JC Penney Pictures

Earlier this year, Sears closed all of their photography studios.  This made me very sad because I loved the one in North Little Rock - they were super nice and were willing to do whatever this creative-minded mama asked.  I always try to do pictures of J this time of year, along with some pictures of us as a family.   This year, we went to JPC in the McCain Mall.  While the pictures turned out good, I didn't have as good of an experience as we did at Sears.  They gave us 20 minutes, which limited us to what we wanted to do because J needed some time to warm up.

Anyway, here's the results.  Despite my irritations, they did get J to smile, so I'll be happy with that!

I did not pick this one out to purchase, but we got them free because they messed up on another photo.  (That also caused some of my frustration). 

Big Boy Bed

I've been meaning to post about this for a few months now, but of course life has gotten in the way.  Back at the beginning of October, Jackson figured out how to climb out of his crib during nap time.  He never did it at night, but considering he went head first, it was time to change to a toddler bed.  I held out as long as I could, but deep down I knew it was time.  So the next weekend, Brent got the front off of the bed and put up the toddler railing.

And boy did we rock his world.  The first night, he stayed in the bed, although he was intrigued by the new open space in his bed.  But it went downhill from there.  He finally realized that he had a lot of freedom, and my sweet baby who has always gone to bed easily went right out the door.  We tried spankings, we tried cuddling and back scratching, and we tried changing up his routine to spend more time in his room before turning the light off.  Nothing worked.  Each time we left the room, he got up and would come back to where we were.  It was so baffling to me too because we didn't change anything else about his room.  He had the same sheets, blankets, stuffed animals, same room.  I just couldn't figure it out.

So I had to resort to a toddler door knob cover.  We're not technically locking him in his room because he can get the cover off if he really wants, but it's a close second.  After we put that up, he would get up and scratch on the door and cry.  He also fell asleep right in the floor in front of the door - so close that we couldn't even open the door without pushing him out of the way.  I consulted the doctor, and she said to keep doing what we're doing.  While I hated for him to sleep in the floor, I hated even more for me to lose my precious sleep.

All of that took about six weeks to get him adjusted to the change.  Now, when we put him down, he may not stay in the bed, but he will eventually get back in it and go to sleep.  Nap time has always been and still is tricky at home.  Before the toddler bed, I could put him down even if he was awake and crying, but now we have to put him down asleep, which usually means a quick nap for mama, so I don't mind.

So while all of this has been challenging, I've been a little sad because it means that little baby that I brought home is even further away.  But he's growing every day into a healthy, smart little boy, so I'll be grateful for that.

Icemageddeon

Ah - nothing like Christmastime in Arkansas.  one week it's coming an ice storm, and then a few weeks later, there's so much rain we're building an ark.  Two weeks ago, we headed south to stay with Mimi and Pops over the weekend.  Starting earlier in the week, the weather people were calling for an ice storm, and by Wednesday, the electric company said be prepared to be without power for 5-7 days.  Having no way to heat our house, we hit the road and headed south.

Mimi and Pops have gas logs, and if their power were to go out, we'd all load up and start driving further south.  Luckily it didn't get that bad, and we enjoyed time a restful time together before the holidays got in full force.

Of course we ate at Hoots on Friday night.  It was so yummy!  

Can you say spoiled?  Jackson gets his Mimi to feed him ice cream. 

We made cookies on Sunday night.  By this time we had just about run out of activities to do, so we made some peanut butter cookies. 

We went home on Monday morning to make sure the roads were all better, and we did have a little bit of ice left when we got home.  We never lost power, so we could have stayed at home the entire time, but I wasn't willing to take that chance.  Plus, it was a great break that allowed us to rest and enjoy our family.  

Pinteresty Project

When my grandmother passed away back in April, we found a lot of sewing supplies at her house.  She has always sewn and made a lot of her own clothes, so it wasn't surprising that she had a lot of spools of thread.  In fact, it was all in a wooden basket that my mom almost put in the goodwill pile, and in a moment of sentimentality, I grabbed it and put it in my car.

