Busy Weekend!

This past weekend was full of fun and excitement with a visit to the Ringling Bros. Circus on Saturday and then the afternoon Rangers game on Sunday. Boy, was it ever hot too!!!

The circus was full of the normal circus acts....elephants, tigers, motorcycles in the globe, etc. Jackson really enjoyed it, but was certainly ready to go by the end. The show was REALLY long...almost too long, I think. It was just about 2 1/2 hours long!!!! But, in all it was fun. Jackson brought his neighbor friend along....let's just say he looked less than enthused about the circus.

The Rangers game was pretty exciting, considering that they were playing the Red Sox and battling it out for the wild card spot. The only drawback was the HEAT! It was so hot. Jackson was ready to go by the end of the 2nd inning, but we got him through the 7th inning stretch with lots of water, lemon chill, peanuts and of course a hot dog. Thankfully the Rangers won and were able to move ahead and the Red Sox (sorry Sam : ).

Ready for Fall & Legos

During this time of the year it is hard for us to understand why we choose to live in Texas. With the 100+ degree temps and the not being able to play outside, things get a little mundane around here. So, we always look forward to the day when the after school activities begin...baseball, swimming, etc.

New on the agenda this year is a Lego class. You read it right...a Lego class. We are lucky enough to have the only Lego Education Center within the U.S. right down the road from our house. So, Jackson will officially begin his Lego training in about a month. It is a 48 week long course, broken down into 4 segments. For the first segment, he will be studying modes of transportation in space. Sounds so cool!! I think we are all pretty excited for the beginning of the class...I can't wait to see what he does!

Our New Toy

Well, Drew and I finally broke down and bought a new computer. We are newly converted to Mac, especially since Drew's love with Apple products began with the release of the iphone (he's had 3 since the phone was released). I am anxious and excited to learn all that the new computer has to offer, although it has been frustrating to navigate since I am so "PC".

Colorado Fun!!

Drew, Jackson and I just returned from a 9 day trip to beautiful and sunny CO. This time around we stayed with maw-maw and granddad in Southfork, which was SO much fun!! Of course we went to Creede to hit up some of our favorite eateries.....Kips and The Fire House. We did a lot hiking, fishing, and hanging out with the family. We also checked out the local Creede parade and the fireworks, which went off from the top of one of the mountains right in Creede...so cool!

On this trip we were lucky enough to see a bear, a bald eagle and then the typical deer that are all over the place there. The other exciting event was fishing! Jackson caught not only his first fish with Drew, but then caught a second fish on another day with granddad! He was quite the fisherman!!

All in all we had a wonderful time and as always questioned why in the world we all live in TX!!! We left the lovely 80 degree days in CO for the 105+ degree days in TX....why oh why do we live here!!!

Don't Call It A Comeback

Well, I am attempting to make a comeback with my blogging. Now that the summer is here, I am hoping that I can find the much needed time and motivation to get this blog back up and running. I certainly have a plethora of topics to write about seeing that I have the cutest little kiddo who proudly informed me this week that he is officially 4 1/2, or so that is what Grammy told him ; ) Hopefully I will be back soon with some great pics and a few stories or two!

I Knew This Was Going To Happen!!

I just knew that the holiday season would hit and I would lack any motivation to do anything other than Christmas and birthday planning, hence me being MIA from the blogging world. I feel like I have so much to share, yet I know that I have forgotten many of the things that I wanted to blog about. So excuse the huge post, but I have a lot of bloggin' to do.

Let's seen....where to start. Thanksgiving! This year we celebrated Thanksgiving 3 times!!! Yes, three times!! On Thanksgiving morning Jackson and I watched the beloved Thanksgiving Day Parade. Granted, it went on a little longer than what I would have liken, but he seemed to enjoy it. Drew built him a tent...more like a cave...in which he watched the parade. The weekend following Thanksgiving several us caught an evening showing of the Polar Express at the IMAX theatre. That was a bit much for Jackson, who started crying on several occasions because it was too loud and too big.

To kick in the holiday season, Jackson and I attended the light parade hosted by the City of Grapevine. It was really chilly that night, and I was unprepared. My feet were freezing by the end of the parade, but we had such a good time that I didn't care one bit.

The holiday season continued with the weekend packed and every spare moment of time occupied with planning or shopping. Jackson enjoyed his very first experience with Chuck E Cheese...he was invited to his friend "little Brendan's" birthday party. Needless to say, he had a great time and he and Brendan reconnected after not seeing each other for almost a full year. They enjoyed riding on the kiddo version of simulated roller coaster ride, which they are pictured riding below. It was fun!!Lets see...so the holiday season continued with us finally getting our Christmas tree out. We were over a week late in putting up the decorations, which was really a bummer for Jackson. He was dying for us to have some Christmas "stuff" on and in the house. Things have been so crazy for Drew this month at work that it was hard to have a moment that we could all be together to trim the tree. Well, we finally found a moment to breath, play some Christmas music and decorate the tree. I think Jackson did a pretty good job putting Santa on top of the tree : )

Next big event was the annual Christmas concert at Jackson's school. It was an interesting evening, to say the least. Jackson had a really bad day at school the day of the concert....I actually found him in the office when I went to pick him up. Little mister man decided that he was going to be mean to one of his friends and refused to apologize. Let me tell you, the night only got worse leading up to the time we were supposed to be at the school for the concert. Let's just say that some time was spent in time out and a little someone named Jackson really cared less. Whew...it was an evening!

