Tons of Stuff!

It has been a week since I last blogged, so I guess I need to get on it!

I started this blog over the weekend, but then the batteries on my camera needed to be charged before I could upload the pics and video that I wanted to upload. So then that just set me back a bit, and the excuses go on & on from there...

We had another baseball game on Saturday. Jaydon is still doing well. This league is just as unorganized as the last one we were in, but we won't go there! ARGH!

We hit up quite a few stores on Saturday...Market Street, Party City, PetCo, and Babies R Us. The last 3 are all in one shopping center, so that was easy. Lunch at Market Street was AWESOME. I ate chicken fried steak and it was so good!
I went to look for a costume for Jaydon, but none of the costumes that fit are anything he likes. It seems like they only have bloody things, or "warrior" type things after you hit age 4. Jaydon still enjoys Thomas the Train, Handy Manny, and cartoons like that. He doesn't even care for Spiderman or Superman. We found a firefighter costume, but it was lame. Then he saw a police officer costume, and we debated that one. At the end, we didn't buy anything. He had been talking about wanting to be a "King" for a while, so I went online and found a great King costume with a gold crown, robe, shirt, belt, and knickers. Then I ordered a scepter for him too. He seems to be excited about that. Jacoby will dress up as a little animal - probably a monkey or frog - we can't decide which one we like better yet. Jeremy likes the frog...so I guess I'M the one that can't decide! It's his first Halloween - it HAS to be JUST right!

Jaydon went fishing with Jeremy on Saturday evening. That is why we went to PetCo - we had to buy crickets and worms. Anyway, Jaydon had a BLAST! Jacoby and I stayed home, but Jeremy took some pics (I only uploaded 1) and a video of his first catch which you'll find below. There were some other cute videos, but they just take so darn long to upload! My Mom and Jeremy's grandparents met them out there. It's a little pond by Market Street in Colleyville that is fully stocked. Jaydon caught about 15 fish and threw them all back. He was SO excited, and Jeremy was glad to be with him when he caught his first fish.
...and to think that we went ALL the way to Albert Pike, Arkansas to go fishing, and Jaydon ended up catching something in a man-made pond in Colleyville. LOL!

This week has been boring. It seems like no matter how hard I try, I cannot keep up with the housework. There are always toys and baby things everywhere. I'm to the point now where I just leave them. THAT IS REALLY HARD ON ME - being OCD and all!!!
Jaydon has to be able to play - I don't want him in front of the TV every evening...so I just leave the toys out. I'm learning that the laundry is never ending too. I've just been trying to keep the kitchen clean, and the floors vacuumed/mopped. That's all I can do as a working Mother with no housekeeper, right? :)

Jaydon is doing VERY well at school. We are so proud of him and how he is adjusting. I think that the teacher just needed time to learn how our son "operates". The past 2 weeks have been great and he's gotten no complaints and only green dots. I hope he keeps doing well!

Jaydon had a fever last night (Wednesday night) of 101.4º. I gave him Motrin, and he slept all night. This morning (today - Thursday morning) when I checked on him, the spot where he slept was BOILING hot and he wasn't even laying on it anymore. He had a 102º temperature! I gave him Tylenol and within the hour, it was down to 99.8º. Then at 12:30, I went to give him more Tylenol because he felt REALLY hot again, and the fever was back up to 102.4º - ouch! He is a bit lethargic, but nothing TOO bad. Then at 5:00, I gave him more Motrin because he was back up to 101.4º. I called the nurse at his pediatrician's office, and we will go in tomorrow morning because that fever is kinda high. She says that strep is going around - let's pray it's just something viral and not strep!!!

I'm trying to get together with Andi to get some new pictures of the boys. I cannot afford a photographer, and she has a great camera. I know we have both been so busy, but hopefully we'll get those in sometime this month, or early next month. I'd like to get some regular shots, and then some Christmas shots for Christmas cards, too.

We are still debating "J" girl names. We have it narrowed down to 2 names, and they are both 6 letters in length. The middle name will be "Cate" (Kate with a "C") for sure. So if you read my blog, send me some 6-letter J names that you like. Don't send me a generic list, send me some that you genuinely like! Maybe you'll sway us away from the 2 that we have it narrowed down to. We aren't dead set on anything yet.

