Sweet Child Of Mine

I had to leave much earlier than normal due to my travel plans Monday morning. On my way out of the door I noticed that another one of my lilies had bloomed overnight. I had been watching them closely and I made sure to show the first bloom to Jackson on Easter morning. He was just as impressed by the pretty bloom as I was, and I made sure to let him know not to touch the bloom because it might break.

On my way out of town Monday morning my cell phone rang. The caller ID showed Jeremy's number, so I answered it assuming that Jeremy was asking me something about Jackson's school stuff. I was pleasantly surprised when it was Jackson calling me from Jeremy's phone

Jackson: "Mama, did you know that your flower has two blooms on it today?"
Me: "I know! Isn't it pretty!"
Jackson: "It sure is. I made sure not to touch the middle of the flower just like you told me, and I touched the petal real, real careful!
Me: "That's good! I'm glad you were so careful."
Jackson: "I didn't break your flowers at all!"
Me: "Thank you sweetie. I hope you have a great day at school. I love you!"
Jackson: "Love you too, Mama! Bye!"

Jackson then handed the phone back to Jeremy and that's when Jeremy told me that Jackson had spotted the new bloom when they were leaving for school and he insisted that he get to tell me all about the new bloom because he knew, "Mama would be so happy!"

How I love that sweet child of mine!

Life Changing Bathtime

Jackson was in our church service this past Sunday morning and saw a boy in our church get baptized. This was Jackson's first time seeing a baptism, although he has heard about it before. Jackson bombarded me with questions after the service was over about the baptism:

"Why did Bro. Bruce put Graham under the water?"
"Did the water go up his nose?"
"Am I going to be baptized?"
"Why did he wear that white thing (the robe)?"
"Does he have to stay under the water for a long time?"

I answered all of his questions and I assumed that the subject of baptism was done for the day. Apparently I was wrong. As Jackson was taking his bath later that night I heard lots of commotion in the bathroom. Since Jeremy was in charge of bath time that night I had to find out what was going on. It turned out that Jackson was practicing baptizing himself in the bathtub over and over again. I walked into the bathroom and Jackson said, "Am I a new person now?" :)

After we answered a few more questions we realized that Jackson decided that he had been baptized enough and he moved on to baptizing Batman instead. So rest easy fellow Believers; Batman could be living in a mansion next door to you up in Heaven one day!

Expressions of Love...Or Something Like That

Last night Jackson woke up having a pretty bad coughing spell. We gave him his cough medicine and used his inhaler and I settled him back into our bed so I could keep an eye on him. We were all snuggled up together when he very quietly said, "Mama, can I ask you a question?"

Thinking that he was going to say one of my sweet sayings like, "Do you know how much I love you" I said, "Yes, Jackson. Ask me anything."

He snuggled up closer to me like he had a secret and whispered in my ear, "Mama, what's a wedgie?"

After I finished laughing I promised him that I would show him a wedgie on his Daddy this morning!

Rodeo Roundup

Life has been so busy around here that I haven’t even had the chance to tell you all about us taking Jackson to his first rodeo! We had such a good time, and we were so lucky to be given some great tickets by a friend of mine. We took Miranda’s little girl, Gracie, and she and Jackson had a blast! We got there early enough to enjoy the livestock exhibits and the kids got to ride a mechanical bull! Jackson especially loved the bulls, but the entire evening was really fun, and the kids really loved their cotton candy! Enjoy the pics!

Gracie and Jackson petting a calf

Checking out the wild horses!

The two cutest little kiddos in their matching hats!

Jackson riding the mechanical bull!

So stinking cute!

Yee-hah!! Ride’em cowboy!

Gracie’s turn!

Cute little cowgirl!

Jeremy, Jackson and Gracie

Me and my favorite cowboy!

My best shot at taking a picture of the bulls!

We had such a good time, and I can’t wait to take both of my little cowboys with us next year!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Hands down I have the cutest Auburn galoshes, baseball underwear, cowboy hat, pirate hat, Batman cape wearin’ kid that ever was!

Who Are These People And What Did They Do With My Parents?

