My baby boy can walk!

Jackson is officially walking now! It is awesome. He went from about 5 steps to walking just about anywhere he wants in a week. I am super-impressed by this little guy. I was thinking he would walk before his first birthday, but I wasn't sure it would happen so quickly. Yeah for him!!! Mommy is sooooo proud!

He loves taking bubble baths and I got this cute picture of him playing in the bath. He's so happy!

Easter fun, Happy Spring

Easter Egg Hunt @ School!!!
My two handsome men....awwwwww.

My sweet little bunny

Daddy's Girl

Blessed Family

We had a great Easter this year. Pretty low key, but just the way we like it! We had a nice Saturday at Bethany Lutheran's Easter Egg Hunt and picnic. The egg hunt literally lasted maybe 2 minutes. There were so many kids that it was crazy! I found myself getting very competitive as Kylie was trying to get eggs. I was certainly not going to let her walk away empty-handed!

After the egg hunt was face painting, bunny holding, and inflatable jumping! Kylie loves to hold the bunnies and is so good with them. She has the animal love like her mom and dad!

After the picnic, Kylie and I spent some time together and did a little shopping for her at Justice, the big girl store. She loves that store, and secretly I do too. It totally takes me back to when I was a kid. It's so fun to pick things out for her. I know as she gets older we'll have lots of fun shopping excursions together!

Easter Sunday was church, then family time with Adam's family and then mine. Good food and good company with some egg hunting in between. I've never seen so many eggs with money in them. The Easter Bunny must be doing pretty good for himself! Actually, I really prefer money over candy. All of that candy ends up going to waste after a while anyways, or I eat it which is no bueno.

Jackson is really starting to try and walk now. He's taken about 5 steps at one time so far and is really getting to stand up for longer periods of time without holding on. He's getting more teeth and his bite is as fierce as ever! He still has the most precious laugh that we truly enjoy every day. We went to his well-check today and he weighed 22 lbs. 15 oz. and is 27.5 inches long!

Kylie started a new team at Cheer Station this week. I'm a litte nervous about it, but we'll see how it goes. I don't want things to get too intense too quickly. She is still so young and needs to just have fun with it. So, we'll see how she likes it!

Well, better go to bed!!! As usual, a late night post!

Cheese!!!

I got this picture of Jackson in the bath tub tonight and I just love it. Look at those teeth. Let me tell you, they hurt when he bites! I should know. He loves bath time and has started getting on his belly in the tub. He does try and drink the water, but we're working on that one.

I love this pretty weather. It makes me want to go for walks and play outside!

Kylie will be wearing her bathing suit probably every day from here on out.

Happy Spring!!!

Come on Spring!

I love Spring and can't wait until it is in full bloom! Everyone starts getting outside and has an extra "spring" in their step!

We are happy to announce that Kylie will be starting Kindergarten at Regents School of Austin next year. She is super excited! We couldn't be happier. It is only a half day kindergarten program, so there is much planning to be done. I think she will really enjoy some more extra-curricular activities like singing and piano lessons, cheer, and maybe some art or dance. It's going to be a fun year!

Jackson is really getting around these days. Not walking yet, but he can take his walker toy and cruise super fast. He seems very coordinated and strong, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's walking before his first birthday. So hard to believe he'll have been with us a whole year in May! What in the world? I couldn't imagine life without him at this point. What a blessing.

I took the kids to Port Aransas for a few days over Spring Break. My mom, sister, and nieces were there as well. The water was freezing, but my little water baby Kylie didn't care at all. She was determined to get in the ocean. Maybe she'll be an olympic swimmer someday! As much as she loves swimming, I wouldn't put it past her.

Work is crazy as ever. In fact, I leave super early tomorrow for a trip to New Hampshire. Of course I haven't finished packing, but what else is new. I'll be back late Saturday night to enjoy a Sunday with the fam.

Debbie is doing well with her chemo treatments. She's got an amazing attitude and is taking very good care of herself. No nausea at all... yeah!!! We hope she is feeling super by the time Easter rolls around so we can have a few fun activities with the kids. I'll be so glad when she's all done with this and can move on to recovery and feeling like herself again. There are so many people out there praying for her and it's just amazing to see how thoughtful friends and family have been.

Well, more to come later!

Here Kitty, Kitty...

You know who we are XX Cheer Station!
So proud!

Cousin Taylor is a cheerleader too!


Help ever, hurt never! House of Blues onesie from Grandma.

So, if you're wondering about the title of my post it is because Mr. Jackson has starting making this hilarious sound like a cat purring. It is so funny and he does it all the time! I think he likes the way it feels on his tongue. He really does it when he's happy or being mischievous getting into something he shouldn't.

Here are some of the naughty things that Jackson just loves to do:

1. Chew on power cords

2. Eat dog food

3. Play in the dog's water bowl

4. Open the door to Kylie's room and go into her nightstand to pull things out of it.

5. Chew on the dog's hippo toy (are we seeing a trend here?)

6. Roll over while we are trying to change his diaper or get him dressed

7. Open the kitchen cabinets and pull things out

8. Examine the cat litter (disgusting!)

Here are some of the things that Jackson does that I love:

1. Jibber jabber all the time - he's quite talkative!

2. Crawl really fast from me when I say "I'm gonna get you..." It's so cute.

3. Pull up on my leg for me to pick him up.

4. Play with Kylie's kitchen. He plays with it more than she does.

5. Pretend like he's driving really fast with his car toy.

6. Laughs all the time.

7. Chow down on his puffs. He can't get enough of those.

8. Hold his own bottle or play with my hair while he's drinking it.

9. Falls asleep on my shoulder with his blankie.

10. Will hear the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse from across the house and

crawl to the living room to see it.

