Crawler Extraordinaire!

Crawler Extraordinaire!

Wowza.  I can't believe it's been a while since I last updated!  A lot has been happening around here and before the month is up, a lot more will happen.

First and for most, we have a crawler in the family!  Jaxen has been cruisin' for a week now but he's finally got it down.  With this accomplishment, Jaxen has become my earliest crawler.  {According to the baby books. . . Chloe - 7months, 11days ~ Jacob - 7months, 23days ~ Jaxen - 6months, 24days} I think it's time to start baby-proofing the living room!! 

Other than crawling, Jaxen has been adding a lot of other "firsts" to the baby book.  He's diet finally consists of more food than formula.  Which is a major pain some days when we are on the go-go-go, no longer will just packing a bottle do.  I am lucky that he is such a good eater.  I don't think I've found anything he refuses to eat. 

We've also started him on snackie stuff that teaches him how to chew.  These Graduate Puffs are awesome because they dissolve in his mouth, so if for some chance he swallows it before chewing it completely he doesn't get choked up.  And they are by far, Jaxen's favorite food.

So here he is, the man of the hour.  Tomorrow he will be 7 months old. . . Doesn't. seem. possible. at. all.

Welcome to the family, Brixton!

I just had to post this - many of my friends and family believe in the power of prayer.  And a few more prayers can't hurt. . .

My cousin Faith had her baby this morning, four and a half weeks early because of complications with preeclampsia.  Preeclampsia causes high blood pressure and major swelling.  The only cure for it is the delivery of the placenta.  It is the most common of the dangerous pregnancy complications; it may affect both the mother and the unborn child.

Faith went to labor and delivery at 5:30pm on Thursday for a 24 hour observation.  By noon on Friday they had induced labor and broke her water.  Brixton Keith Jones was born Saturday, July 9th at 3:34am, weighing 4 pounds 9 ounces.

Last I had heard, Faith was in mandatory recovery and couldn't have any visitors for 24 hours.  Brixton went to the NICU and at 1pm - according to Daddy - he's "looking great and doing better".

I ask everyone to please keep their family in your prayers! I know exactly how she's feeling, it's so hard to have your baby in the NICU.  Hopefully, I will post a picture of momma and baby as soon as Faith is feeling better and able to post one!

**Get Well Soon Faith and Lil' Brixton!!**

Fresh off the press. . . Brixton Keith Jones!

July Calendar

Sunday, July 3rd -
Monday, July 4th - Independence Day
Tuesday, July 5th -
Wednesday, July 6th -
Thursday, July 7th - Payday
Friday, July 8th - Girl Scout Camp Part #1 - "Preparing for Camp" 10a-4p // Oil Change 5:15p
Saturday, July 9th - Welcomed another baby boy to the family. . . Brixton Keith Jones born at 3:34am, weighing 4lbs 9oz.

Sunday, July 10th -
Monday, July 11th -
Tuesday, July 12th - 
Wednesday, July 13th- 
Thursday, July 14th - 
Friday, July 15th - 
Saturday, July 16th -

Sunday, July 17th -
Monday, July 18th -
Tuesday, July 19th -
Wednesday, July 20th -
Thursday, July 21st -
Friday, July 22nd - Payday
Saturday, July 23rd - Girl Scout Camp Part #2 - "Daisy's 1st Campout" 4p-Sat 1p

Sunday, July 24th -
Monday, July 25th -
Tuesday, July 26th - Jerry's 30th Birthday
Wednesday, July 27th -
Thursday, July 28th - Walmart #0319 Inventory Day
Friday, July 29th -
Saturday, July 30th - VACATION STARTS!!  07.30.11 - 08.07.11 {9 Days!}

New Phones!!

Yay!!  I'm so excited. . . I got a new phone today - I'm still waiting for my number to transfer; hopefully, by tomorrow my new one will work!!  {Last time it took 5 days to transfer my phone number.}  Jerry, however, walked out of there with a new, working phone since he didn't have one before and got a new number.  {If you need or want his number, text message me and I'll send it to you.}

Our new phones are Motorola Cliq XT with MotoBlur.  It's amazing, it's Motorola's version of the iPhone.  I absolutely LOVE it!!  I can do everything - call, text, pictures, video, facebook, Msn Messenger, Picasa Web Albums, and even BLOG on the go!!  {Can you tell I'm excited?!?!?}  So it basically replaces my phone, camera, video camera and computer!

