Mitchell's Baby Shower

While we were all in Leakey, I helped host a baby shower honoring Leslie and Mitchell along with friends, Jessica and Dianne. If you couldn't guess based on the previous post, the theme was Caterpillar. We used lots of toy CAT equipment and black and yellow decorations. There was a great turn out, and Leslie and Mitchell got lots of great things. Here are a couple of pics. There are more in the album.

While we were busy partying, the boys took another trip around the ranch. This time Jackson got to ride with Grandad!

More pics of the ranch ride in the album.

New Years 2010 in Leakey, TX

Leslie and Philip held their 3rd annual New Year's Eve party at their house. We were bad and didn't even pull the camera out, but we had a great time visiting with family and close friends. Last year we started the tradition of Wii bowling to entertain us while we waited to bring in the new year. The tradition continued this year, but everyone was exhausted. We decided to celebrate when the ball dropped in New York, but then everyone stuck around and visited longer, which meant we ended up celebrating twice!

New Year's Day was a real highlight for Jackson. Uncle Philip let him drive a real tractor! How many 18 month olds have ever done that? Here's a link to the video if you don't believe me, and here are a few photos of the fun. He steered the tractor around their yard, and then got to turn around and move the arm! Of course, there are more pics in the album.

Christmas in Leakey, TX

Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it to the Christmas celebration with my Dad's side of the family. I have 3 cousins on that side of the family and two of them have gotten married in the last couple of years. Between their new commitments and our traditions, our schedules just didn't work out this year. We missed them and hope to see them soon!

Our final Christmas stop was in Leakey, TX where Ross' sister, Leslie, and brother-in-law, Philip, live along with Jackson's cousin, Mitchell. Jackson LOVES his new cousin! He points to him saying baby and enjoys giving him hugs and kisses. Mitchell was a little tired for our Christmas celebration, but you only knew that because he kept doing this...

Jackson decided he was Ross' gift this year.

Jackson got his first phone from Aunt Leslie and Uncle Philip, which was a Catepillar phone, of course!

He also got some fun new wheels to drive around on a fun track!

After all of the Christmas fun, the three of us went for a ride around the ranch. It was a beautiful day, and we ran across several cows, which Jackson recognized immediately.

We stopped for a short walk along the Little Dry Frio where Jackson tried to throw every rock he could find into the river.

There are more pics from all the fun in the album.

Joy and Sorrow

Ross' 1st cousin once removed, Dick Mitchell, passed away this week. He was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and was told around Thanksgiving that it likely wouldn't be much longer. Dick has meant so much to our entire family, and he will be greatly missed! Here are a couple of pics from our last good visit with Dick.

The joy in all of this is our new nephew and Dick's namesake, Mitchell Rodriguez, who was born just before Thanksgiving. We are so thankful they had the opportunity to meet each other. Baby Mitchell was born a few weeks early, which we definitely believe was God's timing since it allowed them to spend some time together.

The funeral was Thursday, so Ross, Jackson, and I made our way to Leakey for the service. Jackson wasn't exactly cooperative, so I missed everything, but I was told the service was very nice. Dick was an amazing man that lived an incredible life that touched so many lives, which was evident by all of the people that were there.

We enjoyed the opportunity to visit with family and spend more time with our nephew. Jackson loves to say baby and even got to hold baby Mitchell while we were there.

Both Jackson and Mitchell enjoyed spending some time with their grandparents too!

As always, there are more pics in the album

4th of July

Sorry for not posting last weekend. It turned out to be an overwhelming weekend. My mom was in town, which was a saving grace because she was able to keep Jackson while we signed all the paperwork to put in an offer for a new house, which was accepted! She was also able to help us pack some things to be put into storage so we could get our house ready to sell, and she kept Jackson while Ross took me to the ER for one of the worst migraines I've ever had!

This weekend was a little less stressful and a lot of fun. We made our way to Leakey, TX to visit with family. While we were there we participated in the Leakey 4th of July parade. Ross, Jackson, and I were crowd control for the Frio Spring Lodges' Float, which was a huge roller. Crowd control was needed because the float was not only throwing beads and candy but also popsicles! They were a huge hit on such a hot day, but we didn't want anyone to get squashed just for a popsicle! Here are some pictures of everyone getting ready for the parade. I don't have any of the actual action, but there are a bunch in the album.

Here are Ross and Jackson ready to go!

This is Ross' 1st cousin once removed, Dick, that owns the lodges and drove the roller.

After the parade, we made our way back to the Stepladder Ranch where Ross' Dad, John; a family friend, Buz; and Dick smoked some cabrito. Here are the guys enjoying the shade.

Aunt Leslie and Uncle Philip introduced Jackson to Noel, and then Jackson got to go on his first horse ride!

Then he had fun playing outside in the dirt. It was a great day!

Many thanks to Leslie and Philip for hosting us!

We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!

6 Christmases, 3 Sicknesses, and 1 New Years Later...

Christmas is normally a busy time of year for us, but this year proved to be a real challenge. We were very much looking forward to Jackson's first Christmas, but the Monday before we found ourselves at the doctor's office with Jackson debating whether or not we should travel with a sick kiddo. He'd been running a fever all weekend and had an awful cough and runny nose. Turns out he had bronchiolitis and got his first round of antibiotics.

