Photo Dump

These are just recent photos I’ve got lying around my desktop that haven’t made it into a post. I’ve shared most of these photos on facebook recently, so some of you have seen them, but I want them on this space so when I have blog made into a book, they will be here! Plus, my kiddos are super cute so you should always be eager to look through tons of pictures.

Last week, we took Jackson’s favorite walk—to the trains!

Belle was my laundry distraction helper this day!
{I had several people tell me they thought this was Jackson at first!}

Jackson climbed into bed with Belle after a nap one morning. Lots of giggles.

I took this picture at Chick-fil-a awhile back… Belle just loves to give kisses so much that she kept kissing the little boy on her placemat!       

I snapped these photos one day in class. Apparently even though I’m enrolled in Grad School, I still eat like a kindergartner.

I caught Belle in the act of her favorite activity—playing with the trash and recycling. Seriously… our home is flooded with toys. Why does she love trash?

This is the result of me telling Jackson to get on some socks so we could put shoes on to play outside. Not quite what I had in mind… but he did what I asked!

Cutest little Chiefs fan ever.

Jackson discovered himself on the security tv at Wal-mart. He was pretty captivated by seeing the boy on the tv do the same thing {dancing like a crazy person} as he was doing!

I traced the kiddos with chalk yesterday {much harder than you think!} Jackson added faces, shoes, and he drew a stripped shirt for the boy. Belle was in charge of the yellow. Pretty good! 

This was Belle today after church this morning. She fell asleep clutching the fork!

And two more pictures from this afternoon. I realized that I several pictures of Belle so I wanted to get another of Jackson. And this is why I don’t have as many pictures of the boy. While he said “cheese”, he didn’t look up from what he was doing. Belle on the other hand walked right up and said, “cheese” with a perfect little smile.

 

Whew! Lots of pictures. Lots of cuteness!

Laundry

My new washer and dryer got delivered today. I am a little bit disappointed. My laundry still isn't done; it's still piled high in my bedroom waiting to be taken downstairs. I was just kinda hoping that they'd be magic or something, but no such luck.

Awhile back, I posted about how our dryer wasn't drying well and we'd have to run in 2-3 cycles just to dry the clothes. And then, just days after Derek leaves, the washer decided to not drain the water, nor spin, any longer. Fortunately, Derek was accessible by phone at the time and we decided it'd be best just to get a new set.

Home Depot has free haul away of the old appliances-- ah.may.zing! The only issue I had was getting the standing water out of the washer so the guys could take it away. It probably wouldn't have been a big deal, except that I had forgotten about it and then remembered about the water days later. I went down to get the sheets out of the water and proceeded to run up the stairs in time to vomit outside on the grass. Needless to say, it smelt baaaaaaaaad.

A wonderful friend, Brad, got the sheets out for me and set them outside to air out, but we didn't have time to mess with the water that day. So, then last night I realized that it needed to be done pronto, so I called upon my friend, Brandon. He came over with a wet vac and got it all cleaned out with bleach. Don't I have amazing friends? Even better- Brandon came over to mow the yard today.

One thing is for certain- I am completely taken care of by the people around me. Even though the things that have come up since Derek's left have been annoying (i.e. mold in my pantry. UGH!), I have great people to rely on to help me out. I'm a lucky girl!

Anyone wanna volunteer to take care of the laundry? ........... No??..... Anyone?!?..... I just thought I'd ask.

Not Mom of the Year

I've come across this Not-Mom-of-The-Year contest and I looked like too much fun not to join in. It's not even the fact that it's a contest, it's just therapuetic to go out there are read other peoples stories that make me feel a little a lot better about myself as a mom and how "un-June Cleaver-ish" I am.