Last night on our way home from dinner and Best Buy Jackson announced to Jeremy and I that he wanted a milkshake.

It was 7:45 at night.

Me: "I'm sorry Jackson, but it's too late at night for a milkshake."
Jackson: "Nu-uh. My Tata gives me milkshakes before bed!"
Me: "I don't think Tata gives you milkshakes this close to bed."
Jackson" "Uh-huh, yes he does! He gives me milkshakes because I'm so good."
Me: "Before bed?"
Jackson: "Yes. When I stayed at Nana and Tata's house I took my bath and because I was so good the entire day and forever he went to Chick-Fil-A and got me a milkshake and he let me have it BEFORE BED!"
Me: "Well, you're not getting a milkshake tonight before bed."
Jackson: "Hmmpphhh. You are so mean to me! When we get home I'm going in my room and shutting the door and you can't come in because you won't let me have a milkshake."

Later that night...

Me: "Mom, Jackson was trying to convince us to get a milkshake for him on our way home from Best Buy. He said that Dad gave him a milkshake before bed when he stayed over at your house."
Mom: "Dad did give him a milkshake."
Me: "Before bed?"
Mom: "Well, Jackson was being so good that day that your Dad went to Chick-Fil-A after Jackson had his bath and got us all milkshakes."
Me: "Before bed?"
Mom: "Amy, he was being really good!"
Me: "Well, you should have heard him when we told him no. Apparently he's not our friend anymore!"
Mom: "Did he get home and stomp into the house?"
Me: "He sure did!"
Mom: "He's just like you!"
Me: "Thanks!"

And Jackson's first question this morning was, "Can we stop on the way to school and get a milkshake?"

So now I'm convinced of two things: First of all, these are not the same people I grew up with, with all their milkshakes before bedtime stuff. And secondly I'm raising a mini-version of myself, especially with Jackson's spunk, attitude, persistence, and love of milkshakes!

Bootylicious

It must be something ingrained in boys to be fascinated with potty humor and whatnot. Jackson has latched on to a new favorite word, and he's all too eager to share it with us whenever we ask him anything. Want to know the new favorite word? It's the word "booty." Isn't that lovely...

Ask him anything and he will prove his prowess and skill at inserting the word "booty" into the conversation. It's quite remarkable, really.

Jeremy: "Jackson, can you count these cars for me?"
Jackson: "Okay, Daddy. One. Two. Three. Booty (insert maniacal laughter). Four. Booty."

Me: "Jackson, what did you have for lunch today at school."
Jackson: (Without missing a beat) "Booty."

Jeremy: "Lets go say your nighttime prayers. What do you want to thank God for tonight?"
Jackson: "My booty."

Me: "Can you say the Pledge of Allegiance for me?"
Jackson: "I Pledge Allegiance to the booty...."

Jeremy: "What do you want to eat?"
Jackson: "A booty sandwich!"

Me: "What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?"
Jackson: "A pirate ship. And a booty (insert hysterical laughter).

I could go on and on with more examples, because seriously, this happens all.the.time. The kid is hilarious with his antics, and with all this "booty" humor, he's more of a stinker than ever, but oh how I love my little man!

Doing That Whole "Raise Up A Child" Thing

We do our best to make sure that every night Jackson is learning about talking to God and thanking him for his day. He is such a hoot during his nighttime prayers. It's crazy some of the things he comes up with during prayer time. Last night I was so close to cracking up at him, but I definitely know better than to do that. I just waited for him to leave the room and then I started laughing!! I told Jeremy, "I think I just got my blog post for tomorrow!"

Last night we got this:

Jackson: "God our Father, God our Father, once again. Once again. We thank you for our blessings. Thank you for our blessings. Amen. Amen. Lord, I thank you for my families. I thank you for my toys. And I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Publix for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for frogs. The End."

I've been blessed with such a fun little man!!

I'm Nuts For This Kiddo!

He's only three and check out his coloring page from school yesterday! Look at that "coloring in the lines" talent!

I may be biased, but I think he's brilliant!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Last night during bathtime I decided to get all wild and crazy and put a tattoo on Jackson. We got the tattoo at the Sherrif's Office booth at our fair a few weeks back. Of course, like most people with tattoos, he wasn't ready to stop with one!

