I know this is two posts in one day.

How many different ways can one child watch TV? I don't really know the answer to that, but it's what I thought of after taking a few pictures of Jackson watch the Backyardigans. I suppose you could include sitting on two chairs at once (see February 23rd). We are going to see Playhouse Disney Live in just over a week. I hope they're prepared for him!

On a completely different topic, have you ever had a handful of paintings or some sort of artwork from your child that you just can't throw away? Here is one way that I came up with to displaying Jackson's paintings. Enjoy!

It's only 10:30am and I've already....

... had to scrub the kitchen floors. Why? Because there were little blue footprints running across it. Footprints which were made with FINGER paint. Apparently the finger part is optional.

... washed Jackson's hands, belly, arms, feet, legs, and chin. Again, the finger part must be optional. And I have washed all of these at least three times this morning. You see, Jackson loves to wash his hands. He never gets them completely clean, but he likes to stand up on the stool and play in the water. So, in the middle of his finger painting, he randomly decides he needs to wash his hands. I think, after the forth time washing his hands, I decided we were done finger painting.

... wiped Jackson's nose a million times. Why does it always seem when one child gets better, the other one just takes over? Thankfully, he doesn't seem to have the crankiness to go with it, this time.

On a lighter note, the past couples days have been great (except for me feeling ill). Yesterday was our first chance to grill out this year. Jackson had his first brat and was thrilled to get corn on the cob. Sometimes, I think he could eat all night long. He only ate half of his brat but then ate two corn cobs, a bowl of applesauce, a Hershey kiss, and even while I was cleaning him off, continued to ask for more. I had to cut him off. It was for his own good.
Molly has turned into my little super model. Put a camera in front of her and she's ready to go! Here is just one series of Molly photo's. She is continuing to be delightful! It is also continuing to be easy to know she has a big brother. Most of the time she is awake, she is holding one of his cars (as shown in these photos). And in spite of the many, many times Jackson lays on top of, or sits on Molly, she just keeps coming back for more. Some of Molly's newest interests are her shopping cart, books, and dancing. I'm still working at catching her dancing on video. Don't have it yet, but I will. I'm a patient woman.

Such a boy!

The things Jackson does while my back is turned!!!

Molly was upstairs taking a nap and Jackson was watching Mickey Mouse so I took advantage of the down time to clean up some and start making some cookies for this evenings Bunco night. I poke my head in to check on my sweet, innocent little boy only to find this!

Of course, I had to take a picture. He was perfectly safe, right? Don't worry, I made him get down as soon as I was done taking pictures. :) Now, a normal mother would probably be rather upset about this. I, apparently, am not a normal mother. I thought it was pretty creative and smart on his part. Scold me if you like, but no one got hurt. :)


Now, what do you do with a boy that is causing mischief? Why, you let him paint, of course!

I love Ikea!

Saturday mornings are often donut days. Jackson enjoys going to Meijer with Mommy or Daddy and picking out his own donut. This time he chose a nice cake donut with bright blue and green frosting. Once we got home, he wasted no time in digging in. After a few minutes, I noticed he liked to eat his donut from the top (that being the frosting, of course). By the time he was done, I was left with a small circle of a plain cake donut and a 2 year old with a sugar rush. But it made him happy, so who am I to argue? :)
This past Saturday, we also took a family trip to one of my happiest places on earth, Ikea!!! Jackson keeps accumulating more and more toys and it is only going to get worse with Molly, so I decided it was time to start organizing (I also just wanted to get a lot of the toys out of our living room). On the way there, Jason and I established what we needed to get and a budget for those items. What did we come home with? A tent, mirrors (for Molly to stare at the "other baby" and give her kisses), chalk, cereal canisters, pillows, and, oh yeah, an organizer for Jackson's room. Yeah, well, the only things on the list when we went there were the organizer and pillows. :) I love Ikea! And to those people who always leave with more than what they came for, I say, "That's okay! It happens to the best of us!"

Jackson loves his new tent. He's not always willing to share with Molly, but he does pretty well. And, yes, Jason and I have each had a turn in the tent ourselves. :) It's not very comfortable, but I'll sacrifice comfort to get my son to laugh and say, "funny Mommy!"

Never a dull moment.

