The Lord's Prayer

This is the cutest thing in the world... Jackson saying The Lord's Prayer.  He is one of the few kids in his Sunday school class that can say the whole thing by himself!!

Jackson's First Day of Preschool

Today Jackson officially started "3 Year Old Preschool".  He was not so excited to be going (he never is happy to go to daycare, never has been), but he did come home excited and "Mommy, I had so much fun!".  On his first day he painted, read stories, played outside, and learned about apples.  He also talked about his big fish and made sure all of his classmates knew he caught a big North-erin. :)

 Look at that face...

Fishy, Fishy, Fishy

On Sunday, Jackson and Andy went to do a little fishing - mostly to get Jackson out of the house.  They came home with 2- 25 inch Northern!!  Jackson has been talking non-stop about going fishing, catching Northern, scary and mean fish (they have big teeth & sharp fins). 

It was luck of Jackson, because they were packing up to come home and Jackson reeled in his 25 inch Northern.

Boys

Our boys are 3 years and 8 months respectively... where does the time go?

Jackson:

• 3 foot 1 inch (30th percentile)
• 34.5 lbs (90th percentile)
• Didn't cry AT ALL when we went for his 3 year check up
• Loves anything with wheels... tractors and trucks are favorites
• Plays with his dinosaur rice (bucket of rice we had hidden dinosaurs in the first time we played with it) for hours each day.
• Loves to run, chase me is a favorite saying!
• Sweet to his brother, until he gets a little crazy and then he pushes
• Likes to go to museums, go fishing, boating, golfing, bowling, swimming, running, camping, and just about anything else you want him to do!
• Will repeat everything you don't want him to...
• Tells us he loves us without prompting, says "bless you" when you sneeze, thank you unprompted when given something or someone says something nice to him
• Asks Mommy to lay with him almost every night.
• Loves to read books (especially about tractors, but likes all books)
• Says his prayers starting with "Dear Lord" a thank you for something (often tractors) and an Amen.  All while folding his hands.
• Happy most of the time, but will for sure throw a fit if he doesn't get what he wants.  Says I'm sorry, for ____, and that he won't do it again.
• Loves his neighbor kids (Dylan and Lexi) and wants to play with them ALL the time.
• Loves to sing nursery rhymes (sings Tuckery Songs like All around the Parking Garage)

Maxwell:

• Has 2 teeth
• Can crawl on hands and knees (fast)
• Can pull himself up on almost anything he wants to
• Walks around things if he wants to get to something
• When standing will bounce on knees
• Let's go of the table in the living room and leans a little with his belly so he can use both hands
• Knocks 2 objects together
• Will repeat a pattern if you hit a table
• Loves any toys Jackson has and hates it when Jackson takes a toy from him
• Eats solid foods (likes most veggies and fruits)
• Eats snacks (Mum Mums, puffs, teething cookies, rice krispies)
• Will drink water from a sippy cup
• Goes after the cat food every chance he gets and laughs when you pull him away
• Has solid poos
• Goes to bed most nights by 8:45pm, wakes either 3 or 5:30am, sleeps until 7:30/8am, naps around 9:30/10 for an hour and a half, naps around 1:30/2:00pm for an hour or two
• Drinks from a bottle a lot better (unless Mommy is around)
• Goes to Daycare 1 day a month
• Loves to laugh at Daddy and Jackson, but loves to go to Mommy
• Cuddler, but active little man!
• He loves to chase Spooky and try to pet her (or pull her tail)
• Does not have stranger danger (just like Jackson)
• Pulls toys out of baskets, buckets, off table
• Climbs up on stairs!  Yikes!  He sits a little too close to the edge, but doesn't fall much.  He likes the fireplace so he can look at himself in the glass.

Our boys are so big and we couldn't be more proud!  We love them to pieces!

3rd Birthday

Our little man had his 3rd birthday party a week ago.  It was an exciting and awesome day!  Jackson was so excited from the minute we started talking about birthday parties... he got super excited when our guests started arriving Friday night (Grandma Donna and Grandpa Leslie & Uncle Michael and Aunt Jenny).  He woke up on Saturday morning excited for his birthday party.  By 11am when the first guests started arriving he was hyper!  When cousins Aubrey and Elise arrived  the running began!  He was going non-stop from 11am-3pm.  He had such a fun time with his friends and family.  Here are some highlights from the festivities...

