Mini Vegas

On Saturday, Brad and I spent the day in Mankato. We got to spend the day with Derek and Ashley (my best friend from High School). Ashley is due with their first baby in January, and has been on bed rest, so we wanted to visit them. I didn't dare ask to take a picture of her, even though she looks GREAT! I can't believe she's as far along as she is, her belly is still pretty tiny.

In the evening, we headed over to my friend Andrea's 30th birthday party. She is so stinkin' adorable. Here is Erin, myself, and Andrea at the party.



Brad was glad when Willie showed up. You'd never know I was the reason these two are friends...seriously. We had so much fun running into everyone we love from Kato. And not to mention how much things change! We even got to end the night with a "Backstage Pass" at Rounders, Willie's new bar that will open in December (hopefully). :)

Here's a bit of randomness, but what's a night without a little Patron??

Thanks to Amanda and Ryan, too....we were sad you guys weren't in town, but thanks for letting us take over your house. An ADORABLE house I may add!

When we were leaving town, Brad said..."Seriously, Mankato is like our Mini Vegas, we can't do that every weekend!" Totally true, but so much fun. You know we'll be back!

The skool

So what looks like an ordinary stool that came with Jack's kitchen set has turned into what Jack calls his "skool".  This skool has helped him get into just about anything.  It helps him turn on lights at 2:00 am, reach the button for the dryer (which when you push it makes the most horrible buzzing sound) and has made virtually EVERYTHING we have in his grasp.  We know he wants something when he runs around the corner asking "Where's my skool?".

Here it is in action.

Some days, we get creative and hide the stool before he realizes it's even gone....therefore, everything else in the house turns INTO a stool.  Like a bag of blocks!

And this last picture has nothing to do with the stool....I just thought I would want to remember three things. 

1) Two-year-olds sometimes have to be put on time out for the same thing 10 times before they even realize what they did.

2) As you can see from Jack's face, this is NOT his favorite activity to be put on.

3) He has started to pull his shirt down and instead of taking it off, he wears it as a skirt....I remember my little sister Kara doing this when she was little, but my little man??  Oh well...

Side note: Yes, it is 4:39 am....because our little Action Jackson has once again decided sleep just really isn't his thing.  :)

Tired Just Watching

I started thinking today that I have not been pulling my weight around here when it comes to keeping our blog up to date so I decided to share a couple short clips of Jack's favorite things to do these days!

This one is from the Mall of America last week. We decided to take a family day to the mall to do some Christmas shopping and figured Jack deserved a little ride time. Here he is on his favorite ride! Watch Jack watch everyone else on the ride. If everyone else is having a good time, so is Jack!

Jack has started becoming less and less afraid of things these days. If you need proof of this, see the  Halloween post earlier this month! Here is one of him blowing bubbles in the tub. Lately he has been laying down on his back with only his mouth and nose above water. He has also found that he can blow bubbles if he sticks his face under water!  Don't worry, nothing inappropriate here...

This last one was from tonight! Rach and I were cleaning up after supper and he came into the kitchen and did a somersault right in front of us. Granted, he did end up crashing into the wall when he finally flipped but it was cute and a first! We asked if he would show us again so we could record and he screamed "YES". He then started going somersault crazy. I think the world better watch out for his little man in the 2028 Summer Olympics!

A litte giddy

OI randomly won tickets to the Cities 97 Sampler Release Party for Wednesday night, and when I heard Jason Mraz was going to be there...I was all in! Thanks, Jess, for being our last-minute sitter!!

Here are a couple of pictures of Jason Mraz playing...and no, these are not cropped in, we really were that close. I could have touched him if I wanted....and believe me, I wanted. :) Brad's friend Keith actually called during the show and said "I think I just saw you on the news!" Yep - that was us!!

OK - a secret on me. I'm a little bit obsessed with Brian Oake's voice. I honestly look forward to when he comes on the radio in the afternoon, so when he started talking to Brad and I - I made B snap a picture...of course it would be blurry, augh.

Two quick facts you should know before this next picture. Who watched FRIENDS? Everyone, right? Remember Ross and Rachel's celebrity "Freebies List"? If you know Brad, you probably know he's obsessed with Jeanette Trumpeter, a local news anchor. She is number one on his "Freebie List". Well - on our way out the door, Brad stopped in his tracks, looked at me and said "Oh my God, I think it's JT" Yes, that's right...JT...his little nickname for her! Well, I told him he HAD to take a picture with her, and she was all for it! She cuddled all into him...lay off, JT! And I have to admit, I told her she was on his list.....HA.

I'm really not kidding when I say this made his night. Week. Year? Come on...look at that smile on his face!

Oops - I (Rach) realized I posted this under Brad's name...oh well.

Weekend Stuff

Our weekend started our with a Friday night sleepover with Avery.  We have been trying to spend time with each of the Newman kids one-on-one, and tonight was Avery's turn.  After some hard-core playing time, they sat down to have popcorn and watch Ratatouille.

