Trouble

One afternoon last week Zach and Jackson were in the backyard. Zach was picking up limbs or something and turned around to make sure Jackson was not into anything he did not need to be when he didn't see or hear Jackson. He started looking all around, but no Jackson.

Not in the bushes . . . Not on the patio . . . Not at the shed.

Nowhere.

I think Zach started to panic a little even though he knew he was somewhere in the backyard.

And where did he finally find him?

In the doghouse!

The doghouse is in one of the corners of the yard behind some plants and fairly hard to spot, much less see inside! He had a great time playing in those chips and getting them all in his clothes and shoes. While I was undressing him for his bath, chips were falling everywhere from his clothes. What a mess he was!

Surprise!

WOW!
That's about all I can say! I really have not done anything productive today since Zach surprised me this morning for my birthday with a trip this fall to New England! I think I've been on the internet most of the day looking at things we both want to do! We've been talking about taking a trip like this in the near future, I just didn't think it would be this year! Hopefully the trees will be turning while we're there, but if not, that's perfectly fine--we'll be headed to these places for sure!

YUM!!

Don't think you can have more fun than this! I've wanted to go here for a long time and what better way to spend a vacation than eating ice cream! I've had a long fascination with going to Ben & Jerry's and also seeing where our maple syrup comes from! Don't really know why, it's just always been interesting to me. So, Vermont, here we come!

Although the "harvest" season (for lack of better word) for maple syrup won't be going on while we're there, I want to at least see some farms where this is done!

When my parents and I would go on vacation, if we were in a city where there was a college, we would always drive through and I still enjoy doing this today! On my list of college campuses to see is Yale, so we'll take a walk through!

Not too far from Yale is where we plan to have lunch one day--Louis' Lunch, where the hamburger was supposedly created. The machine that is used to cook the burgers has been there since opening day in 1895!

Hopefully we'll be lucky enough to see views like these!

Zach wants to go through Norman Rockwell's house and museum, so we'll make a fun stop there. His mom and brother went through a display in Atlanta a few years back and said it was wonderful, so I'm sure going through his stomping grounds will be an experience!

This is how I feel about our vacation too!
How can you not love his work?


Although part of his face fell off (I know, it sounds awful) a few years ago, we still would like to see what's left of the Old Man of the Mountains!

So, far the next several days, I'm sure I'll be obsessed with looking through travel guides and seeing what all else we can do while we're there! And Zach, thanks so much for this wonderful birthday!

Spring is in the Air

I was cleaning in Jackson's room today, opened the blinds, and spotted this lone beauty! I got excited as I started thinking how in a few short weeks so many plants will begin blooming and how much color there will be! This will be our first spring and summer in our new house and I'm excited to discover what all is planted in our backyard! We have huge azaleas, crepe myrtles, and dogwoods and we're not sure what color they all are--not to mention any perennial plants that may show their face! Although fall is usually my favorite season, I am getting excited about the upcoming explosion of color!

Elbows Not Allowed

"Mama didn't say anything about my feet."

Make a Wish

A year in pictures . . .

Happy Birthday Zach!
We Love You!

Be Mine

Jackson has been going to a church daycare a couple of times each week and we went this morning for a Valentine's Party. We've both been looking forward to taking him since they were going to have several activities and games set up for his age, but when we arrived, they said most of the kids had gone home sick this morning but we could let him go play if we wanted. Well, we chose to scoot on out before any of us hung around long enough to catch anything. They did have cute door hangers for each of the kids' Valentines!

Filled with goodies!

Digging in!


I took several pictures of Jackson (imagine that, ha!) while he was going through his stuff and kept noticing his chubby little feet and all the different positions they were in, so I decided to combine a few!

From Here to There

I was in another room and heard a strange noise, so I came around the corner and saw that Jackson had climbed into a chair and was acting like he might try to climb on the table. I stopped before he saw me just to see what he would do, and low and behold he climbed onto the table! Nothing is safe in our house anymore!

I'm sure he's thinking something along the lines of "Maybe if I cram these napkins back in here, no one will ever realize I was up here!"

I think he looks so big here. His noodles started off in the plate, but by the end, noodles were all over the table, chair, and floor! We have some work to do! Although he's getting better at using a fork, he'd really rather use those fingers instead!

Another Pampers picture!

(previous Pampers picture is here.)

I think this picture of my Dad and Jackson is sweet!
Jackson is really starting to look like such a little boy than a baby--bittersweet!

Just when you need it most . . .

This little fella walks around a corner looking like this and all you can do is smile, hug and kiss him. The three of us were at my parents' house and Jackson had been in their cabinets and made off with some Tupperware. This picture was taken just a short time after we found out my Grandfather passed away. At the time, we needed something happy and Jackson walked in and gave us what we needed.

This was taken when Jackson was 3 weeks old with my close family (parents, both sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins). You can barely see Jackson's little head in Zach's arms and my grandfather sitting at the end of the couch. Among other things, I can only hope that Jackson will inherit some of my grandfather's sense of humor, calm disposition and sweet spirit.

For the Grandparents

Zach and I caught the little duck on tape tonight! He usually plops down and doesn't move once the towel is on him, but I guess he knew the camera was out!

Since the Super Bowl is on and the Budweiser commercials are being played, Jackson has been making his horse noises! Of course when we try to tape it, he quits! During the Ole Miss v. Texas Tech game, we were trying to get him to throw his arms up after a touchdown and never would. As soon as the game came on tonight, he started throwing his arms up and we guess saying "touchdown" but it sounded more like "wawon"!

Side by Side

I've learned that when the new season's baby clothes hit the stores everything disappears fast, especially the size I'm always after. I've gotten to where I stock up on everything even if Jackson isn't quite into the next size just yet since when he'll need the larger size, I won't be able to find it anywhere. All that said, I was showing Zach some of the things I got for Jackson. I think it was a shock for Zach to see how big Jackson's new pajamas are compared to how scrawny he was when he was born. After his reaction, I decided to pull out some of Jackson's clothes when he was a newborn for a comparison.

The little onesie on the left is a preemie size which he was in for a few weeks. Next is a newborn size. In the middle is a 24 month one piece followed by a 0-6 month gown that swallowed him for a long time! And finally, one of his new pair of pajamas! The picture really doesn't do the sizes justice!