The only down side is that I do not get cell service at my house.  Boo!  But I guess that's what I get for country living.  So once the new phone activates, my old one will quite working and you'll have to call if you need me instead of texting.  Or there is always facebook!!

Girl Scout Camp Part #1

I survived part #1 of Girl Scout Camp!!  Chloe and I had a blast!!  Okay, EVERYONE had a blast.  The girls were not ready to clean up and go home once 3pm rolled around.  They are all super excited to return in two weeks to actually stay the night!  I'm sure that will be a whole other experience but one that I am excited for.  I took as many pictures as I could.  There are several things I missed, like the flag ceremony, because I was part of it. . . not a bystander.  Since I have so many, I'll tell you the highlights in pictures!

Chloe making her very first sit-upon.

Making the sit-upon was the activity that most of the girls were excited about.  Every girl scout must have a sit-upon!!  They all turned out great. See, here's the girls using them. . . :o)

We had 5 out of 7 girls show up to camp, and in all reality Miss Cynthia and I had to get them all there.  Most parents had to work on Friday, which is understandable, but two days before I was calling parents to find out how many girls I would have and majority couldn't come unless they had a ride.  So Miss Cynthia and I squeezed and tugged and got all the equipment and girls into 2 vehicles.  I was a little annoyed with the situation but it was all worth it. . . these girls had fun!!!

Cali, Chloe, Ty, Samara, and Kiarra.

It was interesting, but I FINALLY got the rope in the tree to have a flag ceremony.  Couldn't do it perfectly because we didn't have enough hands but we made it work and the girls enjoyed honoring the flag with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Girl Scout Promise.



This is one of my favorite photos of camp.  So simple and beautiful.

The campsite was awesome.  The weather was suppose to be 88 degrees with a heat index of 94 degrees.  Add in the Missouri humidity and it was suppose to be miserable.  I packed tons of water and ice, I figured I would have a hard time keeping the girls cool.

The campsite was so shaded that none of us broke a sweat.  The only time I got extra warm was when Chloe and I walked all the girls down the hill to meet parents and then back up the monstrous hill.  I got pretty lucky with our campsite.  Check it out. . .

Fire ring

Our camp site. . . :o)

View after walking up the hill, the campsite is behind my car.
Chloe is tired and waiting for me... I was a little slower than her.

For lunch we had hot dogs and chips.  Each girl at 2 hot dogs and a least one bag of chips - if not two!  I used a cool way to start a chemical-free fire with a bag of Doritos and some charcoal.  Lunch was delicious.
 

And if our campsite wasn't already amazing, it came with a tree house. . .

The girls were ecstatic when they came across the tree house meeting place.  I totally knew it was there the entire time. . . **wink, wink**

After making Sit-Upons, First Aid Kits, and Bandanna's, learning a flag ceremony, the buddy system, rules of camp, and all kinds of FUN. . . the girls DID NOT want to go home.  But alas, it was time to clean up and pack the car.

Another lesson learned. . . A Girl Scout always leaves a place better than the found it!

Overall, me and my girl had an amazing time.

We even had to stop for a train on the way home!!  The train was going a million miles an hour, I was surprised I got this shot!!

July 22nd is our first official overnight trip. . . Be sure to check out all the pictures from camp on my Picasa Web Album.

Let Freedom Ring!

Happy 4th of July!!

It's been a beautiful day!!  It's hot as heck outside but we've been having a blast!  Jerry surprised us all and got the day off of work!  The kids and I were so happy!  (I took them outside last night, but I am a total chicken when it comes to fireworks and my kids - so we stayed with the little things little Morning Glories and Smoke Bombs.  Our neighbor's were out and help Chloe and Jacob shoot off some fun stuff for a while.  Sp that was nice of him)  But now that Daddy's home tonight we will get to shoot off the more exciting stuff, like strobes, Roman Candles, and those crazy bumble bees that set my hair on fire a few years back!!  The kids are ready for nightfall!!  I'm so happy that they are okay with staying home and shooting their own stuff off instead of traveling to a fireworks display around here where it's going to be busy and crazy!  (Although, we are thinking about going into Harrisonville to watch there fireworks show, my neighbor's said it was AWESOME last year.  The neighborhood as been setting things off all day long, I can only imagine what tonight will bring.  My poor dogs are already going crazy!  Lol.  

