Fun Run

A few weeks ago we got word that Taylor's elementary school was doing a Fun Run. You better believe that the Jackson Family was up to the challenge! I ordered t-shirts for each of us because everyone who is anyone knows you need a (not so free) t-shirt if you are going to run a race.

Taylor's teacher showed up to do the race. She even brought her dog along. Teacher sightings are always exciting! Here the kids are with their friend River.



Dave has turned into a runner. He is registered for three half-marathons this summer. Here he is with one of his running buddies, Tom. Aren't they just oozing with enthusiasm? Ha!



Dave ran the 5K and I ran/walked the 1 mile with the kids. Taylor had every intention of doing the 5K when he started (mostly because he didn't realize the length of a 5K). I thought Dave was going to help him along. WRONG. My sweet husband was too competitive to run with his son and left him in the dust. Instead, Taylor ran his race with some lovely strangers who were probably wondering where this little boys cruddy parents were. Hi. That's me.

Dave was telling me that as soon as the gun shot sounded to start the race, Taylor started out at a sprint. Only a few yards into the race, the kid was already exhausted. It looks like we need to teach Taylor how to pace himself. Despite his overzealous start, Taylor made it across the finish line for the 1 mile race. Good job bud!



We all got blue ribbons for finishing the race. The girls did a great job running. We walked quite a bit but they definitely put forth some effort. Sara ran the first part of the race and Livvy ran the second part. Livvy got going so fast her little arms and legs were flailing everywhere and she fell onto the pavement. That didn't deter her in the least bit. She dusted herself off and was back in the race!



Doesn't everyone love a camera in their face shortly following a race? Whether he wants to or not, Dave has learned to love the camera because I usually have it in his face. And see that blue ribbon? A real winner.



Everyone got an ice cream treat! That's all the kids needed to make the race a success.



I thought I had asked Dave to take a picture of me with my little racers. This is what we got. Livvy was done cooperating for pictures. Oh well. It's just good to know that I do exist from time to time.



The run was most definitely fun and we hope to do it again next year!

Dance Revue #2

Sara had her 2nd dance revue today. Same costume. Different dance.

I thought it would be fun to mix things up a bit and give her hair a different look than last time since her outfit was the same.

I was in search of some perm rods. In the midst of my phone calling to track some down, I found something even better than perm rods- my favorite hair professional cousin volunteering to help me out with Sara's hair. YES! Okay, so she didn't just help me out, she did the whole thing. I looked on in awe and wonder. Thanks Jennie! You are the best person EVER.

Sara wasn't so pleased with the situation. On one hand, she definitely wanted curly hair. On the other hand, she is petrified of curling irons. Doesn't she look thrilled?

Every single curl on her blessed head was made with a curling iron.

All done and pleased as punch!



Now onto the make-up.



And the poses. This child and her poses. It kills me!



I tweaked this one in photo shop just for the heck of it. Sara dances with her friend Mary and they have a fantastically rowdy time.



Sara's dance performance was fun! One little girl in her group broke down into tears and wouldn't move, confusing all the little girls, so the curtain came down and they started over. They danced to "The Witch Doctor"- it was a very chaotic and very sweet dance. Good job Sara!

I think her hair looked so perty as the day wore on and her curls loosened up a bit! What a little cutie!

St. George

We went to St. George over the weekend. I haven't been in the mood to blog about it, mostly because I haven't wanted to sort through the bazillions of pictures we took. But really, I am getting too behind so I can't put it off any longer.

Our weekend consisted of swimming and hiking. And then some more swimming, topped off with a nice dose of swimming.

A few pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Sara and her diva-like behavior... She was SO into her sunglasses. She got out of the water and arranged her towel on her chair, put on her sunglasses, and then laid there sun bathing. It was funny.

Her little cousin Emma joined in on the fun a few minutes later.

Taylor and Ethan were all about the pool all the time.

Spencer needed time to warm up to the water. My dad was playing with him in the water for a while. He would say "kick Spencer" and Spencer's little legs would start going wild. It was cute.

Livvy was the official pool toy monitor. She was obsessed with this yellow duck that didn't even belong to us. It did, however, belong to my brother's family so we weren't totally freaky letting her play with it. She would play in the water for a while and then get out and wander. Life jacket on. Life jacket off. Life jacket on. Life jacket off. Duck in the water. Duck out of the water. Goggles on. Goggles off. You get the idea. Liv is always all over the place. She did not disappoint on this trip.

We went to Zions and hiked the Emerald Pools.

Sara and Livvy were, as always, hilarious. Here they are getting ready for the hike. Yes, Liv wears her sunglasses upside down.

Liv squealed with joy when we parked our car right next to this giant "birthday hat". How cute is that? We managed to grab a picture of them in the party hat before taking off at the end of the day. I love seeing the world through my kid's eyes. No folks, this isn't your ordinary teepee, it's a party hat. Sweet.

