Cuddles

My baby is getting awfully close to his third birthday. It amazes me how old he is getting. But I guess the days have to go by and he has to get older. So when he wakes from nap then falls back to sleep in my arms I am not in a hurry to wake him. Even if we have places to be. I could stare at his little face for hours. I try not to take these moments for granted. I know how soon they will be over now that Jaxson is five and will hardly sit on my lap let alone fall asleep in my arms.

Hot Cocoa. Extra Marshmallows.

My boy loves marshmallows. He would eat them for a snack every day if I thought pure sugar for a snack was a good idea on a daily basis. I don't.

It was the first really cold day of the year and I had a photo shoot scheduled. Despite the frigid temps they wanted to bulldoze through it. It was actually very succesfull with the help of a warm car break every few minutes. On my shoot I brought along a thermos of hot cocoa and we didn't enjoy much of it while I was there and brought plenty home for Jaxson to feast on. With tons of marshmallows for my little marshmallow man.

Art Class

I wanted Jaxson to participate in an extra cirricular activity. I had thought he would pick some sort of sport but instead he told me he really wants to take more art classes because it is his very favorite at school. I found a Super Saturday class at the art center about Pirates that I knew would be perfect!

Then when his best friends birthday came along and I couldn't think of anything perfect for him it dawned on me that he too would love this art class and more than anything they would love to go together. So that is exactly what they did!

 They have some other classes I will look forward to signing Jaxson up for! He seemed to really like it and if art is what he loves than we will encourage him to do just that. :)

State Champs

In a last minute decision I made my way up to UNI Dome to watch Adam coach his Dowling football team in the state finals. Channing had planned on driving up with her dad who couldn't go last minute and she was facing a two hour drive alone with a two year old. I called Dave and since we had nothing planned I made my way up there with her. It was a long trip but was all worth it when they won and we watched Adam give manly bear hugs to each and every one of his sweaty players. Paisley's face is probably a direct correlation that her dad smelling like a sweaty 17yr old boy. :)

It was a fun trip and I am glad I was able to go!

Grand Pumpkin Carving Champion: 2013

Author: Dave

The years of going easy on Jamie as she won numerous...numerous... pumpkin carving contests in a row is now over! Hard work, dedication and a well calculated design has resulted in me (Dave) becoming the 2013 Pumpkin Carving Champion.

I need to send a thank you to all of my supporters for voting for my jack o lantern. Nothing screams Halloween like a carved pumpkin of Tinkerbell and her fairy dust... I chose this pumpkin idea because I believed it would help hit our target blog demographic.  It also gave me a chance to use my power drill in the process.  All of the little holes which create the fairy dust were done with many different drill bits.

In all fairness, I must give props where props are due.  Congratulations go out to Jamie on her valiant effort to keep her carving crown.  Your homemade stencil of Jaxson was a brilliant idea and I believe it turned out great, even if it did result in a last place finish. I had lost this competition too many years in a row and have been consistently reminded of this, year... after year... after year....

Cheers to a new beginning, Five-Peat #2017

Kindergarten Fall Party

I love getting to see Jaxson at school. I like to see him give shy glances to his friends and try to hide his smiles because he knows I am watching. This year I even noticed a few comments and laughs with his friends which is a new development from last year.

Jaxson is always proud of having his little brother in his class with him. He quickly wanted to share his seat with him and told him the rules. He let him help with the letter bingo game they played to earn stickers and let him have one of his stickers. I almost wish they were the same age to be able to be together in school... I know I am crazy. :)

1/2 Price Pizza!

We accidentally fell into the best deal in Des Moines! We ate dinner at Centro downtown on a Monday when we didn't have anything planned. Too bad we found out after I already ordered pasta but two weeks later we went back and ordered plenty of pizza to go around. Really this is just posted to put some words and reason behind the cutest pictures ever....

There were blue lights on our walk to the restaurant and Jaxson was overly excited they used HIS FAVORITE COLOR!

First Snow

 We were headed home from the store when snowflakes began to fall. Asher was more than a little excited so when we pulled in the drive I grabbed my camera as he chased snowflakes all around. More than just a little adorable.

New Era of Book-IT

Nearly every time we drove past a Pizza Hut Dave would remind us all that he loved getting his free pizza there when he was a kid for the Book-It program. When Jaxson brought home his first Book-It in October I think Dave was twice as excited as Jaxson.

For our first book-it month we decided to read a chapter book. A chapter or two each night. Our book we chose was James and the Giant Peach. At the end of the book we promised him his book-it pizza and to get to watch the movie. There were nights he wasn't as interested as others, but the nights he was interested it was hard to stop reading when he would ask for another chapter and another after that.

Now that he is learning to read I won't get as many more years, if any, of reading him a book at night so I will cherish it while I still have the opportunity. And he got a personal pepperoni pizza that was just the right size.

Zoo Tots X2

Having a zoo membership sure is handy when you want to do something hands on and creative for your little one, but don't want to dream something up or execute yourself. Enter zoo tots cooking class. There is a story, a recipe, a craft, and an animal!

Our first outing was with Paisley and was on Halloween. The whole class was about pumpkins of course. They made a pumpkin parfait and make a pumpkin to hang in the window. We also got to feed the giant turtles a big pumpkin. Who knew it was a special treat for them!

Our second trip a few weeks later was with Mckinley and it was all about lizards. The kiddos got to meet a lizard but Mckinley wanted to get right down to business trying to get him out of the cage before he was formally introduced. And the kids got to make a apple caramel croissant which was actually super good even though it was so cute I felt bad eating it! :)