Babysitters

Don't you just love great babysitters who come prepared to do stuff like this . . . .


and who also really like your kiddo?

Thanks again Meg and Derek!

Cote' Thanksgiving Party

The Cote' family hosted a Thanksgiving party for all the kiddos the week before the big turkey day. We all had a blast playing games, making paper plate turkeys, and eating yummy turkey. I didn't get a chance to take a lot of pictures because I was having too much fun playing!

Jackson's first attempt at a potato sack race was a success!


He "won" a turkey cupcake at the cake walk.


And for pin the hat on the turkey, well you be the judge.


Hopefully this will become an annual event - hint hint Mrs. Sunny!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the Christmas season is already here! Where exactly has 2010 gone?

We were going to travel home to Mississippi this year (since we won't obviously be traveling for Christmas) but instead decided to have a relaxing turkey feast at home. I think this is the first time that we have had a true Thanksgiving at our own house. Usually we go a friend's house to celebrate, but this year I suddenly had the urge to have our very own Thanksgiving.

Since Mark and I neither love turkey, we decided to fix a ham. So our Thanksgiving menu looked a little different: ham, salad, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, potato casserole, and rolls. And for dessert - chocolate chip pecan pie a la mode.

Jackson helped me set the table with his art work.

We have been working on writing all his letters, and I think he did a pretty good job!

The closest thing we could get to a family picture . . .

because we were too hungry to set the timer on the camera for a real picture. After eating way too much (it really isn't fair to be pregnant during this holiday season) we headed to the movies to watch Tangled. It was a cute movie and at one point Jackson actually stood up and cheered!

During the last couple of meals, we have been discussing all the things that we are thankful for in preparation for Thanksgiving. I will let you try to guess who said what - it might actually surprise you!

The Johnsons are thankful for . . .
- our family
- Bambino
- our house so we don't have to live in a box
- friends
- toys and puppy
- Dee Dee, Papa, Emmy and Poppy
- food especially candy and daddy's pop tarts
- preschool
- work
- a loving God and a great church
- caffeine free coke
- and much much more!

Giggle, Giggle, Laugh

Jackson and I have watched this no less than 20 times, and it still makes us laugh. Jackson's belly laugh is contagious. I don't know if I am laughing at the actual video or Jackson.

Enjoy:

Fathers are So . . .

PS - I think this about to become our life with two kiddos . . . Oh my!

Wake and Rake

We joined our church's first annual "Wake and Rake" last Saturday. Mark and I both want to make serving others a priority in our family, so we thought this would be a great thing for us to do. Jackson loves to help out around the house, and he especially loves using his rake. So we bundled up, loaded up all of our tools, and headed out. Some of the guys from Mark's small group joined us, so we had about a 5 adults, 2 kids, and 1 pregnant woman.


Jackson has a blast, and after three hours he still didn't want to leave. We were all exhausted by the time we made it home, but it was well worth it to help out someone who needed a little extra help with all the leaves.


Now we just have to do the same thing to our yard . . .

Trick or Treating

Jackson was so excited about Halloween this year despite the fact that he could not decide on a costume. Finally he decided to be a construction worker. After wearing it everyday the week before and to several other Halloween events, I would definitely say we got our moneys worth out of it.


The week before Halloween Del Ray held its annual Halloween Parade. We had always heard it is quite the event but had never made it down to take it all in. Jackson started out watching the parade but quickly wanted to join in on all the fun.


**I have to take a minute to say that I just love Del Ray "where Main Street still exists." They have Halloween parades, Christmas parades with caroling and lights, and fun family festivals. It reminds me of Stars Hollow from The Gilmore Girls, which just make me smile!**

Halloween night finally came, and Jackson couldn't have been more ready to start knocking on those doors. Of course he was shy for the first couple of houses but quickly got the hang of it.


Let's go! Just one more house!


Then it was time to go home, sort the loot, discard all the peanut candy, and taste a couple of the pieces. We then passed the cruel job of trying to get a four year old kiddo (who was still bouncing off the walls from all the Halloween excitement) to go to bed over to my mother, so we could walk down to a neighborhood Halloween cookout! Thanks again for that one, Dee Dee!

Halloween at RCC

Every Monday Jackson's preschool class crosses the parking lot to visit their neighbors at the Goodwin House. GH is an assisted living development for the elderly and retired. To celebrate Halloween, all the kids dressed up in their costumes, and we had a parade for our Goodwin House friends.

There was Thing 1, Little Red Riding Hood, Robin, Woody from Toy Story, a princess, a blue dinosaur, a skeleton, and a construction worker.


After parading through the halls, we stopped to sing some songs for our friends. Jackson of course stuck to my leg, so you can't quite see him in the picture. But he did sing very loud and joined in with all the hand motions.


Here is the picture of both classes, the Block Room and Painting Room. Aren't they all just adorable?!?!