Pictures - Day One

And this is where Jack learned that fishing is pretty cool. (His opinion - not mine). After seeing this family catch fish after fish, he kept wanting to go fishing. Of course, he did not want anything to do with the fish once they were caught, which proves that there is a little bit of me in the boy somewhere.

Jack playing with the thousands of birds under the bridge. He was having fun running all over the place trying to catch them.

Arizona - Petrified Forest aka Middle of Desert and Nowhere

The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert sign in Arizona. I think that I was at this place when I was about Laura's age on a road trip taken with my parents. This is where we saw the petrified wood and dinosaur statues. Oh and they also had a bunch of buffalo in a pen. They were not moving much because it was only about 105 degrees.


And this is where Jack will be scared for life and will never ever look at a Dinosaur the same. He was absolutely petrified and was shrinking into the corner when I took this picture.

6942 Miles!

After almost 7000 miles,13 states, 26 movies, and countless fights between Jack and Laura in the backseat - we are Home!

We got home last night about 10 pm and we are all exhausted. I swear that those last 100 miles were the longest miles on the entire trip. The house is still standing and I hear that the dogs are still alive (we will see about the cats tomorrow) so that is a good thing.

Our last stop yesterday was in Tombstone Arizona where the OK Corral fight was held. It was a pretty touristy place, but fun. And of course, we bought Jack a cowboy hat.

For the next few days I will be boring you all with the hundreds of pictures taken over the last 2 1/2 weeks. But right now? I am going to relax in my very own home before the unpacking commences. Oh and then the packing up after that. Yes, I will be savoring the next couple of hours of complete laziness with my coffee.

On Our Way Home

We are just outside of Dallas right now. Yay for free internet in the motel rooms. After we left Disney, we drove back to Jim's mother and spent the night there. We got to have a big breakfast yesterday morning at Cracker Barrel with his mother, 2 sisters, and cousin. And again another big goodbye.

We stopped by Vicksburg, MS to see the civil war memorial where the big Vicksburg battle was held. It was very interesting and I took a picture of the memorial from Michigan that listed the 17th infantry where my Great Great Uncle was a lieutenant. Very interesting.

Then we drove and drove and ummmm drove some more to finally come to rest at 10 pm here in Weatherford, Tx.

Today we are going to try to go to Carlsbad Caverans in New Mexico. It is about 450 miles from here. Then it is a straight home. Well that is home for another 6 weeks or so.

Day Two

Day two at Disneyworld was much more relaxing than day one. You are right Erin, MGM is a lot smaller than the Magic Kingdom. We did ride the Great Movie Ride and it was fun. Jim and Laura rode the Tower of Terror and loved it better than the Disneyland version. We ate lunch at the Brown Derby, shopped some and then went to the Playhouse Disney show. Jack loved to see all the Playhouse characters that we see every single day. There was Jo Jo, Stanley, Bear, and Winnie the Pooh. Lots of fun for the toddler set, however, Laura was sitting there thinking "this is soooo lame". But I had fun hehe.

When we went to the Animation area, there were Leo, Quincy and Annie from Little Einsteins and stupid me left the camera in the stroller outside. I also missed the camera opportunity for Mr. and Mrs. Incredible and Jo Jo and Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars. But I am not sure if Jack would have cozied up to any of the characters because he still looks at them with disdain. I am pretty sure he doesn't trust them at this point.

We were in MGM only about 5 hours and came back to the condo and pretty much collapsed. Jack slept about 2 hours while the rest of us laid around being ultra lazy. That was fun after the all the craziness of Disney. After dinner, we went swimming and Jack is absolutely loving the pool these days. And Laura, well she is now known as the "Sissy Fish". The girl could live in a pool if we let her.

Tomorrow we will say good bye to Disneyworld and head back west. We have been watching the news and between flooding and fires, not sure which way to go. But no matter what, we are in for some really long hours in the car. Yay!

Probably no more updates until we get back to California. I am not really looking forward to getting back cause I know all the work that is in store for me in regards to getting ready to move. Can't somebody else do it all? Please?

Anyway, signing off till we get back to the other coast.

We Made It!

14 hours of Disneyworld that is. Yes that is right, we just spent the last FOURTEEN HOURS at the Magic Kingdom. AND Jack had NO nap. An amazing feat and the most amazing thing? There were no major temper tantrums other than the normal stubborn toddler stuff. A much better day than yesterday - thank goodness!

We had fun and rode lots of rides. The big highlights were the Buzz Lightyear, Goofy roller coaster, small world, Enchanted Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpet, Haunted Mansion and various other rides that I can not remember at the moment. We also saw the Country Bear Jamboree and the Mickey's Philhamagic shows. Cute. We also had ice cream floats that of course was a big hit with Jack.

It was very very hot and humid. I think we all sweated about a gallon today. About 6 pm, it started to pour, which was good timing because it was time to eat anyway. But we still got drenched. The kids were running around in the rain while Jim and I were running for cover. It felt good for the first 2 minutes after being so hot, but then it was just not good. But it only lasted an hour and soon were back out walking.

Jack's new word of the day was "OW OW OW". Everytime we tried to grab him from running away, he would say "ow ow ow" like we were abusing the child. And his little stubborn streak came out and did NOT want to hold our hand. Independent one that child.

We stayed for the parade and fireworks at the end. The parade was pretty and all, but I still think the Electric Light Parade that Disneyland had a couple of years ago was better. And of course, the fireworks were specatcular.

All day we kept comparing everything with Disneyland and usually Disneyland came up short. Every ride including Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise and Small World was better and bigger at Disney World.

We are off tomorrow to MGM Studios. Laura all but begged to not spend all day there tomorrow. I think we had two very exhausted kids at the end. And also two very exhausted parents. I tell ya, Disney is fun, but man is it work.

Thank Goodness for Alcohol

We went to dinner with my brother and his girlfriend tonight. It was THE dinner from hell. We went with good intentions of seeing my brother and having a nice dinner and a nice talk catching up with each other. HOWEVER, the devil child also known as Jack made it absolutely horrible. I can honestly say that I have never ever ever seen him act as badly as he did tonight. EVER.

It all started with a two hour drive to the restaurant 30 miles away! Yes that is right two hours to go 30 miles. Orlando traffic is worst than LA traffic and THAT is saying alot. Oh my gah. And Jack? Yeah he was crying and screaming the whole way. Even the movie Brother Bear couldn't make him happy. So by the time we get there, he is in a very foul mood and I just knew it was going to be bad. And it was. The boy screamed, whined, squirmed, jumped, and basically acted like a demon for almost the entire meal. Tim and I could barely say anything to each other without me constantly saying "Sit Down Jack" "No Jack" "Stop that Jack" and giving him swats on the butt. I wasn't going to drink but Tim handed over his sake to me and I sure did appreciate it.

When we got back to the condo, we went to the little convenient store next door and stocked up on beer and wine coolers. Ahhh. A great ending to a very very long and turbulent day.

We did go to Chef Mickey's for brunch. If you haven't been to Chef Mickey's before, it is a buffet that is totally catered to kids where the characters come out and say hi. Jack was scared of them and pretended like they did not exist when they came to our table. He just stared straight ahead and you could see him thinking "if I don't move, maybe they will go away". We did manage to get a few pictures that I will post when I get home.

The buffet has things like peanut butter, chocolate chip, and jelly pizza, gummy worm chocolate pudding, and other assorted sugar filled foods. We let the kids eat whatever they wanted in whatever quantities they wanted. After all you only go to Disneyworld every so often right? Ummm... Big Mistake! For Jim, Laura, and myself it meant really bad stomach aches about 2 hours later. And we didn't really eat that much junk in comparison to Jack. For Jack after consuming approximately 3 lbs of sugar went on a sugar high that I have never ever seen. I mean really the kid was a blur and he turned into this super-human with strength like superman and could run just as fast as him. He was fascinated with the monorail, so we thought we would go ride it around and thought he would really enjoy that. Ummm. Nope. He thought it was cool for about 30 seconds but when he found out that we didn't let him run around on his own in the crowded monorail car or he couldn't do leaps off the bench, he decided to throw a huge temper tantrum. I am pretty sure that the childless couple sitting next to us were thanking their lucky stars that they didn't have children and after seeing Jack, probably never will. After the monorail, we could not get back to the condo fast enough. He went to sleep in the short drive and thought he would sleep it off. Think again. He woke up about 15 minutes later raring to go. And it was all downhill from there culminating in me drinking large quantities of alcohol.

