Happy New Year's Eve!

Here we are again at year end. Wow where did those 12 months go? Do you know? Cause I am not sure. We are planning to go to my cousin's house in the desert and spend the night. No, this is a normal cousin on the other side of the family. Not the weirdos that I mentioned earlier. We will see just how late we all can stay up since we are all early morning people. Should be interesting to see everybody trying to keep everybody awake hehe. Probably the only one who will be wanting to stay up is the boy as he charms the socks off all the relatives.

We'll See Ya Next Year!

Family Trees

Does anybody have a branch of their family tree that they want to cut off? Or am I the only one?

Last night my Dad's brother's family, or I guess my Aunt and 2 cousins and their kids, came over to my house. These are the "California Cousins" that in the 7 years of living here in California I have seen exactly 3 times, including last night. All I can say about them is that they are WEIRD and VERY VERY DIFFERENT. Out of their whole family of 5 cousins, only one is normal - my cousin Cindy. As we sat there talking at the table, I just kept thinking that Jim must have been wondering what the hell he got himself married to. He did say to me this morning that it just proved to him that he got the best of the family. That ain't saying much.

I know that we HAD to call them since my parents were here and they only live an hour away. I know that the Etiquette Queen would say that I would have to contact them, but believe me, it was painful!

The only good that came out of the whole evening of being with these freaks, err family, was we got more information for our ancestery book that we are putting together. This thing that we lovingly call "the document" has grown to over 300 pages and holds 2 gigs of space on my mother's computer. It is all about my paternal grandmother's family who came from Ireland in the mid 1800's. We have my great great grandparents dating back to 1809 being born in Ireland. It is so so interesting. I kind of started writing down stuff that my father would tell me about the family and it has grown into this huge thing and literally hundreds and thousands of hours of research. My parents have worked really hard on it. So we got information on the WEIRD branch of the tree. The old saying you can't pick your family goes a long way in this family.

Bad Thoughts

Right now, Jack finally fell asleep. We had planned on going to the outlet mall with the grandparents, but Jack threw a meltdown temper tantrum at the same time we were going to leave. So, I put him in his crib and proceeded to listen to him play and talk with his stuffed animals for an hour. Our outlet trip has been postponed for a couple of hours. The grandparents are learning that every single plan hinges on Jack's naptime.

While waiting for Jack to fall asleep, I went online to just find out how much the Nissan Quest minivan goes for. We rented the minivan so we didn't have to take 2 cars everywhere we went. We don't own a car that holds more than 4 people. That is sad isn't it? So while looking at cars, my mind went into the "bad thoughts" territory of buying new car. It would be nice to actually have a car with some room and be able to haul both Jack's stroller AND groceries at the same time. Bad thoughts. Baaaaddddd Thoughts. I keep having to tell myself that our car is paid for and that is a very good thing. But, darnit, I have got that new car fever bad!

Flat Tire Expertise

Yep thats right folks, I am a flat-tire expert. Yesterday, while driving the mini-van that we rented so we could haul all 7 people from our house around, I hit something that made the tire go boom. So today we get to go fix yet another tire. I think I should just give those people at the tire place Jack's college fund because we are sure spending it there lately.

Oh and that minivan that we rented has really changed my mind about minivans. I have been known to use the word never in corelation with the word minivan. But this Nissan Quest is NICE. Hmmm something to think about when I am feeling rich. Ha Ha rich and me. Ha Ha.

Things have quieted down a bit around the Jackaroo house. Auntie Corlinda left yesterday to go back to her Idaho home. We miss Auntie. Also Laura went back to her mother's house until Friday. We miss Sissy. So we are down to only five people in the house. I do have to say that it is nice to have live-in babysitters, also known as grandparents. I got to take a Jack-free shower! No yelling at the boy to get out of my makeup drawer or watching him play with his toy cars in the bathtub. Yeah that is nice.

Taking a break from constant mothering duty is very refreshing.

Merry Day After

Yay! It is the Day After! I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and were able to enjoy their families and little ones. It really is fun to watch the kids on Christmas morning. That is when it is magical. Our Christmas morning was very very nice. The kids made out like bandits as all the Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunties and Uncles from all over near and far sent Laura and Jack some goodies. It was really nice to have Grandma and Grandpa A. and Auntie Corlinda here to share this Christmas morning with us. We went to church with everybody. And when we came home, we fixed dinner and had over our good friends Aunt Janet and Uncle Mark and their kids. We had a lot people at our Christmas table. It was a lot of fun.

However, this Mommy is now very happy that the Day After has arrived. Let the cleanup commence!


I do believe that the train table was a big hit with Jack. When we got him up on Christmas morning, he just walked right to the table and started playing. No big "Wow" or anything was said. He acted like we have always had a train table sitting next to a Christmas tree. But he then did not care about his mountain of presents. All he wanted to do was play with the choo choos.

Laura opened her mountain of presents. Here she is opening 2 stuffed rabbits from Grandma A.


But when we did force him to look at his other presents that Sissy had to open for him, he was quite enthralled with them. Here he is looking at the Thomas lego set.

