Happy Easter!!!

Alan and I are spending this Easter just the two of us (well, baby Chase is here too but he's only making his presence known through his VERY strong kicks and my achey back ;-)). Yesterday, I met my Dad for lunch and handed off Jackson for the next 4 days. Jackson has been counting down the days to this and he was practically hypervenilating when he saw his Gpa's truck in the parking lot. He gave me a kiss and said goodbye enthusiastically when it was time to go. He is now having the time of his life at Gigi and Gpa's house. Alan and I will be getting all the baby stuff out of storage and trying to figure out what we're going to do about our guest room and Jackson's room and finding a place for Chase. We are also getting a little bit of rest and relaxation since we don't have a toddler demanding our constant attention and running into our bedroom every morning at 7 a.m.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Easter and gets a chance to focus on what it's really about. Speaking of, here are some pictures of what Easter is NOT about. This is Jackson at the mall on Thursday wearing the bunny ears he has worn since Tuesday. He also wore the bunny ears to meet up with Gpa yesterday. He thinks that he and the Easter bunny are great old friends since he keeps seeing him at the mall. He yells "HI EASTER BUNNY!!!" and waves like crazy every time he sees him. The famous mall train is back for Easter. Jackson's Nana took him to the mall on Tuesday and he got to ride the train and of course he wanted to ride again on Thursday- three times. :)

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Super Jackson

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The below video in the other posting is just a small showing of Jackson's endless energy and enthusiasm about all things! I sure do love this child. Sorry you have to cock your head to watch it. My old camera would automatically adjust when you'd turn it and I keep forgetting this one doesn't.
I wanted to share some of my favorite things about Jackson before I start forgetting those things. I love that he's such a snuggle bug. He loves to curl up on the couch with me and he'll put his little arm around my shoulder as far as it will reach. He'll often rub my cheek with his hand and say sweet things like "You a good girl, Mommy." He knows that he's funny and he is constantly trying to make people laugh and succeeding. He wakes up in the morning and says "Time to wake up! What'd you dream?" and then he'll proceed to tell me about his dreams which are usually always the same and involving a dinosaur and a giraffe or sometimes Clifford the big red dog. He asks me after preschool "How's your day, Mommy?" before I can ask him about his day. He loves to read books. He'll read to me, read to himself, and ask all day long for me to read to him (which I usually oblige!). He loves learning. He likes counting to 20 (usually skipping 16- he doesn't believe in it. When I try to correct him he just says "no, 16"). He sings songs all the time! His favorites are his ABC's, 'Jesus Loves Me', and any of the songs that Daddy makes up at bedtime. He will usually give me a recount of his day on our way home from wherever we went and he'll conclude with "I had fun day with you, Mommy." He and his Dad are the best of friends. They wrestle, play soccer, baseball, basketball, go on long walks together, and read lots of books, too. As snuggly as he is with me, he is equally as rough with Alan. The house is often filled with the sounds of the two of them laughing hysterically when Alan gets home from work. His favorite tv shows are Sesame Street and Thomas the Train. His favorite move is the Cars movie (Disney). His favorite books are usually the ones that Gigi and Gpa bring him (Ferdinand at the moment). He excels at preschool, is very social, and was miserable the week he was sick and we had to stay inside. He said all week "where we GOING, Mommy!?" and would get so mad when I'd have to tell him nowhere. He's a social butterfly. =) He is such a joy to Alan and I and we have both said that sometimes we just want to pause time because we enjoy him so much. But we both also look forward to all the new things he will do and to seeing what he's like as a big brother to Baby Chase!

Super Jackson

Easter Egg Hunt.

These are pictures from the Easter Egg hunt we went to yesterday. The church where Jackson attends preschool put it on and it was lots of fun.
Here he is in the middle of the hunt. I couldn't convince him to stop opening the eggs up and looking inside. He cared much more about what was IN his eggs rather than how many he could get.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

He finally started putting them into his bag after his quality control inspections.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Here he is playing on the slide.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

He loves to swing and will swing all day if given the option.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Here he is with Alan doing some taste tests on the chocolate in his eggs.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

My favorite boys.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

And look- I'm even putting a couple pictures of Jackson and I in here. This is probably as close to a 9 month pregnancy pic as we're going to get.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Jackson has his official preschool Easter egg hunt on Wednesday and then spring break starts! He will be spending his spring break with his Gigi and Gpa. Gpa is picking Jackson up on Friday and then Alan and I will be joining them up in NoVa on Tuesday. In the mean time, we will be trying to make all our last minute preparations for the baby. It's fun being able to explain to Jackson about Easter this year. He knows it's about Jesus and not about easter eggs (even though they are fun, too).

April!

Woo hoo. This is crazy! I'm updating the month of April IN the month of April! This blogging catch up has been brought to you by Panera who has a much faster connection than I do at home and delicious things to eat and drink. I've spent most of my Sunday here!
Okay, April. Alan's parents took Jackson out for the day a couple weeks ago. They went out to lunch, to the park, to the toy store, and they bought him a new tricycle. Here he is at the basketball court in his Nana and Papa's backyard riding his tricycle.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Here he is with his Papa showing off how well he can stand on his tricycle.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Here he is with Alan.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

And here he is slam dunking a basketball (with a little help from Dad).

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

March

We had been having a record amount of NO snow this winter up until March. The snow finally came just in time for another visit from both my mom and Liz!
It started the night my mom arrived and she and Jackson went outside and caught snow on their tongues and danced around in the cold. Jackson was thrilled. Up until that point, I had to explain to him what snow was by googling it and showing him pictures! I think we ended up getting around 4 inches which was perfect!
Here he is all bundled up and ready to go outside.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Here he is with his Auntie Liz and his Gigi. They were his faithful playmates that day.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

This one is my favorite. We spent a lot of the day sledding. I was mostly a spectator since pregnancy and sledding aren't the best combo but everyone else made the most of some nice hills in our neighborhood. Jackson's endless level of energy was amazing to me as he'd trudge up the hill.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Here are Jackson and his Auntie Liz.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Here is Jackson playing his favorite game that day- Tackle Liz and Gigi!

