Bouncing Off the Walls... Again!

On Friday Nick treated us to a trip to Bouncing Off the Walls. Jack was a bit nervous to go on the big slide, but his cousin Will took him up and showed him how it's done. Afterwards, I couldn't get Jack to quit!

Follow me, Cousin!

Here's how Will likes to do it.

Jack feeling a bit nervous....

Here we go!!!!!

Duathlon!

Nick and Jess had another duathlon last Thursday. Jack had so much fun playing with Pappy, and he made two new friends named Wyatt and Ginger. Chicken nuggets were enjoyed by all Reese toddlers... thank you McDonalds! I don't know if Jack would have lasted 2 hours without them.

Sleepy Babe

I have had no time to work on my big blogs so to hold you over, here's an absolutly adorable picture of Jack napping. Awwwww....

Play Dates Galore

Jack had two play dates over the past two weeks with Will and Pippa. Jack is really learning a lot from those two... he sees them doing something new and interesting like playing with a new toy or going down a new slide, and Jack wants in on the action! I wish he had a brother or sister to play with, without the whole me having to get pregnant and give birth again thing. I'm glad he has his cousins though... he's a much happier and healthier boy thanks to them.

My dad is in town right now. The kids love having someone new to play with. Jack was weary at first, but he warmed up to Pappy in no time.

A Little Behind

Sorry I've been so behind in blogging this past week. I've got a million things going on and haven't had the time! Here are photos of Jack at the park on Father's Day. Isn't he such a ham?!

I have three big blogs I'm working on right now. I hope to have one done by tomorrow morning. Again, sorry for the delay. =)

Happy Father's Day!

Today is Father's Day which means another wonderful celebration of dads! This year Jack and I bought Kevin a mug with 15 pictures of Jack and him on it. It's so cute! We plan on taking him out to dinner and basically making him the special one. He works 45+ hours a week to take care of us and then comes home and spends all of his time with us. He's a wonderful dad, and we love him very much.

Speaking of wonderful dads, my awesome father will be here for a visit on Tuesday! He's going to be taking Jack to soccer practice and swim lessons, and of course spending loads of time with his other grandchildren. We can't wait for him to get here!

Happy Father's Day, Dad! And Happy Father's Day, Kevin. We love you!!!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Silly!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Jessica! We love you oodles and oodles!!!

SoccerTots - Bring It On!

Jack had a cupcake overdose a few weeks ago!

This morning Jack had soccer lessons which we almost missed because I was a little on the lazy side. However, at 9:15am, Jack was sitting on my head and poking my face... I think he was really excited about practice and didn't want to miss it. So, we threw on some clothes and headed to the soccer arena.

Jack's usual coach wasn't there today, so Coach Olivia was in charge. She had all sorts of new games for the kids to play. Jack is one of the younger ones and he didn't understand "dribble the ball through the cones and score a goal". The 3 year old kids got it pretty well, but the younger ones like Jack were kind of off in their own worlds. I didn't expect Jack to understand that or to do it, however, I did expect him to stay with the other kids. Jack wanted to go out of the arena and play. He also wanted to play with toys that weren't apart of the games Olivia had set up. So, I told Jack he had a choice: Either he can play with the toys Olivia had set up and be with the other kids, or he can sit out and watch, but he can't just go do his own thing and pull the balls and other toys out of the storage area. So, Jack sat down and didn't play for about 10 minutes. Finally, he decided that he wanted to play with the other kids so he got up and went over to them. When Olivia would talk, she told all of the kids to look and listen to her. At first Jack didn't want to but I sat him down and told him he can either look and listen to Coach Olivia, or he can sit out again. So he went up to Olivia very quietly and paid attention. For me, this is truly a breakthrough with him. Jack is very independent and likes to do what he wants to do, and this is kind of the first time he's actually listened to me and understood what I was saying. The rest of practice went really well from then on! He even did the entire obstacle course which he's never done before (he usually goes down the slide and then gets back in line.)

After practice we walked outside and I told Jack he had to hold my hand while crossing the street. He told me no and pushed it away. I grabbed his hand and said, "Jack, you can either hold my hand and we go to the car, or you can sit here and we do nothing." He glared at me, and then grabbed my hand and we walked to the car. I didn't like having to be so stern with him and give him ultimatums, but that's what had to be done and it actually worked.

Babycakes is down for a nap now. If the weather stays nice, and by nice, I mean not rain or snow, then I'll take him over to the park to play. He's been a very good boy today, and I think he'd enjoy it. Tomorrow is his second day with swim lessons, so be sure to stay tuned in tomorrow for that adventure!

Splash!

A few weeks ago I signed Jack up for swim lessons. At the time, I decided I wanted to get a one piece bathing suit. I didn't want to show up to the pool and be "that mom". You know the kind, the one that everyone is staring at because they stand out, and not in the cool way, but in the wow, what a weird woman way? I mean, I'm socially challenged enough as it is, and I was concerned that being covered in tattoos (believe me, I have more then you think!) and wearing a bikini would look pretty tacky at my son's swim lessons, so I thought that I could class it up a bit by getting a nice one piece.

So, about 2 weeks ago I started looking for a one piece. My first stop was to Walmart (which I am now boycotting because they accused me of trying to steal a chapstick by using a "fake" coupon. The coupon wasn't fake, I won it from Burt's Bees. In fact, my sister-in-law won one, too! If I was going to steal a chapstick, I wouldn't have made a fake coupon, I would have stuck it in my purse! So now I'm bitter and refusing to shop there.) I figured since I was only going to be wearing the one piece for a month, I would get a cheap one. Well, Walmart had ugly ones and so I headed over to Target. Target had gorgeous one pieces, but all of them were at least 5 sizes too big for me. Looks like all the skinny girls beat me to it. Then I went to Sears which had horrible choices, and I even looked at the ones in Costco but since I couldn't try them on, it was a failed mission. I found a gorgeous one piece online, but it was $120, and my budget was 1/4 of that. So last night I decided I would rock the bikini but wear my board shorts with it so I was covered up some more.

This morning comes and I get Jack all ready in his swim duds (by the way, raisons and toddlers do not mix. I won't go into details, but lets just say I was dry heaving from his diaper this morning). I get my bikini on and look in the mirror. Who is that girl and what has she done with my size 0 body? Because the girl in the mirror was no size 0! I mean, I haven't worn a bikini in a looooong time, so I didn't factor in my butt and hips being so large. I grab my board shorts to put over my chunkyness, and guess what... I can't even get them over my thighs! I almost cried. There I was laying on the floor sucking in my muffin top stomach trying to get those bad boys on. Since that didn't happen and we needed to leave, I just decided that I was going to rock my bikini and tattooed body. I mean, it's 9:30am on a Tuesday, who would be at the pool?

I'll tell you who was at the pool: Everyone and their mother! I have never seen this place so crowded before. Great! And since we're a few minutes early, we can't go into the pool yet because the other swim classes are still going on. So, Jack has a nice little melt down. Finally the other class ends and we can go in. Holy cow, did you know I have a dolphin for a baby? Jack is an awesome swimmer! He loved the pool so much. He swam on his back, was the first to go under water, and had a wonderful time. The teacher thought Jack was so cute because he was giving her the stink eye and glaring at her whenever she would talk. She just kept saying, "I love you Jack! I love it when you glare at me! It's so cute!" What?! If some kid glared at me, I'd glare right back! I wouldn't think it's cute! His teacher is totally awesome though. Anyway, Jack is amazing in the pool and Michael Phelps better check himself before he wrecks himself if ya know what I'm sayin' (and if you don't know what I'm sayin', it's because I'm socially challenged and it's not you.)

40 minutes breeze by and class is over so it's time to get out and go home (they need the pools for the next class so we can't just sit and play). Jack, however, isn't ready to leave. So I scoop Babycakes up and take him out of the pool. He then begins screaming "NOOOOO!" at me and throws himself on the cement sprawled out on the floor so no one can get past him to go to the locker room or outside. A mom comes up to me and says, "It's ok, it happens once to all of us!" Once? ONCE!? Are you freaking kidding me, lady? This happens to me on a daily basis! I'd love for it to be a one time thing! Crazy woman! So I pick Jack up and carry him off to the locker room. He is having a fit in there hitting me and so I snapped. I grabbed our bag in hand, grabbed him in the other, and I walked all the way to my car in my bikini with everyone staring at me and you know what? I didn't even care. I was so over the whole "getting punched in the face" thing and just wanted to go home.

So I get Jack in the car and we come home. We go inside and I go to my room and lay in the bed because I need to calm down. Jack walks in holding his blue bunny, climbs in bed, and cuddles me. Now how can I stay frustrated with him when he gets all cute like that? I am a sucker for that kid.

Kihra's Birthday Extravaganza!

On Saturday Jack went to his friend Kihra's birthday party who turned 1 years old. Her mom, Sam, is the other graphic designer at Gusto! who works with Kevin. Kihra is an absolute doll! She's so petite and beautiful, and I was also really impressed that she could walk already! The party was held in Sun River at her grandparent's house. This place was amazing! It's this huge house (mini mansion almost!) that is on a golf course (14th hole to be exact!). I just kept praying that Jack wouldn't break anything as I'm sure just one of their vases cost more then everything I own combined.

Kihra is half Filipino so her Grandma made a wide variety of Filipino food. Most of it had meat so I hit the fruit plate pretty hard. But man did the pork smell good! Jack had fruit and eggrolls. Afterwards Kihra opened her gifts where she got tons of gorgeous dresses! Every other minute I was oooohing and ahhhhing at them. Kevin just cringed every time something pink and frilly came out because I was squeeling like a school girl over everything! After presents they brought out the ice cream cake which Jack and I both consumed in seconds. There is just something about a Baskin Robins ice cream cake that makes me melt!

Jack had a really good time. Besides Kihra there was another little girl there named Maddy who was also 1 that he got to play with. Even though the girls were smaller then him, he was very careful when he played with them. I think he's starting to understand that he has to be gentle with people. Oh, there were two dogs there. I don't know what kind they were; they kind of looked like large Scotty dogs. Jack really did not like them, as they kept licking his face. Oh well, he got over it.

Here are a few pics from the shindig. Enjoy!

The drive to Sun River.

The birthday girl, Kihra!

Duathlon & Dairy Queen

Yesterday my brother and sister, Nick and Jess, had a duathlon that they competed in. They are training right now for two really big triathlons... one this month, one next month. This one was running and biking, which I think they both did fabulous in. Can't wait for the big race on the 28th!

I'll admit though, after the race, Jack and I were so exhausted that we had to hit Dairy Queen up for some onion rings and a hot fudge chocolate covered waffle bowl sundae. Watching people exercise just wears us out!