Jackson Rigby Nesmith

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

2012-02-09T14:13:00.009-05:00

As you can tell from my lack of blogging, we have been quite busy adjusting to life with a very active toddler and a newborn! It is exactly as everyone told me and once we hit Beckett's due date, he has started waking up more. He is a perfect little baby and rarely cries except when he is hungry....and as you can see from his double chin, this boy can eat! We have his 2 month visit next week and he will get his first set of vaccines, which I am not looking forward to. He also received his second RSV antibody and is tipping the scales at 9 pounds!! He has more than doubled his birthweight!! Jackson continues to be a great big brother and loves to love on his little brother. Beckett also got to meet his Great Aunt Glo, Great Uncle Joe, and Big Great Granddaddy and Peebo!! We have had a wonderful visit with them and they have been such a huge help to mommy!!

Getting cozy with Peebo!

Noni time!

Quality time with Great Aunt Glo!

Bright eye for Great Aunt Glo.

Jackson's preschool had a pizza party for the parents and I was lucky enough to go! These are the little chef hats they all wore. It was so cute!!

Chef Jackson! He was so excited to see me in his classroom after music. He came in holding his friend Charlie's hand and then ran right over to me with a huge smile on his face. Those are the moments I truly treasure!!

Making a pepperoni pizza. Delicious!!

Jackson's 2 year old class. They are all so cute and he has made such good friends!!

My little angel can roll over on his side!

Jackson has started swimming lessons every Saturday at the hospital. This is the first swim lessons we have done where I am not in the water with him. I was definately nervous the first day, but his teacher, Mary Lou, is amazing with him. Jackson was also not so sure the first day, and I had to walk in with him, but the next week he went in like he had been doing lessons for months!

Big Great Granddaddy and Peebo! Jackson and Beckett are so lucky to have been able to spend some time with them!!

Great Uncle Joe even got in on the Beckett action!

Greg and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. 2 children and 5 years later, life couldn't be better!! We were lucky enough to spend a romantic night away at Reynold's plantation. We had an amazing time and wouldn't have been able to do it if it wasn't for our amazing Noni and Great Aunt Glo who took care of our 2 boys!! Thank you so much!!

Awake at last!

Superbowl Sunday. We had a little superbowl party at our house with some of Greg's coworkers and our friend's from the neighborhood. The kids had so much fun playing and Beckett just hung out. I don't think I watched a single minute of the game, but we had fun anyway!!

My dear friend Angie holding my sweet little man.

Jackson has really started getting into playing with his baby. We feed the baby, dress the baby, and he even has a little bed next to his bed where the baby sleeps at night. It is so sweet!!

1 month?!

2012-01-16T13:50:00.007-05:00

Where has the last month gone? I cannot believe that my sweet little man has blessed us with his presence for a month already!! Before I talk about what has been going on with Beckett, I wanted to add the pictures of our trip to Snow Mountain. Little did we know as we headed on this adventure that little Beckett would be making his appearance in less than 24 hours! This is the crew before embarking on the mountain. Snow mountain is a snow covered Stone Mountain Park in Atlanta. Since it typically doesn't snow in Atlanta, they convert this park to a sledding, snowball and snowman making extravaganza! It is so much fun and this year, Jackson was tall enough to go down the big mountain!

Here they go down the big mountain for the first time. Believe it or not, after they rode it the first time, Greg thought it may be mild enough for me to go down. Thank goodness I decided not to risk it, because I really would have thought I did something to cause Beckett to come early!!

They made it! They all loved it, and as soon as they reached the bottom, they headed right back up again!

My angel making a snow angel :)

Jackson pulling up his sled like a big boy!

They had some smaller sledding areas for the little guys to enjoy. This is Jackson and Nathaniel heading down!

So much fun!

Posing for a quick pic!

Not only did we do Snow Mountain, but we also did the Christmas portion of the park. This included Polar Express 4D experience, where is actually where I was watching when my water broke :(, and a train ride around the park with Christmas lights and caroles. This is Jackson so excited pointing as the train came!

And now for the updates on my sweet Beckett. Like I said, I can't believe he has been here for a month! So much has happened in that short little time and he has already changed so much! He is absolutely an angel baby and never cries!! He is so content and just sleeps and eats. I am not sure if this is going to change, but I am hoping for the best! In the last month, he has grown like a weed! When we left the hospital he was 4 pounds and16 1/2 inches. At his 2 week visit, he was 5 pounds 5 ounces and 18 3/4 inches, before his circumscion he was 6 pounds 5 ounces and 21 inches, and before his RSV antibody, he weighed in at 7 pounds!! So in 1 short month, he has gained 3 pounds and grown 4 1/2 inches!! We also did his newborn photo shoot which went perfectly! We were there for over 3 hours and he slept the entire time. She must have taken 1000 pictures and I cannot wait to see them! We have pretty much stayed in house these last few weeks to minimize Beckett's exposure to germs but now that he has received the RSV antibody, I feel a little better about taking him out. Jackson has been a great big brother!! The poor guy has been cooped up in the house with us, but luckily he has a lot of new toys from his birthday and Christmas to keep him occupied! He is very good about entertaining himself when I have to feed the baby and loves to help by getting me diapers etc. Last night we actually let the brothers take a bath together, which Jackson thought was a real treat!!

My two boys :)

We didn't get to celebrate Christmas this year with Brad and Kiera because they went to St. Simon's, so we had a late Christmas when they came back. This is Jackson riding the scooter that they bought him. He absolutely loves it!!

Also during this month was Jackson's buddy Nathaniel's birthday. They had a petting zoo! This was also the first time that Daddy was left alone with Beckett and he did great! He had to feed him and everything! Good job Daddy!!!

Waiting patiently for the cake.

Nothing can perk them up like a little construction themed cake!

Happy 1 month Beckett! We celebrated this day by getting Beckett a cake and letting Jackson blow out his candle. Jackson picked out his cake and thought Beckett would LOVE a frog shaped cake!!

1 month old and as sweet as can be. As hard as it is to believe he is 1 month old, it is even harder to believe that he is still not supposed to be here yet!!

Jackson loves to take pictures with his brother.

Since Beckett has surpassed the 7 pound mark, we decided to get out the swing and see if he liked it as much as his brother did. So far it is a hit!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-03T15:40:00.009-05:00

Wow! Christmas 2011 was filled with new traditions and surprises! The biggest surprise being our early Christmas present Beckett! We had so much fun this holiday season. It was the first Christmas that Jackson really understood what was going on and was very excited about Santa Claus! This is a pretty long blog post, but I wanted to try to squeeze in all the Holiday fun into 1 post. The Christmas season started off with a trip to the Marietta Square to visit with Santa Claus. Daddy patiently waited in line for almost 2 hours while Jackson and I played on the train. Jackson was so excited to see Santa Claus this year and was ready to tell him he wanted a garbage truck. This first picture is Jackson playing in the train waiting for Santa!

Climbing the top of the train. Luckily it was nice and warm that day because we had to wait a long time!

Making wishes throwing pennies in the fountain.

Santa Claus! Our first picture with our little man not crying! He is growing up so fast!!

Picture in front of the Marietta Square Christmas tree!

I was so lucky to be able to attend Jackson's Christmas party. While Noni watched Beckett, I surprised Jackson at the party. This is a picture of the boys loving on Miss April. She is so good with them!!

Hearing a story with his friend Ava Rose.

Jackson reading a book to his buddy Aidan. It was so cute! Jackson was making up the story and Aidan was listening intently.

Making our first Gingerbread house! Jackson had so much fun putting all the candies on it!

This year we also went to the Puppetry Arts downtown and watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It was really cute and afterwards they made their very own Rudolf shadow puppet.

Playing with his completed shadow puppet!

The crew! We had so much fun! I didn't think I was going to be able to go with him but thanks to Noni for taking care of Beckett so I could enjoy this activity with my big man!

Making sugar cookies for Santa!

This year instead of going to the candlelight service, we went to the Children's live nativity. Unfortunately Jackson couldn't see very well, but we got to walk up front so he could see Baby Jesus!! I didn't realize we were supposed to get the costumes before the service, so Jackson didn't get to dress up like an angel. Next year!

Putting the final touches on the cookies for Santa.

This was really cute. In school, Jackson made reindeer food, which was sprinkles and oatmeal. Christmas Eve, you sprinkle the food on your lawn, so the reindeers can find your house. Jackson l0ved it!

Throwing the reindeer food!

Posing with the cookies and carrot for Santa and Rudolph! We had to protect the food from Emma.

Jackson on Christmas morning patiently waiting to open his presents.

Posing with his new soccer coat from Noni.

Since Beckett wasn't supposed to be here yet, he didn't have many presents but here he is posing with a couple from Noni and Granddaddy.

Jackson and all of his stocking stuffers. The stocking was always my favorite part Christmas morning!

Holding his baby brother for the first time for a Christmas pic!

Noni and Granddaddy and the boys!

Proud big brother!!

Our first picture as a family of 4.

My 3 boys! Love them all so much!!

I had to add this picture. Which one is Jackson and which one is Beckett?

This is Jackson with his special toy from Santa. Santa worked very hard to get this special toy for him all the way from Germany!! We were a little worried it wasn't going to make it through customs in time, but Santa did not fail!!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. This Christmas was bitter sweet with the joyful healthy birth of baby Beckett, but the passing of my mother from colon cancer. I truly believe it was God's plan to bring Beckett into this world early so that his Granny Cindy would know he was okay before she left this world. We are at peace knowing her suffering has come to end. We love you Granny Cindy!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Jackson!!

2011-12-24T12:48:00.007-05:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Jackson! Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday we were bringing Jackson home from the hospital and now he is a 3 year old little boy!! He is such a wonderful little boy with so much personality. He is so smart and remembers everything!! He loves to make people laugh and is very good at it! Words cannot express how much we love him and how blessed we feel everyday to be his mommy and daddy. This year Jackson wanted a Cars themed party, so that is what he got. We had his birthday at Champion Kids, which is where he has had all his parties and it was a huge success!!
The morning of his birthday started with pancakes and a muffin with 3 candles. Jackson loved blowing them out! Then he got to open up his present from us and his Aunt Sarah. Since Jaackson loved the monorail at Disney so much, we got him his very own! Aunt Sarah sent him a toy that encompassed two of his favorite things....cranes and toy story. He loved it!

Jackson with his monorail. He was so excited when he saw what it was!!

Of course, Baby Beckett had to watch Jackson open his presents. As you can see from this photo, he was very excited for him!

Jackson loves to open the doors and let the people on and off.

Birthday party at Champion Kids. Jackson loves when they do the parachute game!

Riding the zipline! This year Jackson was old enough to ride the zipline. They hold onto him until he reaches the foam pit and he lets go!

Landing in the foam pit!

The King with his court! Jackson is so blessed to have so many wonderful friends!!

A picture of his Lightning McQueen cake. Jackson couldn't wait to get Lighting and Mater off the cake and start playing with them.

Blowing out his candles like a pro!

Delicious! The icing is by far his favorite part!!

After the party, we brought all of his presents home and Jackson had a blast opening them!

