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.

Isn't she lovely...

Moore County Fair

Kaysha and I decided to take the kids to the Moore County fair a couple of weeks ago. We really had no idea what to expect and arrived the first time at 1:00 in the afternoon on Fri only to find out it didn't start until 5. So we packed the kids back in the car went home for naps and came back that evening. Luckily Jackson was a champ about the whole thing, as I think I would have thrown quite the tantrum if I was told that I was going to the fair, gotten out, looked at all of the rides, and was then told to get back in the car to go home and take naps instead. We had a great time and Jackson was fearless, wanting to ride the ferris wheel and any ride he was tall enough to ride. Kurt had no idea what we were going to and was seriously bummed when he found out he had missed Jackson's first ferris wheel and fair ride experience. Other firsts included corn dogs which were kind of good in a disgusting way.

very blurry, but too cute to pass up.

I know that there are way to many pictures, but I am terrible at weeding them out, power on, you are half way through.

I was worried that once Jackson got up there he would be scared, but he was fearless.

I wish there was a way to get you to understand how fun it was to watch Jackson in this ride. It was kind of a rough ride that whips you around the corners really fast, and when I saw him whip around the first corner and bump his head on the back I thought he was going to be upset, but he was laughing hysterically. Every time he would whip around the corners, both times he rode it, he laughed this crazy, hysterical laughter that only happens if something is really reallygreat. Kaysha and I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt. It was definately the highlight of the night, and worth the ridiculous amount of money they charge you in those places.

Last day at the pool

Here are some old pictures from our last day at the pool the Saturday before Labor Day. We discovered this great pool halfway through the summer that was a bit of a drive(20 min). Totally worth it at 2.00 for the whole day, and next to no one was ever there (except for a seniors water aerobics who I'm sure loved our company during their class).

Anna ready for the pool.

Jackson's classic look for all pictures this year.

This was basically all Anna wanted to do the entire time, stack them up while sitting on the cement next to the stairs. Stack them up...

and in and out. Honestly, I'm talking 30 min at a time.

...pants on fire

So this is a post about my sons new found love of lying. He has discovered that unless Mom and Dad see something happen they really cannot prove that it did. He has not quite mastered the full concept of lying and usually opens his lies with a line like the following recent ones, "I don't have candy in my pocket," "I didn't hit Annabelle in the head with my stick"... Keep in mind, these are conversation openers where no information was asked of him. When we then follow up with, " Jackson, do you have candy in your pocket?" he replies with, "Well, did you see me get candy?" if the answer is no he sticks to the lie until the pocket is checked, if the answer is yes he knows the jig is up and confesses. He has also discovered that this skill can be used to work his parents against each other and will often say when talking to one of us about something he wants that the other has vetoed, "Well, did you talk to Mom?" and "Did Daddy tell you I did it?".
He's lucky he's cute.

A big brother is born

Last weekend we were at the park with Kaysha and Patrick and were playing in a picnic area where two other children and their father were also sitting. The other kids were probably around 2 and 4 years old. The two year old little boy was concerned that Anna was getting to far from me and went over to her and was trying to get her to come back into the picnic area. He pushed her a little rough and then the four year old sister went over to her too and was telling her to come back in by her mom. I was just about to get up and decide if I needed to intervene, and was thinking in my head, "Hey, tell your kid to get his hands off of my daughter" when I looked over and Jackson was staring at them and slowly moving over to where they were. He walked over there quickly and without saying anything to them stared at them, quickly slid next to Anna, put his arm around her shoulder, took her hand and led her away from them. I almost cried. The look on his face when he looked at the situation and then at them was perfect "big brother", taking control of the situation. How do they learn that, I was so proud. Anna is in good hands.

(So these pics have nothing to do with the post, they are just cute brother and sister pictures)

First Love

I wanted to make sure to post about this since this is the closest thing I do to journaling right now. Last week I was having a rough afternoon and was emotional. Jackson saw me start crying and gave me a hug and asked, "There, all better now?" I said that I was and he turned away for a few seconds and looked back at me with a shy smile and said, "Mommy, I'm in love." I said, "You are? With who?" I didn't even know he knew what that meant. He paused for a minute and then smiled and said, "With you." Wow, not a bad day anymore. The next day we were doing an activity with pictures and color tiles and he said," Let's do the heart one because we are in love." How does he know what that means and how do I break it to him that I am already taken?

Is it bad that I hope he feels this way forever? Someone told me that you never get over your first love, I hope not. Sorry to his future wife, but I hope he always loves me like that and says forever to his future wife, "Yeah, it's pretty good, it's just not quite how my mom does it." Yeah, she will hate me. I'm half-way kidding, ok, maybe 25% kidding.

Our Saturdays

Our Saturdays usually consist of the same thing, playing at the park in downtown Southern Pines, followed by walking to the toy store and playing with the two huge train sets they have set up. The day ends perfectly at the ice cream shop where we get turkey dogs and fries (veggie dog and fruit for Anna) and ice cream for Jackson and I. I mean really, why mess with perfection? Here's some park pictures, I forgot to take pics the rest of the day. I'll have to take some pictures of our downtown as it looks like something right off of a classic American movie, complete with a train track and old train station right through the middle. It's the kind of area that makes you look around, take a deep breathe in and think, I love it here.

She wants to do everything he does, uh-oh, we're in trouble.

Disclaimer: Kurt said I need to put a disclaimer that Anna's hair looks weird, and that she is much cuter in real life than she is in these pictures. As for me, it was my first experiment with pigtails and I think she looks adorable.

Playing in the Rain

It has been raining here every evening, and yesterday Jackson asked if he could go outside and play in the rain in his bathing suit. I answered the usual "no" that comes out of a mom's mouth before they really consider it, and then I decided, what the heck. I told him he could go outside in his clothes and that we would all come play, he made me repeat the plans about three times to make sure he had heard correctly, and then we all went outside. As kids, in Florida, we used to play outside in the rain all of the time and I forgot how fun it is. I'm going to make an effort to do more fun spontaneous stuff like this which end up being the moments that really matter.