That's it from here!
Have a good evening, and enjoy the 21-second video and pics...

ARD Meeting

The meeting today was quite productive and successful. I had done TONS of homework prior to the meeting and asked a few questions. I told Jeremy before the meeting that we were not going to sign anything until I could bring copies home and read everything - word for word. I stuck to that and I was proud of myself. The Speech Therapist said that it was totally fine that I was being thorough and I could sign the paper work when I was ready. I just didn't want to feel rushed into signing something without reading it completely first. (This was advice given to me from a website which I thought was EXCELLENT advice.)
Anyway, the Speech Therapist, guidance counselor, principal, special ed teacher, Jaydon's regular teacher, and Jeremy & I were all present. Big group!
The Speech Therapist is so nice, and she was extremely thorough. She said more than once that she couldn't wait to start working with Jaydon, and he was such a joy to work with, and he made her laugh so many times. His teacher even said the same thing a few times.
Let me back track...
Jaydon was given a few assessments. He did "okay" on all of them. Jaydon scored at the 7-9 year old level on the higher learning things. He did extremely well at story comprehension, antonyms and things with concrete answers. Remember that Jaydon is 5½ years old. Then, he didn't do as well with things that a 3 year old would know. We already knew that Jaydon was like this though, so it was not a shocker. When she first started evaluating him, she (Mrs. Wagstaff - the therapist) thought that he wasn't going to qualify for services. She said that she really thought there was no need for services when she saw how well he read, comprehended stories, etc. Then when she got to the pragmatics and communication, she started to realize that he did need help. The end result is that Jaydon does NOT qualify for resource classes, but he does qualify for speech/language therapy. Instead of pulling Jaydon out of class, she will visit with him 30 minutes per week (minimum) in the classroom. We told her that we want him to learn to do things in a group setting, and he needs to learn how to focus. She agreed and said that Jaydon does perfectly "one on one", but then loses focus in a larger group. It was SO nice to hear her reconfirm what we already knew! I have to praise her for giving me more feedback in 3 weeks of observation than any doctor has given me in 3 years! Jaydon will get preferential seating (because I asked for it) through 1st grade, the teacher is to make sure that he understands what the instructions are before he starts something, and then she is to check to see that he is doing things.
The meeting was a HUGE success, and we were quite excited about it all!
I'm just glad that my son isn't being "labeled"...yet anyway. He is above average intelligence, we just have to get those social skills on track now.

The ONLY thing that worried us is the following...
Jaydon tends to lose focus easily. Sometimes when he looks at you, it looks like he is looking straight through you. (It's really kind of scary, and something we've observed for about a year now.) Anyway, two of the people in the meeting recommended that he get in to see a neurologist. Sometimes, children have seizures and nobody knows it. When a child loses focus like that, he could be having a petit mal seizure. (Details on this found here: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/MEDLINEPLUS/ency/article/000696.htm) Scary thought, huh? Anyway, my cousin is a neurosurgeon (he specializes in Pediatric Neurosurgery if I remember correctly) in Miami, so I'm going to start with him to get some ideas, and then find a doctor in the area who can observe Jaydon through a few EEG's. The teachers can't officially "diagnose" Jaydon, but they are trying to be proactive and eliminate this as a possible factor for his lack of focus. More tests for our poor little boy who has spent his life testing. :(

Overall, we are very happy with the results...we shall see how he does the rest of the year.
Oh, and he has gotten a green dot for the past 4 school days, so we know he's starting to understand the rules.

Funny thing:
Mrs. Wagstaff asked Jaydon during one of the tests if he had any siblings. He said the following: "I have a brother and a sister, and I'm going to name her LONGFELLOW." She said that she's heard some funny things, but that was definitely one that she would NEVER forget! Jeremy and I cracked up at that. LMAO! She was questioning him having a sister and didn't realize until today that I was pregnant. YA - 5 months along and nobody can tell I'm pregnant. Pretty sad, huh?

What else...
Oh, we went to dinner with the Linder's and York's at Circle S today. I had a delicious sandwich, and I'm about to enjoy my pecan cobbler dessert in a few minutes. They (the restaurant) took 20% off our total which was super nice of them! Jacoby was incredibly fussy. This 1 nap a day isn't cutting it. He had been up since 1:00 so of course at 6:30, he was past the point of tired. Poor kiddo! It took us 35 minutes to get home because of STUPID traffic and construction, and he didn't even go to sleep in the car. I had to climb into the backseat - in between 2 car seats with a full belly and a baby in there mind you - and keep him entertained. That wasn't even working! What an end to our evening!!!

