Happy Birthday, Paxton!!!

On a cold, snowy Saturday six years ago (well, six years ago as of February 4th), we picked out Pax from a (then) local animal shelter, and expanded our family :)  He is THE best dog!  The proof is he wins over all of our non-dog-people friends ;)  Luckily Pax forgave us for his first traumatizing night when we thought it would be fun to go to Pet Smart since you can take the dogs inside!  Pax thought it was the opposite of fun :(  Anyways, we love our furry family member!  He definitely doesn't get as much attention as he once did, so we wanted to make this birthday special!  We invited our neighborhood friends over yesterday afternoon to celebrate Paxton's birthday!  The kids in the neighborhood LOVE Pax--he is quite the popular guy :)  

 I made some dog treats for Pax and cookies for the kids using this recipe:   All I did for the kid ones was dip them in chocolate.

 Even though this was just supposed to be a casual snack-time party, Paxie was a lucky guy and got a new squeaky toy and a box of treats!

 All of the girls (and Jackson) made birthday cards for Pax!  They were so cute!  And, yes, my dog even has a memory box, so these will all go in there :)

 Jackson and Levi--the only guys at the party besides the birthday pup!  Jackson LOVES Baby Levi--a sign of good things to come, right???

 After we sung "Happy Birthday" to Pax, snack time commenced :)

Happy 7th birthday, Waxie Bear!!!  You are THE best dog and we love you so much :)

JaxPax

 Earlier this week Jackson kept telling me to take a picture!  I would look and he's be posing with Pax wanting a good picture taken!  Paxton has ALWAYS known exactly when I'm going to take pictures and always moved. 

  Then Jackson would chase him to try to get him to pose again, and that of course, didn't work. 

  Finally, we did get a good shot, but I thought the other pictures of the process were cute too :)

This Boy LOVES His Doggie!

After a crazy week of being "shipped off" to play with friends while Mommy and Daddy worked on projects, Jackson and I had a nice in-between week off :) Josh was actually off for a couple of days, but for the most part we had a normal week.  On Monday morning, Jackson found his bunny ears and frog boots and posed with his Easter balloon being silly :)  I just loved how cute and squeezable he looked!

Kisses for Paxton!  Jackson LOVES his puppy more than ever these days.  He starts each morning off asking where Paxie Bear is?  That is one of Josh and my nicknames for Pax, and it has totally caught on with Jackson.  It is the sweetest thing to watch him search the house for Pax and to sometimes click his tongue and call for him like we do.  He also loves playing in all of the "tunnels" we have in this house (anything that he can go through or under is a tunnel).

Happy 6th Birthday Paxton!

Today Paxton turns 6!  We have only had him for five of those years, but we have definitely made the most of them!  I find myself thinking a lot about the whole adoption process, and I hope that Pax is happy that we are the ones that chose to bring him home :)  He definitely does not get as much attention as he did in the beginning, but he seems to like the perks of being a big brother (i.e. extra snacks)!  I'm hoping to make some doggie treats with Jackson this weekend that we can pass out to Pax's doggie friends...

Summer Days in Evanston: Jackson's First Chore!

Jackson LOVES feeding Pax! He loves feeding him his meals or treats--he's not particular. He is a great advocate for Pax and is always trying to give him extra--that might be why they are such good friends... :)

Time for breakfast, Pax!

Here Mimi. Let me hold that for you.

The food goes in the bowl.

Make sure you keep sitting, Pax!

All gone!

Make sure you get them all!

Let me put these away. I know where they go!

Playdates Galore!

We have been so lucky to have TWO playdates at our house this week! Katherine, Colin, and Liam came over yesterday. Stephanie and Lily came over today! Unfortunately, we didn't get many pictures of the boys from yesterday. I did get this cute video of Jackson pushing Liam on the fire truck.

The faster it went, the happier they were! That also made for a nervous Dana and Katherine! They had a great time, and I was so proud of Jackson sharing with Liam! All of the boys seemed to have a really good time actually playing WITH each other!

I was able to take some really cute pictures of Lily playing with the boys this morning! She LOVES Pax, which is so cute! He was quite happy to shower her with kisses :)

Lily really enjoyed playing with Jackson's trucks and was super excited when she got a turn with the fire truck!

