I came out alive...

While I once prided myself with a clean car back in my college days, we're talking monthly washings and vacuuming... that's just not a reality anymore. In fact, the last time it got a really good, full interior cleaning was the month before Jackson was born. Yes, he just turned two. Sad isn't it!? Even worse, is that only a few months ago the filth got to the point where it bothered my dad and he dug out the wet vac on the front two seats.

On the way to the mall today, after Julie and I dug our way to find our seats I vowed that I just had to clean out my car sometime soon. The weather today was fabulous, the clutter and dirt finally got to me, and I went to clean out the car. I worried that I might not survive, but I did. Though, I did have to warn friends to come check on me if they hadn't heard from me in awhile!

This is kinda embarrassing, but I'm determined that I'm not the only mom with a car like this. So, maybe another friend will see this and feel a little better about herself.

The backseat-- no visible floor, period.

The passenger floor that Julie navigates through every time we go somewhere.

I brought our large trashcan over to the car ready to pitch whatever needed to go and sorted through the rest. Well, sorta... there are still boxes on top of my kitchen table that I have to go through more. But this is what I came up with.

Two boxes of crap. Three pairs of shoes (two pairs Jackson, one pair mine). Random toys. Portable high chair. Monkey puppet. Two pumpkins. Can of green beans. Unopened roll of Christmas wrapping paper. Child-size life vest. My missing music folder for ladies' ensemble. Various DVDs.

 

Six adult jacket/coats. Three toddler sized.

Two large blankets and a never-been-used set of queen sheets that I purchased in summer 2009 before I knew we would have a king sized bed. Never made it inside.

Lots of papers-- including this take home sheet from Jackson's 12 month well baby visit, from October of 2009. What is this still doing in my car?!

At least I found several of my missing plastic containers!!

And Jackson helped. He was mainly in charge of the music and hitting the button on the garage door opener so it opened and closed about a billion times.

Of course, lots got thrown away too. It feels good! If the weather is nice tomorrow, I'm gonna invite myself over to the in-laws to use their carpet-cleaner vacuum to really get this good and clean. Good knows that it might not get cleaned out again until this baby celebrates her second birthday!

Train, Bonfire, Zoo and Candy fun!

We had a very action packed weekend, which of course means it was super fun! Here's what we did:

Thursday Night
Celebrated Jackson's birthday at Fritz's Railroad Restaurant. Basically, lots of trains everywhere and even a train to deliver your food. Chacey (and her mom) joined us, which made the night pretty much perfect for my little two-year old!

We sat next to a ginormous train track! Little boy heaven!

 Jackson was less excited about having to stop looking at the trains to take a picture.

Friday
My parents, sisters (and "ack" aka Zach, Ashley's boyfriend), Derek's parents, and Grandpa came over for a little bonfire to celebrate Jackson's birthday. It was perfect weather and everyone had a really nice time!

Saturday
Mom had free tickets to the zoo, so we headed out to Boo at the Zoo on Saturday morning! The costume I had planned for our Halloween festivities wasn't warm enough to wear outside for the day, so I had to improvise. Thanks to the overalls that Grandpa gave Jackson for his birthday the night before, we had a great farmer outfit!

The hayride with Grammy and Aunt Laura

Yes, Jackson. Please eat the corn that hundreds of kids have touched all over today.... not to mention that it's dried out and really just a decoration.

So, here is the conversation I had with Jackson at nearly every animal exhibit we saw....

Hey Jackson, Look, A Polar Bear!!!
Water!
Yes, but it's a bear!
Water! Water!
What sound does a bear make?
RAARRHH!! Water! Water! ......

Can you see the Hippos Jackson?
Water!
Yep, they're in the water. Can we count the hippos?
Wet!
Yep, they're wet.......

Seriously, kid!? You're so excited about stinkin' water!? We did get to ride a train (really, just a tram) and that was probably his favorite part. Whether he enjoyed seeing the animals, I'll never know... but we all had fun and that's what counts!

