Halloween 2011

 Dad with Tinkerbell :)

 Mama with Tink!

 And she's off!!!

 Woody and Buzz! They were sooooo sweet and stuck together ALL night long.  At one point poor Jackson got scared of a "monster" (a little boy wearing a scary mask) and Tucker said,"stick with me Woody!"

 The whole gang!!  This picture really brings me back to when I was a little girl, I remember taking neighborhood pics with the kids and we always had so much fun.  I know I have a camera in their face a good bit  o.k a LOT, but I hope they look back and appreciate that I didn't miss much ;)

 This was the first house he went to this year...he just started running with the rest of the kids...no hand holding and knew EXACTLY what to do! LOL

 This was Bailey's first official trick-or-treat house :)  She LOVED the chocolate Dad was sneaking her :)

 Loved this, Jackson is giving Bailey a piece of candy b/c she didn't have any in her pumpkin. **the one Bailey is holding is mine from when I was her age, my Mom gave it to her a few weeks ago :)

Our Woody and Tinkerbell!

We had so much fun!  We had two HUGE melt down children before we left b/c we had to wake them up from their naps to leave, but they shrugged it off and had a blast!

Tech Homecoming

 Thanks to Blake for this GENIUS idea of getting inside from the cold parking deck to where it was nice and warm by the elevators! LOL  We got all sorts of awesome comments about how smart we were...more like our Super Smart Tech husbands ;) lolol

 Good ole Ramblin Wreck

It was an awesome game, you can see how crazy everyone went after the game behind us!! We didn't get home until about 2:30am, but it was worth it!  We were so happy to spend time with Blake and April!  Blake and John roomed and both got Physics degrees from West GA and then went on to live together again and graduate from Tech-Blake with a Mechanical and John with an Electrical Engineering.  John and Blake really are two peas in a pod and we always have so much fun with them :)

Greenville, SC

 All the pictures from above are from the Children's Museum in Greenville, SC.  We went there to visit John while he worked out of town last week.  We loved our hotel, especially the kids.  They loved our room, the indoor pool, the hot breakfast (especially doughnuts!), and all the popcorn and drinks :) During the day while John was working the kids and I went to the pool one day,Children's Museum one day, then the Zoo the next day.  When he got home we would just check out the beautiful town!  The kids LOVED everything we did!

 The picture above and ones below are from downtown Greenville, which was my favorite part of the whole trip! So fun!

 I only took a few pics at the zoo...the shadows were TERRIBLE, and I had my hands full! LOL

Growing like weeds!

Jackson...

 Jackson's Stats:
Weight: 31 lbs (50th %ile)
Height: 37 Inches (50th %ile)
Pulse: 81
Blood Pressure: 89/51
Yes, can you believe it, they are now starting to take his little pulse and blood pressure!  He also had to take a hearing test (done by a computer-and yes, he passed) and an eye test.  The eye test to me was a little bogus b/c he got all the picutures right when she was showing him up close, but when she stood farther away (which is the test) he couldn't see what they were, so she just kept trying different shapes and he just kept guessing what he had seen a few moments earlier.  So she did that until he got two right and was like,"ok he just needed to get two, so he passed." UMMMM how about he got a million wrong until he finally guessed right.  BUT, it was SUPER cute to watch him cover one eye and try to see what she was holding up from a distance! LOL  I was litterally tearing up to watch him do such a big boy thing and the lady and nurse that were in the room looked at me like I was a freak, but I didn't care :)  We are not too concerned with his sight, when he is able to explain to us better and tell us that it is blurry we will then worry about it ;) 

He is VERY into fixing things still and LOVES to give Daddy "Big Boy Help" outside and he fixes John's lawn mower and weed wacker.  I am so blessed to have a husband who will show him those things and let him fiddle with most of his tools.  I hope Jackson is as handy-if not more than John is. 

