In somebody else's shoes

You all probably won't find this as funny, but Matt and I were almost in tears watching Jackson walk around in Matt's shoes. It looked like Jackson had monster feet!    
I think Matt's shoe fetish has been passed down to his son (unfortunately he got my cheesiness, the proof is in the picture above!).   Jack loves to wear Matt's shoes around the house.  
One day it is his flip-flops, the next day it is his work shoes, and the next, his tennis shoes.  
I am glad we have such a fun kid to keep us laughing!  

A fun visitor!

Matt's cousin KC came out for business and brought his two year old Hailey. They stayed for a couple of days and Jackson and her became good, fast friends.  I watched her on Friday and I have to admit, it was much easier to have two kids than it is to have one.  They entertained each other and had lots of fun.  It was nice to have someone occupy Jackson's time so he wasn't always climbing on me!!  
They came up with lots of silly faces.
And cute ones at that! Jackson was so sad when his new friend left.

Dance Party!

Hailey wanted to show off her dancing skills! And boy can she dance!  Jackson just kind of jumps around in the background.  It was a nice way to get rid of some of their energy.

Splash Pad

Jackson and Hailey finished off their fun weekend by taking their dads to the splash pad.  
Hailey enjoyed going down the slide, and apparently she went really fast!  
Oh my translucent child!  Maybe one day he will get some color to his skin!  He does have some freckles starting on his little nose!  Looks like he is going to take after his mom in that department, much to Matt's dismay.  

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Ryan invited us to the Diamondback game last night, they played the Cubs.  It was so much fun. I was worried about how Jackson would like it and if he would sit still, and he did such a good job.  He was so into the game and he enjoyed all the treats that Matt got us.  At one point, one of the players slid into first base and he was so concerned that the guy was hurt.  All night he kept saying, "He falled down in the dirt" and we had to keep reassuring him that he wasn't hurt and that it was part of the game.  I think we have a full fledged baseball fan on our hands!  Thanks Ryan and family for the fun time!!

Go Diamondbacks

Date night with Lauren!  
Matt got Jackson a new D-back hat. He loves it!  
Ryan's cute little family.  Notice the Cubs shirts.  Yeah, they lost.
The long walk back to the car.
We had two tired two year olds!

A quick visit at the airport

Last night Jackson and I met my parents and my brother at the Phoenix Airport.  They had a two hour layover on their flight home from Italy, (I wish I could have gone to Italy!)  It was just enough time to grab a bite to eat at the airport.   
Jackson hadn't seen Uncle Sam in a long time, but he warmed up to him pretty quickly.  
So cute! 
Now, keep in mind they had been on two different airplanes for more than 10 hours. Jackson was very sad to see them go, but don't worry a little ice cream stop on the way home turned his mood around!  It was fun to see them even if was just for an hour!  

Sweet Redemption

Nap time has been a lot better around here lately. For those of your who read my last nap time post it made Jackson out to be a little monster!! So, I figured I would redeem him with this post.  Today I said, "Okay, time for a nap" (fully expecting a war). He got up from playing, went in his room, grabbed his favorite blanket and two pillows (he HAS to have his geeby and pillows) and laid himself down on the couch and went right to sleep.  It was so nice!!  He can be such a sweet boy. 

A visit to the Dinosaur Museum

Today we met up with Katie, Lauren, and Emma at the dinosaur museum here in Mesa. I was happy to see that Lauren had a "backpack" too.  Those little leashes work wonders!!  Jackson could walk around free as a bird and I didn't have to worry about him bolting, which is what he does! 
So happy to see each other again! 
Jackson had a lot of fun!
We had a fun day at the museum!  We came home exhausted! 

Panning for gold!

Katie, Lauren, and Emma had fun panning for gold!! 
Jackson just played in the water!
This is Elvis the crocodile.
Jackson enjoys pretending he is a crocodile, so he was very excited to actually get to see a real one!
The fact that this dinosaur was huge and had big teeth had no effect on Jackson.  He wasn't scared of it at all!  

My Big Boy

Jackson is showing off the new outfit his Great Aunt Becky got him.....and I can't help but think that he looks like a boy rather than a toddler in these pictures.  It makes me so sad that my baby is no longer a baby.   I always think that every stage is my favorite and then he moves on to the next stage and with it comes new adventures and sweet moments and I end up loving that stage just as much as the last!  Well, minus the attitude and the temper tantrums!
He sure is a cutie!  He loves this silly face.  