So, what do you do when you have a good sized playground in your backyard and it's too cold to let your two year old play outside? You make your own tube slide! And that's just what we did! All you need is a tunnel and a recliner. It's great! Of course it can't really replace the great outdoors, but it will have to do until this horribly cold weather goes away. Yes, Susie, even I think this is cold.

I have recently noticed that Cookie Monster has no nose. Now, from what I remember, if you can't smell, it is much more difficult to taste things. If this is true, why would he be so obsessed with cookies when he can't even taste them? It's a waste of delicious baked goods! (That's just my random thought for the day)

To add to some of our fun filled days, Jackson has recently rediscovered a WONDERFUL birthday gift from Aunt Erin, Uncle Neil, and Oliver (did you catch the sarcasm in my voice?). It's his wonderful "My First Recorder." For a sample of the beautiful music being shared in my home day after day after day, watch the following video. Thank you for the recorder. Next birthday, drums?

What is going on at my house?!?!?!

Crazy weather, cranky kids, and big messes! What a day!?! And it's only 3:00pm.

To start off this very strange day, we had a random 10 minute snow storm. In the midst of it, I called Jason to let him know that I thought his afternoon class might get cancelled. He (I'm sure cause I'm his wife) rolled his eyes and said, "I'm already here. It won't be cancelled." And proceeded to ask why. I explained that it was snowing so hard I could hardly see the houses across the street! No more than 5 minutes after hanging up the phone did the snow completely stop, but I saw sunshine and blue sky's!!! WEIRD! Of course, Jason had to call me back to point this out. Thankfully, I managed to take pictures during the actually snowfall, so I have proof that it really did happen.

After that came lunch time. I knew that the meal could get a little bit messy, but I really thought Jackson was past this. As my dear friend, Susie, would say, "Come on. Really?"

I realize the photo might be a bit confusing. The tears are because I said it was time to clean him off. The smile was bribed out of him with a cookie. What you don't see in the photo is that his belly and arms are also completely covered. Oh me, oh my! A nap soon followed and I am discovering (as he woke up while I wrote this) the nap was not nearly long enough. How do I know this? Well, he tried to be nice by wanting to clean his blocks. No, I don't mean pick them up. I mean clean. He threw a fit because I wouldn't let him use a paper towel for his blocks. Now, one paper towel I could understand, but he wanted a new paper towel for each and every block! To this, I say "no." And the tantrums continue.

Molly has actually been pretty good today. She woke up around 12:30am last night and not again until 7:00am this morning. But getting food on their faces seems to be an epidemic for my children. Thankfully, Molly's was just really cute and easy to clean up.

All About Me Vol. 2

So, as of this afternoon, I have currently lost 6 lbs. in the last two weeks! WAHOO! (That's even with sneaking a cookie last night!) How am I doing it? Honestly, until the weather gets nicer outside, I'm doing my Wii Fit for at least 30 min. every day! Some people think it's just a silly fad and they are probably right. For those of us who are loyal to it, however, it's GREAT! And who can argue with 6 lbs??? Once the weather improves, I'm looking forward to taking Molly and Jackson for bike rides with our bike trailor. Jason and I bought brand new bikes about two years ago and I've hardly been able to use it since I went and had another baby in the time! :) Anyway, that's where I'm at! Still challenged with not snacking after dinner, but it's working!

Camera shy?

Lately I have noticed Jackson become more and more camera shy. Why does it seem that most boys seem to get like this at some point in their lives and it never really goes away? (Unless you're Uncle Neil and then the camera loves you!) At any time Jackson is more than happy to have me take a photo of his car, but when it comes to a photo of himself, he whines, crys, and trys to hide anywhere possible! I have two years of wonderful photo's filled with smiles and laughter. Now, I'm building up a collection of car photo's.
Molly, on the other hand, loves the camera! And boy does the camera love her! :) What can I say? She's cute! All she needs to see is the little orange red-eye light and she's all smiles!

So, why the difference? Some scientists might say that parents must train their children that way, just like we influence what toys they want to play with, right? (girls play with dolls, boys play with trucks?) I whole heartedly disagree. I'm not sure I could get Jackson to play with a doll if I locked him in a room filled with them (he'd probably just get nightmares). It's just how God made them! That reasoning sure works for me.

So, in the end, I guess I'll have to settle for happy action shots of Jackson and Molly striking a pose for the camera.

Truly a Happy Valentine's Day!

