Flag Boys

Jackson and Boomer are official entrepreneurs.  With a lot of help from Mom and Dad they started a flag business and we have our first six customers.  A big thanks to our neighbors! Here's the boys putting up the flags this morning.

Our 6 flag days:

Presidents Day

Flag Day

Independence Day

Memorial Day

Veterans Day

Labor Day

Other days to fly the flag are (which we will not be participating in):

New Year's Day, Inauguration Day (January 20)

Lincoln's Birthday (February 12 ) Easter Sunday (variable)
Mother's Day, Armed Forces Day, (third Saturday in May)
Constitution Day, (September 17) Columbus Day (second Monday in October)
Navy Day (October 27),  Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day,
and such other days as may be proclaimed by the President of the United States
as well as:  The birthdays of States (date of admission) February 14 for Oregon

There are pages of rules on correct flag etiquette..Rules which we are probably breaking.. Right now, we have just two rules for the boys: 1)get the flag down before sunset and  2)keep it from touching the ground.  Happy President's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day

Welcome to our blog. This year we sent out Valentine's card instead of Christmas cards. It worked out so well I think we might just do it again. There seems to be a tradition with Christmas cards to write a letter so we'll follow suite and brag about each child individually

1) Sadie is our yeller and our table dancer. Even though she is two she has no desire to talk. (Why should she when she can get what she wants by yelling?) She likes to sneak candy and is crafty about finding ways to get it even when we strategically place it in difficult to reach places. She likes relaxing with a good board book, her favorite blankie, and a pacifier. She is our curly headed little girl and we love her.

2)Boomer is Mr. Emotional and cries at the drop of a hat. "You hurt my feelings" is his most used phrase these days. He makes friends easy and everyone loves him.  Curently, Jon is brainwashing him to believe that he will grow up and be a quarterback for BYU. (Mostly because tuition is inexpensive) He's a fun little guy and generally very easy to be around.

3)Jackson is getting so big. He has lost three teeth and has another loose one which is causing his smile to look like a Jack-o-Lantern but he's still a handsome little guy. He is reading now and is addicted to Angry Birds (a game on my phone). He also likes Pokemon and Bacugan. He thinks Kindergarten is "OK" but mostly boring. When he gets home he jumps around the furniture, hoping piece to piece, like a caged tiger. Even though he doesn't like hugs and kisses we still love to give them to our Jackson boy.

4) I (Michelle) was deep into training for a half ironman triathlon..but fell of the wagon when we went on the cruise.  I need to pick it back up again, it is an antidepressant for me.  I feel so much happier and patient when I am exercising.  I got a new juicer and we are loving it.  It's the only way I can get kids to eat kale and spinach..awesome!! Other than that I just try to clean the house and comb my hair everyday.  I feel pretty good when they both get done, but, unfortunately, that doesn't always happen.

5) Jon probably doesn't want to talk about it right now.  He has had a frustrating year with The Maids but really enjoys being a business owner. He works hard and everyone is excited when he comes home.  The boys want to wrestle with him and Sadie likes to join in too. He's a great guy and we're glad he works so hard for us.

We're so blessed to have you as friends and family.  Thanks for stopping by.

PS  Leave a comment so we know you were here.

It's about the journey not the destination.

About two years ago Jon used his credit card rewards to get Carnival Cruise tickets (just after Sadie was born).  We thought it would be a great vacation with a newborn.  When we tried to schedule the cruise we were informed that babies under six months old are not allowed. The tickets were expiring this February. We tried to give the tickets away but we weren't finding any takers.  My Dad said he didn't want the tickets but said  "If you can go next week then we can watch your kids."  We quickly booked our tickets and were on our way to our very first Cruise. 

The cruise stopped in Catalina Island (LA, California) and went down to Encinada, Baja Mexico.   We did a Kayak trip in Catalina and went see a blow hole (boring) in Encinada where we ate some fantastic tacos.  Other than that the majority of the time was spent of the cruise.  We exercised everyday (Jon ran 2 miles...the most he's run off a basketball court in about 7 years). We enjoyed the dinner in the dining room and the staff was amazing. (Those Filipinos know how to smile.)

Jon showing his approval of the accomodations

We enjoyed our dorm style room with two twin beds that were harder than sleeping on the ground.  We enjoyed the high school type entertainment, we enjoyed the exercise we got from walking 8 flights stairs due to the crammed elevators. We liked the freezing cold above the ground swimming pools and squeezing into the tiny "hot" tub with 15 other people who were drunk and using their best sailor language. We also loved doing Karaoke with the  Salt Lake "Merry" Men's choir.  ( a crack up)

It was great to get away. But I have decided that a cruise is about the journey and Jon and I are destination people. We really enjoy going to new places, being with the people, eating the local food and most importantly being on the beach in the sun.  However, we do think it would be fun to get a few friends together for a luxury cruise in the Mediterranean sea. (In about 5 years)  Any takers? 

PS  A great big thank you to my Dad and Ginny  for watching our kids!

