Friday, October 31, 2014

Mexican Food



I know you guys are going to laugh at me for taking the above picture - but I just had to! We finally went to a Mexican restaurant here this week! And it was good!

It was different from New Mexico Mexican and different from Tex Mexican - but still pretty good. Our favorite thing was the salsa, which we even bought a container of it and brought it home!

Both of the food items we ordered were just simply “good”. But there were a few other items on their menu that we want to go back and try because I think they will be “great”…like the salsa!

How exciting, huh?!!!?

Can you guess who ate the last chip? (Jaxen!)

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

I Don’t Want to Forget...

There are so many things I forget as the years go by. Especially with Jaxen’s life.
Little things he says or does.

Time is flying by and he is growing up before my eyes and I don’t want to forget…



How when we say “I Love You” to Jaxen, he replies with “I YOU”. 


That he loves having his teeth brushed.


How he wants ketchup with every meal to “dip”, or really, just “lick off”.


He lets me clip his fingernails, but hates having his toenails clipped.


How anytime he wants a snack, he goes and gets one particular bowl 
and then stands in front of the pantry.


That when he naps, he likes to hold on to both of my ears before falling asleep.


That on Sunday’s, when we walk into church he waves at everyone before he sits down.


When we go up/down our stairs, he turns the light on/off every time.


He wants to have 5 blankets on him when he goes to sleep at night. No more. No less.


He wants everyone at the table to hold hands for prayer.
And as Nik prays out-loud, so does he.
In his sweet little voice of words no one understands, but it is the most precious thing ever.


I love him so much and am so blessed to be his momma!

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Haircut

So this was happening with Jaxen…


 See it? Here is a view from the side…


Yup! That is a rat tail. On my 2 year old. In 2014. Which is pretty much, not cool! But very funny!

His hair had gotten long - see front view:


Which means - time for a haircut!



I don’t know why Jaxen getting his hair cut is such a big deal. But it is. I guess because he looks so different after a haircut! So much older!

So - at this stage in his life - I make a big deal over his haircuts. And blog about it. Ha ha!


Saturday, October 25, 2014

Updates

I don’t want to leave you hanging about some of the things I have blogged about here lately - so here are some updates:

1. Potty-Training = It has come to a standstill for the time being. Jaxen hates his underwear now and after Nik and I discussing some other instances that have come up, we both feel that he is not really ready for full-on potty training yet. Even though I am sooo ready for this to happen. I am practicing patience and really trying to wait until he is ready so it is a good experience for all of us. That is number one thing I keep hearing - don’t rush it! 

2. The Weather = I know I blog about Fall a lot and have also kept saying that winter is coming. Well, Fall is still here, but not as pretty. The weather has been cold and rainy. Most of the leaves have fallen. And in the 10 day forecast (currently) there is a chance of snow on November 1 with a high of 44 and a low of 30. That being said - Tuesday is supposed to have a high of 70. Weather is so funny.

3. Parking Lot / Pumpkin Patch = I know I mentioned that Nik was helping oversee the parking lot at church. It is bigger, repaved and lines were finally painted last week. All done. The pumpkin patch has not done very well. The weather. We will see with this last week left how it goes - hoping to sell lots of pumpkins!

And just some general updates:

1. Health = Everyone is staying healthy around here so far. Jaxen had a 24-hour fever a few weeks ago, but is fine now.

2. Our church hosted a Marriage Retreat Friday night and today (Saturday) and Nik and I were able to attend. It was a wonderful experience for us and our marriage. I cannot say enough good things about it. If you ever get a chance…attend a marriage retreat! Make your marriage a priority.

3. Jaxen stayed with a  couple of teens while Nik and I were at the Marriage Retreat today. The minute we got home, he wanted a snack and to sit in his chair (such a little man!). Not even 5 minutes later - this is how we found him:


One of the teens said he never napped, and that he laughed all day long! I guess that’s a pretty good report! But he was exhausted!

