Go Fish

Last Saturday morning we decided to go fishing. Jon's boss lives in a neighborhood with stocked ponds, and told him we were welcome to bring the kids out. We thought it would be more fun if we acutally had a good chance of catching something! The big rain was still on the way, but it sprinkled on-and-off for most of the morning.

We headed down to Union Grove, AL, and got to work...

We had to walk down this huge hill to get to the dock. It was not rustic, but it was nice to have room for the kids to run around in a contained area.

Then the boys had to bait the hooks.

At age 2 and 3, I think the most fun thing about fishing is the worms!



Then it was time to fish. Jordan broke this rod, but still had so much fun playing with it...

Guess who caught the only fish???? ME!!!! :) SO fun! I let the boys take it off the hook, though! Both kids touched it--pretty funny.

When it was time to clean up, I guess the kids figured it out..."If we're putting everything we used in the tackle box, then I guess the worms we didn't use should go in there too!!!" Good thing I saw them in there...Jon would've had a nice surprise next time he opened it!

Back up this crazy hill...

On Jon's boss' golf cart to ride back to the house where our van was parked. This was a fun trip...but it definitely wasn't "roughin' it"!!! :)

Going Boating...Kinda...

Last Friday night I warned Jon that we were about to experience several days cooped up in the house b/c of the torrential rains that were coming...I recommended that we do something fun outside together. He came up with the idea of going to BridgeStreet, right across the road from our neighborhood, and ride the paddle/pedal (which one?) boats. (I can't really tell which is the right word, with the way people down here talk, and all!!)

Jordan always seems to be taking a baby with her everywhere she goes these days...

Lawson and Daddy

On the dock, getting ready to set sail!

Anyways...It was SOO fun! I was a little worried that there weren't seatbelts for the kids, but they had life vests, and they sat there SO still! It was great!


The whole night had a theme of weird sights...I started taking pictures of them for your viewing pleasure!

This hummingbird must've run into a storefront window b/c it was dead as a doornail lying on the sidewalk! I have never seen one super-up-close...Shocked at how small...so I put my keys next to it!

Beautiful sights abound at Bridge Street, but it's not so nice to enter a lake/pond area and be looking straight at porta-potties! Lawson asked "What are those?"

Turns out Lawson was fascinated with the buoys. We ended up spending the whole time paddling around from buoy to buoy, only seeing the other sights en route!

We went under this bridge and saw this--are you ready--BAT!!! Sleeping/hanging upside down!!! Right there! It was all by itself, and I couldn't believe it! Ewwww!!! The kids thought it was very cool!!

Here's that hummingbird again. The wind must've blown it over, b/c on the way back to the car it was flipped over. I PROMISE it wasn't me...NO WAY would've I touched it...but look what a pretty green it is..er, was...

There were also some very beautiful things to look at....

Looking back at the Carousel, Tommy's Pizza and the Boat/Gondola Dock

The Westin--It's huge!

The Waterfall over the Rocks--Behind the Westin

The Sunset...Looking over toward the bridge and Connor's

The Hurricane Fay clouds blowing in... Pretty, as long as it's not raining! :)

The night finished up with going to the soccer fields to kick the balls around, getting a couple movies at Hollywood Video, and grabbing a pizza for dinner. What a great family night!!

Crash Course

So Jordan had her 2 year check-up today. While I was checking the diaper bag to make sure we had everything we needed, she was walking through the kitchen and accidentally stepped on a toy and slipped. She hit the CORNER of the WALL with her NOSE!! She instantly started screaming, and I was terrified that she had broken her face! I saw it from about 5 feet away but could do nothing about it. The scratch/bruise goes from the middle of her forehead to the bottom of her nose. TERRIBLE!! At least I was headed to the dr. anyways!! He didn't seem worried about it. This picture is about 4 hours after the incident. She has a bit of a runny nose, and a rash under her left eye....Tomorrow she'll probably have 2 black eyes!! Pretty much she's just a big mess!!!

BTW...she weighs 28 pounds (60th%) and is 34 3/4 inches (75th%) tall....But I think the girl was in a hurry on the scale and she really should have stopped it at 27 1/2!!

Picasso-esqe...or maybe not!!!

The kids and I spent some time painting Thursday morning. We had spent the entire week running errands and doing things we "had" to do...I decided to have some "let's just be kids" time...

It was fun! Lawson LOVED it, Jordan liked it. Here's the art...

Jordan's Big Girl Bed!!!

Huge milestone this week!! We did it!!! Monday night was Jordan's first night out of her crib! It was also her first night without her paci(s)!! (We decided to traumatize her all at once!!!)

