Here is Jackson with his Easter basket (and new Cardinal's hat) on Easter morning at our house. Claire and Blake (my sister's kids) at Great-Grandma & Grandpa's Easter egg hunt. And then the kids spending time with Grammy and Papa.

Easter Egg Hunt

Our church had an Easter Egg Hunt this morning. Here is Jackson with his friends, Jozie Samuels and Nathan Mann.


Jackson liked to pick up all the eggs, but before they made it to the basket he had to check and make sure there was really candy inside. I had to remind him several times that we had to just pick up the eggs right now and we would eat the candy later. He sampled some anyway!

Here is Jackson with his friend Nathan. These two LOVE to play together and just squeal and run around when they see one another. We told them to put their arms around each other for this picture and instead they put their arms around themselves! They are so funny . . . . see video below.

Happy Easter!

Coloring Eggs

We colored Easter eggs with Jackson on Saturday morning. He was very intrigued for about 4-5 eggs and then he was done. : ) At first, he thought all of the colored water was a "yummy-licious" drink (one of his new favorite words). He also enjoyed decorating the eggs with the stickers.

I was explaining to him that today was Palm Sunday and that Jesus rode into town on a donkey. He said, "no mommy, he rode on a camel". I tried to say that no the Bible said it was a donkey, but I don't think he was convinced that I was right!

Let it Roll . . . .

Fun with the Jarrett Kids!

Kinsey is enjoying playing on the floor SO much more these days! Especially now that she can roll easily from her belly to her back . . . going the other way is a little more rare, but has been done. Jackson sometimes likes to "help" her roll over too, which is a little scary! What can I say, he likes to help : )

Jackson is 2 . . . . enough said : ) Just kidding! He has his days, we'll just leave it at that. We decided to check out the park yesterday morning, since it was SO warm outside. He loved climbing everywhere and going down all of the slides. I thought he might be a little timid about going down some of the tunnel slides (especially the really tall one), but he wasn't at all. Boy, how things have changed from last summer! Kinsey slept through the whole experience : )

Kisses

Kinsey Grace-4 Month Checkup

We took Kinsey for her 4 month checkup today. She was 13 lbs., 2 oz (50%) and 25 inches long (80%). The doctor said she was doing GREAT and was surprised at how strong she is. He said it won't be long before she'll be all over the place!! I don't know if I'm ready for that quite yet : )

House Update: We have the contracts in hand and have officially sold our house. Only bad part . . . we're not sure about a house here now. We went back to look at the house we had made an offer on and there were a few issues that have now made us very apprehensive. So we are continuing to look . . . but it seems that every time we find something that fits us, there is one MAJOR thing wrong with it. And it is compounded by the fact that the house we REALLY wanted that would have been PERFECT just closed and sold for the exact amount that we wanted to buy it for!!!! So we are going to continue looking! Please pray for us . . . it is pretty stressful and we are anxious to finally be settled.

Kinsey Grace-4 Months

Kinsey is 4 months old today! We take her to the doctor for her well-baby visit tomorrow morning. So we'll have actual stats then. But as you can see, she is growing like crazy!

She rolled from her belly to her back on Friday, February 15th at Grammy & Papa's house. And from her back to belly just this past Sunday (3/2). I am pretty sure she will be getting one of her bottom teeth VERY SOON! Her mouth is a faucet and I can feel a little bump on her bottom gums, but nothing has broke through yet.

We are having her 4 month pictures taken on Saturday morning. So hopefully she is smiley then : )

Quick Update

Just wanted to give a quick family update . . . .

Things have been a little crazy around here, but then again when aren't they : ) David got the bronchitis stuff Jackson had and spent a couple days last week in bed. He still has a lingering cough, but seems to feel much better this week. Jackson got over his sickness, but then started running a fever again on Saturday of 102. So we went back to the doctor to discover that he now has a sinus infection. Back on antibiotics! Of course, most of the time you wouldn't even know he feels bad, as you can see (trying to walk in my boots).

Kinsey is getting bigger every day . . . . she finally is starting to like bathtime! You would have never gotten this smile during bath time even a few weeks ago. She screams through them until just recently. Now she smiles and kicks her feet. I think she likes to splash us! She will be 4 months old on the 6th of this month!!

We are finishing up the paperwork on selling our house. And working out the final negotiations on our house here in Salem. So hopefully we'll have everything in place soon! Looks like we'll finally be "home" sometime after April 15th.

Luke Jameson Ritchie is HERE!

Our nephew Luke Jameson Ritchie was born at 2:14 PM today. He is 7 lbs. and 19.5 inches long. We went to visit them tonight!! They all seem to be doing VERY well.

Patty Cake

This video from this morning is precious . . . . Jackson is really into doing patty cake with Kinsey right now. And she LOVES it!



Let me translate: Patty cake, Patty cake, Hi, Hi, Hi
Patty cake, Patty cake, Bye, Bye, Bye
Patty cake, Patty cake, now I see
Patty cake, Patty cake, God's with me

Kinsey Grace

Could it be our new home?

We are putting an offer in on a house tomorrow morning. . . . of course, it is contingent on the sale of our house. We grow anxious to be "home" more and more every day. We actually looked at this house in October, but there was already a contingent offer on it at that time. So we have looked at other houses (and looked and looked and looked), but now we are back to this house. The contingent offer that was on the house has expired. We have been praying since we saw it in October that if we were suppose to buy it that it would still be available when we were ready to buy. Please pray that God would work it all out according to his will. And we'll keep you posted!

Happy 3rd Birthday Claire!

My sister's little girl Claire turned 3 on February 18th. We were very happy to celebrate with her today . . . . at her pink princess party! We even had strawberry milk, pink lemonade and pink cupcakes in keeping with the festivities. And of course, Claire wore one of her princess outfits. Fortunately, we all are feeling much better and were able to make the drive to Waterloo/Columbia for the party. Somehow I didn't get a picture of Blake . . . you'll have to check out Courtney's blog (see link on left side) for a new picture of him. He is so happy and changing all the time!

Who is sick now?

Well, if you haven't gotten the flu (stomach or respiratory) or know someone who has had it, count yourself lucky!! It has plagued our family . . . . Jackson had a touch of the stomach flu last Friday, then David had it last Tuesday, followed by me on Saturday and Sunday. Well, now it looks like poor little Kinsey has it too. She threw up (yes, more than just the normal spit up, TRUST me!) last night and then again tonight. Poor baby! And then of course, we can't just have one kind of sickness . . . Jackson has had a fever off and on since Sunday night. We took him to the doctor this afternoon to find that he now has bronchitis (thankfully we got into our NEW doctor . . . the first dr. I found down here was not an option). Dr. Deloso checked him out and prescribed some meds for him, so hopefully we should see a much happier boy shortly. We have to take him back on Friday to make sure it is improving and not turning into pneumonia. David and I have both had mini-meltdowns the past day or so. It is so hard to see your kids sick and then to have it compounded by not being in our own house. "This too shall pass" . . . . right?!

We were able to visit my parents from Thursday to Saturday, which was great. Jackson is still struggling to understand the concept "home" right now. I think things will get easier when we actually have all of our familiar furniture and furnishings. Even though the location will be new, it will still feel like "home". But for now, he calls Grammy & Papa's house "home". I try to explain, but well, it is lost on a 2 year old! But we were able to celebrate Madi's 7th birthday with family. Jackson was so excited to play with Tate, or wait maybe it was more to play with his trains! : ) In fact, when we pulled up to their house he said, "We're at Train's house" instead of "Tate". What can I say, he's a little obsessed!

Cute!

Kinsey posing in another outfit from Grammy & Papa. This picture is really just so Grammy can see her in this super cute outfit she got her at Kid's Closet : ) She wore it to church this morning! Thanks Grammy : )

Cabin Fever

Jackson just couldn't take it anymore and so we all went outside to play this morning. He LOVES to jump on the trampoline and to swing. You will notice that he also LOVES the Veggie Tales theme song . . . . what can I say, it's cute! : )

Kinsey Grace-3 Months

She's TOO cute and she knows it : )

Kinsey is 3 months old today! WOW how fast the time is going! I wish I could slow things down a bit to completely enjoy it all.

Here she is posing in her new Valentine's outfit from Grammy and Papa!

Look at that SMILE!!

Snow Angels

SNOW!

This is the view from our front door right now!! So when they issued a winter advisory for the area, I was a bit skeptical. BUT, not anymore! They are now saying that we may get up to 11 inches by noon tomorrow. I hope we don't get quite that much. But at least Jackson will get another chance to play out in the snow! Good thing we brought his snow pants and sled to Salem with us.

I have been spending the snowy afternoon baking peanut butter cookies. At least we'll have some good snacks while we are stuck here . . . AND we'll be watching the premiere of LOST!

Kinsey Talks

Kinsey has become quite the little talker, which is way too much fun! Jackson didn't coo very much at all, but Kinsey isn't near the mover and shaker Jackson was. It is really fun to watch her personality coming to life.

Reading to Kinsey . . .

Before Jackson's nap today, he came over to Kinsey and said, "Kinsey, sit on couch . . . read books. . . . Thomas books . . . Cars books." It was too cute, so we had to let him read Kinsey a book. Of course, it didn't last very long, but it was SO sweet!

Aren't they cute : )

Doctor Appointment Stats

We went to the doctor today for well-child visits for both kids. Which is craziness itself! Jackson wanted to touch everything in sight . .. .AHH! : )

Kinsey was 23 1/2 inches and 11 lbs., 12 1/2 oz.
Jackson was 35 inches and 31 lbs (but he was fully clothes and had on shoes).

So to say the least, they are growing like CRAZY!

Kinsey Update

Well, since Jackson has been getting all of the recent blog air time . . . thought I better post some new pictures of Miss Kinsey Grace! She is still a VERY good baby, though she has had a little bit of a cold. So there is a little extra spit up and she has been waking up a little earlier than usual, but all in all a very good baby : )

At the dr. office last week, they said she was 11 lbs., 9 oz. and 23 inches long. She and Jackson both go for well-child visits on Tuesday morning.

Here she is testing out the Bumbo already! She still isn't quite sure what to make of it yet.

I'll give you updates after the dr. appointments tomorrow!

Jackson's Cars Birthday Party

Jackson had a GREAT 2nd birthday party on Friday night! We had it at my parent's house since we aren't exactly settled in Salem yet, plus it was a closer location for most of my family. We had a house full . . . thanks everyone for coming to celebrate with us!!
Of course, I can't take any credit for the adorable Cars cake . . . . Jackson was SO excited! We let him play with the McQueen cake topper as soon as we got the icing cleaned off of it.
He was studying all of the trains on the back of his Thomas and Friends coloring book!
Enjoying some birthday treats . . . . of course!
Still learning to ride his new set of wheels! Those pedals may make him too fast to catch : ) And he even has on some of his new Illini gear!
And once again, studying his new Thomas trains. He also got some remote controlled cars that he is still trying to figure out too. Fun for Jackson and Daddy . . . . . thanks again everyone for all of the gifts and celebrating amidst all the craziness!

Birthday Fun!

We went to McDonald's playland for Jackson and Nathan Mann to eat, run and play! They had a pretty good time as you can see!

Kinsey wasn't quite ready for climbing through the tunnels, but she still had fun! : )

Happy 2nd Birthday Jackson!

It feels like I blinked and now he is 2! How did that happen? It has been such a blessing to watch him grow up from being this baby to the adorable little boy he is now.

David and I are continually amazed at how much he picks up on and learns every day. And the ENERGY! We love to watch Jackson light up when he plays and talks to Kinsey. He gets right in her face and says "HI KINSEY HI!" And his new thing is to try to tickle her. He always wants to show her the toys he is playing with and constantly wants to know where she is.

How did we get such a sweet boy? He got to open a couple gifts today and then on Friday he will have his "Cars" birthday party. He has been getting a little confused between "Happy New Year" and "Happy Birthday". He says he is 2 and will have a Cars "Happy New Year" cake!

Happy Birthday Jackson!

Home Sweet Home . . . well, for now

Home Sweet Home! Well, at least for right now. . . . this is a picture of our current residence in Salem. We are SO blessed and thankful to the Cone's for allowing us to make this our home until we sell and buy one of our own.

We are gradually getting settled into the house, church and area in general. Living out in the country and only having one vehicle creates its own set of challenges. But we are getting it all figured out!

Jackson is getting settled in our "new" house too. At first we could tell that he was having a little bit of a hard time with all of the new changes, but he is doing great now. He has LOTS of toys to play with and there is even a swing set and trampoline outside for him to play with too. And he has two new cute little friends at church that he loves to play with . . . Jozie and Nathan.

Please keep praying for us that our house in Rochester will sell soon!

Our Kids