4. I have not been good at picture taking. I hope to do better this week.

That’s all for now! 

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Today

Jaxen and I had a fun day today! Don’t worry - you will not get minute-by-minute details (like I have done before) - you will get just the main highlights!


Highlight # 1 - Staying in pajamas all day while working with your tools.


 Oh, and stopping to give yourself a quick haircut!


Apparently the haircut was not so good - because he had to wear a hat for the rest of his work time!



 Highlight #2 - Making a homemade apple pie!


 A sweet lady in the church offered to come help me make a homemade apple pie!



It was yummy!


Highlight #3 - We stayed in our pajamas all day and didn't leave the house 
until we went to church!


Did you have a good day?

Monday, October 20, 2014

One of Those Weeks

Last week I had one of those weeks. You know the kind…when you don’t feel like yourself and everyday you are either fighting with your child, your spouse, the cashier, the Sonic drive-in and everything and everyone seems to be against you…that kind of week!

Therefore - no blog posting. There was just not much good to be said!

However - a cry session, some time alone and PERSPECTIVE make a big difference! Isn’t it amazing how a different or new perspective can change things? For me anyway, it made a difference this week.

Friday afternoon I took my Bible Study time to the park. 
I just parked my car, enjoyed the view and caught up on my Bible Studies.
It was a nice, needed break away from the world!

We had a pretty boring week anyway - not much to blog about! But no worries, I will return to the regularly-scheduled-blog-posting this week!

P.S. It was in the 30’s Sunday morning…time to break out the big coat!


Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Assortment of Pictures


Jaxen was being extra clingy so I put him on our island next to me while I cut up cantaloupe.
Apparently he was hungry too! 

Nik hollered at me from the other room a few nights ago and this is what I saw!

A fall day at the park -
And good thing for the rain boots…because Jaxen splashed in every puddle he saw!

Nik was trying on some new boots and Jaxen couldn’t resist putting them on as well.

A beautiful rainbow!

Bath time!

I sent this picture to Nik on Sunday morning to say “Good Morning” -
Jaxen apparently didn’t think the morning was so good.

Monday afternoon we worked on picking up some of the leaves in our yard.
(This morning it didn’t even looked like we made a dent!)

I made cookies Monday night and Jaxen is licking the mixer part,
and eating cookie dough out of the measuring spoon….

...then he moved on to the spatula and once the cookies were baked, he ate 3 of them!

Thursday night Burger King did the cooking for us and we had a lot of fun taking pictures.

Friday morning I spent a couple hours away from the house and Nik
texted me this picture to say “Good Morning”!


Saturday, October 11, 2014

My New Favorite Soup - Sausage and Corn Chowder

I thought I would share another recipe with you guys…

I found this recipe last year and made it a few times. And then I made it again this past week. And I remembered how yummy it was!


SAUSAGE AND CORN CHOWDER

1 lb breakfast sausage (hot is better because it adds more flavor)
1 onion, chopped (I have been using frozen chopped onion and it works well)
2-4 potatoes, chopped (depending on the size - 2 really large or 3 medium or 4 small)
3 cups milk
2 bay leaves (I used dried)
1 can cream corn
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Cheddar Cheese for topping

In a large pot, brown sausage in a little olive oil.
Remove browned sausage in to a bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.
Add chopped onion to pot and saute in sausage drippings.
Add in potatoes, milk, bay leaves, salt and pepper.
Simmer 20 minutes (or until potatoes are tender), stirring often.
Once potatoes are fork tender, add sausage back into soup and also add in cream corn.
Heat through (about 5 minutes).
Serve and top with cheese.


Seriously. So good. Try it. Like tonight!

Friday, October 10, 2014

Potty Update

To recap…

We are in the Potty-Training-Process. Not rushing anything, and taking it slowly.

