A little bit of this and that!

Here's a bunch of pictures from this summer!

Yesterday, we had an absolutely great day!! Mommy and Jackson went and walked in the Heart Walk with Aunt Nikki and some of Mommy's co-workers. Then after a trip to Target and a nice long nap, we all went golfing. Jackson did extremely well!! He stayed in the cart when he needed to and got out and putted...he did great! Then we decided that we would go to our first Brandon Valley football gam! When we got there, we couldn't find a single seat on the home side, but found a few people that we knew! Mainly, kiddos from Jack's daycare, but it was neat to see people that we knew!! So we decided to venture over to the visitor's side and see if we could find a seat there. As we were walking, we saw Charlie, another kiddo from daycare! Charlie and his family were sitting with another daycare family, so YAY for finding someone we knew to sit with!! We had a great time visiting with the other daycare kiddos and Jack was excited to see them too! We made it to the end of the 3rd quarter before Jack was kinda tired and it was getting pretty chilly. So we don't know if Brandon won or lost, but it was fun anyway!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Jackson!!

Jackson Conrad Burns has officially turned 2!! His Mickey Mouse party was a success! He woke up Saturday morning and saw all of the plates and his face got this huge smile on his face and goes "my party!" He was so excited!! He watched all morning as I made his Mickey Mouse cake and wanted to eat it so badly. His party was fantastic. We had all sorts of family and friends come and celebrate with us! He got lots of great gifts, including Mr. Potato Head, a dump truck, some new tricycles, racetracks, semis, a lawn mower...the list goes on and on!!Jack enjoyed having all of his friends over to play. They blew lots and lots of bubbles, played on the swingset and ate cake and monster cookies. Jack loved having Happy Birthday sung to him over and over since Saturday!



Jackson also had his 2 year check up today which he "passed" with flying colors! He weighed in at 25 lbs 10 oz and was 33" long. Dr. Wallace laughed at him when she walked in and Jack said "Hi, Dr. Wallace" with his ever-so-cute smile! She got a kick out of it!

Until next time...

"Fire"-Free house!

It's been a while and Jack has had a few new accomplishments since the last time I posted anything! The biggest accomplishment Jack has made so far is that he is now PACIFIER-FREE!!! YAY!!! That (well, besides potty training) was probably the thing I was the most nervous about. I just made all of the pacifiers disappear and then when it was time to get ready for bed, Jack went to look for on and I just said they were gone. He told me they went on a trip and that was that! The first 4 or 5 days was a little rocky for bedtime and Jen said naps were a little sketchy for a few days, but as of last Wednesday, Jack has been going to bed without a fuss (most nights) and has been sleeping great! So YAY for something I thought we would never accomplish!

We spent this last weekend in Hartley for Jon to play in the Northwest Iowa Amateur Tournament. He played really well and placed 7th. Out of 350 people, I'd say that's pretty awesome! Anyway...I'm trying to upload some new videos, but am having some troubles...hopefully can figure it out soon! Check back soon!

