Media Privileges

 I am nearing the end of my contract year with the Junior League of Des Moines. I have photographed many of their meetings and events since fall of last year. This weekend I photographed an event called Touch-a-Truck. It is a fundraising event where they have all different vehicles, firetruck, cop car, dump truck, tractors, etc, and let the kids climb inside and out of them.


While I was running around snapping away a firefighter came up to me and asked if I would like to go up in the firetruck lift thingy and photograph the event from above. I was a little nervous but more excited and said of course!! I have never had media privileges like this before. I felt pretty special. I felt even more special when he said that it is against the rules to let people take a "ride." The brought the lift down, put a belt on me (that was so big it was pretty useless but required) and up we went. He told me that it goes 95ft in the air, or about 10 stories. Which makes sense when they are trying to save people from apartment buildings and such. But you certainly can't be scared of heights to be a firefighter! He also told me to pass the training you have to go up and back down the ladder when all the way up within three minutes. eeks!!!

As we were on our way down we could see the kids start to swarm the little box. And as I was taking off my belt they all started at the same time.... "can I go next?!?!" But the had to have their little hearts crushed when they said that they coudln't do any more rides. One boy came up to me shortly after and said... "you are SO lucky!!" And he was right!! 

My friendly firefighter and lift captain.

On our way up!

Back on the ground. This wasn't all the way up but it was where they kept it for show. Still pretty tall though!!

Partners

Last night the Holcombs came over for dinner and Jaxson and Aubrey were off to play and giggle the whole time. And this time Asher was right behind them trying to keep up. It was pretty darn cute. They would chase Asher and Asher would chase them and it was fun to watch them all having so much fun together. Later that night Dave asked Jaxson if Asher was his best friend. He answered he didn't know.

Then as I was reading him a book and tucking him into bed I asked him again. He just smiled and said that no, Asher wasn't his best friend. He said Asher is my partner. I asked if he would always be his partner. And he said yes, forever.

I seriously haven't ever heard anything more adorable and sincere in my life. And as they get older and may not always be friends I need to remember what Jaxson said. That no, they might not be best friends. They will each grow and have friends of their own. They may not even like each other sometimes. But they will always be partners and really that is what counts.

Hysterical

 Jaxson requested the storytelling stylings of Dave tonight and so they were off to read Toy Story before bed. As I sat in the living room I could hear Jaxson start to laugh so much he could barely catch his breath. It was a true, honest laugh. Something was the funniest thing he has ever heard in his three years. I was pretty curious what was so darn funny, but I didn't want to interupt. I had a feeling whatever was so funny probably wouldn't be so funny with mom around. And I was right. Dave always reads the authors names, illustrators, etc when he reads the books. Well.... the illustrator of this particular Toy Story book has a pretty funny name... to boys anyway. Curious what his name was?? Watch the video of Jaxson telling you....

  And I am not sure they ever actually read the book. Both of them just said the name and would laugh. Then the other would say his name... and laugh. Boys will be boys... and it apparently never gets old (as you can hear Dave laughing so hard he is nearly crying in the background)

Flowers

On Sunday Anne and I went to have a photo day. We did this often in the fall and over the winter we never were able to find time. We only got flowers yesterday, which I have never taken alot of. I don't know why, it is hard to take a bad picture of a flower. After getting home I started to learn some different editing techniques for flowers and they might be my favorite thing ever now.

Here is a before and after I took of a pretty pink rose on my photo.

Here is a link to more flower photos we took that day on my photography blog!!

Sock hands

The other night when tucking Jaxson in at night Dave thought for a second that he was sleeping upside down. But then he realized he had just decided to take his socks off his feet... and put them on his hands. He so silly...

Record Rainfall

 

In June 2008, just before Jaxson was born, we had record rainfall. I looked it up and it was June 5th, it was record rainfall of 4.40 inches. That was the day our basement flooded.  I only remember because we had my baby shower the last week in May and that night we spent hours in the middle of the night carrying boxes after gift bags upstairs to save all the gifts! We ended up sleeping down there that night because there was terrible storms and tornado warnings. Of course, being 9 months pregnant, I had to get up to use the bathroom and stepped into a puddle of water. Not cool... We put in a sump pump and replaced the carpet with tile. We haven't had a problem since.

Then on Saturday night, when they released all the warnings about the terrible storms that were coming, we had record rainfall again. It was over 4.00 inches and all happened in just a half our or so. After dinner we heard the dryer buzzing like it was done with a load of laundry. But there was no laundry in it. Dave went to go check and when he saw the whole bottom step was covered with water it was a whirlwind of trying to get it to stop. My dad also came over with a sump pump and luckily it wasn't too late and they were able to get it all dry before bed. Dave found that it was just coming in the basement door. Not much got ruined since Dave was able to get it cleaned up so fast. So basically, if there is a record rainfall... our basement floods. Awesome..

