The Cathcarts

Trying to get Mommy with the leaves. . . I’m still finding leaves down my shirt

Jaxson and his friend Drake.

Well, we are now on our second costume for Jaxson.  The first costume was going to be a dinosaur.  Jaxson has a new fascination for them, so we had some fun with that one for a little while.  But now, he was a new love for The Cat in the Hat.  Eversince he watched the movie while at the Hinderaker’s, he’s been in love with it.  We checked it out from the libraray and we watch it about three times a day. He almost has the movie memorized.  So today we set out to find The Cat in the Hat costume.  Luckily we found it and Babies R Us allowed us to return the dinosaur. 

The first costume

RARRRRRR!

Who’s this old man?

Oh boy! He’s scary!

Thank you to all of you who have called and emailed regarding your concern for CC’s safe return.  We did get CC back that next morning and Jaxson was quite excited about it.  He thinks it’s funny though that CC got to spend the night at the Dr’s office.  Gosh, I didn’t know that this would cause such concern for the rest of our readers, but thank you and we are happy to have him/her/it back home. 

Jaxson had his three year check up today with his pediatrician and scored another A+.  Jaxson weighed in at 39.4 lbs and was 39 5/8 in. tall.  This puts him in the 95th percentile for both height and weight.  Dr. Williams wasn’t concerned at all with how big he is because he is in perfect proportion.  He liked how much Jaxson talked, how well he followed directions, and how well he shared also, as he shared some of his Cheez-its with Dr. Williams.  Dr. Williams asked Jaxson if he would come back everyday to cheer him up because he smiled the whole time and was such a good boy. . . of course Jaxson said yes.  A tragedy occurred at the appointment though.  We left CC at the office, at least I hope that’s where it is.  In case you’re wondering, CC is the little teal blanket that he carries with him all the time and has to sleep with.  Since our appointment was one of the last ones of the day, of course it was too late to go back and get it by the time I got home and noticed that it didn’t come home with us.  He seems to be doing OK without it so far and knows that we will go get it when he wakes up. 

What a fabulous weekend we all had.  On Friday night, we all went up to Jester Park where Heath, Tanya, Devon, Kade, Dad, and Brenda were all camping for the weekend.  Devon just had his 16th birthday and that is what he wanted to do to celebrate.  Mom and Mike also met all of us there to celebrate.  We grilled and had fun sitting around the campfire.  Since Dad and Brenda just got a huge camper with plenty of room, they kept Jaxson with them until Sunday around noon.  They went fishing and saw some buffalo too.  Jaxson had a blast and now wants to go fishing and camping all the time now.  While the little mister was gone for a little while, Brad and I took advantage of the time.  I got things ready for his big birthday bash and made his cake and we also got a lot of much needed yard work done.  On Saturday night, we went out for supper at Macaroni Grill and then I came home and put on my jammies and watched a chick flick while Brad went and listened to a band with Ben.  On Sunday we went to church and then picked up Jaxson.  That evening all of our immediate family came down to celebrate Jaxson’s birthday.  Boy did he have a lot of fun and got spoiled.  See. . .

Sitting around the campfire with Kade.

Jaxson got a new fishing pole and kite from Papa Choo Choo and Nana Brenda.

Watching cartoons in the camper.

Jaxson’s Mater birthday cake.  If you don’t know who Mater is, he’s the tow truck off of the "Cars" movie.  Jaxson loves him.

Playing football with Papa Mike.

Dad, Brenda, Brandon, and Jamie

Tanya, Mom, Steve, and Mike

Nana Kris and Brady

He’s serious about this present opening business

Jaxson got a big boy Chicago Bears bike from Papa Mike and Nana Pam.

Mommy and Daddy got Jaxson a jeep.

Playing with the new racetrack that Brandon got him.

Thank you to all of our family for making Jaxson’s birthday so special!

WOW, I can not believe that our baby is three years old today. He is growing up too fast for his mommy and daddy. I remember exactly what I was doing three years ago at this exact time. I was cleaning house and my brother stopped by with a friend of his to pick something up and he asked me, "So when are you going to have that kid?" I said, "Not today." Little did we know that at 9:08 that night, our lives would change forever. These past three years have been the best years of our lives, but also the most challenging and I don’t think that I can say the most tiring, because I’m pretty sure that I slept WAY less in college. But anyways, they have been the most fun and we look forward to the many birthdays ahead. Now with all of the mushy stuff out of the way. . . today was Jaxson’s Lightening McQueen birthday party with all of his neighborhood friends. We ended up having 10 adults and 16 kids here. Our original plan was to have a water party with the pool, slip-&-slide, and sprinkler out; however, mother nature had another plan for us. It’s a good thing that Brad and I cleaned the garage on a whim on Saturday because it sure came in handy today. So we moved the party to the garage and the kids had a good time playing in the yard. Now that we are all cleaned up and partied out from party number one, we have to start getting things ready for party number two on Sunday. Can’t wait!!

Good morning birthday boy!

Grandma Pam took the day off to come spend it with Jaxson.

I made Jaxson’s cake again this year and happy with how it turned out.  He liked it too!

More of Jaxson’s friends - Morgan, Peyton, Olivia and Sophia.

It took him a couple tries, but he got his candles blown out.

WARNING WARNING!!!  Don’t drink the water in our neighborhood.  I am due in Jan. with a baby ?, Sonya is due in Sept. with a girl, and Brandy is due the end of Sept or beginning of Oct. with a boy.

Happy Birthday Bubbie!

As always our home improvement project turned into much more than we, or I, thought it would.  I thought it would take a week or so at the most to get this done, but I’ve now lost track of how long it’s been.  But anyways, we are happy with the end results and so is Jaxson. 

Before, with the lovely orangish-brown countertop.  I didn’t get a true "before" picture when we had the green and yellow shower curtain, before we turned it into a barnyard.

after

after

The pictures say it all. . .

He’s putting the silverware away for me.

My little clown.

My mom has been doing some major spring cleaning and found a bunch of stuff from when I was little.  I think one of my aunts made this clown costume for Tanya or me.  I remember wearing it when I was in preschool. 

One of Jaxson’s comforts since he was a few months old, was his beloved pacifier.  As long as he had his pacifier and blankie he was calm and soothed; however, Brad and I knew that a time would come when we could no longer just pop in the paci and call it good.  When he turned two, we only allowed the paci at naptime and bedtime, which he did really well with.  Lately, his mouth has become very chapped right where the paci is, so I thought that this would probably be a good time to take it away.  So last night was the big night and much to our surprise, he did fantastic.  He asked for it when he went to bed and Brad and I both said that the paci’s are all gone and that they went bye bye.  He was OK with that.  We could hear him talking and playing in his room for a little while after we took him to bed, but there was no crying or whining.  Thank the Lord!  He also went to bed tonight without any problems again.  So I’m hoping that I’m not jinxing myself by blogging about how well he’s doing.  At least I don’t have to worry about taking his blankie or "cece" as he calls it, away for a LONG time.