12 X 12 - March 2013

Sade started the day off with a little early morning coloring:

Tucker is still with cone:



After Megan and Jackson left for school, Sade and I left for the gym. I have been going consistently for about 2 months and have seen no results. Well....except for weight gain!



After the gym it was time for Sade to be dropped off at preschool:



Then it was time for me to get my haircut.



The results:



It's a bit windblown as I cannot drive without having the windows down in this beautiful weather!

After I came home I looked at Tucker and decided he could not go one more day without a haircut of his own. I despise doing it and each time vow to NEVER EVER do it again. It is so much work. It takes me 3 days to get it all done. And every time I do it I think I am going to die of an allergy attack. But.....I  have not found someplace to send him that doesn't charge me a ridiculous amount of money to have him come home looking exactly the same. But really.....I never want to do it EVER AGAIN.



After preschool pick-up Sade and I made a quick run to Smith's for essentials:



Megan arrived home from school, but Jackson was invited over to a friends house. A couple of hours later I went to pick him up. He delights in having his window down too.



Eric is out of town, so for dinner the kids and I had a very exciting meal consisting of cinnamon toast, hot chocolate and fruit:



We spent most of the afternoon and evening outside playing, as we have spent most of our afternoons and evenings over the past couple of weeks:



Before bed Jackson requested a badly needed haircut.



I was plagued with Tucker flashbacks, but nevertheless got the clippers out and got to work. Luckily his hair is much easier to cut.

Normal, good day.

Cone Head

I have somewhat been putting off having Tucker neutered. The ideal time to do it is between 4 and 6 months, and he is already 8 months old.

Mainly I put it off because he HATES the vet. He growls at them. Pees on the table. Cowers.

It's sad.

But then he started marking inside the house.

Which made me CRAZY, and made me feel a little bit less sad about his hatred of the vet.

So off he went to be neutered the next day!

And.....It went just fine.




He has to wear the cone for 7 days. I was worried about it, but it doesn't bother him at all. Not one bit!

I would think he would be at least somewhat embarrassed by it.

Reading Week & Other Happenings

We just completed another fun filled Nevada Reading Week!

Day 1: Wear mismatched clothes in honor of the book "Where the Wild Things Are."



Day 2: Poem In Your Pocket day. I like this day because it requires no preparation from me! Jackson wrote his own poems. His poems as follows:

Hiking (Hikeing as Jackson spells it)

I went on a hike
And rode my bike
Once I was done
I said it was fun

and.....

I'd Rather

I'd rather eat a can
I'd rather read a book
Than go and put suntan lotion on a gorillas back
(rhyming is overrated, no?)

Day 3: Dress As Your Favorite Book Character

Megan dressed as someone or something from the book "You Are Special." Jackson dressed as Harry Potter (of course!). But he decided to dress as Book 7 Harry Potter. Which if you are a faithful Harry Potter reader you know Harry does not attend Hogwart's in Book 7, so he does not wear any robes.





Day 4: Shirt With Words Day. I forgot to take a picture.

Day 5: Pajama Day!



Sadie also dressed up for Nevada Reading Week at preschool. She decided to be a very fancy, Fancy Nancy. Her favorite.



She also picked out these AWESOME glasses from the treasure box at school.



She LOVES them, and wore them to a meeting we attended last night, as well as out to dinner.

In other school news, Jackson is now a medal man, having received the medal for his 100 AR points.



He is pretty excited about it. He currently has 146 points and can't wait to receive a trophy when he hits 200.

Blue & Gold Banquet

Have I mentioned before the coolness that is Cub Scouts? The awesome, corny cheers get me every single time. I love them! And Cub Scouts got even cooler when we received the invitation for the yearly Blue & Gold Banquet.

But do you know what is not cool?

 Cake decorating.

I tried to get out of it. I even asked a friend if it was just something recommended, or if it was an actual requirement. She is a good friend and told me that I needed to bake a cake because if I didn't Jackson would be the only one there without one and he would feel bad.

Ok. Then.

But she also told me it was supposed to be up to the boys to completely decorate it. And their dads. Since Eric was out of town, the burden fell solely on Jackson.

He excelled!



I purchased the supplies, and helped him frost the first layer, but he did everything else. From concept to decoration:



He decided to have a river with fish, a Patrick fisherman, a gummy bear eating a fish, a tent for Spongebob, a chick sitting on some eggs, a bunny and a fire:



I am proud of him:



I took lots of pictures of the other cakes but am choosing not to post them. Mostly because they were really good (Kim, I am talking to you) and don't want to hear any disparaging comments about our cake. :)

We had a massive Dutch Oven feast, followed by lots of game playing:



The week before the boys made these cool picture frames to take home. Good job Gina! And excellent job on the decor!



Every boy receives an award for his cake. Jackson received the "Big Fished" award:



It was awesome. 

Great Harvest (Again)

Last year Sade's preschool went to Great Harvest for a field trip and this year her class took the exact same field trip again! Picture documentation:

Last year I do believe they only received a loaf of bread, but this year they received a loaf of bread, giant cookie, AND wheat grass seeds! To plant, and then have in our very own healthy smoothies (typed sarcastically).



I ended up loving the field trip because it afforded me the opportunity to catch up with Kellie! And Sade loved it because she got to hold Ryan for a good portion of the time:

Red Rock 2013

Last, last weekend we went to Red Rock to do a little hiking. Our first stop was our favorite easy peasy Lost Creek-Children's Discovery hike to a mini waterfall. We have done this hike many times and continue to love it. Last January we found snow, but this year it was snow free.

Me and Jackson now:



Me and Jackson four years ago in almost the exact same place:


And with a photo bomber:



Our next hike was Pine Creek Canyon trail that takes you deep into the mountains. For at least a mile, Jackson would run ahead:



And then sit down on a rock and wait for us to catch up:



And again:




Sade caught a ride most of the way:



On the trail you walk right by an old homestead:



More Sade photo bombs:




The Pine Creek Trail is supposed to be a loop, but somewhere we took a wrong turn and never found it! Disappointing but not heartbreaking. It was a beautiful, beautiful day.