Halloween

Our Halloween was pretty mellow...we had some people over for chili and pumpkin carving. Adam got off work a few hours early (thank goodness) and was able to carve a couple of pumpkins...we hadn't gotten our pumpkins as of Halloween day, so we stopped by the patch (just in time) to see if the had anything left, and we got 4 HUGE pumpkins for a $20 donation to the church! We got 2 smooth, and 2 warty ones! I loved 'em!


Then we started the trick or treating. We'll be doing that much earlier next year, so as not to miss out on the party on the block! We went to Aunt Di and Uncle Russ' first and by the time we got back in the car, little man was tired, crabby, and OVER the costume! Uhhh..."I NO WEAR MY HAT! NO BOOTS! I NO WANT TO!" Lovely....We stopped at my friend Lindsey's Mom's house and had a nice chat until the meltdown, then back in the car....and he was done. 2 houses. 2 pieces of candy? Are you kidding me?! We skipped Grandma and GGs and headed home to meet up with some friends for a few more house--forcefully. "You WILL put this outfit on! You WILL say Trick or Treat! And you WILL like it!" "Yes ma'am" So we trick or treated about 6 houses on our block...and the kids were done.


Jackson enjoyed just sitting and passing out candy. Really. He did it the rest of the night! About 9:00pm, the party on the block started! We packed up the cooler and took our party to the end of the court to join the BIG party and drink and eat and sing and dance to Halloween music and gossip with the neighbors! It was FABULOUS!! WE LOVE OUR STREET!!

SAHM

I would love to say that I am a full time stay at home mom....really, I am. I run a household full time. I also run a business full time...it's a lot to juggle. BUT, I LOVE being at home. So here was my schedule today, to give you an idea of our life at home:

Wake Up (9:00am)
Brush Teeth, Brush Hair, Pee (for the whole family)
Take the sheets off the bed for laundry
Start Laundry
Throw clothes on and run to Kroger/Dry Cleaners/Starbucks (at Kroger)
Unload Dishwasher
Start Lunch (Adam eats lunch before work on off weeks) from Deceptively Delicious cookbook
Change out Laundry
Get on a roll cooking and start Pumpkin Muffins and prep brunch casserole for tomorrow
Pack Adam's dinner for work
Change out Laundry
Load Dishwasher/Start
Call Melissa and Paige about Disney on Ice tonight
Call Aunt Tacey at work
Call client about Christmas Card and print Order
Finish 2 more pages on Courtney's wedding book (only 10 more to go!)
Place Sarah's Christmas Card order
Email 2 clients back
Fold down 1 basket of Laundry
Take muffins out of oven, throw in brunch casserole
Kiss Adam goodbye and tell him to have fun at work
Turn on Roomba (thank GOD for the machine)
Wipe down ENTIRE kitchen with Clorox, clean stove grills
Light Glade candles to get rid of the Clorox smell
Unload Dishwasher
Email client
Take Jackson upstairs and pick up playroom--make new track on Train table (not on the schedule)
Clean endtables and pick up living room


Right now, I am sitting at the dining room table typing while Jackson is writing on my to do list tablet...and asking me "what's your mast name? what's your mast name? Babcock?! Okay." and then trying to write it out! He's also singing the On Demand Sprout song..."On Demand, or on TV..Day or Night or Online Too, Sprout is always here for you!"

...all in a days' work! And it's only 1:00...

At 3:00, we are getting in the shower to get ready for Disney on Ice! I can't wait! Me and Jack and Aunt Tacey, Paige and Eliza and Katie, Melissa and Hannah Grace are having Mommy and Me Date night! YEAH!! Pictures to come!!

Precious Life

Life goes by SOOO fast. I don't think I really understood how precious our lives are until I had Jackson. Truly, moments flash by. I was updating my Myspace page, and it has just completely hit me how my little baby is a full on toddler....where did it all go? How did it all happen? I'm lucky, truly, that I am a photographer and that I purposfully captured nearly every moment of his life so far. People made fun of me in the beginning...that's fine...but I can look back and SEE and FEEL and CHERISH those moments that I would have otherwise forgotten.

