I am a bad, bad blogger!!

So I officially deserve to sit in the corner and be punished for my serious slacking regarding the blog! I could say that I don't know why I have neglected it, but that would not entirely be true! You factor in two busy school teachers with long days, a growing one year old, evening classes for Jason, a series of amazingly addicting books, a best friend back in town and there you have the recipe for distraction! I apologize to those who probably decided to check in one last time before they finally wrote me off as a quitter! :)

These last few weeks have been a blur as we scramble from place to place trying to be good parents and good teachers all in short 24 hour periods! We have had open houses and parent information nights and papers to grade and papers to write and basketball drills to plan, not to mention the simple day and and day out maintenance and care of a one year old! :) He is still growing like a weed but seems to grow more impatient with our idiocy every day. He can't stand that we don't know exactly what he wants when he wants it and that we can't always give him his every desire. As I speak his is whining at my feet about the fact that he does not have my 100 percent attention. I am seriously fearing the terrible twos if this is what one is like!! Hopefully he will really start to jabber in coherent words during the next few months and we can communicate more to his benefit...because he is just plain pitiful right now. We are trying to do the baby sign language thing - but it's not super easy either, though we will keep trying! :)

I will include a few photos beneath, but I have to say my documentation of these past few weeks is pretty pathetic. Enjoy and love to all! :)


He absolutely loved Mom's neighbor's new dog, Abby


He is having a bit of trouble keeping the 18 month pants up, but 12 months are a big snug....


He will play with toilet paper at any time, any place!

Back in the saddle...or whatever they say!

Getting back into the swing of things has not been easy! We have been working hard this week to keep our sanity and stay on a respectable schedule. Jason and I are both back at school and Jack was at daycare for five days in a row since I don't remember when! This summer was especially hard to let go of. We were extremely blessed to have a fun, happy one year old to occupy us, as well as plenty of family and friends to keep us busy.

Early in the week I realized that I was moving at a much slower pace than usual. I could NOT get geared up to get things done. I FINALLY got my room together in time for Meet Your Teacher on Friday afternoon. The kids seem sweet, but I am still extremely overwhelmed. There are two students, that for varying reasons, I feel will be a struggle for me this year. I believe though, that I'm up for the challenge.

Deidra came Thursday to help me with "teacher stuff" as she called it. Mom showed up Friday to help me finish things off. I don't know how I would have gotten my act together without either of them!! :)

Jack adjusted well to being moved up to the one year old room. He is sleeping on his mat exactly as the rest of his class does. I find this to be a miracle. He is a great follower though, and I am betting seeing all of his friends lay down for a nap was a great encouragement! He has been cranky in the evenings, and I can't blame him. Luckily he goes down about 7:30 without any drama because he is so beat. Poor little thing. Hopefully once the schedule has been set for a few weeks, things will even out and we will all have a better mood to show for it!

With Jack down at 7:30 across the board this week, that has allowed time for my new obsession. I find myself completely ADDICTED to the Twilight series. I feel like a fourteen year old girl all over again, lying in bed at night until close to midnight reading while Jason sleeps. I can't seem to stop reading or wipe the ridiculously giddy grin from my face. The story is amazing and I find it refreshing compared to some of the smut I have recently read. I would compare my love for this series to my love of Harry Potter - surprisingly! I made it through the first book, Twilight, in three days. The sequel, New Moon, only took me two - granted the two days were a Friday and Saturday! :)

However, for those that are worried about my child, wondering if in all of the reading I was able to drag myself away - my child has been fed, bathed and diapers were changed at regular intervals! :) He is still a clean happy boy. I was also able to go see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 and enjoy lunch with Sara. That was definitely a treat!

Overall we've had a roller coaster of a week, but a good one all the same. I hope that I will be able to continue to update the blog at more regular intervals!! :) Love to everyone!!

Last Weekend of Freedom!

