Oh the time of Christmas cards

Let me tell you- I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!! For me it is such a magical time . To enjoy that special time I’m usually all done with Christmas shopping by the time Black Friday comes around. Cards are an other thing- for me it is such a headache- to pick just the right one, make sure it says Christmas on it- what by the way is hard to find these days- cutest and most special cards are ruined by Happy Holidays on them!!! It’s Christmas to our family! That’s why this year I have decided to go ahead and make some nice photo cards! Shutterfly  has some amazing quality products, I just received my last order from them – I printed out 400(!!!) pictures and 2 photo books- http://www.shutterfly.com/home-decor/canvas-wall-art- here’s the link for canvas art what we are thinking about ordering some of the small canvas for the boy’s rooms, just got to get to photographic some things that they love.

So here is the link I will be using- Christmas cards -to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards and here is a link for a great gift idea for family that is not around - to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards. So I suppose I should get going and starting picking out those special little outfits and finding just the right background idea for that perfect Christmas picture, and decided if all 4 of us should make a grand appearance or should I just show off those cute little man folk of ours to the world- decisions, decisions! I would put some pictures on here from our last year’s Christmas card, but ooops- with all the moving and all, we just did not have time to  do it, so even more reason to buckle down and get it done this year right?

Something Exciting

So not much exciting happens here, not much to do around here since we live in “nowhere next to nothing”, so once in a while we have to break out and go do something more fun than play in the backyard or at the valley play land.  And when we do break away I just have to blog about it:

Ithaca, NY was on the “to go” list for a while but we waited for some warm weather and Ethan not having school and today was the day! YAHOOOO!!!! Ithaca has a pretty nice kid’s museum “Sciencenter” so we headed there first , kid’s museum in Fayetteville doesn’t even come close  to this one! The kiddos had a blast and it even seems they might’ve learned some things what is always good. Here are some pictures from that: 

After the museum we decided to check Buttermilk Falls

, I wish the picture actually did justice for the falls, they are HIGH! And we got brave enaugh to hike up to the top…yeah not having a backpack for Jack and being cooped up without any hiking practice for about 4 months now, made this whole thing a bit difficult, here is a video of us half way-

(you can tell we were not prepared and hiked with a stroller for goodness sakes!!!)

Ethan and Jayden however did not have any problems getting up the steepest and longest mountain we have ever hiked! if it wasn’t for the boys running way ahead and disappearing the minute they could catch a glimpse of us we would’ve probably turned around and walked right back down, but we did have to catch them to turn them around, but it never happened…

We ended our super good trip with a stop at a playground since a “little hike” with an insane incline was not enough to stop two little boys, they always have some more energy for playing. But it turned out to be a nice park with a creek right behind the playground what was a good thing since Ethan and Jayden were pretty bummed out for not being able to play in the water at the falls. And Jack got to play in the creek for the first time in his young life.

Me and Jack bailed on the creek pretty fast and enjoyed the playground and got his little feet dried in the sun. he also got to experience his first bare feet walk in the grass.

Jack-a-boo loved the grass under his feet but was not a fan of it touching his legs while sitting down, what a silly boy!

And now i will go and get some things set up for out own Easter egg hunt we are going to be having tomorrow, Ethan is so excited about that, maybe i will get motivated enough to blog about that too.

What a good day we had!

P.S. Ethan and Jayden are absolutely conked out in the living room, so sweet!

ICE CREAM

We live right next door to a little ice cream shop. I think there is no need to explain what that means- easy access to ice cream, of course! And the boys love it. Yesterday was super nice so Aaron treated the boys to some white goodness and I got my camera out to document every bite(lick) of it. Here are some pics:

 