New things about Jack

• As you saw in the video, Jackson can now count to 10, which I found out when I was cutting his fingernails and counting how many we had done...I was shocked!
• I was making supper last night and heard Jackson run by and all of the sudden heard him say "slow down!"
• He is big into sharing. If he's playing cars, he'll bring you a car too, and that is YOUR car...don't try and give it back or put it down...he'll find you to give it back!
• Jackson loves the swimming pool! He is not such a big fan of being sprayed in the face though.
• He remembers everyone now! Since being in Hartley and West Point with our families, he asks for his cousins a LOT now!
• He answers "no" to everything...and if he agrees, he answers "k"
• If he drops something, he'll say "oops" or "oopsie"
• Jackson is talking in somewhat sentences now. A few days ago, I cut a strawberry in half and he said "two of them"
• He really likes to pick out things...and if he does, his response is "dis one"
• Our garage door has been on the fritz for a while now...when we pull into the driveway, he'll say "Daddy, fix it" (must have said that one too many times!)
• Jack loves to help cook right now...he'll push a chair over to help stir or watch what's going on in the kitchen
• Jack goes "racin" a lot with his new matchbox cars that he loves! He'll grab his cars and go, "racin, mommy, racin"
• He can now sing the clean up song...although he doesn't always help clean up when he sings it, but it's getting better!
• Jack is starting to figure out how to prolong bedtime...he sure tries hard! Good thing Mom and Dad aren't suckers!! When it's time for bed, he'll run into his room, he used to lay down and just go to bed...now we put him in his bed and he immediatly says 'nuggle' (snuggle). The crazy thing is the routine now is to go in his room, snuggle and sing one song and then bed...that satisfies him now and once the song is done, he'll say "nigh-night" and go down like a champ!
• If he likes something a lot, he'll say and sign "again" over and over...tickling, fish kisses, anything...he'll giggle and say "again"...it's adorable!!
• If you ask Jack what we should have for supper, you'll get one of two answers: pizza or tacos...doesn't matter if we ate it for lunch and supper...he'll still say that! and that's what he still eats the best!
• When you say it's time to go (or Jen told me when they go outside) Jack will go and find your shoes for you
• He now dances to the Madagascar "I like to move it"...it's cute!
• We went to the zoo last week and Jack knew most of the animals there....his favorite right now is the "elf-anants" If you ask him what he saw, that's what he'll say!
• Jack will sign "I love you" (kind of...it's more like just raising his hand) but last week actually said love you to Aunt Stacy!

Thanks for coming to check on us...Jackson is growing and thriving so much! There have been times at my job when we'll have kiddos come through about the same age as Jack and it makes me realize just how advanced Jack is...it makes me know that Jon and I must be doing something right!

Here is a video we took tonight of Jack...a few of his new tricks! I didn't even know that he could count to 10 until last weekend...Jack and I were counting something (can't remember what now!) and he suddenly counted to 10! He's learning a lot at daycare which is exciting!

We just got back from an awesome week with my family. Reid, Stacy, Ethan and Rebecca flew up last Saturday and we got to spend the whole week at my parent's house in West Point. We went to the Henry Doorly Zoo with Jon's aunt Jeanne on Tuesday, saw all of the animals and went home exhausted! Thursday we headed into Lincoln to visit relatives. Oma and Opa took the kiddos home and the adults got to stay and hang out with Jay and David, which was wonderful to have some adult conversation without tackling a child! :) On Saturday, the weather wasn't the greatest but cleared up in time for an awesome firework show! The kids did much better than expected. No one cried or even flinched, in fact, Ethan and Jack both fell asleep part way through! Rebecca was sitting with me and when the finale started, it was super bright and she had to shut her eyes...it was cute! I'll post some pictures with the cousins soon!

Lots of Pictures!

Here's a bunch of pictures from the past few months! Pictures from golfing, going to Hartley, spending time with our cousins, and lots and lots of other randoms!

Bottomless Pit

So over the past few weeks, Jon and I have realized one thing...Jackson eats a LOT!! Yesterday was one of those days. Every morning this week, Jackson will wake up, watch Mickey Mouse for about 5 minutes and then ask for something to eat. A common request is "sea-yall" (cereal) or "bar" (cereal bar). So he is now eating a double breakfast...one at our house, one at Jen's house! So I went to pick up Jack yesterday and the first thing out of Jen's mouth..."Man can that kid eat!" I guess he proceeded to have 2 bowls of cereal for breakfast, 3 tacos at lunch, and 4 grahm crackers while at her house. Then we went out for dinner that night and when we asked, he wanted pizza. (He even told the waitress!) It was this cute little 7" pizza...yeah...he ate half of it! We're both going to have to get second jobs to keep up with this appetite!! For supper tonight, he had half a can of green beans, roast beef, 2 pieces of bread and about 4 half pear slices!! This kid better be about 30 lbs by the time we go for his 2 year check up or I have no idea where this is all going!!

Robert J. Burns 1924-2009

Our family lost an amazing person last week. Jon's grandfather passed away last Thursday. His health had been deteriorating so it wasn't unexpected, but no matter how prepared we think we are, it's never easy. Grandpa was a wonderful man and he will be missed so much! Great-Grandpa Burns meeting Jackson for the first time!
This picture is at our last stop at Grandpa's place. This is the last memory Jon and I will have of Grandpa...smiling and laughing at Jackson as he ran around his apartment. Grandmpa just kept smiling and saying "man, he's getting big...man, he's a happy kiddo...man, he's one smart cookie." We know that Grandpa is enjoying a round of golf up there and can now watch over us and see his grandkids and great-grandkids each and every day! We will miss you Grandpa!!