Jackson's new pose! He makes this face all the time now!

Double trouble!

Check out my guns!

Does this mean he's an undercover agent?

And after we got him out of the tub Jackson looked at me and said, "Thank you so much Mama for my tattoos!" Jeremy officially called it last night that if Jackson decides to get inked when he's older, it's all my fault!

And speaking of Jeremy, this morning as I was getting ready he came into the bedroom and said:

Jeremy: "Amy, Jackson can almost say 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' all by himself!"

Me: "Really?"

Jeremy: "Well, he can say the 'supercali' part!"

Me (insert crickets chirping): "That's not even close to the whole thing. You are sooo going to end up on the blog for that."

Have a great day!

At Least He's Got The Right Idea....

Mom and Dad watched Jackson for me on Saturday so that I could take a group of girls from our church to Birmingham, AL to go meet a missionary we have been collecting school supplies for. We had a great time, but as usual, my parents had a funny Jackson story to share with me when I got home.

Mom and Dad have a baby gate put up between their den and their kitchen to keep their dog Shadow contained. Mom had run out for a little bit, so my Dad was watching Jackson. Dad went over to thet gate and pretended like his foot was stuck and wouldn't come over the gate. Jackson, of course, was doing everything he could to help his Tata get off the gate and my Dad, of course, was doing a great job of pretending that he needed help.

Dad said after a minute or so Jackson just tore off running through the kitchen and Dad hollered to Jackson, "Where are you going, Jackson?"

Jackson hollered back, "I'll be back in a minute! I'm going to call 911!"

My Dad was dying laughing, but luckily caught Jackson before he was able to make his phone call.

But at least he know's what to do....

My First Crock Pot Flop (Which Worked to My Advantage)

I got all adventurous Friday and decided to try out a "make it all up as you go" crock pot recipe. Here's what I did: Open a package of chicken breasts and dump them into the crock pot. I then added a mixture of bbq sauce, Moore's sauce, Italian dressing, and Dale's sauce. I guess I was thinking that since the chicken would cook all day that it would need to stay moist. Guess what? It didn't work. The chicken was terrible! I opened the door to the house to smell something funny. It wasn't a burnt smell, just odd. When I tried the chicken I think I was a little surprised at how bad it was, but I was going to pass it off as edible and hope Jeremy didn't notice.

He did.

He took one bite and quickly pronounced it awful. There might have even been some gagging sounds involved.

Not that I'm bitter or anything. Ahem.

So I quickly enacted my family rule that if a recipe doesn't work out we are either ordering a pizza or going out for dinner. We decided to head to I-Hop for breakfast at dinner, but at the last minute changed our mind and went to the new Japanese hibachi place in town.

Can I just take a moment to tell you how much I love hibachi restaurants. I love them. I really do. Hands down it is my favorite thing to eat in the world. Too bad it costs and arm and a leg to eat at one.

Anyways, we decided to try out the Japanese place with Jackson. I know, it was a risky move with a three year old. I've seen many a kid freak out in the restaurants when they start up with the fire. I was praying we wouldn't encounter that. We talked on the way over with Jackson about how the cook would make our food at the table and that he would see some fire, but we stressed that it would not hurt him at all.

So we got in and got seated immediately. We ordered and they brought out our soup and salad. I think that's one of the things I love so much about these restaurants; you get so.much.food.

So Jackson was not a fan of the salad at all, and personally, I think he's crazy because that Ginger dressing is heaven on earth. But he LOVED the soup. While he was eating the soup, my ever-so-safety-conscience son was pointing out all the fire extinguishers in the room because, "I'm not gonna let the fire get to me."

And then the show started. Jackson was a little scared at first of the sounds, but quickly got into enjoying himself. Then the man lit something on fire, and guess what, Jackson didn't freak. He got a little scared, but all in all, it was not big deal.

Jackson loved the rice, he ate most of my steak, he was not a fan of the veggies (surprise, surprise), and he ate with kiddie chopsticks. I so wish that I had my camera with me. He told us that he loved the food. So now I know we'll be back. If only I could get him to like that Ginger dressing and we'd be all set.