With that said - Jaxen has gone pee pee in the potty a total of 4 times. Over the course of almost three weeks. Like I said, slowly! The third time (Wednesday) I decided to put on the underwear that we had been talking about. It went something like this:

I have been asking Jaxen (multiple times each day) if he needed to go potty. This particular time, he started pulling his pants off (in the kitchen) and so we went in the bathroom and he sat on his potty. After a bit, he went pee pee. We cheered, he stuck his hands in it (not so proud momma moment), we flushed, closed the lid, put on our big boy underwear and washed hands.

I decided to let him stay in his underwear a little bit. Every couple of minutes I would ask if he needed to go potty and check to make sure he was still dry. Cue time number 4 of that scenario. Wet undies, wet legs and wet spot on the floor. I knew there would be an accident, but I was secretly hoping we could get at least one more potty time in! 

I then talked to Jaxen and told him we go pee pee in the potty and not in our underwear…blah blah blah. I cleaned him up, put a diaper on him, cleaned up the mess and on we went with our day. 

One more sign that Jaxen is probably not full-on ready for the potty = he could care less that he went pee pee in his underwear. Didn’t phase him a bit! 

So we keep on…

And I’m completely ok with that!

I did capture a few pics of Jaxen in this underwear while he was washing his hands. Because I just could not resist! And I have been cleaning his hiney for over 2 years - so I can!



Wednesday, October 8, 2014

October Thoughts


I know you are probably sick of hearing how beautiful it is here…but it is, and I can’t get over it. Coming from Southeastern NM and Central TX - I have just never experienced this kind of beautiful fall before. I will stop soon. I promise :)

We had the nicest, best September EVER. Most days were in the 70’s and beautiful. I was talking with someone the other day and we both decided the last 3 weeks were more consistent and nice than our entire summer was. It was awesome.

Then Saturday hit. Cloudy, rainy and the high was 60. The rest of the week has panned out about the same. Plus wind.

I think our fall is over and we are definitely heading into winter!

But until winter officially arrives, I am enjoying this view of our backyard -


The leaves. I have absolutely no desire to rake them, because they are beautiful. (Sorry for the blurry spots, it was raining). I know I will need to rake them before the first snow comes because last spring under all the snow were a ton of leaves. Dead, brown, ugly leaves that took forever to clean up. So I will clean them up one day - but until then…I am enjoying them!

Saturday (along with the cold weather) was the first day of the church’s Pumpkin Patch! This is a youth fundraiser that Nik is in charge of.


Cute, huh? Jaxen and I went on Tuesday and picked out a couple of pumpkins to bring home! (We may go back and get a few more). 

There is a youth fall retreat this weekend that Nik and some of the teens are headed to. I will be hanging at home with the little boy.

That is all for tonight! Enjoy FALL this week! 



Monday, October 6, 2014

Old Forge, NY

Just to give you an idea of the location...

We visited Old Forge, NY, on Thursday.
It was a quick road trip. 
I wanted to go somewhere to experience the “changing of the leaves” and Old Forge was 
the closest place, and is in the base of the Adirondack Mountains.

Once we had been on the road a bit - the drive was beautiful. 
I took pictures but the sights and the colors are not really something you can capture from a camera. Especially and iPhone camera, in a moving car.

So these pics are just to give you a little idea.

Enjoy :)
We did. And the whole time, I kept thinking…I live here!





 Once we arrived in Old Forge, we ate a quick lunch at an-ok-place. 
Nothing to blog about!

But after lunch, we rode the gondola up the mountain!
Yes, Nik and I match…no, it was not planned!




The gondola ride was super beautiful.
Once at the top, we went for a short hike through the woods.









After the hike, we checked out all the great views.
Again, pictures do not do this view justice.




Going back down!
It was starting to get super cloudy and a little cold.


After that adventure, we hit up a candy shop and then a coffee shop and headed home!

It was a quick, fun road trip.
I’m so glad I got to experience the “changing of the leaves”.

The leaves are definitely changing here and it is pretty,
but the sights and views from this trip were incomparable.

I am so thankful for the beauty that we get to enjoy in the North Country!