That's it from here. Sorry to make this so long, but I know there are MANY of you who wanted to hear the outcome from the meeting.

Have a good week!

22-Week Sono

It's a girl for sure! No huevos!!!
She weighs 1lb. 4oz. I've gained a whopping 2 lbs. I guess that's ALL baby, huh? All of the measurements were right on track, and everything is good so far. This time around, they know that I just don't gain weight when I'm pregnant, and my baby's are always born healthy, so hopefully I can avoid any last minute scares like last time where they were worried that Jacoby wasn't growing in my stomach. I have started drinking Ensure already - 1 bottle per day just to make myself feel like I'm getting the vitamins that I need. With Jacoby, they made me drink 3 bottles per day for the last 3 weeks. That got expensive, but thank goodness I like Ensure!
I have a fibroid that they keep a close eye on, and it hasn't grown, which is good news. :)

We had baseball practice tonight. There are so many kids on the team, it's hard to keep them all entertained. Two were missing tonight, so we only had 9 there. We have 11 total. Anyway, we started practicing coach pitch tonight, and they all did pretty well. We kept Jaydon after practice to hit some more. He hit about 9 of the 12 that Jeremy pitched to him. (Baseball parents that read my blog: Pitch to your kids this week so they can practice!)

Both boys are asleep, and we are watching DWTS. That Brooke Burke is SO beautiful! Fake or not - she is a pretty woman! Susan Lucci looks horrible - old, wrinkled, and way too thin. She's past her prime. Warren Sapp and Maurice Greene are big, muscular guys. I'm not sure who my favorite is yet. Jeremy is mad that Edyta was paired with the comedian because he sucks at dancing, and Edyta is his favorite dancer. He may not be getting his "Edyta fill" this season. Poor, poor Jeremy!

Sorry to be so boring tonight.
I need to add some pictures and/or a video soon.

I'll blog again tomorrow night to tell you about our ARD meeting,.
Say a prayer that it goes well!

Nighty night...

Football, Football, Football, Baseball, and a little more...

Friday night - Trinity Trojans vs. Allen - Trinity wins 24-14...they are 3-0 this year and ranked #1 high school in the nation!!!
Saturday night - Texas Tech vs. Massachusetts - Texas Tech whoops up 56-14...4-0 this year. They are #10 in the BCS standings!!!
Sunday afternoon - Miami Dolphins vs. New England Patriots - Miami wins??? Yep - 38-13!! They are 1-2 this season. Hey - I can live with that. They won 3 of their 4 pre-season games, so I know there's hope out there!
My high school and college (both TT) are whoopin' up, so I'm in football heaven this weekend! :)
Way to go guys!!!

We had our first baseball game on Saturday morning. The kids did VERY well! You can tell that they have some experience now. We were proud of all of them! Everyone hit off the tee with ease.
The 2nd inning, one of the Dad's asked Jeremy to coach pitch to his son, and he missed all 3 pitches, so then he got to hit off the tee. This new league doesn't have outs, and we LOVE that. Then I told Jeremy to coach pitch to Jaydon, and our boy whacked that ball up and over to 3rd base. He's not the strongest swinger, but boy is he consistent! We are going to keep working with him so that he can differentiate between his golf swing, and his baseball swing. He's really into baseball this season for the first time, which makes us proud that he's finally "getting it". He used to hate defense, and now he's actually enjoying all parts of the game.

We went to eat lunch at Pizza Inn after the game. Jeremy loves that place because they have thin crust pizza. I'm a Chicago pizza girl - I LOVE thick crust. I have to compromise with him every now and then, so I just gave in to his Pizza Inn craving.
Jeremy and Jaydon went to the golf range on Saturday night - pretty late - to hit some golf balls. Jaydon loves doing that with his daddy, and I'm glad they get to. Jacoby and I hung out at home and we played Patty Cake, Peek a Boo, and we are trying to teach him where his nose, mouth and eyes are. That boy is something else...I sit him up on the counter while I fix his bottle. (With me standing RIGHT there with him - don't freak out you paranoid readers!) He will point to the bottle first, then I fill it with water. Then he beats on the formula like trying to tell me that it's next. Then he'll grab his cereal. He REALLY knows what order to make his bottle in. It's so cute!

