Crystal the Frog

My son and his daddy found the cutest little frog outside this past weekend. They loved it so much that they decided it should become our new temporary pet.

They worked very hard (mostly Jared) getting a nice box put together for the little frog. They put some grass, tree branches and a little bowl of water in there.

Jackson didn't so much help with the box, but mostly because his time was spent guarding the frog and making sure it did not escape from the container. As you can see, he took his job very seriously!

When it was time, they made the transfer.

J watched his new pet for at least 20 minutes. He really wanted to be sure that the frog would not jump out.

See the frog? So tiny. Wanna guess what Jackson named it? Crystal. Yes, meet Crystal the frog.

Annual trip to Owens Farm

We mosied on over to Owens Spring Creek Farm a few days ago and really enjoyed ourselves. The look on Madison's face here describes how I felt, though, as we were approaching the farm. There were so many people there. Many, many school buses and about a bazillion cars. I have never seen it anywhere near that crowded before!

Thank goodness we didn't just turn around and go home, because we all had so much fun.

We got some cute pics on the haybales,

then the big kids got to feed the goats.

As we were leaving the animals, we ran into Miss Chloe and her parents and chatted for a sec. Then Lila woke up and it was time to go take some cute pictures in the pumpkins.

Chloe let Lila borrow her orange tutu and it was so very precious!

She got many compliments the whole time we were there.

Those baby blues get me every time.

Madison tried to show her how there were orange pumpkins inside her tutu. Pretty cool.

Jackson was pumpkin surfing, Maddie was trying to reach the sky and Lila was pretty much over having her picture taken!

Now on to the fun stuff. The kids rode the barrel ride again. This time, though, Jackson paid for both of them. It was so cute to watch as he told the tractor driver, "two tickets, for both of us."

For our final activity, we all took a hayride together. Such a fun family day and close to home. Best of both worlds.

6 months

Since we moved this past weekend, things have been a little bit chaotic to say the least. I'm surprised I remembered to take Lila to her 6 month check-up today! First, here's a cute sibling pic in the living room of our new house. She's sitting up so well now--way to go, little girl!

We had a good visit with Dr. Betty. Lila is right on target with all her milestones and was in a great mood until the nurse brought out those two shots.

She is 28 inches tall, which is above the 99th percentile. No wonder I've had to break out the bigger sleepers.

And she weighs 16 lbs, which is between the 50-75%. I love this pic. She's as naked as a jaybird and is being so modest for the camera:)

My little man

Jackson has been growing up so much lately. I'm afraid if I don't write things down I might forget them. And some things are just too cute to be forgotten. Here's a run down on the J man!

Direct Quotes:

On the phone with Uncle Scott: "I missed school today because I was running a fever. Yeah, it was just a fluke, though." What 3 year old uses the word "fluke"?

On why Madison didn't want to drink her Sprite: "Maybe she doesn't like the carbonation." Once again...carbonation?!

He went to breakfast the other morning while out running errands with his dad. I asked him which McDonald's he went to. His reply, "the one at Walnut and Garland Rd." He was right, too. I think he overheard Jared tell someone where he was. Too funny, though, that he was Mr. Mapsco.

New things he can do:

1. Go across the high monkey bars at the park...by himself! Almost gave me heart failure, but he made it all the way.

2. Pour ketchup out onto his plate..all by himself...and here's the amazing part, not spill any of it.

Random:

He has renamed us. I am Megan and Jared is Travis. He now only refers to us by these two names. We have some friends, named Megan and Travis, but they live in Georgetown. He only sees them like twice a year! No idea why he has been doing this. It's been about a week, though. The scary thing is that I'm starting to answer to Megan!

My favorite:

Jackson has always had girlfriends at school--at least two or three in each class. He's so shy, though, that I'm not even sure he ever talked to these girls. I think he would just sit near them and admire their cuteness. Times, they are a changing, though. Last week I dropped him off at school and as I was chatting with his teacher he walked over to all the other kids. Then I saw a little blonde girl reach out, take his hand, and lead him around to the other table. He was holding hands with a girlfriend! I almost cried it was so cute. The next day he bent down to kiss Lila goodbye. By this time there were three little girls around Lila, so they all got to witness how sweet he is to his sister. It was like a single guy at the park with a puppy or a baby! After I picked up Lila, the three girls encircled Jackson and the littlest one took his hand in hers. This time it was Peyton, a different girlfriend! Mia (blondie) was right there, too. Wonder what she thought about that! His teacher just shook her head and said "they love him!" Oh my, I think we may have a little Romeo on our hands. Heaven help me.

Firewheel Carnival

Last night all the big kids (Jared, Maddie, Jackson and me) took a little trip up the road to the carnival that's set up in the Firewheel Mall parking lot. It was so much fun and the perfect way to spend a crisp, cool Friday night. When we pulled up, Maddie said, "I am so excited!"