My Tired Boys!

I had a very relaxing, quiet evening.  Jack and Matt fell asleep around 7ish.   Ahhhhh....peace and quiet! 
I do have to admit, I got a little bored without my boys to entertain me!  

Terrible Twos!

My little man has developed quite the attitude lately.  He seems to think that he can fly off the handle whenever he wants and tell me where to stick it (in his two year old way of course)!  Well, nap time is the time of day that I have come to dread most!  He has started throwing these horrible tantrums every time I say it is time to go to sleep.  He cries and screams and rolls around on the floor and kicks and it is awful.  So, I usually give him a choice to sleep in his bed or on the couch (his room is like an oven in the afternoon cause it faces the sun so I prefer him to sleep on the couch or my room)  anyway, yesterday he was having his usual tantrum, he was screaming on the couch and throwing is head back and crying and all of that fun stuff and I didn't have the energy to haul him into his room to let him have it out there (which is what usually happens) so I just ignored him and let him have his scream fest. Well, after about five minutes of me ignoring him he finally looked at me and screamed "GOOD NIGHT" then he grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch, laid himself down and was asleep in two seconds.  It took everything I had to not burst out laughing which would have just prolonged his tantrum!  The way he screamed good night was like he was telling me "fine I will take a nap, but I am not gonna like it!"  And I just thought "you sure told me!!" I was just glad he finally fell asleep.  Is this what I have to look forward to with two children???  The fun never ends!!  

My poor little invalid!

We made a visit to the Urgent Care on Saturday night because earlier in the day Jackson fell on his foot while playing basketball with Matt.  We didn't think much of it at first because he fell asleep right after, but when he woke up he couldn't walk.  In fact, he refused to even put his foot on the ground and he cried every time we tried to get him to walk.
 After an X-Ray the doctor determined that there were no broken bones and that everything looked normal, but Jackson still refused to even put his foot on the ground.  The doctor said that there is so much cartilage in his foot that maybe he had bruised it.  
At any rate, the kid still cries anytime his foot touches the floor and has had to revert to crawling.  It has been nice having Matt home during all of this because he has been carrying him everywhere.  I am sooo looking forward to carrying Jackson everywhere tomorrow since Matt will be at work!    
Matt and Jack stayed home from church today and in order to entertain the poor kid who had gotten sick of sitting on the bed watching movies, Matt made him a "little house" as he calls it!  
Jackson sure knows how to milk his injury! Daddy even went out and bought him a new movie and has pretty much given in to anything and everything he wants!!  I am afraid at this point his foot will never "heal"!!! 

Happy 4th of July

We had such a fun 4th.  We had Ryan's family over for pizza and then we headed out to the fireworks. For our first attempt we drove out to Tempe for the big show but a storm rolled in and we were warned to take cover. We drove back to Mesa and ended up at a high school where the kids danced to a live band and we sat back and relaxed.  Last year it was about 110 degrees, we were dripping with sweat, even at 10:00 at night.  This year was perfect, the storm cooled everything down and we were in the low 90's!  It was such a fun night.  Happy 4th of July, we live in the best country in the world! 

The Big Firework Show

When they started, Jackson was in awe of the fireworks.
Then after a couple loud booms and some ashes falling into the crowd (and the crowd screaming and getting ready to run for it) Jack didn't like the fireworks so much.  He would look the other direction when they went off. 
Then he decided he liked them again. 
Hmm...after awhile they got a little bit scary and he would only peek through his hands.
And the last couple of rounds he got comfortable and started cheering and clapping.  Then for the finale he got enough courage to leave Matt's lap and he crawled up and sat next to Lauren and the two of them squealed and giggled!  Good times! 

4th of July Fun!

Ryan's family hanging out waiting for the fireworks.   

Lauren and Jackson hadn't seen each other in so long, they couldn't get enough hugs!  
I know this pic is blurry, but I couldn't resist posting it..what a silly kid! Jackson didn't stop moving, shaking, dancing, jumping, all night! He had so much fun.
Another hug from his best friend. 
Jackson put his hand over his heart during the National Anthem. He's my little patriotic man.