Halloween

Trunk or Treat was so much fun this year! Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so Becky took a picture of me and Jackson using my phone. He looks funny... but it's the only picture I have! He was a skeleton and I was a doctor. When we got to the judges for the costume contest they said "Oh, that's good... you are a doctor and he is an x-ray!" I said "Sure..." and just went with that idea although I wasn't creative enough to think of that. We didn't win so apparantly the judges weren't as impressed with their idea as I was :)

I really wish that Luis could have been there, but I got the start time mixed up and by the time I realized we were already late (and live 30 minutes from Church)... he wasn't ready. (I wanted him to be a construction guy... easy for him... and wear his hard hat and tool belt.) He had been working outside all day and still wasn't done. He wasn't going to go all sweaty and nasty so he stayed and worked some more. Becky passed out candy with her friends at my car and I went around with Jackson and Jacob (in the stroller). It was so cute hearing Jax say "trick or treat"... usually it was only the treat part that made it out of his mouth, smart kid :) It was so funny because a couple of the cars had scary music and one even had a huge blow up black cat tent thing. Jackson ran away and wouldn't go near these cars. I had to calm him down after each one. Scardy cat! He got plenty of candy. I didn't dress Jacob up. I was going to borrow a superman costume from my friend, but I just never got around to picking it up from her... so he was the lamest baby there! Oh well, he was content to eat is crackers in the stroller while we had fun. He even got his first taste of hot dog! He's too young, I know... but I forgot a bottle and he was hungry, so I shared mine. He LOVED it, of course! When we came home, we shared some candy and Jax watched Bonanza with Papa Lew while we made pizza. After Jax went to bed we all watched Tales from the Crypt! Lame, but still disturbing at some parts! Overall, it was a fun Halloween(eve).

The most traumatic event of Jackson's life...

What happened??? We don't exactly know. This is what we do know... it was BAD!!!

Yesterday, Jackson woke up crying and screaming like he was being tortured and was dying as he hobbled into our room with a major limp in his right leg. I immediately thought his leg was VERY asleep and it was freaking him out or something... He could barely walk on his leg. I had to support him and he was crying so much. Even through breakfast! Luis and Danny tought maybe he had a charlie horse when he woke up and the leg was sore from it, and that's why he was still in pain. I tried to distract him with a movie, but anytime he moved his leg even a little, he would freak out. I tried to distract him with toys but he cried and begged for help anytime he needed to move! It was funny because I thought he was totally exaggerating but maybe he wasn't... I called mom at some point in the morning. She said it might be growing pains. She said that Megan would do the same thing when she was little and they assumed it was just growing pains. By late afternoon he was fine. This morning he woke up with no sign of a problem!

Jackson's progress

Jackson is doing so well with his speech! He can say almost all the ABCs and he can count to 10 and can even recognize the numbers. He says most letters perfact except 6 and 7. He struggles with those and says "he" for 6 and I can't even pronounce what he says for 7... but it is always the same, so in his mind, he is saying 6 and 7!!! It is really cute! He will be so ready for school! I am going to buy him some preschool workbooks that we can do together at home so he can learn to write. Jax now copies what I say. We have taught him to ask "Can I have..." and he now says it on his own, without prompting from us. So that is so exciting. I figured the 2 most frustrating things for kids who don't speak well are parents not knowing what they want and not knowing how they feel. So, now Jackson can express what he wants. I think now I will teach him "I feel..." (mad, sad, happy, etc). I will keep you updated on how that's going. Here is a video of Jackson counting and some cute pictures.

Sorry I haven't written much lately... there really isn't anything going on. I've started planning Christmas at Mom and Dave's! We hope to be able to stay a week (no dates yet) and during that time we want to go to Nauvoo. It is 4 hours from where they live, so it will be a fun overnight trip I think. Anyone want to join us??? PLEASE! It would be fun to have a lot of us there, like we did 2 years ago in CA! Well, I'll blog more when something happens in our lives!

Pictures

Here are some more pictures!


Jackson got a brand new Lightening McQueen car and he insists on taking his cars everywhere with him... to dinner, to the bathroom, in the car... everywhere!


This is what happens when Jackson wears his socks outside... almost all of his socks are like this... time to buy new socks!


Jake likes to chase Jackson!


Jake is trying grapefruit for the first time ever! He didn't like it.


Silvia decorated this cake for a baby shower. I was very impressed!


Jake bit into a lemon!!!


