Life with the Liggetts: Our Busy But Oh-So-Fun Week

This past week has been another busy one, but thankfully I didn't run myself nearly as ragged as I did last week. For starters, I didn't have to work any overtime this week, and the majority of what took up my time this week was just for fun -- including dinner at Lupe Tortilla with Abby and Wendi to catch up over the past few... years? {I can't even remember the last time the three of us were together} and a social event with my co-workers and others that included a happy hour at Scholtz's and a UT basketball game {and cotton candy!}. Unfortunately, I'm still not over this dang cold, but as of today, I've been sick for two whole weeks, and when I went to the doctor, she warned me that it would last a week to two, so hopefully I will feel 100% soon. As of right now, my main symptom is a super annoying dry cough, so I can only imagine that Ben, my coworkers, and anyone else that I spend any amount of time with are just as anxious for me to feel 100%, too.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, Jackson goes to my mom's house while I work, and I love this setup for so many reasons. First and foremost, Jackson loves being with her -- so much that he cries as soon as he sees me and realizes that he has to go home with me at the end of the day. Thankfully, I understand where he's coming from though. When I was growing up, I loved spending time with my grandparents, and I'm so glad that Jackson is able to have this same relationship with his grandparents. Another reason I love that he spends the day with her is the fact that we get pictures and updates throughout the day and a pretty detailed report at the end of the day, too.

Indoor swimming with all of his favorite toys.

The foam blocks that Mimi bought Jackson for his birthday make a great boat...

...and of course, the captain carries a gun at all times and is obviously much too busy for a picture.

Jackson watching his very favorite thing to watch right now -- "Room on the Broom", which is a super cute short film that his Uncle Josh introduced him to. Over the past month or so, I've had the privilege of watching it about 547 times, and, of course, Jackson wants to sit this close to the TV every single time. The cover to his chair was in the wash from when he "accidentally" {or not-so-accidentally} poured his smoothie out all over it, but as you can see, that doesn't stop him from sitting too close to the TV.

We had originally planned a playdate with a high school friend and her little girl on Thursday morning but cancelled our plans when we found out that she had a fever. No sense in risking it, so we spent the morning just hanging out at home. We watched the recycling truck dump ours and all of our neighbor's cans {yes, really}...

...made pancakes...

...and took some of our favorite toys for a spin.

Sitting on puppy lovey, Hobbes, and puppy blanket and with "bullets" {a.k.a. the cannon from his new pirate lego set} in hand.

Later that morning, we met up with my friend Kaycee and her girls Caroline and Violet at the library for story time and then headed over to Central Market to wear the kids out on the playground. Jackson's friend Sam from sportball and his mom Mandy were also there, so we invited them to join us. It was pretty cold out that day, but of course, the kids didn't care, and thankfully the moms were smart enough to stop and get coffee to keep us warm before heading outside.

In addition to the playground, Jackson also had fun running over the nearby detention pond {often with playground mulch in hand} to throw something {rocks, mulch, sticks, etc.} in. As much as I would love for my child to stay in one place, I am a full supporter of motion because motion equals a nice long nap!

After braving the cold playground, Kaycee and I were feeling especially gutsy, and after finding an empty table big enough for our crew, we decided to treat ourselves and our kids to lunch.

It was definitely not the most relaxing lunch I've ever had, but overall the kids did great, and we had fun, too. At one point, the entire table {minus Violet} started singing the theme song to "Elmo's World", and it was then that Kaycee and I joked about how glamorous the life of a stay-at-home {or part-time stay-at-home} mom is and agreed that we should probably head to the spa next. Because what would be better than taking 3 kids two-and-under to the spa?

That evening, I didn't feel up to making dinner, so after I found out that Ben had won $43 on the golf course that day, we were off to Mandola's. Thankfully, Jackson helped do a number on Ben's tortellini, and because all good eaters deserve a reward, we also treated ourselves to gelato {and a piece of chocolate cake for Ben}.

Jackson is a little stingy on the hugs these days, so when he wants to take a break from eating gelato to give you a bear hug, you go for it...despite the fact that his hands are covered in chocolate. He'll give these types of hugs from time to time when he's doing something fun almost as a way to say of saying "thank you", and it's the sweetest thing.

