Happy Birthday Aunt Tacey!

So today, Stacey turned 24. I can't believe it--if she's getting old, then that means I'm getting old! I don't like it! But in honor of her birthday, Jackson and I got a BUNCH of stuff done around the house today (remember Danny Tanner? Well, I cleaned my vacuum cleaner and my washer and dryer--with bleach--and lots of scrubbing...I like things to continue looking new and you'd be surprised at how much fabric softner gets gunked up on the inside of the dispenser! You have to take it all apart to clean it, but it looks great when you're done--although no one else will ever see it....) and then we made her favorite--Carrot Cake! I made this one from scratch (it took me 15 minutes to shred all those carrots!) with homemade cream cheese icing. It was sugar free--I made everything with Splenda, so I'm not sure how yummy it ended up. I don't care, I don't eat carrot cake, so it's the thought that counts.

Grandma Netty picked us up and Jackson FINALLY got to wear his birthday outfit again--I wanted one more use out of it before it goes in the memory box. We stopped to pick up Aunt Tacey's b-day gift (she had been talking about that Magic Bullet Blender thing As Seen On TV for MONTHS! I finally got her one today!) and then met up with the fam at their house. We waited on Daddy, then off to Carrabba's for Italian!!

Our waiter was super nice and super cute (darn if he wasn't taken--he had a girlfriend so Stacey was out of luck) but Jackson got to eat Manicotti and Lasagna (he likes them both) and then walked around with Grandpa to keep him occupied while the rest of us finished dinner. And the, the bad part--they brought Stacey a DELICIOUS brownie thing that we all split--oh my gosh, to die for!

I think she had a great birthday! Happy Birthday Aunt Tacey! We love you!

The After Bath

On Saturday, before we were off to El Campo, Jackson and Daddy got out of the bathtub, and for some reason, Jackson just looked super cute in a towel...

Cedar Lake

After a month of getting things done for the business, I finally had about an hour to work on the images I shot at Gramps' 80th Birthday Bash last month. (sorry guys--clients come first over family simply because they help pay the bills--at least the "fun money"! Ha! A girls' gotta get her hair colored and nails done!!) And with it being wedding season when we had the party, I knew it was going to be a while before I got to these! But here they are! The rest are posted at the online viewing for you to see:

McGraw Family Cedar Lake 2007

Poll

Jackson has LOTS of hits to his blog, and I'm just curious who's following his life! Please take this quick poll (it's multiple choice, so choose Family, Friend, or Photographer and ALSO click Other and put your name there--and don't worry, your name will not appear on the visible results, only in an email to me!) Thanks!

Busy Day!

My goodness! We had quite the day! We got up this morning and scrubbed the house--bathrooms, laundry, kitchen, gathered all the dry-cleaning. Then Jack and I packed up and headed out to get Daddy some lunch. Adam woke up last night craving pancakes--no idea why, but he had to have them. But, it was 11:30 so I made him go back to sleep and forget about it. So Jackson and I surprised Daddy with Denny's!! We stopped and dropped off the dry cleaning, then picked up our to-go order at Denny's and headed to his "little" office (he wasn't at the big office today, so it was just us!)

After lunch, it was time for Jackson's second haircut (and stupid Mommy forgot the camera) but he did exactly the same as the first time--just sat there looking around and wondering what the heck was going on! Didn't cry--he really likes Nelly (we're going to start making appointments with her--she's amazing and so nice and quick!) Then, it was back in the car to stop at Mommy's doctor's appointment (again, more about that later! I'm still debating about posting the LONG story about my medical crap--please don't ask me about it, though. I feel like a broken record!)

Jackson fell asleep the minute we got there (Hallelujia!) so he was great in the waiting room. The only difficulty I had was trying to pee in a cup while holding a sleeping toddler--not easy. But, he was so out of it, I threw down a blanky (why I had one in the diaper bag I have no idea) next to the door and laid him down, peed super fast (didn't get a chance to wash my hands) and had him back sleeping in my arms in about 35 seconds! The minute we were done there, it started a massive downpour with lightening and loud thunder, so Jackson and I sat (him still sleeping) on a bench by the door til it blew over (about 15 minutes) It was still sprinkling when we were running to the car, and of course, the second I close the door to the van, it stopped.

Next was the post office to drop off a package and then to Grandma Netty's to say hi and grab some tea. I needed to go to the grocery store to fund my "Month of Meals" calendar again--so I called GG Jane to see if she wanted to partake in the adventure (she loves the grocery store and I love her shopping with me because I don't by stupid shit when she's with me--Adam, you should be happy too because those Day Lilies get me every time I walk in there!) And, she's an amazing bargain shopper! So, I got a month worth of meals, lunches, breakfasts, everything for $180.00!! Yes, this time we included lunches for Adam and Jackson and I and breakfast for Jackson (last time, he was feeding on the boob, so my bill was cheaper!)

Now, we are at home, I'm cooking dinner and finishing up my business task list for the night, Adam is finished up mowing the yard and Jackson is swinging watching Daddy. Hopefully, I'll get some pics of Jack in the studio tonight--I've been meaning to do it, just no time! Uhhh...never enough hours in the day (or night for that matter!)

Twitter

Check out the Twitter box.....just simple little updates as to what we are doing throughout the day....in case you wanted to know! It's like blogging without the pictures.....

Something I want Jackson to do...

As many of you know, Adam and I both attended Catholic grade school, as did much of our families--and we want Jackson to as well. Someday, I hope Jackson is as into learning about the bible (and retaining it!) as this little girl! Catholic school paid off for someone! (Adam's Aunt Peggy sent this to me....too cute!)

Palm Beach--Finally

I took the morning off from working yesterday to take a fun day with Jackson! Finally! We've been getting up early all week (6:30 for me! Yay!) and getting a really good breakfast for Jackson and coffee for Mommy (thank the Lord for coffee), along with keeping up with the house work. It's been a really good week! Mommy has not been feeling good for quite some time now (many doctors' appointments to figure it out--more about that another time!) so getting up and going is HUGE!






We started the day with breakfast (and a morning bottle--hopefully our last. We are done with the night time baba, but the morning one has been hard to break) then Jack was ready for the beach!! I love this hat!







We picked up Grandma Netty and took her to Palm Beach (Galveston) for her first trip to the SplashPad! We had so much fun. It wasn't crowded at 9:30, so Grandma got her season pass and picture taken pretty quick, then it was off to the water park! Jackson showed Grandma how he runs through Splash Park all by himself--and he made lots of new friends too! Although Jackson thinks his is 10 like the rest of the kids on vacataion....he took off with them when they headed to the beach part! Mr. Independent...he got half way there (with us watching him go), stopped, then waved them bye bye! On his way back to us, he discovered the "rock" speakers, and danced for a bit. We picked our bags up and headed to the beach part ourselves. Jackson likes the sand (although we didn't have any "toys" on this trip and he kept trying to walk over to the kids' toys next to us. We waded in the water, then back to the Splash Pad for a little snack. That's when Jackson become really solo--Mom and I sat in the chairs and Jackson just took off to play in the water with some other kiddos--he'd look back every once in a while to see if we were still sitting watching him! It was a really fun morning--and exhausting. The minute we got in the car, I put the van in reverse and Jackson was OUT!! So tired!! He slept the whole way home!