Jackson Learns to Crawl

After a month of being on the verge, Jackson has finally learned to crawl! Make sure you watch this cute video to the end for a surprise up-close and personal interview with the star. I'm out of school for a Snow Day here...my best guess is about 5 inches on the ground, but the wind is blowing so bad it's hard to tell. In places the ground has been scoured until practically bare and in other places there are foot tall drifts. We've been staying inside. I've been trying to work but with Jack now very mobile I'm spending more time chasing him that working...

We are going to have to create a new cartoon called "Jackson the Menace" to detail all the trouble he can get into. He loves power cords, stairs, the drawer on the stove, the flap on the DVD player...all the things he shouldn't be into.

Jackson's new skill

Jackson learned a new skill yesterday--pulling himself to a standing position! The first time he did it, he was in his crib, supposedly taking a nap. I come around the corner and peek in, and he's standing up in his crib grinning at me! All weekend, he's been very resistant to taking a nap because he's so pleased with himself. Every time you lay him down in his crib, he immediately pulls himself up. It's made for a challenge in the nap department!

The second time he did it, it was playing with his train and he immediately tumbled over the back of the train, banging his head on the way down. He gave himself a pretty good goose egg on his forehead in the process. And since then, there has been lots of head bumps and crying related to this new skill.

Birthday weekend!

I've had a good birthday. Jack decided to get up at about 4am this morning, but my lovely husband got up with him so that I could stay in bed...what a great birthday present! He and Jack also got me some lovely paintings for the walls in the basement. Plus, yesterday he took Jack with him on errands so that I could have some time to myself. I got cleaned the whole house (it seemed so easy with no baby in tow!) and then spent some time in my new craft room, which I totally love. Here are some pictures:

Of course, I love the rest of the house too. I'd say we are about 90% unpacked. Mike's still working on the office, and we have a few more odds and ends, plus curtains and things like that to take care of. I will post pictures of the other rooms on here tomorrow or the next day.

One funny story from today. On the way home from grocery shopping, I treated myself to an ice cream cone (Oregon Blackberry, yum!). So we get home, and I am trying to bring Jackson and several bags into the house, plus I still have the ice cream cone. I had Jackson on my hip, the cone in one hand, and three or four bags in the other hand, trying to get all these things into the house. I was struggling to get the door open to go in, when I looked up only to realize Jack had discovered and was helping himself to the ice cream cone. He was leaning over in my arms to get at it and had half the cone shoved into his mouth, with ice cream dripping down his face. I hadn't given it to him at all--he go it all by himself! Daddy just stood there and laughed at us! So, Jack got to eat the rest of the ice cream cone. It might be his new favorite food!

Scenes from Christmas

Christmas 2011

We haven't opened all our presents yet, but Jack decided to open the first present--it wasn't addressed to him, but he didn't mind. Then, we let the girls and Jack open their surprise balls from Grandma. Now, we are waiting for Jack to get up from a nap so we can continue with Christmas.

Pictures with Santa

We took Jack and the girls for a visit with Santa on Wednesday. Everyone was sure that Jack would cry, but he surprised us all by taking it all in stride. I think his Aunt Kami was a little upset that he cried the first time she held him, but the big guy in the red velvet suit didn't warrant a cry. Here are some pictures:


Overnight, it snowed almost 6 inches, so the girls were very excited to go play in the snow. Jack, on the other hand, didn't like it one bit. And unfortunately, it didn't end well since Jason has a broken ankle now. More on that later, but here are a couple pictures to get started. I have to get other people's cameras to get the rest:

The Stockings are Hung...

The Stockings are Hung by the Chimney with Care...and quite a few more of them than most years! We are finally starting to get ready for Christmas and Mike's sister and her family are here to help Celebrate. The girls helped put out the decorations and we made Christmas cookies yesterday, so it finally feels like the holidays. I still haven't wrapped any presents, so that's next on the agenda for Christmas preparation.

The unpacking continues...we still have quite a bit of work undone, but we're making slow progress in between the fun holiday activities. Jason has been a great help painting the bedroom, so we should be able to unpack in there soon too.

On Monday when I picked up the Mandell family, we took a side trip to the American Girls store in Denver for Katelyn and Alyssa. Their dolls were able to get their ears pierced and their hair done at the doll salon, which was very exciting. Then, we went next door and had lunch with the dolls as well. They even had high chairs so the dolls could sit at the table too.

The only thing potentially more exciting than this was the fact that it started snowing! Not enough to cover the ground, but our Southern California girls were very excited to catch snowflakes on their tongues. They also had to go out and run in the snow and play as soon as we arrived home even though it was 2 week old crusty snow. We are hoping for some fresh snow tomorrow so they can go sledding! And, we are also planning to take them iceskating at a real outdoor rink this week too.

More pictures to come as the week progresses...