All's right with the world...

Well, whew...the dishwasher and the clothes washer are back in business. I'm really such a baby when my technology breaks down, huh?! ;) No, it wasn't so bad, but it's amazing how many dishes a small family of 3 makes. If I didn't do them at least twice a day, it was too much for our drying rack to handle.

Also amazing to think that I rarely used our dishwasher before Grady, even though we always had one. I don't even think the change is due to Grady and the time and attention he takes. The root of the difference is still in Bugga though--it's the difference in how we approach eating. The fresh fruits and veggies, the actual cooking that we do now--it just takes a lot more prep dishes and cookware and dishes to serve the yumminess on. =) It's a wonderful change for us, though I wasn't thinking it was so wonderful when I stared at a counter full of silverware, cooking utensils, bowls, pans, plates, glasses...UGH. When I stared at all that and knew all of it had to be washed by hand...UGH again.

It was good for me to do dishes by hand for almost 2 weeks though. Sounds silly, I know, but it helped remind me to be thankful for all our blessings. And that meant the simple blessing of having the food to cook and the means to cook it and the means to clean it all up (even though it wasn't the exact means I would have preferred).

And speaking of blessings, isn't that little guy above just one of the best blessings ever?! He still isn't talking, but he knows where our nose, eyes, ears, and mouth are and happily points them out when we ask him. He can follow directions, so I know he's understanding things we say, he just isn't saying any of it himself yet. ;) He'll get there, I'm not too worried.

He continues to love the dogs so much. This morning, he was helping J give them treats for sitting nicely on their bed while the repairman fixed the dishwasher. So cute!!!

The other day, he was enjoying "ready, set, and go." He would back himself up against a wall and wait for us to announce "ready...set....go" and he would take off running. =) Momma and Papa were rolling over this new little behavior!

He is mastering slides by himself, including the slide in the pool where we go for parent/child swim. He is finally blowing bubbles in the water more consistently. He practices in the tub A LOT. =)

He can get himself up on the lounger now with ease and loves to run around on it (yes, run!) and stand on the window sills and mess with the window latches. Yeah, Momma's not so thrilled about the lounger stuff either. ;)

We know he's loving the bike rides because he tried to crawl into his little trailer by himself the other day when J was in the garage with him working on something. =)

He turns the pages of books we're reading together; this is one of my favorite things he does now. I love it when he goes and gets a book and brings to it to either J or me, or sometimes just sits down and turns the pages and inspects it from every angle. And he seems to have gotten over any destructive book handling practices that were once a big worry of mine, especially with the library books. ;)

So that's the big Bugga update. HAHA. I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting.

Bugga and Momma enjoying morning coffee on the lawn. =)

Bugga helping the dogs get a drink. ;) Yeah right! After this picture was taken, he proceeded to step into the bucket. Then he and the bucket both tipped over and spilled all the water, much to the dismay of the dogs. Hahahaha.


The quick dog update: Mischief went to his for-the-moment home last Sunday, as I reported. Only then I called it his "forever" home. Turns out, not so much. They have decided they weren't ready for puppy-dom, though it sounds like the wise women of A Rotta Love Plus already have his next--and hopefully last--home and family waiting for him.

The first 2 families that met and wanted Pumba didn't seem to work out in the end. So that left me and J seriously considering making him a forever member of our family. In the end, we came to the difficult decision that doing that would be easy--he is such an amazing dog and fits in so well in our family--but it wouldn't fit with why we started fostering in the first place. So the search for a family continued and Pumba and I met with a family yesterday that are as near to perfect as possible I think--so much so, that I finally started to feel at ease with the thought of letting him go. Though that's not to say I don't cry thinking about it. ;) Hopefully more wonderful updates to follow about this development.

That wasn't so quick afterall huh?! What would you expect of me though? HAHAHA.

Ahhhh...Summer

The not-so-lazy, dog- and Bugga-chasing days of summer are here. =)

I'm a total sucker for the nekkie tushie. (Look closely at the bottom of the chair.)

Just catchin' some rays, hanging with my Papa. Nothin' on but my hat. ;)

When the time comes that nekkie tushie pictures are no longer appropriate for this little guy, I may need to be alerted by an outside source. HAHA. I'm sure someone will tell me, right?!