1. I have actually picked an Elmo movie to watch specifically because it was the longest video so that I could take a longer nap while he watched it-- there is a big difference between 46 and 54 minutes. 
2. I am too cheap to buy my son summer pj's (the winter ones are always passed down from friends) so he wears his clothes to bed every night.
3. I put Jackson down to nap with a cup sometimes-- but I do know that he doesn't fall asleep in his mouth because I hear him throw it out of his crib along with his books, toys, etc... before falling asleep. Wait- why I am I defending myself.... I already know I am a qualified Not-Mom-of-The-Year. 
4. I dropped Jackson big time when he was only a couple weeks old. I was carrying him in the bouncy seat and the seat caught on the door handle and so I dropped the seat and he slid right on to the floor... head first.
5. I call my son gross so often that it was actually one of his first words-- after meals, during diaper changes. I never noticed it until he started saying it each time.
6. We've lived in this house for nearly a year and I just finished getting his room together yesterday.
7. Our laundry is always behind--even if I wash it, it stays in the basket probably until I need the basket again to take more dirty clothes downstairs. The last time I mopped, was-- oh wait.. I haven't while I've lived in this house. The toilet-- haven't done that either. (in my defense, I did get a cleaning certificate for Christmas and they did do these each once...). 
8. And I'm always to forgetful to even call the cleaning ladies. I complain about not having a maid, but then it's because I am too lazy to just call. So the house is a remains a mess. 
9. Jackson doesn't bathe every day and he hardly ever gets to play in the bath. Most of the time, he just gets to hop in the shower with me or Derek for a quick lather and rinse before getting handed back out to the other one.
10. I let my child eat dirt.
11. I'm not even cool enough to have lots of cute pictures on this post or to make a nice ryhming poem for this thing-- it's totally boring. 

So, I totally think all my mom friends should try this-- It's like free therapy. Go ahead and share some comment-love with some of the things that qualify you as a Not-Mom-of-The-Year and be sure to read some of the other entries just so give your self-esteem a little boost!

The wonderful mother strikes again.

I know I've already told you how my mom is pretty awesome, but today she was super awesome. I invited her down to help get some stuff done around the house that I just needed a little motivation and help to get done.

First, she comes over with a fully prepared dish of lasagna for Derek and I to have for dinner. We have friends coming over tonight so we needed a bigger main dish (so she even helped me with that!), but tomorrow I will be eating that lasagna.

But then, she gets all gung-ho about the laundry too and we fold it and I put a lot of it away. She switches loads and folds more. And then because our dryer is suuuuper slow, my mother-in-law (who stopped by) ended up taking a couple loads to her house to wash and dry so we can get all caught up. We hate laundry in this house and with a dryer that takes 2-3 cycles to dry. Needless to say, it gets backed up a lot.

And then we start to tackle the real reason she came down: Jackson's room. I really wish I would have taken a before picture. It was awful. To walk across the room, a zig-zag line was in order to avoid stepping on all sorts of toys. Jackson enjoys emptying out his drawers so clothes are everywhere and the closet was just a bunch of stuff that I haven't gone through and it was all shoved behind the doors so no one could see it. Ugh.... the whole room was just a disaster.

So this is what we got done:

The greatest thing of all that his room is organized, for the very first time. Several of his toys are actually put up so that we can rotate them and they aren't everywhere all of the time. Plus, most of the toys from the family room are now in his room so it doesn't look like a Toys-R-Us when people come over for dinner (my sisters complain about this). The rug is new and it actually looks like a finished room. I do have curtains and they will be up soon.

The closet... is organized. Can you believe it? I had to take a picture because I'm not all to confident that this will continue to be so organized. I put things like his puzzles and non-board books in here, so that I will have to get them out in order for him to play with them to avoid missing pieces and ripped pages. And in case I need a reminder of all of the diapers we buy, I have reused the boxes to store clothes he's outgrown or will be wearing soon. They are the perfect size for the shelf in the closet and are more cost-effective than buying tubs.

And of course, Mom got to spend some quality time with Jackson. He helped her throw laundry down the stairs fold laundry and emptied the kitchen drawers helped put utensils away. He is such a big helper!

So, the mother-in-law is on her way with the laundry (don't be jealous) so I gotta go!