Whoohoo gotta love Disney with a two-year-old. I think I grew a huge patch of gray hair in the last 12 hours.

Hello from Florida!

Well we made it to Florida. We did the coast to coast drive. We have logged 4200 miles on the van since leaving California over a week ago. It has been quite the trip and I have tried to journal it on the laptop.

Yesterday we left Gulfport around 11 am after Jim had a few more interview things to do for the police there. It is looking like he is going to become one of Gulfport's finest (although he has always been my finest). It also looks like I have 2 months to get back home, sell the house, pack up our crap and move our butts to Mississippi. Can you say YIKES! Oh my, my brain is just a twitter of everything that has to be done. Oh and if anybody has any tips at all on how to move 4 animals across the country - please share!

Anyway, we arrived here in the Orlando area. We are staying at this amazing condo/villa place 5 minutes from Disneyworld. We didn't get here until around 9 last night. But for only $150/night, we have a 3 bedroom condo with a computer and internet access. Yay! No longer having to ask one of Jim's siblings if I can use their computer. The kids have their own room with 2 twin beds. Jack slept really well last night for being his first time in a twin bed by himself. And we have our own master suite and our very OWN bathroom. Yay! I love visiting family, but don't you hate having to use somebody else's bathroom? You always make extra effort you don't leave any sign of you ever ever being there. And it even has a full sized washer/dryer, which is really good cause boy do we need to do laundry (ewwww). Anyway, it is really nice to be here. The kids were very happy to go swimming last night at 10. And what did Jack do while we were unloading the car? He ran around the living room and down the hall like a crazy child. I guess he needed to run off some of that pent up energy from 9 hours in the car!

We were planning on going to Disneyworld today, tomorrow, and Tuesday. But we are all exhausted. I think with the family reunion, Jim's job status, and the all the driving, we are absolutely exhausted right now. So today is going to be a kind of a leisure day. We plan to go to Chef Mickey's later for brunch. I am sure Jack is going really enjoy all the characters. Either that or the kid is going to be crying all the time because he is afraid. We shall see.

After brunch, we are just going to take it easy and maybe look around Downtown Disney or go shopping in one of those tacky souveniur stores that are lined the streets around here. We have plans to meet my brother for dinner tonight halfway to Daytona Beach where he lives.

So now I am off to try to figure out how their stupid coffee maker works cause I don't hear it making coffee like I demanded it to do. Argh I need coffee!

Hello From "The Gathering"

We are here at the Big C Gathering. There are roughly 35 people here for the weekend. Jack is getting soooooooo much attention from all his aunts, uncles, cousins and grammy. He is also getting spoiled to death. Grammy C bought him a batman pedal car which was the first thought he had this morning when he woke up - "Where is my car?". His other uncle bought him a cool car and somebody, not sure who, bought him some cool bulldozers.

Daddy bought him a little fishing pole to go fishing in the lake here. This morning Jack and Daddy went fishing and had a good ole time. They even went out in the row boat, but didn't catch anything.

Last night Jack and I were sleeping together because we forgot his inflatable Thomas bed in Gulfport. When we were getting in bed last night, he reached over to hug me and poked his finger in my eye and his 9-inch nails scratched my cornea. Talk about ouchie. It has been hurting all day long and I have been walking around with sunglasses looking like the druggie wife of Jim.

Other than the scratched eye, we are having fun. Laura is having a blast hanging out with her teenage cousins and pretending to be a teenager. That girl so can't wait to be a teenager. Scary. She has been in the pool all day long and I mean all day long. But in this heat and humidity, I don't blame her.

We will be leaving tomorrow night to drive back to Gulfport and then Monday we will be off to Orlando and the World of Disney with breakfast at Chef Mickey's on Tuesday. Busy busy busy.

Hello From Mississppi

We made it to Mississppi on Tuesday night. It was a very long 12 hour drive from Arkansas (the very most north west part of AR) to Gulfport area. That was a long day.

Yesterday we went to Gulfport where Jim passed his test and is one step closer to joining the police force in town. So that is exciting. While Jim was taking the test, we drove around and saw some of the utter devastation from Katrina. It is truly a sight to see. It just makes you speechless to see it in person. The old beautiful homes that have stood for over 100 years were just wiped off the face of the earth. Just awful.

We are staying with Jim's brother who lives in the area. They have an absolutely beautiful house on 18 acres. They own 5 horses and 5 Boston Terrier dogs. The dogs love Jack to death and he is now sporting more than a few scratches from the dogs. But the kid loves to get down and roll around with them on floor and giggles through all the licking.

This morning, the kids went horseback riding. Laura got on the horse first and she did quite well. She looks like a real horsewoman up there. Jack was a little bit afraid at first. He hasn't ever been that close to a horse before and I don't think he realized just how big they were. But after seeing Sissy riding the horse, he soon wanted get up there also. So we put him up on the horse with Sissy and the boy LOVED riding. Uncle Dan even got the horse to start trotting and with Sissy holding onto him, he just giggled and laughed through the whole thing. I have a feeling when we move here, Jack is going to be getting a lot of horse riding time.

We are going to look around at the different neighborhoods and some houses for sale. I am looking forward to getting a feel for the area to see where we want to live.

Tomorrow we are going to Jim's mother's house for the "Big Gathering" as they are calling it. There will be many many people there and I am sure Jack is going to just eat up all the attention he is going to be receiving from them all.

So that is our little adventure so far. We are having a great time and everyday is a new adventure for the traveling Jackaroo Family. I will update in a few days and maybe try to show ya some of the horse riding adventure.

Hello From Kansas

We made it to Kansas! After a day and a half of driving we finally made it to Kansas. We are visiting really good friends who moved here a couple of years ago to run a gorgeous old hotel. They are the best! Unfortunately, we can not stay but only one night. Too bad, because it has been great seeing them again and we realize just how much we miss them.

We are off again tomorrow to drive to Arkansas to stay the night with Jim's niece and after that we are off to Gulfport for about 3 days. We will be checking the area out to see what part we want to live in when we actually move there. After that we are going to visit Grammy C, where there will be a big family reunion with a ton of people. Jim is the baby of 6 kids, so Jack will be overwhelmed by his new cousins. And then we are off to Orlando and Disneyworld. Phew quite a trip.

Jack has been quite the little trooper on this trip. He actually has been quite good in the car for all those hours. We stopped off in Arizona at a Dinosaur museum and I do not think that Jack will look at a Dinosaur the same ever again. We walked in and they had a huge T-Rez model that had a motion sensor which moved when you got near it. He saw Daddy and Sissy go near and it started roaring and moving and he absolutely FAHREAKED out. He would not step more than one foot inside the doorway. He was so freaked out about the whole experience, he wouldn't even watch the Dinosaur movie by Disney in the car afterwards.

I am now off to bed as it has been one long day for us. Nite Nite.

HELP!! JUST GET ME ON VACATION NOW!

What a day. Between dropping cats off at kennel, getting into a HUGE fight with some guy in the Home Depot parking lot who almost hit me TWICE and he yelled at ME when all I was doing was just sitting there waiting for him to get his big Butt Truck out of the parking spot, to dropping dogs off at friends, to picking up Laura, to having a toddler with NO NAP in tow, to trying to finish up the packing, to cleaning the house - I AM WIPED OUT. And I didn't sleep but maybe 3 or 4 hours last night cause I had my mind going about 1000 mph with all I had to do today. Now I am down to cleaning up the kitchen and family room, packing up any last minute toys, getting the boy a bath, the girl a shower, getting them to bed, and packing the van and into bed hopefully by 8:00 because we are hitting the road at 3:00 am. Oh yeah and Jim is going to be late, probably won't be home until 7 or so.

Geesh, I am looking forward to chilling out in the passenger seat and just enjoying the trip. Not sure when I will have internet access, but will try to update along the way with what we will be doing and pictures.

Cya Laters

"My Kitties"

Poor Jack. I just got back from taking our cats to the cat boarding place and he had a complete and total meltdown when they took them away. He started screaming "My Kitties My Kitties" and threw himself on the floor. I told him that they were going to have fun with all their kitty friends, but I don't think he believed me. Even the 3 doggies that were there could not cheer him up. And now 2 hours later, after getting McDonalds for lunch and watching 101 Dalmations, he is still mourning his kitties.

Now my problem is, what is he going to do when we drop off the dogs at friends in a few hours? Oy this is going to be a hard day on him.