Daddy helping him open his MANY presents! Happy birthday sweet Jackson! We love you so much and can't to see what the next year has in store for us!!

Welcome Beckett Gregory!

2011-12-16T15:01:00.004-05:00

Welcome Beckett Gregory! We got an early Christmas present this year with the arrival of Beckett Gregory. Beckett Gregory was born on 12/11/11 at 7:03 AM. Despite being 7 weeks early and a meager 4 pounds 5 ounces, 16.5 inches long, he came into this world kicking and screaming! He is absolutely our perfect little miracle. He had apgars of 9 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minutes and only stayed in the NICU for 3 hours for monitoring. We are so blessed that he didn't require any intervention and was able to come home with us 48 hours later. Unfortunately, since we weren't prepared for his arrival, we had to take his first few photos on my phone and I haven't transferred them over yet. As far as Beckett's birth story, we were at Stone Mountain park that day playing on Snow Mountain. I must admit that at one point we contemplated having me go sledding with Jackson, but decided not to! Thank goodness or I really would have thought I did something wrong to bring Beckett so early. When we got home, my water broke and Greg and I were off to the hospital. We dropped Jackson off at our dear friend Anna's house and prayed for the best. Once it was confirmed that water had indeed broke, Brad and Kiera took over Jackson duty and took him to their house for the night. The initial plan was to try to keep labor off until Beckett reached 34 weeks, but at 2 AM, Beckett had different plans, and I went into labor. They tried Magnesium for 2 hours, but once I dilated to 3 cm, the doctor decided he was coming today!! Greg and I were very worried about little Beckett's health and when he let out his first scream, relief swept over both of us. We are so thankful that our sweet boy came into this world healthy!! Jackson is very excited to be a big brother! When daddy told him Beckett was here he said "Beckett isn't in mommy's belly anymore?" and "Beckett is supposed to come after Christmas" He is very loving and working on being gentle. He really wants to be a helpful brother by feeding him and changing his diaper, but doesn't quite understand that he is just too little right now. Here are some of the first shots of our little angel.

Meeting his big brother for the first time. Jackson loves to hold his hand and see his little feet!! We read him a book called "What baby needs" and at the end it says "Soon your baby will hold your hand, smile at you, sit up and play" Everytime he holds his hand, he says this.

Our first family photo of 4!

Our sweet angel.

Getting ready to head home!

Doing what he does best....sleep! At this point I have to wake him up to feed which I am sure won't last too much longer!!

First car ride home. I just can't get over how small he is in that seat! Since he was so premature, he actually had to do a monitored test in the NICU of him sitting in the carseat for 1 hour. He did great and passed with flying colors!

More pics to come!

Gobble Gobble!!

2011-12-05T16:08:00.004-05:00

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for this year! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends but most of all, we are so thankful to have a smart, healthy, spunky, funny, adorable little boy and a brother for him on the way! We stayed home this Thanksgiving and the festivities began with the gobble jog. The entire family participated this year with daddy running the 10K, mommy walking the 5k and Jackson running the tot trot. Jackson was so excited the morning of the race and couldn't wait to run!! Here he is trying to wait patiently for Granddaddy to arrive so we could head to the race!

Jackson running in his race! He did great and ran the entire way!! Once he finished, he asked if he could do it again!!

Jackson posing with his ribbon! After the race, we went to Uncle Brad and Aunt Kiera's house for brunch and to start cooking the big meal! We all pitched in and had a delicious feast! We had a wonderful time and are so thankful that we were able to spend it together!

The following day, it was tree picking time! We headed to Home Depot and picked out our 3 trees. We let Jackson pick them all out and he did a fantastic job!! We also had a new arrival to our house this Holiday season. Thanks to Aunt Glo, our family has started the Elf on the Shelf tradition. Our elf, who soon was named Finn (after Finn McMissile from Cars 2), made his appearance!! Jackson has had so much fun finding him every morning and reading the book every night. Thanks Glo!!

After we loaded up our trees, Noni, Granddaddy, Mary and James came over to help us decorate. Here is Mary and Jackson concentrating really hard on how to get that little hook to stick on that big branch!

We also got a train this year to circle around our Christmas tree downstairs. It was a big hit with the kids!!

Checking out his work proudly!

After the downstairs tree, it was time to head upstairs to start decorating our upstairs trees. Jackson loved looking at all of the ornaments and picking which one he would hang up. He always wanted to try to place them on the tallest branches!!

Finally, since Fynn is reporting back to Santa each night, Jackson made his Christmas list. We went through all the magazines and he picked his 6 favorite things. We will have to wait until Christmas to see if Jackson made the "nice list!"

Walt Disney World Part 1!!!

2011-11-21T07:47:00.009-05:00

I am finally posting the first round of our pictures from our week's vacation inWalt Disney World!! We had the most amazing time!! Going to Disney World brings back such fond memories of vacations with my Dad, and now to be able to reexperience the magic through my son's eyes, is truly amazing! We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather....sunshine and 72. It wasn't crowded and we never waited more than 20 minutes for any attraction. We got to see everything and Jackson went on his favorite rides several times! This isn't the first time Jackson has been to Disney World. We went when he was about 18 months with my sister and her children, and Jackson was really just going along for the ride and doesn't remember any of it. This time, it was all about Jackson! We spent 6 full days at the park, often closing them down at night. We would ask Jackson if he was ready to go back to the room and he would say "1 more ride!" We stayed at the Polynesian, which I would highly recommend! There was so much for the kids to do, including a big screen movie on the beach every night, smores etc. Not that we took advantage of many of these things because we couldn't get Jackson out of the parks! We also did the concierge service, which was well worth it because we go breakfast every morning and they had snacks throughout the day. Each night you could also go up to the club level room and watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks. Being 7 months pregnant with all that walking was a challenge at times, but well worth it to see the huge smile on Jackson's face. Despite late nights and almost no napping, he did great without any meltdowns. Jackson still talks about his Disney vacation and asks when he gets to go back! There are so many pictures, so I am going to break this up into a couple of posts. The first picture is Jackson getting ready to say goodbye to Atlanta!

We got off the plane and headed straight to the Magic Kingdom. We had a hopper pass this time, which I highly recommend, so we could spend the morning in 1 park and the night in another. Since we were at the Polynesian, we were 1 monorail stop from the Magic Kingdom. Often we would go to a farther away park in the AM, and spend the evenings here. The monorail was definately a big hit for Jackson!

1 of Jackson's favorite rides! The Speedway! We must have rode this ride 5 times!!

The castle all lit up!

Another favorites for Jackson was meeting all the characters! He would get so excited when they would come around and would hug them so tightly!! I knew we were staying at the Polynesian and our character breakfast included Lilo and Stitch. Well, Jackson had never seen that movie, so we set him up to watch the movie on the plane ride to Orlando. He loved it and when he saw Lilo and Stitch, he was so star struck!!

Jackson loved to feel Pluto's whiskers!!

He was so excited to see Stitch!!

And of course....Mickey Mouse!!

Disney was all decorated for fall and Halloween with scarecrows and Mickey pumpkins. It was so cute! Disney does such an amazing job with decoratins and keeping the park spotless!

Jackson loves to turn any kind of wheel! This was for the motorized boats.

Another favorite of Jackson's....riding any kind of train!! This is the train that circles the park.

Woody and Jessie! Two of Jackson's favorite characters. He was jumping up and down with excitement waiting in line to see them! He was so sweet! He ran up to them and gave them both a big hug. He turned around for his picture and then waved goodbye as he walked away. I was really impressed that we didn't have to drag him away!

Getting ready to watch a 3D movie. Disney has several of these throughout the park. Jackson was so funny and would always reach out to try to grab whatever was in front of him.

We had a special treat with this trip and Jackson got to go trick or treating in Walt Disney World! It was amazing. You bought a special ticket, which gave you a wrist band. At 7PM, the park closed for everyone except wrist band holders. They had trick or treat spots, an amazing parade, and the most spectacular fireworks you have ever seen! Since there were only a limited number of entrants, all the rides had 5 minute or less wait times. Daddy loved that!! Jackson went on so many rides and was so pumped full of candy, that we were out to almost midnight!!

Trick or Treat!

Riding the Speedway...again. This time he got to drive the red car, which he said was the Lightning McQueen car.

The Halloween parade started out with a headless horseman. It was a real horse running down the street!

Giving Bullseye a high five!

Yet another train! This train was in Animal Kingdom and took us to Rafiki's Planet where there was a petting zoo.

Leave it to Disney to have a petting zoo where the animals and the surroundings are completely spotless!

Jimminey Cricket!

Rafiki from the Lion King.

Donald Duck! Whew! We got through the first round! Still plenty more pictures to go but I will stop here and give you guys a break!!

Yo Ho Ho! A pirate's life for me!!

2011-11-14T13:40:00.010-05:00

Again, I must apologize for the delay in posting! Since we have returned from Disney, it has been one thing after another starting with Halloween!! Halloween was so much fun this year!! This year Jackson dressed up as a pirate, and no pirate would be complete without his ship!! Luckily, Aunt Glo was in town to help mommy transform Jackson's wagon into a pirate ship loaded with cannons, an anchor, mast, and of course, a treasure chest!! As soon as we finished the ship, Jackson asked" Can it go in the water?" I told him no and we would be lucky if she was land worthy!! Jackson had so much fun trick or treating this year!! He just couldn't believe that he was getting candy. After he finished with one house, he would yell "Next house!" and all you would see were the lights on his shoes scurrying away. Every year we attend our church's trunk or treat and our neighborhood hosts a Halloween parade. They both hold costume contests, and for the third year in a row, Jackson has one the prize. This year, however, he didn't just win the prize for best costume in his age bracket, but he won best costume of the whole parade!! He won a medal, crown, and some candy!! It was too cute, and because he won best of parade, next year he gets to lead it!! I don't know what we are going to do to top this year!! This first picture is daddy and Jackson carving the pumpkins. Surprisingly, Jackson did not like to touch the insides!

Jackson loved taking the tops off all the pumpkins and figuring out which top went with which pumpkin.

The finished product! This year's theme was Toy Story so we have the pizza planet alien, Buzz lightyear, and Rex. Daddy made a traditional pumpkin for baby Beckett!

Ahoy matey!

Claiming his prize at our church's trunk or treat!

Getting ready for the Maple Street Parade! Luckily daddy made it to the parade just in time, because mommy could not keep the ship together without his help!

Hands off my treasure!

The cutest little pirate!

Trick or Treat time!! We went trick or treating with Jackson's friends Payton, Aidan, Sam and Maggie. They had a blast!

First house!

I got candy!! Happy Halloween!!

A special event for a special lady!!

