Thumbs Up/ Thumbs Down 2012 #26

Up:

• Our little girl turned 8 months old on Tuesday. She is seriously the happiest little girl. Hard to believe she ever had colic looking at her now. She loves following her big brother around and wants so badly to keep up with him. Earlier this week Jackson ran in my room to tell me that Kennedy had spilled his fruit loops. I go in the kitchen and there she is with the biggest smile on her face, two fruit loops in her mouth and one in her hand! What a cutie!

I forgot the teddy bear, so no size comparison this month or next.

Rare to catch her without a smile. Beautiful!

Brother had to get involved!

Showing off her new skill - waving!

My little mess, into anything she can get her hands on!

• The Montgomery Zoo hosted a Military Appreciation Day on Thursday. All military got in for free, received a free train ride and had a free lunch catered by Dream Land Barbecue. I loaded up  the kids and met a couple of other spouses and their kids. This was Jackson's first visit to the zoo. I think he enjoyed seeing all the animals we read about. He also took his first train ride. While on the train ride we saw some monkeys climbing on a tree. Everyone kept talking about how cute these monkeys were and my son sees the well landscaped lawn and says...a golf course! Guess we aren't quite old enough to fully appreciate the zoo yet, but it still made for a fun day. Kennedy also enjoyed the fresh air!

Jackson and his new friend Alex playing on the playground at the zoo.

Kennedy loves to swing!

Checking out the giraffe!

First train ride! Anytime Jackson hears a train he says, "Choo Choo Soul with Genevive!" from the Disney Channel!

• It is so neat to listen to the way Jackson's brain processes things. He's such a smart kid and I love hearing anything he has to say. Here are some examples:
• We dropped Mike off at work this week and Jackson saw another guy in a flight suit and says, " look Mommy, there is another daddy." Then he looked around even more and saw a whole lot of guys in flight suits and said, " there are a lot of daddies here!"
• I came home from Target last night and Jackson spotted the splash bombs I bought for him to play with in the pool. He comes running up saying, "a prize, a prize. Good Job Mommy!"
• Last night when we said our nighttime prayers Mike asked Jackson to tell Jesus thank you for something. Jackson said, "Thank you Jesus for balls. I want to play ball with Jesus!"

• One of the guys in Mike's class has a 17 year old daughter and we employed her to watch the kids while we went on a date yesterday. There really isn't much showing right now that we wanted to see, but we saw Rock of Ages. It was actually pretty funny despite some weird unnecessary parts. Then we hit up a few shops before heading home. I was able to get some Christmas wall flowers from Bath & Body Works for 32 cents each! What a great day!

As soon as I put Kennedy's swimsuit on, Jackson says," Oh, Kennedy, you're a princess!"

Lovin' the water!

Jackson's decided maybe he does like to swim. Our apartment has a 1ft. wading pool that's just his size!

Down:

• Somehow the kids and I picked up a nasty cough/cold. We all sound like chain smokers. Thankfully, I think we are getting better and Mike hasn't gotten it (yet)! The worst part about it was not being able to taste food for a couple of days. It just takes the joy out of eating.
• Mike's schedule hasn't exactly been what we expected. We were hoping for a lot of family time, but he has had so much homework to do that family time is just on the weekends and even that gets cut short for homework too. I know he's here to work, but a little bit of play time wouldn't hurt!

Favorite Thing:

A couple of weeks ago I broke down and bought a harness for Jackson. It is just too hard chasing after him while holding Kennedy too. He also loves to run into the street which scares me to death. It honestly was the best investment and I think I've already sold a few others on the idea as well. Totally worth any and all ridicule that you might incur. It also came with some attachment straps that we used to keep him in his seat at the pizza joint - bonus! I really like the kind we purchased, it's called a Baby Buddy.

This shows how we attached it to the chair at the pizza place.

Driving a boat at Bass Pro Shop!

He doesn't mind wearing it at all which helps!

More fun at Bass Pro Shop, definitely needed him on a tight leash in there!

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 #25

Up:

• I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day weekend! We certainly did! We went to Columbus, Mississippi to visit friends. Mike went to high school there and has maintained a great relationship with a family that used to live down the street from them, The Sykes. They are such great people and it was a joy to get to see them again. Hard to believe that their oldest son will graduate from high school next year! We also were able to see our good friends that were in training with Mike at Pensacola, Jenn & Adam Mattheis at their daughter Ella's 2nd bday party. It was our first time meeting Ella and she is such a cutie. Hope to see them again soon. Unfortunately there was no time to snap many photos and this is all I have.

