Kid's Museum

There is a kid's museum here that the boys and I have gone to with friends so Saturday we thought we would go as a family.  Brent had just as much fun as the boys possibly even more.  This was one of the favorites of Daddy and Jax. You get to scoop up gravel and move it and dump it.

Jagger had a blast climbing and crawling all over the place.  They have a nice area that is closed off for smaller kids to play.

Jax wasn't too sure about this at first but after a while he decided to check it out and loved it.  You crawl through the opening where Jagger is and then there is a rabbit hole to climb out and go down the slide.

 Here is the erosion table.  You get to play in the dirt and sand and water creating rivers and get nice and messy.

They have tons of other fun things to do like a water table with boats to play with, lots and lots of play food and shopping carts, and another favorite was the picnic area.  They have a play grill and Jax has watched his Daddy grill enough to know how it is done.  He pulled up a chair and grilled up some hot dogs and even shared some with some other kids.  He kept reminding us that the grill was hot.  I wish I had gotten a picture of it. Oh well, we have a year membership so we will be making many trips to play I'm sure.

We spent the rest of our day working in the backyard. We got a lot done, but still have a lot to do. It was nice having Dad home for the whole weekend again, it is always a treat to spend so much time with him.

9 Months and Then Some

Jagger is just over 9 months now, I know I've said it before but the time just keeps flying by. He has such a personality, he is very independent and will entertain himself for hours unless he is tired or hungry. He loves playing, exploring, and making messes wherever he goes.  He loves to empty a bucket of toys then move on and empty another, then move on and pull all the books off the bookshelf, then find another box of toys to empty out.  He likes to play with Jaxon but he loves when he has free range on any and all of the toys.  He loves to clap his hands, and is starting to dance when he hears music playing.  We have many dance parties throughout the day and he bounces around to the beat while watching Jax go crazy dancing, spinning in circles and singing along to the songs.  Whenever the song Moves Like Jagger comes on Jax gets pretty excited and starts singing it really loudly to Jag.  Jagger is a great eater, He will eat anything but baby food. About a month ago he just started to refuse it and would get angry when we fed it to him so now he is loving eating everything we eat, but PB&Js are definitely a favorite right now. We've been working on getting him to use a sippy cup and he is finally getting the idea of how it works. He likes to be outside but doesn't like crawling in the grass so he will bear crawl instead. He enjoys walking as long as he is holding onto someone or something.  He still isn't standing on his own for very long, maybe 3-5 seconds before he either falls down or he will grab onto something and sit back down.  I'm definitely not pushing him to walk but it would be pretty handy sometimes if he was. He is doing great with stairs he climbs up  just fine.  We have been working on the coming back down and he is doing pretty well with that. We have a couple steps going from our living room to the dining room and he has caught on pretty quick with some friendly reminding as he heads to go down the 2 steps to turn around and he will now turn and go feet first on his belly, instead of face first. He is a very strong willed boy, he knows what he wants and doesn't give in easily.  He used to be a real mama's boy, but he is starting to like spending more and more time with dad.  When Brent gets home from work Jag is right there with Jax and Payton to greet him and gets upset if he doesn't get a proper hello. He still only has 2 teeth on the bottom, but he has been teething for the last month or so and at least 1 top tooth will hopefully make its appearance soon. 

I have been hitting up a lot of garage sales the last few weekends, mostly to get out of the house for a while with the boys but we have found a few good finds.  

The boys got a sweet new ride! To make it even better it was FREE, the only problem was it needs a new battery, but for now daddy does a pretty good job helping out.

 Jax loves to sing songs, but lately he has been really funny about when we can sing.  For 3or 4 days unless he was wearing this wreath around like a necklace we were not aloud to sing. If I started to sing he would scream and tell me no singing songs mom, then a few minutes later he would put on the wreath and tell me to sing with him, then he would start singing as loud as he could.

Six for Friday

I've found that by doing a post at least once a week, I'm a lot better about taking pictures of things.  so here we go:

1. Nap time can be really hard with Jaxon. He is at a point where he still needs a nap or he is super cranky, but he fights taking them until way too late in the day so then he is up way late at night we are talking 10pm some nights, then wakes up bright and early 5:30-6am.  Pretty much the only sure way to get him to fall asleep is if daddy takes a nap with him.

This is how I found him after a good hour and a half of trying to convince him to just lay down and read and play in his bed.  5 minutes before I took this picture his was screaming and crying because he didn't want to be in his room.  This boy is so much fun but he really wares me out!