So I guess you could say our summer went out with a bang! We had a wonderful weekend full of friends, family and fun! Friday we started off by going to the zoo with Em and Dawson - so much fun!! Jack loved having a male buddy and I always have a blast with my Emily. We got some awesome pictures - including some of our silly boys. Jack, as usual, is totally up for anything and Dawson is, well, let's say a little more cautious! Dawson had a complete break down at the zoo when faced with the camels. "I don't like them!" " They eat me!!" I have never felt so bad and laughed so hard all at the same time! :)


Poor Dawson...those camels are scary!! ;)


Jack in a cage....again....


The otters say "hello!"


Jack at "Otter Jack's" - Sorry he isn't looking, he's busy flirting with the girl working behind the counter!


Jack's first carousel ride!

Friday evening Ashley and Ben came to have dinner with us! Jack loves company and the Burnette's were no exception!

Sweet Ashley! She is going to make a FABULOUS mother in just a matter of months! :)

On Saturday we had a visit from Courtney, Kaylynn, Mimi and baby Isaac! Jack and Jason got to meet Isaac for the first time, which was extremely sweet. Jack took to Isaac immediately! (Too bad he won't have one of his own around the house any time soon!!)



Meeting Isaac....what beautiful boys!!


Uncle Jason and baby Isaac


Being cute is hard work!! :)

We wrapped up Saturday with dinner at Barley's with Jason and Deidra. Jack spent some quality time with Nana. We all had a wonderful evening!!

On Sunday Jack enjoyed a two and a half hour nap - which is TOTALLY out of character for him! He must have partied at Nana's just as much as Jason and I partied at Barley's! :) While he napped I went shopping for some back to school clothes for myself. I got lucky and found some great stuff at the Dress Barn. I will be totally honest and say that I never thought I'd even find clothes I'd like at a place with such a name. I mean honestly they might as well call it the Pig Trough - I mean really...why put the word barn in the name of a nice clothing store!!? But all the same it was an extremely successful shopping trip. We ate a nice dinner at Louis's with mom and came home to crash for the evening. Tomorrow it's back to the real world of work. It's sad that another summer has come and gone...but we sure have had one heck of a great time!! Many thanks to all those who made it so special! :)

Two is one too many!

The last two days have not exactly gone as smoothly as Monday. You can tell Kaylynn is ready to be home with mommy and have things "back to normal." Little does she know her tiny world will never be the same! Courtney finally came home today and I have spent the last two days with little Kaylynn. We have had our fun moments and our not so fun, but overall I can say I'm glad we got to "bond" because we don't normally get that chance!

Yesterday Jason and I had both Kaylynn and Jack, thinking maybe they'd like to play together - wrong! Really it was just trading toys and bruises. Luckily we survived though and I'd like to say that two carseats in the cab of the truck is one too many!! :)

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of hectic days!


just a snapshot of yesterday's madness :)


Can you feel the love? Yea, I don't think Jack can either...


He looks a bit bewildered...what just happened?


cutie


I love this picture


family homecoming!


baby Isaac

Baby Isaac

Baby Isaac is here! He was born today (July 28th) at 1:20 p.m. He weighed 7 lbs 3 ounces and is an absolutely beautiful baby! Kaylynn stayed at our house this morning. We played with bubbles and playdough, as well as stickers and coloring. She was an absolute doll. We went to "french fries" (aka McDonald's) for lunch. We came back and played a while longer then went to get ice cream right before visiting baby Isaac for the first time at about 3:00. I found a super cute "I'm the Big Sister" shirt, and she looked just darling in it. I was also able to be girly and put her hair up with bows. It was quite a treat for my prissy side! :)

This evening Auntie Deidra came to visit and she, Jack and I decided on Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner - which I never eat - but it sounded SO good that we just couldn't resist. Deidra also found a coupon for Krispy Kreme doughnuts so we ended up with some of those as well. I know what you are thinking - but you can hold back on the gagging - we fully realize that this is a completley bizzare and totally stomach churning combination, and all the same, we found it comforting! An evening so full of fried starch will probably not happen again any time soon - so I guess we will consider it a mistake and a treat all at the same time! :)

Here are some pictures from our fun filled day...along with a fun extra bath time picture of Jack rocking a mohawk....we decided he was much too cute to wear such an alternative "do." Enjoy!


