Monday, November 9, 2009

Our little helper

Apparently, Jameson is firmly in the phase where he wants to clean! It's a normal toddler stage to have a desire to put things in their place. Parents of toddlers often find their child putting toys in rows (JJ lines up his cars), maybe sorting things by color, shape or size. Jameson is also a fan of putting things "away." This means that he will try to take our dishes and put them in the sink-sometimes even before we are done with them! When the phone rings, he runs to the phone and brings it to me, then insists on putting it away- even if I'm still talking. And then there's vacuuming. He's always been pretty scared of it and we typically have to hold him while vacuuming. That makes it an easy job (not really). And of course, it doesn't do to have the parent who is not vacuuming to hold him, it HAS to be the one who is. Yep, makes it easy (ha!). Then he moved on to wanting to "help". The problem is, we still had to hold him as he leaned down to help-even easier to hold him and not drop him (uh, no). The other day, he finally decided that it would be ok for us to put him down as long as he could help. YES!! Now he helps to vacuum and we don't put our backs out! Woo-hoo!

This morning, he decided to use the dust buster to vacuum our floors (who cleans before 8 am? Apparently, my son- I wish we were still sleeping, but he is cleaning and I know THAT phase won't last long, so I won't complain!) He vacuumed around the living room and into the dining room!!


~Just before he starts squawkin', he says "po", which is how he says "help". I love how he puts my hand on the button to make sure I'm not confused as to what he wants help with! :0)~

In addition to helping clean, JJ likes to help with other stuff he sees us do. Like fix breakfast... that's another fun one!

(yep, he does like bagel and cream cheese- which he later decided not to eat after all, anyway!)


Hopefully, this desire to do grown up stuff will translate into wanting to get out of his diapers and use the potty!! (Not on your life, Mom!) I keep hoping. :0) He's making progress, though!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

5 Minutes for Mom giveaway

5 Minutes for Mom is a blog for moms that includes lots of neat stuff including personal stories, information and some giveways and contests. This Christmas season, they have a series of giveaways that they are doing. So, copy and paste this URL to check it out (Sorry, I couldn't get it to show a link): http://www.5minutesformom.com/10606/christmas-giveaway-2009/ to check out their giveways! I'm hoping to win the guitar pack for Ally- it might be a little old for her yet, but she'd love it anyway! The button to the right of this post is for a program they are also running for Christmas for kids in need. Click on that and check it out! Thanks all!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Let it snow!


At least, that seems to be JJ's opinion! He certainly seemed to enjoy the snow this morning while Mommy cleaned off the car-with his help of course. He was having so much fun that he threw himself a little tantrum when it was time to actually get in the car to go! I do think this snow thing is a little early and it doesn't bode well for our winter. We will likely be forgoing the luxury of a garage this winter, so hopefully he keeps his cheerful attitude toward snow- that will make it easier to deal with scraping the windshield and brushing off the snow every time we decide to venture out anywhere. If we can find him a snow suit (my requirement not his- he had NO problem plopping his tush down into a pile of slush on the sidewalk today) that fits decent, I'm sure we will get around to making snow angels soon. I tried to show him the fun of catching snowflakes on his tongue, but that backfired. Rather than doing it himself, he kept sticking his mittened hands into my mouth to open it and pushing my head back so that he could watch me do it. This was quite entertaining to some passersby, as I was silly enough to try this in the Target parking lot! We didn't get much opportunity to play in the snow last year since I worked. We'll be making up for that this winter! :0) I'd say we're off to a pretty good start.


Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Never so happy to be dragged out of bed before 7am

Yep. 6:45 this morning (I know, that's not so bad... and it has definitely been earlier!) JJ crawled over me to get out of bed and started pulling at me to get up. I then fill with dread as I realize that this is NOT the morning he's going to sleep in (that was yesterday- 8:00am- and I was up already!). He drags me from the room as I protest and leads me not to the kitchen for milk or the living room for cartoons (gasp!) but to the bathroom (double gasp!) and points for me to turn on the light and starts saying, "mm-mm" while pointing to our medicine cabinet. Our medicine cabinet in this particular bathroom does not hold medicine, but JJ's newly precious-to-him "mm-mms". What are "mm-mms?" They are the lovely M&M's that we have started to bribe our son with in order to get him to use the potty! I know, not the healthiest thing, but stickers just weren't working. These M&Ms are newly precious because just the other day, he brought me to the bathroom asking me for them, but walked out giving me an emphatic, "uh-uh" when I reminded him that in order to get them he needed to use the toilet (guess he decided he didn't want them that bad after all). This morning, as I reminded him he turned (before I could get the words out) to sit on the toilet (progress!). Much to my surprise he almost immediately started to pee!! Victory!!!! Then of course he got mad because Mommy is too busy doing the happy potty dance to get him his much earned and precious "mm-mms". So, I guess the three times on the potty yesterday (and only one actual "accident") were not such a fluke after all. Let's see how the rest of the day goes! I don't want to get too excited, but I do think we are now on our way. Thanks, "mm-mms!"

Monday, September 14, 2009

Been slackin!

It has been a while since my last post... it's been a busy summer!!!

Here are some of the things we've been up to:


Vegas Baby!!


This fountain show made me cry (at least this particular song), I thought it was so beautiful. The video really doesn't do it justice!





JJ had a Cars themed birthday with grandparents, the Rosenau's and the Callison's joining in the celebration. We kept it simple and pretty much just played at the park and had cake. That's always a hit with the kids! Everyone seemed to be having fun!






JJ discovered that he likes riding the escalator, we took the kids to underwater world, and of course there is our usual everyday fun! Now comes the Fall fun!!

Friday, July 17, 2009

We're just Beach-y!

There has been a definate theme to our activities this last week or so...
We introduced JJ to the lake this summer. He's enjoyed a couple of romps in the water so far. He also likes to play in the sand, which is kind of funny considering that most of the time, he doesn't really care to get dirty. But, I guess that if you're at the beach, playing in the sand is just what you do. So, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. And he gets dirty! It's all in good fun...


He also enjoyed getting the opportunity to meet Spongebob and Patrick. They became fast friends and Mommy got to take some fun pictures! Some kids get scared of these costumed creatures, but he seems to think they are just big stuffed animals and is quick to give out the hugs. I'm not really sure he even knows, or cares who they are. All he knows is that they are big, soft, and cuddly!


Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Celebrating Independence







Went to the parade in Apple Valley. Everyone seemed to have a good time, but the parade was longer than we expected because it included people from other towns in the area. Ally liked the princesses, JJ liked the trucks, horses, clowns, and the guys that drove the go-carts like crazy. We ran into an old college friend of Angela's, which was pretty neat and unexpected. We hung out the rest of the day just relaxing, then went to fireworks at the nearby park. The kids played for a little while and then enjoyed the fireworks.

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence evey July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." ~ Erma Bombeck

Thank you to those who have, and those that still do, work and fight to protect our freedom. They are the reason we celebrate.

Friday, July 3, 2009

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offencesFor abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Soccer Girl!

Ally played hard in her soccer tournament last weekend. It was super hot, but the girls all weathered it well! We're very proud of her. At this stage, they rotate the girls through the different positions and it seemed that Ally did best when playing defense. She did a great job of tracking the ball and contributed to keeping the ball out of their goal throughout the game. Great job, Ally!!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Happy Father's Day!!






I don't have pictures of all the fathers with all their kids, but here are a few I could find on my computer...

I just wanted to tell all the fathers that may read our blog, Happy Father's Day!! We love you all!!












Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Joyful Noise!

I've been contemplating which pictures and videos to post from this last weekend at the Joyful Noise Family Funfest. We have a few cute pics and videos. It was a lot of fun for the kids and lots of really good music. We started our day listening to the MN Teen Challenge Choir. That was pretty cool. Then off to the kid's play area and lots of inflatable bouncers and the opportunity to meet Bob and Larry from Veggie Tales!

JJ really liked Bob and Larry... he kept going back to find them throughout the day and even gave Bob (the tomato) hugs.

Ally enjoyed the bouncy Titanic slide (you can see it in the background of the tomato pic) and the jumping thing they strap you into-no clue what it's called. She got going pretty high!

There was lots of good music... One of the acts - Josh Wilson doesn't have a band, so he creates layered recordings to accompany him. He uses his guitar as the drums, layers a guitar line, maybe harmonica (you can hear him do that in the video) and then sings and plays.


We also saw Tenth Avenue North, Lincoln Brewster, and Mercy Me. Of course, it was all Christian music, so there was lots of worship going on. It was really something to see that many people with their hands in the air to worship God. The video is unfortunately really dark because it was about 10pm.


The kids weathered it all very well though it was a pretty long day. Jim and I got sunburned (we used sunblock!), Ally got sunburned on a patch of her chest because we forgot to put sunblock there, and JJ made it without any sunburn. He was easier to keep out of the sun because of his stroller! He did very well only having a couple of meltdowns because Mean ol Mommy wouldn't let him wander off among the huge crowd of strangers. He managed to take his nap in his stroller! Ally was really wiped out by the end of the day. JJ just saw the late night as a rare treat and extra playtime! They were both promptly asleep in the car about 5-10 minutes out of the parking lot (again, JJ held out longer than Ally!).











Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Happy Birthday, Jim!!

I just wanted to write a quick post to wish Jim a Happy Birthday! We went golfing yesterday-the rain was nice to us and held off. It was a beautiful day! We did 9 holes at a local and still relatively cheap golf course. We both played pretty well. Jim hit a couple of nice shots with the club his dad made for him. No fun pictures this time... I was too busy trying not to hit my ball into the swamp!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Growing so fast

The best free car magazine ever!
Here piggy, piggy!
Fore!

We went to Indiana and Ohio last weekend for a funeral (Jim's grandmother passed away) and it was definately an interesting trip. I think JJ grows in spurts during these kinds of trips and long weekends. During the trip he started talking more and using more words. He even strung together two word sentences. I hadn't really heard him do that before. I asked him if he wanted his paci and he refused. That was short-lived, but a step in the right direction. We won't push getting rid of that quite yet. He went potty on the toilet and has stopped fighting us about sitting on it. JJ's turned into quite the fan of horses and now also likes motorcycles in addition to cars and semis. He loved the I-80 truck stop in Iowa where they have a few semis indoors and on display (as well as a couple of old trucks- including a 1938 Model A). He now wants to drive everywhere and it's a fun bout of wrestling to get him into his carseat!

In addition to this fun, it appears our son's sense of humor is blossoming. He is quite delighted his boyhood! Tonight, he came out of the bathtub and walked to the living room with a towel wrapped around him. He looked kinda like Yoda so Jim grabbed the camera. JJ started saying, "cheese!" and talking to the camera. He was talking about the baby (himself) and accidentally started to drop his towel. (Of course this is all still in front of the camera...) He realizes that his towel is dropping and stops mid- "baby" and looks down at himself while clutching the towel up around himself. Then he looks up at the camera and gives a little flash. He closed the towel really quick with a surprised little "o" shaped mouth. Then he flashed open the towel again a little longer and quickly wrapped up again. Then he just dropped the towel and moved into a "superstar!" pose (think Saturday Night Live). Jim got almost all of this on a video, but stopped taping just before he got into his little pose. It was definately on purpose and it was hilarious! I was watching the video on the computer trying to determine if I could email it to grandparents, etc when JJ crawled into my lap to watch. He started laughing hysterically at himself flashing! Then he wanted to watch it over and over again! He was mad when I turned it off!! Apparently, he also thinks he is quite funny. We also took video of that since it was so funny. I would post the videos, but neither one are really appropriate to put on the web. We'll have to share them some other time, but I wanted to at least share the story. Jim says he's not sure where JJ gets his sense of humor... uh-huh.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Fun at the park

We were able to get out to he park recently to kick around a soccer ball, fly a kite and Jim played a long-awaited basketball game with his dad. It was a very nice weekend. I'd complain about how windy it was, but we wouldn't have been able to fly the kites without it. It was a lot of fun. Dad's been getting some really cute pics of JJ lately, so I'll post them. He's got a good eye and he's quick with the camera!