Good-bye July

Welp, tomorrow marks another month gone. I cannot believe it! I have been a horribly absent blogger this month. Can't think of anything outstanding to account for it either, just summer laziness I suppose. And maybe the fact that this guy is becoming such a little boy (read, not my baby anymore):

Ever since we got him some legos, it seems we can't get enough pictures of him playing with them. Seriously, we have folders and folders of legos pictures. It is ridiculous. I think it is because a) they are colorful and fun and b) we can't get over that he is actually old enough to play with them. This is one of my favorites though because it is so silly. He has started doing this little head-stand move, usually without his legos of course, but when he decided to do this and play with his legos simultaneously, well I couldn't resist. ;)

Here is a shot of that "adopt me" collar I mentioned before. There was a new application in on Mischief just the other day and, on paper at least, they seem like a great couple. They have pot-belly pigs and 7 acres--I can just see Mischief now, running around with pot-belly pigs, and chickens, and horses. HAHAHA. Doesn't it sound like fun! We'll see what comes of it anyway.

The other night we put Bug to bed, it seemed like a normal night. We sat in the rocking chair, cuddled with his fleece blanket made by Memaw, read some books, then laid him down for final snuggles and the tuck-in. Bingo-bango, easy-peasy, just like most any night. Then I headed off to shower and J headed downstairs with the dogs for a bit but forgot the monitor. So I went to check on him later and this is what I found:

=) My heart melted right then and there. I couldn't believe it! He crawled up in the rocking chair, pulled the blankets down and fell asleep. Oh my! The picture kind of sucks, but it was too precious to pass up (even though I generally loathe flash pictures).

Doesn't he look like a little boy now? Where did my baby go???

J captured this fun action shot of Bugga dumping his legos out while he sat on top of the trunk. ;) He is so silly. He likes to put the bucket of legos up on the trunk, then crawl up there and dump them out.


And, of course, a couple animal pictures to round out the post. ;)

OH, big news, for the first time EVER, we had a babysitter this last Saturday!!!! Woa! Interestingly though, we can't say that it was some amazing thing to be without him; if anything, we kind of missed him. We didn't do anything that special, we wanted to keep it short and something we could leave easily if we needed to, so we just did some shopping and supper. In the end, I think we decided that most of the time, we do fine with our alone time at home after the Bug hits the hay each night. It is nice to at least have the option of a babysitter though.

Anyway, Bug did AWESOME. He didn't even make his little 14-year-old sitter change a dirty dipe! She took him potty about every hour and he used the potty like a big boy. YAY! She said he got just a little whiney about a half hour after we left, but otherwise did great.

Happy New Month to everyone! I can't promise I'll be any better about posting in August. I head to WA Friday, August 8th and return early the following Tuesday morning. I'll be visiting our wonderful friends Lindsey and Brandon! =) Indecisive gals that we are, Lindsey and I decided we really needed to get together and get the whole bridesmaid dress issue resolved. ;) Plus, Saturday is her birthday, so it was perfect timing. Ahhh...I remember her birthday 2 years ago too, right after we found out a certain little one was on his way. =) This trip will be a bit different no doubt. ;)

Buggarillio just woke up from his nap, better go entertain him. He's getting to be quite the little destructive force if left to his own devices. =)

This, That, and Everything Else

Okay folks, due to my lack of posting lately, this post is going to be all over the map. I swear I'm not ADD, it's just going to seem that way for a bit. ;)

Life at Chez Jackson is going well. Bugga grows ever more entertaining by the day, which also translates to--depending on his mood--ever more exhausting for Momma and Papa, but boy is he cute. Good thing too. ;) He has recently decided naps are not so cool, which is...uh...interesting. He's developing some pretty adorable antics, though as I keep typing and deleting, I am realizing they are hard to describe with the written word. Oh well, I suppose most of you will trust me when I say he is a cutie and we get lots of chuckles out of him each and every day. =)

Check out the nekkie lego time...he is ALL boy. ;)



The Mischief man is growing, both in size and in skills needed to make him a tolerable member of any family. ;) HAHAHA. In many ways, he lives up to his name, but with a renewed dedication to training and positive guidance, he is really starting to shine. The great part is that he has shown he is just as willing to work as we are, so it has been a human-canine joint effort for sure. We are proud of our little Mischievous! Now, if only the perfect family would step up to the plate for this little guy...we know they're out there. ;)

You can't see it in this picture, but he has the cutest little collar that says "ADOPT ME" in embroidered letters. We really need to take it out for a spin in public (he has only had it about one week).

