Sunday, June 29, 2014

Weekend In Review

Whew! What a weekend!

Apparently, in the North Country, my birthday falls on/around High School Graduations. It’s really crazy that most of the country has been out of school and on summer break for almost (if not) an entire month. Not here. They just finished. It is just now “officially” summer!

So many graduations happened this weekend. We were not actually invited to any graduation ceremonies, but instead (and much better) we were invited to graduation parties!

So our weekend consisted of a lot of celebrating…

FRIDAY - MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Ever since we moved, everything has been sneaking up on me! I blame the weather. My birthday totally snuck up on me and I really did not have any plans. I didn’t even have plans to make a birthday cake for myself…and that is bad. I love making my birthday cakes.

So here is my birthday recap -

Slept in (Nik and I) until 8:30!!!! Jaxen slept until….9:45. CRAZY!!!!

When I woke up, I had a text message that said “Check your front porch.” Low and behold I had a gift waiting for me…

Donuts…Yum. 
I do have to say…these do not compare at all to Shipley’s. 
But they were still very good Birthday Donuts!
Thank you, Terri!

Then I went for a walk on a (new to me) trail. It was really so pretty. All by myself. This was supposed to be a little family outing…but Nik injured his ankle playing basketball and so I took the opportunity to have a little me-time.

Such a beautiful part of the country!
I enjoyed my walk so much. 
After my walk, I sat by the river for awhile. Peaceful.

After my walk, I got cleaned up and we headed out to lunch. Right before we left, someone offered to watch Jaxen while we ate. SCORE! In keeping with tradition (every year my work peeps and I ordered Thai food for lunch the week of my birthday) we found the one and only Thai restaurant in town and went for my birthday lunch.


After lunch we picked Jaxen up and went for cupcakes (since I didn’t bake a cake…I figured cupcakes were in order)! And then we headed home so Jaxen could nap and I went for a massage. So relaxing. And yes, that is two massages since I have been here….and that will probably be it for the next year!

We stayed home and grilled hamburgers for dinner and then headed out to the Watertown Rams baseball game!


Jaxen loved playing catch with Nik before the game got started.


 My two boys. Love.

There is something so great about watching a baseball game in the summer.

SATURDAY - 

Saturday was a bit more low key. Nik had a wedding that he had to officiate about an hour out of town - so he was gone from about 9:30 until 3:30. I went on a morning hike with a friend, and then Becky took me out for another Birthday Lunch and Birthday Ice Cream! We headed back to the house so Jaxen could nap and we hung out, watching the World Cup.

Once Nik returned home, we left for a graduation party. Ate a late dinner on the way back home and fell into bed. All three of us were exhausted. I know that it is not hot here, compared to Texas and New Mexico…but it has been very warm and very, very humid. And when you are in it all day, or inside with no air conditioning…the heat can get to you! Poor Nik was preforming an outside wedding…in a suit…that started very late. So he was basically outside, in a suit for the majority of the day! 

SUNDAY - 

We went to church…funny story….This morning, while getting ready (Jaxen was still asleep) I tripped a breaker. So the lights go off, my blow-dryer stops, the upstairs air conditioner units went off, Jaxen’s sound machine went off….Jaxen wakes up and I’m only half way ready for church. I have no idea what to do (new home…never had this happen before). So I get Jaxen and myself dressed and then go to church (wet hair and all) and drop him off at the nursery. By this time, early service is in full swing - so I go to the bathroom and finish getting ready (makeup, blow-dry and straighten my hair)! I then took all my stuff back home and made it back in time for Sunday School. Nik fixed the breaker after church.

We grabbed a quick lunch and I rushed Jaxen down for a nap. While he napped I got all our stuff ready….to go to the beach! We had another graduation party that was happening at the beach of Lake Ontario. FUN! After Jaxen got a short nap, we loaded up and headed out. The graduation party was really nice….but the water was even better!

Jaxen headed into the water with some of his favorite teenage boys!

Playing with his friend, Joey.

As we were driving there, Nik brought up the fact that we needed to buy a State Park Pass so that Jaxen and I could come out here (and other parks) more often. I knew it was a good idea, but we really didn’t have the money to spend right now on that. So I told him we would consider it. During the party, the mom asked some questions of her daughter (the graduate) and gave prizes to those that knew the answer. I answered a question correctly and won a State Park Pass!!!!! Isn’t that amazing!

So I actually have plans to hit the same beach again tomorrow!

