4th of July Fun!

4th of July weekend in Marshfield is always momentous. It's just how we do 4th of Julys! This year was even more busy than usual because Mommy had her 10 year class reunion on Saturday. Elise had fun staying with Will and Jessie and actually enjoyed fireworks for the first time when they took her to a BBQ that included fireworks!

Elise was dressed in 4th of July outfit #1 for the Family Picnic of the Class of 2001. Only 15 people came out (plus kids) due to the intense heat, but it was still a good time and the kiddos had a great time running around together!

Another reason that 4th of July is such a big deal is because of the Independence Day Parade. It's the longest-running parade west of the Mississippi! There was even a PBS special about it once (I swear--I saw it!) Elise's MawMaw, Mammy, and Nana joined us for the festivities, as well as Jessie and Sean Viets.

Check out that cheese-face! She is ready for the parade and rocking 4th of July outfit #2!

Unfortunately, even though Elise was very excited for the parade and interested in what was going on, she got very tired very fast. She lasted about an hour and a half (20 min of that on Daddy's shoulders) before she declared that she was ready to go home. With the heat and humidity, none of us minded!

We hope everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend and took some time to reflect with thankfulness on the reason that we celebrate the 4th of July: Independence courtesy of our servicemen and women. God Bless them all, and God Bless America!

Big Girl Bed

It's official. Elise is no longer in her toddler bed. Daddy was her hero tonight (with a little help from her: she likes to use the screwdriver!) when he put together her big girl bed. Sunday, MawMaw and I took her to Penney's to show her all the awesome bedding and let her pick something out for her new bed.

Elise, being a purple-lovin' fool, picked out this lovely ensemble. And being the daughter of a deal-seeking mother and some bargain-loving grandmas and aunts, she picked a set that was on clearance! For the first time in the history of taking baths, Elise was in a hurry to get out, because she was SOOO excited to get tucked in to her new bed. And in case your noticing a similarity, yes, her headboard looks curiously similar to her crib. That's because we invested in a convertible crib. It went from crib to toddler bed to double bed. Someone had suggested we go ahead and buy the rails and everything necessary to convert it to each phase when we originally bought it--which I thought was great advice since that was almost 3 years ago! And for any expectant friends: we HIGHLY recommend the convertible crib. It was awesome, and she still has her matching dresser!Sweet dreams, Princess Pea!

Summer is HERE!

Summer is HERE! And what better way to start it than with a long weekend?! Ours started out with a slumber party. Just Mommy, Elise, and Link. Both kids were VERY well-behaved and we had a great time. Link is crawling up a storm and loves to see what his cousin is up to. Elise is glad that he's not cruising so much in his walker--he tends to run her over when he's in it!

We had a big first this weekend, too! Elise got her first haircut! Here is her "after" cut, showing off her pretty new hair (it was just a trim, but much-needed!) and you can just barely see her new bow here.

Becky, who cuts Po-pa's hair, gave Elise her first cut. Her cute granddaughter, Brylee, was watching in the background!
Starting the summer out with pretty toes is a must, so Elise picked out some colors for us. Mommy and Elise couldn't match--it's hard to tell, but she insisted on one color for her and one color for Mommy.

Here's hoping for a fun summer ahead!

Blessings

The Jackson family is blessed. I started this post as an ode to our weekend, but realized as I began typing that it would be more accurately titled "blessings". We are so fortunate to have great friends, as evidenced by the turnout on Saturday. It was our 2nd Annual Murder Mystery Party! We were thrilled to have a bigger group than last year, and all the new players only added to the fun! Everyone has such a great time that it's been declared that it must be an annual event, and that we should really find an excuse to dress up like lunatics more often!

Elise is definitely blessed too! She spent Saturday with MawMaw and PawPaw while her parents were busy being crazy, and look at what MawMaw found her at a garage sale:

PawPaw had told MawMaw that Elise needed a rig, so they made sure she got one. That girl is blessed! She does have her mother very concerned though--because she drives about like me: fast, furious, and paying little to no attention most of the time. It's a wonder I made it through HS without any MAJOR accidents, and an even bigger miracle that I haven't had one since (or a BLESSING?!)! At any rate, Elise was thrilled with her new ride!

