Laying low...

We have been laying low the past couple of weekends, I have been working more than usual, and it has been nice to just relax when we aren't working. But, being home has its perks, we have had a lot of fun around here.

Here are a few videos and favorite photos of our "relaxing!"



I'm seriously laughing out loud. I love this picture. I honestly think he feels like he is walking on his Cookie Monsters, so he won't move! So funny.

Jackson can now reach the light switches for the dinning room and kitchen. While funny at first, it is a bit shocking to be cooking and the lights suddenly go out! But so cute to watch him try so hard on his tippy toes!


Here he is outside riding his bike for the first time. He hasn't figured it out quite yet, but he is close! He loved being outside—we have had an odd string of weather lately, nearly 60 for a week! So we have been able to make some trips outside!



Jackson finally caught DogDog. He adores him. And DogDog seems to be putting up with it pretty well! He hasn't scratched Jackson once!


This is a very fitting shirt for this occasion!

And last but not least, here he is couch diving. He did this for 20 minutes, and the video is the final few minutes!

Who knew?

(The real deal)

That the Oscar Meyer Weenie Mobile really existed. I didn't. I thought it was a figment of people's minds. And a weenie whistle, isn't that was the step dad in The Santa Claus asked for from Santa? I didn't think this was a real thing.

(Jackson admiring the Weenie Mobile)

Well, I was wrong. We went grocery shopping last weekend and low and behold, the Weenie Mobile. Jackson was confused. And after an hour in the store with every kid blowing their overly loud Weenie Whistle (they were giving them out for free), I was ready to claw my eyes out.

But hey, now I know the thing is real.

Everett Children's Museum

(Trying to eat the feed while on the horse—yuck! The things they put in their mouths!)

Jackson and I headed to the Everett Children's Museum on New Years Eve to burn off some energy before he headed over to Kid Heaven (Laurie & Rhett's) for the evening. I think we were both getting a little stir crazy!

What a blast we had! I have NEVER seen him so excited about something. I did a quick once over when we first got there and I was able to pick out the best places for Jackson to have some fun! It was a bit busy (they were doing a New Years party) so all the kids were all over the place! Most of them were aware and were watching out for the little guys, but of course, others were not, so I had to helicopter quite a bit!

(Trying to figure out this erector set)

We started in the building block area, there were quite a few older kinds in this area, so I think Jackson was a bit intimidated. But he put a few things together and was ready to move on!

(Trying to catch the blinker when it flashed)

He breezed by the bus, very excited by the blinkers that flashed on and off! The bus itself was full, and nobody appeared to be getting off!

(Enjoying the train tables—this is actually a stop over after we hit the water tables, hence the wet shirt!)

So, he moved on over the the train tables! He is a little prone to stealing toys from other kiddos, but most of the kids there weren't having that, so he stuck to his little train and poked around at all of the little buildings. He was a little bit on the short side for all of the exhibits, but he could reach most of the train stuff! Once he realized the little guy next to him wasn't going to give up his trains, he was ready to move on!

(Chatting with the kids in the treehouse)

On the way to the next area, he discovered this pole with a funnel on the end. As if he had been there before he picked it up and started talking into it, and surprise, surprise, the kids in the treehouse across the museum started talking back!

(Putting the feed in the silos)

Next stop, the farm. He thought the horse was great! And knew exactly where the feed needed to go (the silo), and gave milking the cow a whirl too! There was a little guy following him around in this area though and he got a bit sick of that, so we were off to the next place!

(Guarding the Firetruck roof top)

The next places was just for kids 5 and under! So, he took his shoes off as the instructions said and he went into the Firetruck area. It was a big squishy truck that he could climb on. He loved it! He kept trying to get to the top of the truck and would just act like he owned it when other kids came to the top! He did have to ward off some pretty big looking 5 year olds but he had a blast. He then discovered the slide! He wasn't very good about sitting and then pushing off to go down, he often just slipped and down he came. He didn't care. He still loved it! He laughed the whole way! He took a break to go check out the fireman in the corner and try on a fireman's hat, but then we were off again!

(Splashing other kiddos in the water area)

Then the water area (had a known how wet he would get in this area, we would have saved it for last), this stop was worth the whole $14 it cost to get into the museum! He put on his apron (which was meant for a 5 year old) and into the water he went. Splashing away, so much in fact that other kids were getting upset that he was splashing! Oh well, I tried to rein in the splashing, but that's what the water is there for!

