Noni's Birthday

We celebrated Noni's Birthday today with dinner at Cracker Barrel and then cake at home.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a wonderful and busy Thanksgiving weekend! We spent Wednesday running errands. Jackson and Tim also got to Skype with Grandma, Grandpa, Charlie, and Susie.

We slept late on Thursday and enjoyed a lazy morning eating Tim's French toast and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.  I also got a head start on Black Friday shopping by ordering some stuff online. Then we went to my aunt's house for a late lunch. It all so yummy!  I just hate that I did not get any of the cooking genes. I need to learn to make sweet potatoe casserole because it is one of my favorites.  Jackson did not eat as much as I thought he would.  He just wanted to walk around and throw the ornaments from Cookie's tree. He spent most of the afternoon just trying to convince someone to take him outside.

Jackson spent the the night at my parents, so that Tim and I could go shopping. We actually went to Wal-Mart, and it was not that bad. We only waited in line for maybe 5 minutes, so it was like a normal trip.  We also went looking for a new TV.  Ours is very old, and has started making a high pitch noise, so we went to h.h. Greg. We stood in line for over an hour, but we finally got through an headed home.

On Friday morning, we ran a few more places and then picked up Jackson and mom and went to Greenville. There was absolutely no line for Santa.  Of course Jackson was not dressed in a cute Christmas outfit, but he was wearing a Clemson shirt. We met Berkley and Nichole there, so we decided to try Santa again. I thought he would scream and cover his face again.  He got a little teary, but overall he was fine especially once Santa gave him a gingerbread man!  Of course I spent more money on pictures, but I couldn't pass it up!  We ate lunch at Frodo's and headed home.

On Saturday we rearranged the entire upstairs.  We moved most of the furniture and brought Jackson's train table upstairs.  He loves it! It does give us a lot more room.  We were all exhausted.

My mom volunteered to keep Jackson while Tim and I went to the Clemson-Carolina game. It was very cold, so we didn't go up there until late afternoon. Everyone was already there, so we just drove straight to our spot. We had some time to tailgate with the rest of my family before heading into the stadium. Everything looked good the first half, and then things went downhill. Losing is never fun, but it is torture when you lose to Carolina!

Thanksgiving break went by way too fast! I enjoyed being home spending time with my family.

Living for the Weekend

This has been one crazy week! School was crazy and stressful. I had several appointments after school. Jackson has been so busy this week. I am exhausted!

We did go to Pizza Buffet on Thursday night for school. We sat with the Watson's, and Jackson loved every minute. What could be better than eating pizza including chocolate chip pizza with his friends? He actually got quite wild and started screaming! I think we might have to take a break from restaurants for awhile.

We had a busy Saturday. We slept in and then headed to the Junior League Market to try and get some pictures with Santa. I didn't really think Jackson would like it, and I was right. He cried and covered his face. Hopefully there will still be some cute pictures. I did get to see some high school friends which was also nice.

Then we went to the Clemson-NC State game. We were excited to see all of our family who came for the game- Uncle Dave, Susan, David, Christi, Ashley, Bethany, and their boyfriends. Of course Jackson loved showing off with his walking. He does not want to sit still now. He had fun playing his version of corn hole with Lisa and Ashley. He loved being the center of attention! He fell asleep during the first quarter and slept the first hour. He woke up for the second quarter and enjoyed Cheerios and the fireworks. This was a record for us for this season. Who knows if we will make it to any games next year?  We had a great day though and enjoyed watching Jackson play and have such a great time!

A Fun Sunday

Jackson had a great time playing with all of his friends at church.  This was the first time some of them had seen him walking.  He thought he was just as big as the rest of them.

After church, we stopped by Bowman Field, so I could see Jackson with the floats since I missed it yesterday. Unfortunately, they were already taking some of them down.  Jackson was tired too, but it was still fun to see him point to them and say "Look."

Jackson and I took afternoon naps and then went househunting with the Watsons.  Yes, as if we don't have enough going on in our lives-work, class, new baby, holidays, we are looking at houses.  We really want to live in a neighborhood where Jackson will have friends and be able to play outside without all of the traffic. There is a great, quiet neighborhood in the city of Anderson where you can get some great deals on houses.  It is about 30-40 years old. I know that I said that I never wanted to live in an old house again, but we can't afford brand new houses. With the careers we have chosen, those houses will never be in our price range. We really liked the one we looked at it today.  It did need some work but nothing that we couldn't live with until we could afford to fix it.  The kitchen has been updated with new appliances.  The bathrooms are nice.  The bathroom floors are another story. They are in good shape, but absolutely hideous! We are seriously considering putting our house on the market, but we have so much to do-paint, cleaning, fix our kitchen counters, etc.  It seems overwhelming.

Jackson loved looking at the houses.  I guess I should say he loved looking at the houses with the Watson children. He loves older kids, and they are so good with him.  The girls walked everywhere with him. He was exhausted after the hour we spent with them!

