Jaxonisms and Dakotaisms

Funny things heard from the mouth of our four year old lately...

- "Mom! I can spell DVD now, want to hear it? D - V - D!"

- This morning we woke up and it was a bit foggy outside. "Mom, why is it so fRoggy?"

- Jaxon took a toy, that belongs to Dakota, and insisted he got to play with it because he found it first. That is the standing rule in our home, but it upset her very much. And it was at a very stressful time in the morning when I'm trying to brush teeth, brush hair, wash faces, pack backpacks, pack lunches, hustle everyone out the door and toward the car...so I said, "I know you had it first, but look at her. Does it make you feel good to see her crying like that?" His reply, "I'm actually not looking at her, so I don't know." Wow.

- Regarding his buddy, Griffin, "Mom, I love Griffin's voice."




And from the mouth of our 2 year old...

- Anytime there are sports on a TV screen, she yells, "Go K-State Royals!!" Perhaps there is a bit of confusion with the teams we are cheering for lately.

- She loves to eat anything anyone else is. Lately she wants to eat Jason and I's pistachios and asks for: "More pidasios please."

- She takes a tumbling class through the Parks and Rec department (as does Jaxon) and every night she asks if she gets to go to "Nastics".

- And some may not appreciate this humor, but this is one funny that I don't want to forget about years down the road; recently we were among a group of people and it smelled like someone passed some gas. Dakota then says, "Someone pooped in my nose." Her way of describing what she was suddenly smelling, I suppose.

Cuddles Visits

Jaxon has a fun activity with his preschool class that involves a visitor coming home with him. He was very excited the third week of school when Cuddles, the teddy bear, was sent home in Jaxon's backpack. The teacher encourages Cuddles to attend family activities throughout the days he is with your child, then there's an opportunity to journal about your time with Cuddles. We had a good time reading the journal entries from his classmates who have taken Cuddles home the first few weeks, and especially enjoyed the story of a classmate's sibling throwing Cuddles into a family pond (don't worry, Grandma got him all washed up). I decided to take some pictures of Jax and Cuddles (as suggested by the teacher) so he could share them with his classmates.

Cuddles met Daddy on the computer since he was on a trip that week.

Cuddles rode in our car to Jaxon's tumbling class. Jaxon made sure to buckle him in for safety.

Cuddles waited patiently with Jaxon and Dakota while chocolate chip cookies baked in the oven.

Jaxon wasted no time introducing Cuddles to his fleet of airplanes.

Fishsticks and applesauce for dinner! Cuddles decided to pass, as he was holding out for some honey.

Marigold Festival Parade

The kids and I went to the Marigold parade again this year. Unfortunately, it appears that the parade will be during drill weekend every year, so Jason may never get to see the parade with us. We love this parade because we get to watch it with our church family. Some friends from church live right on the parade route and invite people each year to enjoy the parade right from their front yard.

Jaxon and Dakota entertaining each other with friend, Owen.

I'm not sure hwat she's holding out for here. Probably candy.

The kids with their friend, Ethan.

Rodway Reunion

We met up with our wonderful friends, Chris and Mae, in Indianapolis last week. We first met them in Mississippi, when we arrived down there for pilot training, four years ago. Jaxon was just six months old then, and they got to watch him grow up and embrace major milestones as a baby. They are part of the Air National Guard unit in Bangor, Maine, and because of distance, it has been very difficult to get together. When we discovered they were coming to Kentucky for a visit, we knew we didn't want to miss an opportunity to see them.



When we all arrived in Indianapolis, we were hungry for lunch. Our plan was to meet at the hotel around 12:30. I was so excited when they called that morning to say they were on track to be there right about 12:30. "Us too!!" I replied. A few hours later they called to confirm our ETA and this dork realized I had planned for us to arrive at 12:30 central and Indianapolis is in the Eastern time zone!! We were an hour later than planned, but still made it by lunch time. After lunch we laid the girls down for quick naps, then headed to the hotel pool to SWIM!!

Hello beautiful Sophia!

The next morning, we headed over to the Indianapolis Zoo.

All Aboard! Riding the train was the only thing on Jaxon's To-Do list for the zoo.

After the zoo, we started to walk back to the hotel, but the boys wanted to do a quick treasure hunt for a Geocache.

My first Geocache!

First Day of School

Yesterday was Jaxon's first day of preschool! It's hard to imagine that the tiny baby that once fit in Jason's hand is old enough to go to school. He is enrolled at a small school three mornings a week. He is very excited about preschool and I'm positive he'll have a wonderful year. He has two teachers and only 15 kids in the class. He had a huge grin on his face going in yesterday and a huge grin on his face when I picked him up. It's going to be a fabulous year!

Dakota is going to the TLC program that Jaxon attended last year. She will go every Wednesday morning for 4 hours. Yesterday was her first day of TLC and she had an excellent day. She didn't hesitate to go in to the classroom and had LOTS to say about "school" when I picked her up.

Are you trying to figure out what I'm doing with my time for 3 hours every Wednesday morning? Well, I have to be honest, it was a difficult choice to enroll both. I know Jaxon will thrive at preschool, so there was really no debate on whether or not he'd go. I wanted to keep Dakota all to myself on the days Jax is at school, but Jason really encouraged me to take one morning a week for myself. Already I've been able to schedule doctor's appointments, dentist appointments and hair appointments, kid-free, on Wednesday mornings without paying a babysitter! But don't worry, it's not all business, I did manage to sit at Starbucks for a full hour and read on my first Wednesday morning of the school year.

Ready to start TLC.

"A picture with my backpack mom."

Both kids ready for a new adventure.

