Summer Fun

Now that we're 3 weeks into summer vacation, we've fully established a schedule of no schedule at all.   This summer is actually going to be shorter than summers past and I'm finding we haven't done as much fun stuff as I'd like...I'm finding I've got to pick up the pace and get off my lazy buns (actually its not that I'm COMPLETELY lazy, I spend most of my day nursing this oinker of a baby I have).  Heres a little piece of our summer so far.

Jonah sure loves his baby brother!  He can't get enough of him.  He loves to read to him...or rather Jonah explains the pictures and Jamen wanders aimlessly into space.

Jaxon is his Aunt Carina's little helper.  He helps her cook, walk her dog, and he LOVES to drive in her car and run errands...doesn't matter where, just as long as he gets to be in her car.

Jaxon discovered a new favorite show..."Super Why" on PBS.  He's actually only seen a few episodes we downloaded on Netflix, but he's convinced that he's "Alpha Pig."  

He wears Jonah's chemist goggles and carries a plastic hammer, magnifying glass, and his metal Toy Story toolbox around singing Alpha Pig's ABC's song and tells everyone "I'm Alpha Pig!!" I've got to hand it to Alpha Pig though, he's taught Jax his alphabet better than I have!

One day Alpha Pig Jax found my breast pump and asked what it was.  I told him, so he decided he needed to try it himself.  He's adamant that he produces milk too.  When nothing came out, he decided it wasn't his lack of milk that was the problem, but the pump must be broken.  Then he whipped out his hammer and said, "I'll fix it!"  Thanks Alpha Pig!

Gramma got a new slip 'n' slide, so naturally the boys had to test it for her.  Jonah had the time of his life.  It was SO much fun watching him.  I love to see the pure joy and excitement in my children's eyes.  There are few greater joys for me.

He slipped...

he slided...

he splished...

and he splashed.

There was so much fun being had!

And out came Captain Underpants!

Jaxon wanted so badly to have as much fun as Jonah, but he didn't know quite what to do...he'd forgotten his slip 'n' slide skills from last summer.  He sat on his bum and tried to slide...that didn't work.  So he tried his knees...that didn't work either.  He just expected to slide down it like a normal slide.  He didn't get he needs to get some momentum.  So he tried out the little pool at the end.

He walked up and down the slide until...oops...he slipped, and he slid...not on purpose.  And BOY was it fun!

But he wasn't about to do that again, so he splished and splashed in the little pool until he slipped again.  There was WAY too much fun being had!

I couldn't resist ending this post with this picture:

It so doesn't do him justice, but it's oh so cute.  When Jax gets mad, he folds his arms, huffs and puffs, sticks out his lips, scrunches his eyebrows and says, "I'm mad!"  It is the funniest, cutest thing ever!  

Despite what this pictures shows, he is the happiest boy ever...he got to graduate to a booster seat.  He out grew his car seat...I'm sure it would have been more harm to him then help...so we got him a new seat.  He loved it so much when we used it for the first time, he cried in the car when we went into the house because he wanted to take it with him.  He is the funniest kid!

A Million Posts

No, this is not my millionth post (despite appearances), but I did just add a TON of posts.  Be sure to scroll down and click on "Older Posts" or I've added links to all the new posts below (for those of you basking in your summer laziness as I am!), so just click on the title to view!

- A Very Special BOYS ONLY Day with Daddy -

- Some Very Special Visitors -

- Strawberry Festival -

- Valley, Meet Jamen! -

- Totally Random -

- Concerts in the Plaza -

- Ma & Papa's Visit -

- My Baby's 7! -

- Happy Father's Day! -

- Baby Jamen -

Easter in Visalia

I've got a little catching up to do on my blogging before this baby comes, so here goes another blogging marathon!  (this pict of Jaxon has absolutely nothing to do with anything...it's just funny)

For Easter we headed over to the valley to celebrate with most all of David's family.  Everyone but DJ and his boys were there, so it was a packed house for sure!  We arrived Friday evening.  Ma and Papa made the mistake of telling Jaxon they had a cake and presents for his birthday...he would NOT let them forget!  So after dinner we had a little celebration for him.

I love how the kids all gathered around to watch him open his presents.  He was SO happy to find a Diego toy under all that wrapping paper!!

Saturday came the best part of the entire trip!  Baby Ella was born!  She wasn't due for a couple more days, but she sure was kind enough to come when we all could meet her!  Congratulations Sara, Steve, and Addyson...we are all so in love with her!

The next day was Easter.  The boys woke up to buckets full of goodies from the Easter bunny!

We headed to church with the family for some spiritual uplifting.  Then we headed over to David's Aunt Suzie and Uncle Joe's house for a Radmacher family Easter.

It's not very often that all 4 of the Radmacher siblings all come together.  This was definitely a momentous occasion!

