Jackson's Got "Mad Skillz"

Well, I wish I could say that our weekend was as action packed as last, but all-in-all it was pretty tame. Jackson woke up on Saturday morning in perhaps one of the worst moods ever...we almost left his baseball game on Saturday early because someone didn't want to play or do anything. Finally it was the lure of snacks after the game that did him in...even still, playing in the dirt was more up his alley than trying to catch a ball. Can't win them all!

So, after a long nap on Saturday we went to Trinity Park in downtown Fort Worth for Jackson's cousin Dawson's birthday party. We enjoyed cupcakes, good conversation and a ride on this little train (it was a Thomas themed party...so a ride on the park train was a perfect ending to the party). Jackson's favorite part was riding Dawson's brand new "Car-Movie-Car" scooter. He discovered that he could "jump-it" for some added fun. I had to capture it and share....too cute!

Weekend Recap

Since the whole "tax" blog I took a little down time in order to give everyone a break from my ranting and raving. Now, though, I have a whole weekend worth of fun to write about!!

The weekend started out with a Friday night Rangers baseball game. It was the first game that we had a chance to take Jackson to this whole season....I know, we are total slackers since the ballpark is about 20 minutes from our house. The game was really a lot of fun, and Jackson got into heckling the players...a lot! He heard some other kids, and of course Daddy, yelling at the players and decided that is what you are supposed to do. It was just so cute! By about the 7th inning Jackson was ready to head home, which was fine considering the Rangers were losing. Not to mention, we had to get up at 7am the following morning for Fall Blastball baseball pictures and a 9:00am game. Oh, and yes....Jackson did eat this ENTIRE corn dog all by himself!!

So early Saturday rolled around and NONE of us wanted to get out of bed. But we did and we made it in time to wait another 20 minutes until the team baseball picture (they can never stay on schedule). The Braves had a good game and the boys had a lot of fun. You can't ask for more with a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds : )

On Sunday Drew went Mt. bike riding. While gone, Jackson and I did some things around the house. He REALLY wanted to play with the Play-Doh, so I got it down from his high shelf in the closet and we went to town. We had so much fun making snakes, Play-Doh figures and cookie-cutter ghosts. Drew even came home during the action and got in on the tail end of the Play-Doh party. It was fun!

In all we had a really fun weekend. We got to spend some time with family, we got to catch a couple ballgames, I got to make some more candles, and Drew and I were able to finish Season 2 of Heroes before the premier last night. The whole weekend must have really worn Jackson out, though, since he fell asleep in the car when I picked him up from school yesterday....that rarely ever happens! Side note, Jackson has a thing for picking "treasures" up on the playground at school. I have no idea where he got this from, since Drew and I are always telling him not to pick stuff off of the ground. Anyway, when I picked him up yesterday he had his new "treasure"....this beat-up, missing one eye-piece, pair of girls sunglasses that he just had to wear home. I couldn't even begin to tell my baby no...not when he looked like this on the way home. Man, I love this kid!

This horrible picture was taken a mere 10 minutes before the beginning of one of the most miserable days of this year! See me smiling…well that smile was gone in the matter of 20 minutes tops.

Here in the lovely state of Texas they have this so called law that the assessed value of your home for taxing purposes is based upon the market value of your home. When you buy a home they use that purchase price as the new assessed tax value for the following taxable year. Drew and I decided to protest this since as of January 1st, 2008, which is the date at the official assessed value is determine. Well hello Tarrant Co and Texas, we didn’t have a kitchen as of January 1st, 2008!!! Our realtor and the district both encouraged us to protest the assessed value and go before a non partisan board to have our taxable rate lowered.

Drew and I spent months gathering information and taking pictures to backup our protest. The district even provided us with a list of homes sold within 2008…what we found is that three of the homes on their list did not comply with the “law” (which isn’t really a set in stone law per someone at the district) about assessed value being based upon the sales price of the home. We were thrilled because we finally had solid factual proof that demonstrated that not all homes are being assessed based upon the sales price of their home.