2011-10-30T14:01:00.004-04:00

I have to apologize for how far behind I am on my posts, but we have been so busy!!! We just got back from an amazing week in Disney World!! It was so much fun and Jackson absolutely loved it!! We have so many pictures that it will definately take a couple of posts to get through them all. Also, with the help of Joe and Glo, we have been working hard to complete Beckett's room. It is pretty much done and looks amazing!! As far as this post, a couple of weeks ago, we participated in a 5K in honor of Gloria to help support the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory. Gloria has received several treatments there and is here today because of the amazing research done there. I had shirts made to commemorate the event and we all woke up bright and early Saturday morning to drive down to Emory for the race. Team Gloria included Gloria, Joey, Amy, Brad, Kiera, Mary, James, Jackson, Greg and myself. Through generous donations our team raised almost $2000!!! It was am amazing event and I couldn't think of a better person to honor by doing so!! Here is Team Gloria before the race!

Here we go!!! All smiles in the beginning of the race!

The stud of our group...finishing the 5K in 21:30!! Way to go Daddy!!

Next up, Brad and Kiera! Great job!!

Here comes Amy!!

Way to go Joey!! This was Joey's first 5K!! Although there isn't a picture to prove it, Jackson and I also finished the race. Unfortunately, as Glo was trying to take our picture, the camera was full!!

After the race, they had a little tot trot for Jackson and Mary. Here they are at the starting line!

Waiting patiently for them to say Go!!

They are off!!

My little stud running so hard!!! They all got little medals after completing their race. It was very cute!!

This truly was a very special race to honor a very special woman. Gloria, you are one of the most loving, kind, and talented women I know. We feel so blessed to have you in our lives. You continue to fight your battle with such grace and are truly an inspiration. We love you so much and will continue to do whatever we can to help you win your fight!!

Projects!

2011-10-12T19:21:00.004-04:00

Since Jackson has started back to school, he is really into doing different projects. One of Jackson's new favorite shows is Max and Ruby. On one of the episodes, Ruby has to make a leaf book for school. After watching it, we decided to head to the mountain to collect some leaves of our own! Jackson had so much fun finding different shapes and colors!! Jackson also loves the episode where Ruby makes a gingerbread house. Since the leaf project was such a successs, I think we are going to attempt that this Christmas! This past weekend we also headed to Tanglewood Farms. It is a large petting zoo filled with baby animals set in a Wild Wild West theme. It was really cute and Jackson loved feeding all the animals! Unfortunately, as soon as we got there, the camera battery died, so I have zero pictures from that adventure :( This first pictureis Jackson as we are getting ready to go on our leaf adventure!

We certainly could not go on this adventure without some of our friends :)

We also found a few wildflowers along the way. Last weekend Daddy had found some dandelions and showed Jackson how to blow them to make the seeds fly. Since then, every flower we come across, Jackson tries to blow it into the air.

I found a yellow leaf!

See how big it is mommy!

Is this a good one?

Cheese!!

Jackson loves to paint! Here he is painting some Thomas the Train pictures. When he finishes, he always says "See how beautiful this one is mommy?"

I had to get a picture of Jackson and Daddy during our bedtime routine. They love reading books together!

So sorry about the camera mishap! I will make sure it is fully charged before our next adventure!!

Football and Apple Picking!

2011-10-05T13:34:00.008-04:00

What says fall more than football and apples! We were lucky enough to enjoy both this week!! This first picture is Jackson ready for college day at preschool. Since we were unable to find any IU or USF gear, we decided to represent grandaddy's alma mater with Clemson. Jackson looks pretty good in orange!!

One of our friend's is a football coach for Alatoona, so we headed to the game Friday night. Jackson loved watching the game and afterwards said that he wanted to play football too. Hopefully, he will wait a little bit longer!! Mommy is not ready to see her little boy get tackled!!

Loving on Daddy at the Football game.

Go Alatoona!!

Saturday we made the trip up north to Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge to go apple picking! The night before, I read Jackson a story about apple picking and making apple pie. He was so excited for both!!

First apple of the day! There were over 100,000 apple trees with more varieties than you could imagine! We ended up with Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and Topaz. They were delicious!!

Can I pick all those apples?

Delicious!!

By far Jackson's favorite part of the day...the tractor. He was also so excited to get to wear his tractor shirt for the occasion.

Look at all those apples!!!

It was so nice how low the apples grew to the ground! I was a little worried they would be too tall for Jackson and he would be upset, but he was able to pick all of our apples!

Pulling hard to get that apple!

I love apple picking!!

Enjoying the fruits of his labor....literally! After apple picking, we headed to lunch at a barbeque place called the Pink Pig. It was delicious and there was pig memorabilia everywhere, which was very fun for Jackson!

I wonder what adventure we will go on this weekend?

Fun with Friends!

2011-09-26T13:46:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the late post, but I got a cold last week and the cold + 6 months pregnant + working, and I was out for the count! I had some old pictures that I never posted, so I thought I would get them out! This first picture is Jackson with his new big boy bike! Unfortunately, his old bike, seen next to him, made too many trips to the beach and completely rusted. It was also too small for him so we upgraded! I was a little nervous about getting him a bigger bike so we went to a bike store where he could give it a test drive. He road it like a champ with ease, so we bought it for him!

Jackson and some of his buddies went to this place called DACkids. We had never been there before and Jackson loved it! It is a huge sandbox with a pirate theme. There is a large playground with pirate flags etc, little houses with fish tanks, and pirate ship jumpy houses. They had the best time!!

Checking out the fish.

Jackson loved loading the guns and shooting at the flags!

Best buds!

Jackson with a couple of his stuffed friends. The animal on the left is known as "Baby" at our house. This was Greg's first stuffed animal and Jackson named him "Baby." Jackson LOVES Baby! He sleeps with Baby everynight and carries him all over the house. Sometimes Baby gets sad and needs a kiss from mommy and sometimes Baby gets a boo boo and needs a band aid. I hope Jackson is as sweet to his new baby brother as he is to Baby!!

Not only has Jackson had a lot of fun with friends, but so did mommy! For my 34th birthday, some friends and I decided to go all out and take a limo to see Wicked at the Fox! We had the best time and the show was absolutely amazing!!

Pictures of Greg and I wouldn't be the same without Greg's facial expressions!

We also had a birthday party this past weekend. Jackson's dear friend Sam turned 4 and had his party at Champion Kids. We are no strangers to this party venue, as this is where Jackson has had all of his birthday parties! This is Jackson and Aidan waiting to play the parachute game!

Jackson and the birthday boy. They both have a deep love for Buzz Lightyear and Jackson was admiring his shirt!

Zip line! I really can't believe my son did this. If you remember from Jackson's parties, there is a large foam pit. Well, for the zip line, the hold you until right before the foam pit and let go! Jackson's flew over the pit and landed right in the center. The boy has no fear!!!!

Since school has started, Jackson has really gotten into the painting again. Here he is painting Thomas. He had so much fun mixing the colors to make new colors!

Welcome Cooler Weather!!

2011-09-14T13:11:00.004-04:00

The summer has ended which means preschool has begun and we have welcomed the cooler morning and evening temperatures! This first picture is a little late, but it is Jackson before his first day of preschool. Jackson is attending First United Methodist this year and absolutely loves it! It is such a difference between the tears we had to deal with the beginning of last year and the joy we have this year! Jackson is lucky in that his best bud, Aidan, is in his class and he loves his teachers Mrs Julie and Miss April. I think this has really helped! If you look back on the blog you can see his picture from his first day last year. It is amazing how much he has grown! He looks so much more like a little boy now!! As far as news for Jackson, we have restarted the potty training and he is doing great! We have had zero pee pee accidents and had our first successful poo poo in the potty yesterday! The M&Ms were no longer a motivator, so I decided to buy some "poo poo prizes." Jackson is really into Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear, so I bought a few toys and told him that each time he went poo poo in the potty, he got to pick one out. As soon as he saw them, he ran to the bathroom to try to go poo poo. Unfortunatley, he couldn't go at that time, but last evening, we had success. He picked out his poo poo prize very proudly! Now we just have to see if it sticks! We have also successfully moved Jackson into his big boy room! He has slept the last 3 nights and naps in his room and so far he loves it! I aso have to write down this story, so one day when he is older, I can look back and remember it. Jackson is really into directions and has mastered right hand and left hand. Whenever we go somewhere, he will ask "Which way?". We will then tell him right (he holds up his right hand), left (he holds up his left hand) or straight. The other day he said "Mommy, I have a right hand and a left hand. Where is my straight hand?. It was just too cute!! On another note, I am 21 weeks pregnant today and we had our big anatomy scan. The new baby received an A+ and is a healthy little boy! We can't wait to see him in just a few short months!!

Jackson decided to get in a quick work out before we left :)

Since we have had cooler temperatures, we decided to head to the zoo! We have missed going to the zoo this summer because it was just too hot!! The first thing Jackson wanted to do was pet the animals. He is so much braver now!!

Our trip to the zoo would not be complete without a train ride!

And of course, the carousel! Jackson absolutely loved riding up and down and around and around!

We actually had a day of rain in Atlanta, so Jackson got all decked out in his rain gear!!

This 9/11 marked the 10th anniversary of the tragic terrorist attack on our country. Marietta decided to commemorate it by placing 3000 flags in the Kennesaw battlefield representing each person that lost their life on the that tragic day. The pictures really don't do it justice. It was both breathtaking and humbling all at the same time.

Waving with the flags.

Looking at that sweet face and the flags behind him, and I cannot help but think how precious life is. Life truly is a gift from God that should be treasured each day.

Our beautiful family. I am so thankful for all my boys and love them all so much!!

Asheville, North Carolina!

2011-09-06T13:08:00.004-04:00

We just got back from a wonderful weekend in Asheville, North Carolina. One of my best friends, Jennifer, whom I lived with during medical school, got married there. We were lucky enough, to have Noni and Granddaddy make the trip with us to help watch Jackson while I was engaged in my bridesmaid duties. Jackson had the best time with Noni and Granddaddy! He had so much fun, that he wanted nothing to do with mommy and daddy!! He slept with Noni and Granddaddy each night and often wouldn't even allow Greg or I into "their" room. Jackson had so much fun swimming in the pool and hottub, playing on a splashpad, watching the festival performers in Asheville, and exploring the mountains. Finally, no visit to Asheville would be complete without a visit to the Biltmore. Jackson loved visiting the castle and looked all over for the prince and princess! We had so much fun, that we decided to stay an extra night so we could spend another day exploring the beautiful grounds. This first picture is of us at the Grove Park Inn. It is a beautiful hotel with extraordinary views. We were able to enjoy breakfast there and go on an adventure (as Jackson likes to call it) through tunnels and water falls.

Tiny little water fall!

Jackson with Noni and Granddady at the waterfall. It was quite a hike up and down stairs to get there, but well worth it in the end!

Mommy and Daddy all dressed up for the wedding! Jackson even made an appearance to congratulate the bride!

Visit to the Biltmore! It is truly breathtaking and we had the best time visiting the castle!

Waiting to get into the castle!

Jackson loves school buses! He was so excited when he saw the school buses shuttling people to the house. The bus driver was kind enough to give Jackon his own private ride around the grounds. He loved it!

Getting off his first bus ride!

Jackson's favorite area at the Biltmore was by far the farm. He loved all the equipment and especially petting all the animals.

Tractor ride!

Trying to catch a chicken.

So brave!

Petting a baby chicken.

Giddy up horsie!

