Happy Halloween

What a difference a year makes. Last year he was a pea in a pod and one of the cutest I have ever seen. This year he was a little Dracula, we called him Jaxula. I also learned a lesson last year and only bought about half the amount of candy. We still had to use our biggest pot because I still bought more than enough. You always want some leftovers right?? Last year I took one of my favorite pictures of Jaxson digging in the candy pot and this year I took a similar picture. It was complete coincidence that he is wearing a similar shirt.

2008

2009

Jack-O-Latern Competition

Another Halloween means another jack-o-lantern competition. This year we have an extra pumpkin entered since Jim is staying with us through this Halloween season. So we have, pumpkin A, pumpkin B, and pumpkin C. Voting begins NOW!!! We want as many people as possible to vote so round up the family!! You can find the ballot in the top corner and it will be available for one week!! ONE WEEK... get your votes in!

Pumpkin A

Pumpkin B

Pumpkin C

Favorite Things

Although it may not be as exciting as Oprah's favorite things it is fun to recap all of Jaxson's favorite things. I read this on Jennie's blog and thought it was a cute idea. Since things that intrigue them seem to change constantly it will be fun to look back and see what he loved at 16months.

Books! I love this one because he finally likes book. He usually has at least one in his hand. Brown Brown Bear tends to be one is his favorites.

Cell phones. All babies seem to have this fascination and Jaxson now has one of his own (an old cell phone) that he puts it up to his ear and 'talks' to you

E.T. He holds out his finger and touches your finger. We always say do ET, and he runs over. We usually follow it up with a "Jaxson phone home"

Bandana the dog. He loves to pet Naners and he is never far behind following him around giggling. I am sure that Niley doesn't mind the favoritism towards Naners.

Splash! Bath time is more fun when he can get everything, including me, as wet as possible. Sure, I taught him how to do it so I guess I can't complain.

Spaghetti. He doesn't eat much meat but loves loves loves meatballs.

Load, and unload. He will take things out and then put them back for hours. I am hoping this translates to a tidy little boy later.

Grocery shopping cart fun. He loves to spin in circles and speed up and slow down. It turns into a giggle fest that I just can't resist. We do more playing than shopping.

Cooking. He always helps me by mixing or pouring the ingredients into the bowl

Using baby silverware. And he is pretty good at it.

Shoes, shoes, shoes. His or anybodies and as many as possible. He will wear them, line them up, or simply carry them around.

Throwing soft baseballs. And he has a very good arm. Major leauges??? You never know.

Climbing. Not one of his mother's favorites though!

Kisses and loves (hugs). Its adorable when he comes from across the room with his kissy face.

Light switches. On.. off.. on...off. You get the idea.

Mega Blocks by Legos.

Sam the Sweeper. Thanks to Beth he took it home with him from the Halloween party and he hasn't put it down yet!

Shopping Cart for kids. Load it up and push it around.

Play area at Jordan Creek. He loves the slide mostly.

"Folding" laundry. He just can't help himself with a basket of clean clothes.

Bellybutton. He can find yours and show you his. He loves his bellybutton!

And he is one of my favorite things and can't wait to find out what he will love next.

Long Lines

Sunday afternoon turned into a lot of standing around waiting. It was worth it because Jaxson, Jim, and I along with thousands and thousands of others were waiting to get one of the 2000 H1N1 vaccines that were given to Des Moines. We lined up two hours early but we were already waaay back in the line. I almost kept driving but Jim talked me into at least giving it a try. I drug him along with me since Dave was working on his final. I am glad he agreed because it would have been an even longer day without company. About an hour and 15 minutes after arriving they started to file people inside the doors. The guy behind us said if you get in the building you are good. Then he said you have to get a yellow paper, then you are good. He was being kind of negative but he had already waited hours last time and was turned away. Bummer. The lines looked bad but we kept inching closer and closer. Finally, we were in the "final" line. We got our yellow paper initialed and I was feeling pretty good. When we were just a few people back I was worried that we would be next and they would make the announcement. That has to happen to somebody right? Luckily for this clinic they had limited it to 6mo-4 years, pregnant, 4-18 with asthma or diabetes (other chronic). What I did notice when I could actually see who was getting the shot that they weren't being very strict with those rules. It made me feel bad looking behind me and thinking of all the kids that wouldn't be able to be vaccinated because some adult took their shot. Luckily Jaxson was able to get his shot and we were off. Although he wasn't very happy about it I felt much better dropping him off at daycare today. Even though Melanie is very clean and loves hand sanitizer kids are kids and LOVE putting everything in the mouth. Everytime I heard of a child dying from this new flu I would get a terrible feeling in my stomach. I just couldn't imagine, no parent can imagine that. And with Jaxson being wheezy, and 'asthmatic' (they haven't actually said he has asthma) and on regular breathing treatments Dr. Fred said that he could be more sensitive to the respiratory problems that come along with this and the seasonal flu. It was worth the wait and hope that they get more vaccine available soon so all the kids waiting behind us can get it and have a healthy flu season.