2. Jaxon still enjoys playing in Payton's dog house and Jagger came to check on him. 

3. Yesterday something huge happened! Jaxon went outside to play after dinner and he went all by himself.  Well Payton was out there.  He went all on his own and even closed the door behind him.  This is a huge step for us, normally he will throw a tantrum if he wants to go play and we won't go with him.  I looked out the window and found him just sitting on his bike sniffing his blanket. We are hoping this is something he will keep up.

4. If you look carefully you will see the huge slug that has taken up residence behind the stairs on our patio. I have never seen a slug this big before when it is on the move it stretches out 6+ inches.

5. Jaxon's love for the kitchen continues to grow.  Last night I came back in the kitchen I found this.  He climbed onto the counter(he isn't normally a climber) and pulled out a bunch of food, emptied the boxes of oatmeal packets and was "cooking" away.  He was having so much fun, he got pretty upset with me when I cleaned it all up.

6. I finally got a project done.  I found ideas on Pinterest and combined a few to make this for the playroom. Now Jax and I just need to get busy drawing and coloring pictures to put in the frames.

5 on Friday

1. We have been visiting the library quite a lot; at least once a week and sometimes more.  It is nice and close to our house and the boys love books.  We go every Tuesday morning for story time.  Jaxon is always excited to go but once we get there it looks like I'm torturing him by making him be there. He scowls at everyone and refuses to sit down in his own chair or even on my lap. He just stands next to me and glares.There are only two things that he shows any joy in while we are there, at the end all the kids get stamps on their hands, and he is always excited for that, of course I must go with him and hold his hand while he gets his.  He is very shy and timid and won't walk the 5 feet by himself.  The other thing he likes is when it is time to leave he gets a huge smile on his face and practically runs to the door.  I promise he says he likes it and is so excited to get in the car to go to the library, but the looks on his face might make people think otherwise.  Jagger loves story time, he sits on my lap smiling at everyone and clapping his hands, and jumps around while we sing songs. Jax showing off his stamps.

2.Jag has found a new place to play in the kitchen, lucky for me it is a perfect drawer for him to empty and fill back up.

3.Jax loves when he can get his hands on any of dad's tool, so when I found this on craigslist I had to get it for him.  He loves his tools and his sweet new hat.

4. Jagger isn't picky when it comes to toys, he loves them all. Lately he has been using this table as a walker as he pushes it all over the room. Yesterday he was holding on to it and walking around and around the table.

5. Whenever Jaxon is whiny or throwing a tantrum, I tell him to calm down and tell me what he needs, instead of screaming, crying, or whining.  Well the other day as we were driving in the car he said very clearly "Mom Jax, needs a bar!" So know about half the time when he wants something he will say "Mom Jax needs ..." it makes me laugh especially when he says it with so much enthusiasm and he will throw his arms out and waves them around while he tells me just what it is he needs.

Happy 4th!

We were lucky this year and Brent had the 4th off.  We spent the morning while Jagger took his nap doing yard work then when he woke up we headed downtown to see the river and falls.  There is a giant Radio Flyer wagon for kids and adults to play on. 

Then we walked all over the park.  For the holiday they had tons of vendors out selling crafts and food.

Here is a shot of the falls.  We showed Jaxon the water and he was so excited.

Then we went to a bridge that was closer to the action and he was much less excited.

I'm a horrible mom this is the one and only picture I got of Jagger, Happy first 4th Jag.

At this point Jax was ready to be as far away from the falls and off the bridge.  The bridge was moving slightly so I think that kind of freaked him out. 

Unfortunately that is all the pictures I got for the whole day.  While at the park there is a really tall clock tower, no picture, but it was Jaxon's favorite thing there.  He kept asking to go back to the clock, and cried when we went to the car because all he wanted to do was go walk around by the clock. I'm sure we'll be making plenty of trips to this park.  After afternoon naps we headed over to our friends' house for a BBQ.  The food was great and Jax had a blast playing, they had a slip'n'slide, it was a huge hit with Jaxon, wish I had remembered my camera.  Jagger had a good time too, he was crawling all over the yard and ate anything and everything he could get his hands on. The one thing that we missed this year was the fireworks.  Our old house the neighborhood was a huge fireworks show, the best I've ever seen.  And this year nothing, no fireworks allowed here so it was a little disappointing. Oh well we enjoyed getting to spend the day as a family and getting to go to bed nice and early.