House Update

We had the appraisal on Monday afternoon and inspection last night (Tuesday evening). So far so good! They found a few minor things with the inspection, but nothing major. So we are moving forward and hoping to close the middle of May.

Summer Days?

The weather has been SO wonderful lately! It is as if we have skipped Spring altogether and went straight to Summer. So we have broken out the cute sun dresses and shorts. Unfortunately, I don't think it will really stay this nice forever, but we are certainly enjoying it while it lasts.

In the mind of a 2 year old . . . .

It is kind of hard to see, but this is our sidewalk artwork from this morning. Jackson wanted me to draw a picture of our "new house". And then I suggested that we draw a picture of our family, Daddy, Mommy, Jackson & Kinsey. Then he said "put Mr. Chris here". Well, Mr. Chris is our realtor (and an elder at our church) who has been showing us many, many houses over the last 6-7 months. So I drew Mr. Chris! (he is to the left of the house) I guess in the mind of a 2 year old, he has been with us everytime we have looked for new houses. And should be apart of the picture like the rest of us!

We have a HOUSE!

Well, we finally found the RIGHT house! YEA!!! As soon as we walked in this house yesterday morning, we knew . . . it is the one! It is an adorable little 3 bed, 2 bath, brick ranch, that is newly remodeled. And the owner's before us had great taste, so there will be very little that we will even have to paint!!! More info later, but just wanted to share our exciting news! Looks like we'll be moving in sometime the middle of May . . . .

Sunday Evening . . .

Some highlights from a warm, beautiful Sunday evening . . .

My boys in David's "new" old truck. A gentleman from the church sold us this old pickup for David to run around town in (and go hunting in). Jackson just liked honking the horn!



















Jackson has been missing his outside toys so much! If it wasn't that it got dark outside, I don't think we would have been able to get him to come inside. We even ate supper outside at his (and Kinsey's) new picnic table from Grammy and Papa (THANKS!).

A Bittersweet Goodbye

Well, it is official. . . we have sold our house. It is honestly a bittersweet goodbye. I loved our house in Camelot. But more than that I loved the memories and changes that happened in our lives while living there. Long walks in the wagon through the neighborhood, hours spent exploring and playing in the backyard, sleepless nights with newborn babies, and a barrage of baby's firsts.
We have welcomed two babies home here. We have celebrated Jackson's 1st birthday and our first Mother's & Father's Days. We have had many fun sledding days playing in the snow. And even more days, swinging and taking walks. Jackson has made new friends here and welcomed home a precious baby sister. And while this is the only "home" he has ever known, we pray that God will bless our lives and family with a new place with new memories. I hope you will humor me as I remember our days in Camelot.













































PS. A HUGE thank you to everyone who helped us pack and move our stuff. We appreciate it so much. And we were blessed to spend time with you!

A Quick Visit and House Update

Great-Grandpa & Grandma Jackson stopped in on their way home from Marion this afternoon. They really enjoyed visiting and playing with the kids . . . . and reading books (as you can see).








We close on our house on Friday (April 18th) and will be moving our stuff to storage for right now. Our Realtor has a couple of new houses that will be ready for us to see over the weekend or the first part of next week. He is going to show them to us before they hit the market. So we are praying that one of them will be the "one" and that we won't have to live with our stuff in storage for long. Please pray for patience as we are so longing for our own place and that God will lead us to the right home.

Video of Kinsey

Kinsey loves to mimic us right now! And sticking out her tongue and blowing bubbles seems to be a favorite. We love to hear her squeal in delight and laugh. She is such a happy baby : )

A Day with Daddy

I went to the MOPS Leadership Summit in O'Fallon today and David had the kids. He did great and Jackson even got to help give Kinsey a bottle. Enjoy!

Crockpotting

I really don't mind cooking, but there are some afternoons when it is time to get supper started that I dread it. I grow tired of making the same recipes. And frankly some evenings, I'm just plain tired! I am always looking for quick easy recipes AND especially ones you can put in the crockpot. So when I came across the link to a blog all about crockpotting I had to check it out!! (Thanks Gretchen!) This lady is making something new in her crockpot everyday of 2008. She just passed day 100. But the greatest part, is that she shows you a picture of how it turned out, gives you the ingredients & instructions, and then follows it up with the verdict (was it good or not). And she has all of the recipes sorted by category on the left side toolbar, to make them easy to look up/reference. So if you are looking for some new recipes check out "The Year of Crockpotting". OR if you have some easy, yummy recipes, please share!

It's Spring!

We spent pretty much ALL day outside today!! (except for meals and nap) Thank you God for sunshine and warm weather! Jackson LOVES to be outside, ok, he LOVE, LOVE, LOVES to be outside . . . so it is so nice to be able to actually let him go out and play . . . FINALLY! Enjoy a few pictures from our day : )

Enjoying Sunday . . .

Our church had a Parent-Child Dedication this morning at 2nd service. Both of the kids received little Bibles and we were challenged as parents to continue in our responsibility of raising them in a Christian home. My parents came down to go to church with us and be apart of the dedication. (You'll notice that I chopped off my hair on Friday--I'm in the white shirt to the right)


Jackson enjoyed playing outside with Papa this afternoon after his nap. Papa even took him on a special ride on the mower around the yard. Thanks Papa!!

And to top it all off, Kinsey is 5 months old today! Here she is all cute in her pretty dress.

HOUSE UPDATE: We made an offer on a house and hope to hear something the first of the week. And closing is set on our house for April 18th. So we'll keep you posted!

Hope you had a GREAT Sunday too!

Kinsey's New Look

Well, we took Kinsey on Friday to get her ears pierced. I know some of you are thinking that we are terrible parents for putting our 5 month old child through such torture for something so cosmetic. But I tell you, she barely cried! And she looks SO CUTE with her new earrings : ) Click on the pictures for a closer look : )

She is rolling everywhere now . . . I don't think it will be long before she figures out how to crawl around too. She already does a fair amount of scooting. And just before Easter, she started sucking her left thumb. I don't look forward to breaking her of this habit or paying for the dental bill to correct the damage done to her teeth, but boy is it cute now!

The many faces of Kinsey Grace . . . . look at those big, beautiful blue eyes! I still can't believe they haven't turned brown . . . .

Opening Day 2008

Go Cardinals : )

Havin' Fun!

While we were in Tower Hill this past weekend, David ran up to our house in Rochester to pick up a few more things to tie us over until we close and move. One of those was this exersaucer for Kinsey. I put her in it this morning . . . . I think she likes it : )

Snapshots from a GREAT Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter weekend. After church on Sunday, we headed down to Tower Hill until Tuesday night. Enjoy some video and snapshots from our fun weekend!


Boy, how time flies! Kinsey is growing SO fast! Here she is with her cousin Luke Ritchie (David's sister's youngest). She is 4 1/2 months and he is around 3 weeks.

It just isn't Easter with out a marshmallow Peep from Great-Grandma Jackson : ) Right?