Jackson and his friends... I love that you can see the other boys "helping" him blow out the candles.  He was so darn cute while everyone was singing to him!!

 Candy dump truck suckers... made by Mommy using candy melts

 Fabric banner... I cut out pennants and hot glued them to a piece of bias tape, super easy!  The fabric on the table and banner is Michael Miller.  In the background behind the cake you can see Jackson's bowling trophy.

 Dump truck cake (I used a mold and decorated it) and cupcakes... I made the stand using 2 Walmart resin plates and a candle stick... the picks were also made by me... I used my Silhouette to cut them out and design them.

 Birthday Banner over the fireplace, used Silhouette to cut out the letters and pennants.

 Food... we got cheese and meat platters, potato salad, and fruit from Fareway.  I like the Mason jars held together by Caution tape to hold the silverware.

 The best birthday EVER!  I loved how much he LOVED this party!  Jackson has such a blast with everyone and was so gracious and loving... it was by far my favorite birthday ever!!  (I made his shirt, too... used my Silhouette to cut out t-shirt vinyl, Maxwell had done with an orange dump truck on it)

Jackson- 35 months

In 1 month exactly Jackson will be a 3 year old.  I don't know where the last 3 years have gone, but they have been the most AMAZING years of my life!  Of  course I will continue to say this until teenagerhood, but until then it's amazing.

Everyday Jackson learns something new, it might be a new phrase, understanding, feeling, or action... but he is learning ALL the time.

Likes:

• Tractors... specifically John Deere Tractors.  My parents got him a John Deere Tractor movie while he was staying with him and he cries for it all the time.  It's got some catchy tunes and lots of great information, but 1 time a day is definitely enough!  While watching the John Deere movie he plays with his tractors uses the technical names and overall just enjoys playing farm.  He takes a bucket full of tractors to bed with him and first thing in the morning he talks about them to us.  He takes them in his Elmo "packback" (backpack) wherever we go.  He doesn't like for me to play tractors with him, but loves Grandmas and Grandpas and Uncles and Aunts to play with him.
• Curious George, Clifford, and Wild Kratts- all PBS shows.  It's so funny when he is playing he will reenact one of the shows.  He also likes for us to read him Clifford and Curious George Books. 
• Books- this kids loves books.  Books about trucks are his favorite, but he likes anything.  We try to read some of the same books to him and then ask him  to "help" us read.  He is really good at this.  He can also answer lots of questions about the books that we read.  I often ask him how the characters are "feeling" in the story by looking at pictures and the other night, he asked me how Emily Elizabeth felt.  Very cute.
• Playing golf- He and Daddy head out to the golf course at least once a week in  the golf cart.  It's so darn cute!  He puts his plastic golf bag into the back.  "Tees off" with Daddy, then RUNS back to the golf cart to put everything away (golf ball has to go in the front).  And then they are off to find the golf balls.  He talks about using his putter when we are playing in the yard.  Super cute.
• Boats- we bought a camper on the river this year and now he talks about the Mississippi River and riding in Daddy's boat.
• Working in Grandma Donna's Garden.  He planted some plants with her and was so excited to hear they were growing.
• "Doing my work"- this is anything that Daddy is doing.  Especially mowing the grass and working with tools.  Today Andy was lowering the crib and Jackson had to come downstairs to get his toolbox.
• Playing outside and doing anything he can out there.  He has a riding lawnmower tractor that he is always wanting to ride.
• Food:  Mac 'n' Cheese, hot dogs, peanut butter and jelly, fish, shrimp, pasta, pizza, chicken fingers and some other chicken, any and all fruits, cinnamon toast crunch, milk, waffles, french toast, pancakes

Dislikes:

• Leaving  Mommy.  He cries a lot  when I leave him anywhere, but stops almost as soon as I am out of sight.
• Doctors- he has had a lot of ear infections and just hates for anyone to put anything in his ears or  look in his ears or by his ears.
• Vegetables- he picks them out of his food and won't eat them.  Every once and awhile we can get him to eat carrots and corn.  he will also eat veggies if they are hidden inside pizza.
• Most of what we serve him at dinner... just isn't into it.  But we make him try it!

