Celebrating Christmas . . . .

Our Christmas in pictures . . . . here are Jackson and Kinsey in their Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve.

I tried to get a picture of the two of them in their Santa hats, but we only succeeded with Kinsey.

Jackson LOVES cars . . . so here he is with his "Cars" rug driving his matchbox cars all over it. We are planning a "Cars" birthday party . . . . can't believe he will be 2 in a few weeks!


Papa with all the grandkids on Christmas night.

Jackson and Claire with their new tents! They had so much fun climbing through them and were just giggling together.

All of the great-grandkids from my mom's side of the family. It was nearly impossible to even get them all in the picture together, much less looking at the camera and smiling (L-R: Jackson, Kinsey, Claire, McKenna, Madi, Blake and Tate).

Illinois Boys

Aren't they cute?! David was able to snap this cute picture of all 3 cousins this afternoon before we left Karen & Derrick's house. Merry Christmas Eve!

Gingerbread Fun!

Nathanael, Josiah & Jackson with their gingerbread creations! As you can see, we all had fun helping them. Josiah even told us he was having dreams last night of how he was going to decorate his! The youngest two were most interested in the candy in the center of the table . . . and ate their fair share of goodies. Thanks Karen for making all the pieces . . . we all had a GREAT time!

Merry Christmas from the Jarretts!

Click here for our Christmas greeting! And here for one from Jackson : )

Illini Game

My dad got 4 Illini tickets to Monday night’s game (12/17). So we braved the cold and took both kids to the game. Jackson sat on Grammy’s lap the whole time just taking it all in. And of course it helped that Papa got him some popcorn too : ) Kinsey did great and slept through most of it! You can't tell in this picture, but she also has on an Illini t-shirt (only it is pink).

Snow Day and More Smiles . . .

Jackson got to play out in the snow last Saturday . . . . of course there was a LOT more by that night! Here he is pulling his little sled from Cousins Josiah and Nathanael from his 1st birthday. David pulled him around the front yard in it before he decided to pull it himself. Most things are "I do it" these days . . . oh, the new independence of the terrible 2's! : ) I can't believe he will be 2 on January 14th. It doesn't seem possible already.

Here is another cute smile from Kinsey . . . she just lights up sometimes when you talk to her and gives us the cutest smiles!

We got to start celebrating Christmas with The Ritchie's tonight. They came out for dinner and presents at my parent's house. It is so fun watching the boys all play together! We are attempting gingerbread houses on Sunday night. David and Karen say it was a tradition in their family to make them on Thanksgiving . . . I have NO idea how to do it, but Karen is a pro. So I'll just be there to assist in the decorating process! I'll post pictures of that adventure. . . especially Jackson and Nathanael's!

My Little Santa Baby . . .

We have been in a moving frenzy the last few days. We packed up on Monday and Tuesday and moved a load down to Salem Tuesday late morning. Then we got to unload and unpack!! So to say the least we are a LOT tired! Of course, we forgot a few things in Rochester and have to make a very quick trip up there today to pick them up and do a little shopping.

It was REALLY sad for me to finish packing up the house and drive away from it on Tuesday. I know it is silly because it is just a house, but I love our neighborhood and we have so many memories playing outside with Jackson there. Hopefully we will find a place in Salem that will become just as special to me.

I have more pictures to post later . . .

Our Singing Boy . . .

Click here to link to "Our Family Website" to see a little video David put together of Jackson singing at Grammy and Papa's this morning. It's precious!

Amidst the Craziness. . .

Here is Jackson all dressed up after church on Sunday. We had a going away party at the church on Sunday afternoon from 3-5 pm. It was great to visit with everyone and feel their love and encouragement as we transition into a new ministry. There are so many that we will miss as we leave our first full-time ministry. But we know God will bless our lives with new relationships in Salem as well.


When both kids woke up Monday morning, David put Jackson in the crib with Kinsey. He is trying to give Kinsey her pacifier (which is quickly snatched back). He is SO sweet with her . . .