Today was a relaxing day. I didn't leave the house once. I finished up a book I was reading called "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Piccoult. It was pretty good. She's a great author! Then I did 5 loads of laundry and cleaned up a bit. Jeremy and Jaydon went to lunch at Chili's, and then they mowed Aba's lawn. Jeremy hit up Kroger for our weekly groceries, and now we're watching the Cowboys game. Jeremy made some cheese dip, grilled shrimp, and buffalo wings as our football watching treats.

I have a sonogram on Tuesday at 1:40 to confirm the baby's gender, and to get some additional measurements. (Linder's, I will need to leave work by 1:15 on Tuesday - sorry!) Then on Wednesday, we have our ARD meeting at Jaydon's school at 2:30. The vice principal, his teacher, the Speech therapist, a guidance counselor, and Jeremy & I will be there. Good times!
I'll make sure to blog on Tuesday and Wednesday both to fill you in on what went on!

Oh yes - lastly, J3 (that's Jaydon) lost another tooth today. That makes loss #3 for the boy! He wants the tooth fairy to bring a toy and not money. He's too smart, isn't he? Jeremy lives to please his boys, so he said he would go to the store after the game was over to buy him something "small". Ya - we'll see what he comes back with. I told him it has to fit under his pillow. :)

That's it from here!
Talk to y'all in a few days...

What to Say?

It's true - I'm short on commentary today. I don't know what to share, but I'm sure that I'll think of something...

This weekend's weather was SPECTACULAR. We spent tons of time outdoors. We bought Jaydon a basketball net/goal to hang on the trampoline, and he has loved going out there to play. I love it when he plays outside. There's just something about children playing outside - that's where they SHOULD be...not indoors playing video games or watching TV. Those things should be saved for rainy days!

We didn't do much of anything else this weekend. Just hung out, relaxed a bit, cleaned a bit.
Oh...I did go to Sam's on Saturday morning with Andrea to buy some much needed baby stuff. (i.e. diapers, wipes, formula) I had been "using" Andrea (she knows what I mean) to go there since she has a Sam's card. Well, we have a business card through Jeremy's Mom, but it expired and we had been too broke to renew it. We decided on Saturday to stop "using" Andrea, and just renew the darn thing. The guys says, "It's working just fine." SWEET - we didn't have to renew it after all. I was WAY stoked about that. I KNOW that card is expired because we hadn't paid on it since August of 2007, but whatever. I'll take free when I can get it!

We are still trying to find a violin teacher for Jaydon. This has gotten quite frustrating! I'm not sure what else to do at this point when none of the teachers are returning my calls.
I also signed up on a website where they send you teacher referrals, but none of the times I signed up for have matching teachers. I put down that I was available after 5:30 every day but Tuesday, and then all day Saturday and Sunday. My son goes to school - how much more availability can one have?? ARGH!

Everyone knows that I LOVE football...just NOT the Cowboys. I do have to say "GO COWBOYS" tonight. When they play the Eagles, I will always cheer for them. Hopefully they win...we shall see!

Have a GREAT week!

Johnathen & His Violin

I didn't go to work today because my throat had been killing me for 2 days. I really just needed to rest. I forget sometimes that I'm pregnant, and I probably do more than most non-pregnant women. I ended up cleaning house for 6 hours today. Then at 2:25, I picked Jaydon up from school.
He got 4 greens in a row this week - WOO HOO! He says, "Mom, I got a green dot - can we go to McDonald's?" I said, "We can go to McDonald's because you are hungry, NOT because you got a green dot." I don't want him thinking that there is a reward for a green dot when that is what he SHOULD be getting.

So we go to the McDonald's in Bedford on Central Drive after dropping Mark off at home, and going to the bank. We order our food, and go sit down in the play area - 2 girls are screaming...NICE! Why do kids insist on screaming in there? Then to top it off, the mother of those 2 girls is on her cell phone and when they start screaming, she walks back into the restaurant. HELLO EINSTEIN - if you have to walk into the restaurant because ya can't hear your cell phone, then what on Earth do you think the rest of us are feeling? DUH!

