Student of the Month

Last week, in the mail, I received the following letter:

It basically says that Jaxen has been chosen as Student of the Month for February. That he consistently demonstrated the characteristics of being “safe” throughout the month. 

Safety was their focus during the month of February. 

So Tuesday morning Zane and I surprised Jaxen in his classroom! He was excited to see me and when I asked him why he thought I was there, he said “because I won!”. Haha… the kids have picked up on the fact that whoever’s parents show up during their monthly awards - that kid has “won”. 

So the principal came to the class, said a few nice things about Jaxen and called him up front. 

She handed him a certificate, a “safety” tag and a bumper-sticker that says “My child was student of the month”. 

I think he was super proud! I know I’m super proud!

It was fun to see him at school. I hung around a few minutes and watched a few of the things they do every morning. And because of that…things that Jaxen does at home makes way more sense! For example: every morning they count the number of days in the month and stop on whatever day it currently is (the 28th). Then they go over what day it is (Tuesday). And then they talk about the weather… and so on. Jaxen likes me to do this with him at home at night. 

Congrats Jaxen! I hope this is the first of many “Student of the Months” :)

Now…the big question…do I put that bumper sticker on my car?! Haha…probably not!

Jaxen’s New Bed

This past weekend we purchased a new (twin size) bed for Jaxen. 

He was so excited!

This is the bed, in our vehicle. 

The box spring was strapped on the top. Thankfully, it had stopped raining :)

Once we got the bed all setup - Jaxen laid down in it to see how he liked it.

And that night, I had to take a peak at our big (little) boy sleeping in his new (big) bed!

After I rearranged (and cleaned) his room, here are some new pics.

I still need to purchase actual ‘bedding’ for his bed.

Right now, he is just using one of our blankets.

The bedding I would love to have is the one on the left. The one on the right would do…

but they are both a bit pricey.

I am on the hunt to find a lesser expensive option :)

And eventually (when Zane is a bit older) we would love to get bunkbeds for the boys.

I love these options:

So - that’s our new bed update! 

This morning I asked Jaxen if he still liked his big bed and he said

“Yes, it’s still comfy!"

Winter Break

I’m not gonna lie…last weekend parenting was a bit rough. Just a mixture of all kinds of things left me feeling pretty discouraged come Sunday night. And to add to it - Winter Break was this week. And I can tell you - I was not looking forward to being mom to two very needy kiddos, all day, everyday this week.

Nonetheless, Monday rolled around and I loaded up a 4 year old and a 10 month old to run some errands. Which I was not too excited about (it has been awhile since I’ve run errands with both boys, by myself). But I made up my mind to do my best and try to have a good time. And you know what? It was great!

We stopped to get gas first and then drove 45 minutes to a bigger town. We really needed our vehicle washed and had to sit in line almost 20 minutes to do so. Still great. Jaxen was having a fun time playing by himself in the backseat, all the while entertaining Zane. After the car wash, we hit up one grocery store. Thankfully, they were not too busy, so I let Jaxen push Zane around the in cart. And we all had a pretty good time. After that - one more grocery store and I’m so glad I searched around to find this cart...

The boys thought this was so cool and had the best time (waving and saying hi to everyone; beeping; and giving me directions) driving! After we grocery shopped, we sat down for lunch (in the grocery store) and then headed back home. Seriously - I was gone for about 3 hours - and I had no complaints!

And then the best part about our Monday…I got both boys down for a nap at the same time! Now - that is something to be proud of. Haha! And up until around 6:30pm - I did not have to yell, or spank anyone. Bath and bed duties by myself is not always easy - but we made it through!

Tuesday...

This little one decided to “help” me load the dishwasher…and he was soaked by the time we were done! I cannot be in the kitchen without him right under my feet, in the dishwasher or climbing in the fridge as I grab just one item. He is constantly on the go and into everything!

Because I was pretty much dreading Winter Break I had asked another mom if she wanted to bring her kiddos over to play for awhile. And it was a great 3 hours! The kids played (very well together) and the mom and I got a chance to talk and catch-up. 

That evening we laid low. Which pretty much means the kids made a mess of my house and we had some tickle sessions. 

And we introduced Zane to Goldfish. Love at first bite! He was so funny - he just laid back on my legs and ate the Goldfish like they were the greatest thing in the world.

And we gave him this ‘straw’ sippy cup with water. It was his first experience with a straw and it was so funny to watch him drink. He kept drooling and dribbling the water all down him (see bottom right pic). 

Wednesday…

We left on a short road trip to Watertown. Jaxen was pretty excited and also thought this page in his book was super funny. And he let me know he thought it was funny no less than 80 times. Haha!

We stopped for a donut at our favorite place and then stopped by Life Church to see our friends there. Jaxen, of course, had the best time with Terri. They are two peas in a pod. So cute.

And he is wearing a nametag because he saw them on a table, and helped himself. 

Once we left the church, we headed to Sam’s Club to pick up supplies for the church. 

We met up with Jaxen’s best friend (Leah) and her family for lunch at Sonic :) Not the greatest food…but really good drinks! We enjoyed the company and always love catching up with them. 

Nik had an appointment that afternoon and then we hung out with Tammi and her crew for the remainder of the day!

After dinner we headed home. We had a really fun day in Watertown!

Thursday….

Our morning started out like this...

A little TV and popcorn at 7am. Doesn’t everyone do that on Winter Break?!

And then we all loaded up and went to the church to do some work. Jaxen had his helmet and swords all ready.

We worked at the church for awhile and then the boys napped while Nik and I finished up more church work. Annual Meetings are this week, and require a lot of work!

Nik had another meeting that night and so this is what dinner looked like…

Zane had some cheese and Jaxen had a peanut butter and jelly (apparently while watching a show on the phone). I ate chips. This is real life sometimes.

After bath and bed times I texted Nik and told him dinner was cold sandwiches unless the Chinese place was still open. It was! Win!

Friday…

Last day of Winter Break! We made it! It was a beautiful day outside so I opened the windows and started cleaning. I was totally getting the ‘Spring Bug’ and then I remembered it was supposed to snow again next week. Spring is still at least a month away, if not more. Oh well - I got a bit of cleaning done!

After lunch we loaded in the car and headed out to buy Jaxen a twin size bed!!!!

More pics of his bed to come. 

Our night was pretty good. Nik was out of town for the night so I made myself brownies and cuddled up in bed to watch TV after the boys were in bed. I tweaked my back earlier in the day and was trying to relax…thankfully, I woke up this morning with my back feeling better. 

All in all, it was a good week. I’m thankful for my kiddos and clean slates each and every day. But yes, I am ready for Jaxen to go back to school on Monday! And so is he. He misses school.

Nik and Zane

Zane really loves his daddy.

And his daddy really loves him :)

Zane is at the age now where he “plays” and Nik and him have the best time!

The one thing…is that Zane always goes for the beard. Haha!

So this next picture is a bit funny…

We were trying a jacket on Zane and he looked so cute, I left in on him for awhile.

Then all of a sudden, a nerf gun war broke out between Nik and Jaxen

and of course, Zane had to be in the middle of it.

Zane may be a bit of a momma’s boy, but he sure loves to do whatever Jaxen and his Daddy does!

This is Jaxen’s cap on Zane…

but I’m gonna have to get Zane one of his own pretty soon so he can match.

I posted this photo on social media the other night,

it was just too cute not too!

I love the relationship our boys have with their daddy!