Oh yeah...Gene Chizik??? What is Jacobs thinking??? Anyone?

Christmas Fun

What could be more fun than having presents to open under the tree? Sitting on them and playing, of course :) Jackson has loved to sit on his big present and swing his legs since we put it out. He's such a climber! If there's anything that he can climb up on and sit on, he will...at least he's not standing on it and jumping off - yet!



We have ornaments on the bottom half of the tree that he can take off and play with that won't break. Each day he pulls all of them off and at night we put them back on the tree. Sometimes he actually will put them on the tree himself, like he's doing below, but usually not, lol.

Scared of Santa

One day Jackson will probably kill me for this post, but I just have to share with everyone. Jackson was always very outgoing as a baby. Nine months came, and he never cared if Wes and I left him with a babysitter, 12 months came, and still not a peep. This was great because it made leaving him with someone or taking him to daycare so easy. Well, it all changed last month. Suddenly Jackson has developed parental attachment. The first time he cried when I left him at day care, it broke my heart :( Well, the other night we were out and we saw Santa at the toy store. We decided to go ahead and get their picture while we were there and there was no line. Well, the second that Wes let go of Jackson, he wailed!!! And didn't stop until we picked him back up. The he stood there and checked out Santa for a full minute. Then he ran off to play with a toy. At first I hated this picture because I wanted a "cute" one with Jackson and Santa, and I was kind of upset at the photographer and Santa and his wife because they all laughed and said I would love this picture. Well, by the next day I was over it and now I crack up when I see it. So without further ado - here's Jackson and Santa 2008:

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We have spent most of the day finishing up the Christmas decorations. The boxes are finally put up - yea! They've been out since Monday and it's taken all week to get things out. Not that there's that much, because a lot I didn't put out because of Jackson, but it's been too busy this week to work more than an hour a night on it. In fact, the bottom half of the tree is practically bare. I only have ornaments down there that Jackson can pick off and plop back on the tree, so it looks kinda funny, but there was no way I was skipping the tree. Jackson is mesmerized by the lights and loves to stare at it. One of my favorite things to put up each year is our Auburn tree. Yep, you know you're a fan when, lol. The tree has all kinds of AU ornaments we've accumulated over the years, and the rest of the table top has Auburn Santas or other figurines. Here it is:


And I have to throw in a quick "Go Gators!!!" What a game that was :)

While Wes and I put out the decorations, Jackson found a new toy - an empty box. It's so funny to me how the simplest things amuse children :D He climbed in and out, although it was much harder for him to get out, of the box for at least 30 minutes, several times today, until we threw it outside. So maybe we can just wrap up a few empty boxes for him for his Christmas presents, haha.


Caught in the act!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone's having a great Thanksgiving! We have changed things up a bit this year and are spending Thanksgiving at the beach :) My parents have come down to spend the weekend with us. The weather has been awesome and we spend about an hour walking on the beach today with Jackson.

I know it's been ages since I posted, but y'all know how things are!!! Here are a few pictures from the AU/GA game.

Everyone gets in the Thanksgiving spirit on the Plains!


This was truly the perfect day for football! Sunny and temps in the low 60s :)


My brother was able to spend the day in Auburn with us, and it's always great to see him



Right before we left and headed back to B'ham, there was this rainbow outside. Hopefully we can find the pot of gold at the end of it!

Last Friday we had a few people over and we fried a turkey, since we knew we would have to roast one down here at the beach, and I've been craving fried turkey for weeks!!! We've still been taking Jackson outside whenever we can to let him get fresh air and run off some of that energy, and this day was no exception. He loves to be pushed around in his little car (and it's good exercise for us to push him up and down the hills).

Jackson and I bundled up for just a bit and stood outside with Wes while he fried the turkey. Amazingly enough, Jackson kept his toboggan on his head!

This was us this morning...Jackson was starting to get tired - as evidenced by the thumb. He wasn't really into trying the turkey today. We'll see what he does tomorrow, as his taste buds seem to change daily.

As I said before, we spent about an hour on the beach today. This morning it was warm enough that Wes and I were in shorts and a tshirt, but in the afternoon, we all threw on a sweatshirt. Jackson has always loved the beach, and even though he couldn't get in the water, he still had a blast playing and running around in the sand.