Another tractor! Thank you Noni and Granddaddy for helping take care of Jackson on our Asheville adventure. He had the best time and can't wait until our next adventure!!

The Week of Parties!!

2011-08-26T21:11:00.006-04:00

We had quite the party week! It all started with my dear friend Sonali's wedding. She had a traditional Indian wedding, which meant the festivities began on Thursday and didn't end until Saturday at Midnight! She made such a beautiful bride and we had a great time at all of her events. We also had sweet Mary and James' pirate and princess birthday party! Jackson was so excited to dress up as a pirate. He kept saying "Arrgh Matey" and "Ahoy!". We then ended the weekend with our gender cake party. This was a compromise between Greg and I because I didn't want to know the sex of the this baby, and Greg really did. So, we went to the ultrasound and the ultrasound tech wrote down on a piece of paper whether it was a boy or girl. Jackson and I left, and she told Greg. Surprisingly, Greg kept a pretty good poker face and never spilled the beans! I then took the paper to Publix, and they made a cake that was iced inside pink for a girl and blue for a boy. We had all of her friends over for the cutting. Each person wore pink or blue depending on what they thought it was. I really was so much fun and Jackson loved playing with all of his friends!

My sweet pirate!

3 pirate boys playing in the pink princess tent!

Pirates munching on their lunch before the parade to the pool!

The cutest pirate with the prettiest princess. Happy Birthday sweet Mary!! I also must say Happy Birthday to pirate James!!

And now for the gender cake party! The theme was "Blue or Pink what do you think?"

Team Blue

And more of team blue...

Team pink. Much smaller than team blue...hmmmmm. I have to give a shout out to dear Joe, who wore pink for the first time. Thanks for trying Joe!

Anxiously awaiting the cut!

It's BLUE!

We are so excited to have a little brother for Jackson! We know they are going to be the best of friends. Thank you to all of our friends and family for helping us celebrate such a special moment. To the ones out of town who couldn't make it, you were missed!! Also a very big THANK YOU to Gloria and Madeline for helping plan such a spectacular party. I would have never pulled it off with you! Love you much!

Trip to Kiawah!

2011-08-17T15:36:00.006-04:00

We just got back from a wonderful mini-vacation with Noni and Granddaddy in Kiawah. Jackson had such an amazing time! He absolutely loves to swim in both the ocean and the pool. His fearlessness never ceases to amaze me. From riding his bike all the way to the beach to boogy boarding waves, he is definately all boy!

Here Jackson is with his new lifejacket. He is ready to hit the waves! We did have one problem with the ocean....Jackson likes to dive into the water and swim and didn't realize the salt water would burn his eyes. We quickly remedied that problem by getting Jackson his first pair of goggles. Mommy's pair were green tye died and quickly did not meet the approval of daddy, so the next day, Daddy bought him some blue competition goggles. He loved wearing them!

I just can't get enough of this face!!

Jackson and Granddaddy building a sandcastle. Granddaddy makes the best sandcastles!

Ahhh....Jackson just loves his Noni so much! One night, we decided to pick up some pizza and eat it at the beach. There was a wonderful cooling ocean breeze and so much fun!

Tickles from Noni!

Family shot.

After dinner, we decided to stroll along the beach. We got some really great pics this night!

My little dare devil....always climbing!

Nightime beach shot.

Jackson found the moon!

Another family shot!

Running from the waves.

Always jumping!

Silly Noni and Jackson. I jsut love this shot of them!

Jackson loves looking at the moon, so we had to get a shot with it.

This is our caravan to the beach. Daddy loads everything up and mommy and Jackson follow closely behind!

We made it!

Getting ready to catch a wave!

Hold on tight!

Yaaay! By the end, Jackson was really good at it and would ride all the way into the shore. It was quite impressive to watch if I do say so myself :)

Believe it or not, Grandaddy even got in on the action!

Showing Greg how to get it done!

And of course, no trip to the beach would be complete without a visit with Gigi!

Thanks again Noni and Granddaddy for a wonderful trip! We can't wait until our next visit!

Fun in the Sun!

2011-08-08T13:46:00.007-04:00

We had quite a busy and exciting week this past week! After a long summer suffered by multiple mosquito bites, we decided to invest in a mosquito free backyard system. We had it installed this week, and after 1 day, the mosquitos are gone! I can't believe it!! It's basically like an irrigation system and 3 times a day, it emits chrysanthamum which is a natural insecticide. It is absolutely amazing and I would recommend it to anyone that has a mosquito problem!! We also finally decided to join the Marietta Country Club since Jackson is such a huge fan of swimming. He absolutely loves it and daddy has enjoyed the golf and tennis. Finally, we had a wonderful visit from Ben, Sherry, Noah and Jude. They were on their way to family camp and stopped by to stay with us a night. Jackson had so much fun playing with Noah and Jude and was very sad to see them go. It is so funny to see 3 boys playing together. They would be outside running up and down the hill over and over again. They would come in with bright red faces and sweaty little bodies. Jackson really did have the best time. As far as Jackson world, Jackson is really starting to use his imagination and is really embracing being a big brother. Jackson currently has 2 obsessions.....his baby and backpacks. Jackson loves to take his baby, which is either Daddy's old childhood bear or the penguin. We feed the baby, change the baby, wrap the baby in a blanket to go to sleep, and buckle the baby in the car when we go places. Also, everywhere we go, Jackson has to take a "backpack". A "backpack" in Jackson's world is anything he can put things in ranging from an old diaper box to his Elmo trick or treat bag. He is also talking more than ever and a lot of times mommy and daddy can't get a conversation in with eachother without Jackson interrupting and yelling "Listen to me!" Jackson also has a favorite song these days. Kick Drums by Avett Brothers. Daddy has this CD in his car and everytime we drive daddy's car, he wants to listen to it over and over again. It is so funny! He even knows the words and you can listen to him singing it! This first picture is of Jackson and his penguin who had to join us for breakfast.

Jackson found my garlic press and thought it looked like the clippers daddy uses to cut his hair, so he decided daddy needed a haircut!

Marietta County Club! My fearless son saw the diving board and jumped off of it with ease!! They even have a higher board that Jackson jumped off without hesitation.

Swimming back to the ladder.

So proud!

One of our dear friends, Kristin, gave Jackson a book about being a big brother. He loves reading it and has really picked up on the roles of a big brother. Since reading that book, he now has a baby tha he feeds breakfast.

Even able to do a little multitasking. Apparently, Noni called while he was feeding his baby so he was talking with her.

After feeding the baby, it was time to change the baby's diaper. Jackson did all of this without any prompting from me. It was very sweet.

Visit with Jude and Noah. The boys loved playing outside and were cooling off with a delicious popsicle.

Noah and Jude really loved Emma, so we had to get a picture of all of them together.

Sweet Jude.

Noah and his pal.

Jackson showing off his moves.

My little angel!

Since Jackson loves his backpacks so much, we decided to get him one. He loves it and we take it everywhere! He is so excited to pack his stuff in it for our trip to the beach this week!

Jackson is getting me ready for two babies! We have to buckle his baby in wherever we go!

Birthday Fun and Big Surprises!!

2011-07-27T20:54:00.003-04:00

We went to the cutest birthday party this past weekend! Jackson's friend Natalie had a unicorn swimming party. Jackson has got to spend a lot of time with Natalie this summer because he goes to her house every Tuesday morning. Her mom, Mrs Heather, takes care of Jackson and two of his buddies, Sam and Maggie, every Tuesday morning. Jackson has the best time with them and loves going there!! Even though the weather did not cooperate with the water activities, that didn't stop the ice cream man, or in this case, woman, from coming! The kids got so excited when they heard the music and saw the truck!! This is all the kids running up to the truck. Each child got to pick their own ice cream. It was so cute!

Jackson getting his Sponge Bob ice cream. Jackson was definately the youngest at the party, and it was so cute to watch him patiently wait in line for his turn.

Sponge Bob Ice Cream!! Mommy had to remove the gumball eyes before he could enjoy it, but he loved it!

The ice cream lady then set up a face painting station. Jackson chose a car for his arm.

Vroom Vroom!

All the kids in frontof the truck!

On a different note, we are thrilled to announce that Jackson is going to be a big brother! We are so excited to welcome a new baby to our home in January. So far this pregnancy has been just as rough as Jackson's with nausea and vomiting, bronchitis complicated by a torn intercostal muscle, and finally a case of food poisoning! Despite all the misery, it so worth it to have a little sibling for my sweet Jackson! He is going to be such a great big brother and is all ready very sweet with the baby. He kisses my belly and says he is going to be "soft with the baby". After much debate, we have finally agreed that we are going to find out the sex of this baby. The big ultrasound is August 17th!! Whatever the sex, we will be so happy to just have another healthy baby!!

Slip N Slide and Family Fun!

2011-07-15T13:42:00.000-04:00

We had another fun, family filled week with Noni, Glo, and Peebo and Grandaddy. Jackson had so much fun with all of them and was very sad to see them go. We also got a new toy at the Nesmith house, the slip n slide! Jackson loves it! He rockets down in like a pro!! Jackson is really growing up fast and is talking so much! He is still all boy and loves playing with cars and trucks. His favorite toys right now are his garbage truck, firetruck, and anything to do with the movie Cars. I think we are going to attempt to take him to see Cars 2 this weekend. We will see how it goes! We had to take a break from potty training. He was doing really well, but when I came back from a bachelorette party in Savannah, he was having accidents left and right. We are going to try again in August. The next picture is Jackson trying to load up his suitcases to go to the beach with Noni, Glo, Peebo and Granddaddy (or as Jackson calls him, Big Daddy).

The crew!

He loved to try to slide backwards!

No fear!

One problem with the slip n slide is that Jackson will slide right off the end into the grass. He gets a little dirty!

Whoa!!

On your marks, get set, go!

Jackson giving Mary a ride!

Happy 4th of July!!

2011-07-08T14:06:00.000-04:00

What an amazing week! We had the best time with a wonderful visit with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Mike and Cousins Katie and Nathan. We had an adventure filled week with trips to the Water Park, Children's Museum, Acquarium and, of course, we ended it all with fireworks!! We loved having them here and can't wait until the next visit!! Jackson had so much fun playing with his cousins and was very sad when they had to leave. When Jackson saw them loading up their suitcases to leave, he ran to his room and started packing his own suitcase for the airplane. Things that were going to make the trip included his toothbrush and toothpaste of all things! Since we dropped them off at the airport, we have had to play "airplane" This game consists of us packing our suitcases, loading them into the "car" a.k.a. his grocery stroller, and climbing into the "airplane", which is mommy's bed with covers over our head. He loves this game!!! We had so much fun and so many pictures to share! This first picture is the kids cleaning themselves off after the "washable colored" bubbles I bought. As you can see from the next pictures, these colored bubbles were quite a mess and quickly made their way to the trash can!

Trying to wash off all the colors.

Jackson color of choice was green. He doesn't quite understand that he doesn't have to hold the bubble wand right up to his lips.....hence the green face.

Walking to the Chidren's Museum. Jackson loved to hold Katie's hand everywhere!

Georgia Aquarium!

