I dare you- take a guess...

Who is this four-eyed person? Can you guess, can you guess, can you, can you?

I know, it's my blog so that sort of gives it away. Today I adopted a new look and a new accessory. It's been a strange, yet less blurry, new world for me.

Just in case you are wondering what is in my mouth- it's popcorn. Dave told me to "work it". Work it while eating popcorn- not an attractive option.

I haven't had much time to play with my new photoshop program. I turned this collage black and white and I have no idea how nor do I have the desire to figure it out right now.

Kamikaze Kid

My beautiful little wild child Olivia came running into my bedroom this morning to greet me from her night of sleep. Problem. I usually have to go into her room to greet her by lifting her out of the crib. It looks as though we have a jumper.

Naively hoping that it was just an isolated incident, I put her in her crib for her nap. A few minutes later- THUD! And out comes Olivia happy as a little clam. Hmm... my other kids didn't do this- it only seems fitting for Olivia that she would. Looks like we may be moving her to a toddler bed sooner than we thought. In the meantime, she hasn't quite figured out how to get out of the pak-n-play so she napped in there- I'm sure it will only be a matter of time until that isn't an option either!

Disney Princess Extravaganza!

Saturday was a big day for Sara- the long awaited princess show finally pulled into town. She wore her favorite Belle Christmas Dress. We even had to do her hair like Belle. Which really, Sara has like 5 strands of hair on her head compared to Belle (who, in case you've never noticed, isn't real, and thus has enough hair to cover the heads of an army of 3 year old girls) so trying to get her hair to look like Belle's hair was quite the task. How convenient would it be to have your hair drawn on and looking perfect everytime? Sigh...

We went with Aunt Nikki, Regan, & Hali and had a marvelous time. I bought Sara a tub of popcorn and she was set for the entire show.


Here is a picture of Sara's favorite Belle in action. It was a little disappointing that they didn't have her skate in her ball gown with the Beast. At the very end she came out in it and danced with the prince for a second. Our seats were awesome- row 7.


Sara and mommy


Sara with Hali and Regan. Sara was not happy to be outside without her coat on. I told her to put a shirt on underneath that racy little number but she wasn't having it.


After she got her coat on she was more than happy to pose for pictures. Isn't she cute?

As luck would have it...

I have to admit, St. Patrick's Day snuck up on me this year. I usually have some sort of an agenda planned out- not so much this year. At breakfast I realized I didn't do anything- hmmm. So I grabbed a thing of milk, turned it green without the kids noticing and wala- holiday magic was in the air.

But darn that Taylor for getting so old that he actually remembers things now. For instance,

"Mom, where did the leprechaun leave his gold treasure?"

You see, last year our leprechaun accidentally dropped some of his gold coins around the house and left footprints. Darn that leprechaun for leaving such a high level of expectation for this year!

After dropping Taylor off at preschool I made my way over to Macey's (this time I didn't get a cart with broken seat belts, I got one with NO seatbelts- I may have to stop shopping there, seriously) and managed to sneak some gold chocolate coins in the cart without Sara noticing.

I dropped the coins around the house before I picked Taylor up from school and when we got home the kids were so excited and had such a fun time looking for all the coins. Whew, leprechaun crisis averted.

Here they are collecting their coins:


Of course this sweet baby had no idea what was going on but she was more than happy to gather up gold coins, especially once she realized they are actually made of chocolate.


Earlier in the day I got this great idea to make Irish Corned Beef and Cabbage. I've never eaten it and I thought it would be so fun and festive to give it a shot. I couldn't find any at Macey's. I thought they would have had a big display piled with corned beef & cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. This should have been my first clue to just walk away from my brilliant idea and I actually sort of did until I talked to my mom who saw corned beef at Harmon's and off I went....

At 2:45 I put the corned beef & an onion in a pot to do its simmering. I added the carrots, potatoes, and cabbage around 6ish. I had the table decked out with green plates, green jelly beans, shamrock cups & napkins, green punch in a green pitcher...the works.