The only other present from Mommy and Daddy was the "Royal Potty". When Jim put this together, he proptly lifted his shirt and sat down and said "Potty". Hmmm this might not be so hard afterall. We shall see.

But then it was back to the train table. Even Sissy got into it.

But oh so soon, we had to tear the Jackaroo away from his precious trains to get ready to go to church. This was his reaction as he was standing with Grandma and Grandpa. Umm...Yeah...You could say he was NOT HAPPY.

Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas Everybody.

It is Christmas Morning in the Jackaroo Household and right now I am the only one up. I have been up for about an hour and a half and cleaned up the kitchen, started making the Christmas dinner, wrapped 2 more gifts and now am blogging.

I thought that I would post some pictures from the Jackaroo Christmas Eve. The evening started out with us grilling hamburgers, roasting marshmallows and eating smores. Yeah California weather is pretty nice.

Then we let the kids open one gift each and it was off to bed for the Jackaroo. After which, the putting together of the train table commenced. And about 2 hours later the train table was done - Yay!

I hope everybody is having a wonderful Christmas!



The family roasting marshmallows and eating smores on Christmas Eve.


Laura got a locket that was engraved with her initials from Grammy C.


Jack got two books from Grammy C.


Sissy showing Jack all about his new book.



The "putting together of the train table" project was a 2-man job. Daddy and Grandpa got right in there and worked on it.

Then it was a whole-family affair putting the tracks and out-buildings together. Whew big project.

The final product. All waiting for the Jackaroo to wake up on Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas Eve

It is Christmas Eve! I know we in the Jackaroo household will be up putting together a certain train table that will be from Santa. Should be fun. How many of you out there will be up putting together toys from Santa?

I hope everybody who reads the Jackaroo World will have a very Merry Christmas.

The Jackaroo World House is Full

My family showed up on Wednesday. My mom and dad from Michigan and my sister from Idaho. Jack has been loving all the attention from grandmom, papa, and auntie.

We went to the Glory of Christmas at the Crystal Cathedral tonight. Absolutely beautiful and stunning show. It really gets you in that Christmas spirit, even for those people who can't believe it is December and 75 degrees. Quite a difference than the 10 degrees they have been used to.

I haven't been able to blog much the last couple of days. You know, it is just weird to be blogging and in the same room as your parents. Just can't do it. So probably not much blogging action from the Jackaroo World in the next week or so. But will try to manage an update every now and then.

Welcome to the 2005 Holiday Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Both

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Just sits them under the tree. The not-so-lovely wrapped presents are from Mommy and Daddy.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I really like the white. We have white on tree and colored on the house.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Yep just put it up a couple of days ago.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Thanksgiving weekend

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? green bean casserole

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Going out and looking at the lights and the store window displays. Also singing Christmas songs in school instead of going school work.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? The year my older cousin played Santa at Sears. I think I was about 8 at the time.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Not usually.

10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? Good question. Probably whatever we have at the time.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? When I lived in it - dreaded it. Now it would be nice to have for just one day and then disappear for another year. I hate the day to day living with a lot of snow.

12. Can you ice skate? Nope. Too clutzy.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I think it would have to be the digital camera. Hardly a day goes by that I don't use that thing even two years later.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family time. And seeing the little kids get so excited.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Not sure if it is a traditional holiday dessert, but Cheesecake!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Christmas morning opening presents.

17. What tops your tree? An angel with a blue dress. We call her the Blue Fairy.

18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? Giving!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Carol? Here comes Santa Clause. I still can remember getting so excited when I heard that as a kid.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yuck. Yuckie.

Making a list, checking it twice...

and CROSSING off everything!!! That's right folks, I got it all done with time to spare. I am done. Finished. Kaput. With my pre-Christmas madness. I went to the Commissary yesterday and spent $200 on goodies for Christmas. And let me just say that the Commissary saves us so much money. For those non-military people out there, the commissary is the grocery store on base. It is close to half off what the regular grocery stores charge and there is no sales tax. The problem is that it is about 45 minutes away, but well worth it when you have a list as long as Santa's! Thanks Honey for serving in the Navy for 20 years so I can go shopping at the commissary :).

So anyway, I just went out today and finished up my entire to-do list! The Jackaroo House is ready for Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Corlinda to show up tomorrow!

And speaking of Christmas goodies, I bought the egg nog flavored coffee creamer. I thought yummy - egg nog and coffee, two of my favorite things. Just one word - YUCK. Just something about it. Not Good.

Oh and so I came home and checked my blog as I do many times during the day (yes, I know, I am addicted. I already confessed to it) and I noticed my traffic on the blog has skyrocketed. And then I realized that Erin had linked me in her post about her son saying please and thank you. Too funny. So go over and take a peek at her Really Cool Blog.

Peeesssseeee

We have been trying to teach manners to the Jackaroo. He says thank you over and over again when you give him something. And when I say "you're welcome" he will copy me and say "come" at the same time. He had that down pat.

So then we moved on to please. At first he would be very stubborn and not say please when we wanted him to. He would shake his head stubbornly and look at me very defiantly. But being the smart boy that he is, he soon realized that he wasn't getting the orange or whatever treat that he wanted at the time. So he started to say "pees" and I would reward him. Clap my hands and make a big deal out of saying the word.