Kinsey started to give us little smiles this past week. They are quick, but we did catch this one real fast on Monday morning. She is so sweet and I love the little dimple in her left cheek : ) Kinsey has been a VERY good sleeper the last 2 nights! She slept until 7 am on Tuesday morning and until 7:30 this morning! Keep it up girl!

Thanks to Katie Young and her family . . . . I was able to get Kinsey's announcements done last night and finish my Christmas letters! She kept Jackson overnight and he and Ellie had a little slumber party. On Tuesday during the day, we were able to visit with Jen Searby and her little one Evan (15 weeks old) and Katie and her 2 little ones Ellie (20 months) and Lincoln (8 months). Aren't they precious! It was so great to visit and catch up!

Kinsey-4 Weeks

I can hardly believe that Kinsey was already 4 weeks this past Tuesday and officially a month old yesterday! It has gone by WAY too fast. And with Christmas, packing, moving, etc., the next month with probably also be a bit of a blur. But here are a few pictures from Tuesday to capture Kinsey's 4 week milestone!


Jackson has been getting lots of new BIG brother presents . . . here he is playing with one of his new favorites! Of course, he LOVES anything from the movie Cars so a Mater toy that actually has sound effects and drives itself on the floor was a BIG hit with him. It is just so much fun watching him use his imagination while he plays. The things he comes up with!!

We were down at Salem yesterday and today trying to get a few things set up to prepare for our move. We got a PO Box set up to start forwarding mail and then of course a checking account. And we were able to look at a few more houses too. There is one good possibility, but we really can't do much of anything until we sell ours. Thankfully, a woman in the church in Salem has graciously offered one of her homes to us to stay while we are in limbo. So we plan to move our necessities there on the 17th. We will have the rest of our house in Rochester packed, but will leave everything there until we actually sell and close on it. We know God is taking care of this whole situation, but we pray that he will grant us patience as we wait on his timing.

I have been working on getting out our Christmas card/letter out along with Kinsey's announcements. My goal is to get them all done and out this next week. Hopefully that actually happens! I do have all my Christmas shopping done and most everything wrapped so that is one less thing on the "to do" list. With moving and everything, we decided not to mess with the Christmas tree or much of any decorations (except for stockings and Jackson's Veggie Tales nativity set). So it feels VERY weird at our house in Rochester. I usually have all the decorations out and lights on our house by now. It just isn't the same this year! But fortunately, we will pretty much be at my parent's house after we move stuff down to Salem on the 17th until Christmas. So that will help!

Family Time

Isn't he SO handsome! : )
I can't believe how BIG he looks . . . so grown up.








And here is Kinsey (left) and her cousin Blake (right). This is my sister Courtney's youngest, born June 5th. There is 5 months between them and their size difference is rather obvious right now! Blake is a pretty big boy and SO smiley : )

Happy Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving twice today. Lunch at my mom's sister Donna's house and then supper at my dad's sister Connie's house. Jackson had fun playing with both Tate Wagner (at Donna's) and Ellie Young (at Connie's). You can see from the picture that he and Ellie had a GREAT time "cooking"! Nice apron, huh?



Jackson wanted to "hold" Kinsey the other night. He is so sweet with her!





And here is Kinsey in her Thanksgiving outfit from Grammy. Pretty cute!

Hope you had a GREAT Thanksgiving!

Life with 2 . . . .

We were down in TH at my parent's for a few days (hunting season). Here are a couple pictures . . .

Jackson was helping me get Kinsey ready for bed last night. He wanted to help put on the lotion : )

Selling Our House . . .

Say a little prayer for us as we are still trying to sell our house here in Rochester. We have a realtor friend in the church that we were going to list our house with at about this point in the process, if it had not sold. But she told us that we would be just as well off to continue trying to sell it ourselves with her help because of the slow housing market. So that is what we are going to do, but we are starting to feel a little nervous timing wise. Or when I say "we", I mean ME! So if you could just say a prayer that we would let go and let God take care of the timing and such, we would appreciate it!