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Mom, Liz, and I drove up to the top of the mountain and looked out at the city covered in snow.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Here are Liz and Mom in front of the star that makes our city "the star city".

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Here they are again admiring some tree.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Here are Liz and I.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

It was an AWESOME snow day!

February

Danny had a business trip down in our part of Virginia in February and Anne and Luke decided to come along with him. They came by for dinner and it was SO wonderful being able to hold my little nephew again. Jackson is still fighting some jealousy issues with "Baby Luke" (that's what he calls him). We put Luke in Jackson's lap and Jackson said "I don't like Baby Chase!" (very likely that this is foreshadowing the months to come). We said "No, Jackson. That's Baby Luke." and he said "Oh, I don't like Baby Luke." So, when we tried to get pictures of them together he'd only pose for the pictures if his Auntie Annie was holding him. Luke handled the whole thing very maturely. He just ignored Jackson's protests and slept.

"I don't like it."

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Seriously, guys.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Okay, here's a fake smile so I can stop this nonsense.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Jackson also had his Valentine's Day party at preschool.
Here he is with some of his best friends from preschool: Jay, Connor, Jackson, and Jamie.

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Here he is post cupcake.

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Here is his girlfriend, Bella totally passed out at the party. She slept through the whole thing!

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January and Edward...

I don't have many pictures from January! It's not my favorite month to be honest. I'm a winter hater and January means that the holidays are over and there is just nothing much left to look forward to til spring. I'm totally one of those people who could live in SoCal or Florida and wouldn't miss the changing seasons much at all. Warm weather just makes my heart happy. Okay, enough of my anti-winter tangent. =)
Last fall we got a kitten. His name was Edward (yes, he has golden eyes and yes his namesake is a character in a book I won't mention). He was ADORABLE and very sweet and affectionate. Jackson was regularly putting Edward in time out for not playing with him and trying to ride him like a horse but Edward never so much as lifted a paw at him. Jackson and Edward would also snuggle on the couch a lot. Jackson loved having Edward in his lap and would pet him for a long time. We decided to give Edward away last month because Alan was tired of having to take care of him (no kitty litter boxes allowed when you are pregnant) and because we have a newborn who will be on the ground a lot and as sweet as Edward was we didn't want to worry about him and the new baby. Plus we are just very busy people and aren't home very much so Edward didn't get as much attention as I'm sure he wanted. We gave him away to a couple who had two cats and were looking for a third. Each of their cats had its own monogrammed cat traveling carrier, a monthly health plan (there's a chance these cats have better health care coverage than I do!), and slept with the couple...in their bed every night. Jackson still asks about Edward sometimes but he understands that Edward wanted to go live with other kitty cats and is adjusting well. I loved having a pet and I know when the timing is better someday we'll get a dog or cat again
Here is Jackson yelling at Edward that he has to go to time out if he doesn't "COME HERE!"

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

And here they are snuggling after Edward decided to be obedient.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

My sister, Liz goes to college about 35 minutes from us and comes to stay with us fairly regularly. Here are Jackson and Liz during one of those weekends.

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And here is one of Gigi and Jackson. She was also visiting that weekend

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Christmas with my family...

We headed back up to see my parents and spend Christmas with my family after our Janney Christmas. We still didn't take any pictures. Thankfully, my Dad is GREAT about taking pictures so I have lots to choose from.

Here is Jackson posing for Gpa by the Christmas tree.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Here is Gpa showing Jackson how small baby Luke's feet are.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

And now, for a few family picture. Family pictures are a kind of infamous event around our house. They usually involve my Dad's camera set on timer, a ladder standing in as a tripod, a lot of unwanted advice and comments such as,
"Hey Dad, turn the flash on!!"
"Dad, the ladder is wobbling!"
"I can't sit on this side. It's my bad side. Why does she get to sit on her good side?"
"I blinked again. Do it over."
And of course there have been plenty of teenage temper tantrums over the years. What do you expect with four girls?! However, we are all adults now so you'd think that family pictures have become a much more sensible, mature event, right? I'll let you decide for yourselves. =)
Take 1: Nice smile, Becky! Where's Dad?

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Take 2: We're still missing Dad.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Take 3: SUCCESS!

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Sisters picture with our coordinated demure smiles.

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Janney Family

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

Gigi and Gpa with their Grandsons. There will be three little boys very soon!

From Fall of 08- Spring 09

The holidays are truly a special time for our family. Alan and I both feel incredibly blessed that we love and enjoy our families to such a great extent. It's so easy to be grateful at Thanksgiving for everything that God has given us. It comes very naturally to us to think of the great gift God gave us in his son at Christmas as we reflect on the love we feel all around us coming from our loved ones. Okay, that's my sappy bit about the holidays. =)
2008 was an AMAZING year!

Christmas...

We had an amazing Christmas with the Janney family. Unfortunately, I was on video camera duty and I left photography duty up to Alan. Therefore, we have no pictures from Christmas except for these two. We do have some great video footage from Christmas, though! =)

Jackson and Nana sitting in our new Adirondack chair.

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Jackson admiring his new play-dough from Auntie Megan with Nana. And Granny in the background! =)

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Here are Jackson and Alan riding the holiday train which might be one of Jackson's favorite things in the world!

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Here are Jackson with two of his best friends (by default since they are the children of Alan's two best friends), Emma and Trevor at Emma's birthday party. Emma turned two!

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Just sweet Jackson.

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