Granddad and Grandma with Jackson

Wes and Jackson at the beach this afternoon

Playing in the sand. Hopefully the weather will stay this nice the rest of the weekend and the rain will hold off so that we can spend more time on the beach. I'm surprised at the amount of people who are down here. Mainly snowbirds, but there are families down here too. Enjoy the rest of your long weekends!!!

Welcome Back Dad!!!

Yesterday my dad got home from his trip to Alaska visiting family. He, mom and NM made a visit by the house to hang out and so dad could see Jackson since he hasn't seen him in a month. It was great to have them over, and Jackson loves getting to visit with everyone! He will walk from person to person getting all the attention there is and loving every second of it :D

Jackson getting some Granddad love

Dancing...a daily activity in our house these days!

With Uncle Noel

Other than that, we've been pretty crazy around here, surprise, surprise. I was out of town for 4 days last week for the AANA Fall Assembly in St. Petersburg. It was a great trip and great meeting, but I missed my guys! I'm finally looking pregnant - and having mixed feelings about that for sure. All of the sudden in the past week, I've had a major growth spurt, started to swell, and transitioned into the prego clothes.....what a week! Less than 19 weeks til D-day, so I'm over halfway there though (gotta keep looking at the positive, right).

This was our hotel in St. Pete

This was the beach. The weather was beautiful - in the 60s most of the day, which was perfect for me to take a stroll Thursday. Also, all the places we went and ate supper at were within walking distance.

The bay, which was a short 20 yards away - made me miss my fishing rod!!!

Jackson's running everywhere instead of walking these days and learning to say more words. He loves going to playschool each week and is the "greeter" and social butterfly there ;) He's learned to brush his teeth by himself (after we scrub them well first) and his hair (kinda). He's growing so fast and getting so tall!!!

Wes has almost made it through another quarter of school, just about 4 more weeks. We are ready to go to Auburn on Saturday and maybe we can pull off a miracle and win...we'll see.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. I'm on call and hoping I don't have to work too hard ;)

Did you vote today???

Although I very much dread what is inevitably coming, I hope everyone voted...



Here are some pictures of the little man from the past weekend. Wes was tied up with the Arkansas St/AL game (sorry Tyler's team lost!), so I packed up Jackson and we went to Mandeville to visit Uncle Noel and Aunt Joey. Joanna's sister and her daughter were also in town, and it was great to see them. It was the first time we had seen the baby, and Jackson did very good with her. He wasn't rough with her and didn't seem to care when I was holding her - but he may have been to busy running around to really care (big surprise there, I know)!



We got down there Friday night and went to a Halloween party held at some of Mr. Mike's friends' house, where they set up a "haunted" house for the kids to go through each year. I even took J through it before the other kids showed up - he wasn't really interested, but doesn't know yet that it was "scary."



Saturday morning was spent relaxing, then Noel Mark took pictures of Jackson, which hopefully I will get soon (ahem). He's so hard to snap these days because he'll never stay still more than a second or two, but I know he's got some good ones! It was hard to get him to smile because he was starting to get tired, but oh well. Then we came back to the house and watched the Auburn game - nothing to say there. Jackson's learned to do "touchdown," but he won't get to practice it too much while cheering for our team. Joanna's family came over for supper, and Jackson got sooooo overstimulated it was hard to get him to sleep. He cried for a little while :( And his mouth hurts him pretty bad right now b/c he's cutting all four molars (OUCH) plus another tooth. His gums look pretty white too, so I'm sure more are not far behind. Poor little guy!!!



Here's some pictures of our little pumpkin at the party.






He loves looking at the water when we are at the waterfront!




This is how long the hat part of the outfit stays on...not even long enough to set it on and step back to take the picture, lol.




Trying to convince him to stand still...

Biting his fingers in anticipation of the Auburn game

We've taught Jackson to do an Indian war cry and it's now one of his favorite things. He's also clapping really well, and dancing to music. It's adorable to watch!

I'm on call tomorrow and off for a conference after that, but I'll try to get some video of Jackson doing all these new things up soon :)