With medicine in hand, we headed to Shreveport on Tuesday. During the trip I quickly realized I was coming down with something too, but Christmas must go on!

Christmas Eve was spent with my Grandmother and Granddaddy and family. Jackson had fun hanging out with his 2nd cousins, Adam and Andrew. He was asleep before we started opening presents, but he got lots of love and attention despite being sick. He was quite the trooper. Despite feeling bad and running a fever he hardly ever complained.

We had fun watching Adam open his gifts and help us open ours. There are lots of pics in the album, but Adam opening his kaleidoscope was one of my favorite memories from this Christmas. Of course, he had no idea what it was, so it was fun watching him figure it out!

Andrew is such a cutie! I've never seen such big beautiful eyes on a baby before!

Christmas morning we woke up at my parents house, exchanged gifts, and had fun watching Jackson open more presents. It was pretty funny to see him sitting around in his diaper and new cowboy boots while he reached for bows and shiny paper.

By that point I was pretty miserable. There's not much you can take while you're nursing, so I just tried to keep going...Next stop was Ross' parents' house where we had brunch with family and opened more presents. Ross' Uncle Ronnie and his kiddos, Jessie and Jordan, were my heroes that day because they left in the middle of everything to get me some Tylenol to try to help bring my fever down. Jackson was the center of attention and adorable as always!

Jackson and I both got a good nap that afternoon before heading over to Ronnie and Laura's for more good family time, which rounded out our Christmas day, but not the last of our Christmas celebrations!

The next day I finally broke down and called my doctor who graciously called in a prescription for me since we were out of town. We picked up my antibiotics on the way to Ruston where we celebrated with my Dad's family.

I have 3 boy cousins on my Dad's side of the family, and one of them got married this summer (on Jackson's due date!), which meant I wasn't the only girl granddaughter this year! Not only were David and Rachel there, but John brought his girlfriend, Sarah, too! It took every ounce of energy I had to visit with everyone, but it was so much fun.

David and Rachel moved to Kansas City this year where he's going to dental school and she's working as a preschool teacher. John finished law school and is preparing for the bar exam, and Ben is busy working on his mechanical engineering degree. They are an amazing group, and I love getting to see them. They were wonderful with Jackson too, which you can see in the album.

Here's my Aunt Kathy meeting Jackson for the first time! I hope we can do as good of a job with him as she and Uncle Mike have done with their boys!

The next morning I finally broke down and decided I either needed to go to the ER or take some medicine, which meant stopping nursing for a while. I opted to take some medicine for a few days in hopes of feeling better for our next trip to Leakey. Of course, by that time Ross was starting to feel bad too. We got one good day of rest before we hit the road again, and it certainly helped!

When we got to Leakey we had our final Christmas celebration for this year with Ross' sister and brother-in-law. By this time you could tell that Jackson was feeling better, and we were so glad! He loved all of his toys and getting to hang out with his Aunt Leslie and Uncle Philip!

We spent several days in Leakey hanging out, riding on the ranch, and celebrating the New Year with family and friends. Philip got a Wii for Christmas, so everyone went bowling in the living room on New Year's Eve. It was a blast!

Jackson got spoiled over the two week break, so we're working on getting back into a more normal routine today. I started nursing again a couple of days ago only to discover that Jackson has learned to bite with his new teeth! He finds it hilarious...not so funny to me though!

We had a wonderful time with everyone, but we are exhausted and so glad to be home. Now it's time to get in gear for a new year! We can't wait to see all that 2009 holds. We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Weekend Summary

This weekend was filled with lots of fun! Friday was Ross' 30th birthday! Ross got a few new toys, and we celebrated with good friends that night.

The next morning we woke up to find that Santa had come early! Jackson had lots of fun checking out his new toys as you can see.

There are more pics of Jackson checking things out and our house decorated for Christmas in the album.

My dad drove down Saturday, and we spent most of the day finishing up the last of some Christmas shopping. He drove down to babysit Jackson that night so we could stay out late at a wedding for our friends, Chris and Shannon. Ross works with Chris, and he and Shannon are the ones that cleaned up our yard after Ike when we were in Leakey. Both the ceremony and reception were very memorable occaisions. I've never laughed so much in a wedding ceremony, and the reception was a blast. We didn't take any pictures, but another friend took one of the two of us after the ceremony.

We can't thank my dad enough for taking care of Jackson and letting us enjoy a night out. It wasn't an easy night for him because Jackson is sick again. We're really hoping his fever will go away and he'll be able to enjoy his 1st Chrismas!

Silly Monkey

We spent this past weekend in Leakey, TX introducing Ross' sister, Leslie, and her husband, Philip, to their new nephew. Jackson also got to meet Dick and Mia, some of Ross' extended family. Unfortunately, we didn't take many pictures. This one of John (Granddad) and Jackson is one of the only people pics we got. There is a family reunion coming up in a couple of weeks, so hopefully, we'll be better about taking pictures there.

Philip showed us around one of the places he's been working recently. The view was incredible, but we were even more impressed by everything he's done out there. Here's a pic of the view.

Since we've been back, I've been trying to take advantage of my last 2 weeks at home. The time has gone by so quickly! Jackson is getting cuter everyday. He's talking even more and seems to like to sing along with his dad. Here's a picture of him showing off today in his Silly Monkey onesie.