New Blog

I have moved.
Here is my new site: www.jacksonsoftennessee.blogspot.com 

Peeved

Yes I was peeved!  I took Taryn into the clinic to get the other half of her flu shot.  I didn't get away from the house as early as I would have liked, because of underlying circumstances, so we got to the clinic around 10 am.  The girls up front all know me, since this is where Vaughn works, and because I bring in the kids from time to time.  I waited for about 45 minutes, until one of them came out and said that they told the nurses that I had been waiting an awfully long time.  I then text Vaughn, who is on inpatient, and asked if he could come and speed things up a bit.  FINALLY, after almost an hour, Vaughn came in and took us back, found a nurse, Taryn's shot which lasted a GRAND total of 5 seconds (she never cries) and we were out the door.  GEEZE!!!!  Not what I had planned on doing my WHOLE morning, but oh well.  You would think being a doctor's wife gets ya some perks.  NOT ONE BIT!!

A Little Girl Time

Last night the boys were upstairs watching football while Taryn and I watched a new Disney Princess movie.  It was fun to spend time, just she and I, watching a show and talking about princess stuff.  It is times like this that I cherish with my little girl.  And I know Vaughn loves it that Tyson FINALLY has an interest in football.  It was a good night for all of us.

Down A Red Dirt Road

I have been listening to a lot of "Country" Music lately.  I change my music choice every day, but today it's Country.  If you haven't listening to "Country Boy" by Aaron Lewis, or "Red Dirt Road" by Brooks & Dunn, you are missing out!  Listening to such songs makes my heart ache for Circleville and growing up there.  I have mixed feeling about where our little family should end up.  Since Vaughn just finished his last interview for the ER fellowship, my thoughts wander to where we will be in a year's time; here in Knoxville or somewhere else.  And then what is next?  Do we stay in Knoxville, TN, or move back west?  Both places have a different appeal, and both have their own pros and cons.  It is a tough decision for Vaughn and I because we want the best for the kids and want them to grow up in a place where they can participate in whatever they want.  Ahhhhhh.

My DIY Weekend

 I have been wanting to do something different in Tyson's room for a long time.  His head board was a brassy gold and SO outdated.  But who has a million dollars to redo a room.  Luckily I have a lot of friends who do a lot of DIY projects, and my sister has this same head board.  She re-did it and so I thought I could as well.  Since I don't have a garage, I had to pray for good weather, and the heavens smiled on me and sunshine was in the forecast all day on Saturday.

 It took 1 1/2 cans of spray paint, most of the day for the drying purposes, but I think it turned out pretty good.

Here it is on the bed.  Disregard the unmade bed.  We had to mess it up to reattached the head board.  I love how it turned out and so did Tyson.  He said it made it look like a whole new bed.  I like how it matches his wall decor.
Now what else can I spray paint.....

"Dad!! Why Did You Do That?"

What more can I say.  Well...actually I can say a lot, but here is the whole story in a nutshell.
Tyson came home today with another loose tooth.  They are dropping out of his mouth like rain from the sky.  Any how, so he shows me his loose tooth and wants to wait until Daddy gets home to pull it.  Fine with me.  Because the last time he and I pulled teeth, it took HOURS!!!  So dad comes home and within 15 minutes they are in the bathroom trying to pull a tooth.  It was a back and forth battle.  Vaughn would try to get it out and Tyson would be backing away.  I was in the kitchen, listening to all of this, laughing and feeling glad it wasn't me.  Finally I hear Vaughn say, "Tyson let me see how loose it is."  Then...
"DAD! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?"   I knew exactly what had happened by Tyson's word choice and tone.  Vaughn had removed the tooth without his son's permission.  Tyson proceeds to come and show me the viscous mayhem that his dad did to him.  Well...the tooth wasn't exactly out, it was cockeyed and hanging by a thread of skin, turned upside down in his mouth. I told him to pull it and that just started another eruption of rants from his mouths.  No one was touching it and he was going to sleep with it that way!  By this time I am about at the end of my rope and this is going to stop soon or else Mom is getting involved.
"Tyson,"  I said, "You have 2 minutes to get that tooth out of your mouth or I will sit on you and pull it out!"  And then I set the timer.
(On a side note: I was on the receiving end of being sat on and having my tooth removed by my very own mother, while the visiting teachers were in the living room.  But that is another story.)
I gave Tyson the count down. "One minute...thirty seconds," and at twenty-five seconds he mustered up the courage and pulled it out!  Hallelujah, the angels sang!"
Now if I can just remember to be the tooth fairy tonight and not drop the ball on that one again!!!