Kinsey Update

Just a quick update on how we are doing . . . . We got home on Thursday around 1:30 pm. Jackson was anxious to see us and actually wanted to hold Kinsey. He has been really sweet with her, which we are thankful for. Kinsey has been nursing well and sleeping good. She actually slept last night from 11:30-4:30 am and then 5-8:30 am, when I woke her up to eat! I didn't sleep so well because I was up checking on her several times to be sure she was ok and breathing : ) Of course, if by some miracle she does that again tonight I will definitely SLEEP! Here are a few new pictures. We will be down in TH from Wednesday night to Saturday afternoon. So if you are down that way and want to come by, just call my parents and we would love to share Kinsey with you!

Going Home . . .

We will be heading home sometime this morning before lunch. We had a little more restful night last night and are ready to be back home in our own beds.

Here are a few more pictures from yesterday . . . .







On Wednesday, Jackson was a little more interested in actually holding his baby sister. He even wanted to share his sippy cup of juice with her. Grammy helped him to hold her at first and then he wanted to climb on the bed and hold her too. You might also notice, he is wearing his "I'm the Big Brother" shirt that my mom got for him.



Grammy brought Jackson Wednesday morning to visit. They stopped for McDonald's on the way, so the best picture we could get of the 4 of us also included a chicken nugget : )

More Pictures

I couldn't resist trying on this little bow headband last night : ) It is going to be way too much fun dressing her up!!

We had an ok night. . . all the hospital noises, interruptions, etc. make for interesting sleeping! But we did send Kinsey with the nurses for a couple hours just to try to rest and then she slept well after her 2 am feeding and we were able to rest a little more.




This is a picture of Kinsey with a very special friend of ours, Brenda Butcher. She is a labor and delivery nurse here at St. John's and involved in the Creative Arts Ministry at RCC. When Jackson was born, she was on duty and took care of us ALL day (and night). And this time, she let us pull her out of bed and come in on her day off to once again help us every step of the way. We feel SO blessed to have her there for both our kid's deliveries. Thanks Brenda!!

Kinsey Grace

Kinsey Grace Jarrett
Born November 6, 2007
at 9:55 AM
8 lbs., 20 1/2 inches

















Big Brother Jackson came to visit with Grammy and Papa right after lunch. He got to see her getting her 1st bath (as seen here).

Everyone is well! Labor was shorter this time . . . HOORAY! My water broke around 1:45 am, we were admitted around 3 am, and then started pushing at 9:35 am. We feel so blessed that everything went so well once again. We were able to have another natural labor and Kinsey is already doing well nursing. More to come later!

We're at the hospital!

Dave here!

Kristin's water broke at 1:45, so we're laboring! Look for more information to come soon! Keep us in your prayers.

No Baby Yet!

Well, there really is nothing to report. But I felt that I should report that there is nothing new to report : ) We are anxiously awaiting Kinsey's arrival. Of course, I wanted her to wait until after the last weekend in October, but I didn't mean she had to wait this long! I have EVERYTHING ready, so I started packing boxes today for moving because I'm running out of busy work to keep my mind off of it. I also went to the grocery store today and stocked up on a few more things. I have pretty much been nesting for the past 3-4 weeks, so I really have EVERYTHING done!

We did have an open house yesterday, but only two people stopped in and neither was actually looking for themselves. So we'll try it again next Sunday and see if we have any better luck. We have had two other people call this past week and set up a time to come see it. But nobody overly interested yet!

So we figure everything will all happen at once!! : ) God has directed us in this whirlwind journey so far and we trust that he will continue to be faithful.

Halloween Pictures

Here is Jackson sporting his Zebra costume . . . along with Princess Claire and Frog Prince Blake : )





And then here he is with Levi Price on Halloween night at the church.

38 Weeks

I had a dr. appointment on Wednesday morning. She did the exam and said that I was already dilated to 2 cm and 60-70% effaced. And her guess is that Kinsey is already around 8 lbs. (FYI: she was within 2 oz. on guessing Jackson's weight--so she is pretty good). I don't want to have a 10 lb. baby, so we are VERY anxious for her arrival! I did have some contractions last night, but then they slowed down and stopped before I went to bed. And we have had a few more signs of things today, so my body is getting ready for her to come but she is NOT here yet!!! So hopefully we will have something to report over the weekend at some point . . . the sooner the better! : )

So it's official . . . .