First Twizzler! Thanks Aunt Sarah!! Getting a snack before the new dolphin show. It was a great production and would highly recommend it. Jackson sat the entire time mezmerized!

"Touching" the BelugaWhale.

Crawling through the tunnel!

I just love Nathan's pose in this picture!!

All 3 kids in front of the giant fish tank. This was definately not an easy shot to get, but well worth it!

Daddy decided that the pool and slide we had just wasn't quite up to par, so he decided to make it inot a slip 'n slide by adding a tarp. The kids loved it!!

Secretly I think daddy loved it even more!

Waiting for the parade in the square! Jackson's favorite was by far the firetrucks!!

When is this parade going to start?

Here they come!!

After the parade, we had our own little fireworks show. Check out our pyrotechnic crew. Needless to say, we decided we needed to scoot back a little further!

I love fireworks!!

First Sparkler!

Sweet Katie with her sparkler.

Cutie Nathan with his sparkler.

Flag cake before the fireworks! Unfortunatley, the weather in Atlanta did not hold up and we did not get to see the big fireworks show. We still had an amazing time. We had a wonderful week and were so sad when Aunt Sarah, Uncle Mike, and Katie and Nathan had to leave. We can't wait until our next visit! We love you!!!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-27T15:35:00.007-04:00

Happy Father's Day! I can't believe that I have been so bad about putting pictures on the blog recently. We have just been so busy! This post is long overdue, but I wanted to take the time to let Greg know what an amazing father he is. Jackson and I are really so blessed to have him. He really is the most amazing father to Jackson. From giving him his bath at night to riding bikes nonstop, he is always there for him. Jackson always says how much he loves his daddy! Seeing them together having so much fun always warms my heart. We love you Greg and Happy 3rd Father's Day!!

This first picture is Greg and Jackson on his Father's Day in 2009.

Father's Day 2010

Father's Day 2011. I didn't get a great picture for this year, but it does show them always on the go! We had a wonderful Father's day weekend celebrating with Brad, Kiera, Noni, Grandadday, Glo, Joe and Courtney. We went swimming and then had a cookout. It was so nice that all the "boys" could spend the holiday together.

Oh Jackson! No fear!!!

Courtney was able to spend the weekend with us as well. We had so much fun and Jackson just loved her!!

2 peas in a pod!

Vacation Bible School! This year I volunteered at our church's vacation Bible School, so even though Jackson is still too young to attend, all the volunteer children got to do a mini version. Jackson absolutely loved it! He was with his little buddy Aidan. I saw them on the playground one of the days and the teacher said, "Everyone find your buddy! It is time to go!" I looked over and saw Jackson yell, "Aidan!" He ran over to him and grabbed his hand. They walked back into the church hand in hand. It was adorable!! The theme was "Shake it Up" and it was all about healthy nutrition and exercise. This is Jackson with his chef's hat and apron he made.

So proud!

Potty training!!! We have started the process of potty training! Jackson has done extremely well the pee pee. M&Ms are a wonderful motivator!! The pooping department is another story, but we are still working on it! I am sure he will get it soon!!

Jackson eating his fruit snacks in his big boy undies! To get geared up for potty training, we made a special trip to Target, so he could pick out his big boy undies. Unfortunately, when we got there, they were out of size 3. Since I made a big deal out of it, we went ahead and bought size 4. As you can see from the above picture, they are a little big, but he loves them! He picked out Cars, Toy Story 3, and Thomas.

Who needs a water park when you have neighbors with this! Jackson's good friend Aidan got this huge water slide for their back yard. All the kids loved it and had so much fun sliding down!

This is the best slide ever!!
We also just finished a wonderful week with Noni, Glo and Joe! As always, we had the best time and wish you could have stayed even longer!! Jackson is still aksing, "Where are all my peoples?" He also said yesterday that he loves with Noni and Glo come to his house. Thank you again for my beautiful bathroom. I love it!! We miss you already and can't wait for the next visit!!

Memorial Day trip to Kiawah!

2011-06-03T15:09:00.010-04:00

We had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend at Kiawah! It was filled with time at the beach, bike rides, dancing at Freshfields, and a little celebration to recognize Noni's dedication as a teacher over the last 25 years. This was the first time Brad and Kiera and ourselves were there since Jackson and Mary's first Memorial Days!! How much time has gone by and how much they have changed. No longer is Jackson the little 5 month old baby afraid of the water!! There were so many pictures and I tried to condense them as best I could. This first picture is Jackson riding his bike at Noni and Granddaddy's. He had so much fun riding more than just a few feet. He even rode his bike all the way to the beach and back!!

Jackson and Mary heading to the beach!

Catching some waves with daddy.

Sandcastle time!

Splash! Splash!

The 2 dudees hanging out.

My sweet beach bum.

Getting a ride by Noni. Weeeeee!!

Jackson's turn to give Mary a ride!

Concert at Freshfields! They were giving away water ballons and they were a huge hit! Jackson loved to dance around with it!

Ring around the rose with Noni!

Jackson made a friend with this cute little girl. They must have thrown the ballon back and forth to eachother for 20 minutes.

Catch!

Three peas in a pod!

Noni with the grandkids!

Could they be any cuter?

It is definately not easy to get a picture of all 3 kids looking at the camera. This was the best I could come up with!!

Getting tickled by the grass.

Family pic at the Ocean Course clubhouse.

Noni's celebration lunch at the Ocean Course. Congratulations Noni on 25 years of hard, dedicated teaching!! We are so proud of your accomplishment, and so happy that you will now have more free time!!! It's time for some much deserved R&R.

I just love their poses.

I have a suspicion that this is the first of many pictures of Jackson and his daddy on the golf course.

Thank you Noni and Granddaddy for a wonderful holiday weekend!! The first thing Jackson said when we got home was I want to go to Noni's house!!

Last Day of School & Day out with Thomas!!

2011-05-23T13:49:00.007-04:00

What a wonderful week! It started with Jackson's last day of school. I can't believe how far we have come. It started off with tears from both Jackson and mommy to absolute love for school! He has made some great friends and learned so much this past year. I took a similar picture of Jackson at his first day of school. I can't believe how much older he looks now!! We celebrated the end of the year with a road trip to Chatanooga, TN for he Day out with Thomas!! Jackson was so excited and couldn't wait to ride his first train! We went down Friday night and made a weekend trip of it. We met some friends there Saturday and had an absolute blast!! Chatanooga is such a fun, family city with so much for little ones to do!! We had a swimming pool at our hotel, so we got to enjoy the afternoon swimming. Jackson is so much different than he was last year with the pool. He has absolutely NO FEAR!! He jumps right into the water and holds his breath. He kept saying he was swimming like a fish! We used arm floaties this time and Jackson loved the freedom, but was a little too aggressive. He didn't understand that if he just waded slowly, he would float. He just wanted to jump and swim!! We had such a wonderful trip and I tried to condense the photos as best I could!!

Handing the conductor his ticket.

All aboard!!

First train ride!

Jackon was so excited on the train. He kept running back and forth between Greg and I to look out the windows. He loved seeing the bridges and passing all the other trains. It was really cute to see his excitement.

Tennessee Valley Railroad

After the train ride there was so much to do!! This is Sam and Jackson at the petting zoo. The goats were a little aggressive and scared the boys.

The man of the hour....Thomas!! The only problem with the train ride was that Jackson wanted to do it again and again!!

First put put!

Magic show! Not only was this a magic show, but it also incorporated some dance. The kids loved it!

A real coal train! Jackson was so excited and ran as fast as he could to get close to it.

Popcorn break.

Jackson and Aidan playing with all the train sets that were set up for the kids. Jackson also got tatoo of Diesel 10 on his arm.

The hotel we stayed at was in the most perfect location. We were able to walk to all the restaurants and then to the river, where they had all these water areas the kids could play it. They actually liked playing here better than the swimming pool!

Walking along the rocks.

There was this huge waterfall steps that led to shallow pool that the kids could play in. They had so much going up and down the waterfall. Here is Sam and Jackson making the voyage trip down.

Waterfall!

We were actually able to get all the kids to sit for a photo!

And they are off!

Down to the shallow pool

We had such an amazing weekend in Chatanooga. There was so much to do and I am sure this will not be our last trip!

Mother's Day and Baseball Time!

2011-05-16T13:13:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I know we are a week behind, but I still had to blog about my 3rd Mother's Day. It couldn't have been better! I got to sleep in and when I woke up, Jackson had already been fed and my coffee was waiting. My husband so sweetly bought me 48 tulips for the occasion. He placed them in the outdoor refrigerator the night before and unfortunately, they froze. We had 2 survivors and they were beautiful!! We then went to church, out to lunch, and bought my flowers for the outside. It was perfect! This first picture is Jackson and I with the present he made me at school. It was a bookmarker. I just love getting his little projects from school!! On a different note, our garden is flourishing! We planted 6 tomato plants this year and they all have multiple tomatoes! Our strawberry plants also survived the winter and are flourishing. Last year we did not get a single strawberry, and this year Jackson has enjoyed over 2 dozen! They are quite small but so sweet! Everyday after his nap, we go down and pick and eat the strawberries. It reminds me so much of working in the garden with my mother. He loves it!

Helping Daddy plant mommy's new flowers.

Let me dig the hole.

This is what you get when you ask a 2 year old to put his shoes and socks on. Jackson decided he wanted to wear Daddy's socks and wouldn't take them off all day!

First Brave's game! We took Jackson to his first baseball game this week. It started off rocky, but as soon as the food came, he was perfect! Here he is with daddy watching them warm up. By far his favorite part of the game was a little race that had with different home depot tool mascots. Jackson kept asking where the hammer went!

You gotta love that smile!

Family shot at the field! We had great seats 5 rows behind home plate!!

Jackson charming the people sitting behind us. By the end of the game, Jackson consumed 2 slices of pizza worth of pepperoni, a box of popcorn and an entire bag on cotton candy. Greg and I thought for sure he was going to throw up during the car ride home, but he kept it all down!!

Despite the game not starting until 7:10, we made it to the bottom of the 6th! Not too bad for our first trip to the ballpark!!

Spring Recital and Fun in the Sun!

2011-05-07T13:21:00.004-04:00

Spring Recital! Jackson had his first moment in the spotlight on stage! It was the end of the year spring recital at his preschool. It was absolutely adorable! All the little kids wore white shirts and jeans and marched up on stage like pros. As they came into the auditorium, they were all clapping in a single file line and got on stage. It always amazes me how well they are at keeping all these little ones on track. The ones had three songs to sing. The favorite was by far Humpty Dumpty. They all sang the songs and did the moves like pros! It was so cute and I got some great video!! I still can't believe that the stage was filled will 2-4 year olds and nobody leaped off the stage! It was really an event I will treasure always!! This first picture is Jackson and his best friend Drew on stage. Jackson kept looking at this older Indian girl next him and copying whatever she did. Adorable!!

Making cat whiskers for part of the song. It was hard to switch back and forth between pictures and videotaping, and since Greg couldn't make it, I wanted to make sure I got it all on tape!

