Junior Fire Chief

FYI, Firehouse Subs has the best deal around for kid's meals. All kid meals come with a nice, red Fire Chief hat. So cool! Jackson went there yesterday with his daddy and came home with this great hat.

He wore it all around the house this morning and was in such a great mood.

Jackson was already in awe of all things fire station related; fire fighters, big ladders, fire engines, ambulances, and the fact that when we donated money to their fund last week, the fire man gave Jackson a neat sticker. This has just sealed the deal, though. Fire Fighters are way cool.

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent the three day weekend at Lake Texoma and really enjoyed ourselves. Lots of activities were offered at The Raines Resort and Jackson participated in just about all of them! First things first, though...gotta get your sun gear on.

Madison's ready with her sun hat:)

Activities at the Raines Resort included splashing in the new Dino Pool...

moving water and boats in the water table...

catching some rays with Mom and Hayley...

teaching Maddie how to make Bubble Dog blow bubbles...

driving down to the lake in the golf cart...

taking a ride on Dad's shoulders...

pushing Madison on her car...

checking out the wild life (in this case it was the roly polys)

chowing down on LOTS of good food (in this case it was an ice cream sandwich)...

and FINALLY taking time out for a nap! The last day both Madison and Jackson fell asleep in Boom Paw's lap. Naturally. I had tried everything for 3 days straight to make these two go to sleep and they fought me every step of the way. Guess Boom just had the touch:)

What a fun weekend! Thanks Gigi, Boom, Adam and Hayley for spending it with us!

Summer's Here!

We have been love, love, loving the great weather this past week. Here are some highlights of how we've been enjoying the outdoors.

Jackson and Madison riding their bike and train. Love the little baseball cap...especially on Maddie.

At the spray park in Rockwall. So glad he didn't turn that red thing around and squirt me with water!

Blowing bubbles with Gigi at the spray park. This was quite the hit with all the kids. We had 2 or 3 little kids just run up to our blanket and ask to blow bubbles. To my surprise, Jackson let them...reluctantly. One of the little girls could have been a double for Shiloh Jolie-Pitt. No joke. She looked exactly like her!

Madison checking out the water. It was her first time at a spray park and she did so good!

Fighting over Jackson's new bucket. Bet you can guess who won that one. He compromised by giving her his other bucket.

After all that water and sun-filled fun, little munchins need to recharge witn some goldfish.

Racing daddy in Memaw and Poppy's backyard last night. Jackson won every time!

After all those sprints, guys need to relax. This lasted about 3 seconds, then it was time to race again.

Enjoying some of Memaw's cake. He passed on the cheeseburger and tater tots and went for the watermelon and cake instead. One for two isn't bad.

Checking out a lightning bug with daddy. Not so sure about those crazy flying bugs.

Ready for a big weekend at the lake. Happy Memorial Day weekend!

They don't call 'em "terrible" for nothin'

It's official! We have hit the dreaded TERRIBLE TWO'S!!! Let's just recap the day so far and see what y'all think.

6:53 am: wakes up hollering, "Mommy, waffles!!" When I dared change his diaper first before making his waffles, the terrible-ness began. At this point it was a dull whining that got on my nerves. Mind you, I had just been SOUND asleep a mere two minutes before the whining started.

8:25 am: Throws fit when I don't pick up all 4 books to take with us upstairs. Get books, we're all ok now.

9:55am: Sees a vacuum in our garage. Since we're on our way to The Little Gym, I scoop him up and put him in the car. Bad idea. Screamed the entire 20 minutes to Little Gym about wanting to play with the "vacuumer." Argh. I almost turned the car around but then I thought about having to endure more whining alone, at home, so I kept driving.

10:15am: Refuses to greet Miss Jessica at Little Gym or participate in any of the warm-up activities.

11:30am: Shopping for a birthday present at Target now. Sees the water gun section and almost has a kniption b/c he wants one so bad. Did not give in, though, since they were for kids 6 and up. Then sees a kid rake, shovel and water nozzle and decides he absoulely MUST have it. It was $9.89, so I got it and spared myself and the rest of the Target-goers from his wrath.

12:15: Eating lunch...things are going well. He's almost done and I hear a loud dripping sound. He has peed his pants and it's going all over the floor. Gets way upset...not because he's covered in pee, no, it would be because he's mad that I'm now washing his clothes. Silly mom, what are you thinking? Screams "shorts! shorts! shorts!" no less than 100 times.

I could go on, but I'm getting exhausted just re-living this day. He's finally taking a nap now so hopefully he'll wake up and decide that being 2 isn't so bad afterall. Let's hope.

If Jackson had a sister...

I'm pretty sure this is what she would look like! Chloe and her mama came over for a playdate last week and we all had fun hanging out.

I just really cannot get over how much they resemble one another. They've both got seriously blue eyes and precious blonde hair. Too cute:) Chloe, Jackson really wants you to come back one day so that you can play upstairs and go for a ride on Trigger.

Dear God

We always say prayers before Jackson goes to bed. Most of the time Jared and I take turns, but lately we've been letting Jackson lead the prayers. He starts out with "Dear God" and then begins to list the people that he is thankful for in his life. It really is such a sweet time that we get to spend together, but Jackson has begun adding his own touch lately.

Here are a few of Jackson's recent prayers:

"Dear God, Gigi, Boom, Maddie, Pa Grape (new name for Pa Hays!), Mickey Mouse, Jesus loves you, Amen."

"Dear God, Gigi, Boom, Maddie, Uncle Scott, Go to school, Pack-packs (back-packs), Amen."

