Jaxonian's Birthday Bash

Okay, time to explain his nickname. When Jaxon was born, Brian often called him Jax-on-a-man-yule. Not sure if anyone can pronounce that with how I spelled it but from there it became Jaxonian and/or Xonian. Then Ryker is my Little Tyke or Tyker. All kids have got some sort of a name their parents created, right?

Now onto our (almost) newly turned 4 year old. Aaaaaaaaaa, do I really have a 4 year old? Since next Saturday the 9th (which is his actual birthday) is my induction day, we decided to celebrate today. To begin, Brian purchased this 65 lb+ turtle from a coworker a few days ago. It became part of Jaxon's present. The boys LOVE her. She is cool. We even caught Ryker riding her.


Then today we had his party. We were planning to invite ALL our friends but decided to go smaller. With being 2 weeks from my due date, and the space in our house, and finances, we kept it to mostly family. Jaxon has been looking forward to it all week. We had such a great time. He spent the day with the people he loves most and loved every present he got.

Of course pinata's are a hit at every party. All you parents know you like it for you too! Kind of like trick or treating-we get to benefit from it also! :)
I let my kids check out the toy isles at all the stores. I never buy anything and they never ask-seriously. Until one day they put a brand new remote control Iron Man on the shelf. Jaxon begged and pleaded for me to let him take it home the first time he saw it. Even though I thought it was overpriced and not as cool as it should be, did I have a choice but to get it for him for his birthday? Do you see how happy he is? It doesn't leave his side.
Then of course, yet another Iron Man cake. What my baby wants, my baby gets. It wasn't anything special. I've got a stomach sticking out further then I ever remember it and I'm tired. Luckily, it was good enough for my boy.

I love this kid. He has been nothing but a blessing since the first day we met him. He's well behaved and the sweetest kid you'll ever meet. If you didn't see it on my FB page, I made a post about how he is always telling me how much he loves me and that I'm his best friend. He's also added, I'm his favorite mommy in the whole world. Seriously, is there anything sweeter a mother can hear? He is my angel and we just adore him. Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us today. We have such wonderful family and friends.

PINK Baby Shower!

I had been looking forward to this day for a long time. I love spending time with friends and family and I love shower's (all forms of that word). I didn't really get a baby shower with my other two kids (except for a few awesome ladies threw me one at work for Jaxon). So it was nice to have one this go around and for it to be for a girl-all the more better! My mom went all out with decor and favor's and sadly couldn't even be there. :( I know, right? I very much missed her but grateful for everything she did for this party.

She bought this mini crib. Isn't it cute? I'm sure Harlee will enjoy putting her dolls in it.
She MADE this diaper cake. I am super proud of her for this one. Way creative and so cute!
Mini bottles filled with sixlets, candy bars and the vase in the back had these pink lollipop feet. I'm going to say there was enough sugar.
She had planned to make cupcakes so I did it for her. I ran out of time and energy to put the bows in their hair and I realized later the brown headed babies look like they've got a piece of turd on their heads. I completely forgot to take pics of all of them all set up but luckily there were a couple left over. I wouldn't have picked these ones for pics but I had no choice. They came out okay. They were also my fave flavor- Lemon filled with lemon cream cheese filling.
Seriously, if there is one thing I have no will power for, it is sugar cookies. Most of them were supposed to be left at my families house but turned out a lot came back with me. I was up all night with heart burn. I didn't have cookie cutters for shoes so I had to mold these. I wish I had more time to be a little more clean and perfect but just what I did was hours of work. But man, they do taste good!
This picture is all family. So glad most were able to make it!
My sista drinking the delicious punch made by the one and only Kristen Waldie!
I loved all the games! We did the price is right with baby items, read quotes from baby books and had to guess which books they came from, guessed baby parts on ultra sound pictures, and decorated baby bibs (I picked which one I liked the best).
My grandma!
Seriously, these ladies are like family. Kristen (in the middle) stepped in to be my surrogate mother for the day. Which it's funny, she watched us as kids so much that she was like a second mom but now, she is one of my dearest friends. Love that lady! To the left is Emily. We were like sisters growing up. And Andee to the right-I remember rocking her to sleep when she was a baby. They did a lot to help out with the shower and I love and appreciate them SO much! Thank you ladies!
Dalaine is also basically family. We've worked together now for several years and she actually hosted my work shower 4 years ago. I don't know how she tolerates our family. She patiently listens to me, my father and the rest of my siblings at work. Grateful she's still around! Sad this picture came out all bright and faded but I had to post still. She does a lot for me. She deserves the friendship award for sure!
I decided opening presents in front of people is quite awkward. The moments of silence and, I don't know. Grateful of course for everything and the effort put into the gifts but I think most of us would agree that it's not the most comfortable situation. But that's how it is and I'm cool with it. It was still fun and the best part is coming home with everything and organizing it. Even putting the diapers away has been way fun!
Oh yeah, we also played the bottle drinking game. The pictures didn't come out great but it's quite funny to see grown adults drinking from a bottle. Ha ha ha!


And of course, my sister's. Shelli did quite a lot to get everything set up. When I walked in the door, I was so impressed and excited. I love these girls so much. They are awesome young ladies!

Thanks to everyone who came! Another weird part about shower's (I decided) is it's hard to get all the socializing with each person that I want to. It's a brief chit chat with one and then on to the next. Hope each person knows how grateful I am for them and their love and support.

