Loving my boys...

Part of the reason I started a blog was so that I had a place to put down some things that I hope to remember forever. In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it seems that I forget to remember these little moments of sheer entertainment that my boys provide me with...

The other night when I was putting Jackson to bed, he asked me to read him a book. I had already turned off the lights in his room and was laying on the bed with him and in my laziness, I really didn't want to get up so I decided to just tell him a story. So I proceeded to make up a story all about how a bunch of firemen pulled up in a firetruck in front of our house and called out to Jackson that they needed his help putting a fire out. The story ended with Jackson saving the day and everyone cheering and thanking him and then him coming home and getting a big cookie and some lemonade. While I was telling him the story, I could see him just swelling up with pride at the thought that everyone was cheering for him and that he had saved the day and he kept scrunching up his shoulders with a "well, that's what I do, Mom" kind of look and he just couldn't stop smiling. When the story was over, the first thing he did was ask if I could be the teacher in his Sunday school class next time so I could tell all the other kids that story about him. Then he asked me to tell it again. And it's been the request every night since then. Of course, since I made the story up, I can never remember exactly what I said the first time, but Jackson always reminds me if I miss a part.

And our little peanut, Deacon is just that....a peanut. He is seven months old today and crawling all over the place and sometimes looks like he's trying to stand up. Nuts! We had his 6 month well child check up the other day and he is only 3rd percentile for both height and weight so we're working on trying to pack the pounds onto this kiddo. He pretty much lives with his tongue sticking out, which is super cute. Even when he smiles, his tongue is out. He really is just such a happy, content, laid back baby which I am ever so thankful for! I love my boys so much!

Can't resist...

...this seriously cute kid who is getting around alot more than I want him to be.

Snapshots from AZ

We just returned from our yearly visit to YaYa and Papa's house in Arizona, and it was a great time! The weather was perfect, and so was the company! YaYa and Papa filled our days with plenty of opportunities to soak up the sun and we definitely tried to take advantage of that! We made the hike up Thunderbird mountain one afternoon. Todd and I did the longer version of this hike with Jeremy last year, but this year we did the shorter version so we could bring the whole family along. Jackson really enjoyed it and never once complained that he was tired, which surprised me because I was plenty tired!

We also spent one morning at the Phoenix zoo and then that afternoon went to Ikea in Tempe. But, of course, the camera battery died so the only pictures I have from the zoo are on my phone at the moment. On Saturday before we headed back home we headed to Old Glendale for a chocolate festival for a little last hurrah in the sunshine. Jackson liked it because it mixed two of his favorite things: chocolate and helicopters! They had a few rides for kids and one of them happened to be a helicopter ride. Jackson was trying to act all pilot-like hence the arm out the window look.
On the way home, we ended up taking a bump to another flight which really couldn't have turned out any better. We decided to do it because we only got home 30 minutes later than we would have originally and the flights we changed to weren't full so we could bring Deacon's carseat on. We had to make a stop in Denver instead of a direct flight, but during the stop in Denver they let Jackson go up in the cockpit and sit in the pilot's seat. He was quite enthralled and asked the pilot a TON of questions.

They also let him talk over the loud speaker and he got to tell all the passengers that were boarding from Denver "Welcome Aboard!"

From Denver back to Omaha the flight was so empty that one of the flight attendants sat and talked with us for a while, and then she took Deacon off our hands for us for a bit and walked him up and down the aisle. Just a few more reasons to fly Southwest...cheap flights, bags fly free, and fun flight crews! And on top of all that, we got $450 in flight vouchers for taking the bump. All in all, not too shabby!