The Beach

As I get ready in my mind to move to the Mississippi gulf coast, I am very excited to know that we will be within minutes of a beach, and not just any beach, but a big white sandy beach with warm water.

I love love love the beach and as I just read Rbelle's post about growing up at the beach, I hope that Jack will have that love of the beach one day. I did not grow up near a beach, but all of my adult life has drawn me toward it. Maybe that is why I live on the west coast, less than 2 hours away from the beautiful Pacific Ocean. When I lived in Seattle, my most favorite place on this earth was Cannon Beach Oregon. I would go there at least twice a year, if not more, just to relax and feed my soul the relaxing qualities of the surf. I always told myself that when I retire, it would be in a small coastal town like Cannon Beach. In fact, I thought seriously of moving there a few years ago. I haven't been back to Cannon Beach in the 8 years that I have lived in California. Sure, the beaches here are nice and all, but there is something about that spot on Earth that totally feeds my soul that no other spot has before.

So, with our move to Mississippi, I get my wish of "retiring" on the beach. Now if those pesky hurricanes would just stay away.

The Way Cool Van

Yikes, the time is almost here. The time we are jumping in our super cool van with every gadget in the world. I tell ya, a few short years ago, I would never had imagined I would own a vehicle such as this. This van has the dvd entertainment system for the kids, the navigation system so Daddy never has to ask for directions again, the satellite radio to listen to while kids in back have headphones on watching Disney movies. Still not sure how we are going to convince Jack to wear said headphones, but we shall see. It also has about 600 plug-ins for all your appliances. We have a mini refrigerator in the back to store all our goodies for the road and to save money by not eating out all the time. We also have a power converter where I can run the laptop and get to play, write potential blog posts, or watch my own movie. So, if ya gotta go on a cross country road trip, this vehicle is the must-have.

The Frog

So there I was last night. I was putting Jack to bed and about to read a Thomas story to him. I happened to look across the hallway into the bathroom and what do I see? A Frog! Not just a tiny frog either, no this frog could have won the record for the Largest Frog Ever! And it was sitting IN MY BATHROOM! How it got there, I do not even know. I have a sneaking suspicion that a cat or two brought the thing into the house. I have been leaving the back door open to let in some breeze through the house and this is what I get - A FROG in MY house.

I yelled for Jim to come get the thing and take it outside. He was sleeping, so I am pretty sure, he was not thrilled to get out of bed to move a frog. But at that moment I did not care. When he went to pick it up, it jumped away and of course I screamed and then Jack was wondering what was up and kept saying "froggie Mama". Yeah Jack, Mama is just having a slight nervous breakdown because of the froggie, no big deal.

So, all day today, I have been wondering and worrying about what ELSE is in this house. If I find a snake in this house, I will move out faster than you can say "FREAK OUT". Oh My Gah! Just the thought of it make me want to scream.

Big Yuck!

Coupons and BIG NEWS

I just got back from our local grocery store. For the past two days they have been having triple coupon days and let me tell you that you can save big time on the triple coupon days. I know some people who have saved over $200 with their coupons. Unfortunately I am not the best coupon clipper, however, I did save $39.60 in coupons and was able to get some free stuff. Always fun saving money. Because I saved so much money, I decided to splurge and get a couple 6-pack of beers for Jim and I. And they are really good and much needed by Jim who has been stressing a bit lately about everything that has been going on.

And what has been going on? We are moving to to the Gulf Coast in Mississippi in the next few months!! It looks like he is going to get a job offer there and we are up and moving the family. We will be within an hour or two from Jim's mother, sister, and brother. That means there will be free babysitters (yahoo). And we will also be closer to my family in Michigan, which means we can easily drive there for long weekends. And Jim has been missing Mississippi a lot and it is home for him. And of course, my home is wherever he and Jack are.

Financially, it is going to be sooooo nice for us. With the equity that we have gained in this house and our previous house, we are going to be able to buy a house for cash or have a very very little mortgage. And of course, with my anal research self, I have been scouring the internet looking at houses for sale and now have a list 4 pages long of houses that I want to look at when we are there next week.

It absolutely astounds me as to what you can get there for a house in comparison to this area. In Southern Cali, you need a minimum of $500K to get into a 3-bedroom house and there in MS, you can get one for about $200K or less.

Of course, there are cons to us moving. The biggest one being, is that we are not going to see Laura on a regular basis. That is going to be really really hard on all of us. But we plan to have her fly to us for long weekends, vacations, and summers, so we will be seeing her at least every 6 weeks or so. I will also miss a lot of friends that I have made here, especially the L. Family that I have come to consider my California family. I consider Janet my sister and their kids my neice and nephew. It will be hard to move away from them. I will also miss our house. I love our house, but I do know that it is just a house and there are many many houses out there that I can love just as much. And of course the mother's playgroup that I have come to enjoy so much. I hope that I can find a playgroup that is half as good as this one here.

So things will be a bit hectic here in the Jackaroo World for the next few months. We plan on putting our house on the market right after we get back home in July. There there is the whole cleaning the house to get ready to show and doing some minor repairs (yuck). Not to mention, trying to keep the house spotless all the time for showings (double yuck). The last time we sold a house, we did it in one day with 3 offers that day. I am not so sure it will be that easy this time.

I also have going through my mind of what we are going to sell off and/or get rid of. We have a lot of junk to get rid of somehow. And doing all these things while taking care of the Jackaroo. Should be fun.

A Cowboy Breakfast

Jack found Daddy's hat yesterday while we were packing up. He is quite enamored by the thing and insisted on being a "towboy" for breakfast this morning. Sad thing is he will NOT wear any of his hats, but Daddy's hats? He will wear those all day long. Silly boy.

Jack and I have lots and lots of errands to run today. We have to go get the van a bath and an oil change to get ready for the trip. There is also a trip to Target involved to get some last minute items and then the bank to get some actual money for the trip (always nice to have money).

Oh and if any of you Toddler Mommies out there have actually seen juice box holders in an actual store, could you let me know. I have been looking for these for a long time and I don't want to order online (although there is a cute Thomas one) and pay 4x the amount in shipping to get it here before Friday. But I really really want a few of these because Jack + juice box = BIG MESS.

Anyway, we are off on our adventure day of errands. Of course, the boy LOVES the car wash and could go there every single day.

Oh and to update on the stroller "crisis" we had a couple of weeks ago. After looking at the strollers and considering one of those jogging type strollers and then fainting with the price of said stroller, we decided just to take the HUGE stroller with us and somehow fit in the van along with his bike (pictured with Foo Foo in the post below) so he can ride it around Grammy C's property. We will be stuffed to the gills me think.

And Mrs. Flinger, I would love love love to go to Seattle sometime for a girls weekend with ya'll. I think we should grab the other girls and force them to go also. Erin, Rbelle, Carolyn, Jane should be there! What fun we would have. Problem is, we are going to be having some BIG NEWS soon that is going to impede the girls weekend. Will update soon on the BIG NEWS. Now aren't ya'll just soooo excited to learn what our BIG NEWS is? And nope again, we are NOT adding another little Roo to the Jackaroo House. It is NOT THAT.

READY

The clothes are packed. The diapers, wipes, toys, videos and other assorted kid needs are packed. Days until we leave? FIVE! Yep we are ready to get outta here.

Two Thumbs Up

We went to see the movie Cars last night. And I just have to say that it was awesome! I mean even if you don't have any kids, GO TO THIS MOVIE! I think that the older generation would get a huge kick out of this movie. Hint Hint Grammy and Papa - go out to the movies and see this movie. I know it is a cartoon, but you will love it.

So we went to our little local theatre, which was not all that crowded for the 6:30 showing. Jack did really good and sat there for the most part and absorbed the movie. He did get a bit antsy in the middle of the movie and had to move from seat to seat. He also had to bring Foo Foo into the movie with us (thank goodness stuffed animals are free admission) and Foo Foo had to sit in his own seat, which got moved from seat to seat also. But at the end when the big race was happening, Jack was glued to the screen and kept yelling "Go Red Car" "Look Mama, car racing!".

I totally encourage you to go see this movie. It is so much better than the movie Over The Hedge that I took the kids to see a couple of weeks ago. In that movie, I was literally looking at my watch every 5 minutes wishing the movie would end. Not so in Cars. The Jackaroo House gives it two thumbs up.