Jackson and Pam were playing with water balloons outside while Kat was dressing Kenndy up inside!

Check out my new accessory!

• I have become addicted to the app 'Words with Friends' on my iphone! I've always had a love for Scrabble, so my Mom convinced me to download the app. I think she just wanted to enjoy beating me because she rarely did at Scrabble. Even though she pretty much beats me every game, the good news is the score is getting closer. That must mean my mind is getting sharper - right?! Anyway, it's a lot of fun to play, so feel free to hit me up for a game if you play too! Oh, I also got Mike to join too which is pretty big because he's not really into apps, technology, etc.!

Down:

• I am SOOO sleep deprived. I think I've mentioned it before, but Jackson has started waking up around 5:30ish now. Kennedy has always gotten up early for a morning bottle, but then goes back to sleep until like 8-8:30. JP used to sleep 'til like 7:30, but those days are long gone. I've always been a morning person, but to me morning is like 7, not 5:30. I guess I need to go to bed even earlier now because I'm just dragging all the time from being so tired. I also feel the need to eat lunch at 9:30 in the morning because I'm up so early so it's done something weird to my internal eating alarm clock!
• On our way to Columbus, MS (it's like a 3.5 hour drive) Jackson decided to stick his hand in his mouth. His fingers apparently went too far in and he vomited all over himself. It was the most disgusting curdled milk smell ever. Luckily we were less than a mile away from a gas station. We changed his clothes and managed to get it all cleaned off, but Mike and I couldn't get the smell off our hands. We stopped at two different gas stations to wash our hands before we ever arrived. It was so gross - sorry I had to share because it was a definite down in my week! Thankfully Pam let us use her washer and everything is back to smelling fresh as a daisy. I also think Jackson scared himself enough that he won't be doing that anymore!

Favorite Thing:

For the past few months I have been ordering greeting cards from  cardstore.com. It is a fabulous website with a large variety of cards that you can personalize and even add pictures. The best part is the price. The cards generally run around $2.99 (which is equal to or cheaper than the cards in the store) and they are mailed direct to you free of charge or to the recipient if you want to pay for the stamp. They can address the envelope too. Once you join they start sending you special offers too for free or discounted cards. I can't take full credit for this one; we started receiving cards from my sister-in-law, Laura, from this site, so I had to check it out! I don't have any pics of the cards I've made, but wanted to share with you the pics I used in my father-in-law's Father's Day card...

Here is Mike with his Dad when he was little. Look at his cute curls!

Jackson with Mike now. Wish JP would have cooperated to get a closer picture.

Ok, so I didn't use this one, but had to throw it up there too. This is a pic of me mowing with my Dad when I was little!

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 #23/24

So I realize that I am behind on my blog, but I promise I have a good excuse! A piece of my computer charger stayed in the plug at my parents house and I didn't get it back in the mail until Friday. Yes, I suppose I could have written a post from my iphone, but that would have taken way too long and ruined my eyesight even more!

Up:

• We made it to Montgomery, Alabama! After 42 hours worth of driving we are here and the kids did so wonderful! I couldn't ask for better travelers! We are settled into our furnished apartment that we'll be staying in the next two months and it is working out so well. Honestly the apartment is nicer than our house and a much better layout to have with kids. Kennedy might not agree though as her bedroom is the Master closet, but it's still pretty spacious! We also have a playground, tennis court, walking trails, awesome pool with kid's wading pool, lake with ducks to feed and a car care center!
• We had such a great time in The Woodlands with Mike's parents and sister's family. It was a short day and a half crammed full of fun and we'll definitely spend some more time with them on our way back home in August. It's so neat to see the cousins play together and Christmas is going to be a blast this year when all the cousins will be together (that will be 7 cousins all under the age of 5)!

Hanging out at the splash pad on a hot summer day. Jackson wants nothing to do with the water!

• Kennedy just started crawling a few days before we started our journey and just like her brother, she is now pulling up on everything and scaling along things too. She may be a '10 month walker' like Jackson was, who knows?!

This pic is slightly blurry, but you can definitely tell that our big girl pulled up on her own!

So happy to be out of the car and playing with her toys!