But now? He uses it ALLL the time. Even times when I can't or won't give him the thing he wants. Like a treat 5 minutes before dinner. Or yesterday when I was driving down the freeway and he threw his stuffed dog (which is now named foofoo. Don't ask why. I have no idea where that came from) on the floor and couldn't reach it. So for the next 20 minutes he said "pees" over and over and louder and louder in his little squeaky, adorable voice of his. It pretty much broke my heart that I couldn't reach the dog for him and drive down the road safely at 70mph. So I guess that is a hard lesson we all have to learn in life. Just because you say PLEASE doesn't mean you are going to get what you want.

Random Family Pictures

I thought I would share some of the random family pictures that I have snapped in the last couple of days.

The kiddos coloring together. It was working really well until Jack decided to "help" Laura color her side of the coloring book. That was when the fight came about and much use of the word MINE on both sides. Aye Aye Aye. Kids.

We roasted marshmallows on Friday night Jackaroo World style - gas fireplace style. Jack of course thought this was so cool and ended up with marshmallow all over his face. And of course when we put the marshmallows to bed, much screaming followed. Aye Aye Aye. Kids.

Laura fixed Jack and friends a little breakfast party yesterday morning. No tea was involved, but I am pretty sure that Roo, Tony the Tiger, Elmo, and the American Girl doll Kit all had fun. Looks like fun huh? Kids are funny.

Frrrooossstty The Snoowwwmmaaan...

We, in the Jackaroo household have heard Frosty the snowman song about 3,498 times in the last week. Why, you ask? Good question. You see Jack's grandparents, also known as MY parents, sent HIM a frosty the snowman that will sing that song and dance for you over and over and over again if you just push his button. And Jack pushes his little button over and over and over again. He loves the thing. I can be anywhere in the house and I will here "thumpity thump thump thumpity thump thump look at frosty go".

Gee Thanks Mom and Dad. You shouldn't have!

A Mommy Milestone

As of this morning at 8:00 am, I am now done scrapbooking Jack's first year of life. Yay! It only took me 21 months to do. Now I have to scrap the other 1000 pictures that will go in our Family scrapbook.

Confession Time ... Thanks to Mrs. Flinger (grumble grumble grumble)

Mrs. Flinger tagged me for a meme. Gee thanks a lot! :)

I guess it is one where you fess up about stuff - confessions. Here goes. I'll try to come up with some not too embarrassing ones.

Confession: My closet looks like a bomb went off in there. It is a nice big walk-in closet, but you can't walk in too far. I admit that I have things in there that I don't even know that I own. I get really mad when something doesn't fit me (most things from pre-Jack days) and I tend to crumple said item up at the bottom of the closet. I guess to punish the thing for not fitting me.

Confession: I am really bad at keeping in touch with friends. I am not one of those women who talk on the phone for hours. I hate that. So I can let months go by without talking to my bestest friends. But if they need me, I am here. They are just the ones who have to pick up the phone first. I guess it stems from my shyness.

Confession: I am way too emotional. I get all weepy at Laura's cheer competitions. I even cry when I watch her video. I will need to be checked into a mental hospital when it is Jack's turn to do something in a school program. Tonight is Laura's christmas program at her school. You can bet big money that I will walk out of there with tears!

Confession: I am a horrible cook. I have tried to just be an "okay" cook, but I confess, I am never comfortable in the kitchen. It just all seems so complicated to me.

Confession: I am so not mechanically inclined. If I have to use a hammer or screw-driver, I think that is big stuff. They are tools - wow!

Confession: I have spent way more money in the last month than I had wanted to.

Confession: And the last one, I spend way too much time on the internet. I think I am addicted.

Alright, I get to tag some unsuspecting people now also. Carolyn, Jane, Erin, Liesl

Too Funny

Right now Jack is pushing his dump truck around the family room and kitchen. He has his little stuffed dog smashed into the front seat of the truck. He is counting "one, two, threeee" and then taking off running with the truck. Too Funny.

Well Laid Plans

Gone Awry. I got a phone call this morning, just as I was about to walk out the door, from Jack's daycare provider saying that she was sick and couldn't take him today. She seriously sounded bad, very bad, and I hope she gets better soon. There is something bad going around and I hope it doesn't come into the Jackaroo World house, although I am sure it will.

But can I just say WAAAAAAAHHHHH to not having the weekly daycare day? I have so much to do today and have this list of stuff that I needed to get done and now I have Jack in tow also. And combine that with the required naptime around noon, means that I won't be getting my full list done today.

And that means I won't have a Jack-free day until January! I love him to death, but I really love the weekly Jack-free 8 hours also.

Do You Ever Wonder

About Deedee Doodle and Moe and Rooney? Is it just me, or does anybody else think that after the Doodlebops concert, she and the boys get it on in their shag-a-delic bus of theirs. Oh and with busdriver Bob watching? Or am I the only one who senses the sexual undertones of our favorite Doodles?

Will I Never Learn?

Every year when it comes time to sending out Christmas cards, I run around trying to find the addresses from all corners of the house. Will I never learn to just write down all the addresses in one place and keep it until the next year? That is what normal, organized people do. No I like to be disorganized and panic that I am not going to find the address to all the lucky recipients of our cards.