And now back to the Bugga Boone. This is just a funny shot of him on the toilet, because we really do enjoy being ever so slighly inappropriate. ;)


I had this whole big thing written up about his success in leaving his bodily deposits in the toilet and how we have practiced elimination communication (or natural infant hygiene or whatever you want to call it) since birth and how we really believe it has merit...and then I realized that very few, if any, of the people reading this blog give a toot when it comes to our son's bathroom habits (give a toot, haha; okay that little funny might have been just for me). BUT, in case there is anyone out there who is even mildly curious, I'll throw a couple links out there: Natural Infant Hygiene (an article by Ingrid Bauer), Diaper Free! (book by Ingrid Bauer; very good read), Dare to Bare (an op-ed by Meredith E. Small; gotta love that title).

Anyway, because Grady has been doing so great lately with using the toilet, we thought it was high time we got him some cloth trainers. It is hard to see, but the one he is wearing below is brown with little bugs all over it, so cute. =) We figured trainers he can pull up and down will make potty breaks so much easier, since we won't have to lay him down and unpin his flat and then go to the toilet. We only have 2 though, so much of the time, we'll still be using his flats. Today though, he only messed ONE diaper, which was awesome! No, not every day is quite so awesome, but still, we're happy we've been ECing him since birth and it really seems to have paid off.


Okay, back to non-toilet related Bugga news...actually, we go back in time here. I told you I'd be all over the map. ;) Here are Bugga and his Papa at a 4th of July parade. Bugga had the best seat in the house, of course, and he sure seemed to enjoy it.

We thought that this year, Bug was old enough to enjoy the 4th of July and fireworks and such. Ooops! Boy, were we wrong! Deliberately keeping him up past his bedtime was our downfall. We've done it before, every now and again, but that night was pretty bad. He was overstimulated to the max and cranky and we actually ended up bailing on our claimed spot to watch the show just minutes before they started. Oh well, there's always next year!

Finally, to wrap it up, a picture of Miss Paisley herself getting a healthy dose of the Bugga love. ;)


His hugs for the pets tend to look like this: him draped over them while they try to figure out what is going on. =) It really is precious. He LOVES the animals so much, it is impossible to imagine our life without all of them. True, it is a zoo around here much of the time, but wouldn't life be boring if it weren't?! Hehehe.

So, that's the sporadic update for now. Seems July will be over before we know it and then Momma is taking off for WA by herself! Can you believe it?! Yup, more on that later. Until then, au revoir.

ps~not sure what is up with all my french references today; guess it is just part of the ADD fun. ;)

Flora and Fauna

I'm finally off my keester to bring you this photo of the GORGEOUS floral arrangement that J's parents had delivered to us on our anniversary. =) Complete with purple daisies which always remind me of our wedding.



Here you can see our "wedding jar." J got it for us when he was stationed in South Carolina before our wedding. 51 weeks out of the year, it faces the other way and has a similar design with no words; the week of our anniversary it gets turned so that our names and wedding date show.


True to form for us, we didn't really do anythings pecial that day though, so when Linda asked the question "Did you do anything special?" my answer was "yeah, we got your flowers." ;)

THANK YOU again Danny and Linda! It has been wonderful having such cheery flowers in the house this week.

On to the fauna portion of this post. ;) Earlier this week, after Bug was in bed, I was letting the dogs go potty and Paisley suddenly reared up on her hind legs and let out a kind of strange, low growly sound. I followed her line of sight and this is what I saw:

Momma and Baby Deer were back! It was so fun to watch them, and to watch Momma watch me to make sure I wasn't going to do anything crazy. ;)

Not only was it cool to see, but it turned out to be an interesting lesson in the fallacy of the naked eye sometimes. I could have sworn that Momma and Baby were inside our fence line, there was pretty much no doubt in my mind actually. Then, the next day when J and I put the pictures on the computer and began inspecting them, it became clear that I was wrong. Just an interesting reminder that we can't necessarily believe everything we "see."

And then there was this guy. ;) Another Blanding's Turtle, or at least I'm pretty sure. Wasn't your garden variety paint, that's for sure.

Of course, we can't forget this animal. ;)



More teeth have finally come through! Whew! And he's getting closer to talking, at least I have sensed a change in his babbling. The noises coming out of his mouth are taking on a more purposeful tone. A woman at the store yesterday informed me that she wasn't surprised he wasn't talking yet, since clearly "his Momma talks for him." =( Hmmm...interesting assessment lady.

Anyway, I consider him to be a toddler these days, talking or not. So much going on for little Bug. =) He is at that age where he is infinately comical, infinately exhausting (haha), and infinately adorable--quite often all at the same time. ;)

Last, but not least, the doggie update. Pumba went to his new family, his hopefully forever home (though I think I learned my lesson about declaring that too early), last Wednesday, July 2nd. It was so bittersweet--we were very happy for him, but we still miss him. He is such a wonderful dog! Ultimately, we told ourselves it would be selfish to keep him to ourselves; we had to spread the Pumba love. HAHA. We hope to get updates from his new Momma. She has big plans for this boy, aside from the good life with 4 kiddos and another dog in the house, she has started him in obedience and hopes to get his Canine Good Citizen and possibly even a therapy dog certificate. Go Pumba! We know he can do it!

