Happy Halloween!

We have not had school on Halloween in several years. I had forgotten how horrible it is. The kids were so excited, and I was exhausted! We got home around 5, ate a quick dinner of our usual-grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup, and then got dressed.  Jackson was a dinosaur/dragon tonight. I thought it was a dragon, but other people thought it was a dinosaur. We took some pictures at our house and then headed to Noni and Papa J's.

We got there at the same time the Ivey kids did.  They were very excited!  Jackson liked going Trick-or-Treating.  He thought it was so funny.  He did a lot of walking and wanted to be right there with the kids.  We went to a few houses, and then went to Brent and Whitney's. It is so fun to be around young kids on holidays.  They get so into it!

Walking and Therapy

I couldn't wait to take Jackson to see Mrs. Carol today!  I was hoping he would show off his walking, and he did!  Of course, he fussed a little when it was our turn to go back.  He did walk all the down the hall holding my hand. He got taped first, and that always makes him mad.  It took him about 10 minutes to forgive them.  Then he walked down the big hall twice all by himself.  I was so proud of him and found myself getting teary.  Mrs. Carol was excited, and Mrs. Kelly came to watch.  She was excited.  We have been working on this for a long time!  Again, it was something that Jackson had to do in his own time.  Once he can show that he can push up on his own, we are DONE!

Taking Jackson to Pediatric Therapy Works has been such a blessing.  The therapists there are so caring and reassuring. They have been wonderful to Jackson.  I just appreciate them so much.  It is amazing how great they are all with all of these kids!

To celebrate having a great session, we went to Target.  I had to pick up some stuff for a snack mix (pretzels, Cheeze-Its, candy corns and reeces's) anyway.  Jackson picked out a new truck as his prize.

We carved a pumpkin.  As you can see, Jackson was very interested!

Christmas Card Pictures

It seems like way too early to be thinking about Christmas cards, but I have to start early. Otherwise, cards will never happen.  We went to Furman and the Rock Quarry Garden to try and get some pictures.  Here are some that did not make the cut.

We also went to see some World War II planes take off from the downtown airport.

Boo in the Zoo

I had class at Furman on Saturday, so Jackson got to spend the morning with Daddy.  He is real Daddy's boy right now, so he loved every minute of it.  Tim took him to the fall carnival at Pediatric Therapy Works. Of course, Jackson thought he was there for therapy, so he didn't want to play any games.  He even cried when he saw Mrs. Kelly and Mrs. Carol.

Later that afternoon Tim, Jackson, my mom, Murphy, and Maria picked me up, so we could go to Boo in the Zoo at the Greenville Zoo. Thankfully we had already bought our tickets, because the line was 45 minutes to an hour long!  We just walked right in with our tickets.  The weather was still really warm today, so Jackson did not put on his costume. He loves going anywhere with Murphy and Maria.  They make him laugh!  He thinks he is just as big as they are.  We walked through all of the stations and collect the candy (good candy too!).  Kiko, the new baby giraffe, was not out, so we will have to come back to see him.  Jackson did not want to ride in his stroller; he wanted to walk like Murphy and Maria.  He held someone's hand and walked throughout at least half of the zoo.

We went to Frodo's to eat afterwards and met Cookie, Ashlyn, Sydney, Will, Alexa, Tu Tu, and Briggs. Jackson wanted to walk all over that restaurant.  He did it all by himself!  He loves Frodo's so much that he wanted his first steps to be there. (He has been taking steps for week, but he really took off walking there!) All of those cheese sticks he ate gave him the energy to walk and walk.  We all took turns chasing him.  He was so proud of himself!

Then we went to see Cookie's house with all of the Halloween decorations.  Jackson was not scared at all of the spooky creatures she has.  In fact, he loved the wolf!  Jackson got so wild while we were there. He was walking everywhere!  He loved grabbing all of the Twizzlers and handing them out to everyone.  Then he got to throwing fruit. Yes, fruit.  Cookie had a bowl of apples and oranges sitting on her coffee table.  He would take one and throw it across the room.  Soon Sydney and Briggs made a game out of it; he loved all of the attention!  As soon as we got in the car, he crashed!

Field Day and Fall Carnvial

Today was Field Day at my school.  Since we are in fifth grade, it lasts ALL day.  It was in the upper 70s today, so the weather was perfect. Jackson came up to visit today.  This is the first time he has met my new group of kids.  My kids last year were obsessed with Jackson and were always asking about him. He wasn't really interested in watching any of the events.  He really wanted to play on the playground. Some of my girls wanted him to sit on the blanket with them.  He started crying right when I put him down.  He finally got used to them when we were eating pizza for lunch. You can always win him over with food.

Later that night we headed back to school for the Fall Carnival.  Since it was so warm, Jackson couldn't wear his whole costume, but he did wear the top part of his doggy costume. There weren't as many games for him as there have been in years past, but he did enjoy the bake sale and seeing all of the kids dressed up.  He also liked spending time with the Ivey children.

Where We've Been...

I have not posted anything this week, because Jackson has been so sick!  He ran a fever last weekend and just felt yucky.  Then he had a terrible cough at the beginning of the week.  By the end of the week, he had a nasty stomach bug.  My mom and Tim took him to see Dr. Hart on Thursday, and it was just a virus.  Poor thing had to miss school.  We thought he was better on Friday, but he threw up again, so we had to skip the Clemson game.  He was sick for over a week, and just wanted someone to hold him.  It was so pitiful.

Here are some pictures before he got sick.

Pumpkin Patch and Fall for Greenville

Tim got off early Friday afternoon so we could all go get our flu shots.  Then we took Jackson to the Pumpkin Patch at a local church. He really wanted to crawl around everywhere.  He did pick out some pumpkins.  He was sitting on some hay and knocked one pumpkin off, so we ended up having to buy that one too.

Then we went to Fall for Greenville.  We have learned to go right when it starts on Friday night to avoid all of the crowds.  We enjoyed Japanese, pizza, mac and cheese, and Tim loved his donut burger.  I know it sounds disgusting, but it was actually very good. We also walked so Jackson could see the kiddie rides, but they were expensive.  One ride on the carousel costs more tickets than most of the food.  Of course, no trip downtown would be complete without a cupcake.