Long story short, we were called into the hearing. There were 3 elder retired gentlemen sitting at the table….these were our nonpartisan group of guys who supposedly have no affiliation with the county. On the other side of the room was the representative from the district….he didn’t even look-up or acknowledge our presence so I knew we were in trouble from the get go. Drew and I presented our case and clearly demonstrated all of our factual points….including the fact that the district was not concise with their own “law” which really isn’t the law. It was then the districts turn…..only think he said as he pointed to the back wall is “Texas state law says that assessed value is based…..”….well, you get the point. He had NOTHING!! Didn’t argue our points, didn’t give any reasons for why other homes less than a mile from ours didn’t see the same % of increase!!!

It gets better. After we made our closing statements and restated our argument it was the panels turn to decide our fate. I kid you not…those three guys said not a word to each other. There was no deliberation concerning the FACTS that we presented. One mumbled something and the other guy shook his head. That was it!! That was their level of interaction!! Before we knew it the guy in the middle said assessed value to remain the same…one of the guys seconded it and the protest meeting was over.

I can’t even begin to tell you how angry Drew and I were!!! Those guys had already made up their mind prior to us even arriving in that room. There was no attempt to discuss our points or question the district for their lack of valid reason as to those homes that didn’t see an increase. What a joke!! Thanks for wasting my time and money on a fight that was over the day that they sent me my 2008 tax forms! I have 0% respect for the system right now. Needless to say, I didn't leave with a smile on my face!

Peter Petrelli - Where Have You Been All of My Life?!

Call Drew and I crazy, but we are marathoning it through Season 1 & 2 of our new found love....Heroes! For the last year or so I have heard from a ton of people that Heroes is a great show and that we were really missing out. Well, after I found out that one of my favorite characters on Gilmore Girls (Jess) happens to be one of the main characters on Heroes (Peter Petrelli) I was totally sold.

On Saturday, Drew and I decided that we would beging watching Season 1 & 2 so that we would be ready when Season 3 begins. We are so hooked!! We have been watching 2 or 3 episodes each night in order to make it. We are not only counting down the days that we have left to get through S1&2, but the countdown is going on for the beginning of Season 3!!

If you aren't watching this show, you should! There is still time to catch up.....

School's in Session

On Wednesday evening Jackson, Drew and I attended Jackson's school open house. While he has been at the school and in the same class for the past year, we still wanted to be supportive and attend the event. Besides, Jackson really want us to come and see him at school....he knew that his friends would be there and that parents were going to be a part of it too. The teachers demonstrated what kinds of activities they do with the kids during "circle time", they sang a little song and showed us how they incorporate learning letters, words and Spanish into the daily curriculum. It really was an enjoyable evening...we are so proud of our grown up "big enough" boy!

Weekend in Houston

Nothing could have been more fun than spending a long weekend in Houston with Mike and Maria. We arrived on Friday night and proceeded to have two wonderful days with them. On Saturday we went to the Space Center; Jackson really enjoyed the slide area and seeing the "guy hanging out of the rocket" (a life sized model of an astronaut doing a space walk).

After the museum, we headed over to Kemah, which has a little boardwalk area with restaurants and other assorted entertainment venues. We were able to avoid the playground area...thank goodness since it was 95+ degrees and very humid...and only had to do one round on the carousel. Not that I don't love my kid, but it was too HOT and HUMID to hang very long on the boardwalk.

Our lazy Sunday was spent sitting around, talking, attending church, playing a little catch and of course, what trip wouldn't be complete without a little money hunt! Mike had to take apart their dryer and in the process found a lot of loose change hanging out in it. So, Uncle Mike took Jackson out to the garage for a money hunt. The hunt then had to make its way into the house where Jackson spent the next 30 minutes or so looking in every crack and crevice in the house with his little flashlight. It was really cute, but Mike created a money monster who wouldn't put the flashlight down. Jackson is still talking about it!