I can't believe....

....how long it has been since I have posted a blog! Shame on me (so this blog will be extra long)!!! So I guess I should start with the beginning of August. We said goodbye to my mom as she moved to Norway for 3 years. It was hard to say goodbye (I have never been good at them) but it truly is a blessing from God for her.
The day after she left we drove to Oklahoma (a 6 hr drive) to see my family from California. My sister Madison who is an amazing softball player had a tournament there with her team. We left at 745pm after Jackson's bath so that he could just fall asleep in the car. He did just that at about 845pm, then about 12am the poor guy could not get comfortable in his car seat so he was awake for and hour and a half. Not crying which was awesome just awake....and the schedule nazi here was thinking "holy cow...how bad is this going to throw him off?!?!?!". Well he slept again briefly until we entered Oklahoma City, then all the lights from the town woke him and was awake until we went to bed at 3am (HOLY GEEZ). But he was an amazing little traveler and he slept till 1045am!!! We were SO stoked about that. Needless to say, it did not ruin his schedule, which I should have known in the first place since Jackson is such an easy going kid!
We had a great great time with my family....it was WAY too short...we left Monday afternoon to drive back home. Jackson was awesome the whole way home as well! I guess all the traveling to California has helped out a lot. We got home in the early evening, just in time to let him run wild for a bit then get ready for bed.
The following weekend was another busy one for us. We had a garage sale on Saturday which we were up until midnight getting ready for on Friday, then had to be up at 530am to pull all the stuff out. My cousin Kandace and her family came over to sell some things as well. Our neighbors on each side of us (whom we love dearly) joined in the fun aslso. It was a good turn out, but SO stinkin' hot!!! I know that is shocking for Houston right?!?!?! I felt at some points as if I was going to melt away!!! Then that night my cousin and her husband watched Jackson while Rick and I went out for a couples night out. We went out with the mom's and their hubbies from Jackson's weekly playgroup. First stop was delicious mexican food, then to a bar and lastly a dance club to get our shake on! We did not get home until after 1am!!! We were SOOO tired from such a long day! Sunday was spent relaxing and doing a whole lot of nothing but thanking God for our blessings!
Now we are finally at this last weekend! Last weekend I had a Southern Living party at our house to launch the new fall catalog. It turned out to be quite a poopy day out but had a good turn out for the party and a ton of fun! Then on Sunday we spent most of the day cleaning out the garage and organizing it! It looks SOOO great, we are so excited to have an organized garage now!
SO, that is our last couple weeks in a nutshell or a novel I should say. I am including some pics of our trip to OK and I am going to take some pics of our garage and post them on here soon!

Oh me Oh my!

Its been quite the busy week for Jackson and all of us. This weekend was my grandpa's 80th birthday celebration. We had tons to do during the week to get prepared. During all the running around Jackson managed to scrape his leg at the pool, fall while trying to help daddy take the trash out and scrape his forehead and get a black eye at target when he fell and hit a clothing rack! I think I might have a heart attack within these next few years.....or get CPS called on me for Jackson looking like he is beat up! I feel so bad for the little guy right now he is all banged up! But he could totally careless! He looked great for family pictures this weekend...let me tell you!!
He also got his hair cut this week and he did such a great job sitting for the lady while she did it. I think he managed to eat three lollipops in a 10 minute span. The last two nights due to the festivities for my grandpa he has not gone to bed until 10pm which is a tad later than his normal 830pm, but his cousins have been around to keep him throughly entertained!
On a side note....Friday I watched a friend's daughter (Bailey) for a couple of hours. Jackson and her are in a weekly playgroup together and they are just about the same age. They play together quite well but can I tell you this little princess has not one bruise on her! Nor does she ever trip on imaginary things, she takes her time getting on and off of toys and delicately moves on to the next thing. This is POLAR opposite of Jackson's world!!!! Oh the differences between boys and girls! Maybe God will bless us with a little girl one day....I can only hope and pray....if not He has a great sense of humor!!!

Musical Chairs....

So at the end of our day for some reason Jackson and I always end up playing in his room till its either A) its dinner time or B) daddy is home. Well yesterday Jackson wanted to sit in or on everything that he could in his room. It was like he was playing musical chairs! He sat for a few minutes his rocker, then on to his old bouncy seat, then to his rocking lion and lastly his crib. I had my camera on hand to document the whole thing. I just thought it was too cute not to share these pics!

