How to win friends and influence your children

We put the girl's bunk bed together. We bought the beds quite a while back but have kept them separate because as you may have noticed, our little Livvy is a bit of a kamikaze kid. She's getting bigger and more responsible so we thought it was time to stack em' up. They were all SO excited, running around and getting in the way. Good times.



And yes, I am ashamed to say, there is still blue tape on the ceiling from when I painted their room FOREVER ago. It's only that one corner and wall so I guess now that the bunk bed is there, I can actually reach it to take it down.

Widening the gap

(Please ignore the food all over his face- he is, after all, a little boy)

What is better than the tooth fairy coming and bringing a chunk of change and the Easter Bunny hopping in and leaving a basketful of goodies? Both of them happening on the same night!!! This very scenario happened to Taylor this weekend!!! After a couple weeks of wiggling away at his front tooth, it finally made its way out on Easter Eve- that makes five teeth that Taylor has lost. Five!

You may have noticed from previous exreme close-ups of Taylor that he had quite a gap going on between his two front teeth. For years Dave and I have laughed about and wondered how many quarters would fit between Taylor's two front teeth. With all the tooth wiggling he has been doing as of late, it has been on my mind quite a bit. Friday night it was really on my mind so out came the quarters- just exactly how many quarters can we fit between Taylor's two front teeth? The answer my friends, the answer is THREE. Three quarters. Yep. You heard me- exactly .75 cents.



And now to the Tooth Fairy. It seems that a confession may be in order. Our tooth fairy is, how do I say this? Well... a re-gifter. I know. Shame shame shame on her. Back when Taylor's first tooth came out she (and her partner in crime, Mr. Tooth Fairy) had a brilliant plan to leave a gold dollar under the pillow of each deserving, toothless child. That idea was (and still is) fantastic, except that she forgot where her stash of gold dollars went. In case you were wondering, finding a gold dollar on a dime isn't exactly a walk in the park. Fortunately for this Tooth Fairy, her most recent 6-year-old client gets so excited about his new gold coin, rather than putting it away in his piggy bank, he carries it around with him, eventually misplacing on the mantle, or in the car, or on the couch. Cha-ching! The money is usually found and put up in a place where Spencer won't eat it. And then that Tooth Fairy, in a pinch, remembers where that money was re-located and lovingly re-gifts the gold dollar to that sweet boy who has so much faith this his Tooth Fairy will in fact, deliver another gold coin under his sleepy little head. Some may call it deceitful, I prefer to call it brilliant. Popping the magic bubble of childhood floating around Taylor is most definetly not on this Tooth Fairy's agenda. Re-gifter? Can you blame her?

Okay, so it's only happened twice. And upon discussing this situation with some Tooth Fairy affiliates, who shall remain nameless, it has come to our attention a trip to a nearby Trax station just may make all my gold dollar dreams come true. Now I think about it, Trax may be where it all began anyway.

Easter

Easter weekend was craziness this year! So many things were going on. We made the best of it and enjoyed a fun Easter.

Saturday afternoon the kids dyed their Easter Eggs in preparation for the Easter Bunny.



Livvy thought it would be a good idea to snack on the vinegar dye...



The kids quickly let her know that it was not okay to eat the dye. She wasn't too happy about it.



Any guesses as to who this hand belongs to? Yeah... she kept clean until the very last egg and then bam! she was hand dipping and smearing blue everywhere.



Because my life is crazy, Easter Egg dying time turned into a multi-tasking frenzy- I helped the kids with their eggs (probably not as much as I should have), made rolls (and Spencer accidentally grabbed the hot pan with his fingers), changed diapers, and carried a sad Spenny around (not because of his fingers, just because his ears are kicking our butts). Daddy was off at a Real Soccer game. Love those season tickets...

See how good the rolls turned out? Yep. They were delish...



After that we were off to great grandma's birthday party but not before we made a stop at grandma and grandpa's house- they surprised the kids with Easter stuffed animals.



Easter Sunday the kids woke up early running around the house to find their baskets hidden by the Easter Bunny himself (or in our case, herself). Sara couldn't believe that that silly Easter Bunny hid her basket in the same place as last year... oops. Looks like our Easter Bunny needs to get a little more creative.



Taylor thought his basket was SO HARD to find hidden in the buffet in the front entryway.



Liv's basket was hidden in a corner. Taylor and Sara found it first and just couldn't resist dragging Olivia right to it.



Russ & Nat blessed Amelia on Easter Sunday. We had a fantastic Easter dinner with all the fam and lounged around at Aunt Nat's parent's house all day. It was so relaxing and fun.

Here are my kids and my love all dressed up in their fancy stuff. Taylor got a new tie. The girls are wearing hand-me-down dresses from my sister-in-law Lori. They are the dresses that I had all the little girls wearing at my wedding. I pulled them out a few days ago and thought they would be perfect for Easter! That is, hands down, the best deal I've ever gotten on Easter dresses! Ha!



When I asked the kids to talk to me about why we celebrate Easter, Taylor was quick to say, "Jesus was rex-ted... I mean, re-surr-ect-ted." Big word. Good kids. Happy Easter.

Lately...

-Taylor dragged me to his room bursting with excitement. Upon my arrival, beaming with pride he introduced me to his "pantry". Pantry, you say? Yes, pantry. He turned one of his dresser drawers into a feeding frenzy for himself, stocked full of string cheese, nutri grain bars, a can of pink lemonade, and some Easter candy. Good to see his mind is always working on ways to better his lifestyle...

-Once again Liv is using my carpet as a toilet. Just when I am noticing some progress in the potty training dept, I get summoned back to reality by a pile (or two) of poop. The other night we were sitting around watching T.V. as a family. Livvy came running up to Dave with her finger covered in the good stuff. I tell you what- nothing insights a riot like a finger loaded with poo. Kids started screaming and running for diapers and wipes, Dave cleaned up her finger and changed her diaper. Back to our T.V. viewing. Within seconds, a sniff from my nose let me know that all was not right with the world. It still smelled like poop. We couldn't find the source and Dave was sure it was just Livvy's pajama pants. We tossed those into the laundry but still, the smell did not leave. Finally, the answer to our problem came crawling across the room and pulled himself up onto my chair- his little bitty hand covered in poop, but not just any poop, Livvy's poop! Once again the riot began. Dave grabbed Spencer and hauled him over to the sink. I went in search of Livvy's pile o' poop. No wonder the smell was so strong- she had wiped her poop on the carpet right behind my chair! What is up with that child? Dave came back with Spencer and I asked him, "Did you wash his mouth out?" The answer- "No, I didn't see any on his mouth." So then I asked, "Did you smell his mouth?" I just got a dirty look in return. Good times at the Jackson house. In my years of parenting it is becoming clearer to me everyday that certain rites of passage exist, and I'm beginning to wonder if eating your siblings poop is one of them.

- Taylor is off track from school right now so I signed the kids up for swim lessons at the rec center. One day we were leaving the building and (surprise surprise) the kids were a little out of control and not listening. They were running and laughing and I kept asking them to stop. Now, before I continue, please note that the entrance to the rec center is all glass doors and windows. Sara took off in a dead run toward the front doors. A few things happened all in the same moment, 1. I realized that Sara didn't notice the glass, 2. I screamed for her to stop, 3. She slammed face first into the glass wall that was right beside the door. I don't think she has even been more stunned by anything in all her life. I ran over to her and asked her if she was okay. She shook her head yes and then burst into tears- tears that lasted for 10 whole minutes. I picked her up off the ground, scraped her 4-year-old pride from off the window, and we made our way out to the car where we were serenaded by her wailing nearly the entire way home.

-Because I deserve a break every now and then, I put a ban on dress-up clothes this week. Ahhhh....sweet bliss. I have actually been able to find the floor all week. I love it!

-The other night we went over to my grandma's house to celebrate her 87th birthday. She is having a bit of a mice problem lately. Forgetting that she has sticky traps all over her house and not paying all that much attention to where Spencer was crawling, he landed himself right into a one. His fingers were covered and the whole trap was stuck to his pants. While it was an unfortunate disaster, I am counting myself lucky that the trap didn't already have a mouse stuck to it. I would probably have to be institutionalized if it did...

-While driving in the car today Taylor was back in his seat explaining some important issues to Sara. I overheard the following words coming from Taylor's mouth, "Sara, dads are not slaves. Only moms. And sometimes dads get a day off." Exactly. For those of you who haven't felt sorry for me in the past, please feel free to start now.

Under the Knife

Well. April 1st has come and gone and my little Spencer has tubes in his ears! I have been waiting for this day for more than a month!

He was such a happy little guy going into his surgery but not such a happy little guy coming out of it. They told me that most babies have a hard time coming out of anesthesia because they don't recognize or understand what they are feeling. I think he also was upset because his ears hurt! The doctor said that his ears were as bad as he ever sees them and they will most likely continue to hurt for a couple days. He had lots of pus coming out of his middle ear. Even when he thought he had it all out, it would keep coming. (I resisted the urge to say, "Maybe if you could have fit him in a few weeks back, we wouldn't be having this problem today!!!")

He has been taking an oral antibiotic and antibiotic ear drops. He had so much drainage. It lasted for 5 days (which is not good, by the way)! It has finally stopped but he still tugs and swats at his ears a bit. I wonder if we will ever get rid of this infection. I am going crazy! The antibiotic has given him a lousy case of diarrhea which in turn, has given him some fierce fire bum. Poor kid.

Spencer looked so cute in his little hospital gown and booties. I had to get a couple pictures. They even gave him a teddy bear. He wasn't too interested in it but hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

Vegas... again!

I guess we didn't get enough of Vegas last time we were there so we decided to go back. We went for a four-day dental thing. I was slightly panicked this time around because I had to leave my baby at home. Leaving my baby who was sick and still nursing was a rather traumatic event for me. Actually, I think it was probably more traumatic for my friend, Megan, who watched him while we were gone. Sleep is over-rated anyway. Right? Seriously, Megan is a saint.

Anyway, we stayed at the Venetian. It was awesome! This whole trip was kicked up a notch in every way from the last time we were here- nicer hotel, nicer view...

Dave and I walked in and put our stuff down. The first thing we both did was to walk up to that padded wall. I wasn't paying any attention to Dave. I put my hand up to touch the wall, looked over at Dave and he was doing the same thing. It made for a good laugh at the time. Sometimes you just can't resist touching the padded wall. That's all I'm sayin'. Kindred spirits I tell you.



Now you'll note that I didn't say we had a nice view, just a nicer view than last time we were here.



We weren't even sure what this was... but we had a nice view of it, whatever it was...



While we were there, it was Earth Day. It seems Vegas is trying to help save the Earth (not one soul at a time, of course) but one lightbulb at a time. The lights on the strip were dimmed for an hour that night to honor Earth Day. I took some pictures but as you can only imagine, they were rather dark. Yes, I will be kind and spare you looking at those.

It really turned out to be a good trip. We spent most of our time in class but managed to fit in some time for friends, eating, and walking around the strip. Fortunately for us, our friendly neighborhood front office lady and friend, Fern, took some pictures of us while we were walking around. Unfortunately for you, they are still on her camera. I know you are all gnawing at the bit to see the picture of me and Dave standing in front of a bronzed larger than life statue of Siegfried, Roy, and their lion friend. Only in Vegas baby!

While we were gone, we entrusted our other three children to my brother Mark and his wife Annie. Somehow they managed to stay alive while we were gone (and no, I'm not referring to the kids). Upon arriving home and taking a gander through the pictures on my camera, I got some insight into the weekend events while we were away. Buckle your seats ladies and gentleman...

Would you have expected anything less?!



Who is in charge here?



The combinations here are amazing.



Annie has found the way to my kid's hearts- she takes them to Chuck E. Cheese. Please note- I do not take my kids to Chuck E. Cheese. In fact, I don't know if I've ever been there in my entire life.

Is anyone else disturbed by the wonky-eyed Chuck E. Cheese in the background?



I don't know what the deal is with this clock thing but there were many pictures of it on the camera. It must be important.



Oh looky here- Chuck E. no longer has wonky eye.



The kids now talk about "Chuck E." all the time. It looks as though they are on a first-name basis with him. Funny how every time they say his name I think they are saying "Chucky" and that creepy red-haired doll kid in those scary movies pops into my mind.



That's my girl!



Now that I realize he is capable of this two-handed cooking technique, methinks I will be putting this boy to better use in the kitchen.



I probably owe someone some money for this...



Well if that isn't just the cutest little thing I've ever seen.



If dressing up with them, taking them to Chuck E. Cheese, and feeding them was not enough, they also took them to Thanksgiving Point to see all the animals.

Mark and Annie took such great care of the kids! Annie even washed all their laundry so I wouldn't have to when I got home. Thanks you guys! You are the best. Talk about having all your ducks in a row! Bueno!

Spencer- 9 months

Spencer started the month out developing a new skill-set- pulling himself up on things. He started small- the girl's Hello Kitty boom box. He loves that thing. It's just the perfect size for him but once he stands up he doesn't exactly know what to do. He gets all excited at first but then after a while he's like, "Heeyyy, how do I get down from here?" Funny kid.

He has turned into an expert crawler, making his way all around the house. I have had to really step it up in the vacuuming department. On one hand it's great to be forced to vacuum once (sometimes twice!!) a day but on the other hand, I have to vacuum once (sometimes twice!!) a day. Even with all this vacuuming, he still manages to have a diet high in random shrively treasures from the floor.

He claps.

He says "dada" and the occasional "mama".

He is also a feisty little biter. He likes to snuggle into my neck and shoulder but I have to watch that he doesn't bite me on accident. One day he was sitting on the floor playing with a towel. Of course I thought he couldn't do the towel harm- I was wrong. He was ripping out all the little looped threads of the towel with his teeth.

He is still sick. I can't wait for him to get tubes in so he can start feeling better. It really is so sad. We aren't getting sleep. That said, he is so sweet and so good. I can't believe how happy he is with all the problems he is having. We have been blessed with such a good little guy.