Anyway, in walks this little boy about 12 years old - all by himself. He sits at the table next to us and says, "Hello." Jaydon waves at him, and I say hello. Jaydon turns to me and whispers, "Mommy, is that my new friend?" I said, "Sure honey, if you want it to be." So the little boy says, "What is your name?" Jaydon answers, and then the boy says that his name is Johnathen. He goes on to ask me if I knew where Central Jr. High was, and then tells me that he walked from there to the McDonald's, and then he still had to walk a bit further to his Aunt's house. At this point, I'm not sure if Johnathen is an OVERLY friendly pre-teen, (chances of this are SLIM to none) very lonely and needing attention, or possibly suffering from a disability. I'm thinking now that I look back on the situation I'm about to write about that he was probably a little bit slow...

He comes over to our table after he's done eating, and asks if he can play with Jaydon's helicopter from his Happy Meal. Jaydon says "sure" and they both take off to play with it. Johnathen asks me to please watch his violin case and back pack because they are "important". He & Jaydon return to the table, and he tells Jaydon that he has a violin. Jaydon says, "Can you play it for me...PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE?" Johnathen tells him that he will, and says that he isn't very good. He takes the violin out, and Jaydon is practically jumping up and down waiting to hear the violin played. Jaydon says, "Where's your bow? You can't play without a bow." So Johnathen shows him where it is, and lets Jaydon take it out of the case. He pulls out some sheet music and plays Mary Had a Little Lamb while Jaydon sings along. He finishes, and Jaydon starts clapping....along with EVERY other person in that McDonald's play area!! I have never seen such joy come from 2 children in my life. Of course, I'm bawling at the sight. It just makes me think that here are 2 children ages 5 & 12 - one white (Hispanic), one black, probably from two totally different worlds, and they just meshed like they'd known each other all of their lives. They made adults stop and listen to the music. They made children stare, and they made me cry. Jaydon helps him put away his violin and says, "You did a GREAT job." I cry even more. They continue to play in the play area, and then Johnathen has to go. He says "bye" to us and before leaving, he says, "Hasta la Vista"...Jaydon says "adios". Then they do the "See ya later alligator - after a while crocodile" thing. Then Johnathen puts his face up to the window outside and makes a face at Jaydon, and Jaydon calls him "silly" through the glass. They wave to each other...and we may never see Johnathen again. I know one thing is for sure, I will NEVER forget him. He brought something out of my son that I have never seen before. This little boy was an angel.
Jaydon asks why he isn't getting into a car so I explain that some people walk places - LOL. Ya - lazy family that you have, Jaydon. We never walk ANYWHERE.

After this, we went to the library and checked out a ton of books. Haltom City just built a new library, and it's very nice. The lady at the check-out desk asked why she hadn't seen us in so long. It's a nice feeling when people remember your son. (We got a bunch of books just in case we couldn't do anything outdoors this weekend. I wanted to be prepared.)

Our first baseball game was cancelled. It was scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM. We are kind of thankful because we had only been able to practice once and the uniforms just arrived earlier today. It will be rescheduled soon.

Have a great weekend, stay dry, and love every moment that you have with your children...

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is Jeremy's 29th birthday. Your last year in your 20's, babe! (I'm 7-months older than Jeremy, and I don't let him forget it.)

He took the day off and took Jaydon to school this morning. Then we (I also took the day off) went to Wal-Mart for our weekly shopping spree. After that, I stayed home and cleaned house, and he went to play golf at Fossil Creek. He got 12-holes in before it was time to come back home. He said it was nice to play alone for once, and he enjoyed the time alone. I'm SO glad he was able to do that for himself on his birthday!!

We had a conference with Jaydon's teacher today at 2:45. VERY long story short, Jaydon has been having trouble focusing at school. He won't sit down for very long, and he isn't doing things immediately after he is asked. We know that our boy is VERY smart, so the goal for the past 2 years has been getting him to follow rules, and S-O-C-I-A-L-I-Z-E. We made that very clear to the teacher today - that Jaydon was not going to learn ANYTHING in Kindergarten...but getting him to learn how to socialize was #1 on our list. We let her know that Jaydon could teach her class. She said that he is ALWAYS the first one to answer a question; however, he answers without raising his hand - another thing he gets into "trouble" for. She said that she hasn't "had time" to see how smart he is. This is after I asked if he had read to her yet. I will give more details to those of you who want them about the conference through email. We did not leave there with the "warm fuzzies", but it takes SO much stress off of me to have been able to tell her what I have been feeling for the past 2 weeks.