This weekend, we had the pleasure of having Jason's dad, Terry, and his wife, Laureen, here for Valentine's day! It was great having them and nice to have a baby-sitter so we could go out to a movie. Jackson was given some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse pajama's, an "At the Pond" DVD, and a few cards, but his favorite valentine by far was simply a balloon. A beautiful heart-shaped Mylar balloon is all Jackson seems to need to be happy. In the morning, he wakes up saying, "loon?" The balloon must stay near him while we eat meals. It has even come into the bathroom with him to go potty. Thank you to all of Jackson's valentines!

Molly received the cute Minnie Mouse dress you see her in to the right, a pair of pink pajama's with hearts all over them, and some cards. She also says thank you to all of her valentines.

After our visitors went home, I ran to Toys 'r' us to get a push toy for Molly (of course I came home with a little shopping cart, thermal blankets, Hot Wheels cars, and a plastic, singing book). Since she has been cruising so quickly around the furniture, Jason and I decided it was about time she had more ways of learning to walk (not that I'm all the eager for it to happen). Below you can see another sample of Molly's "silly crawl" (yes, she still does it) and the newest way for her to get around.

Mommy's little helper???

Over the past couple days Jackson has taken on a few new rolls. First would be Molly's personal paparazzi. When my old camera completely died, it came back to life as a wonderful new toy for Jackson. On any given day he likes to wonder around the house saying, "cheese!" to anyone and anything. Yesterday, however, he seemed to be much more focused on Molly. Much to my enjoyment, she ate it up! Like mother, like daughter I suppose. :)

If only that camera still worked!!!

Along with being Molly's personal paparazzi, Jackson enjoys reading to, playing with, and even trying to feed Molly. This morning nearly became a Cheerio disaster when Jackson tried pouring out a few Cheerios's for himself and Molly and nearly dumped the entire contents onto the table and floor.

Thankfully I caught him before they all fell out. No, they did not eat that many Cheerios. Shortly AFTER taking a photo, I put some of them back.

On a side note, Jackson gets two M&M's whenever he goes on his little potty. I recently noticed that, every time, he has to pick two of the same color. For quite some time there was a lonely blue and green M&M in the bowl. Anyways, I told my mom this story and she began to describe how she eats M&M's. Much to our enjoyment, I discovered I am the exact same way. Allow me to explain (this may get a bit complicated). First, I dump out all the M&M's in my bag. Next, I separate them by color and find out which color has the least (why they can't have the same of each color in a bag is beyond me!). Then I set aside those and the same amount of each of the other colors to be eaten later. Going back to my leftovers, I eat them by color, largest amount to smallest. Once I am down to my even piles, I eat one of each until they are gone.

Did you get all that? I know, crazy, huh? Yet, much to my delight, my own mother eats them the exact same way! Do you think someone has done any research on this? Could Jackson be showing signs of strange M&M eating habits?

I leave you with those deep thoughts.

All about me Vol. 1

As I was driving home from Graitter's (that's an ice cream place for you out of towners) this evening, I decided that I needed to add a section to my blog. For those of you who just want to hear about my kids, you can stop reading now. This section is all about me.
Most of you don't know but I recently made the solid decision to lose (hopefully) 40-50 lbs. How did I come to this decision? Well, it has gone in and out of my head for the past several months. Last week, a friend of mine shared that she was working hard to lose about 30 lbs. As I drove home from seeing her, God laid it on my heart that I needed to help her do this and in turn, be helped. So each day she and I send e-mails back and forth sharing our challenges, our victories, and even our failures. Meanwhile, encouraging each other to continue on. It has been wonderful! But after having gone to Graitters with the full intention of getting TWO small chocolate shakes and then coming home with only one, I really wanted to share it with so many people! Some of you may laugh a little, or even be confused but it truly was a victory!
And so, I call this the "all about me" section of my blog. Here I will be completely honest about my successes and failures as I go on this journey. In turn, I hope to give you a few laughs, encourage those who may be struggling and be held accountable for my decisions.
So, as I listen to my husband slurping his milkshake, I hope this won't bore you too much. Thank you for your support!

Janice

Cupid and Coloring

A while back my mother-in-law got Molly a super cute little onsie that said "Grandma's Angel" with little wings on the back. Very cute, but I wasn't exactly sure when she was going to wear it. You see, the wings actually stick out, they aren't just a picture on the onsie. Then it finally struck me. Valentine's day!!! So, after adding a cute red skirt, she became my little Cupid. Okay, okay, I know Cupid was suppose to be a boy, but we can all pretend, right?