Fun things he has said recently:

• While trying to teach Maxwell to crawl on his hands and knees:  He turns around and puts up his hands and says to Maxwell, "Hears the deal, you crawl like this."  
• When going to bed:  "hold on a second", "wait just a minute", I'm scared of...., I'm hungry, I'm sick, I need medicine, I forgot my....  Anything to get out of bed.  It started when he was sick after his surgery a couple of weeks ago.  We are working at getting him to stay in bed again. :)
• Ziggity, Ziggity, Ziggity, SOLD!  We went to a cattle auction last weekend and he loved the auctioneer.  He danced around and pretended to be the auctioneer.  Now at home he does this too.
• "He's such a cute baby", "I love him", "Be careful Maxwell"-  he loves his little brother.  He is so good to him (except when Maxwell is playing with something he wants) and tries to make him laugh all the time.  This is especially nice in the car, because they start giggling at each other.
• "Mommy, I  wait for you in the pink chair. You pick me up. All the kids are asleep."- in regards to daycare.

 

 Jackson with his Grandma's last weekend

What he can do:

•  
• pull up his pants
• put on his shoes
• put on his coat/take it off
• brush his teeth (we have to help, but he's got the motion)
• pick up his toys
• put his dishes in the sink (he cleans off his plate, too)
• get out of the house (into the garage)- not so good
• unhook his lawnmower tractor so he can play with it.
• play with other kids without fighting for awhile- he is getting better at daycare playing with the other kids and getting over me leaving fast.
• Talks to EVERYONE.  He talks about tractors, his school, what he plays.  It's so funny!

He is becoming very very head strong.  He whines when he doesn't get his way, fights us to do things sometimes and is all around stubborn.  I have noticed though, most of this happens when he is very tired or hungry, so if we can avoid those two situations we are mostly golden.

He's such fun to have around!!  We love him!

April Picture Update

33 months

Jackson is 33 months.  Wow, where have the almost 3 YEARS gone?  Oh, that little boy just steals my heart!

Patiently awaiting cake.

Jackson is just a bowl full of laughs.  I love all the little "isms" he has.

• My favorite is,"I'm  Mad"-  he pouts and puts his arms over his chest and says it until you acknowledge him.
• Everything is snowmobiles, tractors, combines, golf carts-- basically if it has wheels he loves it.
• Tr words sound the CR words.  Tractor, sounds like Cractor, Truck, Cruck.  Adorable!!
• He can take off his shoes and sometimes get them on.
• He is going to daycare 1 day a week for the morning and he has stopped crying at daycare.  He still cries the whole way there saying over and over, "Mommy, I don't want to visit my fwiends (friends)".  But has a blast when he is there and comes out telling me all about his day.  He tells us over and over too , Mommy you came to pick me up.
• He repeats himself a lot when he wants us to talk to him.
• Rarely eats anything unless its... peanut butter and jelly, mac 'n cheese (any kind), hotdog, fruit (pretty much any kind), yogurt, pizza, fish sticks, spaghetti,  chicken nuggets (we trick him and call all chicken, chicken nuggets), and chips.  He loves milk and water and rarely drinks juice.  We can't get him to eat veggies... so we make a lot of stuff with veggies in the main ingredients.  He'll occasionally eat a taco.
• Loves his little brother and calls him "Baby Maxwell".  He helps him get a bath, gives him a paci, and just loves to make him laugh.  He gives him kisses  and worries about him.  When I clip Maxwell's nails, he tells me "to stop hurting my baby".
• he is hitting all the 34 month milestones- small motor, large motor, social, emotional.
• he has had a couple of ear infections lately.  He keeps getting sinus infections too... poor kid.
• He tells us when he is tired and stays in his bed.
• Favorite shows:  Curious George, Caliou, Team Umi Zoomi, Clifford, Wild Kratz
• Sings all the time: theme songs, Old Mac Donald, Bingo, 
• Says the 3 Little Pigs story- laughs hysterically if I do the  pigs.
• Takes my face and brings it to him for a kiss.
• Starting potty training, he is a little interested.
• Says, "I love you ___" Mommy, daddy, Maxwell, Spooky

He is just plain awesome.  Love this age and wish he would stay little forever.