Hair Cut Day

I took Jack to the barber shop today to get his hair cut. The boy was suffering big time with all his hair and would sweat so much through his head that his hair was constantly wet these days. So here is the new and improved, no-curl Jack. He looks so much older. Wahhhh.

He has been insisting on riding his bike through the house the last couple of days. When I say ride, I use that term loosely, because he hasn't caught on how to pedal yet. He, instead, just scoots around with his feet and actually can go pretty fast. He also gives Foo Foo rides on the bike. Notice Foo Foo is wearing a My Gym t-shirt and although you can't see it, he is also is wearing a pull-up diaper. Jack thought that Foo Foo needed to be dressed the other day, so hence the "outfit".

I also think that the lazy days of summer has hit me already because I can not make it through an afternoon without my 2-hour nap these days. I just about body-slam Jack into his bed for a nap and run to my bed for my siesta. All this sleeping has not been so good for the house however, because the dishes just ain't getting done, and neither is anything else. Oh well. The naps are really nice :).

Jack and The Little Blonde Girl

Another mother, Karen, just posted more pictures from yesterday's playgroup. As you can see her daughter, Courtney, thought Jack was coolest.

"Wow Look At Those Muscles"

Jack, the ever so generous host as he is pushing Courtney down the slide.

Are the parents looking? No? Cool, let's go!

Jack is thinking hurry, hurry, hurry.

My little wet swimmer guy.

Yay! I Can Post!

I guess blogger has been having some problems the last couple of days because everytime I have tried to post something, it would say "We are experiencing difficulties". Whatever.

So to update on the goings and comings of the Jackaroo house. Yesterday, was not a good day in the house. Jack would not take a nap at all. I tried about 5 times with no success. And me? I was literally begging him to take a nap because for some reason, I needed sleep badly. I barely could keep my eyes open yesterday afternoon and he was just not helping as he was pushing his toy lawnmower through the house yelling "YeeHaw". Yeah. Nice. And all that with NO sugar.

Today was our turn to host the toddler playgroup again. The pictures above show that it was a great success. I bought a kiddie pool at WalMart and that was a huge hit during the hot day today. I think those kids could have stayed in that pool all day. As it was, they were in there for about 2 hours!

And afterwards, both Jack and I took major naps. He was sleeping for about 3 hours and I was sleeping for about 2 hours. I think we were both drained from all the fun of hosting. And being out in the sun for 3 hours.

My backyard still looks like a toy tornado hit. There are toys strewn all over the patio, but it is so hot out there, that I figure they will still be there in the cool morning air.

Right now, Jack and I are relaxing in front of the tube. He is insisting on watching the same show of The Wiggles over and over again. If I try to put Mickey or Thomas on, he yells at me "NOOO WIGGLES". Fun stuff, especially since Daddy is going to be really late tonight. Oy! Another hour and a half till bedtime. That is a lot of Wiggles people.

My Alarm Clock Is Going Off Earlier and Earlier

Jack, aka The Alarm Clock, is waking earlier and earlier these days. It used to be, I could trust that he would sleep until 6:00 - 6:30 and on those oh-so-rare occassions until 7:00!! But the last few days have been a completely different story. He has been waking up at 5:30 and earlier and this morning it was 4:30!!! And I have been pushing his bedtime back to 8:00 - 8:30 instead of the 7:00 bedtime we used to have. Ahh those were the days.

I tried to bring him into bed with me and watch some tv while I attempted to doze for awhile, but nope that didn't work. I gave it up and got out of bed. I told him "Mama needs coffee" so then he started to say "Baby needs Tossee (coffee)". Yeah right. He needs Tossee like I need to gain another 10 pounds! The boy loves the taste of coffee and now screams/demands it every day. He is addicted to coffee at the age of two. Nice. And no, I do not give my two-year-old coffee, except for a sip here and there and that is all it took to make an addict out of my son.

Anyway, it is now 7:00 in the morning and I have already gone on my 1.5 mile daily walk, had two cups of coffee and now what? Oy it is going to be a very long day folks. And it is only FIVE HOURS until naptime!

Cool Baby

We bought Jack his own little suitcase for the upcoming vacation. He absolutely loves the thing and it gets rolled all over the house al the time. It is really cute with cars, trucks and motorcycles all over it - right up his alley of course. Yesterday, I was packing it with his clothes that I want to take with us just to see if it all will fit (it does - barely!) and he was "helping" me by totally emptying the contents of his drawers and dumping them in the suitcase saying "All ready!".

We also bought him a pair of Thomas sunglasses and for once the boy actually wears them. Actually I should say that the boy is obsessed with the sunglasses. I told him that he was one cool baby with them and now he walks around with his sunglasses pulling his suitcase saying "Tool (cool) Baby". I think he is ready for summer!

Jack and I are alone this weekend as Daddy had to go off for the weekend. There might be big news soon in the Jackaroo World!! (And no it is not that we are adding another little Roo to the fold).

Staying At Home Has It Perks

Because you can have days like this:


Jack and I went to a pool party hosted by another mother in our playgroup. It was sooo much fun and a perfect day for the pool, seeing as it was 100 degrees today. On our way over, Jack was going on and on about swimming. He was so excited to go swimming. But when we got there, he froze in his tracks as soon as he saw the pool and totally FAHREAKED out when I went to put him in the water. This is the same kid who just a year ago, was practically diving into the pool by himself if we let him.

But after he saw all the other kids having fun, he joined in and pretty soon was having a total blast. I think what helped was I put him in a floatie and after that, he was like "bye bye Mama" and didn't want me to touch him at all. Mr. Independent that kid.

As you can see from the pictures, to say we had fun would be an understatment.

It took all of 2 minutes for the kid to pass out in the car. I had to drive really slow and the long way home for him to get the nap he needed. I also think he is going to sleep very very well tonight.

It almost was a funny story

This morning as I got out of the shower and was standing in my bedroom getting dressed, I heard what sounded like water gurgling. I went to look out the window and I guess somehow somewhere one of our sprinklers broke in the back and water was freeflowing like a fire hydrant all over the back yard. Now let me explain a little bit about our stupid town and their stupid water. Water here is on the same equivalent as liquid gold in the price. Last year when we were trying to keep the new sod alive, it cost us $400 in water for one month! And we live in a town that hasn't the largest natural lakes in southern california! So seeing that fire hydrant going in my backyard threw a terrible fear into my thrifty (cheap) self and I ran to the garage to shut the sprinkler system off before we wasted another $5 of water.

Now let me just give you a picture - I was completely nude. And let me tell you what the boy does when one of us goes into the garage without him - he deadbolts the door leading to the garage. So as you can imagine and put two and two together, I was in the garage nude and I heard the boy fiddling with the lock on the door. Talk about fear. I ran to open the door before he could get the deadbolt locked and thankfully it opened! But I could just imagine trying to walk around the side of the house to get into the back door in my condition.

Yeah almost a funny story - thank god it wasn't!

Shopping on Free Money

When I left my job 6 months ago, they gave me a parting gift - a $100 gift card to a mall. I haven't used it before now because for one thing, the mall is a good ways away and the traffic to get there totally sucks. And I knew that there would come a time when I would be totally broke and wanting to buy stuff and then that is when I would use it.

Well that day was today. I wanted to get some stuff for our upcoming trip. I fought the traffic to get there. I forget how incredibly bad the traffic is going that way. It took 23 minutes to go about 5 miles! And that was at 10:00 this morning, not even "rush" hour. I finally get there and shop for a couple of hours. And what did I get for my $100? I think I did quite well.

I came home with the following:

* 3 sleeveless shirts from JC Pennys 40% off sale
* 2 necklaces and 2 sunglasses from Claires - always cheap
* 3 shorts and a pair of yoga pants from Lady Footlocker ($4.99 each!)
* Pair of flip flops and a really cute pair of brown loafer type shoes for Jack from Payless.

I did have to pay $2.26 at Payless because by then the card had run out, then I came home.

Love spending free money!

A Blur

That was Jack today at gym class... one big blur! During circle time, when all the other kids were sitting obediently on their mother's lap and doing whatever activity they were supposed to do, my kid was in the MIDDLE of the circle dancing. You know that dance in the movie Flashdance where whatshername was dancing to that maniac song? Yeah he was doing that dance.

And after the circle time when it was free playtime, he was just like superman running, just a blur back and forth. One minute he was jumping into the balls, the very next second he was climbing the ladder, then the next second after that he was rolling down the mat. Let me tell you separation time could not come faster today. The kid totally exhausted me and after we got home, I felt like a truck hit me full force. Or maybe it was just the toddler ran me over during his blur of running. Who knows?

