Thanksgiving...

There is so much to be thankful for every day of the year to me. God has graced us with so many blessings I think we often forget how literally everything in our life is a blessing.
In a short list because I could go on for days....I am thankful for God, His unceasing love and relentless faith in me allows me to try and live my life in a way that makes Him smile. Rick, the hardworking provider of our family, whom is not only my best friend but my soul mate and a perfect father to our son. Jackson, the joy in my heart, the most glorious gift from above. My parents, who have shaped me to be the person that I am today, I truly cherish our close relationship. My siblings, who put a smile on my face and a tear because they are growing up too fast!...as I said the list can go on and on!
I try to count all my blessings daily but I know there are plenty that I forget. But on Thanksgiving I try extra hard to remember all of things that I am thankful for and let the good Lord know that I appreciate all He has given us.
This Thanksgiving we spent it up at my cousin's house (an hour north of here) with my Aunt and Grandpa as well as my cousin's inlaws. It was good to be with family but we were for sure missing our other family who we could not spend the day with. It was a bittersweet holiday because of the passing of my grandma Shirley on November 4th as well as my grandma Arlie who passed away 7 years ago on November 19th. I know they were both looking down on us that day and celebrating their own thanksgiving in heaven.
I am enclosing pictures of Jackson that we took before we left to go to my cousins. He is doing this silly thing now where he imitates me trying to get him to look at the camera (i.e. snapping fingers, flailing arms in the air etc.) It is hilarious but also frustrating at the same time. I hope each one of you had a joyous holiday and counted all of your blessings!

Our little ball player....

Don't mind the ridiculously nerdy outfit our little man has on in these pictures, I promise he did not leave the house looking like this (but I am sure you all know me enough to where I didn't even need to write that). I know you have read on here a million times how much Jackson likes to play ball and how coordinated he is, well (putting on bragging crown for a minute), here are pictures of our future baseball pro (hey, mom and dad will take a college scholarship, we aren't greedy)! He literally has to play ball with Dada, or Mama if I hold the bat right, every single night! Oh, do I think his Grandpa Bill will be proud of his "form"! This is a glimpse into a night at the Zeller house...

Lessons learned...

So, we took Jackson to see Madagascar 2 in the theaters. His very first big boy trip to the movies!
We figured since ...
A) He is 2 years old he's big enough to go to the theater (didn't you know 2 was magic number??)
B) He LOVES Madagascar the original
C) Momma and Dada haven't seen a movie in a theater in a LONG time
... we should try out this new adventure and it would get him a little ready for loud big things at Disney World in a few weeks. It was going pretty good minus a few previews young eyes should never see (so lesson one is to take a child after the previews). Then all of the sudden KABOOM, BANG BANG BANG (insert explosion here)...yes, you guessed it, they started the WRONG movie. They started James Bond (lesson two make sure the movie you want your child to see is actually playing). We rushed Jackson out the theater, and of course he is thinking "what on earth have my nutty parents brought me to???". To say the least he was a tad apprehensive to return to the theater to watch the movie, but he did and sat through the entire thing! SO, lesson three is, even though things don't go exactly like you expected it doesn't mean that they won't turn out well in the end!

Pics from the Party....

Jackson is 2

Where does time go? Seriously, I feel like just yesterday we brought him home from the hospital and I am sure I am going to say that for every birthday that passes. Also, with every birthday that passes I am going to say I can never imagine a day without him in our lives. He can put a smile on our faces when we are down or bring us to the brink of insanity on those oh so precious cranky clingy days! But, I can tell you that even on the hard days while I snuggle him a bit before he goes to bed I feel beyond blessed to have such a gift in our lives.
Jackson's birthday party was this last Saturday. It was the coldest day we have had yet here this fall of course but that didn't stop the kids from playing hard. The kids had a great time as well as the adults. Jackson got more things than he knows what to do with! We had to put away any babyish toys to make room for all his new ones!
We had his 2 year appointment two days ago and he is 32lbs and 34.5 inches. He has hit all his milestones on time from his latest 2 word sentences to very much excelling in the coordination aspect! We shall see what God has in store for this next year of his life.

My Grandma Shirley...

