Friday Fab 5 (Not on a Friday but still Fab).

Here's our update for the past few weeks.......

 
1. Date Night 

 Iron Man is brilliant, funny, witty, and loves technology, which makes him our family's favorite super hero. :)  Mark and I went to Iron Man 3 together for date night recently. It was action-packed and had a little romance too, which suits both of our fancies. 

After the movie, we went to one of our favorite burger chains, Red Robin.  I tried the Bleu Cheese somethin' or other Burger.  It was good for a change but I don't think I'd order it again.  I guess I'm not a huge bleu cheese fan (Sorry, Dad.  I know you love it!).  One of our favorite things about Red Robin is their endless fries with campfire sauce.  Our friend told us about their campfire sauce a few years ago and our lives have never been the same since.  :)

Thank you to the Reams Family for babysitting for us!  We're sure Jax enjoys our dates as much as we do (if not more) because he could care less if we leave or when we get back since he gets to play with the fun kids for a few hours!  Win-Win.

 2. Sea World--  I've been taking Jax to Sea World before our year pass runs out next month.  This time, we did the toddler water area and he met some fun Sesame Street characters! 

 

Jax could play with water all day every day, I think.  He loves when I turn the hose on to water the garden and flower pots.  These miniature fountains really put a big smile on his face.  He is also a friendly kid and enjoys playing with any kid who will pay attention to him (or try to avoid him). ha!  He kept trying to get into his "friend's" stroller to have some of their snacks.  I guess the ones I brought weren't quite exciting enough. :)  

 

Jax has never seen Sesame Street before but that didn't stop him from wanting to meet the characters up close!  He loved touching Bert and Ernie's noses and the Cookie Monster's eyes.  :)

3. Highlight--  I know I have put a picture like this on the blog several times but I feel like it's such a part of our daily life (and I have two of the most handsome guys in the world) that I'm posting yet another Daddy/Son Truck Picture....

 

It's the highlight of both of our days when dad gets home from work.  Jax gets super excited when daddy comes home in the green truck ("cuck...cuck...cuck...cuck").  He loves to meet him out in the driveway and "drive" on the steering wheel for a bit.  Mark even puts him in the truck bed to play for a bit sometimes when he's working in the yard.  We certainly have a vehicle-loving boy on our hands!

4.  Library Time--Jax has almost outgrown the baby story and play time and the library so I thought I should put a little picture in to remember these good days.  His favorite part is when we go in the big room and play with all sorts of new-to-us toys with all of the other babies.  I like it too because I can socialize with other moms.  These days, he'd rather stay out and play with the wooden train set that they have glued down to a small table instead of joining the other babies for singing time. ;)  He's the one in the bright green shirt.  fyi.

5.  Memorial Day BBQ--Last night we went to the Fielden's house for burgers and the fixins.  It was a nice evening.  The adults just ate and chatted and the kiddos played to their heart's content.  I decided to take my favorite chip/cracker dip from Our Best Bites website.  Mmmm....mmmm.  Highly recommended.  :) 

Nice end to our fun weekend with Scott and Kelsey visiting!!! (more on that later)

Fab 5--turned into 6: Play in May

1.  THE BOYS AND THEIR TOYS:

Mark: Recently, we (by we I mean Mark) bought a couple of  new saws for projects.  His big-boy toys now include circular, table, and miter saws! Wahoo!  He enjoys building things, tinkering around, and doing projects around the house.  I'm glad I have a hubby who is good at fixing things, figuring things out, and working hard to beautify our place.    

Jax: Our neighbor gave Jax "The Defender" racecar.  Isn't it cool?  To me it looks straight from my 90's childhood, which makes it even cooler, right?  The remote control part of it doesn't work anymore but Jax could care less at this point.  He just drives it around the house making racecar noises.  Also, we were flipping channels the other night and NASCAR was on ESPN.  Jax was seriously glued to the TV.  We laughed for a long time about it because generally things on the TV don't keep his attention for very long at all. Redneck...comin' right up...

 

2.  I finally printed out the extra pages I've been working on and I finished the baby book up to 12 months!!! Can I get a woo-woo?  It gives me some real satisfaction to finish projects and to top it off, Jax has looked at the book quite a bit, which makes me extra happy! 

