Picture Day

Who knew that Mother's Morning Out programs have picture day? Well, they do! And it happened to be on Jackson's school's picture day. I can't figure out how to make the photo of Caroline with her bow not sideways- but it gives you an idea of what she looked like before school. I got Jackson a purple Ralph Lauren shirt for picture day (because it is his favorite color) and he informed me that black is now his favorite color. Go figure! And the photo of the two "babies" is what I walked into the other day after naptime! It was so funny. Speaking of babies...

We have some exciting news in our family! Kelly (my sister) and Jason are expecting their first child at the end of November! I am soooo super excited that our kids will be close in age. We didn't grow up with cousins close to our own age so this will be fun fun fun! She will be graduating from grad school in May, turning 30 in August and becoming a Mommy in November! A big year for Kel!

Last Wednesday we ditched all of our bottles. After all of the speculation of BPA in the plastic bottles I literally opened the cabinet and threw all of the bottles in the recycling bin. It was time for C to be done anyway and I can say it has been a smooth transition. She's got her Disney princess sippy cups - but of course prefers Jackson's Cars movie cups! Isn't that how it always goes?

Kyle was in Alabama over the weekend cheering on his friend, Hunter Kemper, at the triathalon Olympic Trials in Tuscaloosa. We laid low here at the house - played outside- the weather has been so beautiful! After Kyle returned yesterday I did manage to fit in a little spa time as well (yay for me!). Caroline is now napping and Jackson is watching "Frosty the Snowman" for his quiet time. You know it is the most wonderful time of the year...

After a quick trip to Mom's and getting Jackson back into the swing of things (a.k.a. back to the land of the Rules), the past 2 days have been so crazy! We have had a 5 man work crew painting most of the interior of our house and thankfully, in a record 2 days, they are done! Almost everything was painted the same color in a better quality satin paint (Eco-friendly paint too thank you very much!). Seriously, we used the Duration Home Sherwin Williams paint and it really was low-odor/low-VOC. We will see if it holds up to it's other promises (prevents stains from penetrating and wipe off easily with water)! If it does over time, I'll provide another endorsement for this product. Caroline's bathroom walls get drenched with water during every bath. The playroom was changed to "koi pond" (light sage green) and the laundry room was painted one shade darker blue than it was. A big thanks to our friends the Gillies' for having us over last night and Kangazoom being so close by! Guinness is off to the groomer for a good bath in the morning since he has spent most of the time outside. And thank goodness for the kids going back to "school" tomorrow morning and for the cleaning people coming! Can I get an Amen?

HIES & shoe shopping

We had a good day today- visiting the HIES preschool and going to the mall. I think the preschool is going to work out great for Jackson- he will have such a good time and hopefully make alot of new friends. Afterward, Caroline and I went to the mall to get her some new sandals. Her high top Stride Rite tennis shoes have been great, but when it is hot outside, she really needs more ventillation. So we got a brand new to Nordstrom called See Kai Run and I'm trying to convince Kyle to go back and get the light blue Mary Jane Crocs I have on hold. They are so cute. She had a ball with all of the shoe selections and seeing all of the other kids. I'll post a couple of super cute photos of her from today. Her smile looks so much like my sister's kid photos. Other than that, we are trying to cleanse ourselves of the pollen! It's everywhere- you can just feel it all over you! yuck!

My first blog ever...

Ok, so I've got this started, now what to write? I guess I'll just start with the basics. I thought I'd create a blog in order to keep those who may be interested in our lives reasonably updated. Jackson is at my Mom's for a couple of days and I've found myself with about....0 more minutes to myself. I will say that it is a bit easier going back from two to one, but I have realized that Jackson is a big entertainer to his sister! However, Caroline is really loving having her Mom and Dad all to herself. And all of Jackson's toys that are usually "forbidden" by her brother. And I will also add that it was nice tonight to have dinner without anyone complaining! We do miss our little guy and look forward to seeing him in Dublin this Saturday for Mimi's birthday. I know he is probably getting his way and loving every minute of not having our rules...

A quick update on the kids:

Jackson has been accepted to Holy Innocents' Episcopal School (HIES) located in Sandy Springs for next year. It is a great school, however, Kyle and I missed the open house in early February. So all I've seen is a little bit of the preschool building (which I saw when I took Jackson for his observation in March). Kyle, Caroline and I are getting a tour tomorrow at 12:30 so we will get a better feel for the school and if it is right for Jackson. Of course, as far as Jackson is concerned, he doesn't want to leave his current school (Vinings Creative Learning Center). He will be happy to know that one of his little friends will also be going to HIES in the Fall...

Caroline has recovered (as far as we can tell) from her ear tube surgery last Wednesday. She seems overall happier and is really doing great. We hope the battle with the ear infections is over! I'm thinking about enrolling her in the Friday morning class at The Little Gym since Jackson loved it so much. It's just so hard to do the things that you did with your first with your second child. Not as much time, but I'm trying! She's walking everywhere, waving, pointing and can blow a kiss. She's trying to talk more- today, after she pointed to a banana and then to herself (to tell me that she wanted to eat the banana) , we worked on saying ba-na-na. She did it- not sure if she'll do it again anytime soon, but the girl can talk! Mostly mama, dada, something that sounds like "Hi Guinness" (more like "eye Guin") and Jackson ( ja ja).

Anyway, hope you are all on board for checking this every couple of days and I will try to be good about keeping it updated.