On this farm he had a chicken . . .

Day at the Beach

In Which Jackson Crashes and Grant Quacks

Grant has been trying to make animal sounds. He has a toy duck and he says, “ack,” a gorilla, “ah ah,” a dog, “ar ar,” and with any growling animal he makes a funny noise in the back of his throat.

Friday and Saturday, Avenue Photo (our photo business) was able to do a fundraiser for MOMs Club. Brian took pictures of 12 different families over the 2 days. It was pretty tiring, but it went really well. A friend watched the boys, so I enjoyed a little break although I was working.

Brian had the opportunity to meet with John D’Agata. He’s one of the biggest new names in nonfiction writing in the U.S. He’s the author of a collection of essays called Halls of Fame. Brian got to meet him for lunch, hear a lecture and a reading.

Today I was brave and let both little boys help make sugar cookies. Jackson rolled out the dough, and he and Grant used the cookie cutters. Jackson also helped put sprinkles on them as a finishing touch. They seemed to have a good time and it wasn’t too big of a mess.

Saturday we had a beautiful afternoon. We all went outside and raked for a while (though today you can’t tell we even did any work because the leaves are falling so fast). Then we decided to have a picnic. We got a pizza and headed to the park. Jackson is pretty comfortable on the majority of playground equipment. I didn’t actually see it happen, but apparently Jackson was at the top of a slide and tumbled backwards down the metal stairs—about ten steps. He was pretty shaken up, but appeared to be fine. He said his chin hurt where he had a little scratch.

It’s funny when Jackson mimics grown-up phrases. While playing Go Fish last week, he said, “This is a good game, I noticed.” On the way home from church this afternoon, he said, “I suppose we can have breakfast.”

Football in the Kitchen

In Which the Pink Pig Swims with the Fishes

Jackson’s been saying, “Yes, Sir!” lately. At story time the story time lady was saying something, I don’t recall what, and Jackson shouted, “Yes, Sir!” Another time, Jackson said it to Brian, so Brian said, “Yes Sirree Bob.” Then Jackson pipes in, “Yes Sirree Bob the Builder!”

Grant has been singing up a storm lately. He loves pat-a-cake and can do some of the actions. He’ll walk around holding a Winnie the Pooh doll singing (or cooing and moaning) and gets us to sing the Winnie the Pooh song. He also loves to sing along with the radio in the car.

Grant has a nasty habit of throwing things away. Lately, Jackson has been potty training a lot, so Grant has started to throw things in the toilet, too. Unfortunately, Jackson has already peed. He threw in a pink pig that sings “This Little Piggy”—not salvageable. The next day he threw in one of Jackson’s slippers. Luckily, we were able to save it and it washed fine.

We decided one night this week to see if Grant would go to sleep without his pacifier. He still hasn’t noticed it’s gone. Yahoo!

Jackson’s love for football has been growing. When we watch games on TV, he gets into the three-point stance at the same time the players do on the screen. When the quarterback passes the ball, he throws his little green plastic ball across the room. When the play is over, he falls down like he’s been tackled. Every now and then, Grant waddles over and jumps on the pile.

FHE Bowling

Ethan, Anna, and Jackson watching
Anna's ball.


Jackson watching his ball knock
down pins.


Grant entertaining himself while the adults
finished their game.


Video game junkies already.

Jackson and Anna

In Which Jackson Bowls 92

For Family Home Evening this week, we took the boys bowling. Jackson absolutely loved it; with help, he carried his gold ball up to a metal chute that guided the ball toward the center of the lane, and he hollered and jumped around when the pins went down. Our friends, the Rayhorns, came too. Jackson scored 92, beating everyone but Brian.

I was walking through the Wal-Mart parking lot and Jackson didn’t want to hold my hand. I told him he needed obey and hurry into his car seat, which he did. When I went to buckle him in he said, “Mommy, I will obey your commandments.”

We watched General Conference this weekend and Jackson thought it was very cool. He got all excited when it was time for the next session.

NMU had a homecoming parade Friday. We took the boys and went with the Rayhorns. Jackson got a ton of candy and loved watching the fire engine and football players.

After the parade, Brian gave Jackson the choice to either go to Marquette High’s football game or go home and watch baseball playoffs. Jackson picked football. It rained pretty hard at the game for a few minutes so we stood under an awning. Jackson didn’t want to, so he put his hood on and got really wet. After a few minutes, when his jeans were wet, he said he was done with football and wanted to go home. On the way to the car he said that we needed to go and watch baseball now. He is becoming more of a little Brian everyday.