So tired...

We have been full of sickness around the Moore household this week.  We returned from our fabulous trip to the Wisconsin Dells Wilderness Resort with head colds, ear infections, and brocillitis (Jackson has all three). 

We have been watching a whole lot of this

and using a ton of these

We are thankful when Jman eats one of these

And very Thankful for all of the awesome small town doctors we have!  They actually return your call (within an hour or two) and give you suggestions that may actually help!!

Now we are headed here

for Maxwell's surgery at 7:30am tomorrow.

Prayers for a healthy recovery for all!

love,
The Moores

Snap shots of our Dells Weekend

Finished and Hung... finally

Andy and I put together some artwork for Jackson's room... I posted about it here. about 3 weeks ago on an ever exciting Thursday night at the Moore house I put together a picture board to go along with the art work.  The art work is 8x10 was just too small for the big wall so I added the board.  I got the idea from the blog Delightful Order.  I used a piece of fabric I picked up from Wal-mart that was a remnant, the board is from the basement... I think it came from my classroom, and the buttons are from Wal-mart (side note, the buttons Wal-mart sells -- Amazon, JoAnn's, and Hancock are actually made in Lansing, Iowa at the button factory... just a few minutes from us).  I have bought more big buttons to add to the board, because I like the look of them better than the small buttons.

 

Jackson loves his new photo board.  I need to get some new pictures up there... he looks at it each day and tells us all about the pictures.  I think I need to add a few more straps to the board to hold more pictures and to hold them more securely.  They tend to fall off (especially when there are little 2 year old fingers pointing and touching them).  You can also see that our little guy LOVES to read.  He is reading Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel (one of his favorites, he calls it the Steam Shovel Book and makes Daddy read it at least 3 times a week).   *** He can "read" many of his favorite books with us, we stop reading and he will fill in the words of the books we have read a few times.  It's adorable.

Side note... I am becoming a little bit obsessed with Picnik...  I messed with the photos and the coloring looks more green than it really is.  Below is a picture that shows the true colors of the room.  Which pictures do you like better??  I like the look of the above pictures, but like that the second set shows the true coloring of the room and the little man.

10 on Tuesday

I was just looking through some blogs as I nursed Mr. Maxwell and thought it would be fun to join, It's a Crafty Life's 10 on Tuesday. 

My subject is this cute boy

(this is a picture from  last summer, so cute!)

Jackson

March 1, 2011

1.  Mommy, wake up!  I'm awake!

2.  Thank you, Mommy.  (in response to me giving him back a  Monster truck)

3.  Baby Maxwell likes it Mommy!  (as he proceeded to try to make Maxwell laugh and laugh himself in the process)

4. Mommy, I want Macaroni and Cheese (following me around with a container of Mac 'n cheese)

5.  Mommy, I want to watch Team Umi Zumi!

6.  Spooky, go back to grandpa Olson's house!  (when Spooky ate his mac 'n cheese off the floor)

7.  We vacuum, Mommy!  Where's my vacuum?  Move it Spook (as he vacuums under the chair she is realxing under.

8.  Bye, Daddy!  (after the door closed), I want Daddy back!

9.  I love him!   (as he hugged Maxwell)

10.  Baby Maxwell  is going to barf on me!

{11. I's just working.}

Everyday he says something CUTE that I wish I would write down... bad mom.  But we laugh each day because of our special little 2 1/2 year old.  He is growing up so darn fast!  SLOW DOWN days!!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Love,

Em

Gum drop tree

Yesterday, Jackson and I created a gum drop tree. I found it on this blog Jada Roo Can Do. I also saw it some other place and thought it would be cute. I thought I would be different and use green and red Christmas Bells. Yeah, big mistake! Jackson has since destroyed the tree by taking all the candy off and eating it (taking out the toothpicks- Thanfully). I should have used the spice drops... no one likes those. Oh, well, next year! The cute decoration lasted 1 night at least!!
Maxwell at age 4weeks!