I noticed she was really interested in Lawson's big bed about 3-4 weeks ago--and would throw a fit when we would put her into her crib. I really wanted to get her a bed then, but we just couldn't spend any money that particular week! I have been nervous, though, b/c the last week or so she has really begun to love her crib and pacis. She would race to her crib, and then lay right down and fall asleep, holding 3 pacis and sticking a 4th in her mouth. Then at random times would switch a 'holder' for a mouth paci!! I was afraid we'd missed our threshold.

Well, we bought the bed and blankets Saturday, but held off on putting everything up. With doing Sunday papers, we just couldn't risk her having a bad night while we were trying to work!

So Monday was the big day! After dinner we started the process. I started cleaning up the stuffed animals that were strewn throughout the room while Jon started to disassemble the crib. That's right...we took the crib down! This means that we had no chance of even being mercied back into putting her in there should the night prove miserable!

Upon taking the crib down, I took out the pacis, and they have never reappeared! They're just missing! She did ask for them once in her sleep yesterday, but other than that, nothing!

Jordan slept in her crib with her feet sticking through the slats resting on the wall. Look at these dirty spots on the wall--we found them after we took the crib down... Yuck!!

How did it go, you may wonder?? Let me post step by step, maybe more for my memory than for your dying curiosity....

Monday night

8:45ish--Jon starts to put her down. Listens to a couple stories. Jon starts singing. Huge fit. Doesn't want to stay laying down. Tries to calm her down but to no avail. Leaves her for a few minutes b/c I'm doing Lawson's nighttime.

9:10ish--I go in there. Awful! Won't lay down, screaming something I can't understand. Finally I hear something about juice. I go get a sippy cup. The sucking motion on the cup resembles her paci, I think, and she almost falls asleep sitting up sucking on the cup. She's calm now.

9:30ish--She's laying down quietly. I start to sing slow, soft songs to her. First she's just looking at me listening. This is a very sweet memory for me...this is what I imagined when I learned I was having a daughter.

9:45ish--Her blinks have been getting longer and longer. Finally, by 9:50 or so, she can no longer resist...and she drifts off to sleep. About an hour. Not bad for the first night!

3:45ish--Jon gets up to do my papers and looks in on her. Wakes me up to tell me she has fallen off the bed, but is sound asleep on her pillows. I say leave her there.

Tuesday Morning

6:45am--She wakes up!! Man...this is 45 minutes earlier than her usual too early!! Good thing, she doesn't get out of bed til I come get her. Rough morning for me!

12:30ish--Time for nap. We'll see how this goes. I tell her we need to go up to bed and she happily starts walking up the stairs. I tell her to lay down (she does) and I'm going to go do Lawson.

12:35--I come back and she's laying there with her baby. I tell her she needs to lay right there and fall asleep like a big girl. I leave and take a quick shower, expecting her to be crying when I get out.

12:42--I don't hear anything. I go peek in on her, and she's sound asleep!!!! Could it really be??? She sleeps til 2:15. Shorter than usual, but we're still adjusting.

8:45ish--Time for nighttime again. I take the juice with me just in case, but she doesn't even ask. About 3 minutes of crying but calms down easily. She's not interested in a story (a little sad for me) but she looks at me while I sing. Sweet baby falls asleep by 9:05. 20 minutes--not bad!!

Wednesday

6am--She wakes up!!! Oh my cow!! I may die! I try to make her go back to sleep (Lawson always would) but she's not having it. I finally consent to let her lay in the bed quietly, but don't actually let her get out of bed until 7. Don't want to start any bad habits!!

1:15ish--She falls asleep on the way home from Anna's. I carry her up and she stays asleep. Asks for paci but eyes are still closed. I don't say anything, and she never wakes up. Sleeps 2 hours.

9:15--Late bedtime tonight--church night always is! I give her a drink before going upstairs. She gets in bed and lays right down. I sing her one song and tell her to stay in her bed and be quiet. I step out of the room and she stays quiet. I go downstairs to watch Olympics with Jon. Jordan is mumbling to her baby...I hear her say "baby's paci"...Within 10 minutes ALL is quiet.

3am--She wakes me up by standing at the gate in her door crying. I put her back to bed and she cries for a drink. I tell her no, and she needs to go back to sleep, then I go get dressed to leave. She falls back to sleep. Thank goodness!

Thursday Morning

5:40am--I get home, and debate whether or not to even lay back down. If she's going to wake up in 15 minutes, that will surely only succeed in making me utterly miserable. I am tired, though, and decide to risk it.