We went to Salem yesterday and it is completely official now! Fortunately, Kinsey held off and we were able to do everything we had planned this past weekend. We celebrated with my cousin Ashley and her new husband Dustin on Saturday. And then went to Salem later that night to be there for Sunday morning.

We were also able to meet with the Realtor and start house hunting. However, it didn't go quite as well as we hoped! The houses we saw online that we liked were not the same in person. So that was a little disappointing. But we did see one that was newly on the market that we did really like. But of course it is a little more than we were actually wanting to have to spend. So we'll see! We did have someone come by this evening and look at our house. He was interested, but said he was also going to look at a couple more. We are planning to have an open house on Sunday afternoon, so hopefully we'll get some more leads then.

We expect Kinsey to arrive ANY day now! She dropped on Wednesday and then I did have lots of pressure and a few contractions on Thursday. But David put me on "restriction" so we could make it through the weekend : ) So hopefully things start back up soon . . . . I was cleaning and doing laundry ALL day today so hopefully that will do it : ) We'll let you know as soon as she arrives. We can't wait to meet her!

37 Weeks!

I had a dr. appt. this morning. She said that I measured a week ahead this time. Everything else looks good. Just have to wait for her arrival now! We are hoping that she won't come until after this weekend : ) My cousin Ashley gets married on Saturday. And then we are going down to Salem on Sunday for the official congregational affirmation and then to look at houses that afternoon. So we are hoping that she will wait until after that . . . and then she can come ANYTIME! We'll keep you posted!

36 Weeks

I had my 36 week prenatal appointment on Thursday (10/18). I saw a different midwife this time because Helen was out on Wednesday. She said everything looked fine and I was measuring right on. They did the Group Strep B swab, which I will have the results for when I go again on Wednesday. Every week from now until she arrives! I really need her to stay put until after this next weekend and then she can come whenever she wants : ) We'll keep you posted!!

So, we're moving . . . . .

If you haven't already heard, we are moving to Salem, IL the end of the year! We really feel that God has walked us through this whole process and are excited to see how he uses us in our new ministry at First Christian Church. The staff is young and in fact the Youth and Children's ministers have kids that will be almost exactly the same age as both of ours. We still have MUCH to do here, with selling our house, packing, having Kinsey Grace, finding a new house, doing a Dinner Theater. . . well you get the idea! And we do not look forward to saying good-bye to some VERY dear friends. But we know this is where God is leading us and we trust his calling.

St. Louis Zoo

We took in the Zoo on Saturday morning before heading back home! It was fun for the 3 of us to spend quality time together before Kinsey arrives. So we were thankful for the opportunity to get away! We made it (barely) to the Children's Zoo while it was still free, so we check it out for a while. Here is Jackson posing next to a very BIG rabbit, which I don't think you can really see in the picture.

We also HAD to be sure to check out the penguins, which is our family favorite!! Yes, it is VERY cold inside, but it is just TOO cool to look over the glass and see them right there. We let Jackson down so he could be right up by the glass and see them swimming in the water. He was having a little trouble keeping track of them as they would quickly hop out and then dive back in.

Grant's Farm

We went with The Warner's to Grant's Farm on Friday. Here are a few of the highlights . . .

Jackson loved feeding the goats from OUTSIDE the fence. Daddy took him inside for the second bottle and he was not too crazy about that at all! The goats were a little too aggressive and started jumping up on him, so we finished feeding them outside the fence again : )

At the elephant show, Jackson got to keep the balloon that the elephant blew up with his trunk.

Jackson was watching the kangaroos over the fence. Two of them were sleeping just sprawled out on their backs. I had never seen such a thing before it was very funny!

Here is Blake on the tram ride . . . he was a good boy all day (of course he slept through most of it).

Claire again wasn't too sure about the Clydesdales, but eventually (after some investigation) determined that it would be "OK" to pet the baby horses because "they were nice".

Both of the older kids came home with souvenir Baby Clydesdales named "Dale"! It was a fun day and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! But by the end it was definitely time to go back to The Warner's for naps : )