Grandma and Grandpa Hager Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Hager came down to Little Rock two weekends ago to meet Miss Dakota and play with Jaxon. We had a great time showing them around Little Rock and Jaxon LOVED showing them all of his cars and trucks.





BURNS PARK:


Here's Dakota hanging out in her stroller on a hot Friday afternoon. We took a picnic lunch to Burns Park so Jaxon could play.


Peeking down at us from the top of the slide. He kept walking under the slide and telling me he was going to work. I asked him what kind of work he was doing and he responded, "I got to mow lawns." Right now I think he would choose one of the following careers for himself: 1. Lawn Mower 2. Truck Driver 3. Garbage Man

He gets very excited about all three of these when he sees them around base or on the highway.








Love his face as Grandpa is pushing him (and some other kiddos) around the merry-go-round.






OLD STATE HOUSE:


He's standing at the front of the room ready to bring the meeting to order!





Our little train conductor playing with a Thomas train set in the Old State House.




All Aboard!











The diaper cake Grandma Hager made for Dakota's Easter present. Jaxon got a cool package with everything he needs to grow his own garden. But he ripped in to it before I could get a picture taken.





Our handsome guy outside the Old State House.





Grandma and Grandpa with our kiddos at The Old Mill in North Little Rock.







Our Family!




Grandpa and Miss Dakota.

Burns Park

Jason had a day off last week, so we decided to take advantage of good weather and Daddy's schedule. We took Jaxon to Burns Park in North Little Rock. It is a huge park, with everything you can think of. We picked up Sonic and ate on the picnic tables, then let Jaxon enjoy the playgrounds.


The kids can climb all around this Choo Choo and there's a cool slide on the end of it.

Sliding down the Choo Choo slide.



"Riding Daddy's bike". Jason even taught him how to properly get on the bike by swinging a leg over the top.



How cool is this huge slide? Jaxon went down it a few times, then we moved over to a smaller playground with slides a little more appropriate for his size.


Mommy and her babies!



Jaxon and Daddy enjoying their Sonic picnic lunch.

Living Room Campout

We've had some major storms come through here in the past few weeks. One day it will be sunny and 90 degrees, then the next it's cloudy and rainy. On the first night of storms, the tornado sirens were going of on base. It was really loud and I knew Jaxon wasn't going to sleep through it, so we decided to have a campout in the living. Jason gathered blankets from all over the house and made a "bed" on the floor. Jason, Jaxon and I slept on the floor and Dakota was in her bassinet next to us. Jaxon was so excited he could not contain himself. He was laughing the entire time Jason was getting the "bed" ready. The sirens kept all of us up most of the night, but at least we were all together.



My boys tucked in for the night.


The men of the house watching the news as they display the storm threats all night. I don't know when Jason finally turned the TV off.


Our little guy passed out with a car in one hand and a truck in the other.

Dakota's First Bottle

We love all of the little milestones each of our babies have in their life. Jason gave Dakota her first bottle at three weeks old (same as we did for Jaxon). She took right to it with no problem! She probably won't take as many bottles as Jax did because I'm not working, but it's nice to know she can take one if necessary.






And here's Jaxon's first time feeding her a bottle. He was pretty excited to help Daddy with this, but like most things, he got bored quickly and walked away from it after just a minute or two.

Choo Choo

Jaxon has become very interested in trains these days (probably started after hanging out with good friend, Erik, who LOVES trains). Erik got Jaxon a figure 8 train set for his birthday, then Memaw got some Thomas the Train sets to go with and it's just gotten crazy from there. Although, I'm pretty sure Jason is just as (if not more) enthusiastic about building train tracks. Jaxon asks his Daddy every day, "Play trains Daddy?" It's so precious and the two of them have come up with quite a "dream list" of additional accessories they want/need for their train. Here are some train-related activities we've done lately:







Everyday, our coffee table gets pushed against the wall and Jaxon and Jason build the tracks together. They make a different track everyday! The latest addition is the track risers that allow the train to go up and a bridge can be built over the tracks.








Jaxon has gone downtown and rode the River Rail Electric Streetcar in downtown Little Rock. Although it's not technically a train, it runs on tracks and he calls it a train. He rode it with Aunt Jenn and Page while they were visiting and again with Ouma a week ago. The first picture is of Jaxon riding along the streets of Little Rock. His face lets you know how much he LOVES this. The second picture is of Jaxon waiting for the streetcar to get to the stop we were waiting at.








An old train locomotive is traveling across the US and making several stops along its way. It stopped in North Little Rock for a day and we hurried down there so Jaxon could climb aboard and check it out. This is the Union Pacific Engine 844. You can go to the website to follow the engines schedule as it travels across the country. I believe it has already stopped for a day at Union Station in KC, but I think it's planning a stop or two in Missouri. The second picture shows you how massive the old train wheels used to be and I like the third picture because Jaxon is balancing quite well walking along the railroad tracks. Of course the first picture just makes me smile because my boys are just so cool.

Our Sweeties

Our dear friends, Ryan and Julia, will be moving to Liberty, MO this weekend and we will really miss them! Their son, Levi, was born the day after Dakota. What a site Julia and I were taking long walks around base during our last month of pregnancy! It was fun sharing our pregnancies together, then the first four weeks of our babies lives. It's pretty ironic that they'll be moving to KC (Ryan will fly C-130's for the St. Jo guard base), yet we're headed to Illinois. Here are the dads after dinner tonight, proud to show off their babies! Although ours doesn't look near as content as Levi huh?



I know she's not a happy camper in this picture, but isn't her little dress and hair bow just about perfect?! We are very grateful for wonderful people at church who gave us boxes and bags of hand-me-down clothes for her. Her closet filled up very fast.



Our pretty girl ready for a day of shopping with Mommy! So far she's a great little shopper, but then again she pretty much sleeps through the entire adventure.




Turned the corner just in time to catch this! Dakota had been laying on the couch while I was getting the diaper bag ready. She started crying, but I didn't stop to pick her up because I was trying to get out the door. Suddenly she stopped crying and I went into the living room to see that her big brother had picked her up (by himself) and was soothing her by holding her and saying, "It's ok Kota, it's ok." So precious, but so scary. He just adores her, but isn't understanding why we keep telling him not to pick her up by himself.

Special Boy - Speical Day

We hadn't been home from the hospital with Dakota but a day or two and already I was struggling with the juggle of being the mom of two. I wanted to be with Dakota; feed her, hold her...but I was missing my Jaxon time so much. My mom was still in town staying with us and I asked if she would stay home with Dakota so Jason and I could take Jaxon on a special day! We took him to Toys R Us and let him pick out a birthday present for his cousin, Wyatt. Then we had lunch at Jason's Deli (Macaroni and Cheese for Jax of course), then ended our afternoon together at Chuck E. Cheese. Since this outing, Jason and I have found a great balance of spending time with each kiddo separately and together. This multi-kiddo-parenting-thing isn't near as hard as I imagined (so far) and it's turning out to be an absolute blast!!




It's always difficult to tell which of my boys enjoys this place the most!



Carrying his cup of tokens to the next game.



On the drive home - he is completely tuckered out! He's was playing with his prize he "bought" with tickets earned (a crazy straw) and fell asleep with it in his mouth!