We promptly bought some tickets and hopped on the ferris wheel. It was her first time on one and she loved it. I must admit, I was a little scared, but Madison wasn't at all.

Even though Jackson is a veteran ferris wheel rider, he was still a little apprehensive at first. Good thing he had Charlie (the class mascot sent home with him this weekend) to keep him company.

Oh yeah, and Daddo always makes him feel better, too.

After the ferris wheel, we hopped on the merry-go-round. Jackson chose to ride the giraffe, while Maddie went with the more traditional pretty pony.

Then it was over to the helicopters. Unfortnately Madison wasn't quite tall enough to ride this one, so J had to go it alone. Notice he's not alone, though. Just as we were getting him on the ride, a man asked if his granddaughter could ride with him. Guess Jackson looked friendly or maybe the little girl just thought he was cute:)

After his romantic helicopter ride, we ran over to the big slide. Jackson actually went down all by himself! Maddie and Jared came down right after and both kids declared it their favorite ride of the night. Now that's high praise.

The last ride of the night was the cars--as Jared pointed out, don't they look like they're driving Austin Powers' car?

Of course, we couldn't take Charlie to the carnival and not get some popcorn. As the kids munched on that, the hubdog and I polished off a funnel cake. And it was so delicious. Big kids like carnie food, too.

Parenting 101

Hi Friends,

Over the past few days I have been blessed with some helpful hints on child-rearing and just felt obliged to share. As a mom of two small kids, I feel like I can use all the help I can get! Our sermon on Sunday was called Parenting 101 and was such a great message. You can watch or listen to it by clicking here: www.lakepointe.org/message. I HIGHLY recommend watching it if you have kids. Watch it with your spouse, if possible. Jared and I should probably watch it at least once a week just to be reminded of everything.

During the message, our pastor recommended two books.

1. The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman

2. Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp.

I look forward to reading both of them and will be happy to report back when I'm done:)

My next lesson came on Tuesday night at our bimonthly Firewheel Mom's Club meeting. A family/child therapist was our guest speaker and had so many helpful things to share. The topic she chose to cover was "Limit Setting," which is something I deal with quite frequently, as I'm sure most moms do. I get so tired of always threatening or counting to 3 that by the end of the day I am emotionally exhausted. She prefaced all of it by saying that in order for any behavior modification to work, the parent must remain calm but firm. Much easier said than done, but it is possible! I am a work in progress on this, but feel that I am making strides in the right directon. Sometimes they are babysteps, but most of the times they are strides.

She uses the A-C-T Method of Limit Setting.

Here's the low-down on it:

A - Acknowledge your child's feelings

C - Communicate the limit

T - Target the alternatives

Here's an example of how this might work:

A - "I know it feels good to you to be barefoot..."

C - "but you need to wear shoes when we go to the store."

T - "You can wear sandals or shoes. Which do you choose?"

She really emphasized the importance of at least acknowledging your child's feelings first, because it doesn't put them on the defensive. She also really stressed being concise with your ACT so that they understand. The last big point is to use the word "choose" as much as possible, so that they feel empowered. It makes them stop their bad behavior (hopefully!) think about what they want and then make the choice. Just don't give them a choice that you can't live without, like not going to grandma's for the night if you already had family plans to do so.

She also really liked the Gary Chapman book and recommended more as well.

Her favorite ones are:

1. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

2. Sibling Rivalry by the same peeps

I am going to really try and learn something from these resources and hopefully create a more harmonious homelife. I will say that Jackson has responded wonderfully to the ACT Method...so I know we're headed in the right direction.

Family Ties

"We are fam-i-ly." No idea who sings it, but that song just popped in my head when thinking about this past weekend. We had lots of family events. We began by celebrating Meme's 80th birthday on Friday at the Cheesecake Factory.

Since Jackson and Maddie were in school during the day, Miss Lila had to represent for the great grandkids. She did a very good job and was so well behaved. She even let us get through all of lunch AND order cheesecake AND eat it. A must when you are at Cheesecake Factory.

Meme was so appreciative!

When you look at her, 80 doesn't seem so old--I just hope I got the same genes. Friday evening we had Lila's dedication in Rockwall, followed by dinner with the whole fam. Then Sunday we did her dedication at our church and then went to Fort Worth for Jared's cousin's birthday.

After enjoying some yummy chocolate birthday cake, Jackson learned a new trick.

Poppy saw how much fun J was having, so he decided to join in too!

After lunch Pa Hays got to spend some quality time with his two great grandkids.

Jackson still calls him Pa Grape. We have yet to figure that one out. Pa doesn't seem to mind one bit, though.

He read Squishy Turtle to Lila...

and played ball with Jackson. The smiles on their faces say it all. Good times, good times.