• My Jackson boy is so precious! He says some of the sweetest things and just makes your heart melt. Here is his rendition of You Are My Sunshine:

Down:

• I really wish I could have just packed up our kitchen and taken it with us. There are so many items I wish I had with us for some of our summer favorites: blender, ice cream maker, slow cooker (yes, I realize that's more of a winter item, but you can make pulled pork etc. too), spices, muffin tins, etc. I don't really want to go out and buy stuff we already have at home, but I might have to just so we don't miss out. Either that or just cram it into the few remaining hot days we have in Idaho once we return home!
• Can't complain too much because I've wanted to be in warmer country for a long time now, but man you do forget how that humidity feels! Next must have purchase is going to be a windshield cover for the van - leather seats and shorts do not mix!

Favorite Thing:

Leap Frog products! If you have a toddler, these products are well worth the investment! My Aunt Georgann gave Jackson this Good Night Scout book for Christmas and we've literally used it every night since then. Jackson can just turn the page and it reads aloud to him and it also plays lullaby music. We bought him the Hide and Seek at the Farm book for the road trip. We also have the fridge farm and alphabet which have been a big hit with both kids and every kid that comes over too! The DVDs have been the biggest hit. We have Numberland, Letter Factory, and Phonics Farm. They teach kids about the letters, sounds and numbers. Jackson's favorite is Numberland and he goes around singing the songs all the time. The best part is that I know he's learning from them. For example, you can point to a letter and he can tell you what it is and the sound it makes. Not many two year olds can do that. I know that 'the experts' say TV is bad for children, but I disagree and think these were great purchases! There are a lot of other Leap Frog products that I want to try, but I think we'll wait for Christmas to invest in them.

Thumbs Up/ Thumbs Down 2012 #22

Up:

• Memorial Day always brings back years of memories spent at the Major Family Reunions. We would all go to Thompson Park in Amarillo for a picnic and then we would go visit the cemeteries and put flowers on all the family graves. Grandpa (Ted Major) always made this weekend so special and I can't help but think about him today as he spends his first Memorial Day in heaven.
• We are on our way to Montgomery, Alabama for two months while Mike attends SOS (Squadron Officer School). I'm looking forward to Mike having more normal work hours and more time with the family and of course being in 'the South' again! The best part is we are already in Texas and the kids have been phenomenal little travelers. 
• My parents watched the kids last night while Mike and I went to Mass. It was so refreshing to actually be able to listen the message and pay attention the entire mass without our little distractions being there. I wish more Catholic churches had nurseries; it just makes sense. Then we ate some yummy food at Abuelo's! Oh Texas, how I've missed you!
• Tonight we got to meet our nephew Will for the first time! What a cutie! I was in town when he was born, but he was in the NICU and we were unable to visit him at that time. You would never know he was a NICU baby, he is so happy and healthy! So great to see and spend time with Abby, Andy, John, Will, and Dave!

Down:

• Jackson is now regressing in the eating department. The things he would always eat no matter what are one by one being dropped off the list. He just eats next to nothing. My hope is that something has eventually got to give and he will get hungry and eat. All I can do at this point is pray. He's happy, sleeps well, and is growing like normal so I guess at this point that's all I can ask for.

Kennedy hanging out with MiMi and PaPa!

Our little golfer!

He finally got brave enough to get in the pool!

Mmmmm....corn!

Kennedy loved the water!

Cat nap on the swing outside!

Hanging out with her uncle/godfather Dave!

Sweet baby Will with Abby!

Dave entertaining Kennedy while the rest of the guys braved to cold pool.

The sun was going down, so the pool was no longer warm. I think John's lips turned purple.

S'mores!

Cousins!

Favorite Thing:

 Traveling is challenging enough with kids, but at least we can always count on a good night's sleep at Homewood Suites. They have such an awesome hotel with meals on weeknights, full size fridge, microwave, and dishwasher for all the kids stuff. They also have a door separating the rooms which makes it great when bed time rolls around so Mike and I can stay up past 8pm and not disturb the kids. The other thing I like is that the bedroom has a ceiling fan, definitely something you can't find at other hotels. They are very affordable, I think the military rate is like $99/night!

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 - #21

Up:

• Our little girl turned 7 months old on Saturday! Hard to believe we are now on the short end towards the 1 year mark! Also, we used the last of our gifted diapers this week. Cannot stress enough how wonderful that diaper shower and all our family/friends are to us. We are definitely blessed - thank you!

Daddy was my spotter!

And this is why everyone thinks I have a little boy when we go out; she always pulls off her headbands.

• I did my first 'garage sale' on Saturday. We used to have mega garage sales growing up, but I just haven't had enough stuff to do a full up garage sale on my own. I did a community yard sale on base and took a couple of other girls stuff besides my own to sell. The turn out wasn't great and not a lot of people showed up to even sell, but we made a total of $225 between the three of us, which isn't bad. It was also a perfect day for an outdoor garage sale which also means it was the perfect day for this fair skinned girl to get scorched! Oops, at least I made some money in the process!