(Uncle Billy, Aunt Suzie, Papa, & Uncle Jimmy)

There was lots of room for the kids to run around and play.  Joe & Suzie live on a beautiful piece of property right next to one of the family dairies, so what better to have for the kids to play with then a good ol' John Deere?  Even the adults liked it! :)

(Jax & Addyson; Jax; Hans)

I had to get a pict of the 2 Radmacher girls together (now with Ella there's 3!!).  With 12 Radmacher boys and 1 more on the way, these girls have got to stick together!

Of course there was an Easter egg hunt for the kids.  Jaxon seemed to only find real eggs and Jonah only found plastic ones...Jaxon's lucky he had such a nice brother to share some goodies with him!

And what would a Radmacher Easter be without a good ol' egg toss?  

Thank you Fernandes' for hosting Easter this year...we had tons of fun!

Jaxon's 3!

I really can't believe that Jaxon just celebrated his 3rd birthday! My baby Jaxy is 3, really? Where did the time go?

We are so in love with our little Jaxy. I like to describe him as Fire & Ice. He is the sweetest, most cuddly, lovey little boy, but man is he loud and demanding! He can throw a screaming tantrum like nobody's business, but he sure keeps us entertained constantly. What a funny kid he is! He has the cutest lisp or whatever you call it - he pronounces his s's by saying "th" and says all sorts of words wrong, like "penguin" he says "quenguin," but it is just so stinkin' cute! Jaxon likes to copy just about everything Jonah does - playing legos, throwing rocks, climbing on furniture, running around the house. He likes to be Jonah's shadow. But on the other hand, he's plays very nicely by himself. He's still in love with all things Toy Story and definitely loves his Cars, but lately he's been real into Diego & Dora. He walks around saying "I Lego" (meaning, "I'm Diego"), fills up his rescue pack and jumps on the furniture saying he's Diego's spider monkey. But for some reason he doesn't like to watch much Diego, rather Dora is his favorite. He's pretty much obsessed with the two! He plays "Sviper [Swiper] coming...he gonna get us...Sviper, no sviping!" all the time. He makes guns to shoot Swiper (can you tell he has an older brother?" and wears his boots like Boots the monkey. He's definitely a character that Jaxon! Jaxy is such a momma's boy! For some reason his mom has to do it for him, no one else! If he's hurt, no matter how bad, all he needs is a kiss from his mommy, and he's off and running again, limp & all. I've never seen such an amazing thing - people are shocked when they see it! My favorite thing about Jaxon is how loving and forgiving he is. He constantly tells us he loves us and will just come up to me and give me a hug or kiss, or just come rub my back. He's so sweet!

The poor guy has been really sick the past couple days, but some how managed to pep up for the festivities! I couldn't help but snap a picture of him sleeping before I woke him up to open some presents before we were off to drop Jonah and David off. He doesn't like to be woken up in the morning, but when I told him it was finally his birthday and that he got to open presents, he was wide-eyed and happy! He liked all his presents, but his favorite was his Little Einstein rocket. His cousin Dylan got one for Christmas that Jax just couldn't keep his paws off of. Now he's got his own and he won't put it out of his site!

For dinner I made some of Jaxon's favorites...homemade mac & cheese, hot dogs, and broccoli. Jaxon has been requesting a Rescue Pack (from Go Diego Go) cake for weeks now. My birthday was a week ago and he just couldn't understand where his presents and rescue pack cake were. Then it was my little sisters birthday a few days later...again, where was HIS cake? Finally he got what he wished for! I have to say I wasn't too jazzed about making a cake this time around. I baked the cake the night before and it turned out all crumbly and weird, so frosting it was a doozer. I was too lazy to fondant the whole thing (although it probably would have been easier hind sight!). For all the headache it caused, it turned out WAY better than I thought it would (don't look closely at my frosting job...I really didn't care at that point!)!

He didn't get to see his cake until it was time to blow out the candles - he was SO excited! When it came time to cut it, I asked him if we could cut it and he said "No cut my rescue pack cake!"

After cake Jaxon got to open his presents from Gramma & Grand Pa. He was SO excited to get his very own laptop! Can you tell by the picture?

Happy Birthday Jaxy...we sure do love you!!!

Another Artist in the Family?

Jaxon has been real into drawing lately. He's REALLY good at coloring in the lines and loves to draw circles. I love how he concentrates so hard on his drawings!

So the other day Jax and I were at the car dealer getting our car serviced. Jax was very nicely coloring. He said he was drawing Boots (from Dora), then showed me his picture. This is what he showed me...

I was so impressed, it was his first real picture of something that I could actually identify. Way to go Jaxy! Now he draws his little people all the time!

Hurray for Jaxon!!!!

This is the last post of the day, I promise. This one is pretty much for grandparents who might possibly care.

