Riding around in my automobile...err I mean tractor!

Yep, that's right a tractor. This was Jaxon's big birthday present this year and boy did he love it! A big thanks to everyone who chipped in on it! You can see him pouting in a few of them and this is because he wasn't very happy that everyone was running after him telling him to watch out for the tree (which he did miss all on his own). However as soon as he passed the tree he stopped the tractor and sat there and pouted! He wouldn't go again until Doug went over to his tractor (which by the way looks exactly like Jaxon's) and started it up. Then a huge smile lit up on Jaxon's face and he started driving around the back yard again. I have a feeling that once the weather warms up Jaxon will be outside all day long riding his tractor and helping his daddy with the yard work!

Here's the story behind the whole tractor business if you didn't know it already. All spring, summer and fall when Doug would be out working in the backyard he would let Jaxon ride on the tractor with him. So Jaxon would begin asking Doug as soon as he would walk in the door from coming home after work to ride on the tractor...he loves the tractor! So after Christmas when Doug was running some errands for me at the store he came across the tractor at Walmart and saw that it looked exactly like his (trailer and all!) When he came home he told me he had found Jaxon's birthday present, he showed me what it looked like online and I knew that Jaxon would love it. So Doug went back to the store and bought it and we hid it in the garage until the big day. On Jaxon's birthday while he was sleeping (he had crashed on the couch downstair watching Blue's Clues) Doug brought it in and put it all together. When Jaxon woke up we had him come upstairs and as soon as he saw it a huge smile came on his face. Unfortunately he couldn't actually ride on it yet since the battery had to charge, but he had a blast just sitting on it and filling up the wagon with toys. Then the next afternoon we took it outside and let Jaxon go! The only downside with the tractor so far (besides the fact the apparently the directions for putting it together sucked!) is that every time he is done riding it you have to take the battery out and put in on the charger. But otherwise it runs pretty well, even in the snow, grass and mud!

I've also added some pictures of the other kids (and poor old Balder with a bow on his head) running around the backyard, the snow had finally melted (for the most part) and they were having fun trudging through the sloppy yard. It then snowed again last night (Doug even had a two hour delay from work this morning) but now most of the snow is melted again. So please just ignore my very sloppy, messy yard I haven't been out there to clean it up in weeks with all of the snow!

Oh and as for the potty training (which I still haven't officially started doing with him yet) it is actually going pretty well. He uses the potty for me a few times a day and so far he is the one that tells me that he has to go! So I have a feeling once I get serious about it (which I'm planning on doing this coming week once everyone is back on their schedules) that he will catch on pretty quickly and hopefully be completely potty trained soon. Then I will just have one kid in diapers (and a few at night) but them being in diapers at night doesn't bug me.

So anyways, I'm flooding the blog with lots of pictures for you to enjoy! We hope that everyone had a wonderful Holiday and a great New Year! I know us Crowe's are hoping for an awesome 2009!