There is always next year to get organized, right?

Toddler Heaven

AKA My Gym. Jack and I went for our free class today. To say that Jack enjoyed it would be the understatement of the year. The kid went nutso. When we first got there, there is like 15 minutes of free play time where the toddlers run all over climbing on the big mat things, climbing the ladders to either slide down slides or jump in the big pit of balls. There are tunnels and balls and oh my gosh so much fun stuff. Jack just kept running from one thing to another and shouting at the top of his lungs. I think he was saying something like "AAAAAAAAAAA".

Then it was time for the get-in-a-big-circle-and-sing-songs time. So all the other parents and their 2-year-olds got in the circle and their precious little toddlers sat on their laps and did what they were supposed to. Jack? Um that would be a negative. No he was bound and determined to go back to playing on the equipment or else! So during the "wake-up" song where all the other kids were stretching high in the air and dancing in place, Jack was making his way up the ladder to jump in the ball pit. I guess he isn't much of a joiner, huh?

But he REALLY liked the part where each kid got to take a turn on the "flying spaceship". It was a swing that was hooked to a rope that went across the length of the room and they pushed the kids on it and they went flying to the other end. Oh yeah he loved that and couldn't stop giggling the entire ride. They also had him do some forward rolls (or somersaults as I call them), log rolls, and back flips. He, again, was giggling through the whole thing. Loved It!

I signed him up for the class starting in January. Every Tuesday. I really think it will be good for him and I can see where it will give him self-confidence to do some of the scarier things. And not to mention the interaction with other kids. At one point they have all the parents get off the floor and just watch their kids play. They call it "Separation Time". That was fun to watch Jack run all over. They had the ride-on cars and he was playing bumper cars with the other kids. I don't think he even realized I wasn't there.

We went to the mall afterwards. I had to pick up our pictures from Sears. I actually tried to do the remaining couple of gift shopping, but Jack just wasn't gonna have anything to do with that. He was tired and I couldn't think with him constantly trying to get out of the stroller. So tomorrow is the day I will finish up the last of the shopping when he is at his weekly daycare day.

And now he is napping and I am thinking that is sounding good for myself. Phew, the My Gym and the mall experience kinda wore me out also!

My Little Bookworm

Lately, Jack will go into his room, grab one of the many books that are on the floor, and climb into the rocking chair and just sit there for like 15 minutes reading. I have on several occasions tried to take his picture, but usually he will just jump down and run to me and I end up with a picture of his hand reaching out for the camera. But yesterday when we were getting ready to go out and waiting on Laura to do her thing, there he sat reading in his chair. I love it!

Yard Work

I just finished an hour an a half of yard work! Okay, those who know me, don't faint, k? You okay now? Yep, me in the yard, working! Wow! I actually pulled a bunch of weeds, although unfortunately not ALL the weeds. I filled the green refuse container and put it out by the curb to get picked up today. I figured that was good. Then I picked up dog poop. Another favorite job. Always fun. And then I got the hose out and hosed down the patio. Yes I do find much enjoyment in hosing down the patio. I love watching all the dirt go flowing into the yard. Its so much fun! I know, you don't have to say it, I will for you. I am weird!

And the boy? All this time, he was entertaining himself climbing his slide and sliding down all by himself. I heard him say "weeee" and I looked over and he was plopping on the ground in front of the slide. Such a big boy now, before he couldn't climb it by himself.

Now I get to clean the kitchen and do laundry and watch some Thomas and Sesame Street. Yippee!

Oops...She Did It Again

CONGRATULATIONS LAURA...AGAIN!

Well folks, she did it again. Laura's team placed first again in the competition yesterday. This competition was a lot bigger than last week and she had a lot more competition. Her biggest competition was this other team named California Surf All Stars and when the awards ceremony finally arrived and they announced the other team as 2nd place, I just knew they were going to call Pacific Coast Cheer first place in her division! Needless to say, we are just soooo proud of her and all her hard work to get to this point.

But can I also say that I am sooooo glad that her next competition isn't until Jan. 7th. Oh Mah Gah these things are sooooo tiring. It was an extremely LOOONNNNGGGG day. We arrived at the arena at noon. Laura competed around 3:00 and then we waited and watched and our brains went numb as we watched 3,825 other teams compete. And the music? Can they make it any louder? Uh don't answer that because they will probably try. After while, all the teams look alike and all the music is the same and you just sit there with glassed-over eyes and your brain stopped working long, long ago. We were there for 8 hours, of which, we watched Laura compete for 2 minutes 19 seconds. But it was all worth it to see her face when she placed first.

Oh and I have to do a big Thank You shout out to Janet for taking Jack for the day. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You probably saved my sanity in a big way. Not sure what I would do if we had to entertain the boy during the brain-numbing hours.

So because she placed first today, we get to go to Vegas in March for a FOUR DAY Nationals competition. Oh my, won't that be fun!

Another First Place Video

Upload Video at DropShots.com It is the same routine as last week, but this video shows the whole team better. Laura is on the far right. I have to say that these girls have worked so hard at their practices to get to this point.