This morning we grilled out for lunch (because I still thought Jerry had to work tonight), I made soy chicken, potato salad, and corn.  It was delicious!!  The chicken marinated for 2 days, I was in heaven!!  Even Chloe and Jacob loved the chicken and believe me, it's hard to get them to eat meat period.

After lunch we headed off to the fireworks stand to buy some fun stuff for tonight.  It's so fun going to one of them, my husband and kids are in heaven!  I am so glad we only go in there with x amount of money because we could easily spend a whole heck of a lot!!  :o)

Here's my little firecracker ready to watch. . .

Jacob and Daddy

Jacob and Chloe

Watching Daddy. . .

Chloe lighting a smoke bomb.

Jaxen's first 4th of July!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful time!!  I'm sure I will have more to update after the fun tonight, so keep an eye out for more pictures.  I have to work 3 days - and then I'm off for 3 more!!  So with this update I leave you with a picture of my kids.  Happy Independence Day!!



Taken with my cell phone. . . my little cuties!!



Saturday Whatnots

Dang! It's been another routine week here at the Daily Ranch.  Really nothing exciting to report!  I have no idea what we did this week... I can't even begin to give you a day to day update!

Monday 27th - I know I didn't get to bed until really late Sunday night - In fact, I seen 3am Monday!  I couldn't sleep, it's that way now, I can't seem to sleep if Jerry isn't home.  I stayed up late on the computer getting everything finished up for Girl Scout camp.  I ordered my patches and the rest of the craft projects that we needed.  When I finally got to sleep, I basically had to get up and go to work.  I knew it was going to be hell. . . it's always hell on Monday. . . and even worse after a 5 day vacation!

Tuesday 28th - I don't remember anything. . . my facebook quote was:  I have had a, "I'd really like to punch you in the face" kind of day.  I'm thinkin' that pretty much explains the day!  :o)

Wednesday 29th - Wednesday must have been just as good as Tuesday because I didn't even write a facebook status!

Thursday 30th - *Happy Anniversary to Aunt Karey and Uncle Alan!*  Ah, Thursday.  Thursday was a toughie.  I had to work and Jerry had a seminar he went to with a friend from work.  I didn't want him to go because I had a horrible, exhausting day and just wanted to curl up and sleep!!  But he went and was gone the whole evening.  My facebook page said:  Ugh. I'm mentally done with this day...  I was exhausted once I got the kids put down, I barely remember Jerry coming home. 

Friday 1st - I was SO glad to leave work.  I came home from work with a HUGE stress headache.  I had put a pork roast in the crock pot the night before so we could have a nice family meal.  I barely got to enjoy it because my headache made me nauseous.  I fought the headache all night but I was able to get some quality family time in outside. . . Chloe and Jacob chalked on the sidewalk, Jaxen sat in his strolled watching, Jerry weeded and weed-eated the yard, and I mowed the grass.  After the yard work, we let the kids ride their bikes until the street lights came on and then we all loaded up in the car and got some Dairy Queen!

Jaxen got his first taste of "real" food.  We gave him a small plate of crock pot cooked potatoes. . . he loved it!!  He was so excited just to lay in it!  It was fun watching him explore the feeling and texture.  I was able to get a few pieces in his mouth, but for the most part all we did is play in it and throw the plate on the floor.

Saturday 2nd - Today's been weird.  My Dad called and asked us to look around in junk yards for a spare tire for his truck.  Most places closed early today because of the Holiday weekend. . . so we ran around to 2 different auto salvage places to check out their lots.  Of course, we didn't find anything useful.  On the way home we had Burger King for lunch and stopped by Price Chopper for sodas.  We've been home ever since, just chillin'.  Kids have played games, watched movies and I have gotten some Girl Scout financial forms finished up and ready to mail.  All-in-all it's been a good day.  I need to finish some things up around here.  Jaxen just went to bed.  And the kids and I are going to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the morning to pick up somethings I need for Girl Scout camp and get a little swimming in!