9 months old!

Jackson is 9 months old already! Time has been flying by. It's hard to believe he's going to be a year old in just a couple of months! So so sad, but he is at such a fun age. He is starting to "caterpillar" crawl just a little bit toward me, babbles lots, and can sign "more" for more food! (Hard to believe he is motivated by food huh?) He is such a laid-back and happy baby.

Laura and I took his 9 month pictures at my parents' house this weekend.
I think this one is my favorite. Love him smiling!

He can stand when I stand him up against something but definitely isn't pulling to stand yet. I think that will be awhile.

I tried for some more masculine backdrops this time. Ryan has made comments about all of the flowers I pose them in front of. I just love flowers!

These are in front of this outdoor kitchen my parents just had put in. Great for photos! :)

With the color of the stone his hair almost looks red!

We have gotten out the water table!

It's official- it's now hot enough to get out the water table! In some ways yay, in some ways, Yuck! I can already tell it's going to be too hot of a summer for me. At least I won't be 9 months pregnant like last summer! Jackson got to try out the water table for the first time and I think he had fun. He loves to do anything standing so he got a kick out of standing up at the table. It was difficult to get pictures though since he falls very easily and just falls backwards without catching himself.

Here's Cooper helping me get a picture of Jackson by holding him up.
I just thought this was cute, he was so mad at me because he was trying to eat bits of dirt and plants off the ground and I kept telling him no. He got SO angry and sad!

Cooper loved playing with the table!

Watching Cooper

"Look at mommy please!"

Just some random pictures now.. the boys giving kisses.

Jackson just looking so cute!

Mother's Day

We had a great Mother's Day! We had brunch at our house for my parents and Laura with her kids. A fun family day!

Kissing those kissable cheeks!

Me, Mom, and Laura

Here I am with my two precious boys! We're posing by the flowers they sent me (along with Ryan I think :)) for Mother's Day. Tulips-my favorite!

The boys with Grandma and Grandpa.Now all of the cousins!

The Boys

I have some random pictures of the boys over the past few weeks that I thought I'd finally post.

Here is Jackson doing one of this favorite things-grabbing his feet and watching his mobile. He LOVES his mobile now and that makes nap time a challenge because he has learned how to turn it on. He'll be so quiet and I think he's asleep and I'll listen by the door...sure enough, I'll hear that music playing! I probably should take it out of his crib but he loves it so much.
On his tummy! Not so new anymore, but I think when I took this picture it was one of his first times to be on his tummy in his crib.

The boys playing together. Doens't happen too much, so I thought it was so cute they were playing together!

Cutie pie JacksonMy other cutie pie, riding his "big boy bike" for the first time! And of course he doesn't have a helmet on- oops! (it's in the bag Ryan is holding). He now always wears one, and notices when others aren't!

A Visit From Friends

Two of my best friends from college and their families came to visit us this past weekend. Jill and Daniel live in CO and Gretchen and Darin live in KS, so it's very hard for all of us to get together. We have tried since college to get together about every other year, and so far it's worked out. We had such a wonderful time this weekend!!

I looked for a picture of us from college but of course they weren't digital then so I can't post it. But here's a picture from our visit to CO two years ago.


Here we are this past weekend. (Jill and Daniel are on the L, Gretchen and Darin on the R)


Two years ago at our visit there were only two children (Gretchen was newly pregnant with her twins so you could maybe count that :)) Avery was about 11 months and Cooper was around 17 months. Aren't they cute??

Here they are now.. Cooper is 3 and Avery is getting close to 3.

Now look at our group! Gretchen and Darin had twins named Maya and Nolan who are around 15 months. Then of course Jackson was an addition to our group, along with Jill and Daniel's little boy Landon. He's only a month older than Jackson.

Things were a little busier this trip needless to say! So much fun though.




The adults:
Gretchen (with Maya)

Jill (with Landon)

Daniel (with Landon)

and Darin (with Maya and Nolan)

My parents were so nice to let us stay at their house this weekend while they were out of town. It worked perfectly because we had enough room for everyone, a big plus! Definitely helped with all of the different nap schedules.

The buddies Jackson and Landon.

The first day they were here we went to the pond and fed the ducks.

Nolan spots one!

We also took that time to do another photo shoot. This was the best one of the six kids. Not too easy to take pics of that many little kids!

We spent a lot of time playing outside-here is Maya looking precious!

We also ate,

went to the park,

and had even more company! Jill, Gretchen, and I were all in the same sorority in college. Two of our friends who were also in our sorority now live in TX. So they came over Saturday night for dinner and more catching up. Can you spot them in the crowd? Emily and her husband Justin (who have two boys Nikolas and Nathan) and Elizabeth.

The big kids watched a movie while we adults ate dinner.

All of the girls!

We had such a fun time and I miss them already! I can't wait to do it again soon!!!

Spending the Night

The kids and I stayed a few nights and Laura and Tom's house while our house was being treated for termites (yuck yuck yuck!) We had a great time! I only took a few pictures though.

Here are the kids taking a bath together. Elizabeth had hurt her foot and did NOT want to get in the water.
One day we went on a walk and Ben fell asleep. I thought it was so cute because Jackson was VERY curious and kept poking poor Ben while he was asleep. I'm amazed he stayed asleep!