 

3.  Family Outing:  We bought a season pass to the Zoo.  I think we've gone about 4 times so far.  It's a smaller zoo, which is just the right size for the little man at this point.   We picked Mark up from work and went together on a Monday evening.  It was beautiful weather and we had a good time.  Then we went back on post to Mark's softball game and it started POURING all of a sudden.  The game was canceled but it made for a memorable family night. :)

 

4.  Bubbles and sidewalk chalk have become a big interest for little Jax as of late.  The other day, we had a little sidewalk-chalk-paint-your face-war.  Jax was laughing so hard every time he drew on my nose.  I started getting him back and I just laughed to myself thinking, "don't even mess with mama" until I saw my own face.  I think Jax actually won!  :)

 

 

5.  Big Boy:  Jax loves to be "big" and wash his hands at the sink.  He also is a forward-facing carseat rider these days, which he's THRILLED about.  I couldn't believe how happy he was about it!  The kid couldn't stop smiling.  :) 

   

6.  Does this wall remind you of anything?  Joseph and his amazing technicolor dreamcoat by chance?    

You know the song...."Such a dazzling coat of many colors
How I love my coat of many colors.......It was red and yellow and green and brown
And scarlet and black and ocher and peach
And ruby and olive and violet and fawn
And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve
And cream and crimson and silver and rose
And azure and lemon and russet and grey
And purple and white and pink and orange
And red and yellow and green and brown
Scarlet and black and ocher and peach
And ruby and olive and violet and fawn
And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve
And cream and crimson and silver and rose
And azure and lemon and russet and grey
And purple and white and pink and orange
And blue"

 

Well now I have my very own wall of many colors....such a dazzling wall of many colors....

I have finally picked one out!  Mark just kept laughing and shaking his head every time I walked in the door with yet another few paint samples in hand.  I know all of Home Depot's paint employees on a personal basis.  We're pretty much BFFs by now.  ;)

If you'd like to see me in my next show, just look for

JOSEPHINA and her WALL OF MANY COLORS

on broadway.  Hope you get front row seats.  I'll even wink at you while I'm performing.  Special treat.

Our home improvement activities deserve a post to itself.  So I'll just stop there.  

Mother's Day

 

Mother's Day this year was such a pleasant and relaxing day.  Mark was very sweet to go all out and pamper me.  He made me some delicious pancakes complete with buttermilk caramel syrup for breakfast.  We just hung out and chilled together, which I love to do.  I even took a nap before church!!!  He surprised me with these beautiful flowers the day before and they bloomed right on time.  Mark also surprised me by making me a necklace holder that is now hung up in our closet.  It was something I've wanted for a little while now and it was very sweet of him to make and put it up for me.  After a delightful church, we went all out with steak and potatoes for dinner.  I extremely very rarely buy steak at the store because it's so expensive but it was absolutely mouth-wateringly good!  So, we'll probably have it again for Father's Day, since Mark has already requested it. :)  That evening, we enjoyed some banana splits with some friends.  What a nice day!

I feel sort of hypocritical for enjoying Mothers Day as much as I do now because there were several years that I absolutely hated it.  But, I am so grateful to be able to be a mother.  It is a dream come true.  I'm also grateful to Jax's birth mother and birth grandmother for their charity.  It makes me cry just thinking about what a miracle our adoption is and was.  

I'm also thankful for the good women in my life who are such exemplary mothers and women.  I feel like I was given the best mom in the world.  Sincerely.  I'm thankful to my mother-in-law for her care and love for us.  I am deeply grateful for my sister and sister-in-laws who are an inspiration to me.  I love to think about our dear grandmothers, some who have passed on, and one who is still here but just not quite herself anymore. Those dear, dear women.  I'm also thankful to wonderful friends who honor motherhood.  The power of women is truly miraculous.  

Happy Mother's Day to women everywhere!

Nana Comes to Town

 

Nana came to visit and we had a great time!  

We spent one day at Brackenridge Park.  We went to the Japanese Tea Gardens, which I've been wanting to go to for a while now.  It was real pretty and free so we couldn't complain!  Diane amazes me with her knowledge of plants.  She seemed to know all (or most) of the plants growing around here.  Jax loved the fish ("shish") swimming in the pond as well as the waterfall. 

We took a stroll down to the mini-train station and zoo as well.  Diane treated us to a train ride. Jax was loving it (and I did too!)  We hopped off the train at the Tea Gardens and made our way back home.  What a fun day!  We also took a trip up to the temple, went on walks, spent some time downtown at the riverwalk, and ate yummy food while she was here.  She also was very kind to make me these brown and white houndstooth pillows.  Jax loved the extra attention.  Who could complain about more one-on-one play time?

 

THANKS FOR VISITING, NANA! 

We had a great time with you!