And where is all this energy coming from? Well I think I can attribute that to all the FOOD he is eating. Yesterday, the kid ate TWO breakfasts. The first one was yogurt and french toast, then after Laura woke up and he saw her eating cereal, he wanted a bowl of cereal also. And tonight for dinner we had whole-wheat spaghetti and the boy had THREE helpings! He ate more than me! I have these fears he's going to sprout another 6 inches in the next few days. Oy!

Stroller Crisis!

Okay, let me just preface this by saying that we have bought way too many strollers in the two short years that Jack has been alive. Let me see, there was the first one, that fit with the infant car seat. That one lasted about 2 or 3 months before it broke. Then I bought a new cheaper stroller and the last I saw of that one, it was sitting at the end of the gangway just before I got on a plane in Denver. It wasn't in Detroit when I got there. Nice huh?

There were many other strollers along the way. Including one that Papa and Grammy A. bought and that one lasted about 5 months I believe until the strap broke and you HAD to have the strap or the boy just slid right out of the thing. I even searched all over the internet for replacement straps for the thing, but of course not, they just wanted me to buy a whole new stroller. *Grumble Grumble*

We currently have 3 strollers. The really nice, but incredibly huge Graco stroller. It is great for the power stroller walks, perfect height and the most important part? The huge storage basket underneath for the mall shopping trips. We also have a small blue stroller that we bought last year before we went on our cruise, however that is so small that Jack has a hard time fitting his big toddler frame into. And of course there is the umbrella stroller that will now NOT close up. Yeah that jammed somehow, so now it sits in our garage, open.

So now you know our stroller problems. And you are asking why I am bringing this up now. Well after researching renting strollers at Disneyworld (because that is me, I have to research every last minute detail of our trip. Yeah you can say it, I need medication. I know it.) I have come to the conclusion that we just would NOT be happy with the strollers available at the park. I read some reviews and people say that they would never rent a stroller ever again. The reasons include the stroller is made of a hard plastic and in the hot sun has been known to scald kid's legs - not good. Then the fact that their strollers do not recline, therefore not be able to lay back and nap when the grouchies come out. Not that Jack takes a whole lot of naps in his stroller to begin with, but the minute we don't have a reclining stroller, he will want to recline and then make all of our lives miserable.

And the final reason for not renting strollers? Having to carry a dead-weight sleeping child back to the car with no stroller. I did that when Jack was 9 months old and let me tell you the boy was heavy THEN, I would never make it back to the car if I had to carry all 33 toddler pounds.

Sooooooo, after all that, I have decided that we need yet ANOTHER stroller to take with us. Because the big one we have takes up half the back of the van. Not good when you are packing 3 weeks worth of goodies back there also. Also the thing weighs a ton, at least. And the other two strollers we own, well they just won't work.

Soooooo, last night, I spent about 2 hours researching new strollers. I don't really want to spend more than $50 on this thing. It was quite shocking what some strollers cost! Did ya'll know that there are some strollers out there that cost over $300!! Good grief people, it is only a stroller, not a Lexus! And the cool new gadgty one where you can plug your ipod in and let baby listen to your tunes. Cool, but I don't own an ipod (I know I know I am just sooo out of it).

And after all that research of going from website to website and reading multiple reviews, I think I have come up with a possibility that meets my requirements. And my requirements for this next stroller purchase (our 7th or 8th?) are the following: lightweight, small when folded up, a basket underneath, snack try with cup holder for the kiddo, and cup holders for us big people. And my result was the Avila stroller by Safety 1st. And notice it even has 3 cupholders for the big people! That means Jim, me and Laura all can have drinks! Wahoo!

Now, my mission is to try to find this particular stroller in the stores today. And if I find it, that means poor Jim has to assemble yet ANOTHER stroller. Poor Jim, he literally could go into stroller assembly as a profession.

And, I seriously did not mean to write an entire novel just to explain that I feel the need to buy another stroller. Yeah medication is needed.

Getting Soooo Excited!

We, in the Jackaroo house, are getting sooooo excited about our upcoming road trip. We leave in 3 weeks and will be traveling over 5000 miles in the van. We plan to visit friends in Kansas, then head down to Gulfport Mississippi for a couple of days, then off to Jim's family in Mississippi for a big ole family reunion. We are talking about a huge gathering of aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course Grammy C.

After that we are driving to Orlando, where we plan to spend 4 days doing the Disneyworld thing. We were just all on their website planning what we are going to do and what rides we are going to go on. We even have reservations to go to Chef Mickey's for breakfast, where you can meet all the characters. It will be so much fun to watch Jack, because he is really getting into Disney. He loves to watch the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and talks about "Icky Mouse" all the time. He is finally getting to the age where he is going to get the whole Disney experience. And of course, Laura can't wait to ride the big roller coasters and go down the 90-ft water slide. She is quite the daredevil that girl.

We will probably spend 1 or 2 days in the Magic Kingdom, another day in the MGM studios, and then a day at the waterpark. Four very packed fun-filled days. I figure it is going to be exhausting but after that, we will have 3 days of nonstop driving back to California - plenty of time to rest up.

So the countdown has begun - 20 more days!

Holiday Weekend

Well I guess another summer has started as of this weekend - the great Memorial Day Weekend. All those bbqs going on out there - yummy. Pool parties for those lucky enough to have a pool (yes I am jealous Rbelle!).

I don't have much to blog about our weekend here at the Jackaroo house cause not much is happening. Jim has to work both today and tomorrow, so puts a crimp in the whole get into the mood of summer thing. Also, it is like COLD here. Yeah, go figure, freezing your butt off in Southern California during Memorial Day weekend. But it is in the 70's with major wind.

So, I am probably going to take the kids to go see Over the Hedge today and maybe hit up the mall or something tomorrow so that I don't have a totally bored 10-year-old on my hands.

So on that note, just gonna wish everybody a good weekend!

Anybody Lost?

Anybody watch Lost last night? Oh my goodness what a good show. So many questions and very little answers.

* Wow Libby gave Desmond the boat. And is her dead husband, Dave, the same Dave that Hurley saw as his imaginary friend? And did Hurley kill Dave in his "accident" on the balcony?

* And what about Desmond's girlfriend in the last scene? What does she have to do with the whole thing? Is her father part of the Dharma thing? Who were those guys in the artic or wherever they were?

* Wasn't that a cool scene when the hatch blew up? The sky went totally white and things falling out of the sky. Way cool.

* What powers does Walt have? Will Michael and Walt get rescued? What is going to happen to Kate and the boys? Why did they let Hurley go? Is Locke and Eko dead? Where is Sayid, Sun, and Jin? What does the the numbers have to do with anything?

* If the Others are the good guys, are the Dharma people the bad guys? And where does that leave the Losties?

I guess we did find out what happens when they don't push the button and a possible explanation of why the plane crashed. But why is everybody interlinked with everybody else? And did anybody else think that the pile of tubes with the notebooks were a bit freaky? And what was with that big bird who said Hurley's name?

And from what I heard we have to wait until November for the new season to start!!! Awesome show!

Thank You Disney ...

for creating the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show. It is only on the weekends right now, but I have recorded every show so far and it has been a total life saver today. Jack LOVES this show that he will watch the same 3 shows over and over again. When it comes time for Mickey to call his mousekatools over and he says "oh toodles", Jack says "oh toodles" and laughs. He thinks that is the funniest thing to say for some reason.

Anyway, it has been a very LONG day today. My plan of getting things done did not go very well. I did organize some of the paperwork and spent about 30 minutes shredding old bills and such. Jack thought that was really fun to do. He would put a piece of paper through the shredder then yell "I Did It!" and dance around the shredder. No idea why he thought shredding paper was just the coolest thing, but I guess it is.

I did not get any laundry done, nor did I get any bathroom cleaned today. Jack, of all days, decided that he only needed a 30 minute nap today. And then Jim called me and said that he was going to be late. So yeah pretty much all today Jack and I have stared at each other bored. The day was filled with playing horsie (Jack riding on my back as I crawl around the house), coloring, watching Disney channel and Pooh movie, playing outside, trying to get him to pedal his bike, and the early morning walk. But I tell ya, 12 hours of entertaining a toddler at home is WORK!