Down:

• Another "worst mom ever" moment. It happened the first day of school when I didn't get JP's picture and here we are at the end of school and I did it again. No, I got a picture and remembered teacher's gifts! However, there is the matter of the end of year party. I was only notified that there was a party and to bring food. I did not realize that it was a ceremony where the kids sang songs and got certificates :( I was hurrying to get there because I had to feed Kennedy and then of course, anytime your running late there is the last minute double diaper changes because both kids decided to poop. I was like 5 minutes late, that's it, and I walk in just in time to see all the 2 year old class leaving the stage. I was so upset Jackson missed his special moment. He had no idea that he'd missed anything, but I did and I feel awful about it.

• Last year while Mike was deployed our Keurig started acting up and brewing the wrong cup sizes, then it just quit all together. Luckily it was in warranty and we got a brand new replacement brewer! Well almost a year later, here we are again with a different problem that is not fixable. Thankfully we are still under warranty on the current brewer and they are sending yet another brewer to us. I feel like we have just gotten shafted. So many people I know haven't ever had any issues and here I am taking good care of my machines that keep breaking. The upside is that we haven't had to pay for new brewers and the company has been great about everything.

Future Tiger!

Getting some sun!

Love to see them play together!

Favorite Thing:

I have recently been on a Greek Yogurt kick - it is really yummy and packed with protein. At the commissary they sell the Yoplait for $.70 and the Chobani for $1 each, so I've been eating mainly Yoplait. Then at my conference a couple weeks ago the RD (Registered Dietitian) that works for Chobani came and spoke to us about the product, processing, etc. because they are building a new facility in Twin Falls, ID. May I just say, number 1, I want her job! How cool would that be to live in upstate NY and work for an awesome yogurt company. Number 2, they have a tasty product that is also well manufactured. It has 5 active and live cultures and 3 probiotics and made with all natural ingredients. They also just started a whole new line of kids yogurt called Chobani Champs where the yogurt is in smaller packaging and already blended. They had tons of free samples at the conference so I tried to try as many flavors as possible while I was there. My favorite is the Apple Cinnamon - delicious! I highly recommend it!

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 #20

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mommys out there! Give yourself a pat on the back for everything that you do!

Up:

• It is rare that it happens, but this year my birthday falls on Mother's Day!  I think it's pretty cool! I was also born on Mother's Day back in 1984 - best Mother's Day present ever (I'm guessing)! What a blessing 28 years later to be celebrating my own birthday and being a mother to my two precious babies - Jackson & Kennedy!

• We enjoyed great company with friends for dinner today! Not to mention Mike smoked another fabulous brisket! Thanks everyone for making today special!
• A while back my friend Lauren asked me if I would be interested in having a group of girls over to the house to learn about organization. I was definitely flattered that she thought I had something to offer, but didn't really know how to teach people to organize short of giving them a tour of the whole house to show them what I had done, so that's what I did! I think the evening went really well and I hope they took something away from it. 

Down:

• Talk about a bad day. Monday we drove home from Salt Lake City, surprisingly the drive home was smooth and uneventful. As soon as we get home I started unloading the car. Jackson said he wanted to draw with chalk on his easel, which I thought was a good idea to keep him entertained while I was still unloading. BIG MISTAKE! He decided to do some more art on the walls upstairs. Then later that evening as I was switching out the laundry, he happened upon my purse. He found my lip stick pouch, unzipped it and picked out my favorite lipstick (which is no longer made) and decided he would color all over our white carpet in the living room. I was livid! Unfortunately after all my efforts to get the stain up, it didn't work and I'm sure we'll be paying for that when we move out. Sorry, I was too mad in the moment to get pics of these events. 
• To top that day off, after the kids went to bed I decided to put together the new toy storage system we purchased at Ikea. Of course I didn't get very far. Apparently there was some type of manufacturer's error and the holes were drilled in the wrong place by like a 1/4-1/2"!!!! I was really upset because on Thursday night I had a group of girls over to show them all my organizational stuff. Even though I wasn't able to have those in place for my talk, Ikea pulled through and is sending me replacements. They are also letting me keep the defective ones which I think my Dad could probably rig and make them work too! Needless to say that day ended with a much needed glass of wine and some DVR'd Grey's Anatomy to make me feel better!

Kennedy, so happy about the warmer weather so she can wear cute stuff like this!

