2015 in Review

Erin lost her two front teeth--not naturally!

 

She now has fake ones until she's a little older.

 2015 was quite the year for the Jackson family.  We had several big moments: both girls lost their first teeth (though Erin lost hers first, which totally ticked off her big sister); we got our first dog; we had our first family vacation; Sean and I celebrated 10 years with a second vacation; Sean got a promotion; we bought a new house; and are under contract and will hopefully finalize the sale of our Washington home by mid-January.  And that's just to name a few!

Welcome to the family, Roxie!  How tiny she was just a few months ago!

 

We got a great family photo at Easter

We were able to take the kiddos to SDC several times.

This was the first year we bought the Silver Dollar City/White Water season passes for Elise and me (Sean uses our guest passes).  I felt like Erin was old enough to enjoy White Water (I was a little off on that--she didn't want to ride anything, though she was definitely tall enough this year to ride things with a parent).  We got to make several trips to White Water and Silver Dollar City and the kids always had fun--I decided to buy them again for 2016.  I'll reevaluate it again next year, when Erin will no longer get in to the parks for free!

We added a new family member in June: the girls got a new cousin and we got a new niece, Rose Elizabeth!

Our little hikers

 In July we went to Gatlinburg, TN.  We had an even better time than we had hoped to when we booked it.  The girls tolerated the long drive really well, we had so much fun hiking, and checking out the Ripley's Aquarium, and our cabin was great! 

It was great to spend some of our time in TN with MawMaw and PawPaw, too!

Elise got to have a visit from the tooth fairy in September!

The girls loved each other that day

 Erin is finally old enough that the girls play together quite a bit more than they have in the past.  3 1/2 years is still a bit of a spread and Elise likes her time to herself, but they do have fun together.  They also find plenty of time to bicker, but that's what sisters do!

TEN YEARS?!  FOR REAL???!

The views from all 4 corners of our rooftop patio in Mesa, AZ

 Sean and I celebrated 10 years by flying out to Mesa, AZ for a long weekend shortly before our anniversary.  Neither of us had been in the Southwest before and we loved the scenery--it is definitely different from what we're used to in the Midwest!  We got to go on some great hikes, enjoy some delicious food (the best of which was at the house of a family friend, THANKS to Tommie and Gary!), and have a nice weekend away to celebrate a decade of marriage.

Our 3 girls

Overall, 2015 was a great year.  I'm excited to see what 2016 holds for the Jackson family!