And Yet Another Day

A quiet day here in the Jackaroo house today. We are staying home today, trying not to drive too much because of the gazillion dollar gold that goes into the gas tank. So far we took a nice long walk with Jack in the stroller holding a mass of stuffed animals. He had to pick just the RIGHT ones that were lucky enough to go with us.

Now we are home and the boy is glued to The Little Einsteins and up next is the Doodlebops! Yay! I am going to try to organize some of our paper work that we have stuffed everywhere in the house. A few weeks we were trying to find Jim's birth certificate and after about an hour of searching through piles of paper, I realized that I really need to get this crap organized. My problem is how much do you keep and what do you throw away? So that is on my agenda today along with cleaning the bathroom and doing some laundry. Exciting huh?

Just Another Day in the Jackaroo World

Today is Tuesday and that means it was gym class! Yay for gym class! A chance to run around like crazy, jump, climb, dance, swing, and just act crazy for an hour. So much fun.

After gym class, we went walking around the lake nearby. This new housing development is a really gorgeous place (where the rich folks live). They built this lake in the middle of the development that has a really great walking trail around it, which is about a mile in distance. They also have a great park next to the lake and of course duckies to feed. So we have been going to this place to walk and play for a few weeks now. I pushed Jack in the stroller once around, then we stopped to feed the duckies some old hamburger buns. And of course, I forgot the camera in the car yet again, so no duckie-feeding pictures. They also have stocked the lake with a gazillion catfish, which enjoyed the bread crumbs also. Then we played at the park for a few minutes and then walked around the lake one more time before heading home.

And my reward for all these efforts? A nice nap from the Jackaroo. Gotta love it. However, it does seem like half my day is spent getting Jack as tired as possible to get that sacred and holy nap out of him. Love the nap. Except today, I need to actually do some cleaning. You would be horrified at my kitchen at the moment. So I guess I am off to do the dishes. Sigh.

This Is Just Wrong

That poor kid and future kid she is having. Who goes out in public like this? Well except for Brittany and maybe Katie Holmes. Just wrong.

Peaceful Grocery Shopping on a Rainy Day

It is raining today! I know in some parts of the country that statement doesn't warrant an exclamation point, but this is southern california and since it only rains for 2 weeks out of the year and since those 2 weeks have passed, it warrants that exclamation point.

So, because it is raining today that means I will not be doing the power stroller walk around the lake today. Oh darn (snicker snicker). I do have to take Laura to school this morning through the rain and traffic which will be four times as bad because we live in southern california with people who have no idea what to do with that drop of rain on their windshields, their only response is to STOP, A LOT.

But, the good thing about the day? I am dropping Jack off with Mam, the daycare lady, today and going on my monthly trek to the Commissary for groceries! I get a peaceful grocery trip! How exciting is that? I know that those of you out there who do not have toddlers at the moment, do not quite understand the gravity of the toddler-free grocery trip, but trust me, it is worth celebrating for. I can meander the aisles and fill my cart up to the brink (they need bigger carts for people like me who buy A LOT) and not have to worry about my child opening the packages of fruit cups and spilling it all over himself, me, and the innocent bystanders around us (yes that has actually happened). Or the incessant whining for a cookie, juice, or whatever else is the whine of the moment. AND, when I get home, I get to put away the 6000 bags of groceries without a toddler throwing meltdown tantrums at my feet in front of the refrigerator. Ahhh, pure bliss.

You know, before having a child, grocery shopping was not quite so eventful nor exciting.

An Actual Picture of Both Me and Jack! Wow!

Here is a picture that another mother took when we were at storytime on Friday. It is a rare picture of me and Jack in a picture together AND it is one that I don't totally hate. Go figure!

Fun Family Day

Today was one of those great family day out for us Jackaroo World people. We started off by going to a neighborhood that has a manmade lake with a walking trail around it. We walked around once enjoying the great weather. There were a couple of duck families with little itty bitty baby ducks. So cute!!! One set of the baby ducks were born probably just a few days ago, they still had their downy fur on. Of course we had to feed the duckies (and all the hundreds of catfish).

We then spent sometime at the park by the lake. Jack and Laura went climbing, sliding, and swinging while Jim and I sat there in the shade watching.

Then we went to the small airport nearby and had lunch at the cafe while watching the airplanes taking off and landing. We sat outside and Jack was absolutely enthralled with all the plane action. He kept saying "bye bye airplane" as they took off.

Then we went to the free petting zoo, aka Petsmart. Always a fun thing to do when they have their adoption going on. Of course Jack loved the doggies and Laura wanted to hold every kitten she saw.

Now we are home, the boy is sleeping.

Speaking of Laura, she just got her braces on this past week and I don't think she is enjoying them very much. It was pretty funny to watch her try to eat her sandwich - hehe. I remember that. I told her that after while she will get used to them, but not sure she believed me. I will try to get a pic of her with the metal mouth if she will let me.

So now off to enjoy a lazy rest of the day. Cya.

All because of No Nap

Jack and I just got back from the outlet mall where I spent wayyy too much money. I should say that I SAVED money cause everything I bought was on mega sale. I mean I was able to buy a new swim suit tankini for myself that normally was $72.00 for $22.00. Who would pass that up? I did also buy a couple pair of shorts for Jim and a really cute pair of swim trunks for Jack along with 2 more shorts for me.

Then I walked into the Naturalizer shoe store. Oh Mah Gah! I bought these pair of sandals last year that are soooo comfortable and I have literally worn them to death. And yep there they were sitting on the shelf just waiting for me to buy another pair, and yep you guessed it, they were on SALE! And then well there was another cute pair of pink walking shoes and well they were on sale also and before I knew it, my credit card was being swiped and they were mine!

All this shopping was because I was looking for something to do with the boy while Jim worked late tonight. Also to update my earlier post, the boy did NOT take a nap this afternoon. I really hope this trend of no-napping is not going to be a habit because I NEED my time. But today I made him stay in his room at least long enough to watch Lost from last night. He was so cute when I went in his room, he was sitting on his bed reading his books. I almost forgave him for no nap - but not quite.

One of Those Days

We just got back from a park where Jack played in the sand, slid down the slides, swung in the swings, and basically ran all over the place with his playgroup friends for 2 hours. But do you think he will take a nap? Uh... Nope! He is right now in his room pounding on the door to get me to open it up for him. Yelling "MAMA MAMA".

And to make it even better of a day, Jim just called and said he was going to be late tonight. It is going to be a very very lonnnnnnngggg day.

Onward and Upward

Two more proofs that Jack is a growing boy. I had to buy size 6 diapers the other day because his size 5s were just getting too snug and causing those red stretch marks on his belly. The boy needs to learn how to use the potty soon cause I am not sure there is a size 7! We will commence potty training as soon as we get back from our vacation in July.

The other proof - we had to buy another car seat for the boy. We bought him the Eddie Bauer Summit High Back which can go to 100 lbs. His current Britax Roundabout goes to 40 lbs and when we got it back when Jack was 6 months old, I thought that it would be a LONG time before he outgrew it. Well it has been over a year and a half, but it sure doesn't seem like it. He is only 32lbs right now, but if he grows another inch, his head will be above the back of the Britax. So yesterday when we were at the mall NOT spending money, (I told Jim as we were walking in, there would be NO spending that day) we happened to see the very car seat that I was looking at in Target (119.99 at Target) on sale at Sears for $94.99. So our day of no spending turned into spending a hundred bucks for a car seat that we saved $25 on.

So yep he is a big kid now with big boy bed, big boy diapers, and big boy car seat. When did that happen?

I am such a Lucky Mommy! Happy Mothers Day!

My cards from Jim, Laura, and Jack. Laura wrote such a lovely note in hers telling me that I was just like a Mom to her. And yes, I cried in case you were wondering.

Jack's secret "project" from daycare. She said he colored the flower and planted it in the pot. And the dirt? It is crumbled Oreo cookies! She is so creative. She said that Jack had fun crumbling the cookies. When I picked him up, he had black cookie crumbs all over his face. I don't think he crumbled ALL of the them.

The basket Laura made me herself. She bought all the wonderful spa products and arranged them so beautifuly in this basket. And now I can pamper myself in style! I told her that she could make baskets for a living! She did a wonderful job.

I hope all the mothers out there have a very Happy Mothers Day!!!

And I just want to send a special Happy Mothers Day out to Grammy!! We miss you!

The Thomas Attire

Thomas has invaded our house. Not only has he invaded by having 3 gazillion trains all over the house, but he has invaded the boy's wardrobe also.