Runnin' and Chh-Chh-ing

These are a few of Jack's new tricks!

Home again!

It's been a while since I've updated...sorry! This past weekend we went over to Cedar Falls for Uncle Adam's college graduation. We drove over in rain on Friday and, luckily, Jackson slept for a few hours of it! We got their on Friday and went swimming...the first of three times this weekend! Jackson thought swimming was great but really wasn't a big fan of the floaty boat thing we had. He wanted to kick and swim! He even attempted to jump to Daddy a few times. Dylan and Austin did a great job of keeping him entertained and throwing the fishy over and over!

It was wonderful to watch Adam achieve such a great accomplishment with graduating! Jack did amazingly well during graduation, coloring most of the time. We went out for dinner at The Isle and Jack ate up a storm! He was enthralled with the escalator and thought that was fun to go up and down. He entertained people with this new ch-ch thing he does. (for those of you who have seen it...daycare didn't know what it was, so it's a mystery!)

It was great to be with the Burns family this weekend and spend some time with family we haven't seen for a while! Love you guys! I'll post pictures soon!

The Name Game

A Weekend Away

Jon and I took a trip up to the Cities this weekend for Brad and Cherie's wedding reception. We had some great times with a lot of friends from college. Here's the picture of the whole clan at the big event! A good picture of everyone...that's hard to do!Aunt Nikki came out to play until Oma and Opa could get up here. Jack spent the weekend with them and from the sounds of it, really enjoyed that! There was lots of time spent outside on his swingset, numerous walks and playing "hoop" all day! Oma and Opa said he went down for bed like a charm, ate like a horse and entertained everyone all weekend. Thanks for coming and helping out this weekend!!

Oh yeah, this is how Jon found Jackson on Friday morning. He woke up around 2:15 in the morning and when I stumbled into his room, I vaguely remember something crazy about his hair...well, this is what came about in the morning. To make it even more entertaining, Jon didn't fix it and he ran errands with him looking like that! Daddy said there were more than a few laughs about it!

P.S. Daycare is going better. Jackson is getting used to it more and more. He talks about it and mentions the other kids a lot. Jen said it's going fine...he's playing well, napping well, and the kids all enjoy getting Jack to say new words for them! Sounds like in a week or so, Jack will be adjusted just fine!

one apprehensive little boy!

well...jack's first day didn't go as well as hoped!! he wasn't too happy about being left, but jenn said after they snuggled with his blankie and pacifier for a while, he did better. she said he ate a good breakfast and a decent lunch. it took him about 10 min to go down for his nap, which i expected. jenn had a doctor's appointment today so was actually closing a 2:30, so jack's nap got interrupted when i went to pick him up. she did say the other kids thought he was really fun and loved the way he talks! she said they like the way he says puppy and his eyes get all big and excited...so they had him say it a lot! when we left, he was asking about "den" which is what he says for jen and "hooper" (for cooper, one of the babies there) so it must not have been horrible for him! i'm sure he'll do fine, it'll just take time for him to adjust. luckily he'll have a short day tomorrow and then jon is off on friday since we're going to the cities this weekend. nikki will come out to play on friday until oma and opa get up here! we'll see how jack does tomorrow. he talked about jenn's house when we got home, so hopefully that's a good sign! best get going and get some laundry done. until next time...

Happy Easter!

Hello everyone- We hope that you all had a wonderful and blessed Easter! We enjoyed our trip down to Nebraska to spend Easter with Oma and Opa. Jackson seemed to enjoy his Easter and keeps talking about bunnies and eggs (which he really calls footballs). Here's some pics from the weekend:

Not so sure about the Easter Bunny. He quickly warmed up and asked about him when we left!Going to find his 2 eggs at the community Easter egg hunt. Taking his two eggs to Opa

Daddy and Jackson having a good time at the Wimmer's house for a bonfire. Jack loved running around Ann and George's big backyard!! He jumped on the trampoline, chased around their cat, and ate a great on-the-go (he'd just go and stop at his little picnic table for a bite) supper of hotdogs, strawberries and s'mores!