For now, I still think it is too cute and just innocent enough to not induce cringing. For me anyway. ;)

Not to say there won't be cringing by the Bug himself later in life when I pull out all the nekkie pictures. Maybe I'll have a scrapbook dedicated to just those pictures, only to be pulled out when absolutely necessary. ;)

Anyway, I got sidetracked. Summer is here. Time for bare feet, playing in the grass, hats, sunscreen and bug repellant, trips to the pool or the beach, and generally soaking up all of the great outdoors that we can. We better enjoy while we can, I'm sure Summer is all too short here in MN. A lot like all our weekends I guess. =)

The Good and the Bad

Another week gone by, another weekend oh so short (I can already tell). Life with 3 dogs in the house and the ever more toddler-esque Bug is exciting enough...add a broken dishwasher and now a broken clothes washer too...way too exciting if you ask me. ;)

Many of you don't say it to my face--though some of you have or at least the look on your face is enough to know--that you think our cloth diapering is coo-coo. Well, I hand washed a load of diapers in our deep sink last night. Bet that doesn't make anyone think we're less coo-coo. =) Makes me thankful we are so old school with our flats though because man do they wash up easy, even by hand. All the poo has gone in the toilet of late (or on the lawn as was the case this morning while we were all outside enjoying the nice weather, with Bugga sans dipe or pants, haha), so that made a difference too.

So what are the odds that 2 of our nearly new appliances would break down within a week of each other?! To make the odds even more wacky, add the fact that the problem with both is that their doors won't latch. Crazy, crazy, crazy. "Break down" seems like a silly way to term the problem, since for all we know they would work perfectly...if only we could close them. ;)

Let's see, what else is new? Bugga has enjoyed 2 weeks of parent/child swim class now and he LOVES it! Well, most of it. ;) He is still Bug afterall and he's bound to find something to be upset about, whether it's that he doesn't like the noodle or he wants to keep playing when class is over. We go twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. They have a wading pool type entrance in the kiddie part of the pool and he runs in like a Baywatch lifeguard saving a life. Or in this case, saving a rubber duckie and returning it to the teacher's treasure chest. =)

It really is fun, though some days he is a lot to handle because he does love to run and inevitably falls down and doesn't seem phased by it one bit, so he keeps doing it. And Mom keeps having mini heart attacks as she tries to hold herself back from immediately yanking him out of the water, trying to give him the chance to remedy the situation on his own, which he usually does and with a big watery smile on his face.

On Tuesday this week, J came home from work and took Bug on a long bike ride so I could catch up on things around the house. Once home, Bugga was playing and fell headlong into J's legs, which had a nice coating of dirt and chain grease. This was the outcome:

My Monkey Doodle yawning. For some reason, I love catching the pets yawning, just makes for a funny picture if you ask me. ;)

Here is Bugga in his chair for lunch yesterday, catching a show while he was at it.

3 dogs = lots of Bugga entertainment

Bug + Pumba = lots of brotherly love

It is getting harder and harder to imagine saying good-bye to this guy. J and I are both constantly debating--both within ourselves and out loud with each other--as to whether we should just adopt him and be done with it. =) Remember when I was talking about him being a bit slow on the uptake with training? Well, he has since fallen in line big time, learning a lot of the house rules in record time (especially for a pup who lived alone in a kennel for so long); he just fits in so well. Too well. ;) And Paisley and he make awesome play buddies, they're so comfortable with each other. I am taking him to another adoption day tomorrow, so we'll see what happens.

And speaking of adoption...Mischief is going to his forever home tomorrow morning! We're so happy for this little guy. We're hoping his new doggie parents have backbones though because this little guy needs direction, or else he will probably be a terror. A cute terror, no doubt, but a terror just the same. Hehe. Congrats little Mischief! =)

Bugga is waking from sweet midday slumber, gotta go! =)

Nebraska Revisited

For today, a few more pictures of our trip to NE. We really did have such a good time. Even though we took probably hundreds of pictures, there are lots more we wished we had--like we barely have pictures of any of the adults. Memaw, Papaw, Great Grandma Evelyn, Great Grandpa Glenn, Aunt Danelle and Uncle Kelvin, Uncle Chris and Aunt Nichole, my brother and sister-in-law, my Dad; J's aunt Kim and Uncle Kirk and his cousin Cassie too. So many people we either didn't get a picture of period or only got in a few shots. It's ridiculous! We totally skimped on the "big people," but we got tons of the kids. Of course.