Clemson Homecoming 2012 and Big News

This is one of favorite times of year.  I love Clemson Homecoming with all of the fun activities, but Tim and Jackson had to enjoy it without me this year.  I had class, and it just wasn't worth battling parking to get there when it was getting dark (It gets dark by around 5:30). Tim and Jackson went to the floats.  Jackson really liked the one with the tractor and running down the hill. They went to tailgate, and then went for the first quarter of the game.  They even beat me home!

Jackson wore a cute new shirt to the game.

He is excited to announce to everyone that he is going to be a Big Brother in May! We are very excited about our new edition! Most everyone was shocked when they saw the shirt!  It took some people a while to understand. I think Jackson will make a great big brother!

The Story of Wubbie

I bought Wubbie for Jackson when he was little bitty.  He didn't like it first, so we just had it somewhere in his room.  When he became a scooter, he found it.  The two were inseperable. Wubbie went everywhere with us. Wubbie has been thrown out of the car (not while moving), behind the bed, in the sink, in the grass, etc.  We know Jackson is too old for a paci, but getting rid of it is easier said than done. Lately he has been chewing on it instead of sucking on it.  I noticed last week that he had chewed holes in Wubbie. (Some people say that if you poke holes in a paci, then the child will lost interest.)  Apparently, Jackson was chewing on Wubbie today and singing the Wheels on the Bus.  He was so into the song that he had Wubbie on the side of his mouth, and yanked it out!  The paci on Wubbie split. It was sad, but not really for Jackson.  I thought he would miss the monkey part, but he really hasn't.

Election Night

Jackson went to vote with us today. He did not enjoy the experience. We had a lazy day at home. Here is a video of one of our favorite games.

Guess who is 17 months old?

It is just amazing how much Jackson has changed in the past few months!  He is losing that baby face and looks more and more like a little boy every day.

• wears 18 month clothes and some 24 month clothes
• weighs around 26 pounds
• wears size 5 diapers
• wears size 4.5 shoes
• has finally started walking!!!!
• is into everything and knows it! He has this grin that he gives.  He knows exactly what he is doing and that he probably shouldn't be doing it.
• climbs on everything-the couch, his toy shelf
• has fallen off the bed 3 times in the past week on 3 different days.
• still loves to read books. He will sit for an hour and read books. (Loves That's Not My...)
• throws all of his toys and thinks it's hilarious
• has definitely become more picky about what he eats (loves applesauce, yogurt, grilled cheese, fruit -melons, pastina, peas, any bread, and pizza). He will eat spaghetti and chicken nuggets if he is in the mood.
• He lets us know when he is finished eating by shaking the tray on his high chair. 
• thinks it is so funny to throw food on the floor or let it dribble out of his mouth
• likes to sing and dance (The Wheels on the Bus, London Bridge, Itsy Bitsy Spider) He even does the moves too!
• LOVES Jake and the Neverland Pirates!
• likes trains, trucks, cars, and any toy with wheels right now
• likes to sit in his little chair
• loves to go to Story Time at the library each week.  He colors new pictures (gets mad and throws crayons too)
• Made it to 11:15 at Mother's Morning Out!!!
• Talks ALL the time- Mommy, Da Da, yes, no, stop, Be (for Abby and Wubbie), okay... He trieds to say other words.
• smiles A LOT!
• has the most precious laugh and loves to be tickled or tickle someone

Jackson is at such a fun age.  He has become so independent especially since he started walking. He gets into everything, and we have had to baby proof our house again! We loves watching his personality develop. He is quite the comedian!

Wow! What a Saturday!

We are exhausted after a busy and fun Saturday!  We left early this morning for Columbia.  We went to the Riverbanks Zoo first.  Jackson was in a grouchy mood when we first got there, but he eventually came around.  We rode the carousel, and he cried for most of it.  We got to see the giraffes up close and even feed one!  Jackson liked being really close, but he was scared at the same time.  I think his favorites were the fish and the penguins.  We spent around 2 hours wandering around; it is a really nice zoo. It was also a beautiful day!

We grabbed some lunch and headed to our train ride in Winnsboro. We rode on a steam engine. It was a nice ride that lasted around an hour.  We stopped unexpectedly for about 10 minutes, and Jackson did not like being stopped. He is really starting to show his personality.  Tim and I kept trying to feed him snacks to keep him occupied.  Of course, he thought it would be funny to spit out his chocolate graham cookies.  That was a nasty mess! Once we started moving again, he was happy.

We headed home after that. As we were driving by Hanna, we saw all of these hot air balloons and realized that the balloon festival was here this weekend.  We ate a quick dinner and headed to the field (about a mile from our house) and watched the balloon glow.  Jackson really liked the balloons as we drove by them, but he was less impressed when we were right in front of them.  I think he was just tired.