Winter Vacation: Part 1: Chapter 1

Well, we did it again: another successful through-the-night car trip from Springfield, VA to Evanston, IL! We hit the ground running right away! My aunt and uncle were in town to celebrate their anniversary, and Josh and I were able to line up a last-minute babysitter so we could go with! My friend Amanda was more than happy to come hang out with Jackson :)



Katie and her family were in town this weekend as well. Josh, Jackson, and I headed over there on Saturday with some lunch to visit. Jackson had a good time playing with Paige. She was more than happy to show him how the laptop she picked out for his present works ;) Unfortunately, we didn't coordinate it well enough to get a picture of Paige, Lexi, and Jackson while they were all awake :( The picture below is of Jackson and Paige enjoying Lexi's new book since she was sleeping!


On Sunday we drove out to Bolingbrook to visit Kate, Brian, Kyle, and Connor. It was a long drive, but definitely worth it! It was so fun to watch the big boys play with Jackson (the boys are just about 2 1/2). For the most part they were more than happy to share their toys with Jackson. I think Jackson's highlights of the day were discovering how yummy Kix cereal is, sitting in the cool "little guy" chairs, and getting to take some hand-me-down toys home :)

Sunday night we had an early Christmas celebration and my grandma came over for dinner and Jackson entertainment! Even though it was a little early, we still really enjoyed being together and celebrating the holidays. Jackson got some awesome new blocks from my mom and dad. He started stacking them right away! Phew! I was getting nervous because What to Expect the Toddler Years suggested he should already be stacking at least two blocks, and I had never seen him to it! LOL I think I'm going to put that book away...

Jackson has loved Gerber's Puffs since he had just a couple teeth. I have to work really hard to trick him into eating "plain ole Cheerios." But, if Grandpa is handing out the snacks, Cheerios are just fine! I love watching Pax and Jackson share this yummy snack :)

I picked up a pair of antlers in the Target $1 bin thinking that between lots of hands, we could wrangle Jackson into wearing them to at least get a picture. Well, he LOVES them! He picks them up and asks for them to be put on his head. This picture doesn't have him wearing them, but we do have some of him in his wagon with them on. It's too cute! He just goes about his business with his antlers on his head!