This possibly might be the best picture I have taken of the boy to date. He actually was LOOKING at me and saying "CHEESE" - a first! He was quite proud of his Thomas shirt. And doesn't he look so grown up?

The boy eating his Lucky Charms in his Thomas jammies.

Playing with his new Doodle Pro. Let me just say Huge Hit with the boy. He played with this for like a whole hour yesterday.

The Boy Likes His Pizza

Big Sister and Little Brother watching Chicken Little


Last night we had pizza for dinner. As the four of us were sitting around the table eating and watching Chicken Little on tv, I noticed that Jack wasn't eating his pizza. The boy was glued to the tv as Chicken Little ran around saying "the sky is falling". Our usual way to get Jack to eat is to take a bite from his plate and exclaim how good it is, and after seeing how Mommy and Daddy don't die from eating the food, he gives in and starts to eat. But last night was a different story. Jim started to reach over to take a bite of his pizza and upon doing so, the boy yelled out "NO DADDY" and started to smack Daddy's hand. He was soooo serious about the whole thing as his little brow furrowed into a scowl at Daddy's threat of pizza stealing. Then he started yelling "MY PIZZA" at Daddy. It was totally hilarious and both Jim and I were about falling out of our chairs laughing our butts off. Of course everytime somebody tried to steal his precious pizza, he would yell at them and smack their hands again. I guess you don't get between the boy and his pizza.

MORE COFFEE!!

Jack loves to carry my empty coffee cup around saying "My Tossee" (his word for coffee. Jack speak is really quite easy when you figure out the K sounds are Ts and F sounds are Ss) This morning he was demanding coffee from me. So I go to the pot of coffee in the kitchen and put a few drops in the coffee cup, black at that, thinking that he would hate the stuff. But nope not my kid, he took the mini swallow of the black stuff and went "mmmm". I asked him if he liked it and I got a resounding "YES".

But I am afraid that I have created a monster. He is now walking around holding the coffee cup and yelling "MORE COFFEE". He even slammed the coffee cup down on the coffee table to get my attention to feed his habit. Leave it to MY kid to become addicted to coffee at the age of TWO!

TGIF

Yay It is Friday! That means I get relief from the toddler duties for two whole days! Jack has been his cute little self these days. He is such a loving little guy. I really hope that part of his personality stays with him through life. We have this little game that somebody will say "I LOVE YOUUUUU" and point to another person and Jack loves to play along. He will point to Daddy and Mommy with both hands while saying "YOUUUU" So Cute. He also is handling bedtime really well these days. And will yell "Nite Nite" over and over again from his toddler bed as I am walking down the hall.

We are not doing much today. I plan to get the house in a better shape than it is now along with doing the mountains of laundry. Jack is wearing his very last clean short-sleeved shirt today. He is going over to Mam's daycare for a couple of hours. She requested his presence there today for a special "project" they are doing. And you know stupid me didn't put 2 and 2 together until yesterday until it dawned on me that it was for mother's day. Duh! I am sure she is doing something very sweet for the kid's mothers and it is so sweet of her to want to involve Jack. She always tells me that I need to go back to work so she can have him more often and that he is his favorite. And to this I say - Duh! Of course he is her favorite, he is the best little boy in the world. And I am not biased hehe.

That is what is going on over here. I feel kinda burnt out and am glad for a quiet day at home. Of course there is an event with the mothers group at a park today. This particular park is by a fire station and they have little water jets all over the park which is great for the hot days. I am sure we will be visiting that park in the coming months a lot to combat the heat.

I knew it was going to be hot early this year because we had our "June gloom" in early May. We always have like 2 weeks of gloomy, cool weather just before it turns hot and it normally is in June. However, this year we had it a month early and that only means one thing - it is going to be a hot hot summer. Oh yay! I really forget how much the hot weather knocks you out until it gets here. It can totally wipe your energy level out.

Everybody have a great Friday!

Toddler Playgroup Pictures

Pictures from today's playgroup. Jack had fun. It was hot hot hot - 96 degrees. I am tired. The boy's 3 1/2 hour nap afterward was nice. Enjoy.

HOT!

Today was just plain HOT!!! It is May 10th and it was 100 degrees today. If it was like that in May, what is it going to be like in August??? Oh, I am not looking forward to that.

Boo Hoo

I promised my friend Mark today that I would go help him out with some of the accounting work. However, I really really don't want to go! It seems that Jack and I have been so busy lately with the playgroups and other events, that we haven't had a day to ourselves in awhile. I was hoping for a day to stay home and clean my house, do laundry (now that I have laundry detergent hehe) and just relax with Jack. But nope not today nor tomorrow since it is playgroup day at another mother's house. Phew! The schedule we SAHMs keep. When did I find time to go to work? And another thing, I can't believe it has been 6 months since I quit my job. The time has flown by and I don't regret one minute of the time.

Preschool

Jack's old daycare provider, Mam (Pat), also has a preschool that she does with her kids everyday. She is really good and I know people who just take their kids for the 2 hours a day just for her preschool. She only charges $20/month for the preschool portion, which makes her ultra-dirt-cheap.

Anyway, I dropped Jack off there yesterday so I could go deal with the van at the dealers Jack-free. She is really good at letting me drop him off when I need to and he absolutely loves her to death. She and I have talked in the past about starting Jack in the preschool a couple times a week and she has usually been adament that they are not ready until closer to 3. Well I think Jack changed her mind yesterday. When I picked him up, she had his "papers" ready for me to see and they were studying the letter Z. She had him tell me that it was a zebra on the paper along with the letter Z. She is amazing cause I have been trying to get him to learn the letters and he just calls every letter B. She also told me that he participated in the pledge of allegience in class. I guess he put his hand on his heart and started jabbering along with the big kids saying the pledge.

So, she tells me that whenever I am ready for the preschool, he will be ready. She thinks we should wait until after summer and all the kids will be there, but he is definitely ready to start learning. My smart AND patriotic kid.

Mesmerized

The boy and his father are watching the History Channel right now. The show they are watching at this moment is Mega Movers about moving a big locomotive engine down the road by pulling it with big tractors. The boy is sitting there absolutely mesmerized with this show. It has it all - choo choos and tractors!! What more could he want.

The Saga Continues

Well a new drama considering Jim's nasal surgery is unfolding. It seems the reason that his doctor was out of town because he was about to lose his contract with the insurance companies because he was charging too much money for his procedures. And because of all this, most of his staff is leaving, along with the good Dr. Larue who shouldn't be in this country as a doctor. So that whole thing is up in the air. It is looking like he is going to be forced to go to the VA, which he is not wanting to do. But as I have always said, getting back to breathing is just a weee bit important.

Speaking of the military stuff, I lost my military ID card which gets me into the commissary and exchange to buy goodies at a much reduced cost. I was on my way to get groceries today and wouldn't you know it, it wasn't in my wallet. I know I had it a week and a half ago when Jim and I were there and I had it in my pocket because you have to show it to them coming in and out. Well it didn't get from my pocket to my wallet this time and I have no idea where it is. I have searched the laundry, bedroom, every single pocket I own, and no card. Arggghhh. I was forced to buy laundry detergent at civilian prices! Oh My Gah! Literally it is half off at the commissary.

We also have been trying to deal with Dodge/Chrysler about our new van's dvd system. You see when we bought it, they couldn't get the wireless headphones to work and we have taken it in there now 4 times trying to get the right ones. I guess Chrysler really screwed up the dvd systems because they have like 12 different systems all with different remotes and headphones. Well finally today they had to take a remote from one system and headphones from another system and voila they work on OUR system. So now we don't have to listen to Winnie the Pooh for 5000 miles on our road trip next month. Can you say Yay!

Other than that, haven't been up to much. I went to the Power Stroller Walk yesterday morning. I haven't been doing that the last few weeks, because I just couldn't justify driving 20 miles just to walk when I can do it here at home. With the way the gas prices are, it is about $6 to just drive there and back! Horrible! Anyway, I was in the neighborhood yesterday because I had to take Laura to school in the morning. I did have a great time walking with the other mothers. It makes those miles go so much faster when you have somebody to talk to about pregnancy, birthing, poop, lack of sleep, and toddlerhood!!

Nother Jackism

I have been trying to teach Jack to make his bed everyday. Funny, cause there are many mornings, I don't make my own bed. I have been trying to get better about that since teaching Jack. You know trying to set a good example and all. We'll see how long that lasts.

