kitchen update

Here are a few shots to show everyone how we are doing on the kitchen reno.....so far we have installed new floors (yes, ourselves), repaired and painted all walls and ceilings ( the color is a very pale grey/green-it is what was in our old guest bath on genoa) and replaced the dishwasher and fridge for now. we still need a new cooktop, hood and oven...but all in good time. i think we are going to just enjoy this update for now and allow ourselves to get thru the holidays then we will see where we stand....but all in all, nathan and i are surprising pleased with what these few changes have done....jackson even thinks the kitchen is "pretty" now and is infatuated with the bottom freezer drawer ( he is not strong enough, yet, to open it on his own-thank goodness).....my favorite has to be the fridge as well.

christmas with santa

since jackson was born we have started the tradition of attending breakfast with santa at Timuquana CC, however, this year mommy was under the weather so Kiki and Waynedaddy offered to take him. this picture was taken at home before they picked him up.....although jackson was fascinated by "ho ho"-aka-Santa, he would not get closer than 10ft away this year.....he did enjoy watching from afar and getting to see friends and family. thank you kiki for taking him, we wished that we could have been there.

Jackson- holiday time 2008, age 2 1/2

Happy Turkey Day

wishing everyone a happy and tummy filling thanksgiving day!!!

remodel warnings!!

a warning to all owners of old homes....this is what you may be living with and not even know it!!! no one likes to do home improvements, but sometimes it is worth it more than you know.
nathan and i ripped out our old flooring last weekend to replace it with new tile and this is what was living under that old nasty linoleum sheeting......totally molded plywood and really old industrial tile....thankfully, we were able to get all of the wood up and clean the tile underneath and can now lay new flooring on top of that....i wish someone could have seen our faces when we thought this was the sub-flooring to our house(shear panic)!!
someone was watching out for us this day for sure...remember to say your prayers!



the MOLDED plywood base with the exposed under tile


three layers in view, the white is the remaining linoleum, then the black molded wood and lastly the industrial tile that saved us!!

kitchen facelift

Nathan and I have chosen to forego the major reno of the kitchen for a minor facelift until our wallet gets fatter and baby #2 is here and settled.......attached are a few shots of our gorgeous kitchen in the before stage as a reminder to what it was.......i know you are all thinking that it is soooo fabulous, why are we making any changes, right, haha!!!! check out all of the custom touches we had for free.......multiple layers of retro wallpaper, rippled linoleum flooring that gave us the feel that we were swimming, vintage appliances and best of all.....the amazing faux finishing on the ceilings and walls!!!! well, goodbye old charm and hello to clean, simple and livable.......wish us luck

view from dining room into kitchen

view from the garage entry

view from family room

Happy Howloween

jackson had a ball going to a few houses next to us this evening, despite a minor fit related to him be under the weather, and after a little while, was begging to go so we let him........all smiles after that. we wish that we could have seen more friends but wish everyone a happy halloween and a ghoulishly good night.

spooktacular fun at OPS

littleman aka "puppydog"

wesley, jackson and all classmates getting ready to march in the parade

all smiles thank goodness

the entire "2's" class

today was the annual halloween parade at jackson's school.......it was tooooo cute. littleman was so excited this morning that he wanted to put on his costume before breakfast....he was a puppy dog!! this time of year makes me want to be little again, i guess that is why it is so much fun to live through our kids experiences.
jackson was great during the parade and as usual, hammed it up by barking and screaming "here comes the puppy dog" all the way around the grounds!! all of the kids in his class did better than last year, amazing how much changes in just that short amount of time. I know this is going to really pump littleman up for tomorrow evening.

pumpkin carving

monday, nathan and jackson carved the pumpkin that jackson had picked out at the patch over the weekend......mommy picked out the design to cut out and the boys did the dirty work!!! it turned out so cute and jackson was sooooo proud ( nathan was too!)......littleman's favorite part was lighting it up to see the funny face in the dark

daddy and jackson starting the cutting process

little scooper helper....i think jackson had more fun flinging the seeds and guts around!