Baby Shower

 Anne is just about a month away from her due date and that meant it was baby shower time. It was easy for her since we did at her condo's community room so she didn't have to lug all the gifts home since they were already pretty much there. We had food from Flarah's in Beaverdale and it was so good!! I think I am going to try to find a copycat recipe for their chicken salad. :) So many of Anne's friends were able to make it, many driving in from out of town. Now that she has pretty much everything she would need its just time to wait for the baby to arrive!! June will be especially exciting since all five cousins will be together for almost a whole month, plus Jaxson and the twins will be having birthdays!!

Anne with her mom Sue, and Elaine her mother-in-law

Anne with her sister Carissa and her mom Sue

Anne, her sister Carissa, and I

Carissa with her little girl Harper, 2 months old

Anne with all of her friends from her hometown and college

Challenging....

A month ago I wouldn't have thought I would write this but Jaxson has been soooo challenging lately. It is like a switch turned in him and he now thinks its fun to be naughty. He will turn on a dime and become this raging three year old. Bedtime is beyond agonizing right now. He just screams bloody murder, kicks and throws stuff in his room. He has lately been hitting himself if he gets angry. I just don't understand it. I can't help but to angry at him after so long of dealing with it. He will pout if he doesn't get his way but he won't tell us what his way is... so even if we could accommodate his request he won't tell us, he just is mad that we didn't do it his way the first time. And really.. lately he hasn't acted in a way that he would get what he wanted anyway. It has been days since he has been allowed to play with his games. He is supposed to be going to Grandma's to stay the night tonight, but that is a privilege, and one he can lose. And to Jaxson, that is the ultimate punishment... Asher goes to Grandmas and he doesn't get to. I am going to do some brainstorming on some other behavior consequences because time-outs aren't really cutting it. Mainly for me since a three minute time out takes about 30 minutes for him to complete since he goes into a fit. ugh.... I know its all just a phase and he is just testing his limits... but it is testing my limits and I am finding that my patience is wearing thin. Just to get us both through it I might have to move up bedtime an hour so I can have some peace and quiet.. and maybe learn to meditate.. haha

And on top of it.. or maybe it is just a part of him rebelling... he has been wetting the bed all the time. And last night he did it twice!! Once at 2am then at like 7:30. When I was talking to him about it he laughed and said he did it twice like it was a good thing. I just don't understand... And then he told me that he didn't get out of bed to go potty because I told him to stay in bed. But every night (lately) I tell he needs to stay in bed (instead of throw a temper tantrum) but I always include if he has to go to the bathroom he is allowed to get up. But he now is saying that he is peeing the bed because I told him he had too. We might have to start using pull-up's at night to get through this stage...

And really, I know that my Jaxson boy is really a very well behaved little guy most of the time. So I really shouldn't be complaining but lately he has been challenging.

Scavenger Hunt!

Who has great ideas at 11:30 at night just as movie is ending and everyone is tired. This Easter bunny!! I decided that we should do a scavenger hunt for Jaxson to find his basket since he loves puzzles so much. I thought it would be a little different than the traditional egg hunt he would be doing later in the day. I do have to say that my rhyming skills aren't too great this late at night.

We had to put the first clue where he would see it in the morning. I knew just the place. The first thing Jaxson does every morning is stumbles to the fridge to get his very favorite yogurt. So next to his yogurt was a collection of eggs and his first clue!  He turned to me and said, "What are these doing here?? That's incredible!!" I was excited he was excited... but then he just grabbed his yogurt and slammed the fridge. Not really the response I was looking for but I guess the kid was hungry. After opening his yogurt he sat the clue down on the table with the eggs. I read it out loud to him and he was listening carefully. It read:

Clue 1: 
Jaxson, 
Find some eggs and your next clue where you wash your hands and dishes too.Water runs out of the faucet here and makes lots of bubbles if you add soap there. 

 It was in the sink!! And he really did figure it out all on his own. He was at this point starting to get the idea and grabbed the eggs and the clue and ran to the kitchen table to read it. It said:

Clue 2: 
Jaxson, 
Congratulations on finding my eggs and your on to your next clue. Sometimes alone and sometimes with Asher you soak in the water with lots of bubbles. You suds up your hair down to your toes and when your done your as clean as a whistle. 

He smiled big and ran to the bathroom where he found his third clue in the bathtub. This time he just left the eggs and took the clue back to the kitchen counter. I was so happy to see he was more excited about the hunt than he was the candy filled eggs!! He was all ears as we read the last clue. It said:

Clue 3:
Jaxson, 
Your on to your last clue where you'll find your big prize. It's where your mom and dad lay down at night and when your sick you curl up here and watch a flick. I hope you love what I left for you there, I will hear with my big ears when you start to cheer. 