Jackson and Drew. They truly are two peas in a pod. It is amazing how well they get along and how much they enjoy spending time together!!

After the program, we went and took a look at all the art work. Each class had a wall with artwork the children have done over the year.

Jackson's class.

Jackson's art work!!

Neighborhood pool party! We were so excited to find out that Drew lives in our neighborhood! We got a few friends together and had our first of many pool parties this year. Jackson has really gotten good at riding his bike and is able to turn and everything. This picture is Jackson and Drew riding the bike an coaster car around the playhouse.

Pool!!

Unfortunately, as you can see from my son's blue lips, that Jackson was getting a little chilly in the shade! He loved it though!!

Anyone call for a firefighter?

Two sweet boys!!

Best friends.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-27T08:07:00.007-04:00

Happy Easter everyone! We had a rocky start but ending up having a wonderful holiday weekend! Poor Jackson has been quite sick recently. The week before Easter, he was diagnosed with pneumonia and placed on antibiotics. He got much better rather quickly, but then Wednesday before we were supposed to leave for Chicago, he respiked a fever. After much discussion between Greg and I and the pediatrician, we decided to go for the trip and added another antibiotic. Jackson did great the whole flight and drive to my sister's, but about 5 minutes before we got to her house, Jackson started vomiting. I felt so bad and thought we might have made a mistake in coming. Aunt Sarah so kindly picked up his medicine and we gave him his first dose that night. He slept like a champ and the next morning was ready to go! After the second dose of antibiotic, he was afebrile and back to his old self again! Yay! We had such a wonderful weekend with my sister and Jackson's cousins. Jackson and Nathan were two peas in a pod! Greg and I even got to get all dressed up to go to my good friend Meeta's wedding in downtown Chicago. I got to see some great friends that I hadn't seen in a while and we had a blast! This first picture is Jackson in his Atlanta Easter outfit on Palm Sunday. He got all dressed up and refused to take it off the rest of the day! He is already a southern boy!

Dressed in his Sunday best! Thanks Aunt Glo!!

Jackson and Nathan in their Lightning McQueen beds! We tried to get Jackson to sleep up there with the kids, but he is not quite ready. He loved laying on it though and watching cartoons with Nathan!

This bed is the greatest!

All dressed up for the wedding! We had so much fun!!

Easter morning! The Easter bunny visited Aunt Sarah's house and left Easter baskets and Easter eggs for an Easter egg hunt. This is the kids patiently waiting before the hunt began!

It didn't take long for Jackson to remember this game!

Look mommy! Look mommy! Jackson holding his eggs and his Lighting McQueen Easter basket.

Showing off all their goodies!

The first day home was pretty chilly and rainy, but the rest of the weekend was absolutely beautiful! After collecting all the egss, the kids went outside and played with bubbles. Katie taught Jackson how to run with the wand to make the bubbles. So much fun!

Easter lunch at Grandmas! My Aunt Patty is very creative and the Queen of projects! This year Jackson got to join in the festivities. He made an Easter egg magnet, an egg bunny, and a chick figure. Jackson didn't want to show off his work initially, so I had to get daddy to do it.

Finally! Holding his masterpieces!!

Great Grandma knows best! Nothing like some goldfish to warm him up!!

Orcutt Family pic!

Nesmith family pic! We have taken pictures on this couch for years! It is so funny to look back and see my mom and dad holding me and my sisters on this couch for a pic, and now here I am on the same couch with my own family. Thanks Aunt Patty for always insisting on family pictures!!

Nothing like a picture with a mouth full of goldfish.

Bye Bye Aunt Sarah! Thanks for an amazing weekend and we can't wait to see you all again in July!!

Oh boy!!

2011-04-11T14:06:00.008-04:00

What a great week! We have had so much fun playing outside and enjoying the beautiful spring weather!! We had a wonderful visit with Andrew, Greg's high school friend. Whenever Andrew comes into town, there always needs to be a project. The project this time was leveling part of our yard and preparing it for sod. 18 tons of dirt later, we are ready to lay the sod next week! Since it was spring break, Andrew got the pleasure of watching Jackson one morning, while Greg and I went to work. Jackson had the best time and that night said "I love my Andrew. He is my buddy." It was so funny!! We are really getting excited for Easter. We are going to spend the holiday with my family and can't wait to see Aunt Sarah, Uncle Mike, Katie, and Nathan! Jackson is so excited to go on Easter egg hunts and to get candy from the Easter bunny! This first picture was an Easter bunny that Jackson got a little early. Delicious!!

Jackson and daddy putting together his Percy puzzle.

I love chocolate!!

Here is the massive pile of dirt that was delivered to our house. Jackson had the best time running up and down the dirt mountain!

King of the mountain!!

I made it mommy!

Running down the mountain. After we finished playing in the dirt, we got to put our feet in the kitchen sink to wash them off. Jackson thought that was quite a treat, and it turned quickly into a splashing game! Once he realized he got to wash his feet it they got dirty, he was quick to run right back out to dirt mountain. He would run up and down it and say "Let's wash our feet".

One of Jackson's favorite things to do.....run!

I think we may have a future soccer player!

GOAL!!! (He certainly has the dramatic role of the game mastered)

GOAL!!!

This last picture is Jackson showing me the ant that he had crawling on his arm. He kept picking them up and saying "OOOH".

Beach Trip!

2011-03-30T12:22:00.007-04:00

Last weekend we had our first trip of the season to Kiawah! We always go this time of year, so Greg and I can celebrate our anniversary. Noni and Grandaddy watch Jackson and we head to town, go out to dinner, and stay at the Sanctuary. That is the hotel we stayed at the night we got married. We had the best time! Jackson absolutely loved the beach! He definately has a little Yankee blood in him because the cooler weather and freezing ocean couldn't stop him! He ran into the water with no fear as if he was just at the beach yesterday. This year he also really enjoyed the sand and making sand castles. We can't wait for our next beach trip!! We saw a couple of alligators in a pond along the golfcourse and Jackson wanted to go feed him grass. Greg told him that he couldn't feed the alligators because they would bite him. After that he kept looking up at me and saying "Mommy, the alligators will bite you!" It was so funny!! Of course, Noni had tons of new toys for Jackson to play with including a new Thomas bike. Jackson had the best time and loved spending time with his Noni and Granddaddy!! This first picture is for Glo....Jackson running on the pier toward the beach.

Water!

This is how we started the beach morning. Pants rolled up and fully clothed.

And a few minutes later.....yes we were those parents with a naked toddler running along the beach. At one point, Jackson took his diaper off as well. That is where I had to drawn the line and let him know we were not in Europe!

OOOH! It's cold!!

Jackson really enjoyed playing with sand toys this trip. He kept trying to take this truck out into the water and didn't understand why it kept going back to the shore.

Building a sandcastle with Noni and Granddaddy! Granddaddy makes the best sand castles!!

Getting water for the river.

Driving his truck up the castle.

Jackson had so much fun trying to chase this poor bird. If you look closely, you can see him taking off.

Looking for seashells to decorate his castle.

That shell goes right here.

He is all boy! Playing with a live starfish.

Flying with Noni!

Come on daddy. This way!

This lion that Jackson is carrying apparently was Uncle Brad's. Jackson loved it and took it everywhere. This is him raoring like a lion. He really wanted to take it into the water with him. Noni tried to trick him and hid it under her shirt and said the lion ran away to Noni's house because he doesn't like the water. What does Jackson do? "I go get him" and off he ran! We finally had to give in and let him have it.

Trying to soak up a few rays.

Lunch at the marina! This is the best place for Jackson because he can run around and look at the boats until the food comes.

The last day we went and visited GiGi at her house. In order to warm Jackson up, she gave him his favorite....M&Ms. MMMMMM! M&Ms!

Getting an M&M from GiGi. It didn't take long for Jackson to warm up to her.

Hugs bye for GiGi.

Bye Bye Granddaddy! I have to mention that Noni was not able to be with us the last day because she had to go to work. Jackson was not happy about this at all! As soon as he woke up, he asked where Noni was. Then as we were driving to see GiGi, he thought we were going to see Noni. Then, when we pulled into our house, he asked if we were going to Noni's house. I think we are going to be making another trip to the beach soon!!

Spring is Here!

2011-03-23T13:34:00.004-04:00

Spring has arrived and appears to be here to stay! We have loved the warmer weather and been spending lots of time outside on our play pad. Jackson loves to play with his train and cars on the pad. We have some old blocks of wood from the fence that we use to make different tunnels for the trains to go through. Jackson's favorite tunnel is mommy's legs. He will "buy" a ticket and then insert it into my shoe. My legs lift and the train passes through! Jackson loves it, but mommy's legs get tired! We also had a wonderful visit this weekend Noni and Granddaddy this weekend. They came to help Uncle Brad with Mary and James while Kiera was in Louiseville for her sister's shower. Jackson had so much fun playing with Noni and Granddaddy and can't wait to see them next weekend at the beach! I am so excited to take Jackson to the beach this year and see if he remembers it. I think he is going to love the waves and playing in the sand. Jackson's 2 year photoshoot was a huge success. To see his photos, you can go to agrgallery.com/slideshows/jackson2yr. If that doesn't work, she posted some on her blog at agrgallery.com. Enjoy!

After a year of having this item, Jackson finally will ride his motorcycle. He loves it! He goes forward and backwards like a pro!

Jackson is in a "I hate wearing shoes phase". He used to have to put his shoes on as soon as he woke up in the morning and now he wants nothing to do with it. Here he is starting the process of taking them off.

Don't take my picture mommy! Jackson has a new favorite word...Now! Everything is "I want a drink now!, I want a snack now!" I must add that the word now has the most inflection. We are working on nicer ways to ask for things.

Trying to steal the ball from daddy!

Not only are chopsticks fun to eat with, but they also make wonderful drums!

Again, Again!

Granddaddy and Jackson walking to lunch. Somehow this is the only picture I took of the weekend! I will have to make up for it next weekend!

Best Toddler Party Ever!

2011-03-16T13:51:00.011-04:00

Last weekend we went to Jackson's best friend Aidan's 2nd birthday party. It was the best toddler party we have been to yet! It was a farm theme with hayrides and a petting zoo filled with baby animals. There were pigs, sheep, goats, bunnies, chickens, ducks, roosters and more. Jackson really had the best time. The weather couldn't have been more beautiful for the outdoor event. Angie, Aidan's mom, is an architect/interior designer and went all out on the farm theme. We had haystacks for chairs, a wheelbarrel held the farm house goodie bags, and of course, our cupcake collaboration! I made 36 fondant farm animals for the top of the cupcakes. It took a long time, but was well worth it in the end! The cupcakes were so cute and delicious! They took me 12+ hours to make and the kids 30 seconds to eat! As far as new things in Jackson's world, his biggest accomplishment is that he can spell his name. It is so cute and each night before he goes to bed, he loves to point to the letters of his name on the wall and spell it out. Jackson definately remembers everything! We are very excited for our visit with Noni and Granddaddy this weekend. The last time they visited, Grandaddy bought a new car. As soon as we told Jackson that Noni and Granddaddy were coming to visit, he said "In Grandaddy's new car?" We couldn't believe he remembered that! Here are the pics from the party. The first picture is Jackson in his cowboy boots waiting to go to the farm party!

12 horses, 12 cows, and 12 pigs later.....the finished product!

The cupcake display!

Jackson waiting to pet the animals. He couldn't wait to hold the bunny! He also really liked the little black piglet and really wanted to hold him. Unfortunately, he did not like to be held and would squeal louder than anything I have ever heard when anyone attempted to touch him.

Feeding the goat. The little goats were so hungry, they would jump out of the pen to get to the food.

My little cowboy!

Once Jackson found the candy bowl, it was very hard to get him to do anything else!

Feeding the bunny.

This was the best party ever mommy!

Jackson was watching the pig eat a little too closely :)

Trip to the Zoo!

2011-03-07T14:35:00.000-05:00

Well, Atlanta decided to tease us with early spring weather. It has been a little chilly this week, but despite that fact, we decided to head to the zoo. It may have been cold, but it was the best trip we have had to the zoo yet. We got to see them feel the elephants, saw the lion run around, saw the black rhino run around, got to touch a snake, and was right next to the zebra and gorillas. This first picture is of Jackson, Payton, and Aidan watching the zebras eat. At one point, I did think Jackson was going to climb all the way over the fence and really get up close and personal with the zebras!

2 monkeys climbing on gorillas!

Having a snack while the panda had a snack. We actually got to see the tiny baby Panda on this trip. He was so little and cute!

A trip to the zoo would not be complete without a ride on the choo choo!

Carousel!

Petting zoo! This was the first time that Jackson actually really wanted to brush the animals. He was so excited.

Brushing the goats!

We were so excited to get to have a sleepover with Mary and James this weekend. Jackson LOVES Mary and James and was so excited when he found out that they were going to spend the night. This was Mary and Jackson sitting on Thomas watching Nemo. They kept looking at eachother and screaming. It was too funny!

Rocking on the rocking horse.

All 3 babies playing with the building blocks. It was so cute to watch Mary and Jackson help James. So sweet!

Growing up too fast!!

2011-03-02T12:17:00.003-05:00

Where has my baby gone? It seems like yesterday Jackson was all swaddled up in my arms, and now he is a little boy with a personality larger than life and a mind of his own! He is just so funny and the is always making us laugh. For example, this weekend we had Jackson's 2 year photos. I was trying to figure out what to put him in, so I layed an outfit out on our bed for Greg to look at. Well, I should have asked Jackson's opinion! He looked at the outfit and said "Awww, cute! I like it!" It was so funny!! Then, we were playing out on his pad and Jackson came over to me and said " I love my mommy. You are a good boy" Jackson has really started counting recently and loves to count everything. He can count to 11 very well, but after that he gets a little lost. He is still obsessed with Thomas the train! It wasn't for Thomas the train, I don't think we would have gotten any good 2 year shots! Hopefully, Alicia will have some preview pictures on her blog soon. I will keep you posted!

Jackson decided that he wanted to play inside his diaper box Unfortunately, he was way too big for it and quickly destroyed the entire box!

Jackson has really started getting into dancing lately. This picture is of Jackson dancing on our bed to Daddy's music on the ipad. He was so excited!

We were getting some toys down to give to Baby James, and of course, Jackson had to try this toy one more time before he could give it up. Everytime we talk about Baby James, Jackson will whisper "Shhhh, Baby James go night night" you only have to say something to Jackson once, and he will never forget it!

Jackson's new bike! He is still learning to peddle, but gets better every day! By the way, once he really starts riding a bike, he will be wearing a helmet!

Jackson sitting on his playpad with his trains. He could spend hours chugging the trains all around. Thank you daddy for all the trouble you went through to give me this great place to play safely!

Pull ups! Jackson's strength never ceases to amaze me. Pound for pound, he has got to be the strongest toddler!

You are an amazing little boy Jackson, and Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

Baby James Baptism and the Best Show on Earth!

2011-02-21T12:47:00.006-05:00

What a wonderful and busy weekend! It all started with the baptism of sweet baby James! We had a wondeful, intimate celebration that couldn't have been more perfect. James, as usual, was a little angel. Jackson, on the other hand, was all over the place! Thank goodness it was just a baptismal ceremony and not a full mass!! At one point, Austin saved the day by grabbing Jackson before he took a dive into the baptismal water! Thanks Austin!! Maura and Austin are going to be first time parents in just a few short weeks and are going to be great! This first picture is James after the baptism, so happy!!

The priest allowed all the children to touch the holy water. In hindsite, that began the downfall. All Jackson wanted to do was touch the water.

The big moment! James wasn't too excited about it, but quickly recovered.

Two peas in a pod!

The three cutest kids in the world!

The proud Godparents!

Family shot.

The happy family of 4!

The wonderful cookies that we got to enjoy after the event. I think Greg must have had 70% of them.

The next day we went with our good friends Angie and Andrew and their children, Payton and Aidan, to the circus! We had a great time and the kids absolutely loved it! Jackson's favorite part was of course, the train and the motorcycles.

Mezmerized!

My sweet boy!

Best friends!

Barnum and Bailey sure know what they are doing as they schedule the show from 11-1 with an intermission at noon. Therefore, the mom's were on a mission to get food for some hungry kids. Lemonade, popcorn, hotdogs and cotton candy wasn't cheap, but made some children very happy!

We love the circus!

As far as other things with Jackson, his latest cute phrase was after I sneezed he said "Bless you mommy." Loved it! He also can sing all the words to some songs including Twinkle, Twinkle. And, he started saying the alphabet. Unfortunately, he starts with QRSTUVWXYZ. Somehow we have skipped the beginning of the alphabet! That is all for now! Next weekend we have Jackson's 2 year photos, so pray this beautiful weather continues!!

Happy Valentine's Day and Sea World!

2011-02-14T19:55:00.003-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! We just got back from a wonderful trip to Orlando, Florida. We had an amazing time!! The main reason for the trip was to help Greg's long time friend, Andrew, renovate some property that he bought. While they renovated, we got to play! We spent the first day at Sea World. Jacksonloved it! He got to pet a dolphin and stingray and loved the Shamu Show. The house was filled with kids and Jackson had so much fun playing with all of them. Surprisingly, despite having 5 kids in the house, we all left unscathed. His best friend of the weekend was definately Sarah. She is the same age as Jackson and they were two peas in a pod. They have similar personalities and loved to be in eachother's faces the entire time. They would feed eachother, scream in eachother's faces, and run around the house after eachother. Unfortunately, I only got a few pictures from our trip because as soon as we got there, our camera died. Boo! We had a great visit and can't wait to see them all again next month for the River Run! As far as Valentine's Day, I spent a wonderful, relaxing day with my two favorite boys. Jackson and I made Daddy a heart shaped cookie cake to show him how much we love him. Jackson did such a good job putting on the sprinkles and was excellent at eating icing! Jackson was so excited when Daddy got home that he ran out after him and yelled "Happy Cake Day Daddy!" He couldn't quite get Valentine's out. It was so cute!!

Look at the cake I made you daddy! Unfortunately, Jackson could not contain his excitement and had to taste the icing.

OOOOOH! Candy!!!

Posing with his new Thomas movie.

Valentine frog from daddy! Jackson kept hopping around saying "Ribbit!"

One of only a couple pics that I got from our trip to Florida. This is as we entered SeaWorld!

Jackson loved to push Sarah around the park in the stroller.

Posing with the penguins. And then....my camera died :( Next trip I will make sure my camera is fully charged.

This last picture is what happens when you let a 2 year old pick out his pajamas. He insisted on wearing his car shorts over his football pjs.

Family Trip to the Aquarium!

2011-02-07T14:17:00.005-05:00

Unfortunately, this weekend wasn't as warm and sunny as last weekend, so we decided to take Jackson to the Georgia Acquarium. Jackon was very excited to see the fish and kept saying he wanted to see a blue and yellow fish. He also couldn't wait to see Nemo. Going to the aquarium! Jackson loves to walk along every concrete wall he comes to. He loves to practice his balance beam act! As far as a Jackson update, he continues to expand his vocabularly daily. Some of my new favorite phrases are "EEEW, yucky!", which I now here all to often when I try to get him to eat different foods. Also a favorite "Emma poop. EEEW. Stinky!" Poor Emma. He has also added shapes to his vocabularly. He now correctly identifies and names a circle, square, triangle, heart, and star. We are still working on our numbers. He is very good with 1, 2, 3, but then you never know which number is going to come next! He is also starting to pick up some of the alphabet. We leave for sunny Orlando on Thursday so hopefully next week will have some fun action shots!

Staring in awe at all the fish.

Jackson saying "Hi!" to the penguins. One of Jackson's favorite episodes of Diego is when they have to rescue the penguin named Pepito. He was very excited to see them and got to crawl in a tunnel and peak his head up right next them!

Oooooh! Look at the big whale shark!

There's a blue and yellow fish!

I just like Jackson's pose in this picture. There was a diver in the tank feeding the fish and everytime he would wave at Jackson, he would turn and run away. It was so funny!

Look at all these fish!!

Jackson is really into horsey rides, which you will see in the next photo, flying through the air, and walking with his feet on your feet. Again Daddy!!

Giddy Up Horsie! Notice the clown on Greg's left hand. There are three favorite toys right now...the clown, duck and Elmo. Whatever Jackson does, one of them is following. When Jackson gets his diaper changed, so does the duck, clown or Elmo. Same thing for brushing teeth, eating, and brushing teeth.

I am not sure how we got to this point. We started off with just 2 blankets and now we have accumulated to every blanket in the house. He must sleep with at least 10 blankets at night now!

Hugs for the duck!

Jackson insisted that the duck sit in the bumbo next to him while he watched some cartoons while mommy got ready. Too funny! Jackson is always making us laugh!!

Sunny and 65!!!

2011-01-31T12:58:00.018-05:00

What a beautiful, sunny weekend in Atlanta! It was 65 and sunny, so we decided to take advantage of it!! Saturday we spent a wonderful day at the zoo. Jackson was so excited to see all the animals. I think his favorite was the lions. Sunday we went downtown and had brunch with Sonali and then spent the morning at Piedmont park. That is the first time we had been there since having Jackson and I had no idea that had a park for children. Jackson had so much fun running all over the park. I think he ran the equivalent of 5 miles!! It was so nice to be able to spend the days outside and makes me sad to know that the cold is going to return shortly. Hopefully we only have 1 more month until spring!! As far as firsts for Jackson, Jackson said "I love you too, mommy" for the first time! It melted my heart, and I think this was definately my favorite first. It was just so sweet it brought tears to my eyes. This first pic is Jackson with the flamingos. He liked them but they were a little stinky!!

Daddy and Jackson at the zoo!!

Family shot in front of the tiger exhibit.

Jackson on the giraffe. They sort of have the same expression on their faces.

Hugs for the lion!!

Zoo playground. Weee!!

Jackson doing what he loves best....running!!

I love to be outside!

Jackson's 2nd favorite thing...climbing! Future mountain climber?

Family shot at Piedmont park! It was so nice to take Jackson into the city.