The line BEHIND us. There were five times this many people in front of us.

Inside but still unsure about our odds. This was just one of the lines in front of us.

We were next! The relief was great when we finally were called up.

Halloween Party #2

We took a trip with all the other daycare kids and parents to Living History Farms. It has been forever since I have been there, seemed smaller than I remember. Maybe that is just because I am "big" now. Anywho, Jaxson and all of his friends had a great time! We stopped at each location and opened the candy bags for goodies. There were a range of things even some orange juice! Now that is something he could actually eat. All the other treats we will feed to Dave since he will just run off the calories anyway. :) We rode the horse drawn wagon, Mel's group took up the whole thing so we got a private ride. We roasted marshmallows and the kids ran around and played. It was a great day for the kids to be kids outside. One of the last unfortunately. Again Jaxson definitely won the non-official costume contest with parents and workers stopping and saying that he was the cutest Dracula they have ever seen. Granted, he is pretty cute in anything we put him in but I think we did pretty good job. Not to mention that his costume cost a total of 8 dollars, 5 for the outfit at Once Upon a Child (consignment shop), and 3 for the black hairspray. All the makeup was already in my makeup drawer. Maybe I can keep that part a tradition. Wishful thinking, I know. So far we have had a great Halloween season and luckily we don't have to get out the black hairspray again. We may dress him up in the outfit for beggars night but that will be good enough!

This is most of the daycare kids, some weren't able to make it. Jaxson's two good friends aren't shown, Rider and Quekem. (sp?) They all looked adorable!

Hayrack Ride, minus the hay.

The little dinosaur is Rider, one of Jaxson's friends. He will one soon!

On the ride. Melanie is the blonde in the red shirt. Her son is one of the Scooby Doo's.

Haha, those eyebrows make him look even more surprised.

Who says Dracula doesn't enjoy a roasted marshmallow once in awhile? Besides, I am Jaxula, and I eat marshmallows.

Worn out. Halloween is tough on a kid!

The Aftermath!!

Pumpkin Patch

Our trip to the pumpkin patch was the first for Jaxson and I and we will definitely go again each year! They had so many activities and "rides" the kids could play on, the tractor ride to the corn maze and pumpkin patch, and of course picking out your pumpkin. If any of you read the blog this time last year we always have a carve-off and let the blog readers vote on which pumpkins win the title. Picking out the pumpkin is a very important part of winning of course. We picked carefully. I also loved the pumpkin patch for all the photo opts it created! Some of my faves aren't posted because I have to redo my header to the blog.















Ok, I decided to post the pictures I was going to use for the header (and others). They are too cute I figure why not just post them all!

Bowlers for Boobies

Early this morning we loaded into the car all with at least a few extra layers to make a three mile walk through downtown. It was a little chilly but bright and sunny which is all you can ask for on a late October day. Jaxson and I walked with 25,573 other people in Race for the Cure. Dave also joined but he didn't do much walking as he crossed the finish line in 31.44. The runners of course started first and those with strollers had to start towards the end. That means that Dave was done by the time I got to the start line. He enjoyed a bagel and some water while Jaxson, Aunt Sue, some of her work friends also on the Bowlers for Boobies team, and I walked. Jaxson was able to chow down on some Gerber cookies and Aunt Sues samples of yogurt that she was able to accumulate before the race. Unfortunately we weren't able to get to the capitol early enough to scope out all the free samples but there were tons of them! Maybe next year. We will definitely do it again.

Also, VERY proud of Dave for finishing his second 5K in just 6 days. Two months ago he struggled through one mile. He has stuck to it and has been very self disciplined. I am surprised, proud, and a little envious as well. Maybe he will be able to get me out with him someday.

P.S. Jaxson looked adorable in his over-sized Race for the Cure shirt. But he has also not put down that talking broom since he wouldn't let go of it at the Halloween party on Friday night. Luckily Beth let him take it home.

Halloween Party #1

Jaxson had his first Halloween party Friday night at his cousin Addison's house. There were about 30 kids all dressed in various ghost and goblins. Actually the most popular was witch for the girls, I think there were about 5 or 6, and transformers for the boys. There were at least two in the exact same outfit. Jaxson was the perfect babypire, a baby vampire. Although it wasn't the most creative outfit it definitely got the job done. There weren't any costume contests but if there had I think Jaxson would have taken home the trophy. After a few parents told me that I should send in a picture to a contest of any kind I was convinced he would win. And just think, we get to do it again tomorrow when we meet Mel and all the other daycare kids at Living History Farms. Get the black hairspray ready!

