Valentine's Celebrations

Jackson's class had their Valentine's Day party on Friday. During the day the kiddos exchanged valentines by putting them in the specially decorated boxes the teachers made for each one. All the kiddos enjoyed a special snack and then spent some time entertaining us as they danced to their favorite songs. Jackson loved the party if you can't tell...

Barbara, Heath, and Carter also gave Jackson and us a bag of goodies while they were here on Valentine's Day. That afternoon Jackson made his own special card for Dada, which he was able to give him today! That's right...Ross is finally home, and we are SO excited!

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.

The Christmas Season has Begun!

It's official...Christmas is here. Believe it or not it SNOWED in Houston this week! There were lots of big flakes, but nothing stuck to the ground in our area, and unfortunately, we were at work through most of it, so I don't have any pictures as proof. The temperature dropped dramatically that night though, and Jackson discovered ice in our back yard the next morning.

We also went to our first Christmas party of the season last night, and managed to get a few pics of Jackson playing with our decorations today. Of course, there are more in the album.

Now it's time to finish up our shopping, get out our Christmas cards, and do some baking!

Maddie's B-day Party

Last weekend Jackson and I made our way to a friend, Maddie's, 2nd b-day party. It was a lot of fun for both of us, but since there were balloons at the party, Jackson was ecstatic! I didn't take my camera knowing my hands would be full keeping up with JD, but these are courtesy of Maddie's dad. Thanks Mike! If you can't tell, balloons are still one of JD's favorite toys!

There are a few more in the album too, and yes, the bruise has reappeared. Although, he's getting better and better about not tripping and catching himself with his forehead...

Happy Father's Day

It's been another busy week. Aside from my photography class, there were lots of good things going on this week. We had painters at our house this week, which means the garage is officially done, and we are very happy with it! We also found out Jackson will be changing day cares next week. We are excited about the change, but once again sad to be leaving the teachers behind. Hopefully this will be the last change until he goes off to school though.

Saturday was our busiest day this week. We managed to get our yard work done before it got too hot. Jackson had fun lounging around in his PJs with Bailey while Ross was working.

Then we took Bailey and Jackson to Bay Area Park for a picnic and some play time. Bailey had a blast in the dog park. Her favorite friend was this sweet little 10 week old puppy that loved playing in the fountain.

Jackson had a great time on the swings and rocking on the horse before enjoying his first real picnic at the park. Here are a few pictures of the fun.

Saturday evening our friends, Katie and Jason, had a house warming party in Katy, TX. We had a great time catching up with some friends we haven't seen recently, while Jackson had fun hanging out with his favorite sitter, Ms. Heather.

Ross' 2nd Father's Day was...just as difficult as the first. Last year we were adjusting to a brand new baby. This year, Jackson decided not to nap, which made for a long, fussy day. Overall, it was still great though. We had a good, manly breakfast this morning followed by church and a little house hunting since Jackson wouldn't sleep. Of course we rounded out the day like any other celebration with a dinner at Lupe Tortilla!

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

Jackson's 1st Birthday Party

Sunday we celebrated Jackson’s 1st birthday with a smaller group of family and friends at a nearby park. His birthday is actually June 12th, but we wanted as much family as possible to be able to celebrate with us. Since everyone was already here for the crawfish boil, it was perfect timing!

The party had an animal theme focused on monkeys since JD is our silly little monkey.

Balloons are one of Jackson's favorite toys these days, and since this park didn’t have swings or anything appropriate for Jackson’s age, I came up with the idea to fill his baby pool with balloons like a ball pit. It was a great idea…it made the rest of the park look really festive since the wind quickly blew them away. :-) We managed to keep a few of them in the pool though, and Jackson really enjoyed it.

He also enjoyed his first taste of cake, so I guess he has his dad's looks and his mom's taste! It was a very cute process. The little smash cake had curled ribbon on it, which he carefully removed and handed to me before poking the cake to decide if it was edible. It didn't take long for him to get the hang of it though!

Jackson loved being the center of attention. There are more pics of him hanging out with friends and family in the album. He got so many wonderful gifts, and it really meant the world to us to have everyone there to celebrate this milestone with us. We are so thankful for all of our friends and family!

The Perfect Equation

188 pounds of crawfish + 72 cobs of corn + 20 pounds of potatoes + 10 pounds of mushrooms + 10 loaves of bread + friends and family = an awesome crawfish boil (in my opinion)!

Ross’ sister and brother-in-law came in Thursday night followed by all of our parents and my grandparents on Friday. We enjoyed a relaxing dinner with the Taylor family Friday night, and then we all got busy Saturday morning preparing for TWO parties, the crawfish boil and Jackson's 1st Birthday!

We had a great time hanging out with everyone at the crawfish boil on Saturday. Unfortunately, we forgot to pull out our camera until almost everyone was gone, but we managed to get a few pictures. Jackson liked petting the crawfish, but he’s not yet a fan of eating them…we’ll keep working on that!

Part 2 of the weekend (b-day party) is coming soon...

Austin Weekend

We went to Austin this weekend for Sara's baby shower. Sara was one of a group of girls that I was very close to when we lived in Austin, so I was excited to be able to make it for the celebration of the baby they're expecting in just a couple of months! The entire weekend was a blast, which you can see for yourself by checking out the album. We got to catch up with a lot of our friends and finally introduce all of the new kiddos that have arrived in the last year. With so many of them it was almost overwhelming at times, but we had so much fun hanging out and being down right silly as you can see here. The pictures really say it all!

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!

Baby Shower #2

The second of the two baby showers was this past weekend, and it went really well! I hosted this one with two other lovely ladies, Emma and Colleen, for our friend Christie. I think the three of us could start a party planning/catering business! I was impressed with the way everything turned out. The three of us divided and conquered different aspects of the shower. Emma did the name tags and cake, which matched a blanket Christie picked out, Colleen made a diaper cake and came up with the games, and I did cookies and decorations. We had other finger foods too, but they aren't as "cute". Not to boast, but check out how cute everything turned out...

Everyone seemed to have a really good time too. Christie has some wonderful friends and family. It was so much fun getting to know them better. Here's a pic of the hostesses with the guest of honor. Of course, there are more pics in the album.

Weekend of Celebrations

This weekend we made our way to Ruston, Louisiana to celebrate Carter's 1st birthday and to have a baby shower for Jackson.

Heath and Barbara have been some of our best friends since college. We have been there for each other through lots of good and bad times, but this weekend was definitely one of those good times. Their son, Carter, is such a precious little boy. We were fortunate to be there the day he was born, and a year later, we got to celebrate his life with his friends and family. He had such a good time as you can see in the picture below and in the album.

The next day Barbara, Mrs. Judy (Barbara's mom), and Mrs. Paula (Heath's mom) threw a baby shower for Jackson. It was a beautiful shower. They decorated with adorable burp cloths that were embroidered by Mrs. Paula and had a delicious spread of food. Let me tell you...this little boy is definitely going to be well dressed and spoiled! Our family and close friends came to celebrate Jackson. I loved having everyone together, and they certainly showed their love and support through their generosity. There are a few pictures from the shower in the album, and here's a picture of the bedding we received at the shower!

♪ Happy Birthday to Me! ♪

Yesterday was birthday number 29. It was a pretty good day. After work, E took me to an indoor rock gym to try my hand at climbing. It was fun, challenging, and a good workout. I'm not sure I'm built to be a climber, but I did pretty well and will probably do it again. After a shower, we met some friends at Pappadeaux and then had some birthday cake. Overall, a nice birthday celebration. Thanks to all that called or emailed to wish me a happy birthday. It's always nice to hear from friends and family.