Here is Jedd lounging with Paisley on a hammock. This little guy spent a lot of time doing training with Paisley. So much so that I heard him mutter, with Pai close by his side one night, that he was "so sick of this job." Then he promptly told her to go to bed. HAHAHA. I had to try so hard to stifle my laughter as I went to him and asked if he thought it was time for her to go take a nap in her crate. ;)

The Saturday night we were there, a big storm blew threw and there was the threat of a tornado! Jacksons had a whole slew of people over and sure enough, as soon as some of the people headed home, the whistles blew and we headed to the basement. There, crammed in the basement hallway, was Chris, Nichole, Kaylee, Danny, Linda, J, me, Grady, Riley, Faith, and little Colten, and Jackson's neighbor without a basement. It was a little scary, that's for sure. Of course, all was fine in the end. Here's a shot J got of Chris and Nichole outside after we emerged from the basement.

Papa and Bug matching swimsuits--again, and a better picture this time!

Bug enjoying the pool in Memaw and Papaw's backyard. Memaw and Papaw have an awesome yard for the kids playing and adults just sitting around chatting. We only hope we can get our yard here in a shape for the same kind of enjoyment.

Jake, Jedd, and Jenna were waiting for the swimsuits to arrive and Kelvin was waiting to start a big ol' water fight. ;) Haha. Jokester, that Uncle Kelvin. =)

I'm not done, I still have more. ;) Just not today.

Sleep day today. Silly Bugga woke up vomiting in the middle of the night. Otherwise seemed fine, even smiling and playing a little. We learned he inherited his Momma's crazy loud vomit noises. So embarrassing! Poor kid. Can't hide it if he's sick, that's for sure. ;)

So many things you didn't need to know. Do I know how to wrap up a post or what?! =)

Daddy Day

Happy Father's Day!!!

Our day started with J having to free a little bunny that got stuck in our fence. Crazy huh?! Poor thing, we're really hoping he/she is just fine.

This afternoon, we took a bike ride into town to one of the parks to play a bit and then hit the Dairy Queen on our way out of town for a waffle cone turtle sundae. Mmmmm. Yum! Bug sure does like his sweets, much like both Momma and Papa. Thankfully, he still eats his veggies--well, most of the time--even though he knows there is such yummy stuff in existence out there. ;)

The dogs are all doing well. Having 3 dogs in the house, plus Bug, is pretty interesting. That's putting it lightly I'm sure. =) Probably my favorite part is that my little Monkey girl (our tiny female cat) will go up against all 3 dogs if need be and still come out the winner. That little lady does not back down. EVER! Oh how I love her!

Welp, that's the latest and greatest from the Jacksons. =) Not much really, right?! Barely worth checking in, right?! Hehe.

Yes, I still have other updates to do though. I'll get to it, I really will. In the meantime, the dishwasher is broken, I've been on hold with travelocity for 45 minutes, the litter needs changed, the trash needs to go out, and I hear J scolding some 4 legged critter in the other room. So I think I'll sign out for tonight. ;)

Just in case...

...you didn't think we were crazy enough:

That's right. We are now fostering 2 dogs! Meet Mischief, a little bull terrier puppy that was a part of a big cruelty bust here in MN. He's a good boy so far, I'm sure we'll be getting to know him better over the next days.


I think we'll be a 3 dog family for a short time though; Pumba met 2 prospective families at adoption day today and we're pretty sure he's found his forever home. Very bittersweet for us and I am definitely still wrapping my head around Pumba leaving. =( How quickly we grow to love them.

Anyway, I still have more pictures and updates to share from our trip to NE. We're so sad J has to go back to work Monday! He had these first 2 weeks of June off and they positively FLEW by. =( Oh well. Oh and updates on swim lessons and such too. I'm way behind. HAHA.

CONGRATS to Elizabeth and Nathaniel! We hear little Grace Capri has arrived and we hope all are doing well. Very exciting!

Off to bed, lots of puppy wrangling tomorrow for sure. Good thing the Bug thinks dogs are so entertaining. ;) Paisley just came out to tell the boys it's time for bed...hehe...so I guess we all better listen to her and get our rest. =)

Virtual Bragbook

Okay folks...I just have to say it...we have THE BEST nieces and nephews ever. That statement may carry a tad bit of bias, I suppose, but they are pretty amazing kiddos. ;) They're just too cute and they each have so much personality.

I've been debating on the order of photos again, and random seems to win out every time. I thought I could sort into boys and then girls, but then the internal debate about whose pictures go first starts all over again and I've gotten nowhere. =) So here you have it, in no particular order, our amazing nephews and nieces:

Miss Faith Ann. This little girl has the most expressive face. As her Mom said, "she doesn't make the same face twice." I love to watch her reactions to things because of all the fun little faces she makes.

Jakie, showing Bugga his croquet moves (and boy does he have some to be showing off!).