From Start to Finish

Dave and Josh (aka Holcomb) both made it to the finish line on Sunday for the Des Moines Marathon 5K race. They also both did it shaving approximately 10 minutes off of their best time so far.They started 30 minutes after the half and full marathon runners. There were hundreds and hundreds of people for those races. It is amazing how many people actually run a marathon. Maybe this is just because I am a non runner but running 26 miles seems somewhat impossible and if not impossible just down right crazy.


The winner rolled in from the 5K in about 15 minutes, beating last years record of 16 minutes. Jaxson and Aubrey tried to walk around with all the layers they had on under their big winter coats. Leah and I all stood around drinking the free coffee that the Kum&Go girls were giving away with the coffee packs on their backs. About 15 minutes later Dave rolls through the finish line. We came around to all the free giveaways for the runners and had some water, orange juice, bagels and bananas. In just about an hour and half we were home, he was showered and stretched, and ready for the rest of our day to start. We made a big pot of spaghetti and had the whole fantasy football league over and they watched football literally ALL day.

The Kum&Go girls with FREE coffee/cappuccino. My favorite was pumpkin spice.

The winner!

Dave

Tired but happy they finished.

Way Behind..

I have so many post to do before this weekend because I will have so many more to do after this weekend. Better get to work....
Dave and I had a date day today. I had a couple extra hours off from work because I donated to the United Way campaign, and Dave is still trying to use up the last of his vacation days before they expire. Jaxson was off to daycare this morning and Dave and I went to lunch and a movie. It was nice to spend time doing things without the all the extras, like we used to. We went to the Cheescake factory for lunch. It was good and close to the movie theater which was our next stop. We saw the matinee of Couple's Retreat with Vince Vaughn. It was funny with some more sincere moments. The end was exactly as expected which I wasn't expecting, I thought they would have been a little more original.

The best part of the day was when Dave got mistaken for a high schooler. While in line there were a ton of kids in front of us with a teacher taking attendance. They all were getting tickets for Where the Wild Things Are on a school field trip. Dave was next, he walked up and the clerk took one look at him and said "same" thinking Dave wanted the same movie as all the other kids. Dave of course said no, because we were not planning on seeing that movie. Then the clerk looked up again and said, "oh your not with the field trip?" It was hilarious because the guy was more surprised that Dave wasn't in high school. Just think that this summer we will be attending Dave's ten year high school reunion.This is a perfect story for him to read when he is feeling old in a few years. Ok, maybe more than a few but you know what I mean.

XOXO

Just yesterday I told Jaxson to give me a kiss, which I do regularly, and to my surprise he ran across the room with his lips puckered out as far as he could get them and gave me a kiss. As with any new thing they learn you can't get enough of it and this is no different. Now I ask him about every five minutes because it is the cutest thing you have ever seen. I tried to get a video of this tonight, not perfect but remember I was taking the video myself. Enjoy.

Chuck to the Cheese

Dave had some left over vacation days to eat up by the end of October so he and Jaxson had some boy time Monday and Tuesday. Monday they did laundry so that on Tuesday they could go to Chucky Cheese. They ate lunch and played game after game racking up over 1000 tickets! Luckily Dave found some great coupons online and was able to get 100 tokens for only 10 bucks, and a coupon for a large pizza, four drinks, and 40 free tokens. I unfortunately was stuck at work all day. I would call on my break and I could hear all the chiming and kids laughing in the background. Now I know how Dave feels when we do something fun on Thursday or Friday and he doesn't get to be there. It was a bummer, but I am glad they got to spend a lot of time together since they don't get that as much as Jax and I do. Now that Jax, Dave, and Uncle Jim had their fun we have to make sure that it's not MORE fun that hanging out with Mommy. We are going to have to step it up a bit. Any ideas on fun trips for a one year old??

He looks like he could be a professional basketball player in this picture.

His face is priceless!

Jackpot!

Jackpot again! This time they were close enough to the ticket counter machine they had it come out of the game and right into the counter.

After he learned how to put in tokens he loved putting in tokens. They probably ended up playing a lot of games that Jaxson chose.

He liked the Wack Em game. Unfortunately the next day at daycare he didn't realize that he couldn't wack everything, including other kids. Not the best game to let your one year old play we have learned.

Getting sleepy or this ride isn't the greatest.

Before Dave could even get to the drivers seat Jaxson had crashed. Chucky Cheese wears them out!

PS. I have to say wow, and thank you to do Dave for taking just as many photos as I would have. I was impressed that I had so many to choose from!