JV Ski Trip

In case you can't tell, I'm making my way up the chronological ladder until I finally get to the pics of our SAN DIEGO trip.

So, without further ado, here are pictures of the junior high ski trip we went on just a few weeks ago in Michigan. Dawson was enamored with the charter bus we took up there. He kept calling it a school bus. Each time we got on the bus he valiantly proclaimed "I ride school bus."

We thought about letting him drive but he's still working on his CDL.

We actually strapped him in his car seat on the bus but he sat the whole time without being squirmy. This was also in part due to the fact that there are 2 tv's on the bus and we brought along the movie "Cars".

It was an overnight trip. The first stop was to a recreation center called Full Blast. Here are a few pics of the fun things to do there.

That's right. You can be like Steph and fall face first down an obstacle course. Or, you can be like the headless freaky guy... and I'm not sure whether this picture had a happy ending.

I don't have any idea what this contraption is called but thank you to my bff Steph for taking pictures and video of Jason while he tried it out. To this day I'm not sure why he tried because he gets sick riding any ride other than the ferris wheel in an amusement park. And even then it's touch and go.

I got to stay for about the first 1/2 hour at Full Blast and then I needed to get Dawson back to the hotel because it was bed time. For me. Not for him.

And now for the long awaited news on the actual skiing part of the trip. You may be wondering whether or not Dawson got to ski.

That answer is a big fat no. #1. It was well below freezing with the windchill factor. There was a boy in a group taking free ski lessons and his snot was freezing as it was dangling from his nose. I'm real bummed that I didn't have a camera so that I could've gotten a picture. Never seen anything like it. Really.

#2. I can't ski and what if Dawson ended up looking better than me?

#3. He was actually not feeling well, though he didn't show it much at the time. We have a friend, Holly who has been an awesome volunteer for campus life JV and also been a leader when we didn't have anyone during a short period of time before Josh came along. She doesn't ski, so she told us she would watch Dawson for a while so we could go out. That's Holly on the left with Steph.

Keep in mind that we were pretty much the first to arrive after driving there in near white-out conditions. The moment I stepped outside fully decked out in my ski gear, my nose hairs froze. I did have the ski instructor tell me right off the bat to send kids in for frequent breaks because they were already seeing the initial signs of frostbite. I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of frostbite.

I got to go out about 3 times during the full course of the day. All for one hour or less at a time. Of course I was starting to feel bad for having Holly watch Dawson so I encouraged him to take a nap. and he did...on the table. Hey, name one ski lodge that keeps a baby crib on site!!

All in all, it was a very productive skiing day for me. I learned how to ease myself off the ski lift without falling but only 10 bruises later. I did plow right over one of our jv kids. I still have a bruise from that. No kidding. And, I can do the Snow Plow like nobodies business.

Babysitters

On the same exact night as the SUPER BOWL, Jason and I had to go to our small group bible study. Our friends, Josh and Steph were having a little super bowl get together at their house and we wanted to go so we asked them if they would mind watching Dawson for an hour or so until out bible study got over. So they did.

Without their knowledge, we secretly set up digital camera's in their house so we could monitor their babysitting skills. We have several snapshots that may shock and surprise you. They may LOOK like good babysitters, but wait til you see what we discovered!

*(Pay no attention to Steph's Patriots jersey. She's color blind.)

They seem innocent don't they? Nice little babysitters playing with my son who seems happy...

He even gets sleepy and they let him lay down.

Awww... How sweet....

But wait! There's MORE!

Here are the incriminating pictures. When I take these to trial, there will be no juror who can hold back tears.

What is going on here?!

"Mommy, am I supposed to be in here?"

Steph says "Go on in Dawson, you'll be fine"...

Josh says "Don't worry Dawson, I'll get the door"...

Okay okay! I made it all up! But weren't your neck hairs standing straight up from the intense drama of it all??

That cage actually belongs to their dog Mio and Dawson LOVES playing in there. He walks straight to it every time we go to their house.

Here's some pics of the crazy party. Okay, well, Jason was the only crazy one.

Steph and I after I forgave her for locking up my son.

