Thursday, October 31, 2013

Sneak Peak

Here is a sneak peak of Jaxen’s Halloween costume…


Can you guess what it is?!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

FAIL

We have had a few failures this week…..

Monday Night Dinner. FAIL. I made a new recipe and used a wrong (very hot) ingredient and it did not turn out! Too hot to eat. Four revisions later, it is bearable (and is what I am eating for lunch all week). Dinner = fail.

Tuesday Night Dinner. FAIL. We went outside to grill chicken and corn on the cob and the grill was out of propane. Nice try though, right? So we went to our (always) back-up: Bush’s Chicken. Dinner = fail.

Jaxens Night-Night Time. FAIL. So ever since we came back from vacation, Jaxen has not slept through the night. Seriously. I'm not even going to get into all the details...too traumatizing for me....but he went from the perfect sleeper to hardly sleeping. I actually figured this would happen (it usually does after a long trip) but I did not count on it being this long! If you remember right (like you would really remember this detail) but it was about this time last year we had so much trouble with him sleeping! What is it about the fall?! Night-Night = fail. 

Our Fish died. FAIL. This fish was given to Jaxen this past summer. I don't know if I ever shared the story on here....our neighbor had this small fish tank (for some reason) but decided to get a much larger tank. So they called me one day and asked if Jaxen needed a new night light. Weird question, I thought. They insisted I come over and get his new night light. When I got there, they gave me a fish tank (with fish in it) and a (night) light! It made me laugh! So, we had a fish. Well, three fish, actually. They slowly started to die. Now they are all dead. Fish = fail.

Something this week needs to go right, right?! Actually, the week has been pretty good.

I’m a little behind on blogging…but will catch up soon.

And until then - here are some cute pictures of Jaxen (and his cup with a straw) in his new jammies (thanks, aunt Jessie)!





And my personal favorite….






Monday, October 28, 2013

8 Days Away


We recently spent 8 days away from home. We traveled to NM and I’m going to try to give you a semi-quick recap in 8 main topics (get it….for the 8 days we were gone?! ha ha). In no particular order.

Before I start, I want to state that I did not take many pictures while gone. You would think that I would….but I just have too much fun hanging out, talking and/or relaxing and I sometimes forget to take pictures of those moments. But I did take a few. They are included.

Here I go…..

1. Family - The main part of our trip was spent in Roswell (my hometown). There, we saw my mom, Scotty, Jessica and Brennen. I am always a little sad that I don’t live in the same town as my (or Nik’s) family. Especially now that we have Jaxen. But it is what it is and we try to make the best of it when we are there. And I enjoyed so much the time I got to spend with my family. They are so wonderful and I love them all so much!

Jaxen and his Bebe!

Jaxen and his Pepaw!
  
Jaxen and his aunt Jessie…playing in the water (washing dishes)!

Jaxens cousin, Brennen!


2. Wedding - The main reason we went to NM when we did was because my cousin, Lisa’s daughter (Courtney - for those who were at my wedding, Courtney was one of my flower girls) got married! Her wedding was Saturday, in Lovington. And while there, we got to see lots more of my family that I have not seen in many years. And very few of them have ever met Jaxen - so that was fun! It was a quick trip and I did not get to spend a lot of one-on-one time with them, but it was still so nice to see them and to see Courtney get married. Just to be there for her special day meant so much to me.

Andrew and Courtney - first dance!

Jaxen playing outside before the wedding -
what a stud!


3. Long-time Friends - As always, when we travel, we try to see some friends. Nik and I have some of the best friends I could ever ask for. And it is always so good to see them! We did not get to see every one of our friends in the NM area but were so glad we were able to see Matt & Kesha (and many friends at the First Church of the Nazarene in Roswell); Paul and Brenda; Connor & Kaylee (and all our favorite mountain people at the Bonita Park Camp). We had such good visits with everyone. It was really a time of catching up - but it also always encourages me to see them. Long-time friends are the best. And we are so blessed to have so many in our life!

4. Games - Of course, seeing my family always means playing games! If you know my family at all, you know we spend the majority of our time around the kitchen table playing some kind of game. Marbles, Skip-Bo, Phase 10, Sequence, Boggle…. you get the idea. I love games. And I love to win at games. Sadly, though, I did not win very much while there. I’m blaming it on lack of sleep!

5. Sleep - When we slept, we slept good. But sleep was not a major component of this trip! Jaxen had a couple of rough nights where he would not go to sleep and when he did, I stayed up way too late playing games and visiting! But that’s okay. I knew I could catch up on my sleep at a later time (and I did take few naps). Yesterday we laid around and napped most of the afternoon! Jaxen is having a bit of a hard time adjusting back to our normal routine. But nothing too terrible. Probably one or two more nights and we will be there!

6. Exploring - Jaxen had the best time exploring. We stayed in two homes while on our trip and in both homes he kept walking all around, touching everything, seeing what he could play with! He was so entertained while away. I think he enjoyed having new things to play with!


Cups are always a great toy!


These next pictures are so funny to me…but there is a story.
Every day when Scotty comes home from work, he puts his work boots
and hat on this mat by the door.

Every day, Jaxen picked them up and moved them off the mat!
It was so funny. I finally got some pictures….


And there he would leave them! 
Every. Time.


7. Car Rides - We were in the car a lot! We left Thursday night and drove through most of the night/early morning to get there. Jaxen did so good on that trip. He slept and had no problem going back to sleep once we arrived. Then we were in the car back and forth to Lovington (Jaxen slept both times) and Ruidoso (again…Jaxen slept)! We tried to time some of our trips during nap time. And it went well.

Jaxen - ready to head home!