Anyway, this morning after lots of tugging and straightening of the quilt, it was finally done. As we were walking out of his room, he turned around and said "bye bye bed" and waved bye bye to the bed. He absolutely loves the thing.

Also the other day, we walked into his room and he exclaimed "Neat!"

The only downfall is the boy doesn't take good naps now. He has had all of two naps this week since the toddler bed went in. This better change!

Is somebody trying to say something to him?

Almost a year ago, Jim was supposed to have surgery to have nasal polyps removed. He had it all scheduled and everything was good, until the day before the surgery. The doctor's office called and said that the hospital did not have a contract with our insurance company (news to us) and therefore it would probably cost us thousands of dollars if we went ahead with the surgery. Well of course, Jim cancelled it until further notice.

Now, we are in a new year with a new insurance company, who by the way has a contract with our hospital. So Jim schedules the surgery again. He had to go through all the tests and cat scans again and wouldn't you know it, same diagnosis. He needed to remove the nasal polyps so he could actually breath, which is very important I think. So it was supposed to be for this morning. We were supposed to be at the hospital at 6am this morning for a 7:30 surgery. I filled his prescriptions for Vicadin and antibiotics. By the way, geesh what does the doctor think giving him a bottle of 60 Vicadin with TWO refills! Are we druggies or what?

Anyway, back to the story. The doctor who was supposed to do the surgery was going to be out of town, so he turned it over to this other doctor named Dr. Larue I think. Well at 3:00 pm yesterday Jim gets a phone call from Dr. Larue saying that he can't perform the surgery because he hasn't been given license to perform surgery in THIS country!?! What the heck? I guess he is from Canada (french speaking cause could hardly understand him) and he just got to this country and did not know when he could perform surgery.

Soooo long story short, Jim is NOT getting his nasal polyps done today. He went to work as usual and we have no idea when it will be done. My question is, Is somebody trying to say something to him?

A Few More Pics

Here is a few more pictures that I pulled off the website for the big event we went to yesterday.

Of course Jack would have to find the ONE Thomas train that some other boy lost on the field and did NOT want to give it back.

Jack and his buddy Sam playing T-ball together. These two usually end up fighting whenever they are together, but yesterday they actually played well together. Sam's mother, Anna, and I were shocked.

Then the little girl walked onto the playing field and wanted to play also. Not sure if they let her or not.

Playgroup On Steroids

Today was the big "Meet and Greet Day" for the mothers group that I belong to. This group has grown to have about 130 members and today there were about 60 of them and their children at the big event. I helped organize a little bit of it, but the main organizers worked really really hard and it turned out great. We had a blast.

There were games for the kids and gift baskets to be won for the mothers. I didn't win any basket, however Jack did win a set of Crayola sidewalk chalk for finishing first in his race. The race was supposed to be roll the plastic egg down the field with a spoon, but we had plastic spoons and they just broke. So, the new race was run your egg down the field as fast as you can. And Jack won. My little sprinter. Below are some pictures of the day that I copied off the group's website. The first two pictures you will see Jack and I getting ready for the big race that he won.



Someone got a picture of me signing in. Hopefully that is all the pictures of me. But there were many many mothers there with cameras and so far only 3 mothers have posted their pictures on the site.

There was a diaper derby for the babies. I didn't get to see this, I think I was running after Jack at the time. It looks cute though.

Huge event. I am really happy that I joined this mothers group. They are the nicest group of mothers that I have met (in person). My blog friends are the nicest group of mothers that I have met on the internets!

Fun Idea ... Yeah Right

It started out as a good idea. A fun thing for Mama and Jack to do. But throw in NO nap (because he thinks 5 minutes of sleep in the car is enough for the day), grumpy Jack, and other misadventures and it was NOT a fun thing.

I am talking about planting the flowers in the containers we bought last night. I really thought that Jack would have fun, and I think he did, but he sure did push ALL my buttons. First off, he wanted to throw the dirt EVERYWHERE except in the pot. And this included down his shirt. I thought "okay it is just dirt, no biggie". Then he ran off down the sidewalk making me run after him and when I caught him he screamed a big fat "NOOOOOO" which I am sure all my neighbors who were home could hear.

After we get back into our own yard, he decided to go in and out of the house carrying the potted flowers. Of course he was leaving a trail of dirt and flowers wherever he went in the house. And again, I made him go back outside and again a big fat "NOOOOO".

By this time, I am just thinking to myself to get the job done as fast as possible. Who cares what the flowers look like in the pot right?

Then the boy decided to get the animals into the mix. He opened the front door and let out the dogs, which is okay because they usually stay in the yard. He also let out Sammy cat, who I do not believe has ever been in the front yard, maybe he has, but I don't think so. And he was freaking out and meowing a really weird meow. So I drop the flowers and go get the cat and throw him inside, close the door, and hope that is the last of the interruptions. But, NO, of course not.

Then the dogs see two kids walking down the street and yep, they have to go running after the person out into the street barking up a storm. It was the neighbor kids, so I talked to them for a few minutes. And Jack? Yeah, he is the sweetest little boy for them, giving them hugs and everything.

At one point, I also ran through the house and backyard in a panic because I couldn't find Jack. I just went into the garage to get the watering can and came back and he was not there. In the span of 1 minute, he got to the backyard and went to the side of the house where I couldn't see him.

So we have 2 very pretty flower pots on our front porch and the people walking and driving by admiring them have NO idea the work involved.

After all that, I set Jack up in front of the tv with a Thomas show on with an apple, cookies, and sippy cup of juice. He just better stay that way for oh say the next 5 hours! It will take that long to clean up the mess.

Sad Realities

I had been planning to go with the mother's group to a botanical gardens today. Supposedly they were having a free admission day along with some cool activities for kids like planting their own gardens. I had signed up to go over a month ago, but when it comes right down to it, I realize that we really can't go - or shouldn't go. The gardens are located near San Diego, roughly 75 miles away and with gas pushing $3.50 per gallon, that is just way too much money to spend on gas to get there. I figured it would take about half a tank to get there and back so therefore about $30. How sad is that? So I decided we would stay close to home and go to gym class as scheduled. It would have been fun day, not to mention the photo ops. But with us saving for our vacation coming up less than 2 months, we just can't afford any extras right now. However, last night we did venture to Lowes and bought 2 containers, potting soil and flowers and later today Jack and I are going to go out and plant our own garden here at home.

Sad reality of the day.

Another disturbing thing I just saw. I got a hit from somebody doing a yahoo search for "little boys jack off". Sick person whoever you are from Fairfield Ohio.

Well We Did The Deed

The deed being taking apart the crib for good. As you can see below, Daddy had some help from Jack, or was it Jack had help from Daddy? Anyway, now he has no choice but the toddler bed. He has done really well the last few nights and naptime even. So I think we are there - no crib. Yay!

I did dig out the old baby gate from and put it in front of his door at night. The sleep walking thing scares me and from what I have been told, I slept walked as a child. They say there is a story involving me sleep walking and my Dad running after me outside naked as a jaybird. It maybe funny 35 years later, but I am sure I scared the crap outta my parents. I don't want to redo that with Jack. So until he learned how to climb over the gate (probably sometime in the next 2 weeks), he is getting the gate treatment.



The Final Product. Well not the final product because the bears are coming down and the trains are going up.

One more proof he is not a Baby Anymore

It looks like we may just have done it. The IT being transitioning Jack to the toddler bed full time. He very happily slept in the toddler bed last night - all night, without getting up once. And this morning? I knew he was awake because I heard him, but Daddy was home this morning so I wanted to spend some ummm "quality time" with him, so we ignored him. And the oh-so-great kid of ours just laid there in his bed talking to his animals. Not sure if he will be that oh-so-great kid all the time, but he was last night and this morning.

So Daddy said this morning that we should take down the crib so he doesn't have a choice. Of course my fear rose just thinking about that. What? No more caging the child when I want to? What will I do? So I thought that I would test it at naptime and voila - the kid went down without too much of a fight. He did cry a little bit, but I gave him a sippy of milk and all was well with the world again. That is the next fight we are going to have - no more sippies at night or naptime. But one battle at a time right?

So, I guess the time has come to tear down the crib. Part of me wants to cry because he is so not a baby anymore, while the other part wants to rejoice because now I can redecorate his room! And have room for a new bookcase to house his growing collection of books that are scattered all over.

Excuse me while I go to plan out the decorating process AND cry!