this and that

not much happening the past few days.  just little moments:

• there was a huge rainbow after the storm tonight.  i didn't get a picture of it though; it faded too fast :(
• watched into the wild.  liked it but it made me sad.
• love this dance from last week's so you think you can dance 
  
• i think this is the cutest thing:  david's new snail
  
• going through baby clothes to pass on to my friend Melissa who is due in 3 weeks (!)
• loving jagger's new pajamas (they have cowboys all over them)  

• my version of bravery -- taking all three kids to the grocery store by myself
• jagger waking up and insisting we put his socks and shoes on with his pjs
  
• testing out the new wagon train
  
• jagger playing with his new ball
  
• cash and slade letting out huge belly laughs from watching jagger being silly -- wish i had a recording of it to add here.

two

Dear Mr. Jagger,

     How can you possibly be two already?  Where has the time gone?  I can still clearly remember bringing you home from the hospital, so nervous, wondering why they were letting us leave when we were obviously so clueless.  You made me a mother and I thank you for that.  I wanted you so badly and it took three long years for you to arrive.  You are my answered prayer.  You are making me a better person because I want to be the best example I can possibly be for you.  You are teaching me so much, like patience (!), compassion, how to play, and to live a life full of joy.  I love your exuberance.

    Just in the past few weeks or so, you have had a little growth spurt.  You are getting so tall. The other day I was watching you and you seemed so much like a little boy and less like a toddler that it took my breath away.  You are becoming so agile.  You really like jumping and do it all the time, especially when you are excited and happy.  I am so ready for you to start talking.  You jabber all the time, just not in english.  You are learning new words every day and I know you will be talking soon.  I think you are just stubborn (I wonder who you get that from? :)).

    You have definitely hit the terrible twos.  Well, actually, I think you got an early start at around 18 months, but the meltdowns have reached new heights.  You are testing your boundaries and we are slowing starting to figure each other out.  We'll make it through this together :)

   I am so glad you are in my life.  You have made it more rich and fulfilling.  I can't imagine you not in it.

      

We love you little man!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

******WARNING******lots of pictures ahead******WARNING******

After Jagger woke up from his nap today, we had a little celebration for his birthday.  Aunt Kelly was able to join us.  Yay!  Jagger opened presents and we sang happy birthday while he blew out the candles.  Jagger received quite a bounty.  He was pretty lazy about opening presents and preferred to let Corey open them and just hand it to him.  Everything was a hit!  

waking up from his nap (we all shouted happy birthday!)

(some of) the bounty

making papa open the presents :)

jagger loves to vacuum....he has been pushing this around all afternoon!

several of the gifts (lawn mower, potty chair, tool bench, weed wacker)

playing with his art easel

the bike (huge hit)

blowing out the candles -- he started blowing them out from across the room :)

After dinner, we went for a walk and tried out the new bike.  He loved it.  He has been playing with everything nonstop.  Thank you everyone!

happy trails to you...

yesterday, grandma & grandpa d took us to wagon trails animal park.  jagger had a blast!  lots of cool animals to feed and see.  jagger was a little skittish at first, but by about halfway through the ride, he was feeding the animals right into their mouths.  my camera batteries died halfway through the ride as well (wah, wah) so i didn't get to capture any shots of that.  drats.

here is a bunch of pictures that i was able to get:

in the petting zoo, this baby camel went for jagger's shirt

waiting for the safari ride to start

some of the cattle had ridiculously large horns.

this guy (charlie? rusty? can't remember his name) followed us around the entire park.  he knew the routine and met us at every stop to be fed :)

check out that tongue!

reindeer

checking out the animals

fact: male zebras smell like skunks

we also saw water buffalo, bison, ostriches (scary!), fawns, pot-bellied pigs & piglets (i wanted to take one home!), antelopes, and much more.  We'll definitely go back sometime, probably when cash and slade are a little bit older.

thank you, thank you for the fun day grandma & grandpa d!!

after the safari adventure, we went home so everyone could get in a little nap and then granna and grandpa blair came over.  we visited for a bit and then we all met up with grandma & grandpa d for some good food & conversation :)

then it was homeward bound, where we caught the tail end of the fireworks finale from our front yard.  jagger enjoyed that :) 

a great end to a great day :)

under the weather

bleh.  

don't feel good.  

head hurts.

stomach hurts.

tired.

going to go lie down.

evidence

****** this is basically the same post as last wed, but with lots of pictures******

Remember what I said about Jagger not wanting to leave when I pick him up from the sitters? Well, today I remembered to bring the camera. :)

Arrival:

Jagger immediately stops whatever he is doing and runs the opposite direction from me

Departure:

   I have to drag him kicking and screaming to the van and strap him in.  Sometimes we can distract him with a treat.  Not today.

Slade feels he needs to do his part and share Jagger's pain:

But, after a few minutes... sweet silence:

And no wonder he doesn't want to leave.  Look at the kind of fun he is having!  :)

Who doesn't want to be pulled around behind a dirt bike?!
Thanks Nathanael, for pulling him around :)  My turn next!

After the kids are asleep, I get to enjoy the scenery:

fields, amish, mike tyson's house, cows. Wait a minute, what did I just say? Mike Tyson's house?!  Weird, huh?  Apparently, he used to have a house out here in the country.  No one lives in it now and I so badly want to go look in the windows.  Maybe Corey and I will make a trip without the kids sometime.  It'll be an adventure :)

 

how i spent my weekend & happy birthday magen!

had a great time this past weekend in mansfield.  got to see ross & amy and michael & tamara.  got to go out and see two movies (in the same night).  got to spend time with jon and his brother dave & dave's wife tanya.  totally abused the grandparents by letting them watch the kids all weekend.

service was great, covered dish was great, conversation was great.

what was not great was the first and last time we ever let jagger sleep in bed with us.  talk about an active sleeper.  he head-butted me several times throughout the night and gave corey quite a few good kicks to the gut.  

never again.

no pictures because it was before my beautiful lens re-entered my life.

all in all, it was like a mini-vacation and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  

thanks granna & grandpa blair!

monday:

happy birthday to magen!!  

jessica and i took magen to the cheesecake factory (yum!) at legacy village to celebrate her 29th birthday.  it was great food & fun times.  i introduced the girls to one of my favorite things on the menu -- the thai lettuce wrap.  I'm pretty sure they enjoyed it :)

 the end result

we talked and laughed and shared our meals.  then there was a birthday song & slices of cheesecake (of course) to end the dinner.

evidence of a well enjoyed meal

after dinnner, we made a quick stop on over to borders.  i love that we are all readers and share a love of books.  

a perfect end to a great night.  

we love you magen!!

reunited and it feels so good

alternate title:  I have the best sister-in-law!!

I come home today and there is an amazon box sitting on the step under the mailbox.  I didn't think much of it because Jagger's birthday is on Sunday, and I figured it was a gift for him.  But then I opened it up and this beauty was sitting inside! 

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (envision the happy dance occurring now)

isn't she lovely

thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you :)

I can not begin to thank you enough Kelly!

p.s. I'll post later on our trip to mansfield and my outing tonight to celebrate miss magen sass's 29th birthday :)