She Won...Again

Yep Laura won first place again in today's competition. Will post pics, video and details tomorrow. Right now, I am soooooooooo tired. Can you say 10 hours of watching cheer teams and listening to REALLY REALLY LOUD music. Um. Tired. Exhausted. But a proud step-mom. Nite Nite.

The Park Playdate

Jack and I had our first playdate with the playgroup that I found on the internet. Jack had loads of fun. He loved playing on the play equipment, especially the slides. He can now climb the steps and crawl through the tunnels to get to all the various slides. Oh yeah and he made the requisite "weeeeee" sound when he went down the slides. And the swing? The kid just giggled the entire time he was on the swing. Yeah Jack had a great time.

However, Mommy did not make any Mommy connection to any of the other Mommy's. They were sooooo unfriendly. When I got there, I walked up and said "Are you the Temecula Mommies?" and they barely could look up to say yes. I introduced myself and all they said was "Hi". No introductions from them. They were also about 15-20 years younger than me. Again pointing out the fact that I am an older Mommy. I also could not believe that they were not watching their kids. There was one little girl who was maybe a year old and I have no idea who she belonged to. She roamed all over by herself, even way out into the soccer field that was nearby with no parent even close by. Then when I was leaving, she was over by the parking lot by the drinking fountain yelling across the field to her mother. I just couldn't believe it. I was half tempted to call CPS!

So not sure I will try another playdate. I might try it one more time, but if the same thing happens, then Jack and I will just do our own thing and go to parks with no playdate scheduled.

Oh yeah and to all of you snow bound. It was in the mid 70s and bright and sunny. California is good for something, not much, but the weather is pretty nice.

Play Date!

We have our first official play date today at a nearby park. According to the website, there are 7 other Mommies scheduled to be there with their little ones today. Unfortunately, it is during Jack's usual naptime at 11, so we shall see how that goes. I am hoping he will be so excited about being at the park and playing with the other kids that he won't notice that naptime is being delayed a bit. If I am not a dork, I will take the camera and post pics of the outing.

We also are getting the coffee table today. I think I have decided that I like the sofa table and am keeping it also. I think it adds a little bit of class to this toddler-toy-magnet house.

And in the latest bit of news, we are now a WiFi house! Yippee! Yay! Mommy can blog on the laptop in bed if I want to, not that I will get a chance to do that, but the technology is there if the opportunity ever does arise! I hired the Geek Squad (yeah those guys in the black and white VW bugs) and a very nice man came to the house last night. Poor guy, what could go wrong did go wrong. Our other desktop, the old one, was so infected with viruses that he spent an hour and a half getting it healthy again and didn't charge me the extra $ for that service. Did I say that he was a nice man? And then the router that I bought was defective and he figured that out after spending an hour trying to get it to work. Luckily he had another one in the black&white bug. So after all that, and four hours later, we now have two desktops and a laptop on our wonderful wireless network. We are now one of the cool, hip people, well sorta anyway.

And part of the reason why Nice Man was here for so long was because of Jack. Jack just HAD to show Nice Man every single toy and book he owns. And then he literally dragged Nice Man into the living room to watch the choo choo train go around the christmas tree. Then the kid even danced for Nice Man. And when it was time for Jack to go sleepies, Jack walked up to Nice Man and gave him a hug and kiss. That is my boy, spreading love and good will among men, including Geek Squad guys.

The Thursday Thirteen

Mrs. Flinger had this on her website today. And since she is a cool blogger, I wanted to be cool also. she is a cool blogger, I thought I would be cool also.

Thirteen Things about Jack's Mom 1. I love being a Mom. I never knew that it would be so rewarding. 2. I love books. I get a high from just walking into Barnes & Noble. 3. I am an accounting nerd. For some reason, accounting is fun to me. 4. I am trying really really hard to lose the belly from being pregnant. 5. I am thinking of having a tummy tuck done. Does that make me shallow? 6. I love reading other people's blogs about their kids. It makes feel a little bit more saner to know that I am not the only one out there trying to cope with a stubborn toddler. 7. I love coffee. Coffee is the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning. Not my husband, not my child, nope it is coffee! 8. I have become an early morning person. Who knew? Certainly not I. 9. I have a load of clothes in the dryer that have been in there for 2 days now. Oh yeah and another 3 loads to be done, but here I sit blogging. 10. My husband is my best friend. Okay you can all go "ahhhhhh" now. 11. I am seriously wondering what our neighbors behind us are doing to their house. I will have to blog about it later with pictures. They have completely gutted it and demolished it down to just the frame. Is Ty around? 12. I wonder how I got to the age of 38. Wasn't it just a couple of years ago that I was in school? 13. And for the final one. My bra is really uncomfortable. Aren't you glad that I informed you about that? Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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Apples, Puzzles, and Happy Cups!

Apple is the word of the day, or even the week. Jack loves saying the word apple. He really wants to say it right and you can see his little face scrunch up with concentration as he is forming the word. Ahhh Ahhh Ahhhpppuulll. At first it sounds like he is stuttering, but it is a bit too soon to be worried about that isn't it Jane? Anyway, the boy is saying Apple about 563 times a day. It is cute, but okay lets move on to another word already!