Jackson fixing "Baby Jesus's house"- by the morning he had broken the whole thing!!

Poop

This is my first post (I think) that has much to do with poop... Jackson decided today was a day to poop...

It all started when I gave him a bath. I drained out the water so I could wash his hair, then I cleaned out his ears, he squated and pooped in the tub. I left him there for awhile to make sure he was done... nope! He was starting to get a little diaper rash, so I let him run around a little naked... he was standing at his music table and I noticed him squat... poop and pee on his HARD WOOD floor! So I get it all cleaned up (it's now past his bedtime) and get him dressed... still smelling poop... but thinking it was in my head. I go out of his room and look into the bathroom to go clean up a little... PILES of poop and foot prints with poop across the floor. Poop. Poop. Poop!

Shiner

2 Weeks ago Jackson got his first shiner... he was loving up the new girl at daycare and his hug pushed her over, which led to him bumping his right eye on the corner of the table. It is still healing!

Okay, so i looked back on posts and it was actually his second shiner!

sledding

Our internet wasn't working very well last week... so this post is actually from LAST weekend... but here are some pics anyway!

Jackson is not very fond of sledding... he kind of cries and screams when you put him in his overalls. Gets giddy to be putting on his boots, but doesn't like walking in the coveralls in the house... gets outside, falls pushing the shovel. We finally get him on the sled and he cries some more.... and this was the 2nd experience!!

Andy took Jman sledding on Saturday while I was shopping with my mom. He drug him around the yard and Jackson whined... then they went sledding down a hill and Jman FREAKED out!

It was only the first time... it was way too cold previously!! (For me, not Jackson). He loved watching Andy throw snowballs at the tree. He even ejoyed holding his own snowball... but he was much happier on the cement or in the garage. He is my child after all. I don't like playing outside much.

January

Jackson is growing up so fast! It's amazing how much he understands, even though he is not able to verbalize it! This morning I was leaving for work and we close the gate upstairs so he doesn't get loose while Andy is getting ready. He was in our room watching Curios George on the bed. Just happy as can be. He heard the gate close and started crying! He knew what the noise meant! It didn't help that he knew I was the one walking around. He is such a MOMMA's boy! I love it! He has started asking for Andy more, saying DaDa. Last night, Andy wasn't in the house when Jman was going to bed, so we had to go out to the garage for him to stop saying, "Da Da, Da Da". Of course when we came in he started wanting to see the "kk cat". Very cute!

Now that the new year is here I am anxious for our move. Both positive and negative. I can't wait to be able to stay home and spend time with Jman. That will be the BEST part of life! He is doing so many things and I love to see him with other kids interacting. It will be GREAT to be able to do that everyday!

School bell is going to ring... back to work I go!

Deleted

So, I had a whole bunch of pictures from Halloween until Thanksgiving... Jackson somehow deleted the ENTIRE card. You have to push about 5 buttons for our camera to delete... he did it. Sigh, hopefully we will get some more good pictures soon!!

Jackson's 2nd Thanksgiving

This year we were in Bettendorf for Thanksgiving. It is very nice to be able to be home for the holidays and not trapsing all over the countryside. We had a very nice meal with my parents and brother and his fiance, Jenny. We ate lots of yummy food... even though the meat thermometer broke and kept saying the turkey was getting COLDER... it all turned out yummy!!

Jackson ate a little bit of the dinner... he is really only interested in eating pasta and bananas these days... but he like the sweet potatoes and stuffing. He wouldn't eat the squash, potatoes, or turkey... he also loved apple and pumpkin pie and especially the whipped cream (mostly when Grandpa was squirting it into his mouth). He was a very happy little boy! He hung out with Jenny most of the day, sitting on her lap and wanting her to play with him. Very cute!

I am getting terrible about pictures these days... I need to take more. But as soon as I take out the camera Jackson attacks it and it's hard to get a good one of him. I'll post some pictures soon.

Happy Black Friday Shopping!!

Jackson and his cousins- Thalia, Sari, and Arielle. He loved playing with the girls!