A Little of This...A Little of That...

Sorry for not posting in so long... I haven't taken very many pictures since Christmas.  Here are a few random ones from the past few weeks with little updates.

Many of you know that Rachel was the Reader of the Month for her class for January.  Below is her picture/poster on the wall by the library along with Rachel standing beside it when it was finally put up.

Barbara and Dawson took Rachel and Jackson out to ride bikes one afternoon and then to Five Guys for dinner.  

He's learning to pedal now!

  

We started potty training Jackson on December 28th.  He's done really well with the whole process - considering... We started him 4 months earlier than we started with Rachel.  About a week after we started, he got moved up to a new class at school and was one of the only ones doing - and he was the youngest!  We've definitely had our rough days, but we've had many good days as well.  

This must have been one of the first few days of the process - where we let him run around pant/diaperless at home...

Here is a picture of Rachel's class with The Cat in the Hat!

And Valentine's Day.  Jackson was not feeling the pictures that morning - he wanted nothing to do with the camera.  This is a little boys tie that our neighbor gave him - I didn't even realize Michael tried it on him that morning. 

Take it off!

Rachel's basketball season is finally over.  She enjoyed some days and didn't enjoy some days... She was ready for it to be over though.  She did get a trophy last weekend though - she was very excited about that.  

Grandpa was here with us that weekend and we tried going to the playground afterwards but it was closed, so we went to the park and it was so cold and still had frost all over it... So we watched the ducks for a few minutes before leaving there and heading to Catch Air... They had a blast there!

And Jackson got his first experience with shaving that weekend... He was hanging out with Grandpa while he was getting ready - this is what we got from that morning.  So cute.  

 Hopefully it won't be another two months before I post again!

Christmas Time All Over

Merry Christmas everyone!  Our Christmas was celebrated in stages again this year.   Here are a few pictures from our get together with Michael's side of the family a week or so ago.

I love this picture of Rachel...she looks so grown up!

And Jackson loves Katie Puppy - he chases her and plays with her as much as he can.  

Rachel and Chloe in stripes.

Rachel was the only one of the three cousins that would cooperate for getting a picture in front of the tree... we did try though!

Her new bike!  Jackson likes it too...

This past weekend we made a quick trip up to Charlotte to visit with my side of the family.  We saw everyone but just for a little while!

Trying on their new hats with Nana!

Having lots of fun with Ted too!

The grandkids separating the presents on Sunday.  I hardly have any pictures from this day - Rachel wasn't feeling good and Jackson was trying to nap (unsuccessfully)... I wish I had taken more pictures though!!!

 

Rachel was still not feeling good the morning of Christmas Eve and I thought she was only getting worse - but she laid down to rest (never napped) and got up feeling much better.  Thank goodness!  We tried something new and went to Papadeaux for dinner on Christmas Eve... Expensive but delicious!!!  Rachel got to wear one of her new dresses.  Can you tell she likes to pose?

They were both dancing.

Now in their Christmas pajamas...before bed on Christmas Eve.

Both kids slept until 8:00 this morning.  I would have slept later myself if I had known they would sleep that late!  Oh well... At least we got a better reaction from Rachel this year than in the years past.  All she really wanted was a robe and earmuffs...and she got them!

He loves Mickey!

And she got a new watch to help her learn to tell time.

Jackson trying on his new coat.

We had a great Christmas.  We stayed here and relaxed all day.  Michael's parents came over this afternoon and spent the evening here with us.  No rushing around and packing up or anything - just hanging out, playing, resting and enjoying a fire.  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Hello There, Santa!

We made our annual trip to visit Santa at his house tonight.  Both kids were excited to see him, then both kids got nervous, but both ended up sitting on his lap and doing good.  

(That's a very short version of the evening!!) 

Jackson tensed up when I went to set him on Santa's lap, but calmed down quickly.  No tears at all.

Rachel still loves that mailbox!

Rachel and Ms. Claus.

Stitches...

Last Sunday night, we had an accident in our house.  We had just gotten home from dinner and it was almost time for the kids to go to bed.  Jackson was standing in front of the panty door looking the sleigh bell we had hanging on the door.

Michael was playing with Rachel in the living room and I was in the kitchen.  Jackson started asking for Michael to get him too, so Michael ran over, picked Jackson up and started to run back...we instantly realized that Jackson had his finger stuck in the bell.  (In the picture below, you can see the larger hole and then the smaller slot...he had his finger down in the smaller slot.)

My first thought was oh my gosh, that's going to hurt... Then as I'm getting his finger out of it, I see all of the blood...it cut his finger really bad.  I instantly grab paper towels and keep pressure on it while Michael runs around and grabs our stuff.  Our wonderful next door neighbor, Sherry, came over and graciously stayed at the house with Rachel so that she didn't have to come with us.   We headed to the closest Children's Healthcare Urgent Care Center.  Jackson had calmed down by this point - up until we got into triage and they have to take off the towels and it starts gushing again. They finally got it wrapped and taped up and sent us back out into the waiting room.  We soon found out that this was one of their busiest days ever - we were there for 4 hours!  Thank goodness Jackson was in pretty good spirits most of the time...this was him when we finally got called back. 

They gave him some medicine to make him loopy and boy did it...he was giggling like crazy - it was so cute (in a sad kind of way...).  

 After the numbing shots, the doctor got to work on stitching him up.  He had to have 11 total - 6 on the inside and 5 on the outside of his finger.  And his finger is so little!  

The first night and day were rough but since then, he's been doing great.  We are now to the point where we can leave it uncovered at night and he's doing good with that as well so far.  He is running around and playing just like normal - using his left hand more, but still.  He has adapted fine.  We have one more week until the stitches can come out.  

We took some very close up pictures tonight of his boo-boo.  If you don't like looking at that sort of thing, then proceed with caution or skip it...just a warning that it is a close-up.  

This is the outside of his finger, it was a much cleaner cut.  

And this is the inside - it was messier and harder to stitch.  

We are very thankful that it didn't do more damage than it did.