I didn't know what to do with all of this thread since I don't sew, so I turned to Pinterest to help inspire me.  I wanted to do something special with it for my mom and aunt, so I found this picture and that helped me get started.  

 I went to Hobby Lobby with the picture above in mind, and when I walked the aisles, I thought it'd be good to put it on a frame with a cute background. And this is what I ended up with. 

A lot of her spools were vintage - wooden spools that cost her 15 cents.  Several of them still had the green Walmart sticker on them as well.  

They were all different sizes too.  For my mom's picture, I used the smaller spools, and for my Aunt Debbie's, I put the larger ones in the middle with the smaller ones on the outside. 

Because they were all different colors, I hot glued some ribbon around the spools so that it would match the background.  What I wanted to stand out was the end of the spools, not necessarily the thread.  

I tried craft glue, but that was hard to get it to stick, so I turned to hot glue and that worked great.  

The frame was an unpainted one and I stained it first.  Once that was dry, I took a piece of scrapbook paper and trimmed it down to fit the backing of the frame.  Once that was in, I set all of the spools where I wanted them to go and then hot glued them onto the paper one by one.  I started at the bottom and then did one at the top to help me stay centered.  For my mom's frame, I used red colors, but for Aunt Debbie's, I used green since she said that was one of her favorite colors.  

I have another idea that I'm working on for me, my sister, and my cousins to use the rest of the spools that I have, but I'm not finished with it.  I hope to do that this weekend so I can get them in the mail just in time for Christmas.  

I thought these turned out great and it is a great way to remember a part of my Nannie.  

The Many Faces of Jackson

Jackson has been learning about emotions at school.  Here is his happy face. 

Excited face

Mad face

Sad face

The best face! 

So Much To Be Thankful For!

Jackson had a Thanksgiving Feast at school the week before Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately I did not get to attend, but I did send some treats.  I had two bags of leftover candy corn, so I bought some treat bags and made "turkey toes."

The other thing I made was Indian Corn.  Basically it's a rice krispy treat made out of Kix cereal with a lollipop stick.  It was sticky and tasted OK.  Not sure I'd make it again, but it looked cute. 

Last week, I was off all week and it was so nice!  I got the Christmas decorations out, ran errands, cooked, and relaxed.  It was definitely much needed.  On Thursday, we had Thanksgiving at my sister's house in Bryant.  I fixed a couple of sides and they fried a turkey.  Mom fixed some casseroles and Josh's mom made the dressing and rolls.  It was all so yummy!

Jackson went to Mimi and Pops' house in Bryant on Tuesday afternoon and spent a few nights there.  Of course he had a great time.  

Josh carving the turkey. 

The delicious pies! 

You think someone likes bread?  

After Josh's family left, we continued to watch football and relax.  Then it came time to eat again, so we ordered pizza and it was so good!  

It was cold that night, so Mr. J needed his toboggan on. 

This is a very special picture of me and my sister, Sarah.  This was right after we found out that I get to be an aunt next June!  They had invited all of their family to lunch, and during the prayer gave thanks for us and the new bundle of joy that will be joining us soon.  Everybody was so surprised, but I had had a suspicion that something was up the last couple of times I saw her.  We're so excited to have another baby in the family and another cousin for Jackson!    

Fall Family Picnic

The last week of October was CRAY-CRAY!  I was in an 8-week leadership class at work that ended on the day after Halloween.  I had a big presentation that morning, and then the next day was the SPP Fall Picnic.  Of which I am in charge of logistics, so there was no rest for the weary.  We headed to Maumelle Park that morning and it was rather chilly, but the leaves were perfect.  

SPP has some great photographers and I had asked one to take some photos of people if they wanted one of their family.  She did pretty good, given that my child would not cooperate and my husband was wearing a hat.  

This is my friend/partner at work, Tara.  She's pretty awesome to work with and we enjoy talking during the day (I know she reads my blog).  Seriously, she is a very sweet person and a great friend.  

Jackson was so good that day, despite only having a 30 minute nap.  We were both exhausted when we got home that night.  We took a nap from 6-6:30 that night! 

Another successful event and I'm glad everybody had a good time, and I'm even more glad it's over!