So in love...

...with this sweet face!!

Life without training wheels!

So, I know most kids learn to ride a bike without training wheels around the age of 5, but for Jackson it didn't happen till just now. So far in his life he has never really cared that much to ride a bike without training wheels and we always lived on a hill which made it harder to learn. Last summer he started feeling a bit embarassed that he didn't know how to ride so we thought maybe it was time to actually learn. We went out and bought him a cool new bike without training wheels and set off to learn. NOPE!! Jackson had absolutely no confidence in himself and therefore wouldn't try. We attempted it 3 or 4 times and then he refused to get back on the bike and it sat the rest of the summer in the garage while he traveled by scooter. This past weekend he and my mom were talking about it and decided to give it another try. Mom said she held his bike and walked behind him for about 30 seconds and he took off by himself and that was that. Last night we decided to take a walk up to the school be our house and get in some practice time and here are the results...

Notice the feet off the pedals 'trick'

if you look past Josh you'll see Jackson is showing off back there...

I'm so proud of little man. Now, if there just made some sort of baby carrier for babies Elliette's size we could take off as a family.

Special day

Jackson is going to be gone with my parents in Tennessee next week and none of us realized that they would be gone over Father's Day until after the trip was booked. So, I figured that it doesn't really matter which date you celebrate Father's Day on, as long as you celebrate, right? So, Jackson took his daddy out to 'brunch' and got him a few presents he was looking forward to. Here is Daddy and his kids...


The second half of the day was special for us because we had Elliette's baby dedication at church Sunday afternoon. Josh and I are very close to our pastor and most of the members of our church plant, so it was special to be able to have her dedicated there and with those people around us.

To wrap it up here are some pictures of little girl. She is finally starting to smile enough that we can get it on camera, and she doesn't stare at the camera like it's an unknown object quite as much anymore.

photo dump

No time to actually blog these days, so I'll just dump some photos and give you captions...


Elliette enjoying 5th grade camp!

Last day of school...can't believe 1st grade is over!

her pickle face

Impromptu zoo trip to see the sting rays

How E enjoyed her second zoo trip...

Jackson's artsy-fartsy picture from the zoo...

Photos by Jackson...

current nicknames include: puker, sweetness, butthead, baby girl, E, chunky monkey, little rascal, chicken nugget, snips...(guess which ones are from her brother)