Elise's Soccer

 Elise is a soccer player!  We joined the league in the next town over and she absolutely loves it.  Practice on Mondays, games on Saturdays.

 There have been some chilly game days, but she's had a good crowd watch her each week.

 She is good at kicking the ball, and loves to be goalie.

 Sean helps coach when he isn't on shift. 

 Elise doesn't really like to be in the thick of the game--she usually plays defense and stays out of the middle of the chaos.

 A few Saturdays ago, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Jackson's for lunch after her game.  Elise helped Grandma make this fruit tart and was so proud she wanted me to take a picture.  She did a good job!

Roxie

Erin thought Roxie was cold.

We put a blanket on our new couch when Roxie is allowed to lay on it (at night).

 Elise and Roxie are the best of friends.  Roxie likes to be near her if Sean isn't around (she's really Sean's dog, with a preference for Elise.  She could take or leave Erin and me :))

Maybe this is why Elise is her bestie

And this is probably why Sean is her main guy

And for good measure, our cuties playing in the tree out front.  We've got some great climbing trees at this house!

Nature Adventure

 I took the girls to the Nature Center during a gorgeous day mid-March.  It was one of those days that you just knew Spring was here.  Of course, this is Missouri, so it was a total fake-out day, and there were more cold days that followed, but I digress.

 Elise was all about posing that day.  She is such a little attention lover, it cracks me up.  I don't have any idea where she gets it.

 Erin, on the other hand, wasn't always as excited.

 Elise was really interested in finding "cool places" to get her picture taken.  She did a good job.

 Water fun.

 Elise thought this was a cool tree.

 Erin was a little more excited about a picture on a big rock.

 Or a big tree.

 Or when she didn't know I was snapping pictures.

 These pictures make me laugh the most.  She really wanted a piggy back ride (I got ambitious and took us on the long trail.  Seemed like a good idea at the time.  Not so much when I was carrying a monkey on my back).  I said "then please take a picture with your sister and smile."  These were what I got.  Good effort (as I roll my eyes).

The kids love the Nature Center, and so do I, but I really need to take them on some of the shorter trails until Erin stops getting tired midway through.  We all slept like babies that night!

Wicked Fun

 In February Elise and me got to go on a date night, just the two of us (until we met up with several of our friends!).  We ate at Qdoba, enjoyed some Insomnia cookies, then watched Wicked!

 It was my first time seeing the production, as well as Elise's.  We were so glad Hannah let us in on the early ticket sales and got a big group together so we'd have access.

 Our seats were excellent!

 Elise was amazed by the stage and asked me to take a picture.

 I got a little one-on-one time with Erin later that month--Barbie time

I have no idea why they cracked up so much, but they do have a great time with their Daddy!

Lamest Blogger Ever

Living life gets in the way.  Seriously--I love to blog, love to look back at things we've done.  But I get so busy DOING those things that I don't take time to pull pics off my phone (I'm not smart enough to blog from my phone), then put those pics onto a blog post. I resolve (yet again) to be better about the blogging for those friends that care, those family members we don't get to see often, and for my family.  Scrapbooking is out of the question (talk about a time commitment!) so this is my version.  So let's catch up, shall we?

 January 1st I took the girls to Springfield to visit Sean at the station, and on a whim decided to get the girls haircuts.  I pulled into the first place that had an open sign and Erin got her very first hair cut!

 She was a rockstar!  I promised they could get manicures if they were good getting their hair done, and they both delivered.

 We cut several inches off their hair if you can believe it.

 Elise's manicure

 The girls wanted to try Burger King for the first time (they saw the big play place) and while they didn't like it as well as McDonald's, they were pleased with the play place

 I hadn't take a pic of the girls with their Daddy in front of the fire truck at Station 9, which is where he was moved after his promotion in November, and since they were both looking so pretty, we made it happen!

 I also took them shopping at Penney's home store that day.  They got along smashingly, and this was a fun picture!

 Loved this little peeker and her pretty finger nails!

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!