Here goes nothing...

I have gone back and forth a million times...to keep or not keep, that is the question.  I have started to update many times and just never finished.  I have the best intentions, but as many of you can relate, I need more than 24 hours in a day!  At any rate, it is time.  My memory of small details is beginning to fail me and it breaks my heart to think that I won't have a record of our lives to look back at in 10, 20, or 50 years from now.   So here's the deal...I am going to catch this blog up....it's going to happen in bits and pieces, but it is going to happen.  So here goes, wish me luck...

JANUARY 2012 (where I left off!)

Hardware Ranch-January 2012

Family of 3 @ Hardware Ranch January 2012

This was an unseasonably warm day late January.  We decided that we couldn't live as close as we do and NOT go experience Hardware Ranch at it's finest! Tons of elk migrate there for the winter where they have food to eat.  It's neat because they put you in a horse drawn wagon and you get to see all those animals up close and personal...Jackson loved it to say the least. 

FEBRUARY 2012

Making Valentine's Day Cookies-Feb 2012

Be My Valentine 2012

 This was the "Valentine" we sent out to Grandmas and Grandpas for Vday 2012.  Jackson finger painted that heart all by himself, but was too shy (and busy) to hold it for a picture so we had to help him out.  I can't get over how much he has changed in a year!

Jackson and Seth R.= BFFs!

 Despite the age difference, these boys are BFFs.  Seth is our baby-sitter's son.  Their entire family has become like a second family to us and Seth wanted to come over for a play date, so that is what we did!  He helped Jackson make huge snowballs, build train tracks, watched Lion King, and ate pancakes for dinner with us later that night!

Playing in the snow- Feb 2012

Spelling/"Writing" his name-Feb 2012

 Jackson has had a memory like an elephant for as long as I can remember.  Last year he went through a phase of spelling and "writing" his name.  Our sitter even sent us a voice recording one day of him spelling out his name perfectly!  Once he got the spelling down, he would "write" the letters as he said them aloud...they all looked like like O's and U's, but it was still super cute!

MARCH 2012

Derek, Jackson, Kyla with Great-Grandpa Boppy- March 2012

Jackson loves to play with his cousins.  The three of them were born within a year of each other and it is great seeing them grow and learn together.  We always look forward to family time with Jackson's cousins!

Working on his master piece- Mar 2012

Happy St Patty's Day 2012

Fixing his firetruck- March 2012

Fixing his bike- March 2012

Fixing the Cement truck

 Looking back, March must have been the month of fixing things :)  Jackson has become VERY interested in how things work.  He asks lots of questions, and if Daddy or Mommy is in the middle of a project, he wants to be right there helping and learning.  This kid doesn't want to miss a thing!  He thinks it's great when Daddy shares his tools with him.

Pinkys up!  Sharing a smoothie with Daddy- March 2012

 Have a mentioned that his boy ADORES his daddy?  Whatever Daddy does, Jackson does.  Whatever Daddy eats, Jackson wants to eat.  It's so cute to watch the relationship growing between my two favorite boys.  I hope they are are always as close as they are now.  As Jackson says "We're best friends!"

 Grandpa and Grandma H came to visit at the end of March 2012.  It's always fun when they come to visit and Jackson is only spoiled a little bit (NOT!)  Jackson loves all his grandparents.  I think that it was this trip that Jackson referred to my dad as "Gran-Qua" instead of Grandpa.

 We celebrated Jackson's 2nd birthday on March 31 because that is when we all were able to get together and my parents were still in town.  The theme was goldfish and as with his 1st birthday party, Travis and I had a great time doing decorations and the making the cake.  We had a yummy lunch, and were surrounded by friends and family.  It was a bit windy, but we were still able to spend some of the time outside. I need to give a shout out to my parents for helping get things ready again, as they did for birthday party #1.  Just know that if you come for the 3rd birthday party this year, you will probably be put to work AGAIN! ;)

Birthday boy and his bike

 Our gift to Jackson for his 2nd birthday was a Stryder bike.  The theory behind this thing is it will teach balance and allow him to skip the "training wheels" phase.  A couple of people that Trav works with had them for their kids and said that it was amazing how their toddlers could ride a regular bike sans training wheels by the time they were 3-4 years old so we decided to give it a shot.  Jackson spend LOTS of time on that bike this past summer/fall and I think he is definitely on his was to the big boy bike.

Alright 2.5 months down, 9 to go.  I can do this!  To be continued...