And just for the family....new pictures of Jackson!

Jackson wanted to shave with Daddy!

Apparently he really enjoyed himself! (And not to worry, the safety cap is on!)

Have a great Monday!

It's The Song That Never Ends....

I’ve always heard about parents talk about the frustration that occurs when their child gets to the “why” stage of life. “why do we do this?” or “why are we going there?” type of questions. I know it gets old being questioned all the time, and I definitely know that Jackson is just trying to figure out his world, but I’m a little confused as to whether we’ve completely skipped over that line of questioning, or if we are just gearing up for it!

Jackson’s questions about life right now are “what” questions, and we get them all the time and usually it’s a question that we’ve answered about a million times already and his questions always take us in a circle!

Jackson: “What are we doing, Mama?”
Me: “We’re getting ready to go to church.”
Jackson: “What are we going to church for?”
Me: “To learn about God and Jesus.”
Jackson: “What are we going to learn about God and Jesus for?”
Me: “Because God made everything and we love him.”
Jackson: “What did God make everything for?”
Me: “Because he loves us and wants us to be happy.”
Jackson: “What does he want us to be happy for?”
Me: “Because God doesn’t like it when we’re sad.”
Jackson: “What does he not want us to be sad for?”
Me: “Because being sad is no fun.”
Jackson: “What is being sad no fun for?”
Me: “Because if we’re sad then we’re not happy and if we aren’t happy then we aren’t having fun.”
Jackson: “What are we not having fun for?”
Me: “We are having fun sweetie. We’re about to leave to go have some fun.”
Jackson: “What are we doing, Mama?”
Me: “We’re getting ready to go to church.”
Jackson: “What are we going to church for?”
Me: “I give up.”

It’s the song that never ends….

Can Someone Please Make The Imaginary Friend Behave?

Remember Jackson’s imaginary friend Allison? He’s still wrecking havoc around our house. The other day Jeremy came into the kitchen as I was making supper and said, “You have GOT to go see what is going on in Jackson’s room.” I walked into his room, where I promise he had only been unsupervised for less than 5 minutes, to see that the cords from Jackson’s 2 sets of plantation shutters were wound into a knot that was almost an inch and a half thick and the blinds were completely open. We’re talking 4 cords with wooden do-dads on the end in a knot that was half as big as my palm.

We have no idea how it happened so badly and so quickly.

Jackson swears that Allison did it.

We’re not buying it…

I abandoned dinner making, much to everyone’s chagrin, and started working on the knot. In order to reach the knot since it was so high up on the blinds I had to climb on top of Jackson’s toy box and keep my hands about neck level the whole time. Talk about numbness! In all fairness, Jeremy completely offered to take over undoing-the-knot duties, but by this point it was almost therapeutic trying to unravel the knot. I was so over making dinner by that point.

It took me ten minutes to just get the blinds to go down.

After pulling on the cords relentlessly for awhile I realized that I wasn’t getting anywhere. I would loosen one strand only to tighten the other three. Keep in mind I was also dealing with 4 of those wooden pieces on the end of the blinds, so I really had no give with the strings. I finally got a brilliant (if I say so myself) idea to take off the wooden do-dads and just work on pulling out the strings with tweezers. Luckily I stopped taking the wooden do-dads off after removing only one because as soon as I took it off, I realized that I had no idea how to put them back on.

So 30 minutes after working with 3 wooden do-dads, one pair of tweezers and one string I finally started making progress and the knot started unraveling. After 45 minutes it was completely done.

Jackson was watching intently the whole time and kept saying, “Allison needs to get in trouble. He messed up my blinds.”

Uh-huh.

I have now informed both Jackson and Allison that if either of them ever so much as touch the blinds again, I’m going to get both of their hiney’s.

Seriously, as a working mother I have enough on my hands taking care of a three year old without having to worry about disciplining imaginary friends as well. It’s hard enough making my kid listen to me, let alone a kid I can’t even see!

In a Decade or So...