My favorite might have been last night's prayer, though, b/c he mentioned someone that we never really even talk about. It went like this, "Dear God, Mommy, Daddy, Gigi, Boom, Maddie, Memaw, Poppy, Uncle Drew, Uncle Scott, Obama...Pres-i-dent Obama, Amen"

Cracks us up every time. Have a great weekend:)

That's what Mom's are for...

The picture I'd like to use for this post is one of my face. The reason I want to do this is because it would show you how tired I look (the dark circles under my eyes are especially nice). However, I'm just a little too vain and cannot bring myself to that much embarassment. So, you'll just have to trust me on this one. Here's a run-down of the last 16 hours or so in the Hays Household.

7:00 - 8:00 : Alternately cooking dinner and rubbing Jackson's back. Why? Because the little guy didn't feel too good and was crying for me to do this.

8:00 - Holding Jackson "like a baby" in my lap on the couch. I was rubbing his tummy and he actually fell asleep. That's when I knew it was going to be a long night. He NEVER goes to sleep that early.

8:45 - Attempt to lay him down in his bed. Not successful. Pees in pull-up and it gets all over the changing table. Change him into jammies, thrown clothes in hamper and begin rocking.

9: 15 - Have been rocking for 30 minutes and he's still awake. Lay him down in his crib and begin rubbing his back.

9:45 - Have been rubbing his back for 30 minutes, arm is tired now, so I lay down on the floor next to his crib.

9:46 - Sticks his little hand thru the crib rail and asks me to hold his finger. Finger holding begins.

10:30 - Veryly slowly pull my finger out of his. Yay! He's finally asleep (for now) so I get up, work on the laundry a bit and then go to sleep in my bed.

4:30 am - "Mommy! Mommy!" Jackson is crying and wants to come sleep in our bed. Not a good idea, so I convince him to sleep upstairs with me. Begins flopping around like a seal. Seal Flopping continues for a good hour...probably more like an hour and a half. Neat.

Needless to say, I'm a little worn out. After being a mom for over 2 years, though, I do know that things will be different very shortly so no need to get disheartened. Maybe it's time I develop a taste for coffee, though...

Birthdays and Bouncing

This past weekend Jackson went to Bounce town to celebrate his friend Cason's 3rd birthday. He had so much fun that I'm thinking this is where we might celebrate his next birthday!

Jackson made fast friends with one of Cason's cousins.

Karlie helped him go through the obstacle course and was so good with him. I was so glad since it meant that I didn't have to spend an hour in there and I think Jackson developed his first crush!

Hurling himself over the green thing.

Apparantly it was big fun...just look at that grin!

While he was on break from training in the obstacle course, he decided to challenge Matt in a game of air hockey. He did pretty well, that is, until he started scoring goals on himself. After a few minutes, he was off to check out another bounce house.

He got so carried away that his pants fell down!

All the kids looking sad b/c bounce time has officially ended.

They perked up real quick, though, when the juice boxes and pizza came out:) This time Jackson only ate 2 slices of pizza--he wanted save lots of room for cake.

Two peas in a pod--just like their mama's.

Happy Birthday, Cason!

Happy Mother's Day

Wow. What a great day--my third time to get to celebrate Mother's Day and we dedicated Jackson at church this morning. We are so blessed to have such a precious little boy.

Both families came to church with us and were front and center for Jackson's big day. Pa Hays even came all the way over from Fort Worth, which was so sweet. We loved getting to see you, Pa!

Walking out onto the stage. Jackson was ALL business at first.

Then he loosened up the crowd when Pastor Rob asked him hold old he was. His response..."29," and he said it with this big ol' grin on his face! It was too funny. He had the whole congregation laughing.

After church we all headed over to our house to enjoy some good food from Babe's Chicken. If you haven't been there for some reason, you should put it on your short list. One word--delicious. Ok, maybe two. Really Delicious.

After lunch, the silly goose helped Gigi and Memaw open their presents.

Then he decided that the tissue paper was better suited to go on his daddy's head!

He also got Pa to help him tie a ribbon around his neck,

and he took a piggy back ride on my back. All in all a very good day. Thank you to my sweet mama for being such a fantastic mother and to my sweet mom-in-law for always being there for me. Y'all have taught me so much and I love you both!

Hog Heaven

I love Fridays. Jackson does, too. There's just something fun about Fridays, I think. Today we went to visit a friend of mine who has three little girls. Jackson got to play with Clare for a while before her little sisters woke up from their nap. It's always fun to play with other toys. Here they are having fun with their masks.

Such a cute little cow and puppy dog.

That lasted for about 4 seconds and then it was on to something else!

The trampoline was a HUGE hit. Look how excited my little kangaroo was to be on this fun contraption!

Jackson found this baseball cap and insisted on wearing it the rest of the time we were at their house...nevermind the fact that it was pink and had all the Disney princesses on it! When he started playing with the pink computer at the same time I just had to snap a pic. After we got home and he took a good nap, I decided it was warm enough to put on our swim suits and head outside.

All spring I've been telling Jackson that as soon as it gets warm enough we could turn on the water hose. His love for the water hose began last summer and it is still quite strong! We had so much fun playing outside. My little worker bee "cleaned" the house windows, the pool equipment and even me a time or two!, and also filled up the spa and pool with more water. It really was such a fun way to spend the afternoon--I can't wait until we get to swim every day this summer:)

Photo Shoot

In honor of Miss Madison's first birthday, we decided to schedule a photo shoot. Since Jackson is one of her favorite people, he got to come along for the fun too. There are so many precious pictures--it was hard to narrow down for this post! Thanks, Jennifer. You did a GREAT job! If you'd like to see more of Jennifer's work, check out her blog at http://www.hauteshotphotography.blogspot.com/. I am having a hard time choosing my favorite one of Jackson, so if you have an opinion, please let me know. Enjoy the sweet pics.