Ice Skating Lessons

Eli has been bitten by the ice hockey bug! When you live in Minnesota, it's a sport that some start pretty much at birth. Scott & I are not thrilled about the idea but we agreed that ice skating lessons would be a good place to start.

Most of the sessions we just rented skates at the rink. In the end, we bought a used pair from Play It Again sports so that he can skate out back on our pond.

Daddy was giving some tips before the lesson.

Eli became quite the skater after 1 session. He can skate backwards, glide on 1 foot & speed skate. Unfortunately, he broke his arm right before Christmas & hasn't been on skates since. 

I'm not sure what the future holds for ice hockey but he really enjoyed learning how to ice skate!

Junie B. Jones

We try to take the kids to a play every year. This year I found a great deal from a local entertainment website for $6 a ticket! We headed to Outback for some yummy dinner then off to the Children's Theatre for our performance!

Before the play started, we grabbed a quick pic on the stage. Wow, my kids are getting big!

Waiting for the show to start. Thankfully the seating was 1st come, 1st serve. We were right up front where everyone could see. 

This is a terrible pic of us! It doesn't really show how much fun we really had. The play was so funny & we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanksgiving

We made our annual trip home for Thanksgiving! We decided to leave the Friday before and extend our time with family & friends.

Martha Stewart look out! Mom & I prepared the feast over a couple of days. We always have a big crowd & make both gluten & gluten free dishes.

Grandaddy always fries the turkey. This year mom baked a small turkey breast & we bought a Honey Baked Ham too.

Eliot & Elese hanging out waiting for the feast to be ready.

One of our family traditions is to complete a puzzle together. Some of us love this while others put in 1 piece just to be a part of it.

Scott's 38th birthday was on thanksgiving this year. We celebrated with a gluten free carrot cake & Derby pie. Our gift to him was an iPod touch.

Grandaddy thought he would be funny & bring in the fire extinguisher while we were singing happy birthday!

Who's the turkey now?

Cousin Krista always treats us to pedicures & manicures!

Grandma & Grandaddy bought Eliot this play gun last year. As soon as we pulled into the cabin, he instantly remembered & had to get it out of the safe. I honestly don't think he put it down the entire time we were there!

Another thing we love to do when we travel home is visit all of our favorite places to eat! The boys & I enjoyed some Krispy Kreme donuts. We also had Steak N Shake milkshakes & Mc. Allisters Deli.

Our visit wouldn't be complete without a few visits with our long time friends. We had dinner with Kelly & the boys, went to church with the Renner's, hung out with the Thompson's, spent the day with Brad & Michelle as well as dinner with Mamaw & Papaw. Whew...what a visit!

It's about time!

We've lived in Minnesota well over a year now. There are several restaurants that we miss from home...McAllisters Deli, Steak N Shake & Chick-fil-a are the main ones. We always make sure to make our rounds when we go home at Thanksgiving! 

So you can imagine our excitement when we learned that Chick-fil-a was set to open in the town next to us! Well, today was opening day!

It just so happens that the elementary kids are off today & tomorrow for conferences. Little Eliot still had school though. Don't worry, we got him some nuggets too!

Sweet sisters :)

Maybe I should get us all a tshirt!

It's the little things in life you know. Like going to Chick-fil-a on opening day & getting a gluten free kids meal! The smiles were priceless.

Celebrity

Animal Planet is a favorite channel in our house. The kids love "The Gator Boys" and "Turtleman". Earlier this week Scott traveled to Chicago for business. As he was getting off the plane, Turtleman was standing right there! Scott's boss took a quick pic so the kids would believe him. I guess you never know who'll you'll run into these days. :)

1st Snow!

We woke up to our 1st snow today! They were predicting 2-4" in our area but I think we only ended up with a dusting. It was still an exciting time for the kids! Our first snow was in November last year too.  It stayed for 6 months!!

As soon as the boys ate breakfast & packed their lunches, they headed out.

Now this kind of snow is so beautiful! Just enough to enjoy, but not enough to stick around for very long.

Hairball

In October a big group from the neighborhood went to a local catholic festival & concert. We all went together last year too. Both years they've had an 80's band called Hairball preform.  It's a fun time!

Jim & Allison...they went to the Tim McGraw concert too!

Steve & Laura...their son Lucas & Eli are best buddies.

Amanda & me

Braces

Emery recently had the 1st set of braces in the Jackson family put on! Whew, was it a process! She actually has an expander & 8 braces total. 

Every time we check in at the office, they have a sign posted. Emery couldn't wait for her name to be on there! After 5 visits beforehand, the big day was finally here.

Em was a trooper throughout the entire process. I never had braces & am so proud of her.

So for the next year it's a metal mouth! A beautiful smile to follow :)