4th of July

I hope everyone had a safe and fun filled 4th of July! I feel like we have been going going going since I got back from Nashville. Last weekend we celebrated my 27th birthday, my mom left for Norway and this weekend was the 4th.
For the 4th we had over my cousin Kandace and her family. As well as Kandace's best friend Robin and her family. We did a little BBQ'ing and some small fireworks for the kids early in the evening. Later, the street over from us had some crazy huge fireworks and Jackson was not too sure if he enjoyed them or not. The pictures I have enclosed are him watching us light the sparklers and little fireworks. He was definitely in aw of them!
Jackson is LOVING his tee ball set that his daddy bought him. He now can hit the ball if you throw it to him in the air. His new word this week is ''ball" which is not shocking! He is quite the little imitator now as well. Not just sounds and things but actions. I was vacuuming the base boards the other day and I turn around and there is Jackson with a vacuum attachment doing the exact same thing! I am SO loving this stage in his life. He is exploring, learning and growing by the day... its sad and SO amazing at the same time.

We survived....

....last week! Rick made it through watching Jackson for 4 days without a problem!! Jackson was watched on Thursday by our friend Amy and daughter Bailey, and Friday by our neighbor Kim. It is the first time that Jackson has been left with someone for an extend period of time that is not family. He was a champ!!! Rick said he actually didn't want to leave Amy's house he was having SO much fun with Bailey! Daddy bought Jackson a T-ball set and he is a rock star at hitting the ball, we might just have a future baseball player on our hands! This weekend was also the first time that Jackson used floaties in the pool. He loved them and it took him to a whole new level of independence! I missed my boys terribly while I was gone, and of course Jackson learned a new word....."uh-oh"....SUPER cute!
My trip to Nashville was great and tiring. The 12 hr drive wasn't too bad, but of course we stayed up late every night hanging out with my best friend Lisa so that didn't our tiredness! The convention was AMAZING and I learned so many new things! It made me love Southern Living more than I already do...if that is even possible! Rick and I were both super tired from the week so we tried to get to bed early last night, but mommy was super lucky because Jackson slept till 830 this morning (he had been waking up at 645am for daddy).....guess I have the magic touch!

Happy Father's Day!!!

First off I hope everyone had a great Father's Day! I am SO very fortunate to have grown up with amazing men, #1 my dad and #2 my grandfathers. They are all important role models in my life in some way and I thank God for that. And Jackson is very fortunate to have amazing men surrounding him in his journey of life. I hope he learns by example of his very own amazing daddy and granddaddy's how to be the perfect father some day.
Today we all got to sleep in thanks to Jackson waking up at 830am but unfortunately for Rick we had to get up to start getting ready for church. We went to my grandpa's church to spend time with him and then we took the guys out to lunch at a nice Italian restaurant. Jackson was not in a very good mood today, although is bad moods aren't terrible so I guess we lucked out on that! He is working on getting his last 2 canines and his allergies are kicking up again so he is coughing like a mad man. Rick didn't want anything for father's day but he got a grilling cookbook and a new grill set.....so he was pleased ( they both came from Southern Living too).
Jackson passed out right when we got in the car, but of course when we got home he woke up instantly and felt that he no longer needed to nap.....lucky us :0) (just a hint of sarcasm there) but mommy made him lay quietly for at least a half an hour so he at least "rested" and Rick wanted to rest a bit too. Then Rick and I took Jackson to the pool. He is a seasoned pro now at the pool....I think is independence grows by the day. We spent nearly 2 hours there then came home for dinner and we watched Madagascar as a family. Jackson fell asleep during his breathing treatment thats how tired he was! It was a great day to start off a VERY crazy week around here. Rick's closing 6 houses this month so he has a walk through everyday this week. And I am going to the SL convention in Nashville with my cousin on Thursday-Sunday. I hope each of you has a wonderful week ahead!

Going Potty....

As of last week I would have NEVER thought that Jackson was ready to use the big boy potty..... after this week I think he is ready to gradually start using the potty more and more. Earlier this week I could tell Jackson was going to go #2, so I said to him, do you want to go on the potty? To my surprise he ran to the toilet, I put him on there and it was too late for the #2 but he went pee pee like a big boy! Since then he has gone on the potty over 7 times and even has taken me to the potty to show me he has to go. SO, I guess Jackson has his own plans in store for potty training. We are going to take it casual approach to potty training and maybe if we are lucky he will be out of diapers by the time he is 2. I am beyond shocked right now though, it just shows you that when they want to do something like they will do it in their own time!