Kaylynn looking super cute as a new big sister!


Playing with Playdough


Concentrating....


Meeting Isaac for the first time


Giving Isaac some love :)


So attentive!


Proud Big Sister!


Mimi and baby Isaac


Sweet Baby Isaac


Snug as a bug in a rug! :)


Yea, he's too sweet to pull it off... ;)


Auntie Deidra and Jack doing one of his favorite things! :)

Tissue and Tub Time

This weekend has been a bit crazy, but today was a great "wind down" Sunday. Jack spent some time with dad this afternoon and then Jason went to see Batman, which I hear is really good. He wanted to see it more than I did though - so I can sacrifice and see it when it comes out on Netflix! :)

So we were waiting for Mimi and Deda to come visit and Jack is behind me in the floor, but I can hear him playing so I continue to watch whatever it is that is so fascinating on the television. Well, I get up and turn around to check on Jack, and he is sitting in the middle of a mass of white tissues, holding the Kleenex box, extremely proud of himself! At first I am frustrated that I'll have to clean all of it up, but then I just die laughing because he apparently was having the best time ever, and if a Kleenex box provide such a rockin time - then I think I can spare a box. I had him help me shove all of the kleenexes back into the box and I suppose I'll just use them to wipe his recently runny nose...seems fair...right?!


what?!?


it might work as a shoe....or not...? :)

This evening we ran to Wal-Mart to get a few items, and of course I left with extra items not on my list! I found some cute Carter's jammies that were on sale and I have been wanting a fun new bath toy for the little guy. We settled on a car wash toy with two cars and a truck ("brrrrrr," in Jack language). The track floats on the water and there is a spout that sprays water on the vehicles - which I thought was pretty nifty. He didn't so much get the point of the track, and was just excited to have the cars and truck. Those little pieces drove all over the bathtub and provided a solid twenty minutes of play. We got out of the tub and changed into our new pajamas, as I was afraid he would prune up if I let him stay in there as long as he'd like to! Apparently it was 10 dollars well spent.


Loving the Car Wash!


"brrrrrr....."(hopefully you know what noise I am trying to type!!)


Sweet Dreams! :)

Mmmm..grass.....

So today was a big day for Jack! He went to Maynardville with daddy to visit his teacher friends and hang out some. Apparently Jack was his usual charming self. He apparently took a liking to a cabinet, deciding he MUST fit in there. I read in the "What to Expect: The Toddler Years" that at his age, Jack will try to fit himself and his body parts into a variety of places. I am just hoping that this does not result in any serious injury - as I have noticed Jack literally has no fear!!

Exhibit A: Maggie's Cage


I also need to report that we FINALLY took some staged pictures today to document the summer and the end of Jack's first year. (which was technically in April!) We took him across the street to our sweet neighbor Helen's yard. She must be 70 years old and she keeps her yard emaculate! (which is WAY more than I can say for our yard!) She can be seen in the fall on top of (yes I said on top of) her roof blowing leaves off with a leaf blower. The woman is commited, to say the least. Anyway, so we head over to Helen's and Jack is not as smiley as I had hoped, but we did get a few shots that will work, and we can try again another day. I also didn't stop at the outdoor pictures and decided to snap a few in the bath tonight - those are a bit more smiley, because yes, you guessed it - my little fish was surrounded by water - his favorite! :) Enjoy the following pictures...more to come I am sure!!


beautiful boy


any stairs he can climb - he does - because they are new and exciting!


loves the bridge and the spring bed




I love this one!


Okay, so Helen's lawnmower broke....and Jack thought he'd help out...he did an excellent job...until...........

yea, you guessed it - he thought grass might taste good....mmmmmmm.......



such a character :)