My doctor is the BEST!!

So I had my regular preggo check-up today and I sheepishly asked my doctor what the likely-hood of delivering this baby on 10.10.10 would be. I didn't think there was a chance because I'm due the 19th which is over a week and the 10th is on a Sunday. I figured asking was a long shot but what did I have to lose (according to my dad who said to tell him we'd pay him-ha ha!)? It didn't sound like anyone else had requested it yet because he thought for a moment and played around with the idea. He said they don't induce sooner than a week early but he checked my last ultrasound and according to it my due date is the 16th. He said we could go off that date and therefore it would be okay to induce at that time. He suggested setting a tentative time on the 9th at 9pm that way there is room in case someone else needs to be induced that takes priority. He also said it would depend on my cervix but we could do some things to help that along. I of course said "serious? Let's do it!!". My husband was shocked and excited as well and said "watch, she'll come earlier than that now." Ha ha! I won't complain if that happens of course but how exciting that she could have one of the coolest birth-dates ever!! I'm way happy! Yes, my doctor is the best and I totally recommend him to anyone- Dr. Beck.

Dove hunting (I don't get it)

September one-Brian looks forward to it every year. He leaves early in the morning to shoot 10 birds, comes home, cooks them, and eats them. He won't admit (though it's true) in order to make the breasts taste good, they must be marinated and cooked in a strong sauce. Without it, they would be and are NASTY. Yes, I tried them once ages ago and vowed never to make the mistake again. This year, he decided it would be fun to take the boys. I didn't think they would enjoy killing an animal. They love animals. But I was wrong. Turns out, animals are as equally fascinating alive as they are dead. Who knew. So the second day of the dove hunting season, I decided the whole family should go out and see what all the fuss is about. I guess opening day is packed with birds and by day two, has dwindled to a disappointing low count. So we took a nature walk (A.K.A.-waiting for daddy to get a good shot). Finally, after we were ready to give up, one flies right in front of us. Brian being the pro shooter, takes it out with one pull of the trigger. It falls to the ground and struggles for life. The boys run after it and Jaxon quickly scoops up the suffering bird. It dies in his hands (I know, sad right?). The boys seem un-phased by the whole experience. I'm standing there thinking "what the hell is so fun about this?" Anyway, that was our morning. The boys loved it and daddy got to show how awesome he is at killing birds. I will not be going again.




Here, Jaxon is showing Ryker the blood on and dripping off the bird. Hope no one (if any) read this right before a meal.

Combined birthday celebration

My crazy mother hates the heat more than anyone I know. "What did she do to make her so crazy?" You ask...she had 5 out of her 6 kids in the middle of summer. 3 of us in August. This year we did a combined birthday celebration and it was so fun! Our dinner was a variety for all the picky eaters in the fam. Sushi (my fave) BBQ and pizza. Everyone was able to enjoy something! :) The cakes had the correct number of candles for each of us. Me- 28 supposedly, TJ-27, and Scotty-21. As you can see, that created a whole lot of smoke! I'm happy to share my birthday month with two of my bros. My parents were great making it such a fun and special evening for us. Love my fam!
I kept trying to get a picture of all of us looking at the camera and smiling but I couldn't get it to work out.


My boys adore their uncle Craig. Ryker looks so much like him it's ridiculous. Acts a lot like him also.

Big thank you to my awesome parents. They really are the best and no, I'm not being biased!! It's an actual fact.

It is WAY to stinking HOT!!

So I try to venture out of the house to do something fun and different with the kids but end up regretting it every time! I can barely breath outside the comfort of A/C. Instead, we have found a few daily projects that my kids are obsessed with. One of which is "making animals by gluing" as Jaxon calls it. Now I don't trace or get ideas for anything. I literally just cut shapes in hopes it looks like the animal requested and the boys glue the limbs together. We've also done painting, preschool activity books, play-dough, reading, games, etc. It's been a fun summer but I'm so ready for it to be cooler.

We made some "spider hats."

Jax is gluing up some blue baby turtles.

I took them to kids club at the mall and all they wanted to do was play on the giant turtle OUTSIDE in the heat. ugh!

Sad...I think not! Happy Birthday to me!

Like I said in my previous post, Brian has to work and was asleep this evening. I went to church with the kiddo's from 1-4 and came home and cooked a quick meal. I sat and thought, cake and ice cream is one of those things my family does religiously each year for each of the kids. My family was out of town so that didn't work out this year. I planned to have a regular evening but decided last minute that DANG IT! I want cake and ice cream! So I ran the boys to the store with me (I know, it's Sunday-bad! And believe me, I paid the price. They were embarrassingly awful in the overcrowded store). They picked out my cake. I gave them an option of 3 cakes because I don't like store-bought chocolate and I don't like whipped frosting. They picked the least best looking one out of the 3 but oh well. We came home. I let them assemble 20 candles on the cake. I decided to celebrate my 20th birthday. It was a lot more enjoyable to believe I was only 20. :) I was the photographer so the pics aren't great. I got a picture of us blowing out the candles (after they so sweetly sang to me) but I cut off the tops of our heads. At least you can see our puckered lips. Ha ha! The cake was surprisingly good and the kids loved it. I don't think it's sad I bought my own cake. I don't think it's sad I only celebrated with my two rugrats. And I definitely don't think it's sad I had to pretend I was younger to feel better about it. What I do think is sad...none of it. I had a great evening and got what I wanted!