Nature Preserve

Yesterday was such a pretty day we decided to go over to Arbor Hills Nature Preserve for the morning. It was nice to finally get out of the house after being cooped up because of all the cold weather this week.



We spotted a woodpecker. He blended in with the tree so well we had a hard time seeing him.



There is a huge lookout area that you can climb up to look over the city. Michael and Jackson climbed up while I took pictures from below.



It made me nervous to see Jackson standing up so close to the edge.




This was a sign we saw. I thought it was a little ironic. Just made me laugh since the trail was closed for vegetation preservation yet there was nothing but dead tree limbs all around. Hummm.




Jackson has a fascination with sticks (like every little boy does). His sticks kept getting bigger and bigger. He was pretty proud of this big stick he found. He actually carried it a long way before finally getting tired and setting it aside to find later.

Aside from the nature trails, there's a really great park. Jackson really enjoys swinging on the big red swing.

Michael snapped a picture of me resting. You can see just how big Grayson is getting. I hardly have room to breathe.

Jackson behind bars.

What every mom must blog for their child.....

I know many of you aren't interested but it is something I feel like I must blog or else I will lose my "Good Mother" card. Jackson asks me to sing the ABC song almost every night before he goes to bed. Generally he'll sing most of it but will get distracted part of the way through and not finish the song. I haven't ever been able to capture anything on camera. This morning he was running around the living room singing and he went all the way through the alphabet. I had the camera ready and was able to capture it so I figured I must post it.

One COLD Day

Just a cute picture of Jackson bundled up to go outside. It was COLD today. Not to worry...Dallas weather will have us back in the 60's tomorrow!

I Do Love to Fondue!

Our 6th Anniversary is tomorrow but since we'll be tied up at church all day, we decided to celebrate last night. I've always wanted to go to The Melting Pot (a fondue restaurant in Addison) so we decided to go there to celebrate this year. Since I'm too close to my due date to travel (we normally go to a different state each anniversary), we decided to stay here at home and then we'll take a trip later this Spring.

We had a great time at dinner. We started with cheese fondue, had a salad, then our main dish fondue (lobster, shrimp, salmon, steak, chicken, pork, and vegetables), and finished it off with banana's foster fondue (that's the flaming pot above). We ate and ate and ate. It was fabulous! I highly recommend it to those of you who want a night out at a place you would NEVER find a toddler at. How nice it was to enjoy an evening out without even hearing a toddler in the room.

Jackson's Dinosaur Mask

Jackson had a cough and we noticed some wheezing the other night so I took him to the doctor just to get things checked out. Turns out his blood oxygen levels were low and the doctor heard a lot of junk in his lungs. By the time we left the doctor, we were heading to another place for a chest x-ray and had a prescription for a nebulizer and treatments. Three hours later we were home. Trying to find a nebulizer took 2 hours of getting me and Jackson in and out of the stores only to hear someone at the pharmacy counter say, "I can order you one." Order one? My child needs this TONIGHT! By the time I found one a few Wal-Marts, Targets, and Walgreens later, the poor guy behind the pharmacy counter had to stand there while I cried uncontrollably when he told me my insurance wasn't going through. Poor guy didn't know that you don't say something like that to a woman just a couple of weeks away from giving birth after she's worked a full day and lugged a sick child all around the city for a few hours. I was exhausted and my hormones got the better of me. After tears started flowing, he quickly got back on the phone and straightened things out with the insurance. An hour later...and many dollars later, we were on our way home. Luckily the dinosaur mask is working and Jackson is sounding a lot better. It was worth the trouble...it always is.

Michael's Pictures

Michael and some of his friends took their cameras to downtown Dallas last night to take pictures of all the buildings. He came back with a lot of pictures, I thought these were the best.

New Play Room

We finally caved and turned our Dining Room into a Play Room. We figured since we've only sat in that room twice (once being two days ago) since we moved in, it would not hurt us to change the purpose of the room. Jackson has already been enjoying it. We were able to pull all the toys from behind the couch and actually organize them. Hopefully we'll be able to keep it organized.


The last picture is Jackson playing with a tool set his Uncle Ken & Aunt Steph gave him for Christmas. Lately he's been really into tools. He received several tools for Christmas and has loved all of them. He's always building and fixing things. Hopefully he'll be a handy husband one day.

New Year's Day

Michael's family came to our house on New Year's Day. Luckily the weather was warm and the kids were able to enjoy the swing set outside. I think the daddies enjoyed the swing set too.

Of course, after playing outside, both boys needed a bath. Nana gave Jackson some bath colors for Christmas so they tried to make the water red. It turned out more pink. What's better than two little boys in a pink bath?