Merry Christmas from the Jacksons

It didn't scan in as big as I'd like, but it says "As we celebrate the Miracle of Christmas...we'd like to announce that the Jacksons will be blessed with their own little miracle in July 2012." And the little pic in the bottom right corner is our newest blessings first photo! We are so excited! Merry Christmas, All!

Elise Meets Jack

Elise was thrilled to meet her new baby cousin this weekend. Jack seemed pretty please to see her too (after he had a nice meal)!
Elise thought she was big stuff, holding Jack all by herself. She was NOT pleased that Mommy helped support his head, and while I am sure she got the concept, I don't think she had the strength to support his head herself.

I think Elise and Jack will be very good friends!

John Jackson Foster

John Jackson Foster "Jack", was born on 12/11/11 at 8:07am. He weighed 7lbs, 10oz and was 20.5 inches. His poor Mama labored for 31 hours, but look at what she got in the end:

Amanda had a bad couple of days: she fell on Friday and had to have 5 stitches in her lip before going in at midnight that night to start the inducement. Then, she endured 31 hours of labor (28 hours of that without drugs!!) before ultimately welcoming Baby Jack to the world.

Elise was more than a little ticked at me when I told her she couldn't go see Jack with me on Sunday. Poor Aunt Amanda had been through enough--she didn't need the further exhaustion that would've resulted from a 3yo visiting her at the hospital that day! Elise will get to meet her new baby cousin this weekend--and is very excited about it! She watched the videos that Papoo and Kathy posted last night and kept saying "I love my baby cousin."

Welcome to the world, Jack! We're all so glad you are FINALLY here, and we all love you so very much already!

Elise's Special Day

Today was Elise's Special Day. Her birthday is Monday, but we decided to celebrate today so we could do more fun things. We started the day at Bass Pro. We went there to see Santa, but unfortunately, Santa was on a two-hour break. So instead we just browsed through the store.

Elise actually wanted to get by this big bear--we didn't ask her to! She even wanted to give him a hug!

Elise was impressed by the huge fish and turtles in the tanks.

Next up, we went to see Santa at the mall. This was the biggest thing in Elise's mind for the agenda today. Luckily the line wasn't too long and was fast moving because she was so antsy to see Santa! She hugged him and told him she wanted a baby doll.

Santa gave Elise some awesome reindeer glasses!

After visiting Santa, we took Elise to Build-A-Bear. She decided to make a puppy dog. He was a boy, and she named him Bert like Bert and Ernie. She was really impressed with the stuffing process, but wasn't too thrilled with the outfits. She was probably as overwhelmed as we were feeling when we saw them all!

Elise hasn't wanted to take him out of his "house" much, so here's the best pic we got of the two of them!

As we came in the mall, Elise saw this ice cream truck. She really wanted to ride it, and since it was her special day, we indulged her!

We finished up the day with Elise's choice of lunch: McDonald's (luckily, they have a drive-thru and Mommy and Daddy were able to get yummier food at Which Wich). Chicken Nuggets, apples, and milk are her favorite.

When we asked her on the way home what she thought of her special day, she said (as she was nodding off to sleep) that she had a great day! Happy Early 3rd Birthday, Elise!

Christmas Time and Elf on a Shelf

Elise got all decked out on November 30th in one of two beautiful Christmas dresses that she has this year. She had the honor of carrying Baby Jesus to the manger at our church's Christmas Kickoff service: Herald the King.

Mommy and Daddy kind of paled in comparison to our beautiful girl, but we got some pics with her in front of the Christmas tree anyway.

As promised, here's a pic of Elise with her Elf on a Shelf: Larry. Don't judge her crazy hair--she had just woke up and as is our custom, immediately ran in to find Larry. Today, he was hanging out with Santa on the end table. I really need to try and get a video some morning of her running around looking for Larry. It's always hilarious!

Much to be Thankful For

This Thanksgiving, the Jackson family had so much to be thankful for.

First, look at that face! Elise is such a joy to us every day. Even when she is testing us as parents, we are thankful that God gave us this wonderful gift. Being parents to Elise is a blessing that should be counted as great!

Second, we are soon to welcome a new baby to the family! While "Bananas" Foster did NOT grace us with "its" presence on Saturday like Aunt Lindsay had predicted, we're really looking forward to cuddling with "it" when "it" arrives (and looking forward to calling "it" a HE or a SHE finally, as well!)

We are also thankful for family this year. We were blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving with the Sweaney and Halleran families this year, as well as some of the Jackson family (we missed those of you who couldn't make it!) And even though our Stevens get-together was canceled due to Nan's health, we are SO thankful to report that she is on the mend and should be back in tip-top shape and ready to serve us all our MUCH MISSED dumplings at Christmas!

