The Joys of Potty Training

I'm not sure where the joy is in the training part, but we will be very happy one day when we are officially through this milestone. We haven't been pushing him, just encouraging him to sit on the potty in the evenings and occasionally on the weekend. He knows he will get "Ms" as a reward if he goes at home, sometimes that motivates him. Overall, we've had a few successes at home and a few at school. After a long talk with Jackson's teachers, we've decided that he is not quite ready to be trained. He's close, but not quite ready. So until then, we are very well stocked with m&ms:

A Visit with Mimi

My mom is in town for a couple days. That means Jackson is over the moon getting to spend time with Mimi. He watched for her at the door for two hours this morning, jumping up and down when she finally arrived. We've had a fun filled day...lunch at Gloria's, a ride in the trike, and lots of stories and cuddles. I took this pic as we waited for our table at lunch today:

Halloween 2011

I loved Halloween this year.  It was the first year Jackson figured out the excitement of getting candy from neighbors.  I had to work most of Monday evening, so I wasn't sure how much time (if any) he would get for trick or treating, so once I found out I had about an hour to celebrate Halloween we had to come up with a quick costume on the fly.  The best I could do on such quick notice was a cowboy.  I would have preferred something more creative, but he was interested in participating in the cowboy costume, so it worked.  We started the evening at a neighborhood party and Jackson had a blast playing with all the other kids.  Surprisingly he wasn't too frightened of the other costumes.  He was a bit scared of the costumes at his school's Fall Festival a few weeks ago, so I wasn't sure how he would react.  Then once it started to get dark (and he got bored at the party) we started trick or treating.  He was unsure at first, but loved the idea after the first house.  He would quietly say trick or treat, pick out a huge handful of candy (people shouldn't let 2 year olds pick their own candy...), and then end with a thank you.  That was quickly followed with a request of "another house" to me.  We ended the evening back at our driveway with a lollipop.

Chillin' on the driveway after a fun filled night!

Scott's set up for the trick or treaters

Pumpkin Fun

Scott captured some really fun photos of Jackson on Saturday evening.  The first two are taken at our front door; the third one was taken at a house up the street from us.

The Arboretum Pumpkin Patch

Jackson and I met up with Sarah and her girls at the Dallas Arboretum on Monday. I love the Arboretum and Monday's trip was no exception. They had the entire place decorated with pumpkins...50,000 or so. It was pretty amazing.

Jackson had a blast and was so enamored with Anna Grace. It was adorable watching him watch her. He wanted to do everything she was doing, too cute.

He even wanted to get his face painted after he saw Anna Grace and Morgan Leigh. I wasn't about to wait in that line, but I did think Sarah's girls looked adorable.

All in all it was a fabulous day! Jackson talked about "Grace" most of the drive home. We can't wait to get together with Sarah, AG & ML again soon!

Horseshoe Bay

Jackson and I spent a long weekend with my dad at Horseshoe Bay. What a beautiful part of Texas and it is always nice to spend some relaxing time on the water. I didn't have a chance to catch too many pics even though I had so many perfect moments to capture (just didn't have a camera in hand at those precise moments). But we did have many opportunities to swim and play in the sand. It was cute watching Jackson react to the sand when we first went on the beach. He has never been on sand before and was very unsure. Especially after he got into the lake and then back on to the sand. He didn't like how the sand was sticking to his feet, he kept asking me to get the "dirt" off. The other great moment was during our long run (which was quite a challenge on those hills pushing the bob!). Along the run we encountered many deer. Jackson loves animals and was super excited to see the deer. He would shout "hi deer" to each one he saw, which naturally caused them to sprint away. It was a great weekend and we can't wait to go back.

My dinner date Thursday night:

Jackson watching the big boat after dinner:

Sunset in the clouds:

Chilling on the balcony watching the boats:

The Twos are Terrible

Jackson adds new meaning to the Terrible Twos on a regular basis. He has been exceptionally difficult the last week or so as they made some changes to his classroom at school (new teachers, different kids) and he's not taking it very well. Each day last week he would scream at the top of his lungs about one issue or another after pick-up. I can't even remember what upset him on this day, but he was having such a fit that I had to capture it. I guess he doesn't like the paparazzi: