Monday, August 13, 2012

FIRSTS

The end of July was a big month of Firsts for our family: Naomi's First day of school, Jaxon's First birthday, and Jaxon's First birthday party. Funny thing is Naomi's first day of school and Jaxon's birthday landed on the same day.

The Story of Naomi's First Day of School (a little long but a good read)
Well Naomi's first day of school started out amazing. She was so excited! We ate yummy puffins (pancake muffins, so delicious, definitely a recipe you should try). Got ready, played, took pictures, played some more, and then waited for the bus. We waited and waited, in the heat, and waited some more. Fifteen minutes passed and we were still waiting. I sent Naomi in to go to the bathroom while Jaxon and I waited on the porch. Just before Naomi came back out the bus came by, but it didn't stop just passed us by. Didn't even look. Naomi came running out so she wouldn't miss the bus. She asked me where the bus was and I told her it didn't stop. She was very sad, and I was a little mad. She sat down on the sidewalk and started crying, which broke my heart. I thought, wow this is the worst way to start off her schooling experience. We waited about 5 more minutes, and then I told Naomi we needed to go and that I would drive her to school. She told me she did not want me to drive her, and yes she was still crying. She then calmed down and we got in the car so I could get her to school before she was late. I was pretty mad and anxious, I thought I would watch her get on the bus and cry, but no, I was driving her to school pretty frustrated. But I first dropped off Jaxon at my sister-in-law's house because I needed to walk Naomi in to the school and talk to the front office.We got to school just as the bell was ringing to line up. So she got in line and I watched her walk into her class with her new classmates. Before I left I talked to her teacher to make sure she would get on the correct bus going home. Her teacher told me before I left that the first thing Naomi told her was that the bus driver forgot to pick her up. I was about to go and talk to the front office about the this but then her bus driver walked up with the kids because they were late. She said she realized she forgot our stop once she got to the next one so she had to go all the way around again to get to our house, but by that time we were gone. So I didn't talk to the office because I felt good after talking to the bus driver and finding out that she did come back. So I drove back to pick up Jaxon, and then went home, where I stressed about whether she would make it home on the correct bus.


After Jaxon's nap we got up and walked to the bus stop. Above is Jaxon waiting for Naomi to get home. So we waited and we waited and we waited some more. And finally after waiting a half hour in 110+ degree weather, this happy girl hops off the bus (pictured below).
 She told me that she sits at the purple table and made lots of new friends, but she couldn't remember their names. She told me how they learned the class rules. And she said it was the best day ever. But if you ask her how her first day of school went the first thing she would tell you is that the bus driver forgot to pick her up. But even though that there was an issue with the first day of school we all survived. And hey, we got a good story out of it.

 So here are pictures from her second day of school, but here FIRST time getting picked up by the bus to go to school. She loves riding the bus. Still she gets a little concerned everyday that the bus might forget her again. But we haven't had any problems since.


Now the birthday boy! I can't believe he is one. It seems like yesterday when he was a newborn and slept all the time. Now he is almost a toddler. Almost walking, trying to talk to us, understanding so much! They grow so fast. 


 This was my practice cake for Jaxon's big party.
On his birthday we had cake just the 4 of us. Jaxon tasted the cake and got a little dirty but mostly just liked squishing it between his fingers.

Party Like A Rockstar! Jaxon's first birthday party was a Rockstar / Milk & Cookies bash

 Jaxon was really happy for his party which I was really happy about. My friend Karen took all the pictures. Thanks! It was nice being able to host and enjoy the party without having to also worrying about taking pictures.
 The dessert table was filled with yummy cookies: smore's cookies, chocolate chip, no bake, pumpkin, sugar, and banana oatmeal. My sister-in-law Amy helped with the cookies.
 Most of our family and close friends were able to attend. Not all are pictured though. We had a photo booth where you could dress up like a rock star. We got some good pictures.
 Jaxon actually tried to get into the presents before everyone arrived. When it came time to open them he didn't quite get it, but Naomi showed him the way. His favorite gift is the plastic golf club set. He holds them about 95% of the day.


Jaxon was getting tired so we wanted to hurry and do the cake. Above is the guitar cake that I made and iced with homemade buttercream icing. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I got my idea from Pinterest, I just made it my own by tinting the icing blue and grey instead.
  We sang, Naomi blew out the candle, then we gave Jaxon his own piece to dive into. He poked at it, tasted it, and then screamed for his golf club. He enjoyed chewing on his golf club more then eating the cake. Oh well. We had a fun time!


It was so fun to celebrate all these FIRSTS with my kids. I may not have cried in the moment but thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.



AND because it is fun to show you some comparison pictures, here is Jaxon and Naomi both at 1 year. What do you think? I think Jaxon is starting to develop his own look.

Oh and I love this picture, the lighting didn't turn out very well, but you can see how much they love each other.




***Little update: Jaxon is still not walking, which I don't mind, but he is very close. The most steps he has taken is 6. He moves pretty fast along the furniture and the walls. I'm afraid he might skip walking and just run. Hopefully not though.

Monday, July 9, 2012

11 Months and Baby Showers


Jaxon was 11 months at the end of June. Crazy that he is almost a year. He is the funniest little boy. He has so much personality, just like his big sister. He loves to throw anything in his hands, he's got a pretty good arm.

I thought you'd enjoy seeing a comparison picture of Naomi and Jaxon. This is a picture of them both at 11 months old. Can you guess who is who? Jaxon is on the left and Naomi the right, they look a lot a like.

This is what Jaxon is doing and loving at 11 months:
  • Crawls really fast
  • Army crawls when his hands are full of toys
  • Favorite game is to play catch (they are all gentle tosses)
  • Loves to crawl right into Naomi and head butt her
  • Likes to "bonk" (knock his forehead against yours)
  • Loves to throw his food
  • Loves to point and grunt to tell you where he wants to go or what thing he wants you to hand him
  • Loves his blanket and stuffed animal for naptime and bedtime
  • Screams all the time
  • Almost weaned of me
  • Points to Cory and says Da da, points to me and says Ma ma
  • Can kind of sign more, please, and all done

The month of June was also a very busy month for me. I hosted 2 baby showers.

One was for my friend Emily, who just had her sweet baby girl Molly. Sadly I didn't take any pictures of her shower, so I'll just have to tell you about. I hosted the shower at my house. The theme was Ready to Pop with pink and green colors. Emily's sister made a cute banner that said It's a Girl. The food was cookie bowl fruit bar (cookie bowls made by Emily's sister in law), two types of popcorn (white chocolate and  smores), and a yummy green salad (made by Emily's step mom in law). We had a Skittles guessing game, where you had to guess how many skittles were in the jar and whoever was the closest won the candy jar with all the skittles in it. I made the jar, but didn't take a picture. Then we played the Celebrity Baby Name game, Baby Edition Scattergories (click on the link to see where I got the idea), and guess how big her belly is by blowing up balloons. The winner of the belly game had to stick the balloon up their shirt and take a picture with her. For the sign in, my sis in law made some cute M's to sign on. I also made a yarn letter M in a purple ombre design (the picture is on my phone so I'll post that soon). The favor was Pop, to go with the theme and the tag said Thanks for Popping By.

The second shower was for my friend and visiting teachee, Stefani. She is going to have a little boy, so the colors for the shower were turquoise, yellow, and red and the theme was B is for Boy and Bow tie. My friend Lauryn and I helped Stefani's sister throw the shower. Lauryn made these super cute invitations and all the little signs for food and decor. Alison got all the food and decor figured out. And I hosted and made a banner and did the games. I really like how the banner turned out.

For the banner I used burlap; red, yellow, and turqoise paint; and black ribbon. I found a font I liked on my computer printed it off and cut it out to make a stencil, same with the bow ties. After the paint dried I hot glued the burlap onto the ribbon. What took the most time was cutting out the letters, other then that it was way easier then I'd thought it would be. The food was a breakfast bar. We had and parfait bar, fruit, donuts, muffins, and breakfast casserole. All so yummy. The food was brought by friends and family. The first game was the skittles guessing game. I made the jar. It only cost me $1: $1 for the candlestick from the dollar store. And I already had the jar, paint for lid, finial for lid, and gorilla glue to glue everything together. Winner got the jar.

The sign in was baby wishes (click link to see where I got the idea). And we hung it from twine with clothespins. We also played guess how big her belly is (with yarn) and Celebrity baby names. The favor was B is for Bubblegum (click link to see where I got the idea) and other candy. It turned out way cute. We even hung balloons from the ceiling for decor, it turned out so good. Here are just a few pictures.


Both showers turned out great!



Well I'm just about caught up. Look for more posts coming soon.


Sunday, July 8, 2012

10 Months and May Dance Recital


Jaxon is a ham and makes the funniest faces. I usually can't get a picture of them but I got a few of his funny faces this time. At the end of May Jaxon turned 10 months old, I know it's already July but I'm just trying to catch up.


This is what Jaxon is doing and loving at 10 months:
  • Tries to climb on everything
  • Army crawls super fast
  • Starting to crawl on all 4s
  • Favorite game is to pull out all the baby wipes
  • Loves, loves, loves Naomi
  • Likes banging on her bedroom door
  • Loves the kitchen cupboards
  • Love Love Loves the pool
  • Loves bath time with big sister
  • Still loves to scream (high pitched & loud)
  • Likes to point at things

Here's some video of Jaxon army crawling and trying the climb the stairs (don't worry I was right next to him).




Also at the end of May was Naomi's dance recital. She was so cute and she did such a good job. We were so proud of her. Even in her last dance her hair bow was falling off and she kept on dancing. We're so glad Aunt Amy, cousin Brennan, Uncle Craig, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Taylor, and Grandma Sharon could come.


(Naomi is the 4th from the right)

The videos from her recital wouldn't upload so, I'll put it in a different post.






Tuesday, May 1, 2012

9 Months, Soccer, Dance and Easter


Can you believe it, my baby is 9 months old. He's getting so big and so mobile and he's into everything.

 Here are his stats:
Wt-20lbs 8oz (50th)
Ht-28.25 in (50th)
Head-18.25 in (didn't say, guessing 50th)


This is what Jaxon is doing and loving at 9 months:
  • Climbs the stairs (mostly by himself)
  • Army crawls everywhere
  • Favorite game is to see what's in the bucket and pull it out (as soon as he dumps it I fill it back up and the game starts all over)
  • Loves getting high fives from his big sister
  • Thinks Naomi is the funniest person on Earth (who doesn't?!)
  • Loves food, especially real people food
  • When I say "Go get Naomi" he will army crawl after her
  • Loves the stairs (oh I think I mentioned that)
  • Love Love Loves the pool
  • Loves bath time with big sister
  • Loves opening the bottom stove drawer
  • Loves it when I open the pantry drawer or the fridge
  • Loves to scream (high pitched & loud)
  • Pulls himself up to stand (found him standing in his crib, uh oh)
We sure love our monkey.

Naomi started soccer last month and she is loving it. Their team name is the Yellow Giraffes. She is the only girl on her team and the best dribbler. Here she is at the end of her practice.


Here she is during her game.

And here is a little video.

Naomi is still in dance and loving it. They are getting ready for the end of the year recital this month. I couldn't get any good pictures, so here is a sneak peak video.

Sadly my camera wasn't working very well so these are the only pictures I got of the kids on Easter.


The kids got some fun water toys from the Easter bunny. We did a little Easter egg hunt in our house before church. I sadly don't have any pictures of the kids in their Easter outfits, but I'll get one soon. The day before Easter we did an egg hunt at Cory's brother's in-law's. Those pictures are on Cory's phone.

But we've been having lots of fun. Hopefully the next post will be sooner then later.

Oh and I did a guest post on my friends site last month. Check it out at Fun On a Dime.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Happy 5th Birthday! and Happy 8 months


Happy Birthday Naomi Belle! Can't believe she is already 5 years old. It's crazy to think that she starts kindergarten this year. She's growing up so fast. She is an awesome big sister, mommy's little helper, and daddy's rough and tumble girl. Our family wouldn't be complete without her.



Jaxon is 8 months old. Seems like just yesterday I was big and pregnant with my chunky monkey. Time flies.


**We've been super busy lately so coming soon will be a catch up post.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

What we've been up to since the end of January

We have been sick a lot so far this year. The kids have had ear infections; I had pink eye which also caused the flu; we've all had colds and serious allergies, but I think we're starting to feel better. Even though we've been sick we've still managed to do some fun stuff.

Naomi started T-ball. She's loving it and she gets better every week. It has been lots of fun being her coach.


Jaxon enjoyed the game, but not as much as he enjoyed chewing on the camera bag.

Jaxon is army crawling. On February 9, 2012 he started scooting his way toward his toys. Here is a video from when he first started (Feb 10, 2012).


When he first started he would only use one leg to help him and was kind of slow. But now he is super fast and gets into everything. He's even started trying to climb up things. He's also begun getting his knees under him and rocking. He's going to be full on crawling soon.

We had a fun Valentine's Day. Naomi and Jaxon got new shirts and cute teddy bears.



Naomi was eating her breakfast which was donut holes, cuz we love her a "hole" bunch

Naomi's preschool group went on a field trip to the Gilbert Temple Construction Site.

I was able to go with them. It was really neat, the couple missionaries talked about temples and the specifics of this temple. While the kids were eating their snack, one of the workers in the office took a part of the broken stone from a wall that had fallen and broke off some so that the kids could each have their own rock. The kids loved it!

Naomi's cousin Zoey came to town to celebrate her birthday. We went to the zoo and played and went to a fun birthday party.



Jaxon likes to help me feed him. Not my favorite thing because of the mess but it is so cute watching him try.
Naomi gave some of her toys a bath.


Naomi is still doing dance. And the last class of each month we are allowed to go and watch them, so for her last class in February Jaxon and I sat in for the last 10 minutes of class. It was so fun watching her. She is a cute little dancer.

Naomi made a necklace. The mini kit was on clearance at Michaels for 9 cents. Totally worth it, hopefully I can find more the next time I go.
Jaxon is so busy and loves crawling around on the floor.


Well, I think I am now all caught up. I'll try and be better about posting. Just pray the we don't get sick again for a while, at least a month.

35 Things Update for Jan and Feb

I know that this is a little over due but I have been sick on and off for 2 months now so I have not had the energy to blog. I am feeling better so I am going to try and get up-to-date.

35 Things for January

1. Reading the Book of Mormon on my Kindle. I don't have to worry about my bookmark falling out.

6. Made my mom's Apple Cake. Didn't take a picture, but I'll try to remember. One word: yummy!

12. The garage is clean!

18. Worked on the kitchen. Still in progress.

32. Painted birdhouse with Naomi (picture in previous post).


35 Things for February

1. Still reading. Working toward everyday, I read most days.

6. Made Pasta Fagioli, recipe from ward cookbook. It was awesome!

18. Still decluttering kitchen and working on master bathroom. I'll post some pictures soon.

23. Got a haircut. Been thinking about it for a long time and finally did it. And I love it!


What do you think?

32. We did some painting projects but you'll have to wait on the pictures.

Well I'm slowly but surely getting things done.