Artists

We have gone into the artistic mode in our house! Ethan’s little buddy Jayden got him hooked on drawing, because Jayden loves to draw and create all kinds of things. So ever since Saturday once his homework is finished Ethan stays at the table and draws, draws and draws again! Our fridge is COVERED in drawings and those are only the special ones from today!!! Here is one of the evil things you must do as a parent- sort trough these heaps of very special art and keep only a piece or two otherwise you would have to get a separate storage unit just to store all these papers. So once the little “piles of paper” creators have gone to bed your evil deeds of sorting and throwing away can start. If I would’ve kept all of Ethan’s work just from the time he started pre-K we would have to designate a special room just for boxes of his art and school work. I swear we would have a good portion of rainforest in our house just from all the trees that went into making all that paper! But at the end of each school year I sit down and go trough all his school papers and other random acts of creativity and keep only few very special ones. And at the first sorting there is always quite a pile, so once next year comes around I will go trough all the previous’ years school papers and art and get rid of even more. So I would say that by the time Ethan is in high school I might have only couple of piece of paper versus a huge folder, left from his kindergarten.  So all that being said, back to the point of more recant events in our house- tonight will be the time to get rid of some of the art and put it in the separate bag that will go straight to outside trash bin. That also was a lesson learned, because to see your art ripped apart or folded into tiny pieces in a garbage can can send your offspring into thinking that you do not love them as much as you think you do. But artwork missing from the fridge is easily explainable…thank goodness!

Jack on the other hand is not taking to art very easily he thinks it is way more fun to tease me by putting a crayon in his mouth after mommy telling him not to do that. He is more into practical art these days- throwing food on the floor in many different shapes at amazing speeds, maybe someday it will be a recognizable part of artistic expression but for now it is just a fun game for Jack and never ending chore for me. Although one thing Jack is being expressive is music- he loves to strum Aaron’s guitar and his little xylophone and drum is getting quite the use every day.

Little Boy Jack

Jackson had his one year check-up last week and all went pretty good. He does have eczema and it is all over his body, but we have some good prescription for cases when it gets really bad and itchy other than that we have a new cream to use so we are hoping it will help with all the spots. Also he has slowed down on the growing a LOT. First 7 months he just kept on growing and was in 12 months clothing by then and then it all came to a halt. Mr. Jack is now 21.4 pounds and 28 1/4 inches tall what puts him into 5% for weight and 15% for his length , but he really doesn’t seem that little to me and we don’t really worry about the growth chart numbers anyhow. And it runs in the family to be little so we are good to go.

Jack did get his shots too, but we did split them up, so the next ones are not due until his 15 months appointment. And then there was the blood work!!!!- they took 8 little vials of blood from our little guy and Aaron had to step out of the room, he just couldn’t stand seeing the nurses poke the needle around trying to find Jack’s veins. But the hardest part in all the blood work part for Jackson is to be held down- he has a bit of claustrophobia- inherited from me ;o)

We are still waiting on the test results for his liver enzymes, but since he is healthy and on task or beyond in all his developmental milestones it is not that big of a concern. But we got some answers I will go ahead and blog about those too :o).

New beginnings

We have been in PA for a bout a month now and slowly starting to get used to it. It has been nice catching up with our friends, we have missed them a lot. It is also quite the adjustment not being a military family anymore. Although to be honest with you the hardest is not having Commissary – groceries here are expensive!!!! It has been very nice to have Aaron home all the time. He missed out so much on Ethan growing up and it is time they will never be able to get back, but we are definitely doing a complete turn around with Jack. Aaron has been a complete hands on dad ever since Jack entered this world and even though I still nurse Jack-he is a daddy’s boy, those two are like two pees in a pod.

Also our Ethan is a southern boy, it doesn’t matter that he was born here in PA, growing up in south with no snow has definitely left its mark- poor boy is cold all the time! And he can not last longer than 30 minutes out in the snow. And the whole concept of layering up when you go outside is Chinese to Ethan, no matter what we try to tell him, but that should all come in time, LOL!

 

Jackson Ray Sandidge is 1 year old

WOW, my baby is officially a toddler! He is such a big little boy! He is mastering walking and talking and getting into everything and getting better at all three faster than I can catch up with the idea of him growing up. Since we still haven't recovered our pictures from the old computer that crashed and burned on us I can not upload any pictures to compare the whole timeline of last year, but these ones will show him now- enjoying his cake, walking and loving his new bed. While moving, Jack’s crib got pretty destroyed so we got brave and moved him up to toddler bed and so far no problems, he stays in it for naps and night time and loves it…

I love watching him grow up but at the same time my heart is breaking to loose my little baby.