Summer Picnic

This weekend was nice - temperature wise! It finally "cooled" down a bit, and we got some much needed rain. By "cooling down", I mean it only went up to 90º max. which is nice for the Dallas/Ft. Worth area in mid-August.

We took full advantage of the nice weather...

On Friday, we went to dinner at Logan's. I have to get my red meat in while I'm pregnant! Oh, and of COURSE I ate 3 rolls. I didn't eat any dessert though which is shocking, I know! Then we took a stroll (walking) down through the shopping center there by Northeast Mall. Jaydon wanted to go to Barnes & Noble to play with Thomas the Train, so we did. Then we went to Target and bought him this Handy Manny toy that he has wanted for months. That TOY was $60! (He has been entertained with it the entire weekend, so we cannot complain. He deserved it!) Aba was on her way home from Dallas Market and she surprised him at Target. This Target was not on her way home, but leave it to Aba to go out of her way to see her boys. He was so happy to see her - it was cute. Even Jacoby recognized her!
Then on Saturday, we lounged around at home. We played outside with the boys in the morning, and then at 3:00, I couldn't take Jacoby's fussiness any longer. I decided to do a web check-in at CareNow. They called back within minutes and said that the wait would be 45 minutes-1 hour and they would call back when it was time for us to head up there. I took a quick shower and by the time I got out, they were already calling. Thank goodness! I took Jacoby up there and sure enough...the poor boy has a double ear infection. I was SO upset because it brought back memories of Jaydon. Jaydon NEVER got sick - EVER, except for the frequent ear infections. I just PRAY that Jacoby doesn't head down the same path with tubes, ear aches, etc. They gave us a 10-day Amoxicillin prescription. Jaydon is allergic to penicillin, so we never got that. We always got a 3 or 5-day Zithromax with him, so it was weird to get a 10-day prescription. Jeremy and I both had bad ear infections as children. Jeremy had tubes and I didn't, but only because my parents didn't want me to have them. I have spoken to 2 doctors who both say that ear infections are not hereditary unless you are Eskimo Indian (something with the way that the Eustachian Tube forms in that culture?), but I am finding it hard to believe since it seems like my entire family now has ear issues. Jeremy, Jaydon and I all outgrew them by age 4ish. We spent the rest of the evening indoors playing with Jaydon's new toy, and we watched a Caillou movie (a PBS cartoon).
Today, Jaydon wanted to go on a picnic...so we did. It was SO nice out, and there was a gentle breeze. The only problem was that we didn't have any picnic/lunch items here. (We hadn't been to the grocery store yet.) So we went to Wendy's and had a "city" picnic. We found a great park with a gazebo in Keller, and spent the majority of the afternoon there. Jaydon played on the playground, swings, and slides. We set a couple of blankets down on the ground in the gazebo and actually ate there instead of at the tables. This way, Jaydon would "feel" like it was a picnic. He already told us that next time, "You need to bring a picnic basket Mommy and fill it with sandwiches, apples, crackers, milk, and flowers!". Oh the imagination! I will be buying a basket this weekend. It was SUCH nice family time. We hung out on the ground a lot and everyone was on the same level. It just felt nice to be that close to the family. The boys played together, and it was great.

Tonight, we put Jaydon back on his "nightly ritual" for the start of the school year. Take a bath at 7:45, read 3 bedtime stories, say a prayer/talk time, and then lights out by 8:30. We hope that doing this for the next 8 days will get him back in a good routine. Kids REALLY do function better when they are on a routine, so this should work out just like it did in Pre-K last year. We may have to adjust bedtime a bit depending on how he does after the first couple of weeks. We shall see...

That was our weekend - we hope that you enjoyed yours!

PS: The pictures below are just a couple of MANY from the picnic. There is one where I thought that the camera was in "video" mode, and it wasn't. I was trying to capture Jacoby crawling over to Jeremy, but it was too late when I realized that I was in the wrong mode. You'll get the idea...
Also, look at Jaydon's gap in his mouth. Jeremy loves giving him a hard time about that. Oh, and Jacoby does NOT take a pacifier. He just LOVES playing with them and biting them.
ENJOY the pictures, and all of the drool...