Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Mischief

Me: 'Jackson, what is Sawyer doing upstairs'

Moose:  'Oh nothing, just undoing all the toilet paper roll'

Me: 'SAWYER!!'

Sawyer: With the most innocent 'Mama?!' as he approaches the main level trailed by a 2 1/2 foot trail of toilet paper behind him on the stairs!

Lesson Learned:  If two little boys are quiet for longer than 5 minutes they have likely found mischief!

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Mom of the Year

We all have those 'Mom of the Year' moments.  And if a mom tries to tell you they haven't they are lying.  I promise.  Being a mom is trial and error.  It's also full of mistakes...some preventable, some just natural consequences.  The two I'm going to share with all of you are totally accidental and totally preventable.  But they happened and they ruined my mom cape at the time.  They make me cringe at the thought of them.  But they also make me giggle, so that must mean time is healing wounds.  Which it does, always!

Mom of the Year Moment 375 (probably!)

We were shopping and Sawyer was growing impatience.  In my final attempt to humor him, I lifted his 35 pounds of existance onto my shoulders.  He likes it up there, but my body does not share his enthusiasm.  But as a mom, you tend to do almost anything to keep your kids happy in public!  So up there he was, and it did the trick - it bought me a few more moments of time to wrap up the transaction and get to the car.  Here's where my award was handed to me...right there in the parking lot in front of strangers...who didn't applause I assure you!  As he's up there happy as can be, as he doesn't get up there often, I proceed to the back of the car after Jackson climbed in.  I opened the tailgate...and as it automatically lifted I heard a loud THUD followed by some wonderful screams and tears.  I knew exactly what had happened. And it was too late.  You see, I never have an extra couple feet above my head while opening the tailgate, so it didn't occur to me that the tailgate was at the right level to smoke my child in the face.  I've never gotten a child off my shoulders as quick as I did in that moment.  There were tears coming from his eyes, blood coming from his nose, and angry stares from people around me.  Was this on purpose, of course not.  But it happened.  And these things do happen.  He bounced back and recovered quickly - but it still sucked!  Every single part of it!

Mom of the Year Moment 397

Jackson needed a haircut.  I've done this dozens of times.  Literally.  It's a quick and painless date with the clippers.  Except on this one night.  This one night about a week ago, I set everything up, had an eager and willing little boy.  I picked up the clippers, armed them with what I thought was an 8 guard and away I went.  But you know what?!  It wasn't an 8.  Nope not an 8 at all.  In fact, it was 5 levels away from an 8.  It was A THREE!  And I didn't notice until the first pass through his hair...when a lot fell to the ground.  Do you want to know what else fell to the ground?  My tears.  Instantly.  It was too late, you have to keep going!  So that I did, and my cute little spiky boy sat there wearing a buzz cut.  It sucks.  I likely won't cut his hair for a long long time now.  But hair grows back - or so my husband told me as he attempted to console my broken heart!  And this too shall be a funny memory one day.  Right?!  RIGHT?!


Really, if any mom out there tries to tell you they haven't had 'a moment', they are LYING.  It happens, it sucks, and life goes on!

Little Helpers.

Seeing as how I left the last post saying that I wish the kids could help more with some things, I thought I'd start this post by pointing out something they are really great at helping with!  Being my test subjects!  I'm sure one day they will roll their eyes and mutter under their breath, but for now - they are USUALLY willing!  Often after I get my studio set up for a photoshoot, I call in the troublesome twosome for some test shots to test my lighting, backdrop combo, etc to see if in fact it all fits together like it does in my head.  The night of these photos was one of those nights and they were being so cute it REALLY made me wish they weren't wearing their PJs and underwear!  Or does that add to the cuteness!?  Who knows!