The newest, little Miss Kaylee, who is just so much fun to have around. =)

Our ever-quiet and ever-helpful Jenna. She is just too sweet, not much I could say would do this little lady justice.

And Jedd. ;) This guy is probably the spit-fire of the bunch. Sweet as pie one minute, ornery as you can imagine the next. It's all in good fun though, and he definitely keeps us laughing. =)


Here's that cutie Kaylee again. She just fits right in, accepts everyone, will play with everyone, an easy going little gal for sure. =)

Our oldest niece, Riley. We couldn't be more proud of the little lady she's becoming. This picture makes me laugh though, because her Mom made her wear these clothes. As soon as she got the go-ahead, she was out of these "nice clothes" and into b-ball shorts and a tee with her hair in a pony tail. Or as J would say "the Riley we know and love."

Mr. Jacob smiling big for the camera. I was little surprised he was so patient with me! He was whooping everyone's hiney at croquet. It's those golf skills of his. ;)


Dear Jenna. She loves to read and is always ready to help with just about anything, including helping make several of the meals while we were there. You really couldn't ask for a better helper than Jenna. =)


Hmmm, I already claimed Kaylee as our newest, but really I think that title goes to little Colten here. Now just about 8 weeks old. So cute and so LITTLE. How easily I had forgotten how little they are! ;) We'll be anxious to see the personality on this little guy. With 2 older sisters (Faith and Riley), this little guy just may shake things up. Time will tell.


More on our trip to come. For now, suffice to say, WE LOVE YOU Riley, Jacob, Jenna, Jedd, Kaylee, Faith, and Colten! In age order there, in case anyone was wondering. ;) You're all amazing kids and we feel so blessed to count you as family and to be able to watch you grow up!

My Monday Bliss

Home sweet home.

We're back from our trip to NE. We had a really wonderful time getting to see family (and a couple like-family friends too) and getting to finally meet Nichole and Kaylee.

I have an INSANE amount of pictures from our trip, but for today, I'll post an image of my two guys and the two pups running in the yard. After driving all night while Grady slept, J and I were so exhausted today...but somehow, Bug is in bed asleep, J is out mowing, and I'm on the computer. ;) Ridiculous, I know. I'm getting reaady to tackle the kitchen, laundry, and unpacking before we undoubtedly collapse.

OH, and there is a new application in on little Mr. Pumba Loompa, so wish our boy luck. Hopefully this weekend we'll meet the family that hopes to add Pumba to their ranks and see how it goes. Our first big test in fostering--will we be able to let go?! For now, he's getting extra hugs around here. Gotta squeeze him while we can. ;)

So much more on our weekend of family fun to come this week.. We were sad to go--I don't think we could ever quite get enough of everyone--yet so glad to be home. If only it weren't quite so long of a trip...we could all get together more often. Of course, if anyone wants to travel to MN, we'll leave the light on. HAHA. =)

Taking the Show on the Road

There are a kazillion things I should be doing right now:

packing
cleaning out the litter box
packing
laundry
packing
cleaning the kitchen
taking a nap
packing
trim the cats' nails
go in search of yet unpacked summer clothes
packing

That's just a sampler, but I think you catch my drift. ;)

We are leaving in roughly 7 short hours or less to drive to NE to visit our families. And what am I doing to prepare?! Yup, blogging.

Uh oh, and I just got caught by the husband. Not to worry though, he'll just make fun of me unmercifully for my lack of productivity and my internet addiction and go on his merry way, accomplishing things in his addiction-free manner that drives me oh so crazy. =)

I'll get things done. It will just be hastily and at the last minute. I'm a procrastinator and I know there are many of us out there, otherwise there wouldn't be a word for this delightfully unhelpful condition.

Oh and I'm also a little spacy at times...did you notice that we have (quoting myself here) 'yet unpacked summer clothes.' UGH. I'm not even sure it reached 60 degrees here yesterday and today is a tad warmer but still darn COLD if you ask me. We think/hope/pray it will be warmer in NE while we're there, so at least I have a reason to go search out my summer clothes.

A couple pics for today, self explanatory I'm sure. ;) Though they probably usually are and I go blathering on about them anyway.

Foster-pup-wonder Pumba will be going to another foster family while we go on our trip and I can already tell we're going to miss him a lot. This may not say good things about our chances of success as foster dog parents. ;) No, wait, I'll be strong when the right family comes along and I'll be ready to let go. For right now though, I'm sure glad he's with us. =)

See you soon to everyone in NE and wish we were seeing you soon to everyone else. =)

Oh and this is my 50th blog post. Woohoo huh?!