Anyhoo, back to our hike- we hiked all three pools. In the past I think I've only ever hiked to the bottom pool (which is now 'off limits' but still holds some very vivid and happy childhood memories for me, including but not limited to digging large pits and throwing frogs in them. Which, now that I think about it may be a reason it is now fenced off...) so it was fun to take on all three of the Emerald Pools. The kids had a great time splashing & playing in the big pool at the top.

The even built a sand castle. Well, it was more like a slop sloppy pile of sand. I should rephrase my first statement by saying they were attempting to build a sand castle.

It was fun to watch Livvy explore on the hike. She was such a good little hiker. She loved every little detail from the sand, to the water, to every little creature we came across on our way.

After our hike we hung out and had some icecream. But not before we took a picture of this gigantor tree. What a cute group of peeps!

This was our icecream eating view. How can you not just LOVE Zions?



Before we headed home on Monday we stopped and let the kids play at this splash park in downtown St. George. They had a fun time running through the river bed and climbing on all the rocks. Heck, so did I! It was fun.

See. Everyone is having a good time. Just ask Liv. (She doesn't like to be told to sit still)

Spencer- 11 months

I can't believe Spencer is almost one! This month his look has changed a lot. He is starting to look older (sigh). It happened over the course of like a week. Silly baby.

Part of him looking older might have something to do with the fact that he got his first haircut!!! I was putting it off because I was in denial of such a big boy thing happening to my baby. His little tufts of hair on the side were starting to get out of control so I gave in. This is what his hair looked like in the pre-haircut days:



Taylor was my camera man during the haircut. He took a ton of pictures and they were all quite hilarious. Artistic, if you know what I mean.



Spencer wasn't interested in posing for pictures after he got his haircut. He wouldn't look at me and then started getting angry when I tried to turn his head toward me (note to self- turning babies head during pictures will only result in an angry non-photogenic baby). Lesson learned... until next time I need him to cooperate. I always forget! I got a good shot of him later while he was digging through the cupboards.



About this boy-

• Like I said, he likes to dig through the cupboards.
• He also crawls into the pantry any chance he can get. He pulls things apart and has himself a good ole' time.
• His radar is always in tune to when the bathroom door is left open. He loves to pull himself up on the toilet. He's only stirred around the mucky left by his brother and sisters a couple times. It's all good- we are working on building up those antibodies in his little boy body...
• He spends a good chunk of the day climbing the stairs and then standing at the top crying until somebody rescues him. As soon as he is rescued and put back down at the bottom of the stairs, up he goes again! It's a vicious cycle.
• His ears are FINALLY better! Drainage started up again so he got on another antibiotic and this one finally worked. He is doing a lot better. Now we are working on breaking his bad sleeping habits that started up when he first got sick.
• He loves his mommy very very very much. I wanted Dave to bounce him to sleep last night. My request was returned with a dirty look and "I am the holy water to Spencer's dracula." It is true. He only wants his mommy. But darn it! I want a break!
• Have I mentioned before that Spencer is a biter? YIKES. I really have to watch him because when he crawls up to me to give me loves, he sinks his little teeth into me. He's left marks on my waist, legs, and arms.
• He had his first sucker this month and he loved it!

And last but not least, on his 11 month birthday, he shared a new gift with us- he became a screamer! I kid you not. It's like someone flipped a switch on his scream function. It's his way of getting our attention now and it is obnoxious, especially in restaurants, at church, and in small enclosed spaces. What a monster! We were at Zion's when the screaming began. I was in shock so I took a few pictures of him in action. Little did I know that it was just the beginning of many, many loud and shrill screams. Thanks Spence.

Sara

Today Sara rescued this baby Cinderella from the D.I. bag. She was dramatic and loud and acted as though she actually cared for this doll- the same doll I found hours earlier face down in the grass, left for who knows how many days without a single glance in her direction.

The only reason there is a smile on Sara's face is because I pointed the camera at her. Seconds before she was in deep despair wallowing and ranting to save this suddenly precious baby. Well baby, you are saved this time. But know this, there is always a D.I. bag on-the-ready at the Jackson house. Always. My poor kids, they live their lives in fear of the D.I. bag.



In other news, I cleaned out the car tonight.

Look at these lovely treasures Sara left for me in her cup holder. I was beyond irritated cleaning this mess up. I explained to her that food and candy are not allowed in the cup holder. She looked at me all perplexed and innocent and said,

"Well then what are they for?"

More weight than gold

Tonight the kids were sitting at the counter having a snack.

I was cleaning up the kitchen and answering their questions.

Taylor started talking about how we could become the richest people in the world.

Taylor and Sara discussed amongst themselves and came to the conclusion that the only way to become the richest people in the world is to control all the food.

More importantly,

"If we could make all the bacon in the world, we would be the richest."