The Burns family Easter picture 2009


He wouldn't sit still long enough to take a picture in his outfit...this was the best we got!


Hugging his bunny!! His new thing is to ask for hugs and kisses.

On a side note: Jackson is starting a new daycare on Wednesday. Jack and Mommy are hanging out tomorrow and then going to go over and play at Jennifer's house tomorrow afternoon. He'll start at Jenn's on Wednesday. She looks like it's going to be a great daycare. She does kinder-music with the kids, does sign language....the list goes on and on! Hopefully the transition goes smoothly and he does okay at the new place.

Say Cheese!!

Here's a few pics from the past week! Jackson eating "pop" for a snack. He loves popcorn! I was making it one night and asked Jack if he could hear the popping. Now he just calls it pop!!Jack got his haircut on Monday (Erica was sick, so I was home with him all day!) and he was so tired that he fell asleep through our stop at Office Max AND he slept through the stop at Hobby Lobby too! He slept so long during his nap I went to check o him and this is what I found:

We went out to the Palisades this last weekend with Oma and Opa. Here's a few pics from that:

The King and Queen Rocks out at the Palisades


No, we're not really potty training Jack yet, but we'll stick him on there every once and a while. Well he had pooped, so I put him on and went to get a diaper. This is what I came back to! Crazy kiddo!!

Swinging maniac!!

Alright, so I FINALLY figured this slideshow out! Not sure I'll be able to do it again...This is the swingset adventure by Daddy and Opa! They started Saturday morning and finished Sunday around 2:30. It went faster than they were expecting and Jackson LOVES his swingset! After he woke up from his nap, we were all getting our shoes and coats on and he kept running back and forth from the sliding door to the living room saying "come" or "outside" over and over! Jon took him outside and he ran around the house as fast as his little legs could carry him and was SO excited!!! He figured out how to climb up the ladder and the little rock climbing wall so he could go down the slide all by himself!! When Jon put him in the swing, I'm not sure I've ever heard Jack laugh that hard!! I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of time outside this spring and summer on that swing set! Best go get supper ready...come back soon for new pictures!

The chair fights back!

Here's my shout out to my great cousins who just turned 1 last Thursday!! Happy Birthday Rebecca and Ethan! I can't wait to see you again!! Aunt Stacy had a birthday too, but we won't say how old she is :) Happy Birthday Texas crew!! Love you guys!

Well...Jack got his first shiner this weekend! For some reason, he was overly clumsy on Saturday! I don't know if it was because he was overly-tired (he decided to wake up around 7ish) or if it was something else, but man oh man, anytime we'd look, he was falling over or hitting his chin on something! Well, Jack and his rocking chair weren't having the best of days! His first injury happened when he fell backwards and landed on the arm of his chair...cut his tongue. His second injury he was playing behind the rocking chair, slipped and somehow hit his eye on the back...thus the lovely shiner! This picture doesn't even give it justice... Here's some pictures from our great weekend with Uncle Adam and Aunt Nikki!
Tackling Uncle Adam with his new puppy!

We walked over to the playground and Jack had a blast!! He had so much fun going down the slide over and over and over!

He seems so little when he's running around!

Jackson didn't want to get in his stroller on the way home so he walked with Uncle Adam and Aunt Nikki for a while! These guys are fun!!


Thanks Uncle Adam for coming to hang out with us on your spring break! Can't wait to see you at your graduation!

Mr. Smarty-Pants!

So I have to write about a proud Mommy-moment...Nikki and I were sitting at supper tonight. We had mashed potatoes tonight, so of course, they were all over Jack's face, in his hair, in his ears, the boy LOVES mashed potatoes! Anyway...I asked Jack if we should do something to get him clean. I was not expecting him to have an answer, let alone the right answer! He sat there for a minute and you could see his wheels spinning. And then he got this 'ah-ha' moment on his look, his eyes got big and he said, BATH!! I was so surprised! I didn't expect him to actually know the answer at all!! Proud Mommy moment! :)

He's still just a pip-squeak!