Jackson wearing grandma's glasses. Possibly a preview of Jackson in the future... when he inherits both his parents' bad eyesight ???


Father-son time... so sweet

...and another!

Poor Jackson! He now has whatever bug Jake had. He was fine when he woke up but then around 11 I put in a movie for him to watch and during it I took him potty and realized he was BURNING UP! Fever of 102! Thankfully it came down to 100 with Tylenol and now he is napping, but he was so miserable for a while. Couldn't get comfortable and was tossing and turning. (And to make it worse, I was washing his favorite blanket... so he was really upset he couldn't have it!) But he had a popsicle and was drinking juice just fine... so he will hopefully be over this very soon. It only lasted about 2-3 days with Jake. It doesn't help that my allergies are going crazy right now. Sick momma with sick hids is no fun. I am starting to wonder if I am allergic to dogs or birds or chickens or horses... or SOMETHING around here... maybe it's not hayfever allergies like I assume. I take an allergy pill everyday and have tried 2 different kinds, Claritin and Zyrtec, and neither keep the misery away! :) I guess I just have to put up with it while I am here in the valley. Which reminds me... I feel like I am WASTING MY LIFE AWAY waiting for the Secret Service! Still no word.

Sick once again!

Poor Jacob is sick! He has a fever and diarrhea. He hasn't been sleeping well at night you can just see in his face that he is uncomfortable! Thank goodness for Tylenol!

(Yes, Kaylee- the shoes in the last post were from Jesse! So cute!)

Our friend posted some pictures of Jake on her facebook... go look, really cute stuff! http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?aid=2039874&id=202603061

Update

Many things have be n going on! I have included some pictures... but first, some NEWS!

Luis finally called! He talked to the office manager that he has a pretty good relationship with and she said that they haven't heard any updates on the status of his application... she said "no news is good news"... she said that the office will be notified before Luis is if he is rejected, so at least we know he's not rejected yet! She had sent an email to DC last week when Luis emailed her... and no word yet, so she will try again. At least we know that there is still a chance!

The bad news- I got a ticket. The good news- I deserved 2 and the cop only gave me 1 :) I got pulled over for speeding and I was at a stop light by the time I noticed the flashing lights, so I really had no idea how fast I was going. Turns out I was going 30 mph over... The limit was 45 and I was clocked at 72. Now, the cop lectured me enough... and I don't speed like that on purpose. I was honestly just totally distracted... and here's why. I know it sounds stupid... Lately I have been listening to the Christian radio station and I absolutely love it. So, one of my favorite songs was playing and I was getting really into it and singing really loud and loving it... not at all noticing that in my excitement over praising Jesus... my foot was pretty heavy on the pedal! Anyways... everything went downhill from there. I had left my wallet at home so I had no driver's license on me. Thankfully I had the proof of insurance in the car. Then the cop noticed that my inspection sticker was expired. This is how the conversation went.

Cop: "Do you know your sticker is expired?"
Me: "Yes, the border patrol just pointed it out to me"
Cop: "wait, why did border patrol point it out, did they pull you over"
Me (thinking, oh crap, now I need to prove I am not illegal): "They noticed it at the checkpoint on the way to San Antonio... as they let me through"
Cop: "It expired in February! What month is it now?"
Me: "October"
Cop: "THAT'S 8 MONTHS!!!"

Totally embarrassing. Anyway, he started asking me about my license plate (my plates read "CASH-4-U" (for the business, ya know) and eventually he said, "Well, I won't write you up for the speeding because that is going to kill you with insurance... but I will give you a ticket for the expired inspection." !!!!! I was so surprised... that would have been a $300 speeding ticket plus the increase in insurance cost! I was so thankful because when he was back by my license plate filling out the info, before he said he'd let me off the hook, I was praying "Heavenly Father, please let this cop have mercy on me and my broke bank account!" I think my prayer was answered because although I broke the law, I did it while singing praises to the Lord :)

The inspection guy told me that tickets for expired stickers usually are around $200 but that the judge will waive it with an inspection receipt. That's what the cop told me too... so hopefully the fact that it is SOOOO expired won't count against me. Not sure I feel too confident in getting off the hook with this one. I learned my lesson though :)




Jacob's first shoes... which are still a little too big and fell off several times.


These are the scripture bags the kids made at the primary activity. HOW CUTE ARE THOSE??? They loved it.




Luis got me this necklace as a surprise! They are genuine emeralds, not lab created and they are gorgeous! The necklace is so heavy. He didn't even know it was my birth stone. I'm a lucky girl!