Jackson's First Birthday!!!

Jackson celebrated his first birthday yesterday. We had lots of friends over to share in this occasion with us. Unfortunately we do not have any pictures of them or the dinner or the cake even but we have lots of pictures of Jackson.

After his nap he woke up to balloons in the living room. He ran away from me during diaper change and I just didn't feel like catching him. Here he is in his birthday suit enjoying his balloons.

He took a little bit to get into his cake, but as you can see, he eventually enjoyed it very much.

He got a basketball goal and basketballs for his birthday and he and his Daddy really enjoyed it. (he didn't get to open many presents because his sister opened them while he was sleeping and I didn't get a chance to re-wrap them)

He also got some home made bread and peanut butter and honey butter from his friends to commemorate the magical change that takes place in his body at 1 where he can now enjoy the wonders of peanuts and honey!!! (all are delicious!!!!!!!!!)

More to come later (you know, all the sappy stuff and birth stats stuff), he has his Dr appointment today while Abygail goes to a friends birthday party, I'm sure glad Jason's schedule is flexible :)

Way To Go Little Man!

So I think this is an appropriate post to follow the video of Jackson working so hard to stand up on his own...

Over the last week or so Amber has been getting the bicycle itch, so on Friday we went to a local Bike shop to look around. While Amber was test riding a few bikes, Abygail and Jackson were checking out all the kids bikes, with particular interest in the tassels hanging off the handlebars. Jackson was standing next to a bike (a cool red and black Schwinn trike) playing with the tassels when I decided to test how badly he wanted to play with them, and pulled the bike just out of his reach. He looked up at me pleadingly, then looked back at the bike...just out of reach. He switched his gaze several more times, finally stopping on the bike. Then it happened. He took his first step toward the bike so he could grab hold of the handlebars and continue moving the tassels through his hands. "WOOHOO! YOUR FIRST STEP! JACKSON JUST TOOK HIS FIRST STEP." Amber walked up a half second too late and missed it.

The next day while Amber was gone to the store, I was working with the little guy, which means bribing him with assorted treats to see if he would walk to me to get them. Just as Amber was pulling in the driveway, Jackson saw a treat he really wanted in my hand, so he took a tentative step towards me, then another, and another, and another. "WOOHOO! YOU TOOK FOUR WHOLE STEPS BUDDY!" I think Amber heard me outside. As she walked into the house (amidst my continued exultant praise of my son's achievement) she expressed her disapproval of my encouraging him to walk when she wasn't around because she had just missed it again; she was just upset that I finally got to see one of Jackson's first before she did. This seems fitting to me, however, since Jackson really began working on standing on his own a couple of months ago, but was set way back when he hurt his ankle going down the slide while sitting on Amber's lap, and wouldn't put any weight on it for quite a while (just giving you a hard time Honey, it could just have easily been me on the slide with Jackson).

Jackson is now standing with ease and Amber has finally (I think) seen him take a few steps. WAY TO GO LITTLE MAN!

"Stand Up Jackson"

I was in the kitchen washing dishes when I heard Jackson laughing over and over again. I walked in to find him practicing his new trick:

Recent Happenings

Jackson fell down the stairs. There is a strawberry squished into his forehead in this picture, which accentuates the bruise. We are not sure how he got the scratch under his lip. The bruise on his cheek is from me picking up a book and misgauging how much room I had to lift it and thus catching him with the corner of it across his face. Nothing keeps this boy down though, he is always happy and smiling!

We had smores for FHE. We all enjoyed them (except Jackson who was asleep by the time we had them).

Radishes!

The lettuce, spinach, beets, and snap peas are coming up in the garden :)

A New Addition

A week or so ago Jason helped me hang up a clothes line. We haven't figured out a permanent location for it so this is our temporary line.

I've wanted a clothesline since I was a young girl (12ish). Our neighbor down the street had one and I always liked the idea. Even now I grow excited at the thought of going outside on a beautiful day to hang laundry. I know, MOST of you think I'm crazy, this is just confirming you original impression of me.

Today is the first non-rainy, non-cold, sunny day we've had since then. It felt good to hang the towels out, see our neighbor and chit-chat, have the kids playing and feel the warm breeze on our skin. They seemed to dry really fast, which was a surprise. Now if I can just convince Jason that crunchy towels feel just as good as soft fluffy towels (I bet I loose on that one :).

The Garden

The garden beds

The strawberry "patch"

The blueberry bushes.

Well, the garden is finally underway.

So far I've planted: carrots; lettuce; beets; snap peas; snap beans; spinach; strawberries; cauliflower; and broccoli. All were seeds except the last 3. They all seem to be doing fine (I haven't seen any sprouts on the seeds yet but am hopeful they will show up in the next few weeks).

I'll probably put the tomato plants in the ground this evening. What's left? Lots! I still have plants growing in the basement that are not ready to go in the ground yet: zinnias; pepper, both hot and mild; and mint. And lots more seeds that will go in the ground in 2 weeks (this week is the official last frost date week).

I've started a list on my side bar called "What's In The Garden" for those of you that are curious.

Happy Gardening!

Great Shots

A few weeks ago Abygail, Jackson and I went to the duck park and got some great pictures. Unfortunately their faces were not perfectly clean, but they are still really cute. What do you think?

A Blogger's Phase

Does anyone else go through blogging phases? One month I'm a blog-a-holic and the next month I'm MIA in the blog-o-sphere. Well, lots has been happening and there just hasn't been a good time to sit down and type about it.

Jason has been putting countless hours into the backyard. Let me show you some pictures. Our backyard before: the3 feet of old (some even dead) nasty thorny brush all along our back and side fence; the area covered in snow is the area that flooded with every drop of moisture; and of course, the fence with holes and trees growing in and around it:Backyard during: filled with the brush of trees removed; the fence line still stubbly from stumps and halve removed trees; construction beyond the fence (these guys where great - they dumped 20 yards of dirt and 5 yards of gravel over the fence for FREE):


The backyard now: the gravel has been buried in several pits to prevent future flooding; the dirt has been spread to even the ground; most of the stumps have been removed and the fence has been taken down so that once the stumps are out the new chain link can be put in; and (drum roll please) garden boxes have been put in for our garden:

Now, it's still not finished, but it's going through lots of phases and great progress. Truth be told this project is a big reason why I have not blogged recently. Jason has been spending all his daylight hours either in the yard (this whole week) or finishing his work for the semester (ended a week ago).

What more can we do? Well, just because you asked I'll tell you. The garden needs to be planted (that's my job). We have blue berry bushes that are waiting to be planted along the fence line, once the stumps are cleared (Jason's job). The dirt needs to be reseeded for grass and the new fence put in (Jason). Also there is still a huge pile of limbs and stumps that will be moved to the front yard for removal (a free service provided by the highway department - glad we pay taxes!).

Happy Friday!

Jackson likes to play the kazoo. (of course it's always best before I start filming!) These were taken on the same day as the Abygail sleeping/eating video.

The Plague!

This week was the week of the Plague at our house. Ok, well maybe not the actual PLAGUE but it sure felt like it. First Jackson got sick, then the computer crashed, next Abygail got sick followed by Jason and then finally I too became ill. Wednesday Jason and I tagged each other about every hour to take turns taking care of the kids. By then Jackson was feeling better but still not eating and Abygail was in-between sick and feeling better. Thursday night we got our computer back from the repair shop - thank goodness it was repairable. We've learned our lesson ... nothing was backed up and ALL our photos were on the computer.

We've been holed up in the house watching the lovely weather through the windows and the birds that like our bird feeders. Now we are all itching to get outside, sure hope the rain just passes us by this weekend :)