The bread was on the table. Dave walked in the door. I pulled the corned beef out of the pot and Dave started cutting it up. The kids were at the table anxiously awaiting our first ever Irish dinner. I pulled out my favorite ginormous glass salad bowl that we received for our wedding and put the vegetables and liquid in. Just as I was about to lift it to carry it to the table- CRACK- the whole bowl broke into 4 huge pieces. All the liquid began showering off the island, down my cupboards, and onto my hardwood floor. I just stood there in shock. What the heck? I mean, what do you do? I tell you what you do, you just stand there and stare at it and your husband grabs the camera. And then you actually realize it's pulling a niagra falls all over the floor and you dive for as many towels as you can find. All my hard work down the drain, literally.



I don't think I've ever had a dinner just kind of explode on me. You don't plan for those kinds of things. The kids were confused and slightly upset that they weren't going to be able to eat dinner at the table that I had just masterfully decorated. I was irritated for a couple of reasons-

1. my favorite bowl had just suffered a sudden and immediate death

2. you should have seen the mess- there was corned beef juice everywhere- even in the drawers and cupboards- all over everything. My next kitchen will be plastic and cement with drains on the floor so I can just hose the whole thing down.

The good news- the corned beef wasn't involved at all and we were able to try it out. It was actually pretty good so I will have to try this recipe next year- minus the glass bowl, of course.

I guess at this point you may be wondering what we actually ate for dinner. I forgot to mention that I made a jello poke cake (with green jello, of course) to be eaten for dessert. Well sometimes desparate times call for desperate measures and when life hands you lemons... you eat Jello Poke Cake for dinner. And that's just what we did.

Well, Dave did warm up some canned chili- now if that's not holiday fun, I don't know what is.

26 weeks

Yesterday I was 26 weeks pregnant. Funny how I feel almost ready to pop yet I still have 3 months. Real encouraging.

I had a dr appt yesterday and told the dr I was feeling big. He said I was measuring at 29 rather than 26 so yes, I am big. Lovely. I think I did the same thing with Taylor so I'm sure it will all work itself out. But anyway, things are looking good- just getting bigger and this little guy is moving around like a wild man which I love.

Dave took a couple pictures of me yesterday. I like to photo document me being pregnant. You know, proof that I actually did it or something. Not that the baby coming home with me isn't proof, but you know what I mean. I'm looking at this picture and thinking "Hm, I don't look that big" so then why do I feel so dang big? I'm already having problems tying shoes and bending over. Good thing flip flop season is upon us.



I'm trying to look energized here- we took these pictures right before bed so I am anything but energized at this time of day. By the end of the day I can barely stand to have clothes on- they are just too confining and binding. I actually had to put my pants back on for this picture, information I'm sure you all wanted to know. But really, I would live in my underwear while pregnant if that were an option.

Moab

I've finally found a few minutes to throw together some pictures (I really did scale things down- we took almost 500 pictures) of our fun weekend trip to Moab (or as Sara calls it- Mo Ab, strong emphasis on the A). Basically this is a post over flowing in Jackson family vacation nostaligia- proceed at your own risk.

First things first- the actual reason we went to Moab- the Moab Half Marathon. I know, you are overwhelmed that I actually attended a half marathon being as pregnant as I am. Please note, I merely attended it (aka: stood near the finish line)- I didn't run it. Heaven forbid- I can barely put laundry in the washer without getting winded. We cheered on Dave's sister Amy and his brother Jeff. I had every intention of getting a picture of them crossing the finish line. I really did. However, two boss hogs were standing in front of me, not giving up their spots for anything. Oh, and I guess me and my brother Russ were in an intense discussion about renal this and that. You know, things people talk about every day... So what I am saying is- I didn't get a picture of them running to the finish line but look at this beauty I captured afterward:


I'm sure they will both disparage my name forever for putting this priceless photo on the blog but hey, they need some recognition, right?