We bought one of those wood puzzles with the pictures on the pieces and underneath. Of course the one we bought has pictures of tractors - go figure, eh? I just have to say that Jack amazes me how fast he can put the pieces back together. When he puts a piece in correctly he will say "go there" more to himself than anybody else. And when it is all finished he will look up at me with a huge smile, clap his hands, and yell "Yay!". Such a smart boy!

Oh yeah and when I picked him up from his weekly daycare day, he handed me a big shiny star that he had made for the Christmas tree. You could just see how proud he was of himself. And of course I made a huge deal about putting it on the tree right in front where you could see it. At which point, he started clapping and yelling "Yay!"

Someone made a comment to me recently saying that their grandchildren "fill up their happy cup". That is exactly what Jack does for me every single day. My happy cup is pretty full to begin with, but he just pushes it over to spilling out!

Where Are The Bon Bons?

This is the life. As I sit here surfing the internet, my house is getting cleaned by 4 uniformed professional maids. And I mean spotless! They are cleaning the baseboards, cabinets, ceiling fans, and even windows! Oh Mah Gah! I think I have died and gone to heaven for sure!

Oh yeah and Jack is at his weekly day at daycare! Yeah life is good. Problem is that I won't want to live in my house after it gets all clean! I will be afraid of getting it dirty again!

Leap For Joy

Do you find yourself leaping for joy when you find matching toddler socks or am I the only one? Somehow the sock fairy comes and takes away half of Jack's socks leaving me with 8 socks and nothing matching. So when I actually am able to match up socks, I leap for joy!

Nothing Much Exciting To Blog About

We in the Jackaroo World are still trying to recover from the crazed-cheerleading weekend. I was sooooooo tired on Sunday, that I actually slept about 12 hours. And I guess we tired out Jackaroo also. He slept in until 8 am yesterday, something he never ever does. And then he went down for a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. We are also trying to rest up for the next competition on Saturday. I hope I live through it, because this one will be about 10 hours long - yippee. Thank God her next competition isn't until January!

I have been doing some accounting work for a friend who is a general manager at The Maids cleaning service. I worked out a deal that I didn't want any money, but instead I wanted a free housecleaning. I get that housecleaning tomorrow! Such Bliss! To have 4 uniformed professional maids come to MY house and clean MY dirty bathrooms for free! I think I have died and gone to heaven. I CAN. NOT. WAIT! Of course, I have to clean before they get here. You know, organize everything so they can get to the filth that is my house. Yippee!

The Months Are Flying By...Jack Is 21 Months!

Since, we in the Jackaroo World, only have kids born on the 5th, today is a very special day. Laura turns 10 years old and Jack turns 21 months. Geesh these kids who insist upon growing up! They need to stop that right now!

I know I have said it before and I know I will say it again, but how is it that time sped up into super duper fast mode after Jack was born. How is it that he is almost two years old? I don't get it.

New Jack Stuff

** He says "thank you" all the time now. I love it when I will sit him down at the table for a meal and he will look up at me and say "tank you". We are now working on the word "please". He knows when to say and how to say it, but my stubborn child will not say it most times when I ask. He will be whining for something and I will say "say please" and the stubborn side of him (yes that came from me, shut up) will look at me and he will shake his head no and continue to whine even louder.

** The boy definitely knows what he wants and doesn't want now and is not afraid to express his feelings. He will shake his head no at me so vehemently that I am afraid his head will come off at times. He also nods his head for yes, but unfortunately that doesn't happen as often as the shaking of the head. Can you say "STRONG WILL"? Again, shut up, I know where he got it from. I can still complain about it, can't I?

** Books, books, and more books. The boy is in love with books. He will constantly ask me to go read books. He comes up to me and says "boo", his word for book. If I say later, he will go running into his room and start bringing books to me in order to force me to read at least one of them. Of course the book-crazed reader in me loves this. I have always dreamt of having a child that finds joy in opening a new book and discovering what is inside. Hopefully we can cultivate that into a life-long passion.

** I know I shouldn't be saying this outloud because as soon as I do, it will come back and bite me. But the boy sleeps really really well these days. He has an internal clock and if he is kept on schedule, we have a Happy Jack. He wakes up now between 7 and 7:30 am. He goes down for a 2 hour nap around 11 or noon. And then his bedtime is between 7:30 and 8:00 at night. No more middle of the night crying. I know there will be more nights of soothing a crying child, but for the time being, I am really loving this pattern.

** He loves fruit. He goes to the refrigerator and stands there saying "apple" or "orange". For the time being, desert to him is eating an orange with Daddy. Shhh, don't tell him it is good for him!

** Words are coming fast and furious these days. He is a little parrot and will copy whatever I say. So yes the time has come. I have to watch what I say or he will be going around saying "damn dogs" all the time.

** He has become very experienced with eating with a spoon and fork. No more feeding. I love it, I can sit a bowl of cereal down in front of him with a spoon and walk away. He will finish it all and drink the milk out of the bowl with very little mess! And it is so cute because he is gets so proud of himself when he does that.

