Saying goodbye to Jackson

Brynlyn, Grandma Sugar and Jackson (he just woke up from his nap so he was a little buggy-eyed)
Brynlyn and Jackson having one last moment together before Jackson leaves. I even coordinated their outfits together today. ha ha
Brynlyn loves Grandma Sugar so much!
Me and Jackson right before Grandma Sugar took him to the airport to get his Mommy. It was tough to let this little guy go! He's become such a part of our family and we've loved having him with us. Mom was teasing me a few days ago when I wouldn't let her take him to her house to stay for a few days and she said, "You know you do have to give him back eventually." ha ha
Thanks for coming and staying at our house Jackson. We loved having you here and you can always come back and stay anytime!

Aunt Candace

Aunt Candace came over on Sunday afternoon to have dinner and play games with us. She is so much fun to be around and always has a party going on around her. She brought over her Playstation and the kids played "Rockstar" and had a ball singing with each other. They also played Disney Monopoly and then made jewelry with Candace's famous bead collection. She was a HUGE help to me and entertained the kids while I could mop the kitchen floor. Yuck... Thanks for coming and playing Candace. We loved having you here with us!

Aunt

Ice Cream

Janelle might make me pay bigtime for this one! Jackson and Brynlyn thoroughly enjoyed their ice cream cones after dinner on Saturday night. Jackson had just eaten some chicken/rice/broccoli casserole. Brandon was sure that Jackson would never eat broccoli because Brandon said that broccoli was absolutely nasty tasting! ha ha I assured Brandon that Jackson was such a great eater and ate everything I had ever given him to eat. I love this guy's eating habits! He's the easiest child to feed. He loves everything! (so far atleast)

And I was right. Jackson loved the rice casserole, BUT he insisted on feeding himself with the spoon. Hmmm...he did end up wearing quite a bit of it, but most of it did get into his stomach and gobbled it up and loved it. Following this dinner, I just had to put him in the bathtub because he was so dirty. But it doesn't matter how messy he is, he still looks absolutely adorable! And keep up those great eating habits, little man.

The waterproof blankie

Jackson has 3 blue look-alike blankies that he takes with him wherever he goes. And when we went swimming, he insisted on taking them out by the pool with him, of course. So I put them up on the patio table when we were swimming. That was not good enough for Jackson and he wanted a quick snuggle from his blankie and before I could stop him, he promptly threw his blankie into the swimming pool. Yikes! We thought for sure these blankies were waterproof. So we thought it was cute and funny and had to snap some pics of him snuggling his soaking wet blankie in the pool.


Now, where are those other blankies??? (And yes, he did find the 2nd blankie and threw it in the water also. Thank heavens for washing machines before bedtimes! ha ha) Jackson, you are too much, my friend!
(This is such a "Linus" picture. So cute!)

Cousin Brandon

We had an absolute party at our house this weekend and the party's name was BRANDON! He is our cousin (my nephew) visiting us from Texas and he is completely fun and adorable with the cutest southern accent. He is a ball of energy and is so much fun to be around. He's always looking for something fun to do and kept me on my toes to be more creative. He was born on my husband's birthday and he even looks like Mike did growing up and has many personality characteristics like Mike. We've said many times that Brandon was the son that we were supposed to have! ha ha

Well atleast we had this time to spend with him. The girls were not fully aware of what it's like having a boy around the house, so the adjustment was a change, but they soon came around and he became one of the gang. And you should see this guy dance...he's awesome! We sure enjoyed our time with him and look forward to many more fun times with Brandon.
These are my two boys for atleast a few days. This may be the closest I ever come to having a son! ha ha These guys are so cute and they were buddies.

I am not camera shy!

I was snapping pictures of Jackson and he was making me laugh so hard because he LOVES looking at the digital screen at his picture. So he would pose some more so I could take his picture. I guess he's not camera shy at all! And these pictures are so cute. I think the camera loves him.

Hangin' in the pool

We took Brynlyn and Jackson swimming on Saturday and they were not quite sure about the pool right off. We tried each of them in this floating swim toy and it was not a big hit. It might take the entire summer for them to fully appreciate this new toy. But they eventually got the hang of it and enjoyed a break from the heat!



Here is Jackson with my nephew Brandon. He is visiting from Texas and came and hung out with us this weekend while his mom took a quick trip over to Newport Beach for the weekend. He loved to hold Jackson. After the weekend was over, he told me that he really wanted a baby brother. Hmm...Julie, can you get right on that please??? ha ha

Jackson and Brynlyn eating

We love meal time, ANY meal! These guys love to sit and hang out together in their high chairs. One day Brynlyn reached over and grabbed Jackson's hand and held his hand. Now where was my camera for that moment!

Happy Birthday Papa!

Today we celebrated Papa's 68th Birthday. Happy Birthday Papa! Here's to many more wonderful years. We love you.

Julie carrying in the traditional texas sheetcake for birthday dessert. Yum!
Julie, Candace and Brandon hangin' out.
Papa opening up his presents.

Quick Lake Trip

We took a super quick lake trip to Canyon. We wanted to spend time with Julie and Brandon so we headed out for a fun day on the lake. We had some problems with the battery in the boat (again) and so the kids did a lot of swimming on the beach area and had a great time. Then we headed back to Granda and Papa's house for more swimming in their pool and had our "lake picnic" at their house. Come to find out, when the radio company hooked up our new stereo system in our boat, they hooked it up incorrectly so it would drain down the battery all the time, even if the boat was in storage and not being used. So we took the boat in and they repaired it for free. So hopefully our boat trips will be much more uneventful and we'll have no problems because it's always such a bummer when it happens especially if we're looking forward to a fun time on the lake. Anyway, I'm glad it was as simple as that though.

Cousin Jackson is here to play

Our cousin Jackson is here to play while his Mommy and Daddy are away! We are having so much fun with him. It's nice to have a boy around the house. It helps to balance out the estrogen that races through here.
Jackson and Brynlyn are taking their baths together. It's much easier to do these things in "twos."
Ashlyn striking a pose with Jackson. We are amazed that he can drink out of these water bottles. Jackson, please teach Brynlyn how to do this while you are here! What talent.
Lauryn posing during Jackson's breakfast time.

Checking out the new toys that Brynlyn has. That's what's so great about playing with your cousin's toys: They're all new to you so dive in and enjoy.

Jackson and Brynlyn's blankies

Jackson and Brynlyn have matching blankies. Only his is blue and her blanket is pink. So they were sitting in the chair getting ready for a photo shoot and Jackson spots Brynlyn's blanket that looks alot like his does...

He eyes it closely just to make sure he is seeing what he thinks he is seeing...
He does what any normal one year old would do: He SNIFFS it to see if it truly is his blanket or not!
He realizes that it does not smell like his other blankies do, and he throws down the blanket in sheer disgust...

And then realizes that his blankie is still sitting on his lap and Brynlyn did not snatch his away from him.
These guys are so funny and are hilarious to watch and see what they'll do to each other. So much fun having "the twins."