We have a tradition for Mother's Day in our families: to take a pic of all the moms in the family with their kiddos. At my mom's house, this is the group. Three generations of love and happiness. Most everything I learned about being a good mom I learned from the women in this pic and the pic following. I am BLESSED to have such wonderful examples.

Last, but definitely not least, we were BLESSED to find out that we're going to have a new baby in the family!!! Amanda and Rob are due (yes, that is the baby's first snapshot making an appearance in the annual mother's day photo) on Elise's birthday! I think that is pretty fortuitous! Elise will be thrilled to have a little cousin to play with, and maybe there will be a baby BOY to compliment PaPoo Mike and Grammy Kathy's 5 granddaughters! We're so excited to find out either way and so blessed to have another baby to cuddle in the family!

Thank you, Dear Lord, for all the blessings that you have given our family. We ask that you continue to watch over us and guide us, asking that Your will be done in our lives. We ask blessings for all that pass this way, Heavenly Father.
In Jesus Name, Amen.

Easter & 1st Slumber Party!

Easter weekend had its ups and downs for the Jackson family. To start with a definite "UP", Elise got to enjoy her first slumber party with her cousins Landen and Lainey!

The kids got along really well, which meant that the parents (Sean's cousin Derrick and his wife Tracy) were able to hang out and enjoy visiting too!

Mommy wouldn't let Elise sleep with the kids--she wanted to make sure she was rested up for the Easter day festivities--but the girls had a lot of fun playing in the bed when it was up and ready!

Because we knew Easter morning was going to be crazy busy getting everyone around, and because Daddy had to work, we decided to do Easter baskets on Saturday night. The kids got a haul and had a good time check everything out and then swapping candy! Both Lainey and Elise got Tangled, so guess what we watched Saturday evening???

Easter day started with more "UPS", in that this cute little monster was at Mammy and Popa's. We all just absolutely adore him! We had a bit of a "DOWN" before we went to Mammy and Popa's though: our power went out for a little over an hour. Mommy was in a panic, worried about how she was going to make her side dish! Literally in the nick of time, the power came back on. Poor Elise, though, she didn't understand why her Mommy wouldn't "let" her watch a movie!

Mammy and Popa needed a new picture with their grandbabies to put on their computer (the last one taken was at Christmas) and I think they were able to get a good one! I absolutely love this pic and will be finding a frame for it sometime soon!

In another "DOWN", Elise got sick when we were on our way to the Jackson Family Easter, so we had to turn around and come home. We're pretty sure that the little con-artist was able to talk everyone at Mammy's into giving her extra helpings of strawberries and blueberries and all that sugar made her sick. She was back to her normal crazy self after her afternoon nap, which was a relief to Mommy!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

A Fond Farewell

Sadly, we lost a great person at the end of March. Sean's Grandma Sweaney passed away. He was very close to her growing up, and though she had been tired and ready to go Home for a while, it was still sad to say goodbye.

Here is Sean with his Grandma Sweaney.

Sean and Amanda with Grandma and Grandpa Sweaney. While it was hard to let her go, it was comforting to know that she and Grandpa were finally reunited in Heaven.

Elise had fun with Grandma Sweaney. She liked to play with her dolls, color with her, and go for a ride on Grandma's walker. I am glad she got to know her for a little while, and feel blessed that I was able to know her too.

Goodbye, Grandma. We'll be seeing you.

On the Road Again

What a busy weekend of travels the Jackson family had! First, Elise and I went to visit the Weatheralls with Cara. This time, I remembered my camera and took some pics of us with the cutie. Too bad Elise had developed a cough on the way down and had to steer clear of sweet Rory--but we'll be sure to snap a photo of the two friends next time.

Rory and I with our first self-photo--not too shabby!
Cara getting some cuddle time with Miss Rory.

After Arkansas, Sean and I headed to KC for a quick trip to pick up his new truck. We went up Saturday (after I drove back to Springfield, dropped off Cara and Elise, and picked up Sean) and stayed in a hotel, which was loads of fun. All we did was lay in bed and watch Indiana Jones, the Last Crusade. As silly as it sounds, we had a great time relaxing together! And of course we were really excited to pick up his new truck Sunday morning!

We'll close this post with Elise and Will showing off their cheese-faces. It has to be noted that Elise has a full-blown crush on Will. She talks about him all the time and insisted all weekend on seeing the video of the two of them that Cara had taken with her phone. She loves both the Kelbs, but definitely has a crush on Wilbur!