We got these awesome storage shelves and bins the other night and the boys are still figuring out where everything lives. James took some time to show Lily where some of the toys were.

Stephanie held an impromptu storytime for everyone's favorite book, "Doggie" by Sandra Boynton! Pax seemed to enjoy it too :)

The boys made sure Lily knew about their favorite activity: standing on the futon to keep an eye on the neighborhood! I love how much love Pax and Stephanie are giving each other in these pictures :)

Summer Days

The other morning, Jackson emptied out the book bin and put a few toys from each "category" in. He then took the bin over to the futon and lifted it up by Pax. It was as if he was saying, "Here are some of my favorite things, in case you feel like playing!" So cute :)

The boys had such a good time initiating the pool into our routine (hopefully!)! The water was a little cooler than I was expecting after being in the sun all afternoon, but they got right in and didn't even flinch! Jackson started using a shovel right away to splash and James just checked things out. Once he figured out he could walk across the pool, the smile broke out big time! He had a good time fishing the weighted sticks off of the bottom of the pool. He also was way more interested in soaking himself than Jackson was! He used the shovel to fling water in the air (and on Jackson and me). Then he used the watering can to get even wetter!

As predicted Jackson became more interested in climbing in and out, in and out, in and out of the pool! He also wanted to play with this little gator car that rolls. He didn't quite get that he could roll it on the bottom of the pool... He got out and played with it on the deck for a little while. Then he made a fun game for himself: he filled the watering can in the pool, took it over to Pax's bowl, filled the bowl, dumped out the bowl, went back to the pool to repeat!

Neither Jackson nor James had any trouble coming in when it was time to be finished. I definitely see us making good use of the pool during our summer days!

Big Helper

Jackson has discovered the fun of feeding Paxton treats! For a while now he would stretch up on his tippy-toes to reach the treat I put by the door while we were on the way out. The other day I handed Jackson the treat, and he walked right over to the gate and fed it to Pax! It was super cute! However, he first had to sample the treats to make sure they were good enough for his beloved puppy...



Another way Jackson likes to help out is by dumping his diapers in the Diaper Champ! Last night we tossed his wet diaper into his bedroom while getting ready for bath time. When we went in later for bedtime, he picked up the diaper and marched it right over to the Diaper Champ. It was hilarious!

Weekend Update

We have had a nice, low-key weekend. Friday was a great Mommy-Jackson day :) We ran some fun errands (well, I thought so and Jackson seemed happy to accompany me!) and had lunch at Panera. After we got home from our morning outing, I was downstairs checking e-mail and it seemed awfully quiet upstairs... I actually wasn't too worried that there was trouble, I was nervous Jackson has fallen asleep! Sometimes he naps in the morning, and sometimes he just has quiet time. I never really know unless we are in the car mid-morning. If he starts to fall asleep earlier than usual, then I know he just had quiet time. This was the case on Friday! I had to bring in Jackson's car seat to adjust the straps to a higher slot (too windy to stand outside and do!) and Jackson was having the best time with his car seat inside! When I got upstairs to check on him, I found Jackson just relaxing in his seat with his truck. So funny!


Yesterday Jackson and I went to our friend Lily's first birthday party! Jackson had a good time playing with Lily's toys. He especially liked sharing her really cool push-cart! He also enjoyed sharing my piece of cake--the frosting was a particular winner! Last night we had a family date to Firehouse Subs for dinner. Jackson had a great time watching all of the going-ons. The chip rack needed to be re-filled while we were there--oh, such entertainment!

Today has been a nice hang-around-the-house day. The biggest excitement so far has been trying on Paxton's collar! Jackson loves playing Paxie's tags, and he seemed so excited to have them around his own neck. Paxton was a gracious big brother and shared his collar for quite a while...


We are meeting James and his mom and dad for dinner and some hang-out time later. We will also go out and enjoy the somewhat nice weather! That's right, the snow is definitely melting! We are welcoming March with open arms :)

Seen Around the House

I'm embarrassed to say that Jackson's favorite toy upstairs is the toilet brush! LOL He found it in the bathroom one day and was hooked... I bought new ones the other day and he grabbed them out of the bag and walked around like this for a good, long while!

Paxton has been much more cuddly lately, which we LOVE! He especially likes to sit down near us when we are reading a story. Perhaps I should get him a library card?

James was having a sit in Jackson's little chair yesterday, but of course Jackson wanted in on the action. They seemed pretty excited about sitting together :)

This truck was Jackson's first favorite toy from early on. He has kept enjoying it, but recently it is always in his hand! Especially in the morning. It is the first toy he goes to get after finishing breakfast. The reason this picture is funny is that I got out my camera to take a picture of him with his favorite truck (he was especially cute this morning) and he ran over to his chair for me to take the picture there. Apparently he has caught on that this is a good picture-taking spot!

This week has been pretty quiet and uneventful. We went to storytime on Monday and both boys colored in pictures of ladybugs! It was really cute :) I experimented with Jackson coloring last week when I took him by himself. This week I figured we might as well give it a shot with both boys coloring! It was cute and fun!

The weather has been a bit warmer so the snow is melting, slowly but surely. Since school is back in session, the sidewalks on our main street are plowed nicely. This lets us get out for shorter walks. It's still a little challenging, but better than nothing!

President's Day Weekend

Yesterday I took Jackson to story time by himself for the first time! It is still a great outing when James is with us, but it was fun to go just Mommy and Jackson :) We haven't done much in the way of experimenting with crayons, so Jackson tried it out at the end of story time. He colored a little of the dinosaur picture and then got a sticker! He is pretty excited that I put his picture on the fridge :)

We had a great weekend, overall. We are getting used to having Josh home for extended periods of time...Yesterday was our first non-cranky day for a few days. It was great! I'm hoping that Jackson was just finishing getting whatever sickness out of his body that might still be lingering. His rash was pretty much the same as of Friday but I decided not to take him in since he seemed ok otherwise. That was a good decision since Saturday morning his face, back, and tummy were like new again! It was magic! Over the last couple of days his arms and legs have gotten better too. Everything just worked its way out! He still is a little congested from his cold, but it's also just that yucky time of year when everything is so dry. Glad to have that behind us!

We had a nice, low-key Valentine's Day. We definitely don't make a big deal about anything, but Josh and I started the tradition a few years ago to have dinner at Chipotle. This year we changed it to Qdoba since there is one close by and we had a coupon :) Josh and Jackson woke me up in the morning with a homemade card and then Josh ran out to get our favorite breakfast burritos for brunch! Jackson and I had a trip to the grocery store, we took a family walk, and then we left for our family dinner!

Jackson was super cute yesterday! He had such a good time playing with Paxton yesterday--mostly the playing consisted of Jackson following Pax around trying to give kisses! Jackson also enjoyed kissing Daddy through the railing of the stairs for each stair he went up! So cute! He has continued to be super snuggly today too--I love it!

Happy 5th Birthday Paxton!

Today we are celebrating Pax's 5th birthday! Animal House Shelter did not know his exact birthday, but knew he was about a year old. We decided that his birthday would be the day we got him! So, he's five, but he's only been a beloved, furry member of our family for four :) The picture above is from the day we got him! If the shot included the deck outside, you would see snow. Are we seeing a theme here?

Jackson helping Paxton celebrate by playing trucks :)

For a birthday treat, Paxie gets to stand in for a racetrack!

Kisses for yummy faces!

Birthday greetings from the JAS and JAM!

Today has also been fun because I have been blown two very deliberate kisses! When I was sick in bed a few weeks ago, Josh taught Jackson the sign for "thank you." Jackson decided to make it an all in one sign and add a smack of the lips so it was a thank you kiss! He did a bunch of times that day and used it quite appropriately. However, we have not seen it since :( This morning, Jackson ate some breakfast and then got SO upset when he finished one thing. I had to get him out of his seat because he was so hysterical. After calming down and playing for a bit, he asked for a pretzel. I gave him one and he did his thank you kiss! I made a really big deal about it so hopefully he would do it again. He did it one other time this morning! It is super cute!!!