Carving Pumpkins

 Pumpkin carving at the Jackson household usually falls on Vaughn's shoulders, but since he was in another city at meetings all week long, it fell to me.  I have a love/hate relationship with pumpkins.  I love the finished product, but I hate getting it to the finished product.

 The kids wanted pumpkins to match their costumes this year.  So we did a witch for Taryn and a Frankenstein for Tyson.  I have to draw the cutouts on the pumpkin first before carving.  I am no expert at this.

 Taryn was all about helping me and wanted to scrape the "pumpkin guts" out.  But when it came time to "take" them out of the pumpkin.....

 ...this is the reaction I got!  "Mom, I don't want to pull out the guts."  FABULOUS! It falls to me!

 I HATE pulling out the guts.  I have a weak stomach on some things and this is one of them.  Not to mention the fact that I was getting sick at this point in time with the flu, and I didn't know it yet!  It was all I could do to keep from throwing up as I pulled out the "guts".

 Tyson was a little better about pulling out the "guts" of the pumpkin than Taryn.  Although, Tyson hasn't wanted to do this part, in past years, either.

 He was a champ and pulled out all that I would scrape.  Thanks goodness for me because I think I would have vomited had I had to pull any more out.

 Nice form Tyson.

 The end results of my labors.  They turned out pretty well.  Tyson's was easier to carve than Taryn's.  I had to preform reconstructive surgery on Taryn's twice!  Thank goodness for yellow toothpicks. 

 The glow lights weren't as powerful this year. 

That is what I get for buying Dollar Store glow lights.  Oh well...lesson learned for next year!

Taryn's Birthday Halloween Party

 It is party time here at our house.  Today was Taryn's birthday party.  Last night I was in a panic, once again, because her cake wasn't turning out as I had envisioned it.  I wanted to make a giant black spider on it, but when I went to mix the black food coloring it turned the frosting dark green!  Gross!  So...I scrapped that idea and opted for a big spider web and a rubber spider, courtesy of Tyson's Halloween bag. Finally at about 10 p.m. I had the cake finished.  While I was working on it, the kids were helping me with game preparations and other party prep.  What a night!

 Party morning.  Taryn wanted a dress up Halloween party, and so again we put on the witch's costume.  I am glad after all my work it has been used.

 The cute little witch and her spider cake.

 Then the kids started to come and so we took pictures of them to show how adorable they all were.

 

 Once all the kiddos came, we went into the kitchen, since it is the biggest room in my condo, and gathered around the kitchen table to make our masks.  I figured the kids would make them so fast and then we would be on to a game.  I was wrong!  They were all so meticulous about how their mask should look.  Loved it!  Tyson was my little helper today.  He helped planned and prep most of the party.  He also got scout credit for helping me.  I like it when you can do several things at once.

 Look at how cute these little tykes are.  Love these masks and the kids did too.

 Once we made our masks, we played pin-the-face-on-the-pumpkin. The kids liked it so much they wanted another turn, and so we played it again.  By this time I was running out of time, so as Tyson was starting another game, we lit the cake, sang Happy Birthday to Taryn and I prepared cake and drinks for the kids.  After they took their turn ghost bowling, they got to come and eat cake.  They all downed the cake and Capri Suns.  They were hungry.  Then it was presents time.

 Taryn's friends gave some of the best presents.

 She got everything from pillow pets that were pink, to princesses, to La La Loopsey dolls, and Hello Kitty.

Thanks to everyone who came and made her day so special.  I even enjoyed having all those kids in my house.  Their energy is so much fun to be around.  Happy Birthday Taryn!  We love you sweetheart!