That night, before bath, we convinced Jackson to try going pee on the big boy potty, and when he did, he got a sucker...because you can never have too much sugar, right? It was the first time, and we were super excited, but we don't really have any plans to potty train soon and are instead just trying to encourage him to go, make it fun, and reward him with a "sucka". That night, I made the mistake of pointing out his blue tongue while brushing his teeth, and this is pretty much how we spent the rest of the evening -- tongue out and taking selfies on Ben's phone.

On Friday, Jackson and I went to stroller strides for the first time in a while and then spent the rest of the morning burning off energy at Zilker. I've recently decided that Zilker is my very favorite place to go with Jackson. There's so much to do there -- play on the playground, ride the train, walk/run the trail, feed the ducks, watch the people/dogs/canoes in the water -- and there is so much room to run around, too. As much as I love going as a family, I think I love going just the two of us during the week the best. First of all, the weekdays aren't nearly as crowded as the weekends, and when it's just the two of us, I'm able to focus completely on him, he plays with no one but me {selfish much?}, and it's like we're just two friends playing at the park. The older he gets, the more I love it, too. His vocabulary is really taking off these days, and it's getting to the point where we're able to have little conversations even. While walking along the trail and picking up rocks, I said something to the effect of "are you picking up rocks?", and he was quick to clarify with "BIG rocks". Later as we were passing the playground parking lot, I pointed to and said "look...it's a bus" to which he replied/shouted "school bus!" and then "kids!".

I'm not sure where all of these little black ducks came from or if they plan on sticking around for longer than just this winter, but they are always so hungry, and of course, Jackson loves to feed them.

Headed over to one of our other favorite spots -- Lou Neff Point.

Feeding the ducks and taking in the view.

And a little fishing with a tiny stick and no fishing line.

While walking on the trail, Jackson carried two handfuls of rocks {in hopes that we'd eventually get close enough to the water for him to throw them in}.

When the train came by, I waved to all of the kids that were on it, but it wasn't until the train had completely passed us that Jackson decided it was worth putting down all of his rocks to stop and wave.

Two handfuls of rocks AND a stick. What more could a little boy ask for?

And last, but not least, a little bit of fun on the playground and a few minutes on the train before heading home for lunch. On the days that we have to leave before the next train departs, we just sit on it for a few minutes, and thankfully Jackson seems to enjoy that almost as much as riding it. I know our days are numbered though.

On Saturday morning, we headed to the church for the preschool music festival.

In addition to the live music, they had all sorts of arts and crafts, a fishing game, a room full of instruments {and a lady that was very insistent that Ben join in -- haha}, and Cookie Monster and Jackson's very favorite -- ELMO!!!

Jackson wanted to be wherever Elmo was. He wanted to show him every egg shaker {a plastic egg filled with rice} that he made, and he would try to take Elmo by the hand and lead him wherever he wanted to go next.

And if Elmo was busy loving on someone else, he would just hug on his backside instead.

Playing musical chairs/shapes with Elmo...every toddler's dream come true!

Baby's 1st tattoo -- "ROCK OUT!"

There was also some road construction going on in front of the church, so of course, we took a couple of trips outside to spectate.

And after a great nap, we met my family at Joe's Crab Shack to celebrate Ben and Grandma's birthdays.

Jackson was glad to see "Upa" {a.k.a. Opa}, and after showing Opa how skilled he is at using an iPhone...

...Opa taught him one of life's most valuable tricks -- how to blow a straw wrapper off of a straw. Of course, Jackson thought this was hilarious and insisted on using up every straw at the table while usually hitting Holly since she was sitting directly across from him. Eating meals out with Jackson is already an experience, so I'm pretty sure that this new-found trick will only add to the excitement.

Today Ben was feeling a little under the weather, so we skipped church and hung out at home and played with the neighbors instead. We ended up going to Hat Creek for lunch with the Armstrongs and then went over to Pops and Grandma's house for dinner. I didn't take many pictures, but like most places, the time spent there was nonstop motion. We fed the chickens, collected the eggs, fed the deer, blew bubbles, threw rocks in the creek, went swimming in the hot tub, painted, took a bath, and capped off the evening with a ride in the gator. He used to be scared of the gator, but now he climbs on and waves/says "bye-bye, Mommy".