Later in the day, Jason told me Molly had grabbed a plastic clothes hanger and really did look like Cupid with a bow and arrow!

Here's a little video to show!

So, that was yesterday. Now, you may not have noticed, but I am writing this at 10:00am because Jackson has already managed to give me trouble..... I mean, stories. :)

We have an easel for him to color on one side with crayons and the other side with chalk. He has done just fine with sticking to his easel since the tv incident (see photo).

Today was a different story. Thankfully, today's is much easier to clean up, and didn't cause me to cry. Now, I know my husband's first question would be, "where were you while this was happening?" To be honest, I was in the same room with him......... texting my brother on my cell phone. :( No mother is perfect! So, here is today's art work.

And just when that wasn't enough, he managed to get a plastic spoon stuck in Molly's ball popper! What am I going to do with this boy??? (Yes, I really do take photo's of everything. How else am I suppose to remember all the fun?)

Too much church?

Is it possible to be at church too much in one week? Generally, I would say, "no." However, Jackson has had the opportunity to play in our church's indoor playground everyday for the past three days. In fact, he has been there seven out of the past ten days. Normally I would think this was fantastic, but last night, he had been jumping in the blow up bouncy castle for so long that his legs were like jello! He was actually limping and falling over the whole way to the car. Yet, of course, we went back today! So the kid is a little sore?


Today, I had the joy of watching my friend, Susie's, three girls. Jackson and Molly managed to be sleeping the entire time they were here, so I had them all to myself. I know that Susie may have thought this was a burden for me, but I assure you it was nothing of the sort. It was fun for me to see what three girls would do in a house full of what I view as boy toys. Ashleigh played with Jackson's car's, Sarah played with his toy gas grill, they all enjoyed our Mickey Mouse clubhouse, and Lauren was thrilled when I pulled out a tunnel to crawl through. We also took some time to play outside. We had some of Jackson's riding toys and his wagon outside. Sarah and Ashleigh went straight for the wagon and dear sweet Lauren managed to get into Jackson's fire truck before I could wipe out all the rain water. All of this occurred right under Jackson's nose, or rather under his room while he slept like an angel.

Thank you for the fun visit! You are all welcome anytime!

This is the beginning.....

After enjoying reading my friends blogs day after day after day, I decided it was time to jump on the band wagon. Does it make me a follower? Certainly. Do I feel bad about that? Not one bit. Those of you who live miles and miles away from us will now have a chance to glance into our daily lives and, hopefully, share in some of our daily laughter.

Jackson is keeping us on our toes. He always keeps us thinking twice before we say anything.

We are currently experiencing adventures in potty training. If anyone has any tips, I welcome all of them. He seems to be enjoying it, though. He claps and cheers for anyone who may have just gone potty.

Jackson's current favorite activity is vacuuming. Yes, you read that right. Do I feel blessed by this? Usually. The only down fall is that he thinks vacuuming is a group activity. He vacuums for two minutes and proceeds to say, "Mommy's turn!" What if Mommy doesn't want a turn? :/

I am also looking forward to better weather coming our way. We had the opportunity to visit Grandma and Grandpa Scharnick (aka Framma and Papa) down in Florida this past month. Oh the joy of spending hours and hours outside!

Molly has her fair share of fun. Yesterday, not fully remembering how messy they can get, I decided to give Molly her first biter biscuit. Needless to say, a bath quickly followed.

At the beginning of the month, I took Molly in for her 9 month check-up. That's right, a CHECK-UP! What did we come home with? Two ear infections! Of course the doctor had a million questions for me. "Did she have a cold recently? Does she have a temp? Has she been pulling on her ears? Has she been cranky?" To all of these questions all I could say was "No." It seems to me I have a little girl following in her mommy's footsteps. That, however, is a very long story for some other time.

Molly is getting into everything. Just when you think the house is safe, she finds that one can you forgot to put in the recycling, or manages to fall into a cloth's basket. She also show's a great desire to walk. The following video is a sample of what I like to call her "silly crawl."

Well, both of my children are sleeping so I have a few moments to gather up the pieces of my sanity before they get lost again.