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!