"Before" Pics

Living Room/Entrance showing fire place.  It will stay, but a new insert is going in.  New front door, too.

 We closed on our new house in Strafford mid-October.  That weekend, before the work started, I took "before" pictures.  I am sure that after it's all done, I will be so glad I did.  In fact, even though at this point it's only half done, I am glad I did!  We will be removing all wallpaper and painting throughout. 

Kitchen.  We'll be putting in tile, new counter tops, and appliances.

Living Room.  We'll be putting in hardwood. (Elise finds her way into a lot of the "before" pics!)

Hallway will also be hardwood.

Girls bath.  We'll be putting in new tile, vanity top, and light fixture.

Elise's room.  Yes, that is linoleum, in a bedroom.  We'll be putting in a new light fixture and carpet.

Erin's room.  New carpet will be going in and a new light fixture.

Master bedroom.  We'll put in carpet, take down the wallpaper border, and put in a new light fixture.

Master Bath.  Putting in tile, vanity top, new toilet and light fixtures.

Dining room (and laundry room in background, goes out to the garage).  We'll be tiling all and putting in a new light fixture.  New back door, too.

Bonus room was added on later and not done right.  It's going to be converted back to garage space and will house Sean's weight equipment.

Back yard (YAY FOR A FENCE!).  Deck will be redone, and yard will be resowed with seed.  There used to be a pool there.

Front yard.  I am sure Sean has some great landscaping ideas up his sleeves.

If everything goes according to plan, we'll be moved in (with just a few more projects left to do that can be done while we live there) before Christmas!  We are all so excited to officially become Strafford residents!  Miss Erin is even starting her new daycare on Tuesday!

Halloween

 Halloween exhausts me on a good year.  This year, being in a transitional house, it was darn near too much.  Elise insisted on doing pumpkins since she got one at her field trip to the pumpkin patch, so we compromised.  I got Erin a little one also, and we let them paint. 

 Erin was more interested in her paint brush than the actual act of painting.  Of course the child immediately got paint in her mouth, too.  I swear, she keeps me on my toes!

 I think Elise is going to be an artist like her Daddy.  She is very particular about what colors she uses where and always wants you to draw an example for her to mimic.

 I got this bib for a quarter at a garage sale before Erin was born.  Money well spent.  Here, she's actually tasting some of her candy.

 Costumes are another reason that Halloween stresses me out.  I am not crafty.  Though I may pin all these adorable homemade costumes on pinterest, I've never tried them because I know they'll end up on the "pinterest fail" board.  Elise saw this getup at Sam's.  She wore the wig the first time she wore the costume to the Chamber of Commerce event.  She cried to never wear it again, so it didn't get worn at school or trick-or-treating.

 As I mentioned, costumes stress me out.  So why bother if the kid doesn't know she's supposed to be dressing up?  I saw this cute tutu and bow at the Fair Grove Festival and thought, "why not?"  I already had the Halloween onesie that would match, and she looked just as cute as if she'd worn an actual costume--cuter probably!

 Getting these two to pose together is nearly impossible.  It was made even harder by the fact that Elise couldn't get that darned wig where she wanted it.

Happy Friggin' Halloween.

New Beginnings

 As we were getting ready for another big day of packing and moving (do you have any idea how much stuff a family of four accumulates in 5 years??  I sure didn't!), I had to take a moment to snap a few pictures of the girls in front of the only home they've known.

 I've been a lot more nostalgic about the move than I expected to be when we put the house on the market.  I think of things like bringing both the girls home from the hospital to this house.  I think about all the firsts that the girls have had here--and the firsts that we've had as a family here.

I moved 5 times before I started kindergarten, and then moved six times from the day I left home to the day we moved into this house.  Never, in all of those moves, did I ever feel so sad to leave a place.  Our neighborhood has been ideal for a family.  Our house has been so good to us.  But, it's time to go.

We're under contract on our next home, and we're all very excited about it.  We've wanted to move closer to Springfield for quite some time, and the new house is located in the area we want to be in: Strafford.  

But before we go, maybe, just maybe, Erin will give me one more "first" for our house on Brook Hills Drive and quit faking me out on walking.  I'd love it if she started walking this week before we turned the key one last time. 

It's been a wonderful adventure, 260 Brook Hills Drive!  I hope we're as blessed at our next home as we were in this one.

A Cousin is Born

 Claire Foster was born on August 23rd.  Elise was absolutely in love with her.  She wanted to hold her the whole time we were visiting, and she wanted to kiss her a ton.  She told me many times while we were there and after we came home that she was so beautiful. 

Erin was impressed with her new cousin, too, but we didn't let her get a hold of her.  Erin is terror on her baby dolls when she is "loving" on them.  There is no telling how she'd be with an infant.  Something best left untested until both Erin and Claire are a bit older!

