Leaping Lizards!

Well Jackson has a new favorite obsession......Catching Lizards!!  Day and Night all Jackson wants to do is hunt for Lizards.  And he will ask everyone and anyone around to help him (although he is quickly learning how to catch them himself)!!  Jackson loves Lizards so much he wanted to bring them to school this week too!!

Jackson and Ryan are usually on the hunt to catch Lizards but when Daddy's not home I am on Lizard duty!!!  So I was a good sport and caught a Lizard for Jackson! It was cute how Jackson was so proud of me, although then he asked me to catch more since Daddy usually has three in the container at one time!!!  Wow lots to live up to!!! But it is a fun way to spend time with my little guy since he is growing by leaps and bounds!!

Checking out the Lizard!

See Mom Good job!

Hmmm....I wonder if mom will let me bring it in the house!?! NO

So happy with his Lizard!

Jackson's 1st Day of School in the 3 Year Old Class!

Well summer flew by and now we are in school mode!! Today was Jackson's 1st day of school in the 3 year old class at Rainbow Garden!! We had a much better 1st day this year than last year!  Last year Jackson and I both had tearful goodbyes!  This year Jackson walked right into Miss Michele's class without even giving me a kiss or saying goodbye (which kind of made me want to cry but I had to smile at what a big boy he has become!) He was totally ready to start his 1st Day!

I stayed to observe for a few minutes (hiding outside the classroom of course) and it seemed as Jackson had turned into a totally different child being so polite and listening and following directions and he even cleaned up his toys when the teacher asked him to!!  It was amazing I wanted to stay all day!!!!  But of course off to work I went but I came back for pick up to see how Jackson's 1st day was!  And Miss Michele informed me he had a great day with his new friends and that he is a wiz at putting together difficult puzzles which she was very impressed by!!  We are so excited about all the fun things this year will bring!!

Enjoy a few pictures of Jackson's 1st Day!! We only had time for a few since we were running late as usual or maybe this is the reason we were late?!? Hard to tell!!

What a big boy!

I'm ready to take the picture and go to school mom!

Jackson and Haley!

Jackson wanted to bring Haley to school with him!

Haley wasn't so sure!

So handsome!

Let's Go I'm ready Mom and we are late!

Go Gators!

I was inspired after our college reunion weekend to start getting ready for another one of my favorite times of the year.......Gator Football Season! Gator Football season is always a fun time in the Lossius household (well not always but at least it is in the beginning of the season)!!!  It means a lot of traveling on the weekends to Gainesville, fun tailgating times with friends and cheering on our Gators!!!! And it is even more fun now that Jackson is getting into it too!!  So I decided it was time to put out our Gator decorations in preparation for the first game which by the way starts in less than 3 weeks!!  Yay!!!!  And when that Gator flag started flying Jackson ran around the house yelling "Go Gators, Go Gators!!" Now lets just keep our fingers crossed for a great Gator football season!!! And as we always say "Its Great to be a Florida Gator"!!!

Our front door decoration!

The website to buy these adorable door signs for any occasion is http://twoswingsstudio.com/ Happy Shopping!

College Reunion at the Beach!!

What better way to kick off the upcoming Gator football season then a beach day with our best friends from college!!!  Thank you to the Mueller's for hosting such a fun filled family day on Redington Beach with our family, the Hodges, and the Politis'!!! Between all of our families there were 11 kids (and 2 more little ones on the way) which made it all the more fun!!!  The kids and lets be honest the adults too had an absolute blast going between the beach and the pool!!  There was boogie boarding, sandcastles, body surfing, and horseshoes to round out the activities to keep these little ones busy!!!  And maybe a few cocktails to keep the adults happy!!  Then we topped off the night by a great dinner and some reminiscing about the good old days!!! And as always at the end of the night Jackson was the last child standing (he takes after his uncle Donny!) and was up until 11:45pm!!!  All in all great times with great friends!!!  So enjoy some pictures from our beautiful day at the beach! And Go Gators!!!!

Playing in the sand

Jackson and Ellie having fun!

Trey playing in the surf with his dad!

The boys and a few of the kids..Jackson isn't in the picture because was too busy playing so Ryan has Ellie! 

