Unexpected visitor

Look who came to visit last night!!! Laura's brother, Tim!!! What a surprise! Jackson was thrilled to see Uncle Tim. Tim had an unexpected delay as he was flying through Houston on his way to Tennessee for Christmas so he decided to rent a car and drive up to Dallas. He got here about 5:00pm and stayed the night and left about 8:00am this morning but we were really lucky to get the short visit we did. How fun for us!

Thanks Uncle Tim for making the long road trip to see us. He's back in Houston now and on a flight to Tennessee for the holiday.

Parties and more parties

Jackson has a couple of friends that have birthdays in December so in addition to all the holiday parties, Jackson has had his fun of birthday parties too. Here's Jackson with birthday boy Tate at a Gymboree party! FUN. Of course for Jackson the best part was the cupcake!

In between parties we squeezed in a Christmas parade

and a ride on Jackson's favorite Big Red Dog

Yesterday we went to Finn's party at a bounce house place. Jackson went into the bounce houses and down the slides for the first time by himself---wheeeeeee!

And of course there was pizza

and cupcakes to complete the event

30 weeks and counting

Here we are at 30 weeks and still growing!

Aunt and Uncle time

We never take very many pictures of Jackson with his Aunt "Bab" and Uncle "Dak"(a.k.a. Barb and Jack). I think because they live here and we get to see them more we forget about bringing the camera. Jackson loves every minute he spends with them---probably because they spoil him rotten.

Cookie making fun

Before all the cookie making fun we had to try out making caramel popcorn. It was a little chewy but otherwise yummy

Jackson has had two more opportunities to try his hand at cookie making this week. Yesterday we had our good friend Tate over (and his mama). The boys had a good time cutting out the cookies and decorating them.

And of course taste testing them!

Couldn't resist including this shot because it's so cute. The boys have gotten to be good friends and like to share a hug or kiss.

Today we went to a cookie making party. Here's Jackson with his friend, Sydney deep in concentration

Thanksgiving recap (finally)!

Sorry for the delay on this blog. Somehow we lost the pictures on our computer but thanks to Mike we found them last night! Here are some (actually a lot) of pictures from our 9 day Thanksgiving trek to Georgia and Tennessee. It was quite relaxing seeing family and I also got to see several of my high school best friends as well--and finally meet their kiddos. Jackson is a great flyer (had his first flight at 9 weeks old) and spent most of this trip listening to books on CD. Here he's enjoying Cars. For the first time ever I actually got to read some of my book.Our first stop was Georgia to see Nana and Papa. Jackson relaxing with Papa and enjoying some Bob the Builder

Jackson ready to make a gingerbread tree with Nana (she even had an apron ready for him)

Decorating the tree

Jackson and Mike take a cooking-making-break to check out the neighborhood playground

We also got to visit GG and Pops in their new home. Jackson's helping GG drive her new wheels

Here's the fam after a nice lunch

After several days in Georgia it was off to Tennessee to visit Mimi and Dow. Here's Jackson ready for some grilling lessons

And lucky for us Aunt Emily and Uncle Karl were around for the holiday. Unfortunately Uncle Tim was in San Fran and couldn't make it back. I think this picture could be a Christmas card ---if only we could get one like this with Jackson.

And of course we had to make MORE cookies. Jackson is trying his hand at gingerbread men (and women)

A definite highlight of the trip was seeing my high school friends. Here we all are! We did miss Sarah and Jenn who were both on the opposite side of the country (literally). We met for our reunion at Big Eds----very popular back in the day! It was so nice to see everyone and finally meet all the kids but not nearly long enough. Next time we need to also include some kid-free time to chat.

And here are all the kids---8 plus two in utero. What's really crazy is we all have boys, even one in utero (just don't know what Baby Manes is yet). And now that I think about it Sarah and Jenn who couldn't make it both have all girls so this was really just a boys day--kind of crazy.

Jackson also got to see Grandma Mowrer who had a special Christmas gift she had made---his own apron to take home so that when we make even more cookies (if he's not cookied out) we won't get the clothes all dirty!

So that's the short version of our trip :)

Knocked out

I just got back from a day of Christmas shopping. Mike was helping me to carry in all my bags and then decided to go upstairs to the "big" tv to watch the rest of the game. He was going to close Jackson's door so he wouldn't disturb him however......we cannot close it due to the fact that he is asleep in the doorway! Ever since he started sleeping in his bed he's always slept IN his bed so this is a first. Upon closer inspection it would appear as though he has knocked himself out! (not really this is just today's item he chose to sleep with---his hammer)

We promise Thanksgiving pictures are coming. We've had some technical difficulties as we cannot find them on our computer and our camera won't re-download them....ARGH!