SMA

I cannot recall how I stumbled upon this blog (http://www.averycan.blogspot.com/), but I'm glad that I did. This family is just amazing in that they could have taken Avery's diagnosis, gone home and felt sorry for themselves; instead, they decided to make the most of her short life and to make a difference in the world. I love them just from reading their blog!

Update: Avery passed away on 4/30/12. My heart absolutely breaks for her family, but shines at their ability to say they made each of her days special and full.

March for Babies

Friday evening we headed down to Evansville to visit both of our sisters. We did the March for Babies walk first thing Saturday morning with Nick, Kylie and Alex.

Alex wore his Air Jordan shoes even though he didn't actually walk much- I pushed him in the stroller. :)

Jackson and Alex playing before the walk.

I swear Jackson loves playing more than Alex ever will. ;)

Alex snuck a kiss from his friend Avery. It was so sweet.

After the walk I picked up Grace and we headed for birthday pedicures. I cannot believe my girl is going to be 12 at the end of May! (We celebrated a little early this year!)

Alex and Kylie came over to have a cookout at Kathi's that evening. Alex made the mistake of picking up a ball; he gained the interest of both dogs pretty quickly.

"My ball!"

We're all new to the 2 year old business so Alex's limitless energy was amazing to us. Here is he is doing a little drawing.

He helped Jackson open his birthday presents.

We Jackson got a new iPad. I'm going to call it an iPad3 even if Apple is too stupid to do so.

Grace also got to open her presents nearly a month early!

Alex wasn't so sure about the presents being for someone other than himself (yes, we are related. Why do you ask?!) :)

"Oh, you wanted some help after all?!"

TISSUE PAPER PARTY!

That little face is too sweet!

He wore himself out after quite a tissue paper party.

Alex helped Grace and Jackson blow out their candles.

That's right, they got 2 cakes! Aren't they lucky?! Grace kept wrongfully accusing Jackson of blowing out her candle. They're hilarious together.

He's a FUN little wild one.

Alex gives kisses ON THE MOUTH. This was shocking to me and it freaked Jackson out. It was so, so funny to watch Alex try to plant one on Jack.

Alex's mommy will let him have kisses anytime. Isn't he a little lovie?

Smooch!!

We had a great time visiting with our families and celebrating some birthdays.

Meeting baby Jocelin

Our wonderful friends, Heidi and Andrew, just had their second child, a baby girl named Jocelin Krin. She was born April 25 weighing in at 7lbs 2oz. She is just a doll. She's TINY and looks just like her older brother, Jax. We got some cute clothes for Jocie (I'm going to call her that) and a toy truck for Jackson Jax.

 Don't you love the headband? Heidi is so crafty.

 I know that I look scared. That is because I was a wee bit nervous.

 She was just as peaceful as can be and slept nearly the entire time we were visiting. Perfection.

 Heidi looked phenomenal for having given birth yesterday!

 Our dear friend Laura was visiting at the same time.

 Don't you love her outfit?! Oh my goodness. She is wonderful.

 Mom and Dad sneaking a kiss on baby J.

 Laura look far more comfortable than "Aunt" Jenna did. Oops. :)

 Heidi taking a look at the new clothes we got for Jocie.

Ah! This photo makes my heart smile. I have SO many fond memories with Heidi and Laura and I plan to build some more with Baby Jocelin. I love it! Thanks for letting us share in this special time, Heidi and Andrew.

Finished planting!

 All of that hard work on the yard paid off because the flowers and the yard look amazing.

I just love the curb appeal of our little place. It is a lot of work, but it certainly cleans up nicely!

Typical weekend

We had a pretty good- typical- weekend. We had dinner at Susie's on Friday night with her friend Carla. Carla is a trip! Those ladies wore us out so much that MacKenzie had to sleep on our bed on Jackson's pillow- as soon above.
Now that tax season is over (WOOT! I always love it, but I love getting my weekends back, too. I'll post more about my love of weekends some other time. You people who always get weekends have no idea how great they are.) it was time to kick it into high gear getting the house ready for the bridal shower on May 6th. (AH!!!!!) We went to Menard's and did some damage in the garden section.

Do you remember a similar photo of a Christmas tree from Menard's garden store? Yeah- this is an all seasons Jeep. HA! :) We spent Saturday night getting flowers planted into pots and ready to go outside. They cannot go outside yet, though, due to the unseasonably cold weather we're experiencing. What gives, Mother Nature?! Today we spent most of the day working in the yard.

I MOWED THE ENTIRE YARD WITH A NON-SELF-PROPELLED MOWER TODAY!

You would not believe how large our yard is- I'm pretty sure it is 100,000 acres. (Jackson says it is .5 so I'm pretty close in my estimate.) It was a serious workout and allowed me to excuse myself from the gym today. I hurt worse now than when I was hit by a car. I mean it. I hurt. Jackson hacked down an ugly bush today with an ax. It was a lot of fun to swing that thing. I did not have very good aim so he moved me to the mower.

As I was mowing a thought occurred to me: I always wondered why my Dad thought I was crazy when I offered to mow as a young girl and now I know why. He always happily accepted my offers, by the way. He had as much yard as we do so getting his little girl to mow must have been like hitting the yard lottery. You're welcome, Dad. I wouldn't offer these days. I'm not young anymore.
Jackson and MacKenzie taking a break before heading out to a Mexican dinner with Susie. It was so good. Did I mention that I mowed the entire yard and I hurt? Yes. I did. I'm headed to soak in the tub now.

Baseboards

I'm having a thankful moment: today my mother-in-law asked me when I was going to clean baseboards to prepare for the big wedding shower so that she could help. Is that not the sweetest thing?! She honestly wants to help. Thanks, Susie! :)

Camelback Mountain

A quick shot from the car to show how pretty it is here even at night.
We went to Camelback Mountain to climb today. I thought were were hiking. No. We climbed.
Jackson mid-way through our climb. He was beat.
The views of the city were just incredible.
This photo does not do it justice, but the top of this climb is where we turned back for the day. This climb was just not for beginners. (Or people who thought they were coming to hike!)
The views made the climb worth it, though.
Jackson taking it all in.
We spent the rest of the day by the pool. It was amazing. They had servers bring around drinks (we stuck to water) and provided pretty towels. I loved this resort and this vacation. This pool was only for adults. Music to my ears!

Speaking of ears, Jackson got an ear infection and had to go the doctor tonight. He's been pretty miserable- poor thing. I read a book on the balcony while he slept. It was not the way we wanted to end our vacation, that is for sure, but he should be on the mend tomorrow in time to fly home.