Ryan sure does look cute holding a little girl though!

Hanging in the water

Loving boogie boarding although I'm sure Pop disapproves of this!!

Heading out in the surf

Jackson sure wasn't afraid to go far out there

Waiting for the perfect wave

Heading out in the surf again

Hanging out waiting for a wave

Jackson chasing birds

The boys playing horseshoes

Jackson and Ellie best buds!

Pete and Ryan enjoying themselves

Watching the beautiful sunset

Go Rays!!!

Every year Ryan's firm rents out the Rays bull pen cafe for a game for all the employees and their families which is super nice!  Since the game was on a Wednesday and it didn't start until 7pm we decided to leave Jackson at home and have a parents night out!!  We had such a nice and relaxing evening. We enjoyed hanging out with Ryan's co-workers and of course cheering on the Rays.  So we decided to leave the game in the top of the 9th inning since I had an early morning meeting and the Rays were down 4-3.  And wouldn't you know it ended up being an awesome ending with the Rays coming back to win it 8-7 against the Royals!!  Go Rays!  Next time we will have to bring Jackson along for some family baseball fun!!!

Our view from the bull pen cafe

Watching one the pitchers warm up!

Family Time at the Aquarium

Since we bought an annual pass last time we went to the aquarium and Jackson always has a blast there we decided we would go for some family fun on Saturday!! Jackson was all about showing Daddy everything about the aquarium which was super cute!! And as always we were on the hunt to find "Nemo!" So after another run thru the aquarium Jackson went to "Explore a Shore" playing on the pirate ship and running thru the water! It was scorching hot out as we "Explored a Shore" so we didn't protest when Jackson was ready to leave after about 45 minutes!  Then we went for a lovely lunch at the Columbia restaurant for some delicious cuban food and of course a little sangria!!! It was such a great day and it was so nice to have Daddy with us and not working for a change!!  And since Ryan was mainly the one running thru the aquarium with Jackson this time I was able to get a few more pictures of our new favorite hotspot!!!

Touch the Rays Tank!

The tunnel of fish!

We were there for awhile! 

Jackson wanted to know what every fish was...and We weren't so sure?!?

Loving the sea turtle

Whoa...

Shark swimming right by as the big fish looks like it wants to eat Jackson for lunch!!

Down the slide

Riding the dolphin

Loving the spray water

Hi Mom I'm having a blast!

3..2..1..Blast off!!

Too bad the space program was canceled because we could have had an astronaut as a son!!  Jackson's favorite thing to do when we go to the mall (since like every boy he dislikes shopping greatly) is to the ride in the rocket ship and pretend to be an astronaut!! I usually don't have quarters so it is a melt down when he can't ride it but luckily yesterday I did and I actually had enough for 2 rides.  So of course Jackson was ecstatic and so was I that a melt down was avoided!!! Here are a couple cute pictures of our astronaut!

My Little Cupcake.....

So my birthday was Monday........And shhhhh we won't discuss how old I just turned :-)  But as a reminder to myself you should never come back to work after vacation on your birthday!!  Needless to say it was a crazy day, that is until I came home and sweet Jackson shouted "Happy Birthday Mommy!" and greeted me with hand picked flowers and a homemade card which are always the best presents!!! Then Ryan came home early with more flowers, cards, gifts and dinner!!! Boy am I one lucky girl!!!!  We had a lovely dinner and then Ryan and Jackson brought out the most delicious cupcakes I have ever had from a specialty cupcake shop in South Tampa called Frostings Etc!!!!  To all my Tampa friends you have to try them they are a must!!!  I opted for the chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake (which is their best seller) and I can see why!!!  And Jackson and Ryan raved about their red velvet cupcakes!!  Although Jackson decided when he was done with his cupcake that mine looked good too so he ate the other half of mine, which is probably better for me that I didn't eat the whole cupcake anyway!! Even though I definitely wanted to :-)!!  It was a wonderful end to my birthday and a huge thank you to all my friends and family who called, texted. facebooked, emailed etc you all made it so special!!!  Here are a couple pictures of Jackson devouring the red velvet cupcake!!!

Eyeing the delicious cupcake! 

Loving every bite!