He ran into our room where he found his basket waiting for him. He grabbed it and ran to the living room to go through all the goodies. He found a leappad game, sidewalk chalk, glowsticks, and a new shirt, along with a couple fruit snacks and candy filled eggs.

And of course Asher had to get a clue as well. His was a little more simple than Jaxson's and only came with one.

 Asher, 
Your basket is easy on this Easter. You will find it on a bright red couch that is just your size.

 Jaxson put his basket next to Asher's on the little red couch. I snapped a quick picture before they started to sort through them. Asher got some gold fish, yogurt bites, and two pajamas. He was pretty excited!

Colored Eggs

Friday night we colored up some eggs. I think Jaxson pretty much told everyone he could throughout the day that we were going to color eggs. He was so excited. Once we got home we filled several containers with a little vinegar and off we went. He dipped, soaked, and even accidentally cracked a few eggs but in the end we had 12 beautifully colored eggs and a happy preschooler.

Asher on the other hand wasn't participating. Not because he didn't want to though. He cried, screamed, kicked his feet, and threw some toys when he wasn't allowed to play with the colorful water. I also think he was trying to sabotage since anytime he walked by the table he tried to pull the newpaper off and run away. Next year little guy... your totally in!!

Embarrassing

We took my computer into the Apple store today because my power charger has been flickering and the one year is nearing an end. I wanted to get it looked at before my warranty has ended. Anyway... we went to Panera to grab a bite to eat. Jaxson apparently wanted to do something different and eat in the mall and not in a restaurant. I explained that the 'restaurant' was in the mall. It didn't work. So he stood in the aisle and pouted. We went on with eating our lunch when a lady wanted to walk by Jaxson in the aisle to get to an open booth. He wouldn't move and was acting bratty. I had to physically move him out of the way and he got very angry. So angry he turned around and hit her!! Not me.. but the lady we don't even know. I wanted to die. I was so surprised and embarrassed. I couldn't believe he did that because he won't even talk to other people... how could he hit someone!! He got her purse and I didn't think she noticed but regardless that is unacceptable. I took him around the corner and spoke with him. He started to eat some of his food but I told him that he couldn't have his treat until he went to apologize to her. He slowly got up from the table and I went with him. I explained to her what happened and he said 'sorry' so quietly that really you only see his lips move. He was shy and embarrassed, but he needed to learn the lesson. We debated on making him do it because I really didn't think she noticed (she didn't she said when we talked to her) but if we hadn't made him apologize what message would that have sent. She wasn't upset obviously and was very sweet when he came to talk to her but seriously I was so embarrassed he would do that.

He also lost his privilege to play on the Ipad/ipod today for throwing a 20 minute fit when it was time to turn it off and leave. Not a good day for behavior.... obviously....

Big Bug

The other night Jaxson had brought all of his blankets into the living room and was making a big bed. All the sudden he came running into the kitchen and said he saw a big big on one of his blankets. We checked and looked in every blanket and around. Nothing. I figured he had seen a fly or something like that but he was adamant it wasn't a fly... it was 'just a big bug' as he kept saying. Then yesterday morning I was folding laundry and all the sudden on the carpet I saw a big spider. I am not really a fan so I kind of freaked out a little bit. I couldn't really get it since it was on the carpet so I grabbed a tupperware that was on the floor (since Asher pulls them all out all the time) and trapped him. When he walked up to the side of the container I slid a book under it. As soon as Jax saw it he excitedly said that was the 'big bug' he saw yesterday in an "I told you so" kind of way. Jaxson was fascinated watching it. Any time Asher came over to take a look Jax would tell him to not be scared and that spiders don't hurt you. Jaxson told Asher that he lives outside and he was lost. So when Dave came home we put the little big guy outside. It seemed the right thing to do since Jaxson just finished telling Asher that spiders were nice and he was just lost.

Photo Shoot..

 A photo shoot without me behind the camera. Weird, I know! It took me a minute to leave for a beautiful park and the boys looking so nice without my camera. But I did and glad I did! My friend does photography just like I do, more for fun than for money, and so we decided to do a photo swap. I do hers and she does mine. It was so successful we will definitely be doing it again and I almost can't wait. It is so much fun to see your family as other people see it. And she did such a great job, I have looked and re-looked at them and it doesn't seem to get old.

Real Life... Jaxson wasn't too fond of the idea at first and decided to stand and pout. But I am kind of glad he did because I really love this photo.

So handsome.. and looking so grown up.. :(