Jackson turns Six

Unbelievably, Jackson turned Six last week.  I can't believe how big he is getting.  His favorite pastime right now is playing Angry Birds on my phone. He asks me all day long if he can play on it and talks constantly about when he earns enough money to get his own ITouch so he can play it "whenever he wants."  (He turns into a little angry bird when we tell him he's been playing long enough)

Jon is also teaching Jackson to play chess and he is catching on quickly and enjoying it.  He's enjoying it so much that he told me he wanted to have a chess party for his birthday.  We invited some friends over on Tuesday night and he played chess with his friend Scott, a fellow kindergartner, while eating ice cream cake.  However, the highlight of the day was a few hours earlier when Grandpa came over for a surprise visit, delivered a pillow pet, (Jackson said it was his favorite gift) and then played Chess with Jackson for almost a whole hour.
Jackson is bright and curious and very energetic (He runs circles around our living room chattering the entire time. Jon thinks he looks like a caged tiger.) Jackson loves a good challenge and is mentally tough. (He rode his bike six miles with me a few weeks ago and didn't complain once).  We sure love this little guy and can't believe how fast the time is going.  Please don't grow up too fast!!

Our favorite gifts this Christmas

     We had a great Christmas this year.  The boys were asking for large ticket items from Santa.  Boomer wanted furniture and a Television for his room. (He already wants a man cave).  Jackson was asking for a phone that he could play games on or an Ipad/Itouch.  We informed both of the boys that Santa doesn't bring kids those kind of things and that they should think of a toy.  Neither of them came up with a toy and so they got a bunch of surprises on Christmas morning.

     We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa.  Abrielle read us a story and we had a mini talent show.  Jackson played "Jolly Old St Nicholas" on the black keys.  Annelise played "Deck the Halls" and Boomer sang us a lovely rendition of  "Skeletoon, Skeletoon, Don't touch the treasure it leads to doom."  We all cracked up because none of us had heard him sing that song before.  Jackson found it particularly funny.  Asking Boomer "Why would you sing that at Christmas time?"  I guess he had heard it in a movie and it just came to him at that moment.  He redeemed himself by a follow up song "Go tell in on the Mountain."  After the "talent" show, we read the Christmas story and proceeded into the living room where we opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa and the Jensens.

     My parents are always very generous. The kids got some great clothes and toys but my favorite gift was a Cookbook with all of Grandma's recipes called "Cooking with Rosemary"  (Her name is Rosemary...Hence the title.) and an apron that she made for us.  Grandma 1) hates sewing and 2) had pneumonia so the gift is even more from the heart (or the lungs?)  Thanks for the great gifts Mom and Dad.

    Christmas Morning the kids awoke to find their prizes from Santa.  Jackson got a stuffed horse you can sit on.  Boomer got a Basketball hoop (he loves sports) and Sadie's favorite was the candy in her stocking.  She had a lovely breakfast of minty malt balls and gummy wreaths.

     One of our favorite Christmas Memories this Christmas was something Jackson said.  He's really been into presents this year and asking all the time what he was going to get. So we weren't surprised when he asked "Where are the presents under the tree?"  He proceeded to climb under as though he was searching for presents.  I responded "We haven't put any presents out yet."  Jackson said "Look there are presents."  Jon said, "No, Jackson there aren't any there yet."  Then Jackson repeated "Look, there are presents under the tree."  That's when we realized that all three children had climbed under the tree.  He was absolutely right.  They are the best presents we could ever have.  What more could we ask for?     Merry Christmas!

Where have I been? Sadie's 2nd birthday.

I feel like its been forever since I've written on here. Besides our computer being low on memory, my only excuse is that I've been filling my nights up with gym time. You could call this an early new years resolution. But it was really motivation by an unlikely source...not even meant to be motivation. An acquaintance of mine was telling me about her son and that he has a need to move his muscles everyday or he has some kind of cognitive anger disorder. (sorry for the improper medical description) Anyhow, I thought that maybe I had the same disorder (I mean, PMS isn't suppose to last 3 weeks out of the month is it?) So the first of Nov I decided to give it a try. I looked up a half iron man training program and got to work.  Tonight I am finishing week 10 of the program. I've lost 6 lbs which is pretty impressive considering most Americans gain 5 pounds during the holidays. That alone made it worth it. Even more importantly I have lost a desire to abuse my children daily. ( Said as joke.Please don't report me to Officer Brown. I do ,however,feel a lot less aggressive.) So here I am at the Gym again and I am making an effort to multitask (something women are suppose to be good at but that I seem to do rather poorly at) and I am communicating with anybody who reads this blog (all three of you)  So I am on my droid phone attempting to have a conversation with you during my 90 min bike ride (while biking 10 miles an hour because I can't do two things at once.)

Here's what has been going on with the Pippert family: Sadie turned two on December 21st. She loves music, dancing, climbing on the table and putting those all together. We call her our little table dancer. She also loves babies and dollies and is determined to carry all of them at the same time. When we get her out of bed she grabs three blankets, two dolls, a blanket for her doll and her water bottle. She usually can't manage the load so I have to help. Once she gets downstairs she promptly drops them on the wood floor where at a later time you will see one of the boys slipping on them. (as slippery as a banana peel.) This little girl has a mind of her own. She's as determined as she is sweet. We love our little curly head. Happy birthday Sadie.
PS The cake is from Coldstone creamery and it is fantastic.  (Expensive but we loved every bite.)

Winter Wonderland

We went to the mountain today and did a little sledding! Since the snow didn't really come to us, we decided to go to the mountain. It was just a short day trip. Next year, we want to go and stay over night so we can sleigh the day away.