Oh, Jack

I don't even know where to begin... Jack has provided some real entertainment the last few days and I don't want to forget any of it... good and bad!

The other day after he and I had been bickering for awhile he finally gritted his teeth looked at me and said... "MOM, you are seriously driving me crazy!" I bit my tongue and didn't say the obvious that he was seriously driving me crazy too! We butt heads so bad some days! The same day Ryan was getting dressed for work and threw his clothes into the hamper (not sure why... as he usually uses the floor) and Jack immediately whipped the clothes out of the hamper and tossed them directly onto the floor where the dirty clothes usually are. He said "DAD, those don't go in there!" Looks like the whole family needs some training as to the correct place to put the dirty laundry!

Later that afternoon he was looking at some things of Ella's that I had bought. He exclaimed "oh, that's cute. Next year when I turn into a girl will you buy one for me!" Sorry buddy, the chances of you turning into a girl next year are pretty slim!
He just cracks me up somedays... and then there's days like Tuesday of last week...

It was a school day and he was having a hard time with adjusting to having to go to school. I didn't want to give up because when he got home he always had a great time and loved it but the transition of me dropping him off was hard. And to be honest, I NEED those four hours a week while he is at school! So back to Tuesday... he had boo hooed all morning that he didn't want to go to school. I packed him up anyway and off we went. We arrived and we are on time. I go to get him out of his carseat and he immediately starts screaming... we are talking top of the lungs screaming as if I were trying to cut his fingers off. He gripped his carseat so tight his knuckles were white. After I managed to wrangle him loose from his seat he immediately jumped up and ran into the back of the van and hid. No big deal, I thought I will just pop the trunk and snag him. As soon as I openend the back he made a flying dash into the front of the car. You get the picture... I can't catch the little twerp! All the while, Ella is out of her seat and made her way to the front of the van and helped herself to my can of diet coke. Sitting in the drivers seat just slurping away! I can only imagine the sight.... probably extremely comical although at the moment it was far from funny!
I finally managed to wrangle him once again after I'm sure I spouted off some threats of his life and maybe a few bad words. I get the beast out of the car all the while he is still screaming at the top of his lungs. He kicks off his shoes and I continue to drag him towards the school. Finally we made it near the door but I had to let go of him to get it open. I opened the door probably red faced and sweating over the whole ordeal and tell the teacher Jack is having a rough day. She says "just send him in he will be fine" so I turn around to grab him to push him into the school and he is gone. Yep, GONE. I start looking around and thought surely he had ran back to the car and we were going to have to start all over when I happen to notice him hiding from me in the BUSHES! Yes, he climbed through all the flowers and made his way into the bushes so I couldn't find him. No luck buddy, you are definately going to school. So off I went. My screaming kicking package delivered safely to the teacher and me in tears heading back to the car. I thought to myself I better just stick around a few minutes and hear what happens. So I go back to the bush hide a bit so he can't see me and guess what.... he cried MAYBE 30 seconds and was over it! When he got picked up the teacher said he had a fantastic day and he agreed! Oh and just so you know, this ordeal lasted nearly FIFTEEN minutes! This kid knows how to throw a fit!

So far the next few drop offs we have had have went EXTREMELY well in comparison! I'm so glad I didn't give in and let him not go although I was very close to doing so! Today he even jumped out of the car and walked into the school by himself!! I couldn't hardly believe my eyes!

He is definately one of a kind and we wouldn't trade him for anything... Well almost anything! Just kidding... love you Jacker Man and thanks for reminding me just WHO is the boss around here!

Here we go again....

It's fall...

I love the fall...

Love the cooler weather...

Change of wardrobe...

Halloween and Thanksgiving...


I DO NOT LOVE...

Fantasy Football... AND

Hunting Season...

Goodbye dear Husband....

See you in a couple of months!

Everyone please wish me luck that I can keep these wild beasts in control while he's away!

Pre-School

My baby boy started school yesterday and I couldn't decide whether to cry or to celebrate. I chose a little of both and although we missed him dearly.... I haven't enjoyed a shopping trip to Costco that much in a long time. He had a great time and was such a big boy. I hadn't thought through what this was all going to mean until the night before as I was trying to go to bed. I told Ryan that I was freaking out a little because I'm just dropping my baby off and leaving him for someone else to watch out for. Besides small visits with Grandma I have been with him 24/7 for three years and giving up that control was a little hard to swallow! Luckily, he had no tears when I dropped him off and he was so brave! It probably helped he had his trusty old pal Rylee there and they immediately got busy playing! I just can't believe he is old enough for school but I hope he absolutely loves it and we're keeping our fingers crossed he can behave his rotten little self and not get kicked out!

Oh and we owe a shout out to Uncle Nate for teaching him that magnificent pose that he used for 90 percent of all the pictures I tried to take of him!



And just because I think he's cute.... here's a couple more!

Backyard Camp-Out

I'm so glad Ryan has the kids to do these kind of things with. People might think he was crazy sleeping in the backyard if he didn't have the excuse of "doing it for Jack." They had a great time although I'm not sure they will be doing it again anytime soon. Maybe it was the mixture of the neighbor's leaving their porch light on all night or the sprinkler shower from over the fence but for some reason Ryan didn't get much sleep!

Now before any one calls child protective services.... this is how they play. Extremely rough! Most of the time Ella was laughing her head off but we had to yell at him a time or two to tone it down!






I'm pretty sure the neighborhood kids think he is the coolest (or weirdest) dad ever. They just couldn't believe we had our tent up in the backyard and were making smores in our charcoal grill!

Ella's FAVORITE game is to peek over the fence into the Kinghorn's yard. She is our little peeping Tom. She will stand at the fence and say "hi hi hi hi hi hi" until somebody lifts her up so she can peek over!

E-I-E-I-O

A few nights ago we headed out to the farm at Thanksgiving Point. Our annual pass expires soon so I figured we needed to at least use it a couple more times. It was fun and the kids really enjoyed it because Ryan was able to come with us! Ella was especially excited because it meant for the first time she was also able to ride the horses. When I go alone it's just not possible to let both of them do it by myself so she has always had to watch from the stroller. I have a funny feeling that in the future she is not going to be content just observing from the stroller. I may have a fit on my hands!

Scummy Smiles

I'm not sure I want to admit these children are mine. They were completely scummy this day with dried boogers, food on their clothes, and dirt stuffed under their toenails but Jack insisted I take their picture together! So try to look past the scum and see their cute faces under the layers of filth! :)

Warning.....

Never.... I repeat NEVER let your father pick out your outfit! Yes the is an actual ensemble that Ryan put together for her to go outside and play!

Family Pictures

A few weeks ago we were able to get family pictures taken by Dana Goodrich and I absolutely love them! There are so many great ones and these are just a few that I stole off of Jen's blog- Dana did an amazing job especially because two of her subjects were very far from being cooperative!




LOVE THEM ALL!