Jackson is Famous!

Grandma Pam (David's mom) called last week to let us know that the layouts she submitted of Jackson's first Cardinal's game would appear in the Close to My Heart Summer catalog! Karen was at our house last night and brought a copy for me!!! And lo and behold there he is along with a few of all of us. So come the end of April when the catalog is generally available, you'll have to check out page 20 (Route 66 Level 1) and see our famous little boy : ) SO FUN!!!

The Next Tiger Woods?

Busy Playing . . .

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted! We have been busy playing : ) David’s parents were in town from CO, so we visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum (see photo with Lincoln Family) and spent time with family. Here is Ron holding Karen’s youngest Nathanael and Jackson (they are only 5 months apart). We have also been enjoying the WARM weather and extra hours of daylight! Here is Jackson sporting his new shades. He always smiles when I pull them out to put on him! Jackson LOVES to play outside. In fact, the other day he was standing at the front door, looking outside and crying! So we take LOTS of wagon rides and just explore the new scenery. He prefers to stay on the sidewalk than to walk in the grass, so the other day he headed off down the sidewalk. I (of course) followed him and he actually walked all the way around the block!! He did stop briefly to pick up sticks and watch “dogs” (every animal with fur is a dog). We are looking forward to Easter. My grandparents always have an Easter egg/basket hunt for the kids and he’ll actually be old enough to participate this year! And if my grandma gets her way, he’ll have his first Peep!

Claire Turns 2!

We spent this past weekend at Waterloo at my sister's house. Our niece Claire turned 2 and we had to be there for the BIG party : ) While we were down there my mom wanted us to take some pictures of the kids in their Illini outfits. This turned out to be quite an ordeal . . . we would get one in place and the other would run away or dive off of the couch! We did get a few good ones, but not many of them actually smiling at the same time. This ended up being a pretty cute one . . . we finally put on a video and they were in a trance!

Next American Idol?

What do you think?

Say "Cheese"!

Nothing really new going on. . . just took this picture after church on Sunday and wanted to post it! He can be quite the cheeseball sometimes : ) Watching him play and "talk" to himself always makes us smile! We have some video of him this same afternoon turning on his "fridge dj" and dancing & spinning in circles. He got dizzy and feel over : )

Snow Daze!

SNOW EVERYWHERE! We got a foot of snow dumped on us on Monday and Tuesday. So pretty much everything was shut down on Tuesday and Wednesday. Here is our house after David shoveled our drive Wednesday morning. And a few pictures of Jackson and him playing in the snow : )

13 Months on Valentine's Day!

Jackson has just now discovered how to climb aboard his fire truck and slowly motor around the house : ) It is SO funny watching him try to figure out exactly how to lift his leg and get on!! He now has 7 teeth and is working on more . . . .

His Illini jersey here is a Valentine's present from my parents! Pretty cute : )

I Love Music : )

Jackson just discovered that he is tall enough to reach up and play our piano. So you will now hear him tickling the ivory throughout the day : ) And he also loves to pluck the strings on all of daddy's guitars. I am a little behind on updating pictures, so here are a few . . . more to come!

Sledding Fun . . .

Jackson got a sled for his birthday from Cousins Josiah and Nathanael. AND then he got some SNOW!!! So Sunday afternoon, David blew up his new sled and pulled him around the front yard!!! The faster David would go the more he would laugh : ) It was REALLY fun! Except, David got a little carried away and made a quick turn . . . . and Jackson went rolling across the snow : ) He was fine the first time, but had enough when he did it a second time!! HA! It was actually wet snow too, perfect for snowman making! Enjoy the pictures : )

I'm a Big 1 Year Old!

Happy 1st Birthday to Me!

Jackson had a GREAT first birthday! Here are a few pictures and you can also check out more and video at David's website: http://davidmjarrett.home.insightbb.com/ Just click on "1st Birthday" along the toolbar.

