happy december!

Today begins our countdown to Christmas and we’re pretty excited about that.

Last night, Santa stopped by and left us a few things to help us get ready for Christmas.  He left us some creepy elves, a countdown placemat, an advent calendar, stickers for good behavior, 25 wrapped books and north pole doughnuts for breakfast!

 

I can forgive the B&E because he brought us doughnuts.  And because those elves are staring at me – I don’t want to make them angry!

 

 

Scarlett really enjoys doughnuts.  She managed to get a white powder doughnut beard, which was pretty cute.

 

 

Jackson is also pretty happy with Santa’s offerings.  He particularly enjoyed the Lego Star Wars advent calendar that Santa brought him.

 

I think we are going to be ready for Santa!  We have 3 things to countdown with, so we’ll know when he’s supposed to arrive.    We’re going to unwrap one Christmas book to read each day, make some Lego Star Wars things, and change our placemat daily, so hopefully he won’t catch us unprepared!  Plus, we’ll have our creepy elves staring at us all day, every day, so it’d be hard to forget that Santa is coming to visit soon…

 

sneak peek!

Thanksgiving 2011 – beach, baby!

As you can imagine, there are a lot more to see!  Hopefully I can stay motivated about blogging them. 

October 1, 2006

5 years ago, I became a mother.

And I have to say, it’s the best job I’ve ever had.  [no job jokes, Jeff]

I’m pretty sure I have Jackson to thank for that.  He’s somehow made every transition we’ve gone through as easy as can be.  I worried about having a baby, and how we would handle it.  I worried about him having a sibling – he’s the best big brother I’ve seen.  I worried about school; he rocks it.  I could go on and on.

You’ve come along way, baby. 

So happy birthday to the sweetest FIVE year old I know!  We are so proud of you, and are so thankful we have you in our lives.

Hopefully you’ve learned to enjoy birthdays a little more…

…because we’ve got quite the celebration planned!

1 year ago today…

We welcomed the most beautiful baby girl (Jackson is the most beautiful baby boy, obviously) into our family.

Happy 1st birthday, Scarlett Maeve!

This past year has gone by so fast, and it has been a joy to watch you grow and change.  It’s hard to believe you’re already one, and we are so lucky to have you as our daughter – even if you are pretty rotten.    Let’s just say you live up to your namesake.

Your first encounter with Mommy’s camera:

In your green crib, painted for you by Daddy, at the expense of some brain cells…

1 month old, and you’d already stolen all of our hearts.  You are Jackson’s sweetie pie, and he is the most wonderful big brother to you already.

Look at those tiny little feet!

Your first run in with Mommy’s holiday shirt obsession…boo!

your second run in was no less scary… why do I do these things to you?  You were the perfect Max, though.

I really do enjoy torturing you, it seems.  And holiday apparel.

Second only to my love of holiday apparel: Strasburg baptismal gowns.  It’s probably 99% of the reason you were baptized.  [just kidding!]

Starting your love of the best store on earth [Nordstrom] early!  Interestingly, the Nashville Nordstrom has it’s grand opening today.  Coincidence?  I think not!

I have no doubt that you would rock the presidency.  You wouldn’t be a bad princess, either – everyone around here jumps to do your bidding!

 

A sports fan already!

More importantly, you’re a Boilermaker already.  And you’ve learned the most important lesson any sister can learn – brothers are so WEIRD.  Now you know your job – to boss your brother around.  You’ll learn from the best, of course!  [Me]

See?  You caught on early – Jackson’s pushing you while you enjoy a good swing.

SIX MONTHS OLD??  It can’t be.

Yes, I made you wear a giant sequin flower on your head.  And trust me, I’ll do it again.

7 months old and you’ve already perfected this face?  You are so advanced.  I’m SO proud!

There really are no words for how beautiful you are.

Growing up a little too fast – playing with other kids at the Children’s museum?  Weren’t you just born?

If it’s up to these three guys, you’ll never go on a date.

You may not need Jackson, or Daddy, or even Bumblebee to protect you… I think you might be able to handle that all.by.yourself.

11 months old, and it’s starting to become real that you aren’t going to be a baby much longer.  But you’ll always be MY baby.

The first picture of the second year of your life…

As you sit next to me, trying to eat my iPhone, I realize that it won’t be too long before you have your own cool gadget (maybe the iPhone 20? ha!), and I look forward to the rest of your life.   I can’t wait to spend the next 60 years getting to know you and seeing the amazing woman you’ll become.  I have no doubt that will happen.

Happy birthday, Scarlett!  I’m sure one day this might embarrass you, but what else are mothers for? 

I love you very much,

Mommy

 

 

Catching up…

Such a common post title around here, unfortunately.

July passed without much in the way of blog posts, but I have quite a few pictures from the end of July that I finally got around to uploading.

In July, Scarlett turned 10 months old!  It’s hard to believe that she is almost 11 months old now, and that she will be a year before I know it.  She’s a lot of fun right now – she’s into clapping, waving, saying mama and dada, as well as getting into everything.  She also loves to swim, refuses to even attempt to walk, and eats more than Jackson on a regular basis.  Oh and she’s still as suspicious as ever.

Towards the end of July, we traveled to Indiana to visit Jeff’s family, and then we stopped in on our way home to visit my parents.  When we were in Indianapolis, we HAD to fit in a trip to the Children’s Museum because of their newest guest… BUMBLEBEE!

Jackson was a little intimidated by his favorite Transformer and insisted Jeff hold him for the picture, too.  Despite his fear, he was pretty excited to see Bumblebee, and I have to admit, it was pretty cool.  This Bumblebee is an actual prop from the movies, and it was huge!  It’s actually in the entrance of the Children’s Museum, so you could go check it out even if you weren’t interested in going into (and paying) the actual museum.  Jackson also spent a lot of time at the dinosaur exhibit.  We’ve been to the museum a few times in the past year, but this was the first time we checked out that particular exhibit — I’m surprised we hadn’t spent more time there before.

Scarlett didn’t think the dinosaur exhibit was all that exciting, so I took her to the new Dora exhibit.  I thought there might be an area that was more appropriate for her age, and I was right!  There was a little garden that she could play in, and she really had so much fun exploring and playing with some of the other littles!

Scarlett and I met back up with the boys and we decided to take a family carousel ride.  Scarlett, however, was having none of it.

So, we all road on the bench together, which made Jackson very happy.

Before we could leave the museum, Scarlett had to pretend to be Bumblebee!

Finally, we made a pit stop in Kentuckiana, and we got to see some friends!  It was definitely time to update our group photo, because not only do we have two new additions (Scarlett and baby Lara), but the other kiddos have grown quite a bit since the last one!

from L-R: baby Lara, Gill, Kramer, Rece, Jackson and Scarlett

It’s kind of hard to believe that I met all these kids’ mommys when I wasn’t much older than Jackson! 

Oh and here are Jackson and Rece – I am not quite sure what they are doing, but I am pretty sure that they are being a little mischievous, if you can believe that!  They might have been playing Jackson’s favorite game (being Jackdog – i.e., pretending to be puppies) or perhaps they were trying to get away from their baby sisters…

In case you can’t tell by the photos, we had a pretty good July!  Here’s to hoping there are more blog updates in August!