Jeremy and I have a relatively extensive DVD collection that includes a lot of movies that are way too scary or intense for Jackson to watch. I'm a stickler for only letting him see things that won't scare the daylights out of him, no matter how much he wants to see a movie that he finds in our collection.

For some reason Jackson is obsessed with Spider Man and he must be hearing about it from someone at his school. He even knows how Spider Man throws his webs. It's beyond me how he knows this stuff exists, because it sure isn't because of us.

Anyways, Jackson will wonder into our office occasionally and pull out a movie. He will usually bring it to me and just to appease him, I flip it over to the back and look at the rating. 99% of the time it's PG 13 and I tell him that he can't watch it until he's bigger.

Yesterday Jackson went into the office and came out with our copy of Spider Man. He handed me the movie and said that he wanted to watch Spider Man because, "It's not too scary for me." I turned it over and spotted the PG 13 rating and gave him the usual spiel about it being too scary for him. Jackson grabbed the movie back, flipped it over, and very adamantly said, "Uh-huh. I can watch this movie. It says right here (pointing to the movie), 'This movie is good for Jackson.'"

Nice try little man....

He Said What???

Jeremy went to pick Jackson up from school yesterday and had the most interesting conversation with Jackson's teacher, Mrs. Deanna.

Mrs. Deanna: "We were talking about policemen today and Jackson told me about the time that you had to call the police to help get him out of a tree."

Jeremy: "Ummm.....excuse me?"

Mrs. Deanna: "Yeah, he told us that he had climbed into a tree and he got way too high and got stuck, so you had to call the police to come help. The policeman couldn't help so he called the firemen and then the firemen came out to your house. Jackson told me they brought the ladder truck and as they were raising it it was making a 'ssssshhhhhhh' sound. When they got the ladder up, the firemen climbed the ladder and got him out of the tree."

Jeremy: "I hate to tell you this, but that's a bedtime story Jackson's heard."

As Jeremy was telling me this story I was dying laughing. I immediately knew this was a "Reroy" story, but Jeremy told me that Mrs. Deanna was more than a little concerned about the thought of Jackson getting stuck in a tree.

And just think, he's only three years old. Imagine what he's going to come up with when he's a teenager!

Tales From The Tub

Jackson comes up with the funniest things and most of what cracks me up is what he says during bath time. He is usually very reserved but he loves playing during bath time, so normally he really lets his guard down and plays pretend with his tub toys. This is when I can really get him to talk to me, and when he says some of the most hilarious things! His new school must be reading Green Eggs and Ham to him because during his bath I overhead him talking with his bath toys saying:

"I do not like Green Eggs and Ham. I do not like them, Sam I Am. I do not like Green Eggs and Ham. I do not like them 'cause I'm Spiderman!!"

Lost In Translation

Jackson has proven time and time again that he has an amazing vocabulary, and an amazing memory. We were in the car yesterday when Jackson piped up from the backseat with an exchange that eventually got both Jeremy and I laughing at our little man and his persistence.

Jackson: "Dr. Doodle says shut up."
Me: "That's right he did, but that is not a nice word, so he got put in time out. We don't say shut up."
Jackson: "Dr. Doodle got in time out because he said shut up. I'm not supposed to say shut up."
Me: "No, we don't say that word."
Jackson: "Daddy doesn't say shut up."
Me: "No, he doesn't because we don't say that word!"
Jackson: "You don't say shut up."
Me: "Nope, because we don't say that word!"
Jackson: "But I don't say shut up!"
Me: "We don't say that word!"
Jackson: "Dr. Doodle says shut up."

I eventually gave up talking it out with Jackson because after chasing that rabbit for awhile, it was time for me to shut up!

Well Alrighty Then....

Last night while Jeremy was being a super wonderful hubbie and filling my minivan's gas tank up, Jackson and I were hanging out in the car talking about friends.

Me: "Jackson, I love you!"
Jackson: "I love you too Mommy!"
Me: "Can I be your friend?"
Jackson: "Ummmm, no. Daddy's my friend."
Me: "Can't Mommy and Daddy be your friend?"
Jackson: "Ummmm, no. Just Daddy can be my friend. And David at school."

As long as I know where I stand....