I really wish I would've taken more pictures at Thanksgiving that would've gone along with more of our "thankful" bullet points, but I was too busy enjoying time with everyone! Elise here is modeling her new princess outfit that Uncle Dave snagged for her at a garage sale--among a lot of other awesome items. I also should have taken a pic of the doll he got her for her bday: it's a head taller than she is!

Finally, we are thankful for the reason for the season: our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. While we have all sorts of fun Christmas traditions including Elise's own tree (thanks, Nan & Pop) and Elf on a Shelf (post to follow), we are always sure to remember why we are celebrating and to COUNT OUR BLESSINGS that Baby Jesus was born on Christmas Day. Elise has been tapped to bring "Baby Jesus" to the manger at our church's "Herald the King" service on Wednesday at 7pm. If you would like to join in a wonderful kick-off to the Christmas season, we'd love to see you there!

Halloween & Haircuts

Halloween was a great time this year! All of Elise's grandparents, along with Nan and Pop, the Collins family, the Lippy family, and the Kelbs came over for dinner and to see the kids in their costumes. It was a full house, but a great time.

TRICK OR TREAT! Elise loved trick or treating. Link loved walking around outside, but didn't have the patience to wait at a door for candy.

Mommy was inspired by how Uncle Rock and Aunt Susan always dressed up with their kids, so she was a witch.

Our trick-or-treat crew.

The cutest zebra ever.

Elise and I got our hair cut this week. Mommy cut off a LOT more than Elise. I donate 8in to Beautiful Lengths, the charity ran by Pantene Pro-V that makes wigs for cancer patients. Unlike Locks of Love, it's 100% charity. Elise, as usual, got an awesome new bow since she was so good getting her hair trimmed!

Amanda's Shower & The Zoo

Amanda's shower was Oct 22nd. Rhonda and I hosted it at Rhonda's house. It was a great turnout and Amanda got some nice things. I believe she has 2 more showers, then 3 weeks to due date! Can't wait to meet Baby Foster!

MawMaw and PawPaw invited us to go to the zoo with them on Oct 29th. It started out as a brisk day, but the sunshine warmed us up in no time. Elise got to feed a lot of animals. It was gorgeous out, and no crowd. A great day!
Elise liked feeding the giraffes. While I was taking pics, one head-butted me in the stomach. Everyone thought that was pretty funny.
We got a great fall family photo!
MawMaw and PawPaw got a great pic with Elise--not sure who she was looking at here, but at least she was smiling!
Happy Fall, Everyone!

October Fun

October has been a very busy month so far. To start, Sean celebrated his 29th birthday--with a surprise birthday party that I put together for him. Too bad I am bad at surprises and he knew about it for SURE (and had inklings prior to) 30 minutes before the party. But he still had a good time!

Next up was the pumpkin patch! We went to Gunter Farms in Conway, and highly recommend it. It was a cute place, there was a lot to do, and of course, there were PUMPKINS!

Link and Elise took a while trying to figure out just which pumpkin they wanted.

They posed for a pic together on the hay bales. Sorta.

Elise tickled Link with a cattail.

Thanks to Aunt Lori for planning everything out, and for Logan for tagging along to help entertain the kiddos!

A cousin shot at the end of the hay ride.

Mammy with Link chowing down on some hot ham and cheese--YUM!

Overall, a very fun October so far! And there is still Aunt Amanda's shower and Halloween left in the month!

Branson Trip Part 2

Day two of the Branson trip was a bit of a let-down, to tell you the truth. We went to the Butterfly Palace. We thought Elise would LOVE it. She is a fan of bugs, and we went to a smaller-scale exhibit at the STL Zoo last year with PaPoo and Kathy that she really enjoyed.

However, she was NOT a big fan of the butterflies at the Butterfly Palace. She was okay as long as they stayed very far away from her. If they came anywhere remotely close to her, she'd flip out.

I was able to get some deceptively cute pics while we were there, but she seriously didn't have very much fun. We were there about an hour, and then she said she was ready to go.

I would like to say that in no way was the actual Butterfly Palace a let-down. It was a neat place to visit. They had a mirror maze, a jungle maze, a room of jungle lizards, frogs, and the like, all in addition to the Butterfly Palace.

As far as Branson attractions go, it was relatively inexpensive. I got a discount for having a SDC season pass, and Elise was free, so we only spent $40. Sadly, that was $40 for ONE HOUR, thanks to our little scaredy-cat!

Sean had the camera on zoom, so he didn't get much of her face in this pic, but you can see the terror in the upper-left corner of the pic. The other bad thing: the butterflies REALLY liked Elise. We think it is because we had pancakes before we went and knowing Elise she had half-a-bottle of syrup on her shirt.

A bummer end, but overall a GREAT family vacation! Since I have a season pass, we'll be hitting up SDC one more time this year: I can't wait to see Elise's reaction to the Christmas Lights!