Sunday
We celebrated at the Fall Festival at our church. I love that our church has activities on Halloween. The kids enjoy playing silly little games and getting lots of candy, but we aren't out surrounded by lots of scary costumes or crazy people.

Check out the cutest little Danish soccer player that you ever did see!! (along with his cute little bee-friend!)

Eating a donut from a string

Making Fruit Loop bracelets 

Snack time-- Fruit Loops!

The bounce house that Jackson absolutely loved.

And squirt bottle races (I'm still not sure if I like the idea of him knowing how to work those things...)

Not all of the fun was about Jackson. Julie and I got to meet up with a friend for dinner on Saturday night and went to see the movie Secretariat, which is a great movie btw. Both Saturday and Sunday night, friends came over to roast s'mores, only we used our wood-burning stove instead of a bonfire. It was a wonderful weekend!

The Birthday Boy

My sweet baby boy is two today! In some ways, it seems impossible that he could ever be this big, but then at the same time, he is doing new stuff everyday and he just seems so big! Like classic two-year-old stuff. He has a system for everything. He is using new words every day. And there are the times or two (or twenty) that he likes to push his limits just to get a reaction-- just because. This normally occurs when I insist that he does not put his feet on the table from his high chair.

Jackson had his two-year pictures taken yesterday. Isn't he handsome?

Two Year Stats

• Height and Weight: we go to well baby check up tomorrow. I guess 30 pounds-ish.
• You are wearing size 24 month/2T clothes. I just gave away several brand new 18 month clothes that you never got to wear. They were too big in the spring and when I tried them on you, your arms and legs were just way to long!
• You go to bed around 8:30 and sleep until around 7:30. You take an afternoon nap anywhere between 2-3ish hours depending on the day.
• Even though you are a rough and tough little boy, you are so lovey and cuddly. Sometimes when you're playing you run over to give me a "chiss" and you like to be held when you drink from your cup. And sometimes you come and give the baby kisses and rub my tummy.
• You sleep with your blanket(s) "bit" every night. When we rock, you insist that the blanket be on my shoulder "sho-sher" so you can put your head on it. They are both blue, but the camouflage one is the one you want when you refer to the "boo" one. 
• You loooove Elmo. I'm not quite sure how it even started, but you aren't interested in watching any other show.
• You have this amazing airplane detector-- you can hear one from miles away way before anyone else, and even if we never even end up seeing it, you still shout "airpane! airpane!!"
• You know most of your alphabet (upper and lower case). Your favorite is H and you get really excited whenever you see one (Hy-vee, Home Depot, Kohl's). The cutest letter you say is W, "da-ba-da-ba-da", about 5 syllables worth. And you "see" letters everywhere, like when the parking space lines connect, that makes a "T" and or diagonal tiles make an "X".
• Whenever you are around when I am getting ready, you insist on me sharing my deodorant and hairspray.
• You love to help and I can trick you into about anything as long as I tell you that you are being a very good helper.
• You are old enough to really play with your friends (not just parallel play). Sometimes you follow the lead of bigger kids, but most of the time they follow your lead. Your closets friends are Chacey and James.
• Your favorite foods: juice, any kind of fruit, pizza "tssa", bread (not sandwiches, just bread), and goldfish crackers.

I love your beautiful brown eyes and your wispy blond hair! I love how how you scream "Mama!! Mama!" a million times I come into a room- even when I've only gone downstairs to switch the laundry! You are such a joy, a happy little guy and my parents say you have a personality just like me when I was your age. I look forward to watching you grow and grow even more. I love being your mommy!

Happy Birthday Jackson!!

So, what exactly is Derek up to?

I've gotten this question a few times:

What is Derek doing now that he's graduated from basic training?

I'll do my best to explain it as far as I know and hopefully I'll get Derek to do a post again sometime because I got a lot of great feedback from the last one!

First and foremost, all soldiers are exactly that: soldiers. They attend basic training to become warriors, to learn war strategy, and are taught fighting tactics. Every soldier also chose an MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) upon enlisting in the army, which is basically a specific job that the soldier will have while enlisted in the army. According to goarmy.com there are over 150 jobs to chose from including pilots, truck drivers, and plumbers. Derek is a 25B, Information Technology Specialist, (aka computer nerd).

Derek's MOS is a part of the Signal Brigade

Upon graduation from basic training each soldier will then attend AIT (Advanced Individual Training) to be trained specifically for their MOS. Each MOS has a varying length of training after basic: military police training is nine weeks, while some special forces have training for 43 weeks. Derek's AIT is 20 weeks.

This is where he lives, basically like a college dorm.

So, it just took me that long to say that Derek is in computer school and will be until the middle of March. The atmosphere is definitely relaxed compared to the rigorous schedule of basic training, but he's still pretty busy. He gets up at 4am, has PT, sits in class, studies, goes to bed, repeats. He does have many more privileges like having his cell phone and personal computer in the evenings (if they have time) and will have the opportunity to earn more (civilian clothes on weekends, passes to leave post) in about a week.

This is the hang-out area outside the barracks. 

Picnic tables, a grill, basically a place to chill out.

The classes that Derek's taking are right up his alley. He actually already has at least one of the certifications that's required. He still had to take the class and pass the test, which he did. But he was the one making study guides and helping others learn the material. The best part is that Derek will end up with a few certifications that he's been wanting to get for quite some time, but finding the time and money to do it wasn't easy (some of the Cisco exams in themselves can cost up to $1,400. Even just the basic certifications though will run $300ish easily). These certificates will obviously prepare him to do his army job, but will most definitely boost up his civilian resume.

So, this is what he's up to. I really am going to get a little questionnaire to him to fill out, maybe over the weekend when he has more time. If you have a question, let me know or post it in the comments. He'll read them and will answer them (right honey?!)!

We've been crafty...

In the past few days, we've been crafty and it's been fun. Jackson is at a good age that he can work on a project and I think he actually enjoys it. And maybe if I give him good opportunities to color on actual paper, it will mean less artwork on my walls.

Anyway, yesterday we painted pumpkins (the much easier substitute, less dangerous substitute for carving). When buying the pumpkins, I had to tell him several times that pumpkins could not be bitten into like apples, though it didn't stop him from trying. It was definitely messy, but Chacey and Jackson both had a ton of fun!

 (Derek's was bummed about seeing his tshirts being used as paint guards... but I assure you all that I chose shirts that already had paint on them. It's not a conspiracy, despite what he thinks.)

We have one tree in our back yard that has already begun changing colors and several leaves have already fallen. I raked up a big pile and the kids had a ton of fun running, jumping, kicking, and throwing the leaves. So, when it was time to come in, I decided to let them pick some leaves to glue to some paper (the only way leaves were going to be allowed in my house). It doesn't seem like much, but they had fun and it changes things up a bit.

This little crafty streak all started when I went to MOPS last Wednesday and got to partake in my own craft project! Our craft was "green" as we were just reusing old supplies! After the kids were down for a nap that afternoon, I continued the crafty fun.

The supplies: any old paper. I used left over scrapbook pages that I kept because they were too cute to throw away and cut up old maps. Other people had old songbooks, pages from torn up old books. Scissors and glue.

And I made these:

(the card on the bottom right isn't just about the United States, it's actually an I Miss You card... so don't think I'm weird.)

Aren't these fun?! I love sending letters and I love cute stationary. Even better-- I made them (envelopes and all myself! And even better than that, I just used stuff that would have gone in the recycling (or worse, the trash!). Here's a link to the type of template we used for the envelope. Making the envelopes really took less than 5 minutes and the cards are as detailed as you want!

Now if only I could find away for the craft supplies to put themselves away...