That's right kids, forget oil, bacon makes the world go round.

Sunday n stuff

Taylor dressed himself for church. He was very proud of himself. Seriously. Proud. Happy. Thought he looked completely acceptable. Got ticked at Dave for trying to fix his collar. I didn't even bring up the skewompus tie until we got to church where I had to completely unbutton the shirt and do a small over-haul. No fail, every week, he just can't get the buttons lined up correctly. He's learning and I love his effort!



The many pre-church faces of Livvy.

For once, this little one was acting painfully camera shy.



Sunday morning- We had only one thing working in our favor- the kids were all bathed Saturday night.

Everything else was working against us, starting with 9:00 a.m. church.

I don't know why 9:00 church is so hard to get to on time, but it is. It just is!!! Now that I think about it, there are four reasons we don't get to church on time. They are named 1. TAYLOR. 2. SARA. 3. OLIVIA. & 4. SPENCER. Wait. Did I just say four? I meant five. 5. DAVE. There you have it. Need I say more?

I know I don't need to say more but I'm going to anyway.

Dave did help out and made breakfast for the kids. Which yes, I definetely appreciated but was just one more reason we did not arrive exactly on time to church.

I think it's safe to say that we can plan on Sara throwing a tantrum every Sunday morning. I would plan that into my morning except I can't really plan the length of the tantrum. And I also can't plan exactly how many tantrums there will be. I just pretty much know she will have at least one. The reason for the tantrum always has something to do with what she is wearing.

A couple kids had poopy diapers as we were trying to get out the door. Is it just me or does it seem like the instant the words "everyone get in the car" leave your lips, someone poops. Happens all the time around here. I guess it's better than pooping in the car. The whole Pavlov's dogs theory is ringing true. Sorry I'm talking about poop. It's just that... poop happens.

Shoes that were previously in hand, somehow became lost in the shuffle. It doesn't help us to put Livvy's shoes on before we leave the house because inevitably by the time we get there, she will have them off.

So yes, that's why we were late.

I guess it didn't help that I had the camera out taking pictures of the kids...

Or that I put bows in the girl's hair.

And because I was feeling a little rebellious, we sat in the foyer the entire meeting. Okay, it didn't have as much to do with rebellion as it did with giving me some time to reclaim my sanity.

Oh how I love Sunday mornings!!!

A lot of craziness

This time of year is cRaZy around here! Taylor is involved in soccer and baseball and it keeps us busy. Saturday we were double booked with a soccer game and a baseball game.

Soccer was first. It was a rather exciting game because we were in charge of the treat. Isn't that what rec sports are all about? The treat. Not just one treat- a half time apple fix and then Sponge Bob shaped Cheez-it crackers and Capri Suns. This is the big time.

Taylor's team is um, how do I put this, rather... challenged this year. Taylor is pretty much the best kid on the team. I haven't decided if that is a good thing or a bad thing. This is his third year playing and it is showing. He is a good little player.



When he is sitting out I become distracted and spend my time taking pictures of stuff.

Like Sara-



She's cute.

Livvy spent the entire game begging treats off of me and trying to escape to nearby fields of uncharted grass. Taking pictures of children who are running away from you doesn't make for very picturesque pictures. Her behavior has improved from last year when all she wanted to do was escape onto the playing field.

I tried to take a picture of me and Dave together-



Not so good at that.

After the soccer game we had just enough time to stop at home and get Taylor changed for baseball. I also wanted to stop at home to let Livvy go potty on the toilet seeing as how she was wearing a brand spankin' new pair of Dora panties.

We stopped at home. We got dressed. We went pee. And off we went to baseball.

Taylor is on the Mudcats this year. What a cute little mudcat he is! He loves his baseball hat. I don't love how it pushes down on his ears and gives him floppy ear. Sigh.

If you look closely you will notice that Taylor is missing both of his front teeth! He pulled the second one out a couple weeks ago. He was working on the tooth all day trying to loosen it. It was hanging by a thread. Dinner time came around- we were having taco salad. He was starving and wanted to eat the taco salad but realized he couldn't eat with that wobbly tooth in his mouth. He gathered up the courage and with a final twist and yank, out came his tooth! He was so excited, mostly because he could now eat his dinner rather than being excited about his tooth. He's a good kid!



Taylor loves baseball! He is having a great year. He is quite the hitter. He usually gets two hits each game and we are so proud of him.

The baseball game was fun. I managed to acquire a sunburn on my neck. Liv managed to poop her pants and learned that pooping in underwear means brand spankin' new underwear go to live in the trash can. I would like to say that it was a lesson learned and we won't be re-visiting this scenario anytime soon but that might be wishful thinking. Let's hope she will prove me wrong! I am most definitely her #1 cheerleader.

One final thing to note- Spencer has developed a green thumb and has been helping me in the garden...