Trunk-or-Treat Church Style

 Tonight's Trunk-or-Treat wasn't as stressful as last nights', due to the fact that I had the kids' costumes finished.  I did have to decorate a trunk and that was done in a hurry.  Tyson asked me, as we were driving to the church, what I was decorating the trunk to look like.  I replied, "I have no idea.  We will see what I brought with me and then go from there." Yes, that is how I roll these days, by the seat of my pants!   

 Just love these two.  Their makeup was actually fun to put on tonight because I wasn't in a rush and had plenty of time to add some details.

 I tried to get Taryn to wear the purple eyelashes we bought for her, but after them being on for about a minute, she wanted them off.  I need to teach her the beauty of eye lashes.

 Tyson got an extra scar tonight across his head.  I meant to do that one last night, but ran out of time.

 This was part of the scene at the ward's Trunk-or-Treat.  Even the Elders dressed up, well...not really but we told them they had good costumes.  Ha HA

I had just enough candy to give to everyone and then I was out.  The kids had fun and there were a lot of cute trunks around.  I did add some Halloween music to mine courtesy of Vaughn's little I-pod stereo.  It made the job of handing out candy all the more sweet.

Trunk Or Treat Time

Since noon today, I have been in a panic trying to get Halloween costumes ready for Cedar Bluff's annual Trunk-or-Treat!  I had Taryn's costume mostly finished and somewhat of Tyson's completed.  Needless to say, it was down to the wire.  I made both of their costumes this year and I can honestly say it was worth it, but I may not do it next year!  Whew!  It was a lot of work.

In the end, I had 45 minutes to paint faces and garnish kids in their outfits, before we needed to leave the house.  Yeah, time was not on my side.  Here I am trying to put make up on Taryn.  Notice how half the mascara is on her eye lids and not the eye lashes.  ARG!  Very hard to put it on a 4 year old, but we did it and she was finished.

Next came the task of turning my boy into a scary Frankenstein   Not an easy task, mind you.  Here are the beginning efforts.

The end result was actually better that I expected it to be.  I cut the bottom off of a milk carton and covered it in black duct tape.  (I love duct tape!)  Then I added felt for the hair in the front.  We then took a hanger and pinned it upside down, inside his shirt to make it look like he had broad shoulders.  I made fleece patches which we safety pinned to his pans and his shoes were made out of Kleenex boxes wrapped in the black duct tape.  This was truly a home made costume.

 Taryn's skirt is completely made up of tulle.  I saw something similar to it on Pinterest and figured I could duplicate it.  I found the hat in Target for a dollar and covered it in tulle as well.  She has this darling little Halloween shirt that went with it perfectly.  The hardest part was the criss crossing of the orange, green and purple tulle.  I had to have Taryn wear the skirt and hold still while I first pinned it all and then secured it by hand sewing it.  It took me about 3 hours to complete this part.  It had to be done in intervals, because after 45 minutes of holding as still as she could, the little princess had had enough.  Can't say I blame her.  But when I went to put the skirt on her, it was so heavy it kept falling off of her waist.  So I quickly took the remainder of the tulle and made a little suspender.

 Doesn't he look great?  I loved how it turned out.  Better than I could have wished for it to look.

 My beautiful little witch.  Oh she is cute if I do say so myself.  And because of all the work of this outfit, we will be wearing it again next year!

 Beautiful witch

 Scary Frank

 A close up of his shoes that we made.

 A close up of her skirt.

 I love this little outdoor picture of her.   

 He is ready to Trunk-or-Treat

 The little witch and the costume maker.

 This is what Trunk-or-Treat looks like at CBES.  It is massive and can take a long time to get through, but luckily this smart momma got there early and we only had to wait 15 minutes to start the candy hording.

 Trunk-or-Treating.  Everyone said the kids were so cute and original.  Tyson's own teacher, Mrs. Craft, didn't recognize him.  Love it!

 This was his class's trunk that the kids help decorate.

 Those are the nastiest teeth I have ever seen.  They came with the make up kit and totally added to his look.

We went through the line of cars and the kids' bags were chuck full of candy.  Tomorrow night is our ward Trunk-or-Treat, so more candy on the way.  Now that their costumes are finished, I have to figure out what I am going to do for the trunk of my car to decorate it.....