.....passed away on November 4th, a day that will be etched in my heart forever. Instead of talking about the moments, decisions, and utter craziness that surrounded her death I want to go back to the memories that will be everlasting.
Coming from a young mother and father my grandma's played an essential role in my early years of life. Watching me, picking me up from school, taking me to my extra activities while my parents were working. More like a second mom in a way. I often remember riding in my grandma's Cadillac, going to pick up my grandpa from work, sitting on the middle consul (oh the safety regulations then) listening to Sinatra and Barry Manilow ( my grandma loved to torture me with the song "Mandy", which to this day I can't be called Mandy thanks to Barry). My grandma would do anything to please her "princess Amanda" (that name has a nice tune don't you think??) including making me sugar sandwiches or allowing the extra cookies....but that is what grandma's do right?!?
As I got older the necessity to watch me like a baby was no longer there but that didn't mean that I still didn't love hanging with my grandma. We would watch the home shopping channel for hours contemplating on which new piece of jewelry she might need. I often remember spending the night at there gi-normous house in Texas and would sleep in their room (because I didn't want to be alone upstairs) listening to them have a snore off all night....but it was worth it! In junior high my grandma would take me to get my nails done or go shopping for the school year ahead. My grandpa and her would also allow about 7 junior high girls spend the night at their house many times throughout the year (that is shear craziness if you ask me).
All through my life my grandma was an essential part of my being. Always there, always supportive, often opinionated (smile) and loving. I am thankful to have had such a loving grandma and I am even more so thankful that she got to see Jackson grow for almost two years of his life. She was able to see her linage passed on another generation which I know made her proud. I am going to miss my grandma more than words express. We take for granted the simple moments in life not knowing sometimes if they are going to be the last. But, she is now in eternity with our Lord living life to the fullest in heaven where one day we will meet again. Please continue to pray for my grandpa (they were married for 60 years and she was his everything), my dad and aunts, and the rest of my family who is mourning the loss of a wife, mother of 4 , grandmother of 10 and great grandmother to 1. God is good and he will help my family get through this.
Here is a link to my grandma's everlasting memorial on the web....
http://dignity.mem.com/ViewImages.aspx?ID=2695734

This blog was also written in remembrance of my grandma Arlie and Rick's great grandma Nana. May they know they are forever in our hearts!

Halloween.....

....oh crazy crazy week! I flew in from California on Tuesday night, boy was Jackson excited to see his momma! Thank goodness we didn't have a lot going on on Wednesday so we mostly just snuggled all day. Thursday was work and school, we also carved a pumpkin that night. Halloween day was spent running tons of errands and grocery shopping. That evening I made beef stew and cornbread and had the neighbors over for dinner. Then Rick and our neighbor Drew took Jackson trick or treating, while Kim (his wife) and I sat in the driveway to pass out candy. There really wasn't a whole lot of kids this year. We suspected it was because a lot of churches in our area were doing fall festivals. Anyways, here are some pictures of the cutest turkey you'll ever see!!

The end of October....

Since my last blog saying that there was nothing new going on, we have had quite the busy last part of the month. I learned 2 weeks ago today my best friend Risa, of 15yrs, lost her father to cancer. I didn't find out till Sunday night and I was scrambling around trying to figure out how I was going to get to California for the funeral on Tuesday. Risa decided that it would be best that I fly out for the weekend so that we could spend some girl time. So I worked it out to fly to California, minus Jackson, to spend the weekend with her.

I got in Friday morning and spent the day with my family since it was going to be a short trip and I wouldn't get to see them much. On Saturday morning we got a call that there was something wrong with my grandma. We rushed over there to find the paramedics and fire department and a bunch of chaos. She had stopped breathing from what we later found out was a pulmonary embolism (blood clot to the lung). Her heart stopped and they got it started back with some drugs then rushed her to the hospital. Where she is and has been for a week now on breathing machine. She suffered a large amount of brain damage because she was out of oxygen for maybe 10 minutes. She will never be able to live a quality life again, although she is not brain dead, she doesn't have any cognitive parts of the brain functioning.

It is amazing to me how God works, because of a tragedy early in the week I was able to fly to California and be with my family in this tremendous time of need. God knows that I would not have been able to sit in my house 1,000's of miles away while my family went through this. I am SO thankful to Him, that he allowed me to be there and for starting her heart again so we can all say peaceful goodbyes. Please pray for my family right now especially my grandpa!