from my valentines to you...

baking cookies, jackson style

yesterday jackson and i made cookies together. this was serious business and he deemed it his job to hand me the eggs which meant he was NOT happy when I told him we needed 4 eggs since 3 is his favorite number and wants everything done in "3's" right now...

He was beyond excited to try his creation. But, what he didn't realize was that we were making these to give to our work crews so they were filled not only with sugar and chocolate, but also with gluten, which meant he couldn't have any. So, I pulled a sneaky move and put a couple gluten-free cookies on the drying racks when he wasn't looking and then pretended to use a spatula to put the "hot" cookies onto his plate and then blew on them for at least 5 minutes per his orders before he ate them. 

He had no idea he was missing out on the real thing which I enjoyed thoroughly, leaving me feeling guilty so I also let him try for the first time a few chocolate chips. He loved them, obviously since it's the closest thing to candy he has ever had, hence the chocolate all over his face. While the dirty face didn't bother him, he was totally disgusted when he realized that making cookies leaves you with some flour spilled on your shirt, so he went into his closet and pulled out his pajamas for a quick mid-baking change of wardrobe.

When Dan came home later Jackson was so excited to show him all of the cookies he had baked, so excited that he began giving the cookies kisses... resulting in his face once again being covered in chocolate. Jackson has become a little stingy in giving kisses to Dan and I and yet gives the puppy and now cookies endless kisses... should we be offended?

PS: Don't worry, there were no puppy kisses prior to the cookie kisses.

who's ready for Christmas?

Easter weekend

Happy Easter (a few days late)! This weekend we celebrated two momentous occasions: Easter and my niece Josie's first birthday. JP and I were really happy that Dan was able to stop by Josie's birthday party for a little bit on Saturday night and was also able to come to Easter service with Jackson and I on Sunday morning before going right back to work the rest of the weekend. Hopefully just about a month left of this craziness and then I can have my husband back and Jackson can have his "dada" back who he asks for all of the time- I miss our little (yet growing) family! It is times like these when Dan is not able to be around as much that I am so thankful that we are surrounded by so much family- so much love, support and encouragement. So, so thankful. 

happy st. patrick's day

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our little good luck charm!

president's day

We are having a week (that is sure to turn in to a few months- more to come on that later) where we are fighting to keep our heads above water with juggling all that needs to be juggled which is my way of explaining my semi-absence from writing on here. But, I did want to quickly share Jackson's first museum trip. Much like his first trip to the book store, I had been dreaming since before he was born about his first trip to the museum. 


So, on Monday we decided we would go to the children's museum at the museum center in honor of President's Day because I feel like "learning something" would have been approving in their eyes. I was so happy to have the entire day for just Jackson and I and we took full advantage. He LOVED the museum, he ran and played and "talked" with the other kids there and was actually annoyed with me when I tried to get too close. He proved once again how fearless he is and seems to have misplaced the memo that states that he is only 1... not 5, not 13, not 21... he is one, but that does not and will not stop my little man, for better or for worse. 


I'll leave the rest of the story to the photos because I am exhausted and I am guessing my rambling isn't making much sense anyway! But, there are sure to be many more museum stories since we decided to buy a family pass. 


Museum family pass = endless fun and learning! No, seriously, I am being serious.

Rainy, rainy day... note to self: rainy day + holiday + new exhibit opening = mass chaos at the museum! Luckily for us, the more chaos the better in JP's opinion.

Giving himself kisses in the mirror. Self-esteem is not an issue here.

Playing fireman and other boy-type stuff

Puzzles! One of his favorite toys to play with.

I guess this is how boys play with baby dolls... they push them around in wheel barrows? 

Lets just say this little man was not too pleased when he realized that yes, he is in fact too small to climb this wall. 

Always a sign of a day well spent! 

Happy NEW Year! As I mentioned here yesterday, I have re-kicked off my new year beginning today! So, it's only appropriate that I review my goals from last year before setting my sights high for 2011...


Half-way through 2010 I renewed my goals here: 2nd Half of 2010 Goals. Here are those goals along with my personal (and slightly subjective) recap of how I did:


1. Sign up for & run a race: COMPLETE! I ran a 5K with my colleagues in October. It was not pretty, but that's okay.  

2. Find a regular volunteering opportunity at church: Incomplete. I'll need to put this one on my 2011 list. Work + baby + everything else meant not enough time over the past few months. 

3. Establish a monthly date day/night with Dan: Semi-complete. We managed to squeeze a few dates in, but not on a monthly basis; more like on an every other monthly basis. Luckily for Christmas we received a couple of date nights (a cooking class and a gift certificate to our favorite winery!). 

4. Save X amount of $ for our home addition: COMPLETE! We are right on track for our financial goals. 

5. Finish our home addition plans and begin construction: Semi-Complete. The home plans are 95% finished, but because it took a lot longer for the architect to finish them we had to push construction back until spring. 

6. Create and finish our will- Incomplete. Totally my fault with no good excuse. I just haven't taken the time to go get it notarized. 

7. Update our family master plan: Complete!
 
8. Simplify all aspects of our life: Semi-Complete. We made a lot of great progress in this area, but I think this is an ongoing goal that will need to continue into 2011. Some of the improvements made this year were getting rid of cable TV, wireless internet (so that we don't end up sitting on our laptops around the house), giving away a LOT of kitchen appliances and tools that we rarely if ever used, cleaning and organizing the basement (still some to be done there), etc. 


More to come later on 2011 goals. For now JP and I are off to the grocery store. It is one of his favorite places to go because he gets so much attention. That little flirt. He totally eats up all the attention and ignores me the entire time we are shopping...

a new NEW year

I love the New Year. I love the clean slate that comes along with the turning of the calendar- the clean slate that is just waiting for us to pour onto it new dreams, goals and wishes. Just waiting to be painted with LIFE. 


With saying that, I'll say that I did not love this new year. It started off really rough. This first week has included the passing of my Grandma followed by Jackson getting sick which meant a lot of sleepless nights and the return to work post-holidays amidst all the chaos. 


Therefore, I have made the decision to reschedule the new year. So, 2011 kicks off for my little world tomorrow! Time for a fresh (re)start, time to (re)set the tone of this next year. 


My daily devotional contained the following paragraph that I fell in love with- very fitting for the new year!


"...God has put more in you than you can even imagine. You have gifts and talents that nobody else has. God has planted seeds of greatness in you. Why don't you quit looking at what you can't do and start looking at what God can do? It's not where you are that matters; it's where God can take you."


A lovely little thought for a lovely new NEW year. 


And... I wanted to THANK Sarah from Sweet November for re-designing my blog header. I love it! She did such a wonderful job. Thank you, Sarah! Go here to check out Sarah's work. 

1.1.11

Happy New Year!

I can honestly say that 2010 was the quickest year of my life. I think having a baby makes time fly by- maybe because they are constantly changing- physically, mentally, intellectually... it makes it feel like time is going faster than what you're used to. Or maybe time really does fly when you're having fun. In any case, 2010 has been the best year of my life, hands down. 

As I think about all that I want to experience in 2011 I can't help but wonder what this will be the "year of." 2006 was the year of graduating college and starting my career, 2007 was the year of getting an even better job, buying our first home and getting engaged, 2008 was the year of getting married, 2009 was the year of being pregnant with Jackson and 2010 was, of course, the year of having Jackson! I can only imagine the plans God has in place for our family this year and all those to follow. I often have to remind myself that while I do dream big, the dreams He has for me are far bigger. 

I definitely will share all of my new goals for 2011in the next couple of days, but I really want to think them through first and to be honest we haven't had a lot of "thinking" time this week. Lets just say that we have had something like 10 Christmas family get-togethers, a wedding and I'm sad to say also a funeral that will happen in a couple of days as well. My grandma went home to The Lord on New Years Eve after fighting a hard fight against Cancer. So, as you can imagine, life is a little "off" right now as we try to wrap our minds around what is going on. 

If this post seems like one big pot full of half-thought-through thoughts that's because it is. I have so much running through my mind right now. So much I want to do. So much I want to say. So much I want to be, but that will all have to be put on hold for a few more days. 

PS: To add to this randomness I also wanted to capture for Jackson's little eyes to read some day all that he has been learning over the past few weeks. My little man now says quite a few words: mama, dada, nanna, ball, no, up, dog, night night, bye bye and more. He also does sign language for "more", waves bye bye, claps his hands, snorts his nose like a piggy, says moo for a cow, shakes his head no (he does this A LOT and says "no" at the same time), gives kisses, shows us where his tongue is and points to ours, dances, jumps (tries to) and tries to throw a ball. He also tries to "sign" the ABCs when I sing the alphabet song but he's really just moving his fingers around, imitating me. And the walking is progressing- he can get about half way across the room before falling and he climbs on everything. 

We have been so blessed this Christmas in so many ways, my favorite being watching Jackson experience his first holiday season... and believe it or not we only half-way through our celebrations with family and friends. 

Mason giving Jackson hugs

JP decked out in his holiday gear

Grace and Papaw

Mason playing keep-away from Grace

My favorite little chubby feet...

Dennis & Mason playing

Daddy and JP before church on Christmas Eve

JP loves his new toy from Great Aunt Mary & Great Uncle Jerry!

            

Heading into Church...

Uncle Justin & JP playing

My handsome baby

Mary, Lex & Nanna hanging out on Christmas Eve

Jesus' birthday cake

      

Dan and I were craving cake late Christmas Eve night. JP was already asleep. So, we videotaped ourselves singing happy birthday for his "memories" and then ate cake without him.

But, we did give him a taste the next morning. His first cake experience!

Not sure what to think...

Making breakfast with Daddy on Christmas morning

They took a little break to dance

  
Chatting with Poppy

 
Christmas afternoon... starting to look a little Christmas'ed out.

Uncle Justin

Uncle Jordan

JP looking up to Uncle Juey. Now that's a scary thought... 

      

Playing with his new puzzle from Nanna! 

Dan and I in our new matching aprons. My mom gave us the BEST gift- these aprons along with a date night for a cooking class and a cookbook!

   
JP trying to feed himself

  
A little wagon ride on Christmas morning

Dan's genius idea on how to cool off a bottle of wine quickly

   

Bury it in the snow 

He also insisted that the process would be even quicker if someone were to spin the bottle for a few minutes around in the snow, but nobody volunteered. 

Grace ... dancing?

The annual Christmas basketball game. 

A little help from Dennis

Big boys, little boys... they all play. No mercy.

Slam dunk!

Hey Dennis, pick on someone your own size...

Mya & Grace hula-hooping... 

Mya- 3 years 

Papaw, Grace & Mya playing

Sarah taking a break from the basketball game 

Who's the boss in this photo? Definitely not Papaw...

JP walking with a little help from Uncle Dennis

Grandpa Charlie with all but one of his children

Miss Mya

   

Kaylee holding Josie.. passed out from the fun. 

JP and Grace playing

Do NOT touch my toys, Jackson...