Long Lazy weekends

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! We enjoyed the long holiday weekend... err.... week, thanks to the snow! I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am so very thankful for my family & friends, and for our health!!

We've had a fun week playing in the snow (ok, not really... it was really really cold and Cash wasn't a fan, thus the lack of pics...) we enjoyed Turkey day at the jackson's and then we went to the tree farm with our good friends John & Tasha and got a tree! I Love Christmas and i'm glad Cash James was equally excited about decorating, he mostly loved the working train that Papa gave him to go around the tree!!

Here are some pics of our holiday adventures, ENJOY!

Cash's Christmas List

Happy Holidays! Can you believe that Thanksgiving is next week!?! So fun! I love the holidays! I'm very excited to decorate our new house as well (pics to come)and start listening to Christmas music & baking!!

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! you know!

Anywhoo.... i've had some christmas list requests for Cash James so I figured i'd post it here for all to review.

Cash is ALL BOY so anything trucks/tractors/trains etc.. will always go over well.

I really like Books, puzzles & learning toys!

Lately he has been obsessed with trains (Thomas & friends to be exact)




My lovely & generous friend Jenelle gave Cash a bag of Thomas engines & tracks her son Kellen has outgrown. Cash is over the moon happy about this! So anything Thomas to go with his growing set would be appreciated. He has wooden tracks & trains that fit the wooden tracks.




He doesn't seem to be that into "stuffed" toys/bears/animals etc..

His room is a Tractor/John Deere theme and he is still obsessed with Tractors... so that's always a safe bet :)

Cash doesn't have many DVD's. We don't have cable so any tv he does watch is on DVD or the computer... Disney movies would be good because then Dada & Mama can watch along without being bored! He currently has the movie "CARS" which we've seen 100,000,000 times! Classic disney would be fun, movies from our childhood... sleeping beauty, snow white & the 7 dwarfs etc...

On another note when he finds a dvd/show he likes he wants to play with toys from that show... Once we bought the Movie Cars we then were tracking down Mater & Lightening McQueen toys.

Clothing wise he is wearing about 18-24 months in tops ( some smaller 2t's as well) and pants are about 2t. Bigger is safest. He's tall but skinny. He is good on coats for this season. He loves boots of all kinds, he is currently in a size 6 in shoes but has a few pairs so please buy 7+.

He still wears hats of all kinds daily and has a tendency to lose socks! I'm thinking santa may put some in his stocking!

I have no problem with 2nd hand dvds/books/toys. I buy most of Cash's clothes & toys 2nd hand. Everyting is so expensive these days so if you come upon a great deal at a garage sale or used store, more power to ya! We appreciate it just as much!

I hope this is helpful. I'm excited to see Cash's eyes light up when he wakes up Christmas Morning to see Santa has come... i've been waiting a long time for this! Now if only i can find my phone/video charger....

Big boy bedding from Meme!

A package came in the mail the other day for Cash James. He loves getting packages... especially ones from Meme Rhonda in Texas! We always know a gift from Meme means it's probably homemade, one of a kind and full of LOVE!

Sure enough....


Meme made Cash a one-of-a-kind John Deere tractor quilt & matching pillow for his toddler bed! He LOVES it!


For now his mattress & thus new bedding is on our bedroom floor. We are in the process of transitioning from co-sleeping to his big boy bed. I think it's been harder on Mama than on Cash =)

He loves getting under the covers and having Dada read him books; especially TRACTOR books! Oh and of course he loves to jump on his tractor bed!



Thank you Meme!!!

It's a dogs life!!

Someone OBVIOUSLY has it rough around the Jackson household! Poor dog!

Thank you isn't enough...

Today we went to the Veterans Day parade in Arlington with my good friend Melissa and her boys Connor & Dylan. Both boys are Scouts and thus were proudly dressed in their uniforms.

This A.M. I was thinking maybe it was "too cold" to go... that only lasted a few mins (if that) then I was overwhelmed with MAJOR guilt (I like to plead the "Catholic Guilt" card, it's ingrained in me, pretty sure they microchipped me in kindergarden at Immaculate Conception School!)

Anyhow... here I am sitting in my kitchen, free to live the life I choose because of the sacrifice of others & it's TOO COLD to go and show support for our local Veterans? Yeah.. I think not! So we bundled up and headed out.

It was a nice little parade. I will be honest and say I got VERY teary (who am I kidding, I bawled like a baby!) when the "In rememberance of local soldiers killed in battle" banners passed by... I've been very emotional lately (more on this later).

Here is a pic of Cash looking up in awe as cuties Connor & Dylan salute... Cash loves the "big boys"!


A few more pics that Miss Melissa took....





Thank you to all Veterans & Active duty past, present & Future for your sacrifice for our country and my family. God Bless You!

Dreamcatcher...

Last night I was awaken by my almost 21 month old shouting out in his sleep. I snuck over to him hoping not to wake him but to make sure he wasn't in distress to hear:

"Tractor! Tractor! Tractor! Please! Please! Tractor! Please!"

He has had little night-mares ,if you will, where he yells out keywords of his dreams, last time it was "truck". As i laid back down, knowing he was fine... it took me a while to fall back asleep.

I was thinking about how comforting it is to know that the worst thing my son has to dream or have a "night mare" about is wanting to go outside to ride his tractor. You see every day, sometimes more than once, we have a "discussion" about him wanting to go outside and for whatever reason (naptime, rain, tired mama) I say NO and he proceeds with the same mantra I heard last night:

"Tractor please! Tractor! tractor! Tractor Please!"

I know in my heart that me staying home and thus budgeting and changing our lifestyle is the best thing I have done for my son and our family. I wouldn't have it any other way. I was just disucussing this with Brandon's aunt who is now a new grandma ( Congrats Kylie & Jeff! See beautiful baby Trixie Kat here: trixiedaily.blogspot.com ) and she was saying how she use to have dreams of either leaving her kids home alone or at daycare... both (in her mind) being aweful and horrible! I know many people choose to put their children in daycare out of either need or want.. i'm not knocking on all ya'll. It's a personal choice and there are plenty of wonderful childcare workers; myself being one of them! LOL

As I drifted off to sleep last night I was thinking how good of a life my son has, he knows he is loved. I was patting myself on the back ( ok, a tiny pat for the hubby too!) and then nighty-night! This mama needs to rest up for another day of adventures!!

Hooray for sunny Fall Days!

We recently bought Cash James a new (to him) John Deere Gator as his little power tractor is out of commission. This one is nice because it can seat up to 4 kids and can hold 120 lbs. (So no tears when friends etc.. are over to play!) It is technically his CHRISTMAS gift but the weather has been so nice and since we're expecting a bad Winter we figured we'd let him get some riding time in. He LOVES it!

I am obsessed with Craigslist! It is WAY better than buying new! THis specific find was not only still in brand new condition but the guy had added better wheels, a battery power indicator on the dash and a roof! Yet we still paid 60% off of the stock price, probably 75% off of what he paid all together with upgrades. YAY ME!

We still want to get the little tractor up and running but i'm pretty sure the gator is going to be the ride of choice around our farm. I'm even tempted to lose a few lbs so I can ride it! haha

October Fun!

It's official... our internet is up and running! WOO HOO!! Although I haven't had time to get online with all these kids running around... Here are a few Punkin Patch & one halloween (costume) pic... we didn't end up celebrating halloween as little man wasn't feeling well but enjoy the pics!! More later! YAY FOR INTERNET!!!!