Poo-poo prize

Last night's prize for Jackson's successful pottying: Billy-Bob teeth for the family.


{We are desperately running out of treats from the Dollar Store.}

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Mother's Day Do-Over

After a series of unfortunate events last Sunday, Ben decided that we should scrap that day and do a Mother's Day Take 2 this Sunday.

{Just a sampling of last weeks calamities: our dog who never has accidents, left several surprises for me to find on Sunday morning, on our oriental rug no less, which Mom stepped in and tracked throughout the house. Secondly, the breakfast I had planned was foiled because someone put the biscuits in the pantry rather than the fridge. And it went downhill from there...}

SO this Sunday was declared Mother's Day and Ben outdid himself in making it a super special day for me. Starting out, he let me sleep in as late as I pleased, and when I awoke at 11am, I found a tray of freshly made hot coffee, fruit and two slices of homemade pound cake.

We played hooky from church and enjoyed hanging out as a family, watching old home dvds. "Old" meaning 2010. We got to relive Jackson's first birthday, his first steps, his first beach trip, all of it. It was so amazing to see how much he's changed in just a few years; and how soon Weston will be doing all of these same things. And we were even laughing at things we did as parents that just seem so funny.

We got chinese takeout for lunch {extra points for me not having to cook today!} and I got to sunbathe on the deck while Weston napped & Ben and Jackson ran some errands. Two glorious hours of sunbathing.




The boys returned from their errands bearing a gorgeous bouqet of flowers, and a hand-made music box that Jackson helped make for me.











And Ben, inspired by Pinterest, also made me a picture frame key hanger, which he is nearly finished painting & distressing. {photo to come}
After dinner, we made a family trip to Target where I spent 80% of my time in the bathroom watching this:




He wanted his "poo-poo prize" so bad that he refused to get off the potty after 15 minutes. As in rolling-around-the-bathroom-floor-naked-and-screaming that "I need to poopoo, Mommy let me POO-POO". Touching everything. Germs everywhere. Crying wolf just so he could get those damn Teddy Grahams.

Back home, we tag-teamed baths and bedtime and I came downstairs to find the living room & playrooms picked up. Ben knows I can't relax for the evening until everything is orderly so it was just one last little way to serve me on Mother's Day.

I am so thankful for my loving hubby and my precious children. I had a wonderful "Mother's Day" and feel very appreciated and loved.

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2nd Annual Strawberry Pickin'

For the 2nd year in a row, we spent a Friday morning at Sandy Flats picking strawberries with {part of} our playgroup. This year, however, my load was not around my mid-section as it was last year, but on my back instead:


I was itching to use our new backpack carrier -- it was a real steal for $10 at a yard sale. And it was super comfy...the first 15 times I squatted down to pick strawberries. After that, it was a major quad & core workout to squat & not topple over. I kept my sidekick happy with fresh strawberries, which ended making me look like I had gunshot wounds all over my shoulder & back.



Jackson could not have had more fun. He & his buddies ran up & down the rows, eating waaay more than they picked. Last year they actually enjoyed picking them. This year, the kids were more interested in running & eating. And refusing to look at the iPhone.





And I wasn't the only one who looked wounded after berry picking:



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Jackson dates

So after keeping both boys for 2 days while I was in Charlotte having a girls weekend, Ben really felt like Jackson gets put on the back burner way more than we are comfortable with. Ben noticed that Weston's schedule trumped whatever Jackson was doing at any given time, and felt like he was constantly saying "Jackson, no, not yet." or "Jackson calm down." or "Your brother has to be fed before we can do that." I totally get this and I do feel like I am seemingly prioritizing Weston over Jackson.

While this is not a bad thing -- its definitely teaching Jackson that he's not the center of the universe -- we still wanted to do something special with just he & us. That way, he gets our undivided attention and it can be all about him.

Last week, I took Jackson on a Mommy Date to Dillard's Farms for ice cream. They are finally open for the season and we frequent that place several times a week mid-summer. We both got Moose Tracks ("white" as J calls it) and had fun getting sticky, commenting on the biiiiig trucks that drove by, looking for the moon and listening to J daydream about his birthday party coming up and how he wants a "Spiderman Bounce House". (Got that, Gigi & Poppy??)



Ben has been eager to take Jackson to a Greenville Drive baseball game and this made for the perfect opportunity to do so. On Sunday afternoon, the boys loaded up and headed downtown to watch some baseball. I didn't get many details but I do know that Jackson was interested in the actual game for about 10 minutes and loved eating hotdogs, popcorn & drinking his coke. He also came home with a souviner baseball.







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Little Buddies

We've gotten together with lots of great friends over the past few months and I keep forgetting to post pictures. So here's a little peak...

Slade had his 3rd birthday party in mid-March at a local fire station. The kids got to climb all over the truck and loved it! Followed by lunch and cake at Firehouse Subs.




One of Jackson's friends from preschool had a b-day party at Cold Stone in late April. It was fun seeing Jackson play with his friends from class!



Sally's kids came to stay with us for a few hours a few weekends ago. Jackson thinks Jay hung the moon and pretty much was his shadow all afternoon! Sally is expecting baby Lucy in August and Jackson keeps telling me he wants "a baby sister like Jay & Betsy." Well noted, Jackson. Well noted.



Jackson got to spend some time with one of his favorite friends Emerson last week too. These two play so well together and I've NEVER heard them argue or disagree. And Emmy calls him "My Jackson". Seriously the cutest thing ever.


We went over to see Betty Anne, Kade and new baby Avery last week and the boys had a blast dressing up like superheros and dragons while Betty Anne and I got to talk babies and just catch up.







And we've stayed cool by playing outside in the water toys already this year. We had a "water party" and picnic at Julie's and Jackson had a blast with Slade & Drew. It was awesome because we had the best time over there all morning and then J took an epic 3 hour nap that afternoon. And Weston of course was as laid back as ever.



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Family Photos

Being a sucker for Groupon deals, I had purchased a photo package back in the fall and finally got around to using it. The deal included a 1 hour on-site photo shoot plus the disc of high resolution images.

To set the stage, the time we scheduled the shoot was at 5:30 pm at Greer City Park. Yes, I know -- who does that with two young kids? Well, it was the only time she had available so I took it. Add to that a really windy day and two epically cranky children and we had a a total disaster on our hands.

Jackson is in a phase where he refuses to look at the camera; in fact, he intentionally turns the opposite way when we tell him to look at the camera. And the old "Look! Its Elmo!" trick no longer works.

Weston would not even let me put him down for her to snap any individual shots. And the only way I could get him to calm down was to nurse him...in front of Greer City Hall...at 5:30pm...with no nursing cover. Oh the things you do to keep kids happy. Thankfully Ben joined us and we were able to get some family shots.

After about 30 minutes she decided that she had "enough" footage to work with. I think she'd just had ENOUGH.

We got the disc of images today...and thankfully we got a few that we can work with. I had multiple outfits for the boys however she looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned changing wardrobes.
{So I guess I'll have to sweetly ask BFF Alisha if she can re-color Ben's yellow shirt in the family shot so that there is contrast between he & J's shirt...}














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Love or hate?

Here's a typically morning in our house...no babies were harmed.

































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