** We are trying to teach responsibility. Since we received the new furniture, it is our goal to keep the family room in a somewhat picked-up manner. So this weekend we have been trying to teach him that if he wants to play with something new, he has to put the old toy away. This isn't exactly working very well at the moment. However, we are making headway at getting him to put his toys away at the end of the day. Last night, I was handing him cars, trucks, trains, blocks and he would go and put them away in the storage bins. So progress is being made in that department.

** He loves his family, or I should say his whole family being together all the time. When Sissy and Daddy are not here, he walks around looking for them. And he really misses Sissy when she is at her mother's. I know he is confused as to why she only shows up certain days. But he sure is a family guy.

** He loves the girls. He gave a little 3-year-old girl a kiss yesterday. She was sitting behind us with her parents watching her big sister in the competition. Jack was constantly going up there and wanting to sit next to her. At one point, he put his arm around her and hugged her. She was so cute, she got all flustered and whispered to her Mommy about that "boy who likes her". And then a few minutes later, Jack sits back down next to her and plants a big one right on her lips. I was so mad because I had put the camera away and didn't get Jack's first kiss caught so I can tease him about it later. Of course he wouldn't do it again with the camera in his face. But he did offer a kiss to her mother. What a little kiss up he is. He already knows that he has to get on the mother's good side before getting to the girl. Of course, this was great entertainment to everybody sitting in our section.

Everyday he makes me laugh as he is becoming his own little person.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA

This has been quite a couple of days for our dear Laura. Not only did she place first in her very first cheerleading competition yesterday, but today, she turns 10!!!! I kept telling her all day yesterday that she is now double digits and will be for the rest of her life! Unless, of course she lives to 100, which ya never know.

We had a little impromtu party for her on Saturday night with some neighbor friends. Yummy ice cream cake. Even I had to go off my no-sugar kick for that. And oh was it good. Jack and I split a piece and he ate his half in about 2 minutes!

Laura also made out pretty good for her birthday. From us she received a new pair of pjs, which I was really wishing they had in my size - so so cute. She also got some slipper socks and a cheerleading teddy bear in her orange team color with her name on the front. From her grandparents in Michigan, she got a cute kitty cat charm bracelet and matching earings. She loves them and in fact, she took the bracelet with her to competition yesterday. She couldn't wear any jewelry while competing, but she had it in her bag for "good luck" she said. She said after the competition that she had good luck and I kept telling her that luck had nothing to do with it. That was all hard work on her part. But, she loves the jewelry from the Michigan Grandparents.

SHE WON FIRST PLACE!!!!

Laura won FIRST PLACE at her cheerleading competition today, or I should say her team won first place in their division. Her father and I are sooooo proud of her. She has worked so hard on this and deserves this first place. I did her hair, but got a bit of help from another mother after we got there. She made it look a lot better. But I did do her makeup. She looked so cute.

Jack did really well for about 10 minutes and then he got really antsy. He wanted to climb the bleachers up and down and down and up and up and down. Of course, Laura competed really early in the program and then we had to sit and wait through all the others. This was a short competition, they say the one on Saturday the 10th will be an all day affair, about 10 hours. I am going to see about getting a babysitter that day. I will lose my mind if I have to deal with Jack that long.

So since she won first place today, she has a chance to go to Nationals in Orlando in May. We just might have to plan a trip to Florida. But if she goes all the way, we will be there to support her.

CONGRATULATIONS LAURA!

The First Place Video

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I'm a Failure

After trying really really hard to get Laura's hair done in the "proper" way, I have called it quits. I am not a hairdresser. Her coaches can do her hair. Just thought you would like that little update.

Cheerleading pics will be posted tomorrow night of the "proper" hairdo.

The Longest Parade In History

Seriously people, the parade we went to last night was the longest ever. It was supposed to start at 7, but you know how that goes, it didn't really start until 7:30. There were 93 floats and Laura's cheer float was number 88!!! Oh yeah and they counted the boy scouts as one, but in reality they were like 35 because every single cub scout troop in the country had to pass by. Then there was all the stupid city government officials and their assistants and their assistants had their own fancy car to ride in. I do have to admit that for the first 30 minutes or so, I did think it was fun. It was cute seeing all the little guys in their cub scout uniform pass by wearing lights and some were riding scooters - cute. I am sure we will have to go to the parade when Jack is in cub scouts.

Even Jack got into the parade. He was content to just sit in his stroller and watch and he would cheer and clap. He really got excited when the fire trucks went by. I thought that the kid was gonna jump right out of his stroller and go hug a fire truck. And boy did he like the little junior (like ages 4 or 5) cheerleaders all in red and marching so cute. He sure likes the girls!

But that was the first 30 minutes. The remaining TWO HOURS, I was miserable. I was cold, tired, and Jack was getting fussy and didn't want to sit in the stroller any longer. The hat and gloves I bought for him were a constant struggle to keep them on. I just gave it up and said fine - have cold ears and hands. At one point, I just kinda sat down on the sidewalk and I think I nodded off for a minute or two. Oh yeah and by the time Laura's float did finally come by and we cheered and all, there were like 23 people left watching the stupid parade. Jim and I were so tired that we started to giggle as we were watching people leaving in mass exodus, because THEIR child had already gone by. We were so jealous of those lucky people who could go back to the warm car and go home while we were standing with the other 23 people waiting for the Pacific Coast Cheer float to come by. Yay!