Jackson also LOVES to sing and dance.  On the way to my women's bible class this morning he asked me where "Jesus Wubs was?" and I was like, "ummm, his name is just Jesus buddy :)".  Well he kept persisting until finally he broke out in tune singing, "Jesus Wubs, Jesus Wubs, me, me, me. Because the bible, o-e-o-e-o". HAHAHAHA  He had hand motions with it and everything!  Of course I teared up and said...."OHHH your saying Jesus LOVES, Jesus loves, me, me, me" and I am a little confused on the o-e-o-e-o part still! LOL  I think he thinks that Jesus's last name is Loves or Wubs as he says it! LOL  He also told me that Jesus had "crayons" and then said, "on his head" and I said, "YES, he does have a crown on his head".  And then went into a long conversation about how he had hands, and a shirt, and a mailbox!  Needless to say it was a very very fun ride to church this morning :)

Bailey Boo Boo

 Bailey's Stats:
Weight: 20 lbs 5 oz (50th %ile)
Height: 29 1/2 inches (60th %ile)

Bailey is doing great and got a great report at the 2 HOUR doctor visit.  I  had no idea how in depth Jackson's visit was going to be and I think I will never do that again.  Seperate check-ups from now on! LOL  She is walking everywhere now and doesnt really crawl at all anymore.  She no longer takes a bottle and hasnt for about 3 weeks now. She is really loving her milk :)  I can't believe we are BOTTLE FREE!!! Wahoooo! 

Helping Dad finish up the new retaining wall he built.

Jackson really likes that Bailey can chase her now, well...most of the time.  He also loves to ask her to say words, especially ones he knows that she can say :)

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!  We all had a great time at dinner and then went for ice cream of course!  Jackson was a little disappointed there was no cake ;)  After ice cream we went over to their house and played with all the Halloween decorations my Mom has out.  I LOVE that my Mom goes all out for holidays, their house is just so cute and the kids loved every minute of the night :)

Make your own Birthday shirt!

The first thing I ever sewed was Jackson's first birthday shirt.  One of my best friends Jessi taught me how to sew and this was the first thing I learned how to do and the rest is history :)  It is by far the easiest thing to sew and believe me when I say, I had NEVER used a sewing machine in my life and made Jackson's first birthday shirt and it is very easy to do.  So I thought I would share how to make one in case you want to make one for your little one!

I took this picture for you to see how thick the "backing" is that I used. Backing is just fabric that you buy at a fabric store and you iron it on to the back of fabric to make your fabric stand up higher on the shirt. You can buy it in many different thicknesses. You can even by it so thin you would never know you used it. The one I use is pretty thick (at least for these projects).

Here is a picture of the things you will need to make the actual number.  First is the backing, then the fabric of your choice, and then a number cut out from a piece of paper (I just free handed the 1, but on Jackson's 2nd and 3rd shirt or if I do letters I use a Word Doc and make one giant number in the font I like). 

1. You first iron on a square of your fabric to your backing. Be sure it's plenty big enough to fit your number/letter/or shape.

2. You then pin your number onto the fabric and backing, which have now been bonded together. Be sure to pin it at least 3 times so that your number doesnt move when you go to cut it out.

3. Cut out the shape you have chosen and then it will look like it does below.

 4. The final step is to pin it onto your shirt (again, pin it really good...especially if your using t-shirt material that stretches and/or if your a beginner) and sew it on!  You can see how close I stich to the edge.  This has been washed too, so you can see it doesnt really frey much at all.

 Be creative.  For Jackson's 3rd birthday shirt I had forgotten to get fabric at the store, so I just bought these $3 shorts from Walmart and cut out his #3 from them :)  I still have plenty of left over fabric to make another one!

I did actually make Bailey's shirt too.  It is a little more difficult (but still not too hard!) and here is the link for that...http://madebypetchy.blogspot.com/2008/06/free-pattern-baby-dresstunic.html .  You can always just put it on a t-shirt you find at target or anywhere!  That is typically where I get Jackson's shirts!  I also use this idea to make letters for their shirts or I made the flower above to cover up a name on the potterybarn chair we got of craigslist (it only took me 3 years to figure out what I wanted to do! LOL).

I can't believe how much he has grown!  It's like this picture was taken yesterday!  My little man!!