Thumbs Up/ Thumbs Down 2012 #28

Up:

• Hope everyone had a fabulous Independence Day! We headed to Columbus, Georgia to hang out with Mike's Aunt Donna, Uncle Kent, and kids Reed, Kristen, and Madison. Donna pulled out all the kids old toys and Jackson had a blast! He's been somewhat toy deprived since we didn't have much space in the van to pack toys other than some blocks. He loved this little money machine and Reed's favorite childhood toy - his rocking horse, Wonder! It was so great to see them; our visits are too few and far between and everyone changes so much. Last time we visited was before Mike and I were married. Wish I had gotten some pics with everyone in them.

My little red, white and blue angels!

I love Kennedy in this pic! Where's Kennedy?!

There she is!

Jackson riding Reed's old rocking horse, Wonder!

Kennedy was cheering him on.

YeeHaw!

• Friday after Mike got off work we headed to Pensacola, Florida for the weekend. It's been way too long since we've been back. We lived there from 2005-2008 and absolutely loved it. This was also the kids first time to go to the beach. They both really liked it. Kennedy preferred the water and Jackson like playing in the sand. We also enjoyed some good shopping and food. The weekend flew by way too quickly.

Kennedy with Daddy at the museum on base. 

Jackson loved getting to sit in all the planes!

Of course his favorite part was the indoor play place, we couldn't pull him away when it was closing time!

Building sand castles on the beach!

My camera fogged up from the humidity, but she looks so adorable!

Eating sand!

Brent and Heather came down to join us.

Brent showing Jackson how it's done!

Kennedy passed out while Mike was holding her in the water, sleepy girl!

at McGuire's Irish Pub - best food ever!

Big mistake ordering one of these; I'm a lightweight anyway when it comes to drinking, but this was super strong.

I only made it 3/4 of the way through it before I decided I wanted to be able to walk out of the restaurant on my own!

Down:

• Jackson hasn't had much exposure to thunderstorms in Idaho so he is getting a whole new education here. On Tuesday night a thunderstorm started right as we were putting him to bed. He was terrified. We kept putting him to bed and he would just scream and cry he was so scared. I tried telling him the God was having a bowling party which calmed him down for a little while, but then he said he wanted to God to go back to church! There were endless trips back and forth from our room to Jackson's and none of us really got much sleep. Hopefully there won't be many more nights like that.
• It was sort of weird having the 4th on a Wednesday. It made for an odd week. Mike was off Wed. and Thurs., but had to go back to work on Friday. I missed having a 3 day weekend especially since we went to P-Cola for the weekend.

Favorite Thing:

One of the great reasons I love my iphone is the Pandora Radio App! You have access to all sorts of awesome music for free! I'm constantly playing music around the house. It's a good break from the silence and the kids really like it too. My favorite stations right now are the Summer Oldies station and if you enter in the artist David Nevue there is wonderful piano music (thanks to Sally and Martha for getting me started with that station)! It's almost like a sound track to your life just playing in the background. Plus it's portable! They even had patriotic music for the 4th and great holiday stations around Christmas time!

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down 2012 #27

Up:

• We had a fairly laid back/uneventful week. The kids and I went swimming most days just to take  a break from the heat. The best part about this week is that Mike was home at a pretty decent hour most nights!
• Every year (well for the past 3) I've made a photo album for Jackson to document everything he did that year. For the last 2 photo albums I ordered them from Shutterfly because they ran a special for a free book on Father's Day. This year they only gave 50% (bummer) and they completely changed their format for creating photo books. It was not user friendly at all, so I switched to Snapfish. It was super easy and I finished his 2nd year photo book in like 2 days! He loves looking through the books we have at home and seeing pictures of him as a baby and in Mommy's belly! I think he'll really appreciate having them someday. Plus it's a great way to store photos in an organized/uncluttered way. Now I need to work on Kennedy's album. Hard to believe that in 4 short months she will be a year old!

Down:

• Jackson has been a total hellion this week. That word is actually probably an understatement. In addition to waking up between 5-5:30 every morning (which he's been doing since K was born) he is deliberately doing things he knows are wrong and watching to see how we react to them. He was in the refrigerator messing with the food and Mike went in there to discipline him; meanwhile Kennedy noticed Daddy's unattended coffee on the end table and decided to dump it all over the white carpet/couch here. Thankfully she didn't burn herself. I blame Mike partially for that one not just Jackson getting into the fridge. He's also been pulling off his diapers, he peed in our bed, oh the list goes on and on. No amount of discipline seems to help. We've tried time-out, spanking, putting him to bed, taking away his blankie, everything. I hope these years pass very quickly and that Kennedy doesn't learn these same tricks. 

Kennedy loves her some goldfish. It's amazing how much she can eat with just two teeth!

I thought this was so cute. Both kids went into the bathroom to watch Daddy shave.

Jackson at the bowling alley. He preceded to run out of the bowling alley and around the building while Mike and I were bowling our turns. Thankfully one of the other guys caught him just as his kid was following JP out of the building. Uh, what are we going to do with him!

Adorable little kid bowling shoes!

Kennedy absolutely loves cuddling with Daddy!

Jackson felt left out of the pic.

Pretty girl!

Jackson playing dress up with Daddy's cover. He put it on and said I've got to go fly planes now!

Favorite Thing:

Seems like there is always a never ending pile of dishes to be washed and a large portion of them are hand wash only. To avoid getting super dry/cracked hands I use dish gloves. This is a set my Aunt Marva gave me a few years ago. They've lasted really well and also protect my hands from the hot water. Plus they make a fashion statement! They are a brand called Gloveables, but you can also buy similar products at Bed Bath & Beyond and World Market. Even Playtex has some dish gloves in cute colors available at the grocery store. They also make great gifts too. If you live in Mountain Home, they sell the Gloveables brand at the Save-on Pharmacy. When I'm finished doing dishes, I hang my gloves on an over the cabinet towel rack to dry out. 

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Independence Day!