...and these tiny adorable shoes!

The fruit is starting to be on sale again so I made a delicious fruit pizza!

We went bowling when Daddy got home on Friday. Love Jackson's stance here!

There's that stance again while he watches Daddy.

Kennedy watching the bowling from the side lines.

Don't know if you can see it but this is the closest I've ever been to a real beehive. This was in a tree in the Babies 'R Us parking lot of all places. They just called the exterminator thankfully! 

Forgot to post this last week. This is the gorgeous Catholic church in Sun Valley. Unfortunately they only do weekend masses and we weren't there on Sat. or Sun. There's always next time!

Favorite Thing:

I love a good challenge! A couple of weeks ago I purchased a twin bed off a local classifieds site. I had been wanting a twin bed to put in K's room so that when we have guests, Jackson can just sleep in there with her. Specifically I wanted a Captain's bed because those have a lot of built in storage. If you were to purchase one they range from $400-600. Obviously that is not in Mike's 'value tree' as he would say. Then I found a Captain's bed on this site for $200 - what a steal! I'm pretty proud of myself because this has been my project all the way through. I took Mike's pick-up and picked up the bed myself, unloaded it myself, sanded and stained it, repaired a broken drawer and replaced the knobs. Of course I had some guidance from my Dad, but I did all the work. To get to the point, my favorite thing this week is more of a challenge - to do something for yourself to make you feel proud and accomplished. It could be anything - making, crafting, organizing something - anything! I think sometimes as moms we get wrapped up in our children and doing things for/with them that we sometimes lose sight of the things that make us happy and keep us sane. I think it's so important to hold on to that because that is what makes us who we are and helps us set a good example for our children to be independent and your own person. I think I'm rambling now, but I just wanted to say that I had so much fun redoing this bed. It didn't turn out like I envisioned, but like Mike said, "Did you have fun doing it? Then is was worth every penny!" Here are some before and after pics:

Before

After

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 #19

FYI this was written on Sunday, so there may be some retractions next week!
Up:

• It's not often that I get time to do things I enjoy or am passionate about by myself. My schedule generally revolves around the kids. This week, Mike took off work Wed.-Fri. to watch the kids for me while I attended the Idaho Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics state meeting. It was in Sun Valley which is a place we'd been wanting to go since moving to Idaho. The conference was amazing and had some really knowledgable guest speakers. I was able to get a lot of continuing education hours to maintain my registration. Mike had a good time exploring the town with the kids despite the yucky weather.  We will definitely make our way back to Sun Valley before moving from Idaho!

Unfortunately this was the only pic we got while in Sun Valley - Jackson thought he was hot stuff sitting in the big chair!

• Mike has gets to work in Salt Lake City all this week for a training. Sun Valley and Mountain Home are the same distance from SLC, so we decided to make the trip with him. Ok I will admit, my motivation was purely selfish - Ikea! I love this store and we were able to go get a car full of stuff I'd been wanting for a while. If you've never experienced this awesome place, I highly recommend it. Anyway, we are heading home Monday, short trip, but always a fun place to visit. Mike won't be home until Friday, but glad he'll be home for my birthday and Mother's Day!

Down:

• Apparently Mike thought it was a good idea to leave the computer open for all to play with while he went to the restroom one day when he was watching the kids. Of course, when he comes back Jackson has turned on some type of closed captioning thing on my computer that narrates EVERY thing you do. I have no idea how to turn it off and it is highly annoying. Mike thought it was hilarious and has made no efforts to fix it. (Thank you Krista Hughes for fixing this for me!)
• This week there was another F-15E crash. Thankfully both the pilot and WSO ejected and are fine. It is really hard for me to understand/accept why these things are happening. Obviously I have always known that Mike's job came with risks, but two crashes in the span of a month seems a bit much. My only hope is that they figure out what went wrong so it won't happen again.

Favorite Thing:

As mentioned above - IKEA!!! As an organization enthusiast, this store is packed with economically priced things for storage/organization. I've been wanting the Trofast organization storage system for the kids' toys for awhile, but just haven't made it down to Ikea to get it, plus there is always the part of convincing my husband of the necessity of my purchases. To my surprise, Mike put more in the cart than I was originally planning to get! Also, they sell the best gingersnap cookies there that I can't ever leave the store without. It is absolutely worth the trip if you've never been to one. If you don't have one in your neck of the woods, check out their catalog/web page to see all their great stuff!

So this was a pic from last summer when JP and I went to Ikea. I failed to get any pics this visit.