Running down the hill!

Jackson and Sonali.

King of the hill!

Hi Mommy and Daddy!

Weeeeeee! Of course daddy had to do a little bit of work at the park, which is why he is on his cellphone :)

Pay for Snow?

2011-01-26T13:32:00.003-05:00

Well, you wouldn't believe it from the winter we have had, but typically Atlanta does not get snow in the winter. And if it does, it is just a light dusting. Because we don't typically get snow, Stone Mountain Park has a snow park every winter. At this park, you can sled, build snowmen, have snowball fights etc. To keep the snow on the ground, they actually have a bunch of snow machines like they do on ski slopes to keep it powdery white! I was so excited to go there, so I bought us tickets. Our ticket time on the mountain began at 8 am and was for 2 hours. We got up that morning at 6:30, got some donuts and coffee, and hit the road for the 1 hour drive to Stone Mountain. We had the best time!! Jackson got to go sledding and we built a snowman. It was very cute with lots of decorations for the snowman. At one point, Jackson's snowman was wearing a very colorful clown wig! After our 2 hours in the snow, we changed our clothes and headed to the Christmas portion of the park. We went and saw the polar bear express in 4D, which Jackson loved! It was a 20 minute show and was really fun. It they were eating hot chocolate on the show, you could smell hot chocolate. If it was snowing on the show, it would snow on you. It was really a great time and we are going to make it part of our Christas tradition. Little did we know that in just a few short weeks, we would have our own dumping of 4 inches of free snow!!

Jackson building his tiny little snowman!

Tube sledding!

Get my gloves off!!

First sledding experience! I think this really warmed him up for the real thing.

Gingerbread house! Jackson wasn't sure who was going to come out after he knocked on the door, so he took off.

Ahhh the choo choo train. This was really sad. Stone mountain has a real train with a 4 mile track. Jackson was patiently waiting in line to ride the train and gleefully saying "I ride choo choo train!" Unfortunately, after about 20 minutes, we found out the train had broken. He was so sad when we had to tell him that he couldn't ride the train. We will definately be going back so he can get his train ride!!

Stone mountain had this very cute fun barn that was 3 stories of slides, things to climb, and trampolines. Jackson had so much fun and loved to ride the horse.

Getting ready to slide down the hay chute!

This last picture was us at Atlantic Station. Every night, it snows it Atlantic Station, so we took Jackson there one night thinking he wouldn't get to see any snowfall. Boy were we wrong!!

Surviving the snow!!

2011-01-19T13:04:00.005-05:00

The snow has finally melted in Atlanta! After our 4 inches of snow, the city was pretty much shut down for a week. I guess the 10 snowplows we have weren't enough :) We spent a lot of time sledding and playing in the snow, which was so much fun! Jackson loved to go sledding. The only problem was he wouldn't keep his gloves on. He would be so cold when we were done that his lips would be blue, and we would put him in the bathtub to warm him up. Jackson had his 2 year visit today and got two thumbs up. He continues to be tall and skinny. He is in the 75 percentile in height, and we have moved up in the weight department to the 20th! Yay!! I think he probably would have been even higher in the weight category if he hadn't been vomiting and not eating for the last week. He is really talking a lot. His vocabularly continues to amaze me. Things I would never believe he would know, he does. He got some animal flashcards for his birthday and loves going through them. It is so funny to hear him say octopus and yak! The other day we walked outside and he heard the choo choo and he said "I hear a choo choo train!" I couldn't believe that my 2 year old said a complete sentence! Jackson has also really started to use his imagination. He is currently obsessed with his gymbo clown so we have to brush gymbo's teeth, change gymbo's diaper, give gymbo bites of food etc. He is still very indepedant and wants to do everything by himself. He has learned what it means to take turns and is starting to understand what it means to share. The other day we were at Champion Kids and Jackson was going down the slide into the foam pit. Once he was done, he sat on my lap and said "it's her turn" to a little girl. It was too cute!

Jackson pulling the sled!

Mommy and Jackson going down the hill!

The crew before we left for the big hill around the corner. It was so fast that we quickly realized it was for adults only!!

Woops! Jackson did a lot of this with the ice.

Weeeeee!

First solo ride! I couldn't believe how much he loved sledding!

Do we have a bigger hill? This is getting boring.

Jackson and daddy going down the big hill by our house. Hold on!! Notice daddy had to put his feet on the ground to keep them from going way too fast.

My sweet little boy.

Jackson giving Mickey a ride in the baby bjorn. We kept Mickey in this for quite a while!

Welcome 2011!!

2011-01-10T14:14:00.006-05:00

We had an amazing 2010 and look forward to many more blessings this year. 2011 has already been quite busy with birthday parties with friends and believe it or not, another snow day! Last night we got about 4 inches of snow!! It was so much fun! We had a neighbordhood snow day with snowball fights, building a snowman, and of course, sledding. We attempted the cookie sheet pan again this year, but lucky for us, one of our neighbors had a real sled. We had the best time. Here is our snowman right before Sam ate the carrot nose! Unfortunately, we have not started the new year on the healthiest terms. Poor Jackson got a terrible stomach virus and has been throwing up for several days. The first night was every 30 minutes from 9pm to 5am. It was awful. He just kept saying "All Done!". My poor baby! Then, he gave it to daddy. We actually went into the city for dinner with friends and had to leave because poor Greg became ill. Luckily everyone seems to be feeling better and we were able to enjoy all the snow!

Tasting the snow. Watch out for any yellow snow!!

Here comes Sam up the snow hill!

Here comes Maggie.

Careful Bella! It is slippery!!

Part of the neighborhood crew. We are so lucky to live in a neighborhood filled with kids and good friends!

Natalie and Jackon. Two Snow bunnies!

Happy Birthday Nathaniel! We love you so much and we are so happy that we were able to help you celebrate your special day!

Sam and Jackson being silly.

Pin the nose on Elmo! Jackson and Nathaniel didn't quite get it but had fun trying.

Jackson and sweet Lilly at Gymboree celebrating Adrienne and Paxton's birthday!

I love parties! Where is the cake? The cake is definately Jackson favorite part of a birthday party!!

And to all a Goodnight! Part 2

2011-01-03T13:52:00.008-05:00

Merry Christmas Part 2! Believe it or not, we had a white Christmas in Atlanta. It was so much fun and reminded me of Christmas back home. We only got about 1/2 inch, but it was enough to make everything look beautiful!

Granddaddy getting caught eating a snowball cookie. Not before dinner Granddaddy!!

Checking out the snow.

Thank you Rachel and Nelson for making my 2nd Christmas extra special!

So happy I was able to celebrate the season with my sister! Sarah, you were missed!!

SNOW!!!!

Snow bunny in the bushes.

Trying to not to slip.

This stuff is great!

So much fun!!

Thanks GiGi for coming to visit! Jackson misses his GiGi already and so does your pal Emma.
Well, that is it for the Christmas photos. We had a wonderful holiday and can't wait to do it all again next year! We hope everyone had a safe and wonderful new year and wish many blessings to all for 2011!

Merry Christmas to all Part 1

2010-12-27T13:20:00.008-05:00

Merry Chrismas everyone! We had such a wonderful holiday with so many pictures, that I decided I should probably break it up into two parts. We spent this Christmas home in Marietta with special visits from Noni, Granddaddy, Aunt Rachel and Uncle Nelson. The festivities began Christmas Eve by going to our church's candlelight service. This was the first time in a long time that Jackson stayed in the big church with us, so I was a little nervous. He was an angel! He loved to hold the candle and was very excited to blow it out. We then headed to Aunt Kiera and Uncle Brad's house for a deliciuos dinner. We decided that we would let the kids open up a couple of presents from Noni and Granddaddy so that they wouldn't be too overwhelmed with all their gifts Christmas morning. They opened their gifts like pros. It is so funny to remember that the last Christmas we were all together, Jackson was just 1 week old and Mary was only 4 months. Now look at them! This first picture was in front of Kiera's beautiful Christmas tree. Please ignore my husband's facial expression. This was the only good picture of Jackson, so I had to use it!

Granddaddy with all the grandkids!

2 peas in a pod

Noni with all the grandkids. It is not easy to get a picture with everyone looking at the camera!

Aunt Kiera with my beautiful niece Mary and adorable nephew James (or as Jackson likes to call him...Baby James).

Mommy and Jackson

Family shot!

Cheese! We have the same photo from last Thanksgiving. It is so fun to look back at similar photos and see how much the kids have changed. The only one missing was Baby James who had already gone to bed for the evening.

My sister Rachel and her boyfriend Nelson. I am so glad you both were able to spend the holidays with us! We loved having you!!

Jackson opening up presents like it was his job!

That is all for Christmas part 1. Stay tuned for part 2 next week! We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year.

Happy 2nd birthday Jackson!!

2010-12-20T15:39:00.007-05:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Jackson! Jackson had a wonderful birthday weekend....and I mean weekend! It started off with a pizza party on Friday night with Great Granddaddy, Peebo, Glo, Aunt Kiera, Uncle Brad, Mary, and Baby James. Jackson really got into opening his presents this year and kept saying "Happy Day!" It was too cute! I can only imagine how much fun Christmas is going to be next week! Then, Saturday, Noni and Grandaddy came into town so we had another happy day! Finally, on Sunday, we had his kids party at Champion Kids. We had the best time and we were so happy that so many of Jackson's friends were able to make the party despite it being so close to Christmas. There were a lot of pictures from the weekend so I tried to condense as much as I could. This first picture is Peebo showing Jackson his presents and Elmo balloon. As you will soon see, this year was the year of Elmo, so we had an Elmo themed extravaganza!

Jackson loves his Great Granddaddy! Thank you Great Granddaddy for putting together all my toys! I miss you!!

Jackson and Mary opening up his presents. It was so fun to see them actually opening presents. Jackson kept saying OOOOH everytime he opened one.

Jackson's first birthday cake. Elmo of course. Jackson actually was able to blow out all his candles!

I love icing!

Since starting preschool, Jackson has really gotten into art. Maybe a future Picasso?

Granny Cindy sent Jackson this delicious Thomas the Train edible arrangement. Heis a big fruit fan so he loved it!

Chocolate dipped strawberries are delicious!

Jackson making his way down the obstacle course at Champion Kids.

Parachute time!

The King for the Day!

No Elmo party would be complete without a visit from the furry red monster himself. We actually did a dry run of Elmo the Friday before his party and I decided to play Elmo. Well, Mary and Jackson loved it, but it wasn't two seconds into it that Jackson yelled "Mommy!" I couldn't believe he knew it was me! Brad was so kind enough to do the part for the party and did an excellent job. The kids loved him! Thanks Uncle Brad!!

Hugs for Elmo!

Elmo cupcakes!

Tearing through the presents.

Jackson is so serious with his trains. He loves trains!!

Thank you so much to Great Granddaddy, Peebo, Glo, Noni, and Granddaddy for making the trip to make Jackson's special day even more special. We love you all so much. To all the familyand friends that weren't able to make the trip, thank you so much for all your gifts. Jackson is really a blessed little boy to be loved by so many. We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!