Christmas in Shreveport Part 2

Our second celebration in Shreveport was with Ross' family. We had a wonderful brunch and spent hours visiting and opening presents. It was so much fun to watch Jackson open a present then play for a while before moving on to the next. Two of his favorite gifts were a jack-in-the-box and a pull-a-long alligator toy. Both provided lots of etertainment and even exercise for everyone. Jackson walked "Gator" around and around the house, but he insisted someone walk with him. Granddad and Ross happily complied. Here are a couple of pics, and there are more in the album.

After a full day of playing, we made our way to Ross' Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Laura's house for delicious dinner with the rest of his family that was in town. It was great to see everyone and catch up!

Christmas in Shreveport Part 1

Our next Christmas celebration was Christmas morning with my parents, now also known as Nana and Pop. By this point Jackson had become an expert at unwrapping presents, so he helped everyone when he wasn't too busy playing with his new toys.

Apparently, the sit n spin was one of my favorites as a little girl, and Jackson loves it too. It took him a little while to get the hang of spinning himself, but now he gets on, spins, and says, "Wheeeee!"

Jackson also got his first laptop, which Dad was happy to help him with.

He also loved digging through the stocking that was almost as big as he was!

Jackson also got a wagon the day before Christmas, which he enjoyed riding in and pushing up and down the street with Nana.

The rest of us got fun stuff too, but Jackson was more fun to take pictures of (and he was much cuter than the rest of us that early in the morning). My favorite gift, which was given to me by both my parents and grandparents, was Audrey's bedding! I'm looking forward to getting her room set up now.

It was lots of fun! Thanks Nana and Pop! Here are more pics if you're interested.

Labor Day Weekend Fun

Our Labor Day weekend was packed with even more fun than usual this year. We went to Shreveport as usual and stayed with my folks. Jackson had a blast walking up and down their street and playing in the back yard. We couldn't resist taking a few pics.

From there we made our way to my high school's danceline reunion. We all met at a park, ate yummy food, and had fun visiting. Most of us haven't seen in each other in over 10 years! Everyone looked the same with the addition of husbands and kiddos. Here is a picture of the girls. There are more from the park in the album.

Next was the main event...the Stone Family Reunion, which is Ross' mom's family. It's a two day affair filled with fun. We start off Saturday evening at Ross' Aunt Dottie and Uncle Jim's house with burgers, hot dogs, and all the fixin's. Sunday brunch is had at Ross' parents' house, and then everyone heads to his Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Laura's house for swimming, fajitas, and karaoke! Did I mention there are 45 people at each of these events? It's a blast! I love seeing how everyone changes each year. Here are a few pics from the events, but of course, there are a lot more in the album.

Jackson got to "ride" Grandad's motorcycle.

Taylor Family Picture

Just the 3 (or 4) of us

Jackson stopping to pose for a few pics.

Jackson and Anna Claire playing together.

Swimming is fun! Especially when Daddy throws me!

A little karaoke fun to end the evening.

And that's not all...we celebrated my Granddaddy's 82nd birthday Monday over lunch before we left town. Jackson's middle name, Dean, is after my Granddaddy, Harry Dean. We all loved spending time with them, and Jackson got really excited about the cake!

Celebrate Good Times!

We had a whirl wind of fun this weekend. We celebrated our friend Carter's 2nd b-day on Saturday, which was the main reason for a trip to Shreveport and Ruston, LA. We didn't make it through the entire party because Jackson needed a nap, but everyone was having a great time, which you can tell from the pictures in the album. Carter and his parents, Barbara and Heath, are basically family. We love every moment we get to spend with them! Here's a pic with Barbara from the party.

We also got to visit with all of our grandparents this weekend, which is a rare treat. We mostly see them around Christmas and Thanksgiving, so Easter weekend was a bonus! Ross' grandparents and Uncle Alan were enjoying some Easter festivities when we arrived. There was a woman playing the piano and leading the group in song. All of the ladies had on beautiful Easter bonnets.

We don't have any pictures from the visit with my dad's parents, but we definitely enjoyed the visit!

My mom's parents had a fish fry Saturday evening, and it was delicious!!! My cousin Stephanie and her family were also in town this weekend, so all of the boys had fun playing outside. Andrew and Jackson are about a week apart in age, so they had fun digging through a bucket of toys while Adam found Easter eggs.

There are a lot more pics in the album from this weekend, but I'll leave you with a few of my favorites.

Jackson with my parents, Nana and Pop.

Ross' Grandmother

Jackson's 2nd cousin, Andrew.

Last, but certainly not least, my grandmother and Jackson!

Oh yeah...Jackson's 10 months old now! I can't believe it!

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!

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend was the Stone family reunion, which is Ross' mom's side of the family. As you can see in the picture below, it's a large family. Every Labor Day weekend we get together for a fun-filled weekend.

The reunion started Saturday night at Dottie and Jim's house where we celebrated Ross' mom and dad's 60th birthdays.

Sunday morning we all had brunch at Ross' parents' house and then spent the evening at Ronnie and Laura's swimming, singing karaoke, and eating more good food. There are a lot of pics in the album, but here's a shot of the three of us.

We also got to spend a little time with my family while we were in Shreveport. My grandparents came over for lunch before the Louisiana Tech game. Both my Granddaddy and Jackson were supporting the bulldogs for their big win!

First Road Trip

This weekend was our first official trip with Jackson, and he did really well! We drove to Shreveport on Friday afternoon, which took a good bit longer since we had to stop a couple of times to feed Jackson. He slept during most of the drive, and ended up sleeping almost 7 hours that night!

Saturday morning we went to Ruston for the graveside service for my cousin's son, Alexander. It was a very sad but nice service. It's always hard to understand why God does things the way he does in situations like this. Jackson was born only 6 days before Alexander and Andrew, which made the loss of Alexander even harder for me. It was wonderful to meet Andrew this weekend though. The rest of the day was spent visiting with family and friends. Jackson got to meet both sets of his great grandparents on my side of the family!

Jackson slept really well that night too...6 hours! Unfortunately, the trend didn't continue when we got home.

Here are some pics from the weekend...

Great Grandmother (Dot, E's Grandmother), Nana (Deana, E's mom), and Jackson

The girl cousins. Meg, Stephanie, Tiffany, and Elizabeth

Elizabeth, Ross, and Jackson

E, G-daddy (Kim, E's Dad), Great Mamaw (Marty, E's Mamaw), and Jackson

Great Papaw (Hank, E's Papaw) and Jackson

Barbara and Jackson

Great Grandmother with Jackson and Andrew

Great Grandmother holding Andrew and Great Granddaddy (Harry Dean, E's Granddaddy) holding Jackson Dean