 I am very proud to say I am 2 for 2 on guessing the sex of Amanda's babies.  She kills me that she doesn't find out until they are here (I am too Type A for that!) but I have guessed accurately with both of hers, and had a big bag of pink stuff to bestow on my niece at the hospital that was purchased before she was born.  If I had been wrong, we would've had to make a quick run to Babies R Us for something blue :)

We're so happy you've joined the family, Claire!

First Day of Preschool, Take 2

 Things got serious for Elise on August 15th.  That was Sneak Peek for what she calls "The Big Preschool."  She was ticked in the Sneak Peek pic because we wouldn't let her play on the playground on the way in.  We're mean parents like that.

Her face was decidedly more cheerful when she started at the Big Preschool for real the following Monday.  She told us on her first day that she didn't make any friends.  She acted slightly concerned about it, but when we asked her why she didn't try to play with anyone (she usually makes friends everywhere she goes because there's not a shy bone in her body), she said that she played with the boy teacher (there are two girls and one boy teacher in her class).  She told us the next day she made friends with a boy in a red shirt and a girl in a purple shirt.  She's not the best at remembering names--just ask "Dave" (what she called Evan for a while), Hannah and "Tara" (she interchanges Hannah and Cara still to this day), or "My round friend" (the neighbor boy who has a round face).  

We're a few weeks in now, and she definitely likes the Big Preschool the best.  She still has fun at the Little Preschool, but she prefers the Big Preschool.  By the way, the best that we can tell, the reason she calls it the Big Preschool is because it is at the big elementary school :)

First Day of Preschool

How did this happen?  How did this teeny tiny baby grow into a preschooler over night?  Because I swear to you that's how fast it happened.

Elise Joann Jackson, around 2 weeks old.

 Elise is going to have all sorts of preschool fun this year.  She is attending TWO preschools.  The first, through our church (St. Paul's Lutheran Church).  The second, through the public schools in Marshfield.  Sean and I both work full-time, so we needed someone to fill in the gaps since the public school preschool is only from 8:30am-11:30am.  Luckily, our church offers a great preschool and will take and pick up Elise from the public school.

Elise Joann Jackson, 4 1/2, first day of preschool (Take One :))

Elise's first day of preschool at St. Paul's started EARLY.  I had to be at an appointment at 7am, and still had to drop Erin off at daycare (she started full-time this week, too.  Lots of changes at the Jackson house!) before taking Elise.  She took it all in stride, though, and we did pretty good!  When I dropped her off, I talked to her teacher for a bit and she went right on in and started playing with a little boy.  When I needed to leave, she couldn't even be bothered to stop long enough for a hug.  She simply waved and told me bye before going back to her blocks.  The teacher called in the afternoon and said that she was doing really well, but seemed a little shy.  I laughed, because SHY is not an adjective that accurately portrays my daughter.  I figured that was first day jitters and she'll be her normal self before the end of the week!  

Last night, she told Daddy and me that she made 3 friends.  She didn't know their names, she only knew what color their shirts were.  One was a boy, and two were girls.  That's all she had.  She also told us she tried salad, and that she drew Earth out of her hand with her thumbs as trees.  

Overall, a pretty good first day at school.  Can't wait to hear what she thinks of Preschool #2 at Sneak Peek on Thursday!

One Year

Thank Goodness for the onesie stickers--they motivated me to take monthly pics of Miss Erin (except for at 10mos, when I forgot--luckily that fell around Mother's Day!)

 I have been a failure of a blogger since April.  I have no good excuse: I barely got my pics posted to FB, let alone taking the time to post them here and come up with clever commentary!  But here I am, marking a milestone.  My baby is now ONE.

She got shy when everyone sang happy birthday!

 In the interest of keeping things "fair" we did a huge 1st birthday party for Erin just like we did for Elise.  It was mostly family, but we've got big families, so that should tell you how big of a party it was!

She got into opening presents at the very end.

 We were so thankful to everyone for taking the time to come out and celebrate with us, and we're definitely thankful for our feisty little girl!

She likes cake!

Say a prayer: she drives like her mother.

Best buddies

One year stats: 

Height: 30.5 in (90-95th percentile)

Weight: 20lbs, 4 oz (50-75th percentile)

Head Circumference: 18in (50-75th percentile)

2 teeth--the front two on bottom

Straight blonde hair and blue eyes

 Favorite thing: Pacifiers--the girl loves them.

Erin has such a silly personality.  She loves to make people laugh, and she's very personable.  She is rarely shy, and loves to be cuddled by pretty much anyone.  Recently, we sadly had to attend the funeral of a relative in Nebraska.  She had never met 95% of the people there, but she let anyone who wanted to hold her.  She's not walking yet--she thinks it's faster to crawl so she only practices for a few minutes before she drops down and crawls off.  I suspect it will be a few more weeks before she's walking for this reason.