Another great day...

Yesterday, the sun was shining and it was SO warm that we were all wearing shorts! Alan's mom, Debbie and sister, Megan came up to play with and watch Jackson and Alan and I went out to lunch at this delicious new deli! They had a great time playing with Jackson and taking him on a walk and Jackson seemed to really enjoy himself. After we got back, we all went in the backyard and enjoyed the sunshine on a blanket and the swinging bench.

Jackson with his pretty Aunt Megan.

Jackson and his Nana!
Then came the rain...but I like a good thunderstorm, too. Later last night I got to catch up with my friend, Tricia. I met her 8 years ago (oh my gosh, I'm getting old!) during my Freshman year of college. She's getting married in May and it was so much fun hearing all the details and catching up. She's moving to MN which makes me sad but I'm so excited for her and Patrick and I know we'll keep in touch. Picture to be posted of us....

A day at the lake...

Jackson and I have been outside a lot lately enjoying the warm weather. We spent 4 hours the other day at the lake. It was gorgeous!

The pretty lake!

Jackson taking in the water!

I love this chunky monkey

Lizzy's 19th Birthday

Mom and Anne came down to celebrate Liz's 19th Birthday! We celebrated it a day early on St. Patrick's Day! It was really fun. We decorated my house, did the cake and candles, and Lizzy got LOTS of presents! Alan remarked, "I can't believe we're doing all of this for a COLLEGE aged girl." He just doesn't get birthdays. He is still confused as to why I expect him to decorate the house, make me a cake, and wrap my presents even though I'm in my mid-twenties. Birthdays are more fun when you go all out!
Here's Anne and Jack. They love each other! :)



Here's Mom, Lou, and Jackson. They were all wearing green which is good because I'm a
firm believer in pinching people who don't wear green on St. Patty's Day.


And here is Lizzy opening her presents and her boyfriend Matt looking on:

Some pics from a Day in my life

I made a compilation of a bunch of pictures from a day in my life. Here's a few of them:

Jackson playing on our bed first thing in the morning. He is so much more cheerful than I am first thing in the morning:


Followed by his usual play time:


Watching his Dad:


Time for errands:


Starbucks date with Lizzy Lou:

He looooves frappachinos almost as much as I do:


Back home to Alan:


Jackson's first taste of sweet potatoes with corn:
(not a fan)

The sunset from our front porch:


Jackson and Alan hanging out on the front porch:


The End. :)

Our Day at the Park

Sunday was a gorgeous, sunny day and Alan, Jackson and I decided to go to the park. I LOVE our park. It's one of my favorite things about the town I live in. Big, beautiful river, lots of green grass, and there were tons of families there playing together. And lots of dogs (you would have loved it, Anne). Anyway, we went for a walk and let Jackson play on the playground...well, we might have helped him a little bit!

This is his first time on a slide. He liked it!



He thought swinging was hilarious! He was cracking up.







Then we laid out a big blanket and played with Jackson, fed him some applesauce, put him down for a nap in his stroller (and he went right to sleep!) and then Alan and I napped on the blanket in the sunshine. Does it get much better than that!? I could hear the river, the birds chirping, and kids laughing. Alan's hand was resting on mine. The sun was warm and I was just so content. It's hard for me to understand how people doubt the existence of God when it seems so obvious that he created such a beautiful world for us to enjoy. I kept thinking of my mom's favorite slogan: "Life is good." It really is.

Coffee House pics

These are just random pics from a coffee house.

I was trying to capture the color in Anne's eyes, but apparently they are gray. Like Becky's.


The camera did pick up Liz's eyes like POW!


Loving Danny's face in this one!


Jackson eating a delicious table.

Our day in Fredricksburg

While I was up in Northern Virginia we met up with my sister, Anne and her husband in Fredericksburg. We ate at a strange restaraunt there. Our waitor was a flamboyant guy who I'm fairly certain was mocking us the entire time. The decor was lovely and the food was good...it just had an odd atmosphere. But that's beside the point. We all had a lovely time, though.
Here's one of the four sisters and Jackson:

Here are two examples of how Becky can ruin pictures:

She's the youngest sister, so it's expected! ;-) I believe my Dad actually said "This is as bad as taking family pictures!" Let's just say our family picture days usually ended up with at least one of us (okay, usually me) in tears and everyone mad at one another. We don't do pictures well.

That one is of my three sistos and Jackson (in a backwards baseball cap cause that's how he does). I think Auntie Annie pulls off the "Peanut Shell" sling look really well.

There's Jackson with his Auntie Annie and his one and only uncle. He likes his Uncle Danny. See:

Jackson's leaning back on him cause they are boys. Or maybe boyz.

And it was a particularly windy day so that is Gpa keeping Jackson warm.
I realize that I have no pics of my mom from that day! This is as close as it gets:

The back of her head!! Sorry, Mom. Next time you come I'm gonna be your personal paparazzi.
I even took one of ME!
It was totally by accident. There was a mirror and...it just happened to capture me in this "pose."