The Perfect Sippy Cup

Does it exist? I'm not so sure. With all the technology out there and all these brilliant minds (mostly moms I'm sure) coming up with great ideas everyday on how to make parenting a little easier and more convenient, you would think that the simple sippy cup would have been mastered by now. Well, in my opinion it hasn't. They may contain spills, but the leaks are ridiculous...and from everywhere -- the spout, the seam, even the bottom! How from the bottom?? I haven't ever counted the milk splatters I clean up off the floor on a given day, because I'd lose count by lunchtime. Since Jackson started on the sippy at about 6 months we have tried at least 10 different cups. He likes them all about the same, but I have found only one that I like, that doesn't leak, called the Nalgene Grip-N-Gulp, but it's only available in 12 oz. and is a little big. This week my frustrations with our current sippy cups reached an all-time high. So after an extensive Google search, I went on a sippy cup shopping spree and now have 4 new sippies, all vying for the title of "The Perfect Sippy Cup". Stay tuned to find out if a winner prevails or if I'm left still searching...

Mommy's Little Helper

Jackson had the best time today playing with the sweeper (and cleaning the floor)! While I was using it, he was a little unsure what to think of it. He doesn't like the vacuum cleaner at all. But after I turned it off, he came over and took it from me. He started pressing on the button to turn it back on and off he went. He cleaned the floor for at least 20 minutes...even getting mad at me when I turned it off so we could eat breakfast! Wonder if he'll feel the same way about chores in 10 years??

The Road Goes on Forever...

...and the party never ends! We went to the Robert Earl Keen show at the Lincoln Theatre on Sunday night with Pat, Amy, Stevie, Don and Jen. He put on a great show, even playing the holiday classic, "Merry Christmas from the Family". The boys have seen him a few times at the Cat's Cradle, but us girls joined the fun for the first time and we also celebrated Amy's birthday. Happy Birthday, Amy!! (Thanks to Mamma for keeping the kids!)

Me & Robert Earl (PA fans, notice the Phillies hat?)

GO PACK!

We all cheered on the Pack today in a win against Wake Forest and even braved a couple of rainstorms. This was Jackson's first game all season, so we were super excited to have him there. When we got out there the weather was great... okay, it was a pretty windy, but it was warm and somewhat sunny. He was so cute in his little NC State overalls (Thanks Aunt Amy!). We met up with Don and Jen at our parking spots, but decided to take Jackson over to Mamma and Papa's spot since it was right next to all the action. As we were walking over there we ran right into the NCSU marching band, so we stopped to watch and Jackson was just in awe! He didn't know what to think of all the banging with the drums. He may have gotten a few ideas, but we'll have to wait and see... We unloaded the stroller (yes, Sean carried Jackson while I pushed the loaded down stroller...I know, a little sad!) and tailgated for a while with Mamma, Papa, Dave, Jean, Don, and Jen. We even ran into John, Chris, and Jonathan. (Jonathan really let me down with his weather forecast!) As the dark clouds started rolling in, Jackson and Papa played with the football, he and Mamma collected lots of pinestraw, and he and Jen watched the band march by again. Once it started raining (Round 1) we took cover under the RBC Center awning, but that turned out to be the perfect time to get Jackson changed out of the overalls and into something a little warmer. After the rain stopped and the sun came back out, we went over to the Fan Zone to drop off our Toy for Tots and Jackson was able to run around a little bit. He did great once we went into the game, even clapping for the Pack's great plays! We decided to take a walk to look for Mr. and Mrs. Wuf during the first half, but had no luck in finding them. We did run into Jason, Tricia, and Dillard, so we stopped and watched the game with them for a while. It was all tied up 14-14 at the end of the half. As we were walking back to our seats for the second half round two of the rain started up. We were somewhat prepared (well, Sean only had a borrowed short sleeved jacket with no hood), but we knew we couldn't keep Jackson in the weather for long. We had just decided we would leave soon when Tricia called to let us know she had found Mrs. Wuf. Tricia stalked her out for us, because she knew we wanted Jackson to meet her. :-) And well, Jackson still didn't want much to do with her. Characters are really big...what else could I expect from a little boy who's only seen his stuffed Mr. Wuf. After that we decided that we'd had enough of the rainy football, so we headed home with our pooped little boy. He was out as soon as we got on the road and went right back to sleep not long after we got home. We heard the Pack score as we were walking through the parking lot, which put the Pack ahead to make the final score 21-17. It turned out to be a great day for the Pack and a really fun day for Jackson!

What a cutie!?!

Don and Jen gave Jackson this cute little sock monkey! He has a monkey on his back!!

Watching the band march by with Jen!

Jackson and Tricia

Jackson and Jason

We finally met Mrs. Wuf!

Zonked after a big day of Pack football!

Jackson's Very Own Table

Jackson woke up this morning to his very own little table and chairs that his Daddy put together for him last night. He was so excited! He sat there, like such a big boy, and colored pictures with Daddy. He eventually moved on from coloring and decided that the chairs were more fun just to climb on.

(BTW, I've had this table since before Jackson was even born -- I got a really, really good deal on it a long time ago and knew it would one day find it's way into our family room!)

Haircut #2

The long-haired hippie boy had another haircut yesterday. He still didn't really know what to think about it, but he did enjoy the bulldozer movie he watched while she did the cut. Don't worry, I didn't get it all cut off...it's still has a little flip to it.

The Little Gym

Jackson had a lot of fun playing with all the kids at The Little Gym. He wasn't quite ready to work on his tumbling skills, but he did enjoy climbing on all the mats!