Not sure how well you can read it, someone let the dry erase markers dry out. It says: First Day of Pre K ~ September 5, 2012 ~ When I grow up I want to be A Hockey Player.

A picture outside his school.

Jaxon and his buddy, Griffin, excited to start preschool.

Peoria Chiefs!

We planned a special "end of the summer" weekend for the kids, but Hurricane Isaac had other plans. We took the kids to the last Peoria Chiefs baseball game of the season, with the promise of fireworks after the game. 30 minutes till game time and they started to roll out the tarps. As soon as we found our spot on the lawn to spread out blankets, the rain came. We stayed about an hour, while the kids played in the kid area, then ran to car before the heavy rain started. I guess we'll have to go next year.

Just minutes before it started to rain.

Ouma and Oupa Visit

Ouma and Oupa came to visit at the end of August and we had a great time!

We decided to drive to Galesburg, IL one morning, to check out their children's museum, The Discovery Depot, and visit the Galesburg Railroad Museum.

The kids with Ouma and Oupa, outside The Discovery Depot. Jaxon was so excited when he learned we were having a "train day", that he insisted he wear his train conductor costume from Halloween 2010. I don't know if his dad has forgiven me yet.

Driving the ambulance in the Discovery Depot.

Both kids playing in the back of an ambulance. Jax was excited about the costumes to try on, especially the fireman!

A super cool fireman's ladder that linked two rooms in the museum.

The children's museum was a little smaller than we anticipated, but there was plenty to do. Lots of pretend play, which our kids LOVE!

Miss Dakota paying for her cart of groceries.

Back to the shelves to buy more! Grocery shopping is one of her favorite "games" to play!

There was a super cool mail area, where kids could dress up like a mailman, sort mail, and then deliver it to each "business"/play area in the museum. Jaxon did this for quite some time!

Sorting the mail into the right slot.

Mailman Jaxon delivering the day's mail!

Into the mailbox it goes.

After a great lunch in downtown Galesburg, we happen to walk by an old-fashioned barber and decided to get Jax a hair cut. He had a blast and the barber wouldn't let us pay him, he said his little customer was too well-behaved to pay.

We spent another day at the Wildlife Prairie State Park.

Ready to ride the train around the park!

Measuring his wingspan to a native bird.

Sissy's turn.

Our adorable kids!

Mommy and Sissy compare their wingspan to a bald eagle.

Has anybody seen my kids?

Puerto Rico

Let me first apologize for the lack of posts in the month of August. Our computer is on its last leg, so each time I log on to create a new post, the computer shuts down on me for no reason. How did we ever live without these annoying machines? Enough of my rant and excuses, I will try and do better using the other pieces of technology in this house. Jaxon started preschool today and we can hardly believe it! Keep checking here and I'll try my best to get pictures of his first day of preK on here ASAP.



At the beginning of August, I got the amazing opportunity to join Jason on one of his trips. He went to Puerto Rico for four weeks and we decided it was a great chance for us to take our first adult-only trip since becoming parents four years ago. My mom was excited to take some time off work and even volunteered to come up to Illinois to take care of the kids so they could keep with their normal routine. I was in Puerto Rico for 8 days and it was wonderful! I missed the kids terribly, but Jason and I needed that time together to reconnect without cutting food into small pieces, changing diapers and without arguing about bedtime.

Yes it was a work trip for Jason, but fortunately for us, he didn't have much work the week I was there. In fact, the only work he had was two 48 hr shifts of on-call. All that meant for us was that we had to stay around the hotel pool and beach for two days - bummer! Not!

I'm going to fly through these pictures, but you get the point: a much needed time away!

 Look very closely and you'll see a green lizard, the same color as the grass, we spotted on a walk through Old San Juan.

We visited the old fort where many military battles took place, protecting the Carribbean Sea.

A tourist standing in one of the slots where a cannon was once fired from.

And here she is with her husband.

A view down the street of Old San Juan. We didn't get as much time as we'd hoped here, the beach was calling our names, but we did do some shopping. There were all different kinds of shops, from cheesy tourist stores to expensive name brand stores, like Coach and Tommy Hilfiger.

The port in Old San Juan where the cruise ships come in.

We rented a van (with some friends) one day and drove to El Yunque National Forest to hike the rain forest. It was my first visit to a rain forest and I was not disappointed. The scenery is beautiful and peaceful. I do regret wearing my Old Navy flip flops to hike in, but I was so car sick by the time we got there, I just flew out of the car and left my comfy shoes behind. Oh well, it was still a wonderful day!

My husband really thought I would not get in the waterfall at the rain forest, but I surprised him! Some would argue that being in water knee-deep does not count as "getting in", but it does in my book! That water was muy hace frio, and I did it anyway!

Other than Old San Juan and the rain forest, most of our days were spent at the hotel pool or down on the beach. Jason and the guys played sand volleyball nearly everyday they were in Puerto Rico. I was very content to watch volleyball for hours each day while chatting with other wives and significant others down there visiting. One day I said, "I wish a C-130 would fly over the beach so I could get a picture" (usually its pattern took it behind the hotel). A few hours later, there she came! I quickly grabbed my camera, but could not get anything better than this:

Yes, that tiny black line above the volleyball net is a herk. Who wants to donate money so I can get a camera that takes pictures that are worth a darn? Anybody?

A photo of Cape Canaveral, Jason took while flying down the coast of Florida.

Our beautiful view from the balcony of our room.

The view from our dinner table one night.

There's two people who rarely make it on to this blog together!

The view while walking to Old San Juan.

Our table from dinner one night.

Some of the group enjoying a Japanese steak house on my last night in San Juan.

Getting ready for a fun Japanese dinner!

An island in the Atlantic Ocean, as viewed from the co-pilot seat of the herk.