Tonight, I'm working on wedding albums...finally. I haven't had much time the last few weeks, and the weeks LITERALLY fly by. I feel like the summer was just days ago, and it's already NOVEMBER. I'm sitting here, in the quiet, downstairs in the dining room (I moved my computer today for a bridal consult). Jackson went to bed hours ago, and about 20 minutes ago, I hear him cry out from the stairs "Where'd my momma go?! my momma gooooo?!" he had gotten scared b/c I was not in my typical 2 places (my room, my office) and I heard him walk to both looking for me. So he came down and has been sitting on my lap, just watching me, all cuddled up. Today he said "I want you. I want my momma." Somehow, these words are so precious to me. Days go by and you wonder if your kids really like you. Honestly. You feed them, bath them, clothe them, and I get hugs all the time, don't get me wrong. But just to be wanted and held and cuddled...that's enough for me.

We danced in the living room tonight. Just us. I have a few songs that I LOVE and they lull Jackson: Never Alone, Nothing Fancy, It Won't be Like This, This Years Love....30 minutes. Just us. Quiet. Calm. I loved it. It's THOSE times that I hate working, and honestly, I put everything on hold for THOSE moments. Most of my clients know that. And they understand.

He won't be this little for long...that song is so true. I shoot weddings all the time, and you know what I think about constantly through out them all: What will Jackson's wedding be like? What song will we dance to? Will Adam give a big speech? Will I make it through their vows without blubbering? I know, I think of weird stuff, but dancing with Jackson tonight made me really think about 20+ years from now our Mother/Son dance and how fast that time will come....

Wichita

So last week me, Jackson, my mom, and my grandma headed out for the 10 hour car ride to Wichita for a distant cousin's wedding. That was Tuesday morning at 8:00am. By noon, we stopped for lunch at Braum's and had a hamburger and, of course, a twist waffle cone! Then back on the road. We stopped 3 more times b/c Jackson would call from the backseat, "Ohhhh, I gotta go poop!" So we would stop, he would go into the bathroom and sit down, then squeeze his legs together and say, "Ohhh, I can't go poop." Lovely. Finally, we figured out that he was scared of the automatic flushing toilets! Go figure! Bythe time we got to Uncle Bob's house, he was a little constipated, poor baby!

He loved their new little yorkie, Izzy (aka: whittle dog..busy...dat one). Jackson kept saying "I yike dis whittle doggie!"

Wednesday, we got up and went to visit my grandma's Aunt Toddie. Aunt Toddie and Aunt Mauddie were like sister's to my grandmother. Aunt Toddie lives on a farm (the same farm that last year we took pictures on the tractor? Remember? Any blog stalkers remember that?) This time, Jackson was impressed with the goats and the chickens and the roosters! He and MeeMaw went out to see them and then Jackson came back in to tell GG "I see chickens and eggs! And dat wootser say "Cock a doodle DOOOOOO!!!" "I yike does goats!" "Hi kitty!" "A Bunny!" "What's dat making noise?!?!" Really, he talked the ENTIRE time we were at the farm!

We saw Miss Sherri on Wednesday too! We had busy days while we were there! She and Jackson played race cars and exchanged Halloween presents! Too sweet!
That night, we saw mom's friend Jeanie and her new granddaughter Lily (6 months) Jackson enjoyed Lily as she kept trying to grab his face and give him a kiss! A girl who knows what she wants--I loved it!! I have some video of that somewhere....

Thursday, we met up with Carolyn and her grandkids! Lunch at Bella Luna was fabulous--I'll be going back there next time we are in town! Then on to Jenny's to see Mr Parker! We didn't get enough time with them and I have no pictures...uhhh. Their family got sick that night and the next day, so we didn't get back together this time, but I'm sure they'll be coming down to see us soon and we'll get tons of pics then! Jackson slept the whole time we were at their house, too, so it wasn't a great playdate for the boys like we thought! HA! Oh well!

