My Fortune

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

Happy Anniversary!

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!

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