Lately

Life has been busy. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way, but being pregnant and busy and having an almost 3 year old is just nuts.

Thus, I've given up a few of my "dreams" of the perfect Christmas and just decided to slow down and enjoy these moments with my husband and baby girl. After the unimaginable happened last week in Connecticut, I literally cry every day when I grieve for those families who don't have the opportunity to just slow down and enjoy this season with their families. Then I feel so much guilt for having what I have and sometimes complaining.

So right now, there are no wrapped presents beneath my tree, there are 2039486 toys scattered throughout my house (Addie is a hoarder), I just finished mailing my Christmas cards today, I still have gifts to buy, and the laundry is clean but I canNOT find it in me to fold it and put it away... but--despite all of those things--I am content. I have a Jesus who loves me, a husband who loves me, a little girl who thinks I hung the moon, a baby girl growing and kicking inside of me, a roof over my head, a grandfather who is getting stronger day by day, and a family and many friends are more supportive and understanding of my crazy hormones ever-changing moods these days. How can I not be thankful?

Here are just a few pictures from the past few weeks:

 My girl holding a picture of my other girl... love those little dainty fingers!

 This picture makes me smile!

Adorable.

Fun at the Park

Eric had a day off last week and spent it with Addie. They went to the park and he got some great pictures of her enjoying the beautiful weather!

Addie loves to slide! This park has about 10 different slides, so she was in Heaven!

See what I mean?

 Love that face!

Best picture ever. :)

 Posin' on the bridge :)

 She loves her Daddy! :)

Love.

Meeting Santa

Last year, our visits with Santa and the Easter Bunny were no walk in the park. This year, when Addie said she wanted to go see Santa, we were a little nervous... Eric heard that he was arriving at our mall a few weeks ago, so we decided to give it a try.

 As you can see, she was very excited!

 After Santa came out, we decided to see if she would sit with him for a picture. She was still smiling... :)

 Addie wouldn't actually sit with him, but she did sit by him and give him a high five! ...and she told him she wanted a car. Interesting. Nonna and Papa were with us and they got this great picture of us talking to him.

The "Dancing Girls" were also there, and she wanted a picture with them but got shy when we finally got to them... so we resorted to posing with Mommy and Ava. :)

She's excited to see the Dancing Girls again in December... and naturally, she's ready for Santa's visit! :)

County Fair

These posts are all out of order, but oh well... at least I'm posting, yes? :)

Addie had a great time at this year's county fair!

 Here she is ready to go! She enjoyed people watching from her stroller for a while. There is always plenty of that to do at the Williamson County Fair. :)

 She had fun playing all of the games and getting a prize each time!

 Skee ball was hilarious! Definitely need to steer clear when Lefty is getting ready to throw...

 She finally figured out the trick to throwing it in the actual lane. :)

 By far, her favorite part was the area for kids that showed the different things farmers to do help us.

 She could have brushed the sheep all day long.

Digging is fun, too!

 Fun with Mommy at the end :)

Kind of a blurry pic, but still sweet... she LOVED the fireworks at the end of the night! :)

Halloween with Cinderella

 Halloween this year was so much fun with an almost 3 year old who was ready for each activity! Here she is waiting patiently at the table to start carving the pumpkin the night before Halloween. :)

 She was ready to dig into the pumpkin... but only for a little while.

Addie was much more comfortable using the pretty pink spoon. :)

 The finished products... Daddy carved Cinderella while Mommy carved her name. :)

 Pretty girl ready for school on Halloween day :)

 After school, we got dressed and ready to go. I asked Cinderella to pose for some pictures, and she said, "Mama, Cinderella likes to dance like this!" Love the joy on her sweet face. (As you can see, she loves carrying her babies with her. We decided not to take Sara trick-or-treating because she would get too cold. :)

 To say Addie liked trick-or-treating is an understatement! She LOVED every minute of it!

She was so brave going from door to door (once she figured out that all she had to say was a few words and they gave her candy!). Each time she got something, she would say thank you and turn around, pull the candy back out, and show us like she'd hit the lottery! It was ridiculously adorable. :)

Daddy and his little princess :)

 Mama and her girl :)

Hard to believe that next Halloween we'll have two little ones! Craziness.

The reason for my hiatus...

Yep, Addie is going to be a big sister! We are expecting our 2nd girl in April... couldn't be more thrilled! :) ...and you can see that Addie is very excited, too!

Her name is Ava Rae Jackson. Ava is my mom's first name, and I've wanted a baby Ava for as long as I can remember--even before it was a super-popular name! Rae is Eric's mom's middle name, and it just fit perfectly. :) Addie already loves saying, "I wuv Ava!"

We're praying for a full-term, boring pregnancy this time around... The first half has already flown by, so I'm hoping the 2nd half does the same and that April is here before I know it!

Sweet Summertime

Well, today is the last day of my summer vacation with my girl... bittersweet. I'm sad to not wake up late and just hang out with Addie all day, but I'm excited to meet my new class and get back into the swing of things. It definitely helps that Addie is SUPER excited to go back to Mrs. Jackie's and see all of her friends. :)

We had a great couple of months off together! Here are just a few pics of our vacation.

We played with LOTS of bubbles! Addie loves them. :)

Playdate with Clara :) We had to postpone more of our dates at the park until fall... 100 degrees + 2 toddlers + 2 hot natured mamas = no fun. :) ha Looking forward to cooler temps!

We had fun at the beach! We went to Panama City with Uncle Kyle and Aunt Mary... and we also went to Biloxi to be with my family. Addie logged lots of beach time and pool time this summer. :)

Aunt Mary played with Addie a lot in the pool on our trip. She loves her "Aunt Meh-wy." :)

Swimming with Daddy, too!

The only way I could get Addie to wear her hat was if I wore mine, too. If you know me well, you know it took me a loooong time to find one to fit my big ole melon... ha :)

I love this one. She was so happy! ...and really hot. The girl sweats. A lot.

Cheese!

My loves. :)

Thanks for a fun trip, Kyle and Mary!

Family! We played golf three of the four nights we were there. Addie loved it! I'll have to post the video of her playing. She is hilarious! :)

In MS, we got to visit with my great friend Azlyn and her sweet family... here she is with Arrington! Is Ari cute or what?!

There are more pics from MS, but they're on my mom's computer. I'll have to get them from her. :)

We also went to my brother's lake house. Addie had her first boat ride and her first swim in the lake. She had a ball! :)

Love it. :)

Cousins!

Nonna, Papa, and their grandgirls :)

Ok, that's all for now. Naptime is almost over. :)

Hooray for a blog post! Hopefully, I'll post the next round of pictures before December. :) ha