Since I've been pregnant, I've been real lazy about potty training Jaxy. But lately we've been working on it with him (I guess its the thought of changing 2 sets of diapers that gets me moving). It pretty much takes him wearing no diaper, bringing him to the toilet every 10 minutes, and cleaning up occasional messes. He'll sit on the toilet and try to go, but he just can't seem to actually do it. So today I brought him to the toilet, he sat there for a while, then finally said, "Mom, my pees all gone, can't do it!" So I let him go. Literally 2 minutes later, he yelled to me and said, "Mommy, I pee peed on the floor!" Luckily I went in there and he hadn't yet, but that was a sign to get him back on the pot. So I sat him down and woohoo!, he did it! He seriously sat there FOREVER saying he wasn't done yet, but he did it!

He was so proud of himself! But I'd have to say I was the prouder!

He was so excited when he was done, that he had to share it with Jonah and David. He did the cutest excited run back to the bathroom. Can you tell by the look on David's face and Jonah's pinched nose, that it wasn't just pee? I guess you had to be there, but this picture totally cracks me up!

Hurray for Jaxon!!!

Butterflies!

It is that time of year again, when the Monarch butterflies gather here for the winter. They've actually been here since November or so, but January is the time of year that I always remember and think "Oh man, I've gotta hurry and get down there before they're all gone!" My boys LOVED it. Anything science or nature related Jonah's in heaven. I thought Jaxon would just run around the entire time, but he was really in to it....just as much as Jonah! We went on a warm day, so there weren't as many butterflies bunched together (when its 55° or less, they actually can't fly and they all bunch together on the branches of the Eucolyptus trees), but there were lots flying around.

After the butterflies, I took the boys down the road to the park. Jonah doesn't really get to go to the park much during the school year, since I usually take Jaxon when Jonah's at school. So the 2 of them had lots of fun!

Breakfast with Santa

Every year my parent's church (ward) has a special breakfast with Santa for the kids. Since we live close, the kids get to go most every year.

They serve them breakfast (the little smokies...um wienies?...were a major hit with the kids...definitely caused some trouble with my boys!) and make some crafts...

Then Santa comes and each kid gets to sit on his lap and Santa gives them a gift (a nativity ornament).

This is about as close as Jaxon would get to sitting on Santa's lap...he took his present and ran!

Happy Halloween!

We didn't do anything too exciting the day of Halloween. We don't get trick-or-treaters at our house (one of the perks of living in the country!) and we had too many errands to run during the day to stop by the Village and trick-or-treat the shops. But we DID make it to the Trunk-or-Treat at church!

We all dressed up this year. We even got an award for our costumes!

Can you guess who we all are??

We've got Sheriff Woody & his girlfriend Bo Peep (fyi-Jesse is more like his sister, NOT his girlfriend! That's Bo Peep!) Thank you mom for my cool costume! You did a great job! My absolute favorite were the bloomers!

And of course the (not so) Evil Emperor Zurg and (the cutest ever) Buzz Lightyear of Star Command!

The kids did a costume parade here too. Poor kid in front of Jonah kept getting his costume stepped on...watch where you're stepping Zurg! :)

Jax was just so cute and squishy in this costume! He loved carrying his candy bucket around. He and his little friend were so cute playing with Jax's Buzz & Woody toys. They didn't even care about getting more candy! We went home and I asked Jaxon if he had fun. He said "Ya, I play with Tommy! Tommy Doo-Boo!" (Tommy dressed up like Scooby Doo)

David...I mean Sheriff Woody...was such a good sport. I think this years costume wasn't as embarrassing as years past. Plus he knew my costume was much more embarrassing then his, so he couldn't complain!

David was in charge of handing out the candy. We didn't do anything exciting with our trunk, but we did have our Toy Story soundtrack playing in the background. I think Jonah likes giving out candy more then he likes getting it (thats a REALLY good thing!) and Jax just likes to sit their and eat it! :)

"You got a friend in me..." The best of pals, Woody & Buzz!

Trunk-or-Treat with Gramma & Grand Pa

Tuesday night my parents had their annual Trunk-or-Treat at church, so we headed down to, well, get some candy!! I got skimpy on the costumes this year. Jaxon's is store bought (I wasn't about to attempt making a Buzz Lightyear costume!) and Jonah's Zurg costume I waited until literally Tuesday morning to start on it. For those of you who don't know who Zurg is, he's Buzz's archenemy. He's mentioned in Toy Story 1, but doesn't show up until Toy Story 2.

The kids had tons of fun going trunk to trunk with Aunt Carina. I, on the other hand, was NOT happy! I locked my keys in the car and had to wait for AAA to come rescue me. That's the 2nd AAA call I've had to make in 1 month! Thank goodness for AAA, but I've got to wise up...I've only got 2 more free calls left until next August...ug!

So after the trunk-or-treating, everyone went inside for a little costume parade by the kids and some games and food. The boys had lots of fun and it was good to see old friends and their kids!