We also cheered on Aunt Nat (wife to Russ) as she finished the race. We got a little smarter and moved down a ways which actually made it possible for us to get pictures. Dave got so many pictures of her running that if you look at them all consecutively, it's like watching a movie. Brilliant. Look at her face. Look at the enthusiasm she is showing. Are you kidding me? Who looks this happy after running 13 miles? I've actually never tried to run that far so I wouldn't know. Either way, my kids were excited to see a familiar face and to be greeted so happily. Go Nat!


And no, we don't know this person. Dave thought this was too funny to pass up. A beer can hanging from a stick. I cannot believe this woman ran 13 miles with this hanging from her head. Apparently she wasn't worried about her running time or her sanity for that matter.


Moab was just a bit freezing, not so bad during the day (perfect hiking temperature) but cold at night. We stayed in a cute little cabin with a heater in it so all was well with us. I can't even imagine if we had planned on staying in a tent- that would have lasted for a total of 5 minutes and then off to find a cozy Motel 8, if that were to really exist. If you look closely, Taylor is peeking his head up above the railing over close to the FJ.


The kids loved the cabin, especially the bunk beds. What is it with kids and bunk beds?

Look at this cute baby all bundled up and wandering around camp.


We did some hiking in Arches.

Friday we hiked Delicate Arch. This is a picture of Taylor enjoying his brand new camel back. Look closely. Do you see gratitude on this face? No. Just whining that it's too heavy. Really? It weighs as much as my pinky finger for crying out loud. Kids these days- I would have happily donated a kidney for one of these things back in the day...

Dave with the kids, minus the one I carried all the way up, if you know what I mean.

Taylor and Sara ventured to the arch with Dave but me and Livvy stayed right here. I occasionally like to complain that I am in hardly any of the pictures but when I see ones like this- you know, pictures where you look like you were spewed out of the belly of a whale or something, it's times like this that I am glad I am most often behind the camera. Either way, cute little family if I do say so myself.

The hike took a little too much out of Livvy.

The crowning glory of the entire trip for Dave- taking the FJ 4-wheeling.

He had a great time testing the limits of the FJ. Problem now- it's opened the flood gates- we now need to get a lift and new tires to make for even better (life threatening, if you ask me) FJ adventures in the future. Just poking fun at you, hon!

More hiking- walking toward Double Arch. I just think it's so strange to see the kids in coats at Arches. When I was a kid I swear we always did Arches in mid August, sweating like pigs where ever we went, burning our bums on the metal floor in the back of the old white 1977 station wagon.

Dave and Taylor on top of Sand Dune Arch.

Well, there you have it. We had a great time. Some highlights for the kids were swimming in the hot tub, playing with cousins, making smores, drinking juice boxes and eating chips (easy to please), and riding through Arches in the Patterson's ginormous R.V. Seriously, it was like putting my house on wheels and sending it out on the highway. Thanks for the good times everyone!

Liv gets her lather on!

Sometimes when I finish with a post I sit back and wonder when I will have something new to blog about. I usually have lots to say (as you may have noticed) and other times I have to wonder "what next?" Whether I want them to or not, it seems my kids are always up to the "what next" challenge. Funny (or not so funny) how something always manages to present itself.

Last night we had friends over to play games. Before they arrived I locked the bathroom door because Livvy likes to set up shop in there. Just a few minutes into the evening the door was unlocked and stayed that way. With all the kids running about, I sort of lost track of Livvy, that is, until Sara had to go potty. I hear "Moooooooom, Livvy is in the bafroom!!!" I saunter my way in there only to find this:

Her two loves combined into one- foam soap and putting stuff on her head.


I have no idea how long she had been in the bathroom working up this lather before I found her. She also cleaned the mirror- what an over achiever!






Inspecting some of her sudsy handy work.


I think I will direct her towards the dishes in the kitchen sink next time.