Winter Wonderland

If you watched the news today, you probably saw that much of the south (including our little corner of Arkansas) got hit with a bunch of ice and snow. As of right now, we have about 6+ inches of snow on top of about a half an inch of ice, so travel has become very treacherous. To illustrate that point - I just got stuck in the driveway of Keisha's Aunt Janet while I was picking her up for game night!! Here are some pictures of snowy house:

Notice - no footprints! (I walked through the side yard)


I left the flash on by mistake in this picture, but it came out looking really cool!


Here's that same pic without the flash...

This gives you an idea of the layer of ice that is underneath all the snow. At our house the ice all formed on the Eastward facing sides of things.

Here's a window in the 'icey' side of my house - it is completely covered!

My footprints...

I can't post on here without including a picture of the Booper-Bopper! We dressed him up in his snow sleeper (a gift from his Aunt Carla and Uncle Dave) for the occasion.

This shot is looking out from our dining room...

Christmas In Milwaukee!

At the end of December, Ryan, Jackson and I drove to Milwaukee to spend "our" Christmas / New Years with Ryan's mom and brother's family. Jackson did not do so hot on our long (12 hour - turned 14 hour) drive there. It was so cold so he couldn't really run around on our stops - which were every 2 hours. It was bitterly cold!!

When we finally got there, this is the view outside Carol's house! Winter wonderland in Milwaukee!

Jackson - the next morning. Happy to be running free and not strapped into a car seat. :)

On our way somewhere, he says HI!

Ryan and I slept on a comfy blow up bed and this is from the air pressure machine - Jackson figured out how to turn it on and loved how it made his/our hair blow!




Playing with Grandma!

New Years Eve! We got to spend with our cousins Jason and Danielle! Aunt Lisa brought the fun hats!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Ryan and Dave


Momma Stearle and her boys!

On New Years Day, we celebrated our Christmas together... Well, Jackson got to wear his Kimono - which Aunt Carla and Uncle Dave bought him in Hong Kong!! Fit perfectly!


Ma celebrated her pink Snuggie!



Jackson kept taking his socks off - he must get that from his daddy - and he thought it was really funny for grandma to smell it - she made the noise "pewhuwee" - well that was just SO funny to Jackson!


smooches for grandma

aunt carla taught jackson nose kisses!

i love these eyes.

daddy taught jackson to fist bump.

playing with Aunt Carla

our gang

ryan was dared to eat this whole gummy thing but he just simply couldn't live up to the dare.

In Milwaukee, they have these huge structures called "The Domes" and Jackson just loved it there cuz he could run run run and it was warm!! ps: Polo sweater from Aunt Carla and Uncle Dave - so cute!





3 Generations!

We're having a baby!!

Well, we're safe to announce it now! As of yesterday, I am officially "12 weeks!" We found out the day before we left for New York City and were a little surprised considering we were definitely not "trying" to get pregnant! I actually had planned a half marathon and our March trip to Brazil and thought we'd just get pregnant after that... but God had other plans for us and PRAISE GOD! :) I had an ultrasound at 6 1/2 weeks because we had a little "scare" in NY and we got to see little "peanut's" heart beating away! Then, on Wednesday of last week, I went in to the doc and got to hear that little heart beating away... my heart melted. :) So our due date is July 27th! Jackson and Peanut will be 2 years and 2 months apart - so I think that's a good distance! If it's a boy, Jackson will have an instant buddy and if it's a girl, Ryan and my mom will be elated. :) I, personally, will be happy either way - just want a healthy baby!

Anyway, now that I'm finishing the first trimester - I'm getting a lot more energy back and feeling much more like myself so hopefully I can blog more! Although now I do have a nursery to put together.... :)

Jackson's Roller Coaster

What a Christmas for Jackson!! Among all of his amazing toys, he got a roller coaster slide from Aunt Carla and Uncle Dave! Of course, we got video!!

This is Jackson on his first day with his roller coaster. Daddy had to help him w/ moving along and he was pretty scared going down more than a couple times.... although the fun was HIM pushing the empty car down. :)




This was Jackson TODAY!! :) Big boy!!

Hello again world!! We have been having some computer trouble here at home lately, so our updates are coming a little fewer and further between... Hopefully we will have that corrected in the not too distant future though! Here are some new pics that you may or may not have seen from the last couple of months:

One of the new blinds in our kitchen had to be re-ordered because it was broken, so in the meantime the blind company hung up some paper just to cover the window. Since the new blind didn't make it in time for Thanksgiving (which we hosted at our house), Keisha told me to do something to make the paper look more "festive." Behold - Turkey Tom!!


Jackson in his Turkey Day duds...


It was nice to have a formal dining room for a change - we had so many people over that I actually had to pull out BOTH leaves to put into the table!!


Jackson and his Mimi (Keisha's mom)


We had to shuffle our furniture around a little bit to make room for our Christmas tree, and as a result we pushed our loveseat in front of the fireplace. As you can see here, we left a little space at first and Jackson found it in about 2 seconds!!


Keisha and Jackson coming home from a walk...


Keisha's family rented out a cabin to host a big Christmas dinner about a week ago, and here I am getting mauled by a group of crazed kiddos...


Jackson with some of his little cousins...


Keisha's mom bought Jackson this leather chair for Christmas - it matches our living room furniture perfectly!!


When you own a Santa suit for your child - he or she will HAVE to wear it on Christmas...




Here's Jackson playing Xbox - I think that he has been watching his daddy too much =)


Jackson vacuuming next to his new ball-tent (both gifts from Mimi...)


Uncle Dave and Aunt Carla got J-Man this roller coaster. I put it together this morning and he played with it for hours and hours!! It turns out that he likes walking up and down the track while pushing the car better than he likes actually riding in the car! That may change as he gets a little older. And in case you were wondering: Yes, I rode the car down this thing about 20 times.




Jackson sporting his new outfit from Keisha's Aunt Janet...




Cheesin'