Fun in the Sand

So Brett built Jameston a sandbox a little over a month ago for his 2nd birthday, and we have had definitely had our fair share of mornings, afternoons and evenings playing outside in the sandbox in these cooler temps.

"Welcome to my sandbox!"

"Now if only mom remembered her camera more often..."

He loves burying our feet and his. Silly boy!

Action shot!

Especially with the recent rain, Boomer has been known to cool off and hang out there!

We build castles, load up his front-loader truck, dig holes, you name it!I think we can safely say that this boy loves him some sandbox time! We know it will come in handy for years to come!!

The Zoo, Round Two!

Two weekends ago we took advantage of a Google deal (Adult tickets to the Dallas Zoo for a whopping $1) and met up with one of Brett's co-workers and his family one Saturday morning.

We decided to avoid traffic and took DART downtown. It was Jameston's first "train" ride. He loved it and surprisingly sat pretty still!

We went back in May, but it was amazing to see the difference in Jameston's response to the "Am-mulls" this time around! The African Safari part is pretty cool I might add.

Elephants!

My boys headed to the next spot-love it!

Time to feed the giraffes

We splurged and spent $5 (hey, it's for a good cause) to buy them some food. Jameston kept saying, "I give giraffe lettuce." Too cute!

Off to see the lions and cheetahsHe wasn't timid ONE BIT when it came to how close he was to the lioness. Wow!

We then made sure to catch the Bird Show, which many people recommended to us.

Owl in motion:

The show as a little loud, but it did not disappoint! And the last animal we saw before we left were the "Lingos!" as Jameston calls them :-)

All in all, a successful (and affordable) trip. That boy was tuckered out! We will probably get a season pass next summer since his admission will still be free :-)

Needless to say, with his current love for all things animals (from his Lego's to books), I succumbed to buying "The Lion King" on blue-ray last week when it was released. And, shamelessly, we have watched it two times in the last week!

Jameston's Jargon

Again, I'm behind on keeping up with some comical and cute things JW has said lately. Some of these go almost a month back, but we've been busy (and I've been a little more tired as of late :-)

"Good job, Mommy!"

He told me this one morning after I cut up his bananas for breakfast. So sweet (and unsolicited)! Also, he's been more giving with his "Bless yous!" and "Thank you, Mommies." LOVE my courteous (and inquisitive, as seen in the pictures below) little boy!

One night as I was preparing dinner, he held up the egg slicer (he likes to empty drawers in the kitchen to "help" me as seen in the picture below) and said, "Go outside, Mommy?" I said, "We can go outside after supper. What do you want to do outside?" He replied, "Scoop Boomer's poo-poo!" as he held of the kitchen tool.

I guess he thought it looked a little like the mini garden shovel Brett uses as a pooper-scooper. TMI? Sorry if you thought so, I thought it was too funny not to share!

One afternoon at the playground, I was pushing him in the swing and he said, "Look, Mommy!" (I hear this about 50 times a day :-) as he pointed to the sky. I said,

"What do you see?"

"El-phant."

"You see an elephant?"

"Yep."

"What else do you see?"

"Lion."

"Really? Where do you see them?"

"In clouds."

Oh that imagination!!

And, finally, we hear the following several times a week during dinner at night:

"Get back, Jack-Boomer!"

Fireman with Play-doh

Jameston received a fireman hat from his Pops and Gigi for his birthday. The boy would wear it every hour of every day if he could!Here he is showing us his water hose skills with Daddy in the backyard Love it how he tries to copy Brett in all he does :-) He also received a Play-doh kit from his buddy, Jackson. To say the boy likes it would be a HUGE understatement! And Mommy loves it because it keeps him occupied a good 20-30 minutes (more than any other activity we've ever had) so I can cook dinner :-)

Ready,Set,Squeeze! I think I'm going to have to remember this one for future gifts to his friends. A must!

Jameston's got a secret...

that we've been keeping for awhile now.

He's going to be a BIG BROTHER come April or May!!

This is how he reacted when we told him the big news :-)

I am about 11 weeks now, and the due date is May 1st (perfect timing considering Brett is a CPA and finishes "busy season" in April)! I am measuring a little ahead of that, so who knows what month our sweet baby will be born in. Kinda fun to not know! We found out the good news on August 19th, and I had a sonogram at almost 9 weeks on September 23rd at which the baby's heart rate was measuring 169 bpm. We heard the heartbeat this past Friday, and it was 170 bpm. BEST SOUND EVER!! What wonderful news! I have been feeling good, just super tired---which I think that mainly has something to do with working full-time and also taking care of a very busy toddler! I am a tad bit more nauseous this time around as compared to when I was pregnant with Jameston, but it is manageable. Right now, I am feeling that we are going to have another BOY (based on how I felt during my first pregnancy. I know, I know, every pregnancy is different, so we'll see)!

When asked if he would like a baby brother or sister, Jameston changes his mind daily :-) I know he will be so happy either way, as will we. We'll find out in the next two months!! Can't wait to learn more about the "bay-beee," as JW says it. He will kiss my tummy and pat it softly. So sweet!

8 week sonogram

"For this child we prayed." 1 Samuel 1:27

And our prayers were answered. God is good!!

2-year-pics and Austin: Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day we loaded up and headed down to Austin/Lake Travis for the weekend. While we were there, I figured I would take Jameston's 2-year pics in the great outdoors that Sunday morning before church. Here they are!

You looking at me, Mom?

So serious (it was early)

My first attempt to get him to smile!

Second attempt!

And we got one

Rock pond? You know who would not miss out on this opportunity!

Action shot!

So dapper

Love this one!

Aunt Kayla and Brett's grandmother and aunt were also there that weekend. Jameston had a BLAST with his aunt, as she taught him how to "fly" an airplane

Unfortunately, as we were packing up to leave on Sunday, Brett's parents noticed smoke in the distance.

There was a wildfire not two miles from there house! It was the same afternoon that the one occurred in Bastrop. His parents received a recorded message phone call from the sheriff that advised everyone to evacuate

So his parents packed up what they could and prepare for evacuation. Luckily they ended up being a safe distance from the fire, which was across a river. The fire ended up closing down Highway 71 and damaged over 60 homes. So scary!

Jameston, Brett and Papa (and Boomer) on the hilltop near Willie Nelson's old property checking out the smoke/distance.

I am so thankful we were safe!