Anyway, we "surprised" Daddy (Jeremy) with a cake, gift, and balloon today. Jaydon and I made him a spice cake - his favorite. Jaydon had everything planned out. The video below is not about what you see, (because you can't see much due to the lighting) but more about what you hear. Tell me who is more excited about the birthday - Jeremy or Jaydon? Jaydon was the one who said that we needed a balloon, party hat, cake, gift, and pizza. (We did without the pizza.)

Happy Birthday, Jeremy! I hope that we can enjoy 60 more years of these birthdays...and still be able to remember them then! hehehe

We love you SO much, and our family would not be complete without you, "BEST DADDY"!
We hope that you enjoyed your day.

OMG - Where are the huevos?

YUP - that's right...the huevos are missing! They are non-existent!

WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!

Can you believe it? After 2 boys, we are now having a little girl. I am 19 weeks, 3 days along today. Her heartbeat was 153, and she weighed 15oz. She will be over one pound by next week. How exciting! My due date was changed from January 25th to January 26th...but that doesn't matter since I have c-sections, she will be born 1-2 weeks before that due date anyway.
The sonographer felt like it was still too early to be 100% for sure. She prefers to give gender after the 20-week mark. I have been going to the same office for 7 years, and I love my sonographer-Robin. She was very frank with me and said, "Don't go painting anything pink yet, but I'm about 65% for sure it's a girl." I told her that I already had 2 boys and I know what a scrotum looks like...and there were NO BALLS on that screen. LOL! She says that I need to come back in 2 weeks to have another sonogram so she can get more measurements and a more accurate gender prediction.
I am certain it's a girl though. In fact, please take note at the bottom of this blog at what time I started this. The first 3 sentences were written and saved at 1:46 PM. My appointment was not until 4:30 PM. Do you think that I already "had a feeling?" :)

Jaydon was SO excited when he heard "girl" at the appointment. He said, "Mom, now I can love my baby blother and sister." (Yes, it's "bLother", not bRother.)
Jeremy was not extremely emotional like he was with the first two, but he's already talking about planning a wedding for her, so I know he will be just fine. He said, "As long as she is healthy, that's all that matters." I couldn't agree more!

Now it's time to start thinking of the "J" names - preferably with 6 letters. We shall see what names we come up with this time around...

Have a GREAT night all!

Jacoby's 8-Month Update

Today, our boy is 8 months old! He is growing up so quickly, and it's scary to think that I will be shedding tears over his starting Kindergarten soon! (OKAY, so that's a stretch, but don't think I haven't already thought about it.)

I don't have a weight this month because my scale doesn't have batteries, and I don't have any spares here in that size. SORRY! :(

You now have teeth #3 & #4. Four teeth total so far...
You now crawl with ease...although you are lazy and prefer to be in that walker just moving all around the house. You even manage to get moving on the carpet in that thing - who knows how!?
You go from the crawling to the sitting position all by yourself, and vice versa.
You know when we aren't in a room. If we leave, you cry. So long as you see a face, you are a happy camper. :)
You are developing a personality of your own. You babble 24/7 and we swear you are trying to talk! If you aren't sleeping, you are busy babbling away!
You grab anything in site, and of course, it all goes to your mouth!!
You have the most contagious, genuine laugh...a heartfelt chuckle. (I promise to videotape this sometime this week!)

I will have a more detailed blog next month since he will go in for his 9-month check-up then.

We love you, Jacoby!

Baby Sarah Grace Garvey Has Arrived!

I had the joy of meeting Sarah today!
She was born at 3:44 PM at Dallas Medical City. She weighed in at 7.0 lbs. even, and she was 19.5 inches long.
She has blonde hair and blue eyes just like her Mommy.

Maddie - her older sister - (seen below) is SO excited to have baby Sarah here.

Congratulations to the Garvey family on their beautiful new addition!

