Our Pretend Christmas

The day after Thanksgiving we flew home to Nana and Papa's house for our "pretend Christmas" as Jackson called it the whole time. The kids were angels on the two plane rides down and I thought to myself, this trip is going to be a piece of cake, I should travel with both of them by myself more often! Apparently they were just sucking up for all of the non-sleeping they were planning once we were there. Anna was the worst and once she figured out that I couldn't let her cry and wake up the whole house she was up every hour and would calmly lift her arms stop the I must be ready to die screaming and say up as soon as I entered the room. Aww, how quickly behavior is shaped. Once we were sleeping at my Mom's house three nights later and she had a good dose of cry it out, she was much better and slept to a nice late 5 am every day :)

We did have a blast at my mom's for pretend christmas making gingerbread houses, opening gifts on pretend Christmas morning, and playing with lots of cousins. Anna loved Nana and Papa and would yell for Papa anytime she heard him coming only to be picked up and held for an instant and then want back down. They did get in some good cuddle time when Mom and I went to the movies and she decided she wasn't sleeping in her crib. Jackson hardly said two words to me the first few days that we were there he was so busy playing. It was great to hang out with my family and sister, but only made me miss my family more. I'm still pushing the North Carolina is a wonderful place to live, but so far no one is biting.

Although we missed Daddy and were sad he had to stay at home (I'm sure he was too, all that free time and endless hours to sleep in total silence can be such a drag), it was fun to get to spend lots of time with two of my friends with out worrying about him being entertained. (Love you though hon) We spent the night with Stefanie Nilson and Jackson played with his buddies Micheal and Savannah, and Anna loved the dress up chest and endless supply of dolls. I also got to spend not nearly enough time with my dear friend Ella. Everyone should have a friend who you can talk to about nothing for 3 hours straight and then call back twenty minutes later with something you forgot to say that no one else would care about. She is that person and I hate that we live so far apart. Anyway, we tackled some sewing projects together and mainly watched our children while chattingMan, she really loves dolls.

Dressing up for the first time in Savannah's drees up clothes was a big hit too! She can play rough with Jackson, but she is definately a girlie girl.

It was a great trip and went by way too fast!!!

Thanksgiving with Grandpa

Here's some random and somewhat lame pictures from Thanksgiving day. Kurt's dad came to visit us for the week which was the first time he has flown in almost 20 years. We are so glad he made the trip and loved having him.

Notice the Thanksgiving friends on in the background, we watch them all every year.

Jackson and Anna loved spending time with Grandpa. Especially Anna who by day two was reaching out of our arms to be held by Grandpa and bringing him toys and books all day so that he would pick her up and look at the book with her. She definately loved her Grandpa.

First Time Cooking with Mom

Anna is still little enough to sit in her bumbo and she loves to, so I put it up on the counter and we made some banana bread together. She loved it and so did I. I'm sure this is the first of many cooking experiences together.

I'm not a bad mom, we don't use eggs because of Jackson's allergy :)

This began Anna's obsession with spices. She now goes crazy and says her approximation of spices everytime she sees me open the cabinet. I don't really know why but she loves to hold three at a time and walk around with them and put them in and out of things and roll them around. I couldn't find garlic salt the other day and Jackson found it for me in the living room coffee table drawer. Thank goodness for his memory, if he sees something one time he does not forget it!

Halloween, better late then never

A picture is worth a thousand words right? I'm trying to catch up on two months of posts so, here's some Halloween pictures. It was fun, Jackson ate a lot of candy much to my dismay, and Anna had her first taste of candy, a lollipop and a tootsie roll (Kurt says it's her first taste that I know of). We had a red M&M and Anna Banana.

Let's Catch up... October events...

Ok, so I haven't posted forever. October was an eventful and busy month, so I'll post some pictures from the main events and do a quick catch up. I finished my masters classes that I had to have for my board certification (insert sigh of relief), had a birthday...


went on a long overdue (as in we haven't been away together in 9 years since our honeymoon) two night stay at Myrtle beach. A special thank you to Kaysha and Dustin who watched our children for two and a half days so we could enjoy our weekend together. It was glorious. Runs on the beach, late night dinners and movies, trying desperately to sleep in knowing we could but our bodies not allowing us to due to the training our children have provided. It was great and we plan on doing it again much sooner.

Jackson had a class field trip to an Alpaca farm which was suprisingly fun.

And finally finshed the last of my projects for Anna's room. ( This looked much better once it was dry, but it's the only pic I have to document my projects for her room :)
A seperate post for Halloween to follow and we are done with October.