the end result and the very proud boys

sneak peek

thought i would post a little preview of baby girl smith's nursery in progress....i spent most of last week painting and set up a few things over the weekend....i will post new pics as things progress in the decorating

family fun weekend

this past weekend we had a fun relaxing time with family....on saturday we took jackson to his first blue angels air show; uncle "p", wesley, alyce, waynedaddy and kiki all enjoyed the time together and the show was deaf-defying to say the least!
all in all- jackson and wesley could not get enough of the big jets in the sky and wanted it to last all day....we were thankful that the weather was overcast enough to not get hot nor wet and it managed to be sunny right as we were leaving the base.
on sunday we finally took our punkin to the pumpkin patch at ortega united methodist- aka "cool school" to littleman...jackson had fun running around and was quite funny picking out the perfect pumpkin!


daddy and jackson posing in front of the nasa research plane

the jaw-dropping Blue Angels

the boys and the youngins looking for the jets


jackson, me and wesley playing under the wing of a plane

alyce and jackson in deep conversation...they have a bond we have yet to figure out

jackson picking out the bestest punkin with daddy

mommy and me pose (check out how I hid the growing bump!!)

sweet man

jackson and mommy goofing around the patch

fall festivities

Last week we shared in the annual Stockton School Fall Festival in the ortega hood with some friends...the weather had been rainy but it managed to stay dry long enough for the kids to have some fun...there were pony rides, games, bouncing toys, interesting music and lots of fun food to see and eat....i just love this time of year

addy, tripp, jackson and reese enjoying icies

jackson on his first ever pony ride!! he loved it so much, this may be a party theme for next year

jackson and addy having a bouncing good time

tripp and jackson gearing up for some fun with a little arm wrestling

a medievil moment

friday evening kiki had a great idea to go to Medevil times for dinner...at first we thought it might scare jackson, but we chose to take a chance and it payed off!!! he got a huge kick at watching all the horses and knights do tricks and dance....more importantly, he loved making sure everyone was wearing their crowns and loving it! it turned out to be great entertainment, and if you leave just before the last 15minutes of the show, you can skip the sword fighting which we preferred to do ( we do not need to introduce that to littleman just yet)
might i also add....the food was better than anticipated for being the mass produced kind! thanks kiki and waynedaddy for a wonderful evening!

the group just sitting down to the show

jackson and daddy getting into the act

the horses and knights being presented

waynedaddy explaining to jackson what he is about to see!

downtown disney

We arrived in orlando on friday and had a chance to visit with my dear friend maren...we do not get to see them often enough and jackson thinks of her and her husband as nearly family!! once kiki and waynedaddy met us at the hotel we decided to head to downtown disney.....a mini little town of shops, play areas and good eats....jackson had a blast running around and we found this to be a perfect warm up to the planned activities for saturday!!


jackson petting the all lego made dogs at legoland

littleman getting to meet mickey and minnie or so he thought

this was the cutest little train ride and jackson loved it as long as someone joined him

kiki's turn on the choo choo

you would have thought this was a ride, but it is just a Dinosaur themed restaurant!! and littleman was quite intrigued by the animation...ps: the dinos went active every 10minutes!!

the family on day two in downtown disney...we tried out the carousel this time, and of course he loved it

SeaWorld..here we come

nathan and i really wanted to take jackson on a fun family vacation before he will have to share the spotlight with his sister and after much thought...we decided that SeaWorld Orlando would be the most fun for everyone at this point...
we were happy when kiki and waynedaddy chose to also share in the family fun..the more the merrier! so, off to orlando we headed on Oct 17th weekend
to sum up the trip it was an absolute success...jackson was an angel and loved every second of the trip.....we had a few mini-meltdowns, but nothing too bad.....you have to give the little guy credit for waking up at 6am both days, going nonstop, skipping naps all together and staying awake until 9:30pm.... we were prepared for the worst and he was the best!!!!!!!!!!!
it was the best trip we have all shared and cannot wait to do it again.


mom, jackson and the dancing fishies

daddy and jackson getting a peek at the beautiful clydesdale horses

shark exhibit

mommy and jackson waiting to see the penguins

the prettiest seahorse

jackson inside the large aquarium..laying ontop of some fishies while looking up at the sharks

daddy, jackson and waynedaddy watching the people getting splashed by the rollercoaster

the amazing dolphin and whale show

one of the trainers riding the dolphin

dad, mom and littleman waiting for the show to start

the boys inside the underwater whale pool

jackson checking out the dolphins swimming down below

this is the face jackson made everytime we told him to say cheese

waynedaddy feeding the stingrays with littleman

a 4ft wide turtle missing its one arm