(Climbing on the plane wings)

Then off to the airplane area, where he climbed on the wings action movie style, pushed some buttons in the cockpit and then wanted to go back to the water area!

This place kept him entertained for almost two hours! Nothing has done that for him yet, nothing! We will be back soon! I told Rick we should both take a day off in January and go in the morning so there are less people!

Here is a little video of the trip!

Anyhoo! More pictures in the gallery!

Steph

Catching Up: Zoo Lights

(Posing outside the penguin exhibit)

I was really bummed when I looked up our local zoo and found out that they don't do any type of zoo lights! I love the zoo and I love festive holiday events, so, it is typically a hit for me! I knew Jackson would love it too! So, once we got to Portland, Sara and JP asked if we wanted to head to the Oregon Zoo to see the zoo lights (they go for a week after Christmas!), and of course we couldn't pass it up!

(The light display that is on the big grassy field—all of you Oregonians know where I'm talkin' about!)

So, we bundled up, crossed our fingers for a dry night and headed to the zoo! We got lucky! It sprinkled for a second or two while we waited in line, but then it cleared right up!

(Uncle JP, Jackson & Rick)

Jackson loved the lights, but he really liked all of the fish exhibits! We let him walk a lot which made him very happy! The monkeys, and the elephants wee also a big hit. The baby Elephant (Samudra) was out and was putting on a quite a show. She was throwing sawdust and chewing on the chains on her fence! Jackson liked watching the animals a lot!

(Jackson making faces at the fake penguins)

We had intended to ride the train, but it was an hour wait! Jackson was way too hungry to wait that long! So, off we went to get a bite to eat and home for bed!

(Heading into the zoo! SO bundled up he doesn't even fit in his chair)

Our trip to Portland was a lot of fun! But, it was a bit exhausting! Rick and I have all of the week after Christmas off, so we should have some time to get home and relax a bit!

More to come!
Stephanie

Catching Up: Christmas!

(Our tree after Santa has visited)

We stuck with our tradition (two years in the making) and stayed in Washington Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, then we headed down to Portland to be with family!

We laid low for the most part, Rick and I both had to work up until the 23rd, so we hustled around finishing up all of our loose ends and then had a relaxing dinner at home on Christmas Eve.

After Jackson hit the hay, we contemplated putting together his Santa toys, we kept putting it off, and then finally drug the Little Tikes basketball hoop out of the box. The first three pieces went together with ease. And then the net. We spent two hours trying to get the net on the hoop. Wow. My fingers were numb and we weren't 100% successful. We rigged it for the time being and set out all of the other Santa goodies and then hit the hay ourselves.

(Our dining room after we unwrapped)

Then, Christmas morning, we coaxed Jackson into the dinning room where all of Christmas festivities were to take place. He loved everything, especially the basketball hoop, baseball T and golf set!

After we finished unwrapping presents, we feasted on Eggos and packed up the car to head to Portland!

(Jackson and his new vacuum)

The traffic into Portland was a bit heavier than the previous year (but come to think of it—it was snowy and icy last year), but we headed straight for the Munsell Household to visit with my mom, Greg, Madison and my Grandma. My mom had a whole feast of pre-dinner snacks (yumm...crab!), and we gathered around the tree, unwrapped presents and visited for a bit. It was very relaxing! Jackson was quite the spoiled boy! My mom got him a toy vacuum, and he politely started vacuuming the area around us (we did chat about getting some real suction power in the vacuum—Greg said he would look into it!), his infatuation with vacuums continues!

(His very own picnic table)

After a short visit, we headed to the Dooley house to visit with Jen, JP and Sara! When we walked in the door there was a new kiddie picnic table waiting for Jackson under the tree. He loves it. He has ate every meal there since we got it home! Once again, he was royally spoiled!

Jackson wasn't the only one spoiled! We were spoiled as well! We got a ton of new kitchen gadgets (which we really needed!), and some other knick knacks! My mom and Greg obviously took an inventory while they were here for Thanksgiving! We are very grateful for everything! I even got $125 in donations from my family for my Team in Training goal!

We spent the next couple of days in Portland spending time with family and friends, the perfect topping to the holiday season!