After the party we stopped by for a while at a friends house to watch the Red Sox play the Yankees. We only stayed about 2 hours, but Jaxen had fun with his friend Leah.

They were the cutest things. First off, after Leah took her bath she wanted to put on a dress. I teased her dad that she was dressing up for Jaxen. Then as they were playing they came out and Leah announced they were going to the store. She had her purse and buggie and Jaxen had a stroller with a baby in it. SO CUTE! Leah’s dad didn’t think it was as cute! Ha ha.


We are home now. It is very late. And we are all three struggling with some allergy issues. And Nik is still in a little bit of pain from his ankle injury. Good thing we have a slow couple of days to re-coupe! 

Then Wednesday…we have company coming! Hooray!

And congratulations for making it through the longest weekend recap post ever.


Thursday, June 26, 2014

Zoo

Today, Jaxen and I went to the Zoo! 

He was all settled in his new wagon, shades on and ready to go...

but there was too much to explore to stay in the wagon for long!
This kid is a STUD!

He decided to help out (about time - ha)!

He was not really into the “big” animals…probably because they were 
too far away to see really well. But he really loved all these animals that he could get close to!

Alpaca

Goat

Chickens

He loved the chickens

Hogs

We had a fun time at the Zoo!



Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday

Here is a 3-day recap for y’all!

SUNDAY: 
Our church held service outside under a big tent - It was wonderful! 
I love it when we do something outside of the norm, like that. 
Everyone was excited and had a great time!

Here is the Worship Team warming up before things got started.

All the people flowed out around the tent.

This was my view…from way back with a very excited (disruptive) 2 year old!

After service, we held a baptism and baptized 7 people!
Pastor Chad and Nik were the ones ‘dunking' people (in water that was not heated…cold)!

After service, they grilled food, had son-cones and cotton candy,
and even had these great inflatables set up!

Jaxen enjoyed the little bounce house.

He was telling Nik about all the fun he was having!

After awhile in the bounce house, I took him to the “pool” part of the big slide.
He was too small for the slide, but enjoyed the splashes from everyone else as they came down!

He was soaked when we got home. So I took off all his clothes to
dry off and gave him a bag of cheetos - happy boy!


MONDAY:
I took Jaxen for his 2 Year Well Check Appointment.

He is 35 1/2” tall and weighs 29.4 lbs.

Apparently I did not record what his stats were at his last checkup (weird, right?!)…
but at his 15 month checkup (September 2013) he was 32” tall and 24 lbs. 
Growing boy!

The check-up went good. All is well. No concerns.


TUESDAY:
Today we had Jaxen’s 2nd Evaluation. It went really good (which I guess is good, right?). 
He did not score low in any other development areas…which means no speech therapy for Jaxen.
That is okay.
I will continue working with him at home and he will probably
start talking in no time at all!!
I am glad we went ahead with the process, even though he does not qualify for help.
I learned some new ways to work with him. And am looking forward to seeing him progress.

Here are some random pictures to end on:

I gave Jaxen a bath in the sink this morning - look at that long crazy hair!

This is my new favorite lotion. I bought it on clearance this winter.
It is Lemon/Vanilla scent. Light, summery and fantastic!

Jaxen’s after-lunch, pre-nap entertainment:


That is all for today!

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Jaxen’s Sleepovers

While we were away Jaxen had a few sleepovers!

This was something I have never done before…but I left Jaxen for 4 days with 3 different people. Scary! But all went well. And while we were gone, I received updates and pictures from those keeping him. I enjoyed seeing him while I was gone (so thankful for those smart phones) and thought you might want a glimpse into the great time he had while we were away!


Aaron, sharing his toys and playing with Jaxen!

Jenny took a stroller in case Jaxen got sleepy, 
but Aaron was the one who passed out in it! Ha ha!

Junior enjoyed helping with Jaxen - he carried him to the car….

And then helped buckle him in!

Two of the nights, they took Jaxen for swim time!

One day, he went with Danielle and helped out with some VBS prep.

The last night, he stayed with Becky. Harley (their dog) slept right next to Jaxen.

Marcus is Jaxen’s buddy!

Getting back into the normal routine is always an adjustment. He woke up and stayed awake for about 3 hours the first night back….he was a tired little boy the following day!


We were busy setting up stuff for an outside service in the morning...

and then in the afternoon I spent time baking 8 dozen cookies!

He had a great time while we were gone. I received good reports from everyone. I am so grateful for the people here who stepped up, helped us out and loved on Jaxen as if he were their own!