Since it was 9:00 by the time the movie was over, it was time for bed.  Avery, however, decided at 10:20 that it wasn't such a good idea to sleep away from home without her brothers, and we brought her home.  It was still definitely worth the try.

On the Avery note : last night we were saying our bedtime prayers, and each night we try to have Jack say more and more by himself without us prompting him.  As he got to a certain part in the Lord's Prayer...he said "and deliver us from Avery".  We corrected him to say evil, but he insisted that Avery belongs there instead.

On Sunday, we raised Jack's bed a little bit higher.  Since he's gotten used to it, we figured we could get it more than two inches off of the floor.  I think he finally noticed the sign that Jess made for him, because he insisted I take a picture under it!

Now if I could only get that sippy cup, or as Jack would say "C-cup" away from him!

We hope you had a great weekend!

Everything takes a little big longer

Today I was trying to clean the fridge shelves while Jack was playing cars.  When he heard me banging around, he needed to know what was going on, so he grabbed his little stool and decided to "help" me.  How am I supposed to wash dishes when someone is right in front of the sink??

What should have been a 20 minute job turned into about 45 minutes...between trying to keep him OUT of the fridge, to trying to convince him No, you should NOT eat cold hot dogs at 9:30 in the morning....

He still thinks everything needs to be re-arranged...so the battle continues.

Dogpile!

This is so typical of every time we get together with the Newmans....

DOGPILE on B! (You can barely see him under there).

Jack just realized this weekend that the kids call him "Uncle B".  So now all we hear from him is "Chase me, B!"  Hilarious to me, especially since I have been called Rachel since we took the kids to the zoo this summer!

Candy Man

While Brad and I were watching the Vikings game today, Jack said he was going to get his Ping and Pup.  Within seconds, we heard a crash in the kitchen and came running to see what it might be...

That is all of his Halloween candy.  To give you an idea of where he climbed from and how fast...the cabinet is open that he grabbed the ziploc bag from!

Yep - way up there. :)

Life with Boys

What started out as hand washing...

...soon turned into this.

Stunned that he could do it...

...and so proud.

Ah, life with a two-year-old boy.  Moments like these make me smile.

Another one bites the dust

The view of our door last week....

And our door today....notice a difference?

No, we did not sell our condo.  We officially took it off of the market.  After a very long year and a half struggle to try to sell what we know as our home, we decided it was time to take it off for a while.  We know we're not the only ones going through similar situations, but it has been a heartache for us none-the-less.  Our hope is to rent the condo and find something that fits us better this winter.  We'll keep you posted.

A welcomed sign

I got gas this morning...and I almost couldn't believe it. I can't even remember the last time I have seen gas in "the ones". I had to snap a picture with my phone. I paid $4.12 this summer at the same gas station...and with my hour commute every day, I'm OK with the change....a very welcomed change.

Update

I walked out from writing the first blog, and I found Jack like this on the couch....I guess he found his spot for the night.

Speaking of spots for the night...I think B found his, too...he's not moving until this election is decided. Maybe to get something to drink. MAYBE.

Politics has been on in our house what seems like 24/7 for months...so I for one am excited for it to be decided as well.  No more mornings spent listening to politicians while putting on my make-up :)  I hope everyone did their part and voted...no matter who you think the better choice is.

Sicky

Jacks is sick today.  He lost his lunch at daycare and has a fever of 103.  Brad picked him up early, and since I got home at 4:30, this is about all he has been doing....laying on the couch.  Not so typical of my energetic Action Jackson.

Brad taking his temp...this time its only 102.  Time for bed...

Swiper No Swiping

I was giving Jack a bath tonight, and set a towel on the floor for when he got out. I went to grab a diaper, and when I took my four steps back into the bathroom, he had already SWIPED the towel and threw it in! In the first picture he looks as though he's been busted...

And now totally proud of what he's done....augh. He said he wanted a "wet wrap"!

I should also show you how his war wound looks today....much worse than yesterday. This one might stay black and blue for a few days, huh??

Giddy Up!

Jacks was a cowboy for Halloween this year.  He thought he looked like Woody from Toy Story, and I was fine with that as long as he would keep his outfit on!

Here...sitting with the Newman kids...Captain Hook, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell!

Brad was dressed up as Tate...this was really funny because he kept telling Tate he was going to do it, and if you know Tate very well...everything Brad did was just like him.  I wasn't going to dress up at all, but found this mask......don't ask what I was.  Jack said I looked like a bird.  OK?

So I said I wasn't going to dress up, right?  Tell that to Kelley, who had old dresses for all of us.  Too funny.  You can't even see my ridiculous wig because it was so dark out, but we definitely made a statement.  And don't you think it's unfair that Kelley - the planner of it all - got to be a Southern Belle, and was the prettiest of all of us??  Rigged, totally rigged.

We had such a fun Halloween - tons of more pictures in the October slide show.

Silly Sleeper...

I know...this should be a Halloween post. That would just take too much time this morning...so look for them tonight. I thought this was funny, this is how Jacks was sleeping the other night. Seriously - who sleeps with their legs crossed??


Hope you had a fun weekend - and I promise I'll try to get more up tonight.