We arrived at the school for the concert. After putting a lovely Christmas tree on his head, Jackson refused to get his picture taken. He then also refused to sing with his class. Oh, he was standing with them...but he refused to sing. He was too busy walking around, playing with the back drop and waving at his grandparents. I swear, he wasn't my child that night!!

The next big event was an evening with the family at the Grapevine Vintage Railroad. For the past few years the organization has hosted a Polar Express ride at Christmas time. We had so much fun!! As they boarded the train, they had the ticket holders que through a forest of pine trees (fake, of course) with snow falling all around (also fake). The music from the movie was playing as everyone boarded the train. We were with a huge group of people....all of the cousins were loving being together for the ride. I think the adults had a lot of fun too! And finally....last, but certainly not least, was Jackson's 4th birthday party. Jackson and his cousin Mikayla, who will be turning 5 this year, bot decided that they wanted to celebrate their birthdays at The Great Wolf Lodge. So Drew's sister and I decided to have a combined party for them at this is a huge indoor waterpark / hotel. We rented a room for a night and decorated the room with balloons and banners. Jackson wanted a Transformers and Mikayla wanted Barbie...so they both got their wishes with their own cake and balloons. Friend and family member gather together in the room for the party and cake. After cake and present, those who were staying headed down to the waterpark. Jackson and his friend Brendan spent several hours going down the slides and swimming together. It was so much fun and I think that the birthday kids really enjoyed themselves!!

Now, on to Christmas in Corsicana this weekend and then we head home to CT!! We can't wait to have a break and spend the holidays in CT!!

First and foremost, Coldplay was awesome!! Drew and I had seats the were dead center facing the stage. While they weren't floor seats, we were only three rows back in the first section (right behind where the mixing boards were...let me tell, watching those guys work the sound and visual effect boards was almost as entertaining as the concert itself).
The band treated the audience to a little in-audience performance, which I thought was pretty cool. They went to one of the back sections and actually sang 2 songs surrounded by all of the fans (picture included in this post). Oh, and before I forget....no, I don't have totally awesome camera skills or the ability to fly around the venue to get these awesome shots. These are, however, pictures that were taken from the concert last night in Dallas.

Oh, and one final note...besides the fact that the concert was awesome...Gwenth Paltrow was there. She was a few feet in front of us, hanging in the area with the mixing boards. While I am not a celebrity hound, it was still pretty exciting to see her. Drew wasn't nearly as impressed with her sighting as I was. All in all, though, we had a really fun night. Thanks again Layla for making this night happen by taking care of the little man!!

Nothing To Blog About....Really???

It is hard to believe that I just went through the last week and didn't take a single picture of Jackson!! I was a big dummy and didn't hand the camera over to Drew when he took Jackson to the Backyardigans Live show....nor was I there, so I am unable to share the experience with you : ( All that I do know is that the show was fun, it cost $30 for a few drinks and 2 bags of popcorn (ridiculous), and that the show was about knights.

What I can tell you is that in the course of one weekend the vacuum broke, the seal under the shower broke, and our kitchen is still a work in progress. The hood we ordered for the kitchen is still not in, which keeps us from being able to finish the work we not to complete on the wall for the vent...without finishing the wall we can't paint...without paint we can't have the cabinets installed...without cabinets we can't use our brand new dishwasher and stove that we recently purchased. Oh, and did I mention that our vacuum cleaner broke and the the seal under the show broke too. Did I mention that the way the j-hole builder put in the plumbing under the shower that we have to rip out the current shower in order to fix the problem. While we had planned on redoing the master bathroom (yes, we still have just concrete floors in there right now), the little shower incident is forcing our hand and our pocketbook for immediate repair. Luckily we have two other bathrooms with showers in the house...so we are able to buy a little time until the master bathroom project commences. Please, can't we just finish one project at a time!!!!!

Fall Leaves...And We Thought We Wanted A House With Trees!

We always look forward to Fall in Texas. It means cooler temperatures (our electric bill last month was $65 since the A/C has been off), a slight change in leaf color (nothing like CT, CO or UT), and the beginning of the holiday season. What it also means, especially now that we are in the house in Grapevine, is that we have to deal with massive amounts of leaves in our front and backyard!!
This past Saturday Drew and I decided that it was time to begin the process of fall cleanup. Mind you, during the summer we were out in the yard at least once or twice a week raking up the pine needles that would cover the lawn. So, we are no stranger to the rake and bags / garbage cans full of lawn debris. Long story short, we ended up with about 20 bags full of leaves. Yes, we were Eco friendly and bought Home Depot bags that will decompose along with the leaves, as opposed to 20+ plastic bags that would sit in a landfill for who knows how many years.

Normally Jackson loves to help us when we are working in the yard. While short lived sometimes, the fact that he offers to help is just so sweet. While he did pick up a few handfuls of leaves, most of his time was spent either riding through the piles on his bike or his electric "car movie" car. At one point he ran head first into a pile with his car, and then proceeded to drive all of his other vehicles (bikes, trucks, etc) into the pile too. Drew and I didn't have the heart to be mad, even when he started loading up his large dump truck with piles of needles and leaves and began making his own new piles : ). He was a kid being a kid!! The good news is we got the yard cleaned up and looking good. The bad news is that there are a TON of leaves still on the trees....this was just one of many yard-work-leaf-pickup weekends : (

Another Successful Season

A week ago Jackson officially ended his second season of baseball...or as Grapevine likes to call it blastball (modified version of t-ball for 3 and 4 year olds). The season ended on a high note with a pizza party and award ceremony at one of Jackson's teammates home. The kiddos were more interested in playing with the mass amounts of cars than in the coveted baseball trophy. But, in the end it was a fun night and a fun season for the boys. Go Braves!!!