We still have a foster dog though:

Can't you just hear Mischief's confident declaration here? "I'm back!" The day after Pumba moved on, this guy was back. The search is on again for a forever home for this little guy. He is such a pup...whew...I'll leave it at that. He's coming along though and definitely keeping things interesting around here. =)

So that's that. A summary of the happenings at the Jackson house. Riveting I'm sure. ;) Happy weekend to all. Off for playtime, coffee, and maybe snuggles, if I'm really lucky. =)

Bugga and his truck...

Bug and his tonka have been having lots of fun rides in the yard. We have a great hill for just such activity. ;)

Excuse the size of the photos today; I must have had it set to small or something and didn't realize it. And I am far too lazy to go back and load them again. =) No one is surprised by that, right?!

You might be able to click to see a larger image if you would like.


We tried to hook a dog lead up to the tonka and get Mischief or Paisley to pull him. We tried. ;) They were not interested in a pulling him around the yard, much to our dismay.

So Papa decided to use the handy lead himself.

A quick THANK YOU to everyone who sent us anniversary wishes, you were all so sweet to remember us and J's sweet Aunt Kim, who is so on top of all the dates, was nice enough to post well wishes on the family website. =) OH...and I can't forget J's parents, who sent beautiful flowers! We hadn't had fresh flowers in this house yet--how sad is that?! They are still going strong and I'm going to try to get a picture up of the beautiful arrangement soon.

Welp, it is hot and humid today and it is seeming like an "inside" day. Yuck. BUT, we got a free grill on freecycle the other day, so at least we know what we're doing for supper (and that we won't be heating the house). ;)

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

In the words of Tony! Toni! Tone!

"It's our anniversary!"

Sorry no pics of us at our wedding.
Though we might have looked something like this:

Just kidding of course! Notice I am an equal opportunity embarrasser...that's important to remember. ;)


Eight years. Can't say it feels like eight years, but that is how long it has been.

There is really no way to adequately capture what J and our life together means to me in words. He is undoubtedly my best friend, though that doesn't even come close to saying enough. So I won't even try to come up with some fancy-schmancy, cliche-driven, sentimental drivel to commemorate our day.

Suffice to say...I love him, he loves me, we're a happy family. =)

You bet I just stole the lyrics from a kiddie show revolving around a large purple dinosaur to describe our life. ;)

The next two pictures illustrate one of my very favorite things about J:

that he makes me laugh. Every. Single. Day.

And because he found out I wanted to post these particular pictures, he made me a deal that I had his blessing to do so, but only if I posted this rather embarrassing picture of myself. ;)
With the following caption:

"I can't believe we made it 8 years either!"

Ack, untitled!

New posts have been pretty scarce of late, I know. I've been feeling a little uninspired, what can I say?!

It's Summer though, and what can be more inspiring than the sunshine, the blue skies and fluffy clouds, the abundance of wildlife we are blessed with around our home? Yes, you'd think I'd be inspired.

I have been inspired enough to grab the camera it seems. ;) Note, these are not great photos. They've been grab-and-go kind of photos, the kind you take when you can't be sure the subject will stick around for a re-do if needed. Wait, I guess that's not all that different than taking pictures of pets and kids. =)

Here is a paint turtle laying eggs in our driveway. In roughly 70 days we may get to see little baby paints emerge from their carefully dug hole/nest and scurry off to find the water. =) Not long after we found this turtle, we discovered another one doing the same in our backyard. We're really hoping we're aware enough to catch sight of these little babies once the time comes.

And then there was Momma Deer and Baby Deer. =) So cute. You might have to squint a bit or click for a larger image.

Later that day, during the rain, we caught sight of them around the front of the house too. Or at least we're assuming it's the same Momma and Baby. (Again, you might have to squint; they're heading down our driveway, away from the house.)

Finally, little tiny frogs like this one have been fairly common sights around our place. Jeremy finally looked it up on the MN Department of Natural Resources website: he's pretty sure it is a Western Chorus frog. It is so TINY!


We can't wait til Bugga is old enough to appreciate all the critters! I'm sure I'll have to endure begging to keep a little creature or two....and if he's anything like his Papa (or cousin Jedd!), we'll be sure to have a couple frogs, or turtles, or various bugs around at any given time. ;) Looking forward to it!

More updates to come...when inspiration strikes. HAHAHA. =)