So my guess was totally off!! Mommy needs to learn how to guess weight better...Jack weighed in today at 22 lbs. 2 oz stark naked...so he's still very low on the growth chart. He measured in around 4% for his weight and about 12% for his height. He was 31" at todays visit. Dr. Wallace was still surprised about his development. She asked if he had 5-10 words and I said, "uh...he knows the names of all our family members...let alone actual words!" She just laughed at me...which she usually does when it comes to Jack's abilities. She asked if he knew 4 body parts...well he's at 16 the last we counted. Crazy kiddo! But like Jon said, if we had to pick between short or smart, we'd definitely pick smart!

Jon went up to Marshall, MN tonight with Chuck, Heidi and Ben to go cheer on the Augustana Men's basketball team. If I know the story right, they're in the district championship and if they win this game, they'll advance to the National championship for our division. It's the farthest they've gotten since we've been there, so Jon was excited! Best go get supper on the table! Until next time...

Things Jack has learned over the past few weeks

Playing "hoop" is one of the best things ever learned! Jackson could play hoop day and night. We pull into the driveway and he asks to play hoop. He has a hoop in the basement so will stand at the top of the stairs and ask for "hoop." His favorite thing to do is to have Daddy lift him high in the air so he can make a "hoop".

Jack has come to figure out that this is probably the only dog that he will ever have at this house...Grandpa got him this big dog for an early Easter present. It's soft and nice to lay on.
Cereal is Jack's new favorite breakfast food! He now eats it with milk!! He even woke up and asked for cereal this morning. He actually does really well with it...I expected more of a mess.

Jackson figured out how to climb up onto the window sill and watch for cars/buses/aunt nikki/puppies. He'll sit up there for 15 minutes just watching! Here he is going "night, night" but quickly sat up when a puppy walked by.

Salsa is Jack's new favorite snack. He eats it faster than anything else you put on his tray. As you can see, he eats it by the handful and asks for more! Most often, he doesn't use a chip with it...and if he does, it's to lick it off! Another favorite food...black beans...he ate almost an entire helping at Chili's this weekend!

Other things we've learned about Jack

• He can walk almost all the way from the elementary school back to our house. Today he refused to get in the stroller, so he walked almost all the way back!
• He now sleeps incredibly well at night...he goes down without even a fuss...when he wakes up, he wakes up happy (finally!) and will call out for Mommy...if she doesn't come right away, then he'll ask for Daddy.
• He hates the vacuum, but his little popper toy he calls his vacuum and hauls it all over the house.
• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is Jack's new favorite show. He'll wake up in the morning and ask for "mouse" and runs as fast as he can when he hears the hot dog dance come on!
• If you mention the word bath, Jack will run as fast as physically possible to get to the shower. He even pulls his pants down if he can.
• Playing peek-a-boo is one of his favorite activities. Whether we're at church, at a restaurant, in his high chair...he'll play it with anyone! Like right now, he is behind the screen of our laptop, peeking around the corner!
• Jack tries really hard to walk up and down the stairs like a big boy. He's learned to hold onto someones hand or hold onto the side.
• If someone is out for a walk, he is fully convinced that they have/should have a puppy with them.
• He now shakes his head no and says "uh-uh" to almost any question asked...the only question he doesn't say that to is if you ask him if he wants to take a bath.
• If he gets in trouble for something, he'll do the 'cry so hard you can't breathe' look...and be done in a few seconds. He'll also sign sorry and give you a kiss.
• We have 'First 100 Words' book...he can point out and identify probably 75% of the pictures. He also knows 16 body parts. He knows numerous animal sounds and if you ask him what a car says, he'll say beep beep.
• Jackson still LOVES to read books! He'll haul book after book to read over and over.
• If he gets an owie, he'll say owie over and over and until you kiss it for him.
• He now does "knucks" and not only does he do it, he'll say it too! He even does double "knucks" if you ask him to!

Jack goes in for his 18 month check up on Tuesday...come back soon to see how much he's grown! I'm anxious to see how much he weighs now...my guess is 24 lbs, but wouldn't be surprised if he's not there yet!