Sweet 16

Now, whenever I say that phrase, I hear it to the tune of "My Super Sweet 16," the show that was/is?? on MTV. But I'm not talking about an episode of the show, I'm talking about Alex's Super Sweet 16 weekend. Sixteen is a pretty big milestone, and Alex is a pretty special girl.

And that's why we had so much fun celebrating her birthday up in Portland this weekend. My parents, Alex, and four of her closest friends piled into the car and headed our way for a fun-filled weekend of shopping, pampering, indulging, and more shopping.

It all started with a *surprise* stretch Hummer. (Alex knew we were heading downtown to do some shopping, but she had no idea we be doing it in style!) We headed downtown feeling like celebrities, music cranked and the peach sparkling cider was flowin'. Our first stop was VooDoo Donuts, and if you haven't had one, you should! We took a mini tour of downtown Portland, then headed up to NW 23rd and popped into a couple of cute shops up there. Finally, the driver dropped us down at The Nines, which is where we stayed for the night.

We had dinner at The Melting Pot, delicious! I mean, cheese and chocolate, how could you go wrong?? And finally, it was time to head back to the hotel. Matt got some fun pictures of the girls downtown that night, and all-in-all, I'd say everyone had a fun night, especially the birthday girl!

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALEX!!!!! I can't believe she's as old now as I was when she was born! My baby sister isn't a baby anymore! But, I'm so glad we were able to celebrate with her. She really is quite an incredible young woman, and we are so proud of her! Love you, Ali Bobba aka Bob aka Bobbert aka Big Al :)

Wordless(ish) Wednesday

Snow Day

We took one today. Since we never really had any snow last week, we piled into the car and headed up to the mountain. Jackson is always begging to go outside and I figured snow was much more fun to play in than rain. Although, Jackson wasn't so sure when we first arrived.

He didn't want to feel it, didn't want to stomp around in it. In fact, he just wanted Mom to carry him. Wow. We might have come a long way to get bundled up and carry Jackson around? So we headed into one of the ski shops to try to find Jackson some boots. Didn't find boots, but we did find some nice warm gloves for Jackson. And I guess that was all he needed. We walked out the door and he pretty much jumped into the snow!

We had a great day walking around playing in the snow. Eating a little snow. Throwing a few snowballs. Of course, when it was time to head home, we had to drag Jackson, kicking and screaming! But nothing a little chips and guacamole couldn't cure when we stopped for some lunch on our way home. He really is his Mommy's son.

Rose Bowl Champs

I can't believe it's taken me this long, but how 'bout them DUCKS!! Yay! We were so excited to finally see our DUCKS win a bowl game. Although, as Ron said, we can't go to any future bowl games. We have traveled to the last two (Rose Bowl in 2010 and the National Title game last year) only to see our team lose. I guess he has a point.

Plus, we enjoyed watching the game from the comfort of our own couch. Although, I have to admit, it looked pretty nice down there in Pasadena! We were able to enjoy the game with Jackson and we had a bounty of snacks that didn't cost us an arm and a leg!

So, we look forward to next season and hopefully another opportunity to win a major bowl game. WE LOVE OUR DUCKS!!

Wordless(ish) Wednesday

Mom, I'm on the phone

1st Haircut

Jackson needs one. Matt and I go back and forth on this. I say cut it. Matt says no. I think his argument is that since Jackson doesn't seem to be able to grow hair on the top of his head, he can make up for it by growing a mullet.

I put his hair into a ponytail tonight after his bath, sure that this would make Matt realize how much our little BOY needed a haircut. Nope. He thought it was awesome. Wow. I looked at Jackson after I had put his hair into a ponytail and thought, if Jackson is bald or going bald when he is in his mid-forties, this is how he may wear his hair. And that scared me. Next thing you know, he'll have a tattoo.

So, I'm going to keep pushing for that haircut. Either that or Jackson can go as Ponyboy next Halloween...

Wordless(ish) Wednesday (on Friday)

Ok, life happened this week and I missed my wordless(ish) Wednesday for this week, but it actually worked out because I got this cute picture last night:

No pants, but I gotta have my sweet kicks on. This might be a lesson for "No shirt, No shoes, No service," No pants should be added in there too.

And.......

We're back! It's been a loooooong couple of weeks, but we survived Christmas and New Years with an awful cold smushed in the middle.

We had such a great Christmas! It's always so great to have everyone together, although we did miss my cousin Heidi, her husband Dwight, and baby Harry. But we had a great time playing "the game," with a few different rules this year. The hot items of the year were a reusable shopping bag, a snowman picture frame and a mini bottle of Patron. Jackson was interested in the gifts, mostly the ones that weren't addressed to him. But he also loved the bags and tissue paper.

I think it was my brother who referred to it as the "Christmas hangover, " but I totally agree, the day(s) after Christmas are kind of a bummer. And with a yucky, stuffy cold, it's even worse. With 20 people, 3 dogs, a 3 year old and a 1 year old, well, there was a little bit to clean up. And that's after my Mom spent the better part of Monday cleaning! YIKES!!



Cleaning with a stuffy head and sick toddler on your leg is not ideal. Luckily, Great Grandma came through with the tissue reserves on Christmas! Everytime I turned around someones nose needed to be wiped, so much so that by Thursday, Jackson was grabbing his own tissues and wiping his own nose!

But we did a little bit each day and by New Years Eve we had almost all of the decorations down and the house cleaned up. I told Matt, I think the last time I spent this much time in my pjs was the week Jackson was born! And I think this is the first New Years I haven't made it to midnight!

That's OK though, it just makes my resolution that much easier: make it to midnight next year! And so far, 2012 is off to a great start! Our Ducks are Rose Bowl champs, our household is healthy (well, almost), Jackson gets more and more fun each day and we are so excited for all of our adventures this year! Hope you'll join us!