We did finally get home about 11 and we all kinda collapsed. So we have a lazy day planned here in the Jackaroo World. The most ambitious thing I want to do is practice doing Laura's hair and makeup. That should take about 5 hours or so. I'll post pictures if I somewhat succeed.

You Better Not Pout

Cause Santa's coming to town...

Yep tonight we are going to the Holiday Parade where Santa will be on the last float. To be honest, I am really not looking forward to going because I know the crowds are going to be beyond belief. The traffic will take two hours to get out and we'll have to park probably 3 miles away. Oh and it is looking like rain tonight and the temp is supposed to be in 30's. Sound like fun, eh? Christmas Joy Joy!

But we have to go this year because of Laura. It is all about her cheerleading team and they are going to be in the parade with their own float. I was asked to work on the float today, but ummm had other things to do. Yeah that's it. I had a gazillion things to do besides work on the float today.

The parade starts at 7pm and lasts about 2 hours. In hopes that Jack will be a Happy Jack through the parade, he is taking a late nap this afternoon. I also bought him a pair of gloves and hat (not that he will actually wear the thing, but there is always hope I guess).

So we shall see how it all goes. Who knows it might actually be fun!?! But then again, theres the crowds and traffic. On second though, probably not.

Hair Stylist and Makeup Artist Anyone?

Because that is what I seriously need folks. Not for myself. Well now that I think of it, I suppose I could use a hair stylist and makeup artist for myself. And that is the very reason why I NEED these type of talented people this weekend. Because I don't have the foggiest notion what I am doing and I have to do Laura's hair and makeup for her cheerleading competition on Sunday! And let me tell you, it is not just put your hair in a pony tale and go. Oh no, no, no. Here let me read the official "hairdo" description that is required. "Parted over left eye, sweep both sides into small pony (at the hair line-neck). Put the remainder into high ponytail - 2 inches south of left eye part. Straight hair and curl the ends up!" UMMMMM. Folks I am at a loss here. I went to their hair and makeup training session the other night and the girl who knew what she was doing took a good 20-30 minutes to demonstrate how to do this! I am so not the person for this. If I take 5 minutes to blow my hair dry in no particular order, I am doing good. THIS. This is stuff for professionals!

Oh and her makeup! Oh My Gosh. People, we are talking bright orange eye shadow with red glitter and blue eyeliner! You can see this stuff a mile away. These girls who are 9 and 10 years old should not be looking like hookers in my opinion. And not to mention, I have to "apply" this makeup. I have trouble with my own makeup! I have never mastered the art of makeup and now I have to do THIS.

I have never been really girly girly as far as hair and makeup. Partly because I have this unbelievably curly hair that refuses to do much of anything, so I just let it do what it wants most days. And the makeup, that has always baffled me. I was watching Oprah a couple of weeks ago and she was giving makeup lessons and I remember her saying that you need two lip colors to make a really good lip! Hell, if I get one on my lips, I think I am styling!

Laura is so screwed!

Voila!

The furniture arrived today. Of course there was a mixup. We ordered the coffee table to go with the end tables, but instead of the coffee table, they sent us the sofa table. I even remember asking the ditzy sales lady about that when I saw the words "sofa table" on the receipt. She assured me that was their term for coffee table. Ummm-NOT. So we won't get our coffee table until next Friday. And now that we have the sofa table, I am really liking it, but I don't have a place to put it. See below for pictures of where it is at the present time and tell me that it looks stupid there in the middle of the hallway. Such decisions! It is so hard! Geesh, who knew that one little sofa table would cause so much indecision!



The new table. I love the pub height. The table came with the leaf in the middle and let me tell you, it took Jim and I like 30 minutes to figure out how to get that leaf out of the table! And here I thought we were fairly intelligent people!

We also got rid of the booster chair that hooked onto the table. Jack now sits on a stool and he just thinks he is a big boy for doing that.



So now I need advice from all the internet. Since we got the sofa table instead of the requested coffee table, we have for the time being put the sofa table in the hallway. At first I did not like it at all there because it takes up half the hall. But now I am liking it more and more. I think I may just be trying to come up with an excuse for keeping this beautiful sofa table, because I really don't have any other place to put it. Besides it is an extra $250 which we shouldn't be spending. But what do you think of the table in the hall. Stupid looking? Or not? See, I can put my pretty silk flowers on it and everything! But there is the fact that it takes up half the hallway and with Jack around, might not be a good idea. So it will probably be going back to the store, but I sure like it.















So that was my day. I don't think I have bought new furniture in five or six years. It is just sooo much fun. It totally makes your day! Who needs prozac? Just buy new furniture, I tell ya.

Ready and Waiting

The old crappy furniture has been removed. Waiting for new and improved furniture to arrive.

Amazing what you can find when you move out your furniture. Found items include 4 coasters, 1 toothbrush, 1 play cell phone, back of remote control (been missing that for about 2 months now), 3 food wrappers (ewww), and half a cookie (another ewww).