I'm laughing to myself as I'm looking at these photos because Sawyer looks so cute, doesn't he?!  Want to know the truth?!  The past three days he's started cutting his 2 year molars and I tell ya what, he's anything but this cute!  Think instant meltdowns, quick disappointments, picky behaviors.  It's been a lot of fun!  Friday while dropping off Jackson was a perfect example of this.  I tried to hold his hand, he snatched it away with an I do it myself "NO".  I walked ahead of him and once I reached his version of too far ahead,  he threw himself on the floor in a huff.  I let him do the stairs on his own and he fell at the bottom resulting in a defeated expression paired with feel sorry for me tears.  And yes, I did feel sorry for him.  He wants so bad to 'keep up with the big dogs' so to say.  His world is very frustrating to him right now.  It sucks for him...and you know what, sometimes it sucks for us too ;)  The kicker is that the impatience, the easily disappointed feelings, the short fuse - that's ALL ME!  Yup, that's his Mama in him so I can't even complain!  And of course this is me sharing the rough stuff.  I guess I will end with his cute little cuddles last night at bed time where he made up his own kiss/cuddle pattern game while we were rocking.  He is endearing.  He is sweet.  He is becoming his own person.  And we love him...on the bad days, and the good.  It's just a little easier on the good!!


Post-Christmas Chaos

It's such a mess taking down Christmas.  I usually tend to avoid it but this year it was actually down before New Years just so Trev could be around to help.  The glitter, the garland, the glorious mess!

 I look forward to the day they can be trusted enough to help ;)  I'm sure they are not as enthused about that time coming!  Kids always want to grow up - if only there were a better way to explain that all grown ups long for the days they were kids!  Ah, the grass is always greener, ain't it!

Practice Practice

Jackson has started working on his writing.  The hardest part, in my opinion, so far has been the constant reminders of how to hold the pencil/marker/etc.

When I finished my Christmas Promo photos, Trev (ah hem Jackson) got me a card.  It was super cute and the first time I've had Jackson's writing on things.  Obviously, we drew out in pencil where to go, and he followed.  It was great :)



He's growing too darn fast.  I hate it!

Christmas Photos Take 2

These are the photos that were taken and used for Christmas Cards.  I will ALWAYS prefer outdoor photos to indoor photos.  These photos were taken on my parents' front step while the sun was setting (too damn fast) after I picked them up from the airport.  Nothing like being up against the clock.  But I'm happy if I at least get the three shots...one together, and one of each individually!


 And here it is all put together in our Christmas Card...

Front...

 Back...

Christmas Photos Take One

We did some studio photos with the boys this year...but they didn't make the Christmas Card cut, although I really wanted to use some of the latter ones, and they are now living on my fridge!

Christmas at Mom & Dads

I didn't take many pictures at my parents' place.  We got there later than expected and there wasn't much in terms of light.  The three boys ran around and chased each other, played tractors, opened gifts, and ate some turkey - which didn't go down as easy as the dessert!  Why is that?!

Tree Picture

I am going to try to remember to take this picture each year.  

I love that it shows the difference a year can make.


Here is a flashback to 2012s!

SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF 2013 CHRISTMAS

- Jackson bought his own gifts at the Festival of Trees for all of us and was so proud for us to see what he had gotten us! -
- Jackson loved tracking Santa on Christmas Eve which was fun -
- Jackson got his Rescue Bots from Santa and has slept with all of them ever since -
- Sawyer was able to open his own gifts and enjoy the fun more this year -
- Out of all the gifts the $3 rocket launcher has been the biggest hit -
- Sawyer loved his glow car that Jackson got him -
- Trevor got a dehydrator and has been trying out different things since -
- I got diamond earrings from Trev that were completely unnecessary but BEAUTIFUL -

Christmas Breakfast!


 I. LOVE. THEM.

Christmas Morning Part 3

The boys took some time to open their gifts.  Jackson was far more eager and interested than Sawyer, which is to be expected as Sawyer doesn't quite know all the excitement that Christmas is!  Still learning but all in all, he's starting to catch on to the magic!


And probably my personal favorite...