Jackson had a Cardinals birthday complete with baseball cupcakes and STL attire. He has never had cake before, so it was a pretty exciting experience. After he got a taste of the icing, he was hooked! David also gave him a few bites of ice cream. He made the funniest face the 1st couple of bites, but that quickly went away!

We had a FULL house and were overwhelmed with all the gifts! It was SO wonderful : ) And David had no idea that part of the excitement was to celebrate his 30th as well. (He'll be the BIG 3-0 on the 17th).

Thanks to everyone who was there!!! We appreciate you being there to celebrate both a milestone for David as well as the 1st year of our precious little boy's life! It is amazing how fast a year can pass by . . . and how much can happen in just 12 short months! Life before Jackson seems like a far off dream now. And we LOVE life with him . . . his smile brightens every day and we feel blessed to be his mommy and daddy! Thank you God for an amazing blessing!

Jackson--11 1/2 Months

Jackson is quickly approaching his 1st Birthday! Here are a couple pictures I took of him this past week. He got a t-ball set from my parents and has been carrying the bat around the house ever since. Dave keeps calling him "Bam Bam". You might also want to notice he is sporting a new Illini windsuit!!! It seems even cuter being so small : ) Jackson also likes to play catch and is getting remarkably good at it! He holds out his little hands and sometimes uses his face or chest to help! Dave thinks I need to tackle him everytime he makes a catch, so he will be ready for football!!!!! I don't know about that : )

My 1st Christmas

Jackson had a GREAT 1st Christmas! Of course, we can't believe it is already here and gone!!! We did Christmas at our house in Rochester on Saturday morning. Then after church on Sunday, we headed down to my Grandpa & Grandma Jackson's house in TH. Christmas morning was at my parent's house and then another get together on Tuesday with my mom's side of the family. So by Tuesday, he was an "old pro" : ) Well, not really! He would help open if I started tearing the paper and he was really good at tearing off the bows! But I must say that gift bags with fun tissue paper were the most exciting and easiest for him.
You will notice in the pictures below, he is wearing the red sleeper for Christmas at our house and the red and blue flannel pjs on Christmas morning. My dad read the Biblical Christmas story to Jackson and Claire out of a storybook before we opened gifts. They both have a slightly puzzled look on their face : )
Well, now we are busy planning for Jackson's 1st birthday party on the 14th! I need to make his invitations this weekend. The theme is baseball . . . specifically the St. Louis Cardinals of course!!! It should be easy to decorate since all I have to do is take everything off the walls in his bedroom and move it to the kitchen!

Have a Happy New Year!!!!!

My 1st Christmas

Go Illini!

Jackson enjoyed his first Illini basketball game : ) There was lots to see and hear, so obviously it was fun for him! It was a little scary for a bit, but the Illini pulled it out 71-60. Smith, Brock & Frazier kept us alive!! We got Jackson this little IL tee for Christmas, but I had to unwrap it and wash it so he could wear it to the game : )



And we couldn't resist taking a familiy picture as everyone was going home : ) Gotta have something for the scrapbook!

Good Friends!

On Friday, Jackson and I got to spend some time with my roommate and good friend from college. It was great catching up and letting them play with Jackson. Jen & Amanda, I miss you girls! Thanks for taking time out to hang out with us : )

Our Little Snow Bunny!

Jackson wasn't sure what to think of the snow. David bundled him up and took him outside on Friday afternoon (12/1). Thankfully, Cousin Josiah was there to get a few smiles out of him. David even tried to get him to make a "snow angel", but he REALLY didn't like that! But, as always, it is fun to watch him experience something new!

Ice Storm

So you may have heard, but we have had some crazy weather around here! One week it is 70-75 degrees and the next everything is covered in ice and snow. Fortunately, we were only without electricity for 24 hours. There are still some people in the area that still don't have it . . . . 4 days later! Here are a few pictures of our house and some trees in our backyard!