The Jackson household has been very busy lately. We have been very blessed with lots time with family and good friends. Here's a little of what we've been doing:
This sweet girl is preparing for her first dance recital. Needless to say, Mama is super excited! Here she is on her way in for pictures. I am so jealous of those eyelashes! :)
Addie has loved being in class with her sweet friend, Clara. :)
We have also done a lot of this. A stomach bug hit our household and it. was. rough.
Pitiful.
LOTS of this going on in our house these days! Ava is learning more each day, and, thankfully, Addie is getting better at sharing with her. :) I have no doubt that Ava will be able to hold her own, though... :)
The girls love their Daddy... and you can see that Ava is entering the "baby doll" phase. It's quite adorable. :)
My girls :) This was at my Mother's Day dinner. Such a great night with my family!
The girl that made me Mama :)
This sweet thing is moving everywhere these days! She is quite the cruiser... she will take a few steps every now and then from one person to another. She's very close to walking! If she's not cruising, she is scooting just like her sister did (crazy!). She says "da-da" and "ah-oh" all the time... and her favorite word is "Ad-eeeee!" She says it all the time! It's so sweet, and Addie loves it! When she's really sleepy, she'll say "mama" (awesome, right?). We're working on baby signs. She knows what "more" means because when we prompt her to say it, if she wants more, she nods yes... if she doesn't, she shakes her head no. Same with the "please" sign. Stinker. :)
This is Addie with the hand-stitched quilt that her Granny (Eric's grandmother) made for her. So, so special.
This is such a fun age with Addie! She LOVED preschool this year. She went two days a week to The Academy at WellSpring. It just opened in January... I love that she loves it... she is making friends, learning new things, and--my favorite part--learning about Jesus. :) She is learning how to read now, always asking us to read or asking to read one of "her" books (decodable readers). She can figure out sounds in words and use pictures to help her (this teacher mama is super proud!). She loves practicing spelling using the magnetic letters on the fridge/door. She can count to 100 and is learning to skip count. She asks questions all. day. long. We constantly remind ourselves that it is great that she is so inquisitive. :) She loves playing outside on her playset (with new sandbox!) and trampoline, riding her bike and scooter, bubbles, princesses, Doc McStuffins, Sofia the First, puzzles, the library, the park, ballet class, pretending just about anything (school, house, family, store, etc.), dress up, days spent with Katie, going to church (especially when Mommy teaches), bathtime with Ava, playing upstairs, "Annie," singing songs from the iPad, Daniel Tiger, Sid the Science Kid, Boz, sitting through Mommy's classes online, and much, much more! One of my favorite things about Addie is her heart. She is so sensitive... she loves to make sure everyone is "okay." For example, every time she has a snack, if there is an orange piece, she saves it for Eric. If there is a blue one, she saves it for me... skittles, jelly beans, fruit snacks, you name it. :) If she hugs one person in the room, she makes sure to hug everyone. She worries about Ava all the time and makes sure to hug and kiss her (even though Ava is not always on board :). I pray she always has a heart that is sensitive to the needs of others.
We had a fun Cinco de Mayo celebration at home this year. We had gone out with friends the weekend before, so we spend the 5th (a Monday night) at home. We had tacos and queso... Ava was quite the fan as you can see. Mama and Daddy enjoyed margaritas. We played outside and watched a few "dancing shows" put on by Addie. Precious memories.
This one. Oh, my little daredevil. Ava is quite fearless!
Ava is so full of personality these days! She does the cheesy grin you see above quite often. It makes me laugh every time! Her loves: anything Addie is doing, blocks, "reading," hugging baby dolls and stuffed animals, cruising anywhere she can, "cooking" in the play kitchen, the library train table, chicken nuggets, any fruit (esp. bananas, cantaloupe, and honeydew), cinnamon sugar toast, fries, Ritz crackers, puffs, ANYTHING outside, bubbles, sitting on the trampoline while Addie jumps, swinging, the sandbox, her play table, dancing to music, "singing" along when there is a long note in a song (hilarious!), "brushing" her teeth (only when she can do it!), water, milk, cheese puffs, carrots, green beans, pizza, cheese dip, ketchup, and any food Addie might leave behind. :)
Oh, and ice cream :)
She has four teeth on top and four teeth on bottom... with two more breaking through on the bottom. She answers to her name, scoots veeerry quickly to the bathroom when she hears the bath water running, can follow simple directions (bring me a book, clean up the puzzle, bring this to Addie, stir up the food, etc.), and can successfully climb onto the couch. :)
Always ready to say "cheese" for the camera :)
I love this collage... you can see how much they love each other! I always knew it would be so sweet to watch, but I didn't know how much it would tug at my heart each time I see it in real life... gees. I just love them.
My Addie :)
My Ava :)
More to come soon! :)
