Rocking like a big girl

Here are some pictures that I took tonight of Anna rocking for the first time in her finally (re-)finished rocking chair. She wanted up and then would bounce to make it rock, she seemed very proud of how big she was. I gave her some books and she sat in her chair and looked at books like this toddler that she is quickly becoming.

Camp to begin Hell

Here begins what looks like a lovely blog about a boy and his father and a bonding experience of their first campout in the backyard. Kurt and Jackson rummaged the woods in our backyard building a fire pit and burning what looked like harmless wood and brush.

The above picture captures what I think Kurt's expression would have been if I had asked him, "Hey, do you think this wonderful memory-making experience with your son is worth the non-stop hell like fire that will cover your body and make you insane for the next three weeks?"

For those of you who don't know, Kurt and I somehow got poison oak, the evil and far more persistant cousin of poison ivy. Apparently it goes through your system and just pops up where ever it likes over the course of the next couple of weeks. We have tried everything and Kurt has even gone in and gotten steriod shots and other meds. We have tried all of the over the counter products from calmine, benedryl cream, ivyrest, and everything else. We have also tried something called jewelweed, which seems to be drying up some of the old stuff, but not stopping all of the new outbreaks. It is seriously the most maddening thing I have ever dealt with and so far there is no end in sight! At least we'll have these delightful family photos depicting a happy family enjoying backyard fun.

one year old

Here are some pictures from Annabelle's first birthday. I don't know what to say about my big girl in this post. I don't understand how this year could have gone by so fast. I'm torn between wanting her to go back to that tiny cuddly baby and loving so much the sweet fun little girl that she is now. She has all of the sudden decided to stand up in the middle of the floor, and yesterday in her very own Anna way, decided to walk and is taking 5-7 steps all of the time. She went from thursday, not even allowing us to hold her hands and walk to saturday, standing up on her own from sitting and walking forward, falling and getting up to do it again. She is a gem and everywhere we go people constantly ask, "Is she always this good" and, "Is she always this happy?" . The answer to both is always yes. Here are some pictures from her little celebration we had with the family.

Anna is "So big!"

Her new birthday phone, since she loves pretending to talk to Dada on everything.
MMMMmmmm, first taste of gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free,soy-free cake, plenty of sugar though! I should get an award for creating something edible with out all of those ingredients.

Our new house

Here are a few pictures of our new home that people have been requesting. It is finally starting to feel like home. I have so many projects still to complete, but I figure none of them will happen until October when I'm done with school, so this is it for now. :)

In this one you can see the giant pantry that I originally freaked out about, but now love.

I can't believe I'm actually posting a picture of the kid's messy playroom, but it's a playroom so that's what it's suppposed to look like right?

The view from our back deck. It's so fun to have a backyard now! Living in a duplex for three years has really made us appreciate our home and all of the things we can do now like let Jackson play in a pool in the backyard, or ride his bike on the street and take walks right outside our door, we are loving it here.

Anna

Here's some rather boring video of Annabelle doing basically nothing for 5 minutes straight. Enjoy. Some things she is doing these days that she refused to perform are, waving hi and bye, saying mama, dada, uh-oh, and a version of all done while doing the sign. She standing up on her own but refuses to walk once she realizes what she is doing and goes completely limp until you leave her alone and let her crawl. She will also sometimes sign eat and occasionally tries milk and mama signs. She also just started pointing to my nose and mouth. She said hi a few times in the video but not in the really high sing-songy voice that we use and is adorable. Sorry, I guess every time I paused it started a new video, so I have no idea what is on each.



(Sorry I don't know how to edit down video, fast forward when you get bored!)

Firetruck Birthday Party

Here are the pictures of Jackson's birthday party two weeks ago. We were so lucky to get to have it at the Southern Pines Fire Dept. which was wonderful. They set up tables right in the bay and let the kids climb into the firetrucks, and had a lieutenant dress up in his gear and talk to the kids about what firemen do. Lots of the kids tried on the gear. Jackson (of course) was the only kid who actually got scared when he was dressing up in his gear and came and sat(hid behind) next to me until he took off his gear. It was a wonderful time and I think all of the kids had a great time. I'll write another post about all of the cool four year old things Jackson is doing these days.

Some Mother's Day beach pictures

Mommy the yeller

Tonight I was about to give Jackson a bath and he was whining and asking to use the sidewalk chalk that I had told him we would use tomorrow,and I asked Jackson what he thought I would do if he was whining (I was looking for the answer that I would take away the sidewalk chalk)and he said, "ummm, yell". I said, "oh do you think so?" He smiled and said, "No." But, your first answer is usually the right one, right? Oh, I hope not:(

Overkill

Ok, I know this is overkill and no one wants to see this many photos of my child, but the photographer retook some pics on Fri and we got the cutest pictures, I especially love the ones of him in his old crusty red hat that he took from Grandma's house that he used to wear over there everytime he was there. She called him "grandma's cowboy" and he wears it everywhere including bed.

Here are Jackson's "school pictures". I love everything about the Montessori school that Jackson attends, including their untraditional take on school pictures. They brought in a children's photographer and we each got a disc with pictures to print what we wanted. Here are a few from what was taken. I must say he is adorable, that's my totally objective opinion.