Thankful

Thanksgiving kicked off with a feast at Jackson's school on Wednesday. Nothing cuter than watching toddlers gather around a table patiently waiting to dive into a feast for a grown up. 

After an afternoon of errands for me, I returned home to a fresh hair cut for my little man. If we are ever blessed with a little girl, I hope her hair grows just as fast. We would have full out french braids by now!

Little man after his holiday hair cut

Jackson always comes home from school with amazing hand print or foot print artwork. You can clearly see his unique print and identify the cute size. So this Thanksgiving I wanted to try one of my own and make the adorable hand & foot print turkey floating around on Pinterest. Armed with large pieces of butcher paper to provide space for making several turkeys, I calmly told my husband I didn't think we would have to give J a bath that night so grab the box of wipes for his hands.

Well it is apparent that they practice hand prints at school because Jackson saw the paint heard my request and dove right into it. He rubbed is all over his hands, made prints then rubbed it on his feet trying to make prints. He was so excited to make prints that when I tried to guide him we ended up with 2-4 and then a smear of them all. He then insisted on painting mom and dad's hands to make prints. When he reached for our faces my husband took off. 

Despite several turkey attempts, I eventually surrendered and we decided to bring both sheets of butcher paper to each side of the family on Thanksgiving for "tablecloths." And Jackson definitely needed a bath. 

Actual Thanksgiving day was spent with family. We are truly blessed to have wonderful family to spend it with. All the food was delicious and our bellies were so full!

Found some time to be crafty this weekend as well...Christmas here we come!

Precious Moments in a Busy Week

Busy. Every mom feels it. This week felt especially busy to me. I wished to get home earlier, leave later, have less to grade, not do laundry or dishes...but of course the week went on with less Jackson time then desired. 

So, I paid attention to the subtle moments.

Sunday - "Come sit"

Jackson has been saying this phrase for a long while but recently it is so much clearer. He was into a book reading kick and wasn't happy till I sat next to him on the step.

Monday - "Allldone"...."Moorr"

A training potty has been placed in the downstairs bathroom. Want a laugh a minute, start Jackson on a having to go potty streak. No, he really doesn't go potty. He even sits on it in pants and diapers, but man is he excited. On repeat for over 40 minutes Jackson went in to and out of the bathroom, sitting on the "potty" taking toilet paper, coming out saying "All done" and then turing around to do it all again.

Thursday - "Hi Mommy"

Sentences!!!! Talk about making your hear melt. Good morning to you too Jackson!

Saturday "Bye Mommy"

Weekends come and you hope to just be home....well errands stood in the way. Jackson and Daddy were playing when I said good bye. "Bye mommy" (sentence number 2). He was so sincere, with an adult, 'Ill see you later' attitude. 

Saturday - "Mickk-ey"

The Chicago Magnificent Mile Lights Parade was memorable!! Jackson saw Mickey and Minnie in the first float. For every float after he firmly requested Mickey. His big, bold, confident blue eyes looked me in the eye and in repeat requested Mickey. At one point he was in tears with such hope. My heart melted that Mickey was not returning soon... 

Saturday - Jackson has picked up on my sweeping habit. Seeing me sweep, he wanted t o do so himself. He got out his little broom and for the first time ever went to shake the garbage and shook out his little dust shovel.

Saturday - "NO"

Jackson wanted NOTHING to do with my brothers freshly cleaned kitchen floor in his apartment.  He would walk to the edge and cry to come save him from his reflection. 

Goofing around with Uncle Bryo

My first love list

Although this is my first love list, it may be a little unconventional. I hope you find it just as meaningful, perhaps more.

1.  Opportunity to see character development. 
Miss one day with this kid and you feel you missed out. I LOVE THE DEVELOPING INDIVIDUAL! His continuous word comprehension and vocalization is remarkable. His excitement towards things he is interested in is nothing less than a full out, hard core, almost laughing smile that catches you off guard and feels SO GOOD!

Halloween 2013 (Farmer)

 2. Time spent with important people.
I wish a million times over I could spend more time with my own Grandparents, let alone my GREAT-grandparents. This little man gets to see one of his Great Grandma's often and he has no idea the joy it brings to her. I love listening to my dad tell me stories of the interactions of him and my Grandma that day. I melt with the vision that they, at 80+ years different, took on the day together. She knows all his favorites, makes him laugh, and exposes him to new. I wish I could also be spending time with her, but I feel that a little bit of me is each day. The stories displaying true love, that come out of each regular day experience, are something I will never get enough of. I love that J spends this time with her. He may not remember in 20 years, but I will, my dad will, and my grandma will from wherever she is.

Jackson & Great-Grandma Finke grocery shopping

3. Toddler innocence.
Saturday nights have changed. However, I may honestly get more belly laughs out of diapers and beer than college bars. Let your kid go free to play for a bit (within safe limits) and just watch. Toddlers are inquisitive, unsure, shy, fearless, determined, hesitant, and oh so INNOCENT! Put a few of them together on a Saturday night. LOVE.

4. STICKY GRAMS!

I am obsessed with Instagram photos. So when I discovered StickyGram I was pumped! To only make things better, J loves them! He peels them off the fridge, analyzes them, babbles about them and then proceeds to SNUGGLE with them!

Love.

Haunts from Halloween!

Halloween 2013 was SO MUCH FUN!

J went as a farmer! I was thrilled the Cowboy hat stayed on the whole night!

 My little farmer hesitantly followed his adorable witch trick-or-treating partner up to the first few houses. He would stare at the person on the other side of the door and look down in amazement as they placed candy into his pumpkin. Try as we might though we could not get him to hold out his pumpkin for treats, each person had to reach down to place it in for him. 

He would then slowly leave, unsure of all that just went down. Back at the wagon both of them dove into the goodies that were dropped into their Halloween pumpkins. Lucky for us, Jackson had absolutely no idea that these treasures were delicious, sugary candy! He would take each item out look at it and put it back. By the third house or so he was legit running! Skipping the sidewalk and cutting straight through the yards. At the only house that let him "take one" from the bowl Jackson's little hand dove in to grab as many as he could, then immediately dove in again before mom could stop him. 

He was in awe of the whole event, loved the excitement and the treasures. Needless to say he crashed hard on the pillow that night, over stimulated from Halloween fun!

By the Monday after Halloween Jackson learned how to say the word!

He added the word "bye" to his vocabulary this week! Until next time...