Sarah Grace Garvey

Garvey Family

Rockin' Camping Trip...

...literally!
(More details to follow.)

Our Labor Day weekend was quite enjoyable! We had planned on going camping, but just didn't know where. The Linder's +14 others were going to Albert Pike, Arkansas, and they had room for 1 more tent at the campsite. (3 tents are allowed per site, and they were going to get 2 sites.) We debated it, and then decided to go. Jaydon was SO excited about going camping, and we couldn't let him down.

Jeremy and I used to go camping a lot before we had children - we'd ride his 4-wheeler, and really "rough" it. (i.e. no toilets, no running water, out in the middle of nowhere). This camping trip was "luxurious" because they even had showers. I do have to admit that with children, the toilet and running water are a necessity though.

Here are the things that Jaydon wanted to do while he camped:
1. Sleep in a t-e-n-t. (He insisted on always spelling it.)
2. Go swimming.
3. Go fishing.
4. Catch a BIG fish to bring home to Aba.
5. Roast marshmallows over the fire. "...but I don't eat them, Mom."
6. Listen quietly to the animals.

Well, we accomplished #1, #2, #3, and #6.
With #4...he & Jeremy went fishing 3 different times with no luck. Jaydon was pretty bummed about this, but we explained that even the best fishermen come home empty-handed sometimes, and he was okay with it. (I think that Jeremy was more upset than Jaydon that they couldn't catch anything.)
We didn't accomplish #5 because we only stayed there one night, and Jaydon was SO pooped that first night, that he went to sleep at 6:30 PM and missed the nightly festivities - one of which included roasting marshmallows. He woke up asking about it the next morning, and I showed him the marshmallows by the fire. Then he decided he didn't care since he doesn't like marshmallows anyway. What a stinker!!
We listened to all sorts of animals - some of which I'm not sure about, and I probably don't even need to know what they were.

We went swimming at the river. It was SO rocky! If you could go in there barefooted, you were definitely Superman. I have some TOUGH feet, but I couldn't handle it. With being pregnant, I didn't want to risk slipping and falling on a sharp rock. The water was FREEZING, so I only put my feet in. Jaydon & Jeremy explored for a bit and swam.

We ate some delicious stuff - burgers, hot dogs, chips, dips, snacks, eggs, bacon, sausage, sandwiches. It was great to eat away because you knew you would sweat it off in no time. It was hot during the day, but we had tons of shade which made it bearable. During the evening, early morning, and at night - the temperature was perfect!!

Jaydon had a lot of fun with Ashleigh. They made us laugh quite a few times with their games and conversations.
Jaydon also made Andi laugh a couple of times. At one point right before we left, Jaydon didn't want to eat anything. You know how kids listen to other people better than their parents, right? So Andi told Jaydon that they would race to see who could finish their food the fastest. They started out with ham slices and each ate one. Then they went to Doritos and each ate a few. He was having a BLAST racing her. Andi knows how picky Jaydon is, but since he was actually eating, she pressed her luck. She said, "Look at this box, Jaydon - what does that say?" He says, "Chicken." She says, "Yup, Chicken. You have one, I have one." (It was Chicken in a Biscuit - or whatever those crackers are called.) She puts one in front of him, and one in front of her, and then squirts it with a little cheese. She says, "On your mark, get set, go...". Jaydon looks at her and says, "This is not a race anymore." Then he proceeds to flip the cracker over on his napkin. He looks at her like - I'm not stupid! Little devil - it's only a race when it's convenient for you, huh? Thanks Andi, for making my son eat something!!!

Everyone else stayed for 2 nights. We had to get back to Jacoby who was staying with Aba at her house so that's why we only stayed for 1 night.

The camping trip was so much fun! Thank you Linder's, Harris's, and everyone else who went for making it such a fun trip. We will definitely be back - IF we get invited again. :)

We didn't even turn our camera on until the end of the first day. We were so busy "being one with nature", that we didn't think to take pictures. It was REALLY pretty there!

Enjoy the pics below...

Yes, we know that they weren't going to catch a 10-pounder in water that shallow! :)

80% of the Rogers Family - Missing Jacoby who was w/Aba

50% of the Linder Family - Ash & Andi

50% of the Harris Family - Kevin & Sydney

The Rogers' Tent

Swimming Area