8:45am--I am awakened by Lawson, who hardly ever wakes up first! He is NOT my early bird! I am thrilled that the sun has been up long before I have today! :)

All I can say is that after 3 nights I think she has made the adjustment very well! I am so excited to just make one transition with the bed and pacis, not get used to the bed then have to fight over the pacis. SO so so so thankful for a great experience!! :)

Over-run

Following the messy house comment in yesterday's post I would like to elaborate on one factor of that equation...my house is also being OVERRUN by magazines!!

Last year my Northwest Airlines frequent flier account sent me a message that my miles were about to expire but I could redeem the miles for points then pick some magazines. We would get a year's subscription at absolutely no cost, but with the option to resubscribe if we wanted to.

Shortly after this Jon ordered me some flowers, then took some sort of survey to get free magazines or something.

Then he joined the NRA and got some free magazines...

So...I just want to post a list of the magazines that come to our house!!

Time
Newsweek
ESPN Magazine
Fortune
Money
Outdoor Life
Car Craft
Hot Rod
Oprah
Country Living
American Hunter
American Rifleman

Geesh! Anyone's kids have any projects coming up and need some magazines to cut pictures out of??? :)

It was a good run...

For those of you who are close to passing out...NO I didn't really go on a run!!! :) That's sooooo not like me! :)

I'm referring to the beginning of August, where, supposedly I had plenty of blog fodder to fill my pages! Seriously, I had lots of posts. And right in a row! How fun is that!

But, sadly, all good things must come to an end. Why? Not sure... Maybe nothing to say. Maybe b/c I had company. Maybe b/c I'm tired!

Let me give a sampler of info...for your blog-browsing pleasure...

*Let me just say that my husband ROCKS!! He is so awesome! This morning he did my papers for me--that's a few shy of 400 regular papers. Then he did my weekly ads that I usually do on Wednesdays so I could go hang out at Anna's for a little bit this morning! (That's about 500 more papers.) He's gonna be so tired tonight, but I really appreciate him doing that for me b/c I have been getting to bed pretty late the last few nights!

*My mom was here for a little more than a week. It was a good visit and the kids truly enjoyed getting to play with Babo. I'm glad she makes an effort to come see them on their birthdays. It was also so nice of her to let me get some errands done--You know I take advantage of that whenever I can!!! :)

*Jordan is now sleeping in a big girl bed without her paci!! We did it all at once and she's doing great! It's a little bit more effort to get her to sleep now, but she's doing well for 2 big changes all at once! I'll probably post about this more extensively later...

*My house WILL NOT stay clean! I don't know if I've been busier than usual, or more tired than usual or having more company than usual or probably all three....but MAN! I can't keep the dishes caught up, and the floors swept up, and the laundry... The kids are sleeping now, and all I want to do is take a nap!

*I got an email today to tell me that someone had commented on a previous post. Pretty interesting...The one where Lawson was singing Blue Skies and Rainbows. Anyways...check it out...the 4th comment--pretty cool! :)

That may be all for now...I'm falling asleep at the computer...Guess I'll post more laterrkjdkfa;sjdkjtaks;ltjklllllllll.....ddda

New 'Do

At two...

At birth...

At one...
At two...

This year Jordan has really grown up so much. She is talking like crazy. She loves to sing and dance. She loves her big brother and wants to do everything that he does. She loves to ride her bike. She loves to go to Bible class.

When she wants something she makes that known!! Sometimes she walks around trying to get my attention by clapping over and over and saying “I want a dri-i-i-i-ink!!!”

She loves to eat ANYTHING I give her and her favorite restaurant to ask for is Chick-Fil-A. I think her favorite things to eat are pizza and grapes and yogurt. She is very good at eating with a spoon and a fork.

She is usually very pleasant and social, but can also be shy or throw a monster of a tantrum!! She is active--she loves to run, play, climb, and jump. She loves to talk on the phone, both for real and in play. She has started loving to carry around purses and baby dolls…it is very cute when she is trying to feed or rock her baby.

She can count to 10 most times without any mistakes (although she sometimes misses 4!) She pipes in on the ABC song but can’t do them by herself. She is learning some of her shapes—she knows star, heart, circle, triangle. Colors are a struggle—she knows (and loves) pink, but everything else seems to be blue! She says full sentences, like “I want my socks on” or “I want to go outside” or “I want my show about the park.”

She sleeps all night, every night. Right now she's still in her crib and still uses her paci, but we are currently looking for a big girl bed and the paci will stay in the crib and go bye-bye. When she wakes up from night time or a naptime she stands up and hollers at me “Mommy…I’m do-o-o-ne!! I’m ready to wake u-u-u-up!!

I am just so proud of who Jordan is growing up to be! I can’t believe another year has passed, but I am so excited to see what this coming year has in store for her!