Thursday was Aunt Michelle birthday so we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and back to Uncle Bob's house for Ice Cream Cake--yum-o!! We got to see Danielle and her adorable baby bump! She is just a perfectly round ball in the front! Too cute! I didn't get any pictures of that either...did I mention that I left my big camera at home and only took the G7?!

Friday was a BIG day. We met up with mom's bowling girls for lunch: Jeanie, Phyllis, and Anne. Eggcetera in Old Town is another fabulous place to eat! We ate alot! I'm still trying to burn it all off...oh well. We left there and headed to West Acres Bowl where my mom and her friends bowled. My sister and I practically grew up there! From the time I was a baby, I was in the nursery on Thursday nights for my parent's co-ed league. And my dad's men's league, and my mom's church league....We met up with Cooper and Lea so the boys could bowl together! They had a blast! They are getting so big! So sad!

Images from Lea, Cooper's Mom...Thanks!

After bowling, we went to Segwick County Park to play on the new AWESOME playground! The boys played FOREVER and really wore themselves out!! They play really well together too! Me, Lea, and Sherri had alot of fun too and it was great to see them! That night, I crashed! Literally!






Saturday was the wedding. It was not until Friday night that I realized that I forgot the belt to my dress, which made the outfit complete. Damn it! So, as you will see, I have the same outfit on for a TON of the pictures....you know when you have that go to outfit. I love it: my cute khakis that make my butt look small, my black jacket, my cute tank with the lace on the bottom, and my new favorite blue jewelry. Literally, I've worn it for the following: Family Christmas pictures, to Huntsville to see Randy, Our New House card (same day as family pictures), Friday out with the girls in Wichita, and then to the wedding (b/c I didn't have anything else to wear to the wedding) and everytime, I've been photographed in it! oh well! My family will tell me they are tired of seeing me in it and I won't be able to wear it ever again--although I haven't worn it to church yet, so that's an option for next week.....HA!







The wedding was great! Jackson danced alot and was a doll baby the whole night. We were home by 9:00pm. End of wedding story.

Sunday we strolled around Haysville. We saw the new park and hung out with Uncle Bob. Jackson LOVES his Uncle Bob...and his Uncle Russ too! They are both so good to him! He is very lucky. I love watching the two of them with him as well--they are each like my grandpa in their own way, so it's like having a little piece of Grand Poppy Joe around...
















Sunday afternoon, Jackson, Mom and I took a trip to Cox Farms for a hayrack ride, Pumpkin picking, and adventures in a Corn Maze! It was cold! We had a little bit of fun, though...really, not that much fun. Oh well.




Monday, we came home. I was tired, crabby, and wanted to go to sleep. I thought we would never make it home. Traffic was bad. Traffic sucked. I was driving and I wanted to run everyone over....it was time to come home!

Again, I don't have alot of pictures b/c I intended to send my camera gear off to Canon for cleaning/recalibrating/tuning but I didn't have time. So, hopefully I can get that done this week before my weddings this weekend! Busy Busy Busy!

Wedding

Mommy and Daddy had another evening out when a friend of ours from college got married in Friendswood--they were originally having the ceremony in Galveston, but Ike screwed that up, so they ended up with a beautiful ceremony right down the road from us! YEAH! I got one picture of Adam and I...

Lunch with Randy!!

I headed to Huntsville the other day to meet up with a great friend, Randall C Page! I worked with Randy at NASA in New Mexico and shortly after I left, he got a job as a professor at Baylor in the Photography department! So they (he and his wife and daughter) moved too! Now we are about 3 hours from each other, and I hope to get together more often!

We had lunch at the Junction, then Randy took Jackson and I fishing! Jack Jack was in HEAVEN!! Although we didn't catch any Nemos, we had a great visit with a dear, old, friend--and I do mean old! HA!! Just kidding Randy!

Look at these faces Jackson made--Randy is a big kid himself, so he brought out the craziness in Jackson during lunch (which was not the best behavior, but Randy's not always well behaved either, so that day they got along great!! HA!)