Spring Clean

I'm having an irresistible urge to get all of my old pictures posted so that I can have my Dawson picture folder all cleaned out ready for new pics. Maybe spring is coming and this is my spring cleaning urge. Better used here, than at home. Not really. So guess what. I'm cleaning out my Dawson picture folder! There are 23 pictures here ladies and gents. But not without stories! Peruse at your leisure. Peruse... I should have been a journalist.

After Dawson bumped his nose He was cuddley. I liked it. Now he's not. He also went through this stage where he would simply lay down and nap anywhere. Hence the reason behind these pics we took of him laying down between the tv and the speaker.

Tangent:

I wanted to be my own creative barista and make a peppermint mocha with sprinkles. This is it.

Yes. I'm available for hire.

I have to move all of our pillows off the floor to sweep the living room. So Dawson found them laying on the kitchen floor and got cozy.

Peek-a-boo! He has great talent.

We were given snow boots by a friend. They were hand-me-downs. But Dawson didn't like them.

I think they accent his red p.j.'s

After Christmas when he got all of his car toys he went through this phase where he had to be playing with them all at once.

Many times I found them all lined up somewhere and I thought it was funny so I took pictures.

Other times I'd find him playing in unsual places...

I love this pictures because he looks all grown up. He had just discovered pockets.

I dropped my headband I had been wearing and I found out Dawson knew what to do with it. And it made me laugh!

Jason's cousin Brianna (Princess Bri from my links) owns this hat. Her sister Kelsey was taking pictures of Dawson with it on. Isn't he a little German doll?

I read a t-shirt in Wal-Mart yesterday while were grocery shopping that said :A German child is called a kraut. A bratty German child is a saur kraut. Ha!

These final pics were taken 2 weeks ago just before we left for San Diego. Dawson was terribly sick and come to find out I had bronchitis! 

If you look real closely at this pic, he has honey all over in his hair. ugh.

Even while Dawson was sick he kept saying one thing over and over again- "I ride school bus". Because he rode the charter bus on our jv ski trip that we went on. He thought it was a school bus.

I made him say it for me on video. Aren't I a good mom?

Not Yet

We just got back from San Diego California. (more on that to come sometime this week!) My mom watched Dawson while we were gone. I left Dawson at her house as a baby. When we arrived to pick him up, he was a toddler! I was only gone from him for 4 days! He's saying all kinds of things! For instance: I asked him the other night if he was ready to go night-night. His response; "not yet". NOT YET?! Who taught him that. He can't say not yet. He has to go to bed! Now what do I do? I shouldn't have asked him I guess. So now I don't ask. I tell him. On another occasion I was yelling across the room to him "Dawson!" And he says "what". WHAT. That's what he said. Like he's the grown-up. Last night he wanted me to play at his little activity table with him. So he yells out to the hallway "Mommy, come here!" *sigh.* What did my mom do? She must have talked to him while we were gone.

Before we left, Jason was teaching Dawson how to give me a wedgy. 

Naughty! I disapprove of this action by the way.

So I taught Dawson how to spit in Jason's food. just kidding.

I'm just not ready for Dawson to be older. I think the fact that he turned 2 didn't hit me so hard because I was so focused on the fact that we were heading to California without him. A fact that caused me to cry for 2 days straight before we left and the first 2 days we were gone! But I checked in everyday. Mom had everything under control. Grandma's are good like that. AND come to find out, my mom taught Dawson about heaven. And now he wants to go. I told him he could go someday but NOT YET.

I Spy

Can you find the differences between these 2 pictures?

I remember growing up reading this magazine called Highlights. I believe it's still around because I see them every now and then when I'm at the doctor's office. The magazine always had one page devoted to finding the differences in the pictures. I am especially good at that. I should've been in the FBI. Or been a profiler. Higlights magazine should put an application somewhere on the inside flap for that.

Have you found the differences yet? Let me help you.

There you have it. We found curtains for his room. And our friends, the lurkers, sent Dawson this rug for his room after they found out about his little incident at daycare when he hurt his nose. They felt bad. Dawson sure loves the rug!

Our neighbor, Rhubarb, made a special blanket for Dawson that we have hanging up in his room. This picture is her and her son, neither of whom wanted their picture taken. Too bad.

She also made these pillows to match.

The producers of Evan Almighty called and asked us if they could use these pillows for props in their movie. Not really.