A Great Valentine's Day!

Wow, what a fun Valentine's Day we had this year! Jon called me around 6 am from work to tell me that Jena's water had broken and she'd be on her way to the hospital soon - WOW! Talk about unexpected! Needless to say, there was no more sleep after that, but it was definitely an exciting way to begin the day!

Jackson and I went to a Valentine's party at a friend's house that was so special - the kids helped the moms make little pizzas for lunch, and we also ate heart shaped cupcakes! Jackson had a great time at the party and slept ALL afternoon after all the excitement!

We gave Jackson his Valentine's presents - a stuffed animal fox (again from Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss) and a Captain Hook hat, hook & sword for his dress-up box. He LOVED all his presents and still has barely let go of the fox. After our dinner of heart-shaped meatloaf we went over to see Joelle, Marc & Owen and await baby news. We were so excited to hear that baby Avalyn Jean was born! She weighed 6 lbs 5 oz - a great size for being at least 3 weeks early! I was able to go to the hospital later in the evening with Joelle & Marc and hold her....soooo tiny! It is hard to remember that Jackson was once almost that small!! I would love to post a picture but I'm bummed that I forgot to take my camera last night! Adorable - just take my word for it :) We are hoping to go back this afternoon so Jon and Jackson can meet little Ava.

Congratulations Ryan, Jena & Owen!!

Mr. Independent

I am happy to report that the terrible twos stage seems to have taken a break for now, after just a few days. Hooray! Our new phase is "independence." The picture is from this morning (note the bed head) when after I changed Jackson from his PJs into his clothes for the day. He decided that he wanted to put his pajama shirt back on (new Toy Story pajamas that he's been loving to wear lately!) and tried for quite awhile to get his sweatshirt off. This was as far as he got, but refused to let me help him. So after about 10 or 15 minutes (and a cold arm) he humbled himself and said "Help Mama." By this point, he was fine with leaving the sweatshirt on and saving the PJs for later. I am excited that he loves the PJs though - one of those great random finds at the Disney Store for $3!! We've also watched the Toy Story movie 3 times this week!And just to clarify on the last post...if you want to try it but aren't crafty, don't be scared! :) You can make cookies or do whatever! I really wasn't expecting to get out of making something quite this easily!!

Pay It Forward

Have you heard about it? Pay it forward? A friend of mine had posted about this and I decided to take up the challenge! The rules? For the first 3 to comment on this PIF post who want to particitpate: You will get something handmade from me, maybe not anytime soon, but sometime within the next 365 days. Here's the catch...if you decide to participate, YOU must do the same on your blog, and make something for the first three people who comment on YOUR PIF post. You never know what you will get! Doesn't this sound like fun?!? (I must say the catch for me was the 365 days! NO PROBLEM with that time line!) :-)

Terrible Twos?

This past weekend I was able to go away with MOPS friends on a shopping trip to Philadelphia!! We had a great time, found some good bargains, and Jon & Jackson had fun at home. I came home Saturday evening and everything was fine....then came Sunday morning when the Terrible Twos hit! For the first time ever, Jackson didn't want to go to church - "no no no mama" with lots of screaming. I don't know what has gotten into the boy but he is definitely going through a rough phase right now - yelling, pushing me away, tantrums, etc. Now I know this is something every child goes through at some point, but I wasn't ready for my quiet laid back easy to please son to do this!! Last night was especially interesting as we had Josh & Christy over for dinner and I spent the entire time in the other room with Jackson because he was throwing a fit! He had only been spanked once ever in his life, but this week alone it has been 3 times. Not fun. After last night, poor J & C won't be wanting kids anytime soon! Thankfully, Jack is getting back to his old self and had a wonderful morning, when I took these pictures. Besides the little phase he is going through, his personality is starting to change a little to - into a crazy silly little boy!!

A few updates on Jack for those of you who don't get to see him & hear the funny random stories on a regular basis:

He is starting to PLAY with TOYS!! Instead of spending hours upon hours reading books, he also loves to play with Mr. Potato Heads & also is again a huge fan of his Little People. I am so glad that he will probably always love to read, but I'm also glad that he is starting to be a KID and PLAY!!

He loves to count, especially to 6. I often hear him saying "one, two, three, four, five, six, GO!"

He loves to pretend! I love that we can already see his little imagination at work as he feeds all his little people animals (and then proceeds to give each one an Eskimo Kiss - one of his other new favorite things).

Not much else new, we have been keeping ourselves very busy as usual and are looking forward to March when we will be hosting a Japanese exchange student for 3 weeks!