More to come!
Stephanie

Catching Up: Santa Claus

We waited until the very last second this year to take Jackson to see Santa Claus, let's face it, the token photo is more for me than anyone else.

I was dreading having to go to the mall and wait in the long lines, and as I was complaining about it one night, Rick told me about this little shop next to his office advertising Santa Photos and they never had a line. Well, I looked up the little Everett photo studio and sure enough, they were doing Santa photos on Christmas Eve. The winning line on the website was, "NO LONG LINES with shady characters!" Come on, you have to laugh at that.

And it was true, we walked right in, chatted with Santa for a few, snapped a few photos, and received our photo of Jackson in awe of his surroundings on a CD to take home. It took 15 minutes. I was anticipating 2 hours at the mall.

Woo Hoo! More to come!
Steph

Catching Up: Photo Season!

We had been meaning to get Jackson's photos taken around about his first birthday! He changes so much these days, that we are trying really hard to capture him professionally a couple times a year!

So, as we scrambled to get photos done in time for Christmas cards, we tried taking him back to JC Penny, like every other family in the Seattle Metro Area. Need I say it was a nightmare? Horrible. Here is a run down! We had an 11:00am appointment, we picked a time right between his two nap times in hopes of getting a good mood and patient little guy. We are okay with waiting a little but, when we got there, the line was backed up two departments from the photo area. I asked the gal in the front of the line what time her appointment was for and it was over an hour earlier. Wow, that is ridiculous. We checked in and were told they would call when we were one person away and we could go wander the mall. No joke I got a phone call 10 minutes later asking me why I had no showed our appointment. Ha! After politely explaining to her that we had already checked in, we went about eating a small lunch and meandered back to the studio after their call where we still had to wait another 20 minutes.

You would think this sob story ended there. But no. Our name was called and the photographer approached me (in a crowded, noisy, hot waiting room) and asked me what background and what props I wanted to use as if I had been studying the storage area for JC Penny (I probably would have had time). I simply showed her what we were wearing and told her it was up to her, as she knew what was available. She told us that she would get set up and we would get started. She came back 5 minutes later and escorted us back to the photo area. When we walked in there was a small brown couch (maybe 4' Long X 1.5' Deep X 5" Tall—SMALL), she asked all three of us to sit on the couch. Now, we aren't small people (she had seen all three of us), and we both looked at each other like, "this is a joke." We squeezed on, and she began to snap away as if we were perfectly comfortable. Once that one was done, we had told her to capture a few of just Jackson. She swapped out the brown background to an oh so creative white, and told Jackson to SIT on a red dot in the middle of the floor. At this point Jackson is in need of a nap horribly, two hours of waiting, in a crowded, hot area is not a good combo for a baby! So, he did nothing. No smile. Nothing at all. She did nothing to help the situation. We then told her we had a second outfit for him, she said okay, change him. She swapped the background back to poop brown and once again told him to SIT on the red dot in the same spot that it was earlier. I then asked her if she had a bog #1 for the token 1 year old photo. She said, yes and scampered off to get it. When she returned she had a small wood number one, smaller than a sheet of paper. What part of BIG did she not understand. So, I humored her knowing that the photo shoot was going unsuccessfully, and he held the number one as if repulsed by it as he started to cry uncontrollably because he was ready for his nap. We ended our photo shoot there.

We then waited 30 minutes to see the photos, where thankfully another gal helped us look over them (she got the only gold star that day), and was very understanding when I told her the experience was a disaster and wasn't going to be purchasing any of the photos. And that was that. The photos, especially the ones on the little couch that made us look like gigantors were all horrible!


So, I went another route. I had actually just spaced asking her earlier because I didn't want inconvenience her on short notice! Our friend Ali is pulling together a nice little photography business for herself. Little Peach Photography (check her out, she is awesome!). She suggested we head down to the Sculpture Park in Seattle, where she met us bright and early right after nap time. It was so cold that day (I think it was 22 degrees and right in the line of fire of the wind coming off of the water).



She started shooting and Jackson went into a meltdown. We couldn't figure out why. But after some assessment, we figured out that it might be that he got too cold and then when we went inside, he got that, I'm warming up to fast tingly feeling and didn't know what to do about it. But, wonderful Ali said, take some time, come back down, just give me a call when he is ready! So, we met again in the afternoon and had much better success!


Check out her blog and our new photos!

More to come!
Stephanie