Then we headed home. We left after lunch and Jaxen slept a solid 3 hours and was calm (dozing in and out of sleep) for the 4th hour. Then we had to stop because he was crying and not happy to be in his car seat. We spent about an hour in McDonalds, letting Jaxen run and play. And play he did! That kid did not stop moving for an hour! He had the best time playing and Nik and I laughed so hard just watching him run around like a crazy man. Seriously. The stares we got! We finally made it home with only one more stop (for some milk) - thanks to Netflix on Nik’s phone!


8. Tennis - While we there, Nik and I enjoyed some time to ourselves playing tennis. We love to play tennis but we never get to go. Just to hard to arrange baby-sitters to go play. Thankfully, my family did not mind keeping him while we went out and played some games. And we got to play a little bit with Brennen! He is taking tennis lessons. It was so fun!

One last thing - my sister bought Jaxen some new shoes while we were there and the minute Jaxen saw them, he immediately (tried to) put them on his feet and started walking in them! They are a little big, but he loved them! Thanks Aunt Jessie!


And that’s my recap! It was not quick. I know.

We had such a great time and are so glad we got to spend some time in NM!

Thursday, October 17, 2013

A Series of Pictures

I looked into the living room the other night - right before Jaxen's bedtime - and this is what I saw:
 
 
Not really unusual...but I still laughed. And then got my camera.
And then I kept snapping pics for a few minutes.
 
Jaxen can get a bit hyper before bedtime...
the pics basically tell it all!
 









 
He it too funny!
He loves climbing all over people!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

This and That

I hope you are not too tired of reading all my very random blog posts with (hopefully) a few pictures thrown in there….because that is what you are getting tonight! I’m just going to sit down and type and upload any recent pictures - and then call it good.

Here we go….

Today when I picked Jaxen up from Mothers Day Out they told me that after they came back from playing in the gym he went in the corner of the room and laid down on the rug and stayed there for about 20 minutes! That is so funny to me. I guess he was tired and needed to rest! After he laid there, he just got right up and started playing again!

It probably looked a little something like this -


Except with pants on! He has been doing this a lot. Just randomly laying down on the floor. Anywhere.  One day it was in front of the stove in the kitchen. Another day, his head was laid down in the cabinet. And while I was folding his clothes, he even tried to lay his head down in the dryer! They nap on the floor at Mother’s Day Out, so I guess this is where he gets it!

Speaking of Jaxen being tired…he has been waking up super early in the mornings. Like between 5:30 and 6:30. We are trying to train him to go back to sleep (because that is just way too early for us!) or play quietly until we are ready to be awake. Let’s just say that it is not going too good! I think instead, he is training us to be up super early - ha!

And since we are talking about Jaxen sleeping…here are a few sleeping pictures -




Can you tell that his favorite nap spot is with his dad, on the couch? 


If you don’t follow me on Pinterest…you need to! Just sayin’.

Recently, I have made some magnificent stuff! 

Homemade Iced Coffee (where it brews overnight, in the fridge); Texas Trash (basically - warm, creamy bean dip); Brown Sugar Pound Cake; Toasted Coconut Pound Cake; Crunchy Chicken Salad… it is all so very yummy. And all those are pinned on my Recipes Board.

This past weekend, Nik made Homemade Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter. And he loved it! Actually, so did Jaxen. And the whole reason I’m telling you about this is because Nik and Jaxen were having that as a snack tonight. Jaxen ate about as much as Nik did! I did get a few pics of it in the making - 



That’s about it. Yummy Pinterest stuff!

One last little thing before I end this blog post. Saturday morning we were out taking a stroll through the neighborhoods when I spotted 2 wooden-slated chairs sitting by the curb (which means FREE). And I knew we could not pass them up - they are so cute! And I knew that if we took the time to walk home and come back with a vehicle they would be gone. So I did what anyone would do - asked Nik if we could carry them home. So there we are, walking with a stroller and a chair slung over each of our shoulders! It was a pretty funny sight. Nik barely let me a get a picture -


I was laughing so hard at the sight of us walking home that day! If I haven’t said it lately…Nik is such a great husband. There are not many husbands who would have done this for their wife!

And that’s a wrap, folks! 

Friday, October 11, 2013

Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Jaxen and I
He is beginning to love taking 'selfies'!

The rest of these pictures were taken on Nik's phone...
 
Jaxen sitting on his high chair tray.

Jaxen loves to sit with Emilie and watch movies!

Enjoying some blueberries.

Jaxen loved him some blueberries!

This is the way Nik found Jaxen one morning, when we had to
wake him up for school...See the mohawk-hair?

A family pic!

We went to a garage sale at a friends house last weekend
and Jaxen loved this doll house!
So many fun things his size to play with!
And I did not get a picture of it...
but he kept sitting on the little pink table -
like it was made just for him!

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

New (to us) Car!

So a couple of weeks ago, we purchased a new car! Well, new to us.

This car will replace “Gunther”.

Without further ado….here is “Gunther 2” (G2 for short)…..



It is a 2006 Scion XB (made by Toyota).

Welcome to the family, G2!

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Pumpkins!

Well, the fall season only halfway arrived today. And not until later in the afternoon. This morning it was humid and hot!

But my mind was set on celebrating fall….so we went to the Pumpkin Patch today!


Taking Jaxen to the pumpkin patch sounds like such a fun idea, right? Well, the only thing Jaxen was interested in was playing in the big tub of pumpkins his size. And then he preceded to cry anytime we tried to walk anywhere else or do anything else. Plus, he was super tired. And did I mention it was hot outside? Pumpkin Patches are much funner when it is cooler weather. But this was the only weekend we could go, so we did and made the best of it!




My favorite picture of the whole day….


(and yes, we purchased his favorite pumpkin for him)



Can you tell how tired he was?!



And our 2013 family pumpkin picture:


2012 family pumpkin picture: