life is a journey

2nd Graduation

2011-05-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

First there was kindergarten graduation. Moving up to "real school." In my day, elementary school lasted 6 years then we were off to junior high. Today, many only go through 5th grade and then off to middle school.

My oldest has now had his second graduation - goodbye, elementary school! Last Tuesday morning, every student in the school, kindergarten through 4th grade, left their classrooms to line the halls. They all applauded as the 5th graders filed by on their way to the gymnasium for the ceremony.

As each name was called, the students left their seats, in an obviously rehearsed process, to shake the principal's hand and receive their certificate.

There were also special awards given, including certificates to students who made the A Honor Roll every 9-week period for their entire 3rd-5th grade career at the school. (Letter grades aren't given in 1st-2nd grade.) Cole was one of five students to receive that recognition!

Cole with his 5th grade teacher

He's growing so much! And just today he asked if we could revamp his iPod to remove the kid songs (Disney, Spongebob, TV themes, etc.). He actually said the phrase, "I'm not a kid anymore." I knew he meant he's not a little kid anymore, 'cuz 11 is still a kid!!

So now we prep for middle school. My husband teaches 6th grade so I know how much these kids grow over this next year - and not just physically!

My new life verse:

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7

Help me, Jesus!

And then there was one . . .

2011-05-27T20:06:00.003-05:00

Soooooo, I guess I'm the only one from my original family that can wear this shirt now, eh, Beck? (I've got 6 years to milk this!)

Expressing Her Opinion

2011-05-23T20:07:00.002-05:00

At least she's tactful:

One of the Family

2011-04-11T15:40:00.004-05:00

This is Naomi's new thing:

I know, she looks like she about to die, but she's actually quite happy! For anyone who knows my family, you'll recognize this as the Cheely wrinkle-nose grin. My sister has perfected this particular smile. While Naomi might be imitating what she's seen her mother do, Aunt B still holds the gold medal for using her whole face to express joy.

What can I say? We're just happy people!

2011-03-09T21:15:00.004-06:00

Wassup?

Update

2011-02-23T22:20:00.002-06:00

I mean, seriously, are you kidding me? Who could look at this and not smile??

She's crawling all over the place, she has her first tooth, and she's just started pulling up. Look out, world!

Giggles!

2011-01-08T12:11:00.000-06:00

We discovered that Naomi gets quite a kick out of someone burping. So we targeted her giggle box the other night - to everyone's delight!

She's on the move!

2011-01-06T12:10:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-27T17:40:00.006-06:00

My Christmas present to you: pictures of my family!!

As always, Christmas started out on a bed, reading the story of Jesus' birth. Yes, my PJs are crossword puzzles.

The boys got their annual t-shirts:

And Cole's last gift was the only thing he asked for: an iPod Touch. (we actually got it for free!!!) I don't think he was expecting it. He really thought he was done with gifts. It was in a small box completely wrapped up in tissue paper. I love the look of true surprise and happiness!

Boys and their toys!

Naomi LOVED her gifts!

Notice the trend?

This was our first Christmas to just stay at our house. It was lovely! My mom and dad came over for lunch, gifts, and games. Naomi got to nap and Cole got to play - literally. He was so excited about getting the Charlie Brown Greatest Hits piano book. After stockings, he immediately went to the piano to start working on "Linus and Lucy," the dance number in the Christmas special.

PLUS, Birmingham had its first White Christmas in recorded history! Now, my house didn't see anything stick to the ground until the next morning, but it did snow all day Christmas day! Brice and I sang a lot of "Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow!" from White Christmas.

We didn't send out a Christmas card this year, so no, we didn't leave you out! Maybe we'll send out Easter cards. I don't remember my life ever being this dizzying. I can't imagine what having three or four children would be like.

I do hope you had a wonderful time of fun, worship, and rest on your Christmas! Praise to the Lord for the greatest gift of all time! May everyone come to know and love the name of Jesus.

New Heights

2010-11-12T21:30:00.002-06:00

Naomi loves to lie on her play mat and look up at the colorful bees, dangling from the music box. They are always out of reach though! I thought I'd give her a new perspective on the little creatures. I put her in her Bumbo seat right up next to them. She loved being able to reach them.

Reaching is her latest development. That and squealing!

Thumb and Blanky

2010-11-06T06:47:00.000-05:00

Naomi has started to hold her burb cloth to her when she finds her thumb and snuggles in our arms. So I figured it was time to give her something soft and clean, meant for snuggling! I found her like this after her nap earlier this week:

So sweet. I hated to wake her up! At least she always wakes up with a smile on her face.

I love my Pop!

2010-11-05T14:39:00.000-05:00

Halloween Part II

2010-11-03T15:12:00.003-05:00

Yes, I missed out on the trick-or-treating fun for this:

And I'm so glad I did! I love this twice-a-year outing with the gals. I love them a whole lot more than the loud cars going in circles over and over again!

Halloween Part I

2010-11-01T11:59:00.003-05:00

Over the years, Cole has been many things for Halloween: Buzz Lightyear, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Spiderman, a human Ninja.

This year:

Any guesses as to what he is? Leave a comment.

Props to JD for making this great costume!!

While you're pondering the above, gaze upon our little punkin from her 1st Halloween.

Thanks to Penny or Olivia for the outfit - not sure which of you it came from!

Brice was a trooper! He took both kids around the neighborhood and linked up with a family with a boy in Cole's class at school. Naomi loved all the activity! So much to see! She really enjoys being outside. I hate I missed it.

Where was I? Stay tuned for Part II.

Could She Be Any Cuter??

2010-10-17T22:05:00.001-05:00

No, no she couldn't.

A Chair for Goliath

2010-10-12T12:51:00.001-05:00

Sam's always does things big!!

Bumbo

2010-10-01T06:16:00.000-05:00

It may be a little early, but we thought we'd let her try it out just to see how she did.

She's laid back gangsta style in her pimped out blue Bumbo (courtesy of Penny - thank you!)

Froggie PJs

2010-09-29T14:14:00.000-05:00

She likes 'em!

Playing and Sleeping

2010-08-31T18:01:00.004-05:00

I got a new toy this week! I'm just now learning what toys are. I think they are bright and fun things to look at. Check out this cool contraption my mom put together for me.

I think I look good in it! There's this little mirror (you can see it behind my head below) and there's another baby in it. I smile and talk and talk to that baby - she is so cute!! It looks like she has a toy just like mine!

My mom loves to get me to smile. She keeps telling me I'm beautiful. I don't know what that means, but it makes her happy to say it, so that's fine with me.

After a bit of playing, I get pretty sleepy. I usually sleep in my bed, but sometimes I fall asleep right where I was hanging out with mom. Daisy likes to be near me. Sometimes she sniffs my ears, but in this picture she is falling asleep with me.

And of course, one of my favorite places to doze is on daddy's chest. I can tell it makes him happy too. He looks at me kinda funny sometimes, but mom acts like that's a good thing.

Next time I'll try to show you some pictures of me hanging out with my brother, mom, and maybe the cat - though she doesn't like to come near me! Now I'm feeling sleepy again. Night, night!

Helping Dad

2010-08-12T06:15:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was the last prep day for teachers. Brice had some last-minute things to take care of at school, including assembling a new piece of furniture for his room. Here's a trivia fact about Brice - he absolutely does not like to assemble anything, especially furniture.

Sidebar: Ever heard the Bud Light Real Men of Genius commercials? This one is spot on! Written for Brice!

So Cole and I set to putting the shelves together - and we had a ball! Again, evidence of our personalities. So here's the completed project:

Meanwhile, Naomi could be found close by, sleeping through the hammering!

And Dad could be found close by giving moral support and downing a Dr. Pepper.

To his credit, he actually put in most of the shelf pegs. Yea, Dad!

Now each student has a slot for their work and Dad was one step closer to having his room ready for the 1st day of school!

First Day of School!

2010-08-11T19:00:00.000-05:00

Yes, today is the first day of school - August 11th. It's actually late compared to last year. It couldn't come soon enough for Cole though! He's been counting down the days and hours.

Monday was orientation and he got to meet his new teacher. He put his supplies away and got his desk ready while I filled out paperwork and dad chatted with the teacher. (Each of these tasks completely fit our personalities!)

He has two of his buddies in his class which made him even more anxious to get back in the groove. This morning he was up as soon as his alarm went off at 6:00 am - before we got up! Yes, he set his alarm himself the night before. He was ready pretty early and decided to just go outside and wait for the bus, in case it came early. Bless his heart, he waited for 15 minutes - the bus was actually right on time!

The afternoon report: It was a good day!

Cole thrives on structure and routine so he's settling in to his 5th grade life quite well. He's on the Safety Patrol so he got to open car doors in carpool this morning and direct kids in the halls lining up for bus loads in the afternoon.

I hope this enthusiasm lasts, but considering his goal was the Perfect Attendance award last year, I'm not too worried about his commitment to school!

6 Week Changes

2010-08-11T06:52:00.006-05:00

Our little girl turned 7 weeks yesterday and the past week has held many changes. I understand why 6 weeks is considered a pivotal time.

First of all, to the delight of my heart, we've been getting more of these:

And thankfully we've also been getting more of these:

since she's doing more of this:

She started skipping a feeding in the middle of the night. She's sleeping 6-7 hours now! Yea!!

I went back to work last week - that was hard. But I'm only working 2 days a week now so it's not that bad. My mom and Brice's mom are keeping her those two days. My heroes!

And one more picture, cuz she's just so darn cute!

2010-08-02T21:33:00.002-05:00

One of Cole's 1/2 Birthday presents was this cool wall decal of a basketball player - his favorite, Dirk Nowitski of the Dallas Mavericks. Here he is showing off his new wall decor.

Now all three of his favorite sports are represented in his room!

Soccer, Football, Basketball

Thanks, Aunt B, for the way cool addition. He was SO excited!

A Video to Make You Smile

2010-08-01T19:15:00.001-05:00

This is a few weeks old, but still adorable! Notice how Brice captivates her when he's singing. Just precious!

Cole's Half-Birthday . . . With an Extra Surprise for Me!

2010-07-25T21:28:00.005-05:00

I like to think that I come from a pretty fun family. We have fun together and do fun creative things. I mean, who else makes t-shirts for every momentous occasion? One special thing we do every now and then is celebrate a half-birthday.

"What is a half-birthday?" you ask. Well, it's 6 months after your actual birthdate when, in Cole's case, he turns 10 and a half! This is a great little celebration for those with December or January birthdates who often get overshadowed by or have their gifts combined with Christmas.

Last weekend my parents came over to celebrate Cole's big 10.5 before they left on their vacation to visit my sister's family. Cole had no idea!

They even brought half a birthday cake . . .

to be served on half birthday plates!

He also got some great gifts - movies, a new novel, and this way cool wall sticker of a basketball player - #41 in blue, anybody know who?

But before the festivities got started, I went to get the baby up from her nap, knowing Memom would need to get her fix before leaving town for a week. As I came back up the hallway, Cole said, "Look who's here!" And what to my wondering eyes should appear? My sister!!!

I was SO excited! We needed a video camera to capture that moment. I almost squished the baby! I know I scared her half to death with my screaming! What a wonderful surprise! She had flown down to catch Cole's little party, meet her new niece, and then drive back home with mom and dad.

We spent the rest of the day together and it was so fun, just hanging around the house talking. She is a great resource for this "new" mom. And we laughed a lot. Everyone needs a good friend they can easily laugh with. My sister is that friend.

But she wasn't here an hour before she put this ridiculous bow in my little girl's hair. Good grief! Sorry if I offend any readers, but I personally think bows and headbands on babies are silly. I'm just saying. I mean look at her! She looks like a present!
The day flew by and was over before I knew it. I so wish it could have been a longer visit, but she has her own little ones to attend to. I am grateful for the time we did have. Thanks for making it happen, Beck! You too Jeremy!

And happy 10.5, Cole!!!

One Month Old!

2010-07-23T13:48:00.002-05:00

I am one-month old now! Look how sweet I am.

I've been eating well - check out my cheeks!

My Aunt B took pictures of her kids every month next to a stuffed animal to see how much they grew. So my mommy put me next to this lamb. Next time we'll use a colorful background so it will be easier to see.

Here I am striking a pose in my cute shirt/shorts set. Turquoise is a good color for me!

Yep, that's red hair! Well, more auburn or strawberry blond like my mommy's. It gets lots of attention!

When I get toweled off after a bath, it looks kinda crazy and curly!

It's been a great first month! I can't wait to see what next month holds!

Good Big Brother

2010-07-14T12:52:00.002-05:00

Smiles

2010-07-13T15:13:00.005-05:00

Ever seen a baby smile in their sleep? Is it gas, dreams, inherent sense of humor - who knows! But it is precious! My daughter has a beautiful smile. Let's pause for a moment and realize that I just used the phrase "my daughter" in a sentence. Still not use to that. Hmm . . . moving on.

Catching the elusive, unintentional smile is a difficult task since you never know the precise moment it will occur. She usually gives us the grin while falling asleep, though sometimes she will outright laugh in the middle of a hard sleep.

Here are a few of my attempts to capture the beautiful beam:

I just can't wait until she can do them voluntarily!!

Cow Appreciation Day

2010-07-13T14:55:00.003-05:00

July 9th was Chick-fil-A's Cow Appreciation Day. Dress like a cow - get free food!

"Free" and "Chick-fil-A" in the same sentence sends my husband into orbit! He prepared our outfits this year. Unfortunately, we had to go at lunch time and Cole was at camp so he didn't get to participate this year. But we initiated Naomi right in to the Jackson tradition!

The Bull

The Cow

The Calf

Naomi Update

2010-07-08T20:38:00.017-05:00

Well, we've made it 16 days with our new little one! And we just love her! She is so precious. We find ourselves just watching her. Her little baby facial expressions and noises are so fun! Cole is a fan of hers most of the time - he just doesn't understand why she continues to cry.

Here are more pictures of our blessing:

Checking out the new girl

Grace Therapeutic Massage

2010-07-08T20:13:00.009-05:00

Brice's massage room is officially open!

He has joined Grace Ministries to offer proper ethical body work and promote long term maintenance, health, and care to many hurting souls around the city.

We've had a lot of fun getting the room ready and decorated to create a relaxing, comfortable environment.

And look how official he is!

There is a launch party at Grace Ministries on July 22nd at 5:30. Come see the space and make your appointment!

She's here!

2010-06-23T23:45:00.009-05:00

Welcome, Naomi!

June 22, 2010, 7:14 am

7 lb. 1 oz.

20 inches

One big happy family of 4!

Disney Day

2010-06-21T21:32:00.005-05:00

We have a tradition in our house where we celebrate Disney Day every June 14th. We watch Disney movies, play Disney games, just have a good ol' Disney time. This year our time was reduced to a late afternoon/evening celebration.

Brice came up with a great game. We each made up clues for a 1. Charade, 2. Trivia question, 3. Words within a Word, and 4. Pictionary. So fun! We watched Toy Story to prepare for the new one and ate these:

Mickey Mouse grilled cheeses!

Nursery Complete!

2010-06-21T21:25:00.007-05:00

So we're finally done with the nursery! Well, except for the shades, which haven't arrived yet. And this first wall is still naked because it will one day host pictures of our little bundle of joy. But everything else is done!! Yea!!

Now come on, Naomi!!

One More Video Clip

2010-06-10T22:49:00.002-05:00

Meant to have this one in the post about the tigers:

Highlight of Our Vacation

2010-06-07T21:39:00.014-05:00

We just returned from a trip down to the Alabama coast. Thankfully, we arrived before the oil did. It was the last trip with just us 3 Jacksons. We played games, watched movies, played lots of Marco Polo in the pool, and did make one journey to the beach front.

However, the best part of our trip was the half hour we spent with 8-week old tigers at the Gulf Coast Zoo (yes, they have a zoo).

Check out these little guys!

When they want something, they "meow" for it. Of course, their version of meowing isn't like our sweet Macie's. It sounds mean, but they are just communicating. Listen to this:

They were definitely biters! We really had to watch them.

This one is stalking a toy Brice has - he's about to pounce!

My favorite:

Big paws! And the padding is so smooth.

They would play hard and then crash for a few minutes - 'til brother woke them up to play some more!

So now I can mark this one off my bucket list! It was brief, but definitely the experience of a lifetime!

My Sister

2010-05-24T12:08:00.003-05:00

Today is my sister's birthday. Out of respect for her, I won't tell you which birthday - but it isn't the big one . . . yet!

My sister is a bit older than me. She was starting college when I started junior high. I still remember the day she didn't want to play Barbies with me anymore. I also remember watching her have so much fun in high school and wishing I could be just like her! I looked up to her with that deep sense of awe one feels when in the presence of a hero.

She and I are also very different from each other. She is what's referred to as a "people person" while I'm the more introverted type. She is quite creative, comical, and immediately likable. And she always did a great job of encouraging me in my strengths. I have letters she wrote me from college reminding me that differences aren't bad things. God gave us each our own gifts.

Being adults together changed our relationship again. She was a great support through some trying times in my life, sharing tears and always a laugh - even from the other side of the world! And now we can also relate as two mothers - though her stories in that area are much more entertaining than mine! (see her blog for details)

I am blessed. My sister is my friend. I know not everyone can say that - and I couldn't always say that. It's nice to have a friend that comes from where you come from. She gets me. She gets my family! She hears me. And we laugh at the same things. One of our favorite "games" to play is Guess My Favorite Part. Nine times out of ten we can guess each other's favorite part of a song or line from a movie. I know, we're weird.

So, happy birthday to you, my dear friend, my sister. I still look up to you, still admire your strengths, and still look forward to our phone conversations. I am not only grateful that you were born, but I'm grateful we were born into the same family. Our relationship has been through various phases throughout our life. Can you guess my favorite part?

For Naomi

2010-05-18T11:09:00.004-05:00

Some very sweet ladies threw a little party for Naomi a couple weeks ago. Everything was beautiful - check out the spread!

With both grandmothers

One of the best gifts was a t-shirt from my sister - anyone surprised by this? She also gave me dog poop bags to use for diapers when out with the baby. Another big hit with the onlookers!

I really did laugh, I'm just reading something else in this picture.

Thank you, ladies, for a lovely afternoon!

Couple pics from the weekend

2010-05-18T11:00:00.004-05:00

Piano recital time! Cole got to play a duet with the teacher before going into his solo pieces. He was excellent!

Then we rushed out the door to the soccer game - and they won! Cole made some great stops as goalie.

Then we headed over to our church for cleaning duty. We don't have a janitorial staff so the members take turns cleaning up.

Needless to say, by 3:00 I was pooped!!

Nesting?

2010-04-23T21:16:00.006-05:00

We went for carpet, that's all! But we left with a lot more!

Last weekend Brice and I headed to a discount store in town to find a remnant piece of carpet that would work for the nursery and one for our play room/office/extra room. This discount store was having its semi-annual tent sale on this particular day. So we strolled through the tent.

We left with a love seat, a kitchen table with four chairs, and two lamps. Oh, and some carpet.

Here's the new kitchen set. We love it!! The sides of the table fold down too.

And here is one of the lamps. Looks like it was made for our bedroom, eh? Perfect match! That's turquoise trim on the lamp if you can't tell.

Picture of the love seat will come once it is in place in the new and improved extra room. Tomorrow's task is to put everything back in that room. It has all been in our dining room for two days while we got the carpet installed. I need things to return to normal now.

Naomi's Nursery

2010-04-13T13:54:00.004-05:00

My sister sent me to a fun blog where tons of people have submitted pictures of their nurseries. Some people are quite creative! After admiring some, laughing at others, I fell in love with this one:

However, when Brice and I went to register at a local baby store, we found a bedding pattern we liked and decided to go that route instead. But I just couldn't let go of the "Allison" nursery. My sister even posted the two rooms on her blog to get a vote. When I told Brice, he quickly responded that he preferred the "Allison" room too, so the final decision is made!!

We went to pick out the paint last weekend. We selected four of the color sheets, each with four colors on them, and laid them out for comparison and selection. After mere seconds I said, "Well, I know which one I like, but I'll wait 'til you make your choice." He quickly pointed to one of the 16 colors and said, "That one!" Yep, it was the one I had chosen in my head. (deep sigh) Potential conflict/discussion avoided! A guy comes Thursday to start painting!

Plus, my sister found the butterfly decals on a website for cheap. What would I do without her? Beck - please come down and help me put them on the walls just right!

So that's the nursery! Next topic . . .

For all my fans

2010-04-11T17:29:00.002-05:00

What I hear you would like to see here:

Photos of my pregnant self
Photos of the baby's room in it's before state

Nursery plans

Doctor visits

Our wedding anniversary

Cole and his amazing soccer skills
Work

You have been heard. Now to find the cord to my camera. Stay tuned . . .

Goalie

2010-04-11T17:19:00.001-05:00

Intense, Serious, Focused . . .

My Little Buddy

2010-04-07T14:03:00.003-05:00

One of the girls in our church walked in with the cutest little cell phone case! She made it herself and offered to make Brice and I one as well. So here is my new little cell phone buddy, Lily (named by the creator):

The head flips back to reveal a pouch for the phone - custom sized for my particular phone type!

If you want a Little Buddy, email Susannah at Stuckeyslittlebuddies@gmail.com!

For Stephanie

2010-03-26T13:20:00.002-05:00

Tired of looking at the spelling bee? I got to where if I pretended it wasn't there, maybe it would go away. No such luck.

Previous post: December 16, 2009

Current date: March 26, 2010

Things I could update you on: 328

I haven't and don't take many photos of my oldest child. Nothing to do with my love for him, I'm just not that kind of mom. They say there are less and less pictures with each child after. This poor new one might not get a single photo! So here is a brief update on our family - with no photos!

Brice turned 30 in January! With great age comes great responsibility. He is now the official Children's Ministry Director at our growing little church. Right now his duties revolve around Sunday morning children's church - curriculum, volunteers, supplies, worship, and now redecorating. He meets with our pastor weekly and is enjoying the tasks laid out for him. He has also completed all the necessary steps for attaining his massage therapy license. He will hopefully be setting up an "office" in the next couple of months. Oh yeah, and he's still teaching 6th graders. Please, no one ask him to do anything else!

Cole turned 10 in January! He is still my star student and competitive athlete. After a mediocre basketball season, he was ready to get back into soccer. He has begun goalkeeper training as well. His piano skills are also improving - he received a Superior + rating at his last competition. And he was recently invited to join the Duke TIP (Talent Identification Program) for excelling students. Go Cole!! But above all these things that make a momma so proud, his heart has remained tender and open to his Savior. Even Duke can't top that!

I am now 6 months pregnant! And if you haven't heard, IT'S A GIRL! Yes, we all knew it, though I held out hope we were all wrong. I'm coming to terms with the situation, being as that I can't change it. I'm actually looking forward to having another girl around - now the pets won't be my only ally. Her name is Naomi Katherine Jackson and she's a mover! Other than being pregnant, I am planning Cole's elementary school's silent auction being held at the end of April, I'm helping Brice with children's church plans, and I'm looking into making money from home instead of an office once Naomi arrives.

Brice and I celebrated 3 years last week. Doesn't seem that long, and yet it's hard to remember life without him. I'd rather not.

So, what have we learned? The Jacksons are busy - sometimes stupidly busy. But no matter what the schedule holds, we usually find time for a good game of Monopoly every few days!

Until next time . . . .

The Bee

2009-12-16T13:19:00.002-06:00

Cole was the spelling bee winner for his class this year. (3rd from the right on the front) The winners are seated, their alternates are behind them.

This picture was taken yesterday after the school-wide spelling bee between the 8 class winners to find a school winner to go to the district competition.

Cole made it through round one by spelling 'influenza', but 3 others did not survive.

The second round brought Cole the word 'surround' and he simply skipped the 'u'. He could have kicked himself.

It just wasn't meant to be. The same girl who won last year won this year. The whole thing took about 20 minutes!

He later said he was glad he didn't win because he didn't want to study words for the next month preparing for the next competition. Way to find the silver lining, Cole! :-)

My Surprise Weekend

2009-12-16T12:55:00.003-06:00

Brice told me several weeks ago that he was taking me away for the weekend of the 11th, but he wouldn't tell me where. That added a whole other level of excitement!

We hit the road at noon on Friday and headed east, then northeast. He took me to Asheville, NC! Beautiful! The reason he picked Asheville is because one of our favorite bands was playing there Saturday night at a Christmas Jam concert with several other artists. So we slept late Saturday, walked around downtown, ate yummy food, and headed to the concert.

Have you ever heard of the Warren Haynes Annual Christmas Jam? We hadn't either, but apparently it's a big deal in Asheville. We were expecting some fun Christmas tunes with the various artists playing together - a typical 3-hour concert type thing. We were wrong.

The concert lasted over 7 hours!!! Holy cow! And there was no Christmas music. It was a festival of artists playing their own music for their own set of time. And the place was packed with people smoking various things right out in the open! Our band didn't come on until 12:30 am. We left after they performed. Though not at all what we expected, it makes for a funny memory.

Sunday we visited the Biltmore Estate. After an amazing buffet at the Deerpark Restaurant, we headed over to tour the house. Gorgeous! I've always wanted to go and seeing it at Christmas was priceless.

So three cheers for my husband! He planned, printed directions, purchased tickets, and kept it all secret! Thank you, honey! Merry Christmas to me!

Christmas Concert

2009-12-08T16:32:00.005-06:00

Brice and I are unable to attend the normal Christmas piano recital this weekend, so Cole was able to show off his pieces early and in a different setting, along with a couple other students.

There is a very nice hotel here connected to our mall called The Wynfrey Hotel. A beautiful grand piano sits in the lobby/walkway of the hotel's back entrance. There Cole filled the air with Christmas tunes, Harry Potter themes, and a lovely sonata. I was a proud mama.

Occasionally the air would blow right over the music, but Dad to the rescue!

And I love how the light behind him makes him look like an angel with funny hair.

Even the grandmas came out to see the talent show!

Great job, Cole!

Our Thanksgiving

2009-12-04T10:40:00.004-06:00

It was just adults for this Thanksgiving. Both sets of parents came over and the six of us had a great meal and fun conversation. It was just a good day.

But before the meal began, Brice and I sat the parents down to tell them how thankful we are for them. We even had a little gift for the moms. T-shirts - of course! Check it out:

Now, the important thing to note is that before this day, mom thought she had only 6 grandkids and my mother-in-law had only 4. But not anymore!! That's right . . .

We're having a baby!

Here's the little peanut:

Baby is due to arrive around July 4th.

The parents were very excited, squeals and hugs all around! My brother and sister, who already knew, were listening in on the event via cell phones strategically placed in the room. Such fun!

So maybe I'll start blogging again, eh?

The Phone Book Surprise

2009-11-12T15:38:00.002-06:00

At Cole's school today, teachers handed out the school directory to all students. This is the yearly publication with all students' names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. Guess who's artwork was on the front cover??

Something New

2009-11-09T20:57:00.002-06:00

Us at the U2 concert in Atlanta

Goodbye to Wubba #1

2009-08-31T20:36:00.004-05:00

Our puppy is a chewer - she's a Lab! Initially we had some trouble finding a toy that would last longer than a week in our house. Eventually, we learned what she'd destroy and what would make it a while. Three cheers for the Kong brand!

This is Daisy's favorite toy:

It should last us 'til Christmas. This is what it replaced:

She plays hard!

Peek-a-Boo!

2009-08-24T12:42:00.003-05:00

New Do for 32!

2009-08-24T11:58:00.007-05:00

It was time for a haircut, she did it a bit shorter than I envisioned, but kinda sassy! I think I like it!

Yes, my birthday was this past Friday. It was a week of celebrations, but I don't have many photos.

Wednesday night we went over to Brice's parents for dinner. His brother's family was in town with their newborn and I was looking forward to holding the little bundle. After dinner, I was presented with a cake, cards, and a beautiful poster colored by my nephews. Such a sweet surprise! (no photos)

Thursday night my boys took me out for Mexican, my favorite cuisine! We went home to play a game of my choice, which, of course, was Mario Kart! (no photos)

Friday, my actual birthday, began as usual - breakfast and goodbye to the boys. The next hour was filled with various phone calls from family members and I must give props to my brother: he was the first to call and from China! That afternoon I left with my mom for her church's women's conference in Shocco Springs. It was basically a 24-hour conference with worship, games, lessons, and we had a great time! How appropriate that I spend my birthday with my mom, the birther! She brought a couple of presents for me to open in the hotel room - isn't she sweet!

Yea Mom!

Saturday night Brice had arranged for some some friends to meet us for dinner. Then we all went to see a band where a friend of ours is the drummer. Good times! (no photos)

Sunday night we headed over to a friend's house under the guise that we're having a meeting about the children's ministry at our church. After we opened in prayer, all the kids entered with balloons singing Happy Birthday and Shannon brought out a yummy chocolate cake! Turns out that another girl there had a birthday Saturday so our sweet friends decided to have a joint celebration for us! So sweet! We played a Newlywed type game - very fun, lots of laughs!! (no photos)

So, yeah, it was a great week. Shout out to my hubby for trying so hard to make me feel special - and succeeding!

In the Name of Love

2009-08-15T22:02:00.011-05:00

My sister and brother-in-law are at a conference this weekend so mom and I flew up to keep the kids for them. You may recall that I did this by myself in the spring. I must admit that it's more fun having another grown up around!

My sister is so good about taking photos of her kids, so I thought I would make sure that continued in her absence. For those of you that read her blog regularly and are therefore going through withdrawal, here are several photos of our two days together.

There have been many bubbles

Memom is quite the cook!

"Can you find the blue marble?"

After retrieving the mail

Bedtime stories

Special breakfast outing with Aunt Anna - yea McD's Playland!

Playing at the park's water pump

A couple of cool peeps!

Just chillin' in the shade

Den Picnic - chicken nuggets and Cinderella!

We've had fun - and we're all tired! The parents return tomorrow night, hopefully in time to tuck in the kiddos and let them say "Happy Birthday" to their daddy!

Back to School!

2009-08-12T21:13:00.004-05:00

It's official - my boy is a 4th grader!

And the 1st different thing this year - he is riding the bus! Thankfully, the boy across the street was in his class last year and the two boys down the road go to our church, so he was in good company and had fun.

He said his 1st day was "Awesome!" However, he has a "strict teacher and lots of troublmakers in his class." I'm not worried. He'll love her in no time and she'll straighten those kids out.

So back to homework, back to early mornings, back to packing lunches, back to routine!!!!

2009-08-07T10:24:00.012-05:00

Last week, our baby church ventured out to have a VBS-style event in people's own backyards. It was called Rock the Block. We had 3 host homes that averaged 15 kids every day. Two clubs met in the morning but mine met in the evening. This was our way to take God into our communities, reaching out to local kids and developing relationships with the parents.

And what fun it was!

There were crafts,

puzzles,

games,

teaching,

singing,

jumping,

water balloon tossing,

and watermelon!

Several kids asked if we could do it again next week! I take that as a good sign!

Brice is glad that it's over, being that he was in charge of getting the whole thing organized. Big shout out to The Church of Brook Hills for their generosity - they donated supplies and personally came out to our church for training! It was definitely a great time for all involved!

Cow Day

2009-07-22T11:43:00.007-05:00

If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you know that the Jacksons love free food! Chick-fil-A and Bruster's are two of our favorite places to get it! So of course we participated in the recent Cow Appreciation Day at CFA.

It was such fun to see the restaurant filled with fellow cows grazing on their nuggets and fries! A family from our neighborhood was there with all 3 kiddos in full attire! Unfortunately, Brice couldn't eat with us - he had class that night. But he wasn't going to miss out on the opportunity. He still dressed up and grabbed his free meal through the drive through on his way to school!

Long live the cow!

The Big 4-0 for Big Bro

2009-07-16T11:18:00.003-05:00

This summer my brother turned 40. That's even weird to type! Fortunately, my brother is 8 years older than me so I have a little ways to go! :-)

When he arrived from China, we were all shocked to see a yellow/orange head of hair! This was his attempt to outdo anything we were planning for him. He's a one-upper, if you know what I mean. Thankfully, his mid-life crisis display will grown out and be just a memory. But we do have plenty of photos to make sure we never forget!

My mom's brother and his family came up from Florida for the festivities as well as her cousin and his wife who live locally. I didn't know my parents house could hold that many people, much less get them all around a table to eat!

Mom had an Andy-centered bingo game for the kids, Brice and I did an 80's pop culture Jeopardy game, and Becky collected messages from people in Andy's past. Good times.

And in true Cheely fashion, a t-shirt was involved! Three cheers for my clever sister!

It's a puzzle - can you figure it out? (The top right picture on the gals is a knot.)

Family Fun

2009-07-16T11:11:00.009-05:00

If you read my sister's blog, then sorry for the duplication.

I mentioned before that we had my whole family together for a week this summer. It was a crazy week buts lots of fun! Of course, we had to get a family photo since these occasions are few and far between - and people keep having kids!

You'll notice that each family unit is wearing the same color t-shirt. That is to help onlookers be able to identify which kids go with which adults and which adults belong together. Yes, we Cheelys have a thing about t-shirts (see my next post).

Enjoy!

Men's Night Out

2009-07-14T11:25:00.004-05:00

We had lots of extended family (on my side) come in town in the month of June. It's been over 2 years since we've all been together, and the first time Becky's youngest has been a part of the reunion! I'll have more pictures on that special time later.

One night, all the men went out to watch a baseball game - for that's what men do, right? We ladies stayed home with the youngest children and chatted over peach tea. (Please read that sentence with an old-South accent) Half-way through the night, my Aunt gets a text telling mom to check her e-mail. This is what we saw:

Yep, that's my two boys on the field playing one of the between-innings games. Here's a better look:

Brice is throwing inflatable rings over a cone on Cole's head! They didn't win but got some cool t-shirts for playing. They also came home with a couple of baseballs hit into the stands.

Male bonding at its best!

Hotlanta!

2009-07-08T11:17:00.027-05:00

Family Summer Vacation, June 18-21, 2009

This summer, we spent four days in Atlanta, GA for our family trip. Man, was it hot!! We still had a great time though! The three of us travel very well together. We're all pretty flexible, as long as I have some sort of idea of a semi-plan. :-)

Thursday morning we left early to make a 10:00 am tour of the CNN Center. I had been with my family as a kid and remembered thinking it was pretty cool. One of the great things about Cole is his desire to learn. He wants to understand how things work. So once we started exploring how the news gets produced, he was hooked! Loved every bit of it! Plus he got to ride a really cool escalator into a globe . . .

After the CNN tour, we headed across the street to Olympic Park for a picnic lunch. They have live music in the summer on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the park's amphitheater. We ate our sandwiches and threw the frisbee while the band played and kids danced in the fountains. It just felt good.

After lunch, we walked to the other end of the park to the World of Coca-Cola museum. Such a cool place! I remembered this too from when I was a kid. But back then, the building was by Underground and it had this really cool tasting room where a machine would shoot Coke in a perfect arch into your cup. Not anymore. Now the tasting room has 5 drink stations with various types of sodas from different regions of the world!

Tasting Room

After Coke, we walked through Underground - not much to see there. However, they do have a Rita's. I first heard about Rita's when I visited my friend Marci back when she lived in Maryland. They raved about Rita's and took me to get my first Gelati - combo of Italian Ice and Frozen Custard. Mmmm! Rumor has it we're getting a couple in Birmingham this summer!

So, we ate at Johnny Rocket's, got some Gelati at Rita's, took a photo on the brick train outside, prayed with a homeless man, then headed north to our hotel.

After an evening of swimming, we put Cole to bed. Now, when we travel and stay in a hotel, Brice and I put Cole to bed and then go down to the hotel lobby while he's falling asleep. There, in the midst of the tables and chairs, you will find us in fierce competition. Phase 10 is a trip favorite but this year we had Super Racko too! It was brutal. Chairs were flying, juice was spilled, tables were broken - ok, not really, but it was nightly competitive fun!

Friday we slept in then headed to Stone Mountain. The biggest hit there - the Sky Hike! It's a three-level ropes adventure course. There are several sections for you to cross, safely harnessed and attached to the top railing, of course! Cole started out nervous, but as soon as he got out there, he wanted to do it all!

We also decided to Ride the Ducks! We took a tour of the park in an old land/water military vehicle. We went out on the lake where the kids on the "boat" could drive a little bit. Capt. Bill was lots of fun! Everyone was given quackers which made remarkably real duck sounds. I'm betting most of them disappeared before families made it to the car for their journies home!

We had a lot of fun in the park - watching the 4D Journey to the Center of the Earth, playing mini golf, watching a glassblower, walking the ropes again. And of course, watching the Lasershow Spectacular! Here's Cole with the Campfire Stories storyteller (he was great) and a worker named Andrew!

Saturday we drove up to Dawsonville to the Kangaroo Conservation Center. SO FUN! It is the largest kangaroo collection outside of Australia. Located on 87 acres, there are hundreds of kangaroos, some wallabies, and various Aussie species of birds and lizards. We took a tour through the park and the kangaroos would just stop and stare at us. It was HOT so they mostly hung out under trees. And we saw a few joeys popping out of their pouch! Beautiful place!

There was a boomerang demonstration and "lesson" where everyone could try a throw.

And they have a "pet" deer! I've never pet a deer before! It was really cool. She wasn't scared of us at all. And if you look closely at her tummy, you can see that she's pregnant!

That Sunday was Father's Day so Dad got to make the choices that day. We were planning to play some mini-golf before hitting the road, but it was so jokin' hot that Brice called it off - and we were ok with that! We ate lunch at the same restaurant where we'd had dinner the night before: Max & Erma's. Dads ate free! And as seen below, the Jackson competitive spirit is being passed down to the next generation - they are in a heated dot-to-dot game.

Recap: fun trip, it was hot, good times, it was hot, made some memories, and it was hot!

Welcome Summer!

2009-06-05T23:47:00.004-05:00

Every year I decide to try growing my hair out one more time.
Then every year I get fed up with it and cut it off again - usually when it begins to get hot.

Ta da!

I feel so much lighter! Yea!!

A Quick Look at May

2009-06-05T22:26:00.011-05:00

May is usually a busy month - Brice is finishing up the school year and closing up his room for the summer while Cole is finishing up his school year with a bunch of "end-of-the-year" events.

One such event is the elementary school Honors Day where teachers give out awards to outstanding students. Last year, Cole received the Outstanding Achievement in Music award for his class. This year, he was chosen to receive the Outstanding Achievement in Physical Education. He also got a certificate for being on the A Honor Roll all year. My baby! :-)

Also this month, my dad became a doctor! Yes, he is now Dr. Rev. R.T. Cheely. Birmingham Theological Seminary honored my dad with an honorary doctorate for his lifetime of service in ministry. It was a very special moment and dad was obviously surprised and deeply touched. Picture is blurry, but it's all I got!

Oh, and we got a puppy this month!

Finally, Brice and I ended the month with a killer fun date! We used one of our gift cards from our silent auction date basket and went to Sips n' Strokes. We had such a good time! You can bring whatever you want to drink and you get your own canvas to paint a picture with stroke-by-stroke instructions.

And the finished product: (can you tell what it is?)

If you're looking for something different than a dinner/movie night out, try this! It's really fun and it doesn't matter what your painting ends up looking like!

So there's a few highlights from the month!

Progress Report

2009-06-05T22:15:00.003-05:00

In the past, I've mentioned a little girl struggling to live through cancer, chemo, and a stem cell transfusion. I thought you might like to see her now:

This is beautiful, sweet Hannah Grace. You can see her hair is coming back in and she's already got her pink accessories back in action! She has to come to the hospital once a week now just for them to check her levels. Basically, she just lacks a strong immune system - you can keep praying for that. Other than that, she's looking good!

It's been a tough year, but God has shown his power and mercy over and over again. Lives have been changed and His glory has prevailed through it all!

Soccer Season

2009-06-02T09:13:00.007-05:00

Cole grew a lot in his soccer skills this season. After losing the 1st three games and feeling pretty down, they began playing teams a bit more on their level and had some success. He actually played goalie for parts of the last two games and did really well! Though it's much more nerve-racking for his mom to watch when he's goalie! Here are some shots from a couple of the games.

Piano Recital

2009-05-14T10:40:00.000-05:00

This weekend was Cole's 2nd piano recital. I think he felt much better than he did for his 1st one. He did a much better job too! Plus there were half as many people there. The teacher let the parents choose between 3 recital times which cut the time down dramatically

His performing class:

The last piece he played is a familiar Beethoven tune, Fur Elise. He had heard me play this a couple of times and liked the song. So he set to figuring out the notes himself. Once he found the melody, I showed him some left hand work. He performed it for his piano teacher who encouraged him to learn a little bit more, with some adjustments and then include it in his recital repertoire. Because of the "spin" he put on the song, it was listed in the recital program as:

Beethoven's Fur Elise ____________ arr. Cole Jackson

A little professional! I love to watch how he moves when he plays!

Yep, he's tacky!

2009-05-13T14:38:00.006-05:00

Yesterday was Tacky Tuesday at Cole's school. Check him out:

Inside out, backwords, and mismatched! That's my boy!

Keeping it in the Family

2009-05-12T09:18:00.005-05:00

Businesses that exist for the purpose of providing delicious food usually don't give out their recipes for said items. Otherwise we would make the stuff at home and not visit their establishment. That's how some businesses got started actually, keeping the recipe in the family.

My mom makes an amazing pie from a recipe her mom had. I remember falling in love with the pie as a child, the night she served it to our family and a visiting missionary family, the Foucachons. From then on I referred to it as the Foucachon Pie. Every visitor that tasted this dessert asked for the recipe, but mom just wouldn't give it out. Why? Because this pie was special! And by keeping it in the family, it stayed special. It stayed special for us kids too - she wouldn't even give it to us as grown adults!

Until now . . .

This Christmas, I opened a small box with a single piece of paper in it: the recipe for Foucachon Pie!

Yeah, it was a big deal.

We recently celebrated mom's birthday, 11 days after the actual day. So I made her a Mocha Nut Pie - with candles and everything!

Verdict: She loved it! Yea! Looks yummy, eh?

I'll be happy to share a piece with you, just not the recipe. Gotta keep it in the family, you know!

Add it to the list!

2009-05-09T15:25:00.004-05:00

Well, it's almost Mother's Day. And I'm going to take advantage of my right as a mother to say how proud I am of my son!

Those of you who know him know that he is a boy of many talents. I've known he is smart and I've known he is naturally athletic. And I've also learned that he is a growing musician. But what I didn't know was that he can also be called an artist! Check this out:

This is a drawing of his "dream school" per an assignment in art class. He needed to use an alternate energy source so he chose water, as seen in the waterfalls on either side. I can't remember what every little thing is, but he could tell you!

Last week we received an invitation to an art awards ceremony at a studio downtown. What?? Unfortunately, it fell on a night that we had a soccer game so we could not attend. However, his bag of "goodies" was given to him at school the next day. He received a set of colored pencils, a drawing tablet, a set of notecards with various students' drawings, and this certificate:

He was so excited! And I, of course, was very proud of him!

A long time comin'

2009-05-04T21:25:00.011-05:00

So Brice and I took the shameless mother cat to the Humane Society. And there was much rejoicing. While there we saw several other animals being surrendered - a litter of German Shepherd mix puppies, a few "Marley" dogs, a litter of kittens, and a cat bigger than Simba! We played with the dogs and smiled at the kittens while we waited for our cat to be extracted from our cage. And there was much rejoicing.

Then came a young woman with a small cardboard box in hand. Echoes of "Awe!" and "How cute!" filled the room from those who looked in. I had to see what was drawing such responses! The girl remarked, "I just found it in my house." Then I saw her - one lone dark brown puppy. I gasped and immediately asked if I could hold her. Once in my arms, the puppy laid against my chest and nuzzled into my neck. That was all it took. I looked at Brice, Brice looked at me, and we agreed. And there was much rejoicing!

Meet Daisy, our 6-week old Chocolate Lab:

We didn't tell Cole until we went to pick her up from the vet the next day. He didn't know whether we were serious or not. It took some convincing for him to finally believe that she was ours!

She's been so sweet. She sleeps a lot and is learning how to play. Of course, I'm elated, but the boys are hooked too!

We weren't sure how Macie would respond. She reacted immediately. I've never seen so many of her hairs stand on end at the same time. Even her tail was bushy! She watched from a distance as Daisy explored various rooms in the house. She still watches, but she gets much closer. Daisy, however, doesn't give her one bit of attention!

And she loves the monkey grass! She gets lost in it. We are definitely smitten!

I'm sure there will be numerous blogs and pictures of our new blessing as we train her and play with her. But for now, we'll let her keep sleeping on her monkey.

Just Another Day in Talladega

2009-05-03T22:59:00.004-05:00

The boys were back in town to race 188 laps around Talladega Super Speedway and me and my girls were front and center! It was a great day! The weather wasn't too hot, good conversation, lots of laughs, and plenty of action on the track.

And Becky - this time I made sure I was IN the picture so you'd know for sure that I really was there!

Kittens, Kittens, and a CAT!

2009-05-03T22:44:00.010-05:00

Once we found out there were more kittens in the crawl space, Brice set out to catch them - and to figure out how they were still getting in! He set our small trap and by the next morning, we had caught kitten #1!

We've been referring to her as Macie Jr. Within a few days, we caught kittens 2, 3, and 4! Two black and two gray - probably two males and two females. They are a handful but so cute! They know they are family and stay close together. And they love their stuffed squirrel!

The best news is that we finally caught the mom! NO MORE KITTENS!!!!!!!!

We would love to find good homes for these last precious 4. If you know anyone willing or looking, please let us know. Here are their individual pictures:

I thought we fixed this!

2009-04-24T23:47:00.000-05:00

we have more kittens in our crawl space

My 1st Silent Auction

2009-04-24T23:21:00.007-05:00

Cole's school had its Spring Fling today. It's basically a Fall Festival, but in the spring! His class was in charge of the cake walk so Brice and I did our duty working the station. It was definitely the best place to be! Fun music, always a crowd, and air conditioned!

The gymnasium held tables filled with various goodies for the Silent Auction. Individual items and certificates lined a few of the tables while themed baskets filled the others. Cole's class was in charge of a "Gift Card Mania" basket with various restaurants represented. We did such a good job soliciting donations that we actually made two "baskets" for the auction. The room mother got cute bulletin boards to display the certificates. I definitely wanted to bid on one of those!

Brice and I scoped out the merchandise and narrowed our picks down to 6-7 items of interest. We made some bids and then left to take Cole to soccer. An hour later, just before the auction was scheduled to end, Brice went back to the school to check the status of our bids. We had been outbid on all of them so he made one more round and upped our bid on the top 5 that we wanted.

We won them all.

This represents 4 tickets to see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" performed by a local theater group, 4 tickets to the Coca Cola museum (we are going to Atlanta in June), and the e-mail is referencing a free week of basketball camp for Cole this summer!

Plus we won two of the themed baskets. This one is called, "Parents' Night Out."

It's hard to see what all is represented there, so here's the list:

We are so psyched!

The other item was one of the restaurant bulletin boards I helped create. Oh yeah!

"How much was all that?" you ask. Not cheap, but trust me, we are saving so much date money over the next several months! Plus the ticket stuff for the summer is much less than we would have paid retail. And it's all for the school anyway!! :-)

Did you know

2009-04-22T21:53:00.004-05:00

that there are enough letters in the game Bananagrams to spell one of the longest words in the dictionary?

The things you learn when your nine-year-old spends a day at work with you!

Transformations

2009-04-22T21:00:00.007-05:00

Generally speaking, where is the first place people go when they wake up in the morning? Probably the same place they were just before getting into bed the night before. The bathroom. If our bedroom is our oasis, then our bathroom is the canteen.

In a small shared bathroom, parties involved must time their usage of the bathroom carefully so as not to interfere with other said party. For example, why does Brice want to brush his teeth while I'm washing my face?

We have a small bathroom. We have a really tiny bathroom. And it's old. The tile is crumbling in the floor, the caulk in the shower is multi-colored and uncleanable, and the sliding shower doors are foggy-type glass and always look dirty. Well, change that "is" to "was" folks cuz look what we got now!

New shower, new shower doors, new toilet, new floor!! It's so exciting! And get this, when they got to ripping the old out, they found a foot of extra space in the back and above the shower!

See the extra space? And notice the doors - they are clear. This makes the room feel bigger because it looks open and not cut in half. The picture below is just to give you an idea of the dimensions of the room:

Yep, small. But now, every night before we go to bed and every morning when we wake up, we enter our bathroom with joy and gratefulness. It's amazing how a bigger, nicer shower can change your perspective! And it's so pretty.

What's Your Blues Name?

2009-04-10T09:22:00.001-05:00

Recently, our family ate at a fun, tasty restaurant. On the table was the following card:

We laughed so hard coming up with various combinations! Try it out and leave your blues name in the comments.

-- Fat Harp Washington

My Fortune

2009-04-09T14:57:00.006-05:00

Brice and I had a date night last weekend. He did the planning, I was to just go along for the ride. The afternoon before we went out, I was banished from the kitchen and confined to the bedroom while Brice cooked up something that required the timer to go off every 5 minutes! What could he possibly be making? He did tell me that his mom and sister-in-law had warned him it was hard to make. I waited. Eventually, he came to tell me to get ready to go out to eat. Out? Hadn't he been cooking?

We headed out to get dinner. Now, months ago we purchased a couple of $25 gift certificates at restaurant.com for $2. My economical husband decided to use one, so we ate at:

We love some Chinese food! Brice brought a bag of something in with us - so mysterious! The food was average, but what came next was the best! Brice pulled out the bag and revealed a bowl full of fortune cookies - homemade fortune cookies!

That's what he had been making all afternoon! Yes, he made fortune cookies from scratch all by himself! What a guy! The fun came in opening them each up. They all had some kind of quote, memory, or sentiment in them. He's so stinkin' creative!

Fun times! Good conversation! Lots of laughs! I think I'll keep dating him!

Wicked

2009-04-08T16:09:00.012-05:00

Brice and I love musical theater. We love to be

in the shows, but we love to see them as well. Last

year we had season tickets to the Broadway

series in town. This year, only one of the

shows looked appealing: Wicked. I've been

wanting to see this show for a while and it

was worth the wait. The story is based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, though there are several dramatic differences. It tells of Oz's witches - Glinda the Good and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West - before Dorothy came along.

The talent was amazing! The two leads were Marcie Dodd as Elphaba and Helene Yorke as Glinda. Their blend was incredible. The power in their voices wasn't too much. And they could sustain long clear notes without jumping right into vibrato! We thoroughly enjoyed it.

Marcie Dodd as Elphaba

Oh, and remember this guy?

He's been on several TV shows but is most known for his role on Frazier. He is playing the Wizard!

The show is here for several more days and then touring around the country. Check for your city and get info on the show here!

Milestones

2009-03-31T20:33:00.005-05:00

From dictionary.com:

milestone
n.
1. A stone marker set up on a roadside to indicate the distance in miles from a given point.
2. An important event, as in a person's career, the history of a nation, or the advancement of knowledge in a field; a turning point.

My car passed a milestone this week. Yep, she's over 90,000 miles old now and still going strong. It got me thinking though about milestones in life. You know, the things that leave a mark, show growth, create a turning point. Wikipedia says: Milestones are constructed to reassure travellers that the proper path is being followed, and to indicate either distance travelled or the remaining distance to a destination.

Some of my milestones:
Becoming a mother
Learning to stand up for myself
Realizing my parents are people with dreams too
Understanding that grace should be given as readily as it is received
Marrying the man of my dreams
Singing my first solo
Forgiving the deepest of hurts
Acknowledging that God really does loves me that much
Learning to let go

I am consistently reminded of the remaining distance to my destination. I know I've got a long way to go, but it's about the journey, right?

What are some of your milestones?

My time in St. Louis

2009-03-30T19:39:00.016-05:00

My sister and her husband haven't been away for a weekend by themselves since they had children. They needed it - and deserved it! So they used an airline voucher to fly me up there to take care of the kids so they could have a much needed getaway. What a weekend!! I had a ball and I'm tired. I don't know how she does it every day of her life. She's my hero. You should check out her blog for great stories and perspective on the kids: The Blue Hutch

Their family is celebrating Easter every day with a different activity. Our activity for Friday was making sheep - for all we like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned his own way, but the Lord has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

I also brought, from Memom and Pop, the new Mrs. Patty Cake video. It might be one word, I don't know. Anyway, the kids loved it. I think we watched it every day.

The girls are very sweet with each other. Little is such a great big sister and KB returns the sentiment. She is not being held against her will here.

The youngest, KB, is 18 months old and SO cute! She's into everything which kept me on my toes. She's trying so hard to talk and in her little mind, I'm sure she makes complete sense! We took a spin around the kitchen in the laundry-mobile.

The weather was beautiful Friday, rainy and cold Saturday, and Sunday morning the kids woke up to snow!! Kinda reminds me of Birmingham weather!

The kids love to color. I do too, so it was fun to join in! Here we are coloring our animal face masks. Each has their own unique style. It's fun to watch.

And here is Little showing off her cat face. She was so excited about it and referred to it throughout the weekend. She also added more colors to it as the weekend went on.

I was a bit nervous about bathing all three kids, but Becky suggested doing them in shifts throughout the day. Great idea! Then I could just focus on one at a time! I just thought this was too cute of a picture.

Bubba is fervently coloring here while KB has emptied his book basket and insisted on walking around with it on her head. Of course, once I said, "Wheeeeere's KB?" the game was on.

The kids did well without their parents around. They didn't cry for them or ask repeatedly when they were coming home. But they did miss them. The reunion was a happy one.

We had made a Welcome Home sign with crayons, markers, and stickers. It greeted mom and dad as they walked through the door.

I had such a fun time. I love those kids so much. It's weird how you can love someone else's children almost as much as you love yours.

My boys were glad to have me back as I was glad to be back. After NC and now MO, I'm glad to be home for a while - with my 9 year old! :-)

Our Time in NC

2009-03-25T15:12:00.017-05:00

We headed up to Cary/Raleigh, NC last Wednesday to spend some time with Brice's brother, Corey, and his family. Corey graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary and completed all other qualifications to become an official PCA Teaching Elder (Pastor). Sunday night he was ordained and installed. Our childhood pastor, Dr. Barker, flew up to preach the service. It was great to hear him again! Congratulations, Rev. Jackson!

While we were there, we did a few other fun things . We love some miniature golf and taking fun pictures. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera on this trip so the phone is all we had.

I know this picture is a bit small and hard to read, but it was taken just to prove the scores of this momentous game: Cole 41, Anna 42, Brice 43. Oh yeah!

The weather was gorgeous while we were there so we took lots of walks, including a long hike around Lake Pine. Check out all the little turtles!

Another fun thing we did was go to Duke University for an afternoon. What a gorgeous campus! Brice has always been a Duke fan so it was really great for him to get to see where it all began. We bought school spirit paraphernalia:

Then we headed over to the famous basketball stadium, Cameron, with high hopes!

Unfortunately, every single door to the building was locked - yes we checked every one!

But Duke does have a beautiful on-campus garden with a few lakes, numerous flowers/plants, and great photo opps!

On the drive back home, we stopped in Greenville to play at a great adventureland place - arcade, mini golf, bumper boats, batting cages, etc. - even a mini bowling alley!

The facility has a Johnny Rockets inside - apparently a new one! A member of their corporate team asked if we would like to have a free lunch so the crew could practice. Hmm . . . ok! So we all got free burgers, fries, and samples of their milkshakes. Then one of the managers came over and gave us a free chocolate sundae (he liked us). The staff had choreographed dances and really got into it! It was a wonderful surprise!

Then we continued the drive home. Brice wanted to watch a movie on his laptop but the sun was too bright to see the screen. His solution:

Yes, he and the computer are tucked under his jacket. Other than having to come up for fresh air every half hour, it worked pretty well.

It was another very enjoyable trip by the Jacksons. And as always, we are glad to be home!!

Just found this photo

2009-03-25T11:24:00.004-05:00

A few months ago, Cole's school had a multi-cultural celebration where the 3rd-5th graders performed. Every year they pick a couple of countries that are represented in the heritage of kids in the student body. This year the focus was on Spain and Mexico. The kids sang, played instruments, and danced. It was so fun to watch! I don't think I blogged about it at the time.

Well here is our little performer playing an instrument that I can't pronounce, much less spell, without Cole's help. He was so serious about his job and did great!

(cell phone picture - hence the quality)

Quail anyone?

2009-03-25T11:21:00.003-05:00

Ever had quail? I hadn't before our Valentine's feast. It's so good!! Doesn't it look pretty?

Happy Anniversary!

2009-03-17T14:33:00.005-05:00

Today marks two years that I've been Mrs. Jackson. Definitely two of the best years of my life. I've grown a ton and have become more comfortable with who I am, just being me. Brice is such a leader and great example for me - and for Cole.

So here's to you, baby, and another great year together!

I tried!

2009-03-06T10:22:00.004-06:00

My husband loves red velvet cake, it's his favorite. We went to the flea market this past weekend and saw a table of cakes with a fresh red velvet for $25 - not really a flea market price! We walked on. Then Wednesday he texted me something about a red velvet cake, so I got an idea - surprise him with one for dessert that night! I had already planned to cook some chicken & noodles and, get this, fried green tomatoes!

So after work I headed to a local bakery, but they didn't have any left. Then I remembered how good Publix's cakes are. I drove to Publix #1, but they didn't have any either. Customer service called another store and they did have one. So I headed to Publix #2 to get the little $6 red velvet cake.

On my way home to get started with cooking, Brice called me and reminded me that we were going to meet some friends for dinner because it is one's birthday this week. Man! Well, there went my dinner and cake surprise. So I kept the cake wrapped in its grocery bag and put it in the frig for Thursday.

We went to O'Carrs for dinner that night. After everyone finished eating, Courtney unveiled the cake she had made for her husband's birthday. Yep, you guessed it - red velvet! I couldn't believe it. All my effort to get Brice a red velvet cake and he had a piece coming to him all along!

Last night we did end up having the dinner I planned to cook, including the cake. Definitely wasn't as good as Courtney's fresh homemade version!

Oh, and happy birthday Geoffrey! We hope you have a great day!!

Anyone Between 30 and 50 Will Get This

2009-03-03T20:11:00.001-06:00

My Tulips

2009-03-03T19:57:00.005-06:00

I love flowers! My dear friend, Heather, came from Texas to visit family this weekend. She and her sweet 3-year-old stayed with us while they were in town. I came home to find beautiful tulips on my kitchen table. She even went for the color of the flowers I had in my wedding! So precious of you, Heather. Thank you!

Macie likes them too! You can see the flower on the far right has lost several petals as well as some chew marks on the leaf below it! Oh well, at least she stuck with that one and didn't trash the whole display!

The Ending of an Era

2009-03-02T21:42:00.008-06:00

Years ago, my brother taught me a game called Settlers of Catan. I was overwhelmed by it and didn't play it again . . . until I met Brice.

Brice started talking about this game that he used to play with his friends and his dad until wee hours of the morning. As he described the game, I realized it was the same one my brother had taught me. But since Brice loved it, I thought I'd give it another try. After a couple of games, I was hooked! So Brice and his dad and I play a few games every Sunday night -sometimes with our friend, Mac, when he's in town. We play with the same old game they've had for years.

Last night, that all changed. In one swift, yet slow motion, move, Brice's drink spilled all over the game board in the middle of our first game of the evening. The cardboard pieces quickly began drinking up every bit of liquid as it spread from piece to piece. We tried to pat them dry, but the damage was done and there was no chance of recovery. So we said good-bye to our old faithful friend:

And hello to our new one:

That's right, we could not be deterred! David immediately left for Barnes & Noble to get us a new game. And the game goes on!

On a side note, I found a dice version of the game that can be played with 2 or more people. Now Brice and I can get our Settlers fix between Sundays! :-)

If you wanna play, come on over!!

Seasons in Alabama

2009-03-01T14:56:00.007-06:00

This is a tricky time of year in Alabama. The weather changes drastically every few days so you have to keep both seasons of clothes handy. We had beautiful 60's temperatures last week. And today is March 1. So naturally, what did I wake up to this morning?

Beautiful, isn't it? Now those of you reading this from Kentucky and Missouri can laugh all you want - but you've both lived in Alabama and know this was a big deal! For the next few hours, it poured down!

Macie was quite curious about the white blanket covering everything outside her house. She was glued to the windows!

Cole wasn't with us this morning, so we didn't get out and play in it - although I'm told he did! We stayed in, drank coffee, and watched a movie. It is now mid-afternoon and this is the view from my house:

Beautiful, isn't it?

And the forecast for next weekend? High of 74.

Best of the Best from the Best

2009-02-23T21:38:00.003-06:00

From Oscar.com:

Officially named the Academy Award of Merit, the statuette is better known by its nickname, Oscar. While the origins of the moniker aren’t clear, a popular story has it that upon seeing the trophy for the first time, Academy librarian (and eventual executive director) Margaret Herrick remarked that it resembled her Uncle Oscar. The Academy didn’t adopt the nickname officially until 1939, but it was widely known enough by 1934 that Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky used it in a piece referring to Katharine Hepburn’s first Best Actress win.

In light of the previous post, I thought I'd share some of Brice's thoughts on the 81 Best Picture Winners from the Academy. These are what he considers to be the top 25:

1. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. Ordinary People
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
4. West Side Story
5. On the Waterfront
6. Schindler’s List
7. Casablanca
8. The Bridge on the River Kwai
9. The Godfather
10. Braveheart
11. Gandhi
12. Gentleman’s Agreement
13. Ben-hur
14. Crash
15. It Happened One Night
16. Silence of the Lambs
17. My Fair Lady
18. The Sound of Music
19. Forrest Gump
20. Slumdog Millionaire
21. American Beauty
22. Kramer Vs. Kramer
23. All the King’s Men
24. Chicago
25. In the Heat of the Night

These are what he considers to be the bottom ten:

1. The Lost Weekend
2. Cavalcade
3. An American in Paris
4. Oliver!
5. The Last Emperor
6. Midnight Cowboy
7. The English Patient
8. Gigi
9. Cimarron
10. Marty

Facts about Oscars:

* Only Best Pictures to Dominate the Main 5 Categories
(Best Picture, Director, Screen Play, Actor, and Actress)
- It Happened One Night - 1934
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - 1975
- Silence of the Lambs - 1991
* Best Picture Winners Tie for Receiving 11 Oscars:
- Ben-hur – 1959
- Titanic – 1997
- Lord of the Rings the Return of the King – 2003
* Best Picture Winners that Failed to Win Any other Awards
- Broadway Melody (1929)
- Grand Hotel (1932)
- Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
* Shortest Best Picture Film: Marty - 91 minutes
* Longest Best Picture Film: Lawrence of Arabia – 222 minutes

Oscar Night

2009-02-23T08:33:00.007-06:00

The Oscars - Brice's favorite night of the year. Brice is a big movie buff. Just this week he accomplished a major feat: he has now seen every Best Picture Winner since the Oscars began in the late 20's! That's 81 movies - and not all of them enjoyable!

Last night was the 81st Annual Academy Awards so we had some folks over and made a night of it! I love parties! I love decorating and preparing food and playing games and laughing and watching people have a good time. Well it was all of the above!

As people arrived, we taped a movie character to their back. They had to figure out who they were by asking yes/no questions. And for some strange reason, we all kept our character names on for the remainder of the evening. The toughest by far was Atticus Finch - good job Geoffrey!! Mac hates musicals (even though he's a musician) so he was appropriately given the following:

Maria - The Sound of Music

We also had a challenge for everyone to find as many Best Picture winners in this puzzle:

And then came the big event! We had ballots for every one to mark who they thought would win each category. This made even the Sound Editing award interesting!

We had a collection of previous Best Picture winners to give to the person who guessed the most correct awards. Mac won with an amazing 17/24! We also had some movie trivia cards for whoever found the most winners in the puzzle - Mac won those as well! So in case you can't tell, Mac is a big movie buff too!

Thanks to those who came for creating a fun evening! We'll see you next year!

An Unexpected Blessing

2009-02-16T22:16:00.003-06:00

Remember this photo?

Well, you shouldn't - you've never seen it before! Maybe you're thinking of this one:

Can you tell what's different? First of all, the one on top is a shade or two darker. But more importantly, the one on top is new while the 2nd one is used. But wait, you say, they are both sitting in your house! How can that be? Ok, here's the story:

We bought Cole a 2007 used piano (immediately above) and gave it to him for his birthday a few weeks ago - see previous post. The day it was delivered, I played it and noticed that one particular string made a horrible buzzing sound, like metal vibrating on the string. I immediately called the owner of the store and he sent someone out the next day to take a look at it. A brief examination led to no conclusions so he came back another day and worked on it for close to two hours. Still couldn't get it to stop buzzing. He suggested replacing the string but wanted to talk to the owner about his opinion. After several days, the owner called me back with his proposed solution - trade out the piano for one he had in stock, same model, brand new!

I was stunned, speechless. He explained that he wanted to do the right thing and I had purchased a piano expecting it to work. It was under warranty so he wanted to make good on the deal and give me a piano that works. Holy cow! There are still companies that think like that?? So we got a free upgrade on our piano the very next day!

Brice and I went by the store to see the owner and we both hugged his neck! So now I offer free publicity and high recommendations: ELLIS PIANO For any piano/musical needs, please use them!

Valentine's 2009

2009-02-16T21:45:00.008-06:00

Brice and I celebrated Valentine's Day over two days. He got out of school early and came home with two Mad Libs he wrote called "Mad Annas." After filling in the blanks and laughing hilariously, I could guess what we were doing next. We watched Sleepless in Seattle - my favorite romantic comedy! We went out to dinner Friday night to avoid the major Saturday crowd. He took me to Little Savannah, the restaurant we went to the night we got engaged. What an amazing meal! Check it out:

Valentines Evening 2009
Chef’s Tasting Menu

Amuse Bouche: Braised Beef Ragout, Truffle Oil
Oysters Rockefeller: Baked Apalachicola Oysters, Creamy Spinach,
Apple Smoked Bacon, Homemade Hot Sauce
Herb Roasted Quail, Baby Frisée Lettuces,
Pomegranate Molasses, Lemon Vinaigrette
Surf and Turf: Grilled Tenderloin of Beef,
Sweet Potato Purée, Snow’s Bend Kale, New Hampshire Lobster Hollandaise
Chocolate Marquise Cake, Pistachio Cremé, Fresh Raspberries

We exchanged gifts Saturday night. Kudos to my husband! He did good. Don't you just love it when someone gets you a gift that shows they know you and put some thought into it? Well, I've been in a word puzzle phase for a while now. Crosswords, cryptograms, logic puzzles, you name it! He was so excited about what he found:

Yes, those are crossword PJs!!! And two brain game books! Thank you, honey!

I had put together a gift basket with various goodies. Brice hadn't quite emptied the basket when Macie decided she would be the gift!

Then Brice popped in a DVD without telling me what it was - our wedding video! It was his first time to actually watch it! So fun seeing who all was there and reliving those moments.

To my Valentine - thank you for two fantastic years, and these two fantastic days!

Secret Agent Cole

2009-02-16T21:05:00.004-06:00

Cole received some nice Lego sets for Christmas and has been hard at work. He just completed the secret agent travelling center set. The headquarters here offers a variety of weapons, two laptops, an on-site jail, a jet ski, motor raft, four-wheeler, four secret agents, and three villains with their flying bad-guy machine. Some great pretending ensued!

Agents on the move

The artist with his craft

Latest Foods

2009-02-16T20:48:00.003-06:00

Another quick recipe from Brice's phone: Chunky Chicken Wrap. The tortilla is coated with guacamole, the mix includes mayo, spinach, cheese, and chicken. We added apple slices and pecans. Quite tasty!

No photo, but tonight I made Shrimp Fa Diavolo. Basically, it's shrimp spaghetti, but I used penne. Received approval all around!

Later this week: Mac 'n' Cheese Pizza!

Entertainment for Jenny

2009-02-05T22:46:00.002-06:00

You may have heard about these guys:

But probably not these guys:

I just saw this one:

And here's a montage of random friendships:

Just sharing a few moments to say "Awe!"

My Nephew

2009-01-30T12:52:00.004-06:00

By far, the cutest nephew I have in St. Louis!!

Cole Turns 9!

2009-01-28T08:20:00.000-06:00

Monday was Cole's birthday, January 26th. What a fun day it was! He woke up to his parents singing "Happy Birthday" then headed off for a fun day at school.

Actually, his fun started a couple days before. Several of our friends came to Cole's basketball game on Saturday and then out to lunch afterward. Our friend, Michael, who loves to dance with Cole to Irish music, made a CD of Irish songs for Cole. He was so excited! Cole felt so special being celebrated by his honorary uncles and aunts!

Sunday afternoon we had a few of his buddies over to play games and eat cake. This wasn't a big party year so we kept it low key.

Monday he took cupcakes to school to share with his class at snack time and I surprised him mid-day to eat lunch with him. After school we met the grandparents for dinner at Applebee's (one of Cole's favs). He didn't want dessert there, but he did want the wait staff to sing to him. Aren't we adults the exact opposite! So after the special song, we headed back to our house for presents!

His primary gift was waiting for him as he walked in the door -

Yes, it was time for a new piano so with the help of the grandparents, we got him a (slightly used) new piano. Was he excited?

There were a few other things to open. He was most excited about his metronome!!

Here he is opening a DVD hidden in a Capri Sun box.

Then it was time for sweets #3. He had already had a cake and cupcakes, so for this celebration we got a cookie cake!

Here is a little video montage of various parts of the evening: