream, I've found it works better.

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down - 2012 #11

Up:

• It's hard to believe that 1 year ago this week (March 7), Mike left for his 7 month deployment. So thankful that he's not deployed right now and grateful that he made it home safely. Although he is in Las Vegas right now and not really with us, it is still comforting to know he's in the states.
• Jackson is going to Mother's Day Out twice a week now! He loves it, I love it - win win situation!
• FINALLY finished going through all the magazines I've gotten since Kennedy was born. I used to go through my magazines about every other month and cut out what ideas I liked then recycled the rest. Since K was born I've had absolutely no time to do that. Now with two days in a row without Mr. Rambunctious I can get a little more done around the house. Over the years I've developed a pretty good system of organizing good ideas from magazines. I have two binders broken down into categories (cleaning, crafts, money, kids, etc.). It's like Pintrest on paper before Pintrest existed.

My binders of magazine clippings. I put them into page protectors and then categorize them.

• I made an amazing discovery this past week with my diaper pail. While reading one of the magazines it mentioned to put pantyhose filled with charcoal near offensive odors and it would absorb the odor. Let me tell you - it works! I can now walk into Kennedy's room and not immediately smell poopy diapers! It's so great. Then we ran out of diaper pail bag refills and I forgot to get more at Target. They cost about $14 and have 2 sets of refills included in the package which lasts usually 2 months. I had to just use a regular trash bag until I could run to Boise to get more. WHY? Why would you spend that much on refills when a trash bag works just as well?! Apparently it never occurred to me to try that until now though. What a money saver - yea!

Down:

• I've been watching WAY too much HGTV during nap and after bedtime. As if I didn't already want to move to a bigger/nicer place, now I have bigger itch than ever. I especially love the show 'Love it or List it' where they fix up their existing home and the homeowners decide if they want to stay there or sell it and move to a home that has everything they want. Really there isn't a bad show on that channel! I just have so many ideas, but I can't do any of them in base housing. Sigh....someday.
• My only regret with having children this close together is that I don't feel like I devote enough time to each child to fill their quota of quality time per day. It's even more of a challenge when Mike isn't around to show them attention either and I am it. Earlier this week I was on the floor playing with Kennedy and she was squealing and laughing - so happy. Jackson looked over at me and said, " Mommy, Jackson sad." I felt awful because he was left out.

Jackson and Kennedy swinging. We actually had some nice weather this week to go to the playground!

Kennedy's first time swinging!

Favorite Thing:

My Mother-in-law came to stay with us in November and bought some Almond Milk - original flavor. When she left there was almost a full carton in the fridge. Rather than throw it out, I decided to try it. I absolutely hate regular milk to the point where it makes me gag to drink it. I mixed this milk with chocolate just like she did and loved it. I've been buying/drinking it ever since. It helps satisfy me when I have a sweet craving and it's good for you. It's has more calcium than regular milk and only 60 kcals for a cup (certain brands are less calories, but have a nuttier flavor). The only downside is that it isn't high in protein like regular milk. You should definitely give it a try though!

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down - 2012 #10

Up:

• We survived week one of Daddy not being home! It's hard when everyday Jackson asks when Daddy will be home or looks around the house for him, but we are doing okay. I mean it's not a deployment, so we shouldn't be complaining. It has been difficult to talk to Mike much though because he is on the night schedule and is going to bed as we are getting up. Hopefully the rest of the time will go by quickly and he'll be back before we know it!
• Another big thank you to all my fellow spouse's for the diaper shower. We are now on size 3 diapers and I still haven't had to buy one package for Kennedy! You ladies rock! Speaking of Kennedy, she is just growing like a weed. I've already had to put her in 9 month PJs because she has outgrown the 6 month size in length. She still fits in her outfits because they are all separates without feet, but it won't be long and she'll be in 9 month outfits too! Crazy considering she is only 4.5 months old.
• For the first time since Jackson was born, I got to go on a shopping excursion by myself! I hired a sitter today and took a trip to Boise. I have so many giftcards from Christmas that I haven't even gotten a chance to spend. It was so refreshing and I may have to do this again before Mike returns just to keep my sanity!

Down:

• We've really had to work hard on our 'listening' skills this week. Jackson just looks at you and keeps up the bad behavior, sometimes he even smiles -ughh! Timeout is the biggest joke to him, so I've been sending him to his room when he acts up, which has helped some. I know he's in that terrible 2s stage, but it's super frustrating to deal with.
• Kennedy spits up ALL THE TIME! Usually she waits until I have just changed her clothes or mine before she decides to gush. She is very sly too, you just look down and there it is, no sound effects or dramatics. I'm just tired of the mounds of laundry it is creating.

Here is an adorable video of Jackson and some pics to leave you with:

My adorable babies all clean after their bath!

This photo is kind of fuzzy, but if you look above Jackson's eye you'll notice a lovely goose egg. He literally ran into the wall. I tried so hard not to laugh at him and show him some compassion, but it was hilarious!

Can't wait until this one can start some piano lessons. He already sits at the piano and sings while he plays!

Favorite Thing:

As you know, I am an avid organizer. A few weeks ago QVC had a great deal on these wonderful slim hangers. They had a ton of really neat colors...purple, hot pink, turquoise, green, etc., but I went for basic black just because if I need more I know I can find that color in stores. They really do save a lot of space compared to the white plastic hangers we had; I wish I had taken a before picture to show you how much neater everything is now. The best part about them is no more hanger indentations on your sleeves! I don't know how many times before when I would put a shirt on and have those annoying indentations and have to change. Another benefit is that your clothes don't slip off the hanger. They also come with clips to hang skirts. Another neat feature is that you can cascade your clothes. I grouped my pants together in categories like athletic pants, shades of black or khaki dress pants, jeans, etc. You can also use that for putting outfits together for the week.

I love the way the hangers make my clothes look, like everything in my closet is expensive even though just the opposite is true. It's nice to take care of your things though and I feel like these hangers do that! 

A view of the cascading pants. I only put 3 pairs of pants together at once, but I'm sure you could do more without a problem. 

An example of how you can put an outfit together.

This is just a close up of how slim these hangers really are. You couldn't fit half that amount of the large plastic hangers in that same space.