(takes after Adam's papa Ralph for loving Mickey Mouse).

We are all done with our interviewing process at Regents School of Austin, so now we just wait to see if they accept Kylie. In my opinion, they would be blessed to have her! She just had her first real cheerleading competition on Saturday and she was so great. They are just a show team, so they technically don't compete. She got her first medal and is so proud of it. She's determined to win more medals than mommy and I hope she does! It is extremely surreal to see her doing cheer. Was it really that long ago when it was me out there?

We have a crawler!

We officially have a crawler! Jackson's being doing what we call "the worm" for a few months now, but he's finally got this crawling thing down. When he wants to go somewhere quickly he reverts back to the worm, but he's doing pretty good at getting his knees under him now. He still has only his bottom two teeth (like razors!), but I think those top two teeth will be here soon. I swear he's saying "mamamamama" as if he knows that's who I am. Adam says no, but he knows who his mama is!!!
I love it when he comes over to me and pulls himself up with my pants so he can stand up holding on to me. It's adorable and it melts my heart. He really loves to stand up on anything now. It doesn't always work out so well for him because he doesn't really discriminate by what he uses to stand up. So, when he tries to stand up using one of Kylie's little chairs, it just falls over on top of him!
We are currently looking at schools for Kindergarten next year. It's been such a stressful decision. Her current school has been great for this year, but they have broken off from the parent school and it will be a different deal next year that we aren't comfortable with. So, we looked at an amazing private school today. I was so impressed by it and it is a strong Christ-centered curriculum. Basically, everything they learn goes back to the Glory of God so they are building not only intellect, but character. Pretty amazing. We'll have to pray about it and just see if that's where God wants us next year! I just want what's best for Kylie. She is such an exceptional little girl. I am humbled that God gave me such a bright, charismatic, sincere, and curious child. That's quite a big challenge for me to raise this young lady to the standard that she deserves, but I'll do my best!
Debbie got through her surgery yesterday and the doctor said everything went really well. They are feeling optimistic that maybe the cancerous cells were pretty localized and haven't spread to the lymph nodes. Won't that be a miracle. We'll know more on Friday, but praying for a miracle.
My baby girl turns five on Sunday. I want to be excited about it, I really do, but I can't just yet. I'm just seeing her grow up so quickly and I am overwhelmed with emotion. She's starting to look more like a girl now, losing some of that baby face and her little voice is getting older too. One of the things I treasure more than anything is the inflection in her voice when she says "I love you too." It is the sweetest four words a mother can hear. Gosh, my heart just explodes when I think about my kids and I'm even tearing up as I'm writing this. I guess I'm emotional today. Well, every day lately! For any of you moms out there, you know what I mean.

Here's to a New Year!!!

I said before that I was going to be better about blogging. Hmmmm, I haven't done good so far. There are just too many things to do to fit it in, but I'm trying! It usually means staying up later (like I am tonight).

I guess I should backtrack to Christmas. It was wonderful! We had good times with our families and continue to feel so blessed that we are all in the same neighborhood. It is so nice to have everyone right here. I am always shocked at how quickly Christmas seems to come and go, however, we just packed up the tree today! Yikes.

Kylie got a trampoline for Christmas from Grandma Mary which she loves very much. It really is a great thing. I've even enjoyed jumping on it with her. It's fun and great exercise! I actually have to stop here and there to rest. I'm so out of shape, uggggggghhh - New Year's resolution, right? She is growing up so fast. I can't believe she'll be five this month. I'm just in denial that she is that old!

Jackson is changing before our eyes. He is a mad man! He especially likes to seek out power cords and any other hazardous thing he can find in the house. His "worm" version of crawling is hilarious and it's amazing how efficient he is at getting where he wants to go. He actually just started crawling on his knees today! He has constant red rugburn on both knees. He has his two razor-sharp bottom teeth now and the top two teeth are working their way in too. Teething rocks... or maybe not. He really enjoys watching Baby Einstein while he plays with his toys and likes to pull up and stand on anything he can get his hands on. I told Adam we were going to have to anchor things down soon. He likes to pull kitty's hair and grab Harley whenever possible. The cat will just sit there and take it, but Harley likes to flee the scene! We're pretty sure he's going to be a talker like his big sister. He just blabs and blabs all the time and his laugh is the most precious sound I have ever heard. I love it! He is enjoying the new tastes of things and carrots, sweet potatoes and squash are his favorite. Green beans and peas, not so much. I am looking forward to him getting to eat some more real foods!

Work has been crazy. When I accepted a promotion and took on a new market to handle, I had no idea how that would change my workload. Some days it is overwhelming, but I am trying to take it one day at a time and be confident in my ability to do whatever is needed to get the job done. Some nights that means working until I fall asleep at my computer, but hey, gotta get things done before they pile up on me.

We have been enjoying our visits to a new church - Austin Stone. It's at Austin High School and is a bit more casual than our church. We have really gotten so much out of the services and music and feel as though God is calling us to be open to where He wants us to be. So, we'll see where He takes us!

Lastly, I dedicate my blog layout to my wonderful mom-in-law, Debbie. Many of you know that she is pretty much my 2nd mom. I have known her now for over 15 years and she is the best mother-in-law anyone could pray for. She was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and will undergo surgery and treatment starting next week. To all of my Christian friends and family - please pray for her and that God will provide us with a miracle of healing!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed 2010!