Happy Birthday, Scott!

Scott's birthday was Saturday. He's getting OLD. He's only one year away from the big 4-0. He he! At least I'm still a couple of years away from that. Anyway, we didn't get to do much on his actual birthday, because Scott's cousin's daughter, Ashleigh, was baptized on Saturday and we went out to dinner after with everyone involved. But Scott did get to go skiing on Thursday and yesterday we had his family over for dinner and cake. We played Rock Band most of the night. It was really fun. Everyone rotated through the instrument and singing and it was just as much fun to watch the others perform as it was to participate. Cuz, there's nothing quite like hearing my brother in law, Mike, singing falsetto! It's such an addiciting game. You keep telling yourself, just one more song and next thing you know, you've done twenty!

Here's Scott with his birthday cake, ready to blow out the candles. I decided on the number ones, so there wouldn't be a major fire hazard in the house. It'd be a really big bummer to burn the house down when it's so cold out.


Scott's birthday cake. I didn't make any of it. I'm the cake buying kind.

It's Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you have all enjoyed your holiday. We had a great, low-key, Christmas. Sunday night, we had the big party with Scott's family, aunt, uncle, grandpa, cousins and their families. It was great seeing them and spending time chatting.

Christmas Eve, it was just us. We planned a game night. I went out and bought some board games and we just had fun with the kids. This game below, is called Flippin' Frogs and was by far the hit of the night. You get these little rubber frogs and flip them onto a rotating tree. The one with the most frogs on wins. It was a lot harder than it looks. The tree branches flip up at the end and half of your frogs fly off. As you can see, Dad took this round.

When I was a kid, my little brother, Jordan, and I would wake up really early and then spend the next hour trying the get everyone else up. Not much has changed, although Jordan lives with his own family now. I woke up at about 7 am and my house was quiet. Most people would have turned over and gone back to sleep. Unfortunately, once I'm up, I'm up. So, of course, I couldn't just enjoy a quiet morning before the chaos. No, I had to wake up all four of my children, well, five, if you count Scott. Santa was very kind to us this year. The kids got the toys they really wanted, including the biggest kid. We got a Wii. And most importantly, we got Rock Band. It's a video game of sorts. It's like Guitar Hero, but with the addition of drums and a microphone. We played that most of the day. This is the kids, playing around. It's much too hard for Porter and Hali, so this was just a photo op.


I got what I really wanted, too. I got a pleater. "Nikki, What is a pleater?" Well, I'll tell you. It makes pleats for smocked dresses. Zoey is going to be the smocked dress Queen! Just wait until I post a picture of their Easter dresses!!! I'll have to start right away. (I'm rubbing my hands together!)

Well, I hope you all have a great day! Happy Holidays!

A Christmas Miracle!

If I had done what I usually do today, I would have had a very different Christmas. Ok, let's see if I can describe this right. I was driving my car, going to pick the girls up from school. I'm at the intersection of Bangerter Hwy and 104th south. I'm facing East, turning left (north) onto Bangerter. As with most intersections in Utah, this one has no left hand turn signal. You have to pull into the intercection when it's green and wait for it to be clear to turn. So, I'm the first car in line to turn left and the light turns green. Normally, I pull out as soon as it turns green, but today, I just sat there. I must have been distracted or something. I just stayed at the line and watched the cars come across the street. All of a sudden, there are cars screeching and horns blaring as some dumb woman runs the red light going south. She's in the farthest right hand lane. And if I had pulled out into the intersection, she would have plowed right into the side of me. Luckily, she didn't hit anyone! She even pulled over to the side of the road as soon as she had made it through the intersection and sat there for a few minutes. It didn't even occur to me until I was almost to the school how this could have played out, if I had driven into the intersection, like I normally do. Wow. I had someone watching over me and my kids today!

Here We Come A-Caroling

Yesterday the entire 1st grade at Elk Meadows went caroling. They walked to different spots in surrounding neighborhoods and then ended at the school. It was really cute. Her teacher, Mrs. Fassalin, made every kid in her class, fleece scarves! She is the best teacher! All the kids love her and the parents love her, too!
It's been getting warmer here, so the snow is starting to melt. Just in time for another storm to dump more this afternoon into tomorrow! But at least I get to use my Snow Thrower! So far I've only used it to do about half our driveway. Every snow storm we've had has been on a Saturday, so it's Scott out there using MY toy. So, I'm glad it's happening on a Friday, so Scott will have to work and I can get out there! It's pretty sad when you and your spouse are fighting over who can clear the snow off your driveway.

Hali's Christmas Dance Recital

Last week Hali had her Christmas Dance recital. This isn't the actual competition, yet. That doesn't start until the spring, which is good because it gives them more time to polish this dance! But it's pretty good for only practicing for a few months. :-)

The Christmas Wreaths

Ok, aren't these the CUTEST cookies?! I found this recipe on my favorite recipe website www.recipezaar.com and HAD to try them out. Actually, I've been making them all week, because this is what we are giving to our friends and neighbors. Don't worry, we are giving more than three cookies.
These are so easy to make. It's just a rice crispy treat with green food coloring and corn flakes! But I must warn you, if you make more than one batch, make only one at a time. The marshmallow sets fast and you have to shape them into the wreath. Anyway, too cute!

A Room with a View Continued....

For those of you new to our blog, once a month, I post a picture of the view from Regan and Hali's bedroom. One morning I glanced out and saw this great view of the Oquirrh Mountain, South Jordan temple. So for those of you who don't live around here, you can see the progress that we see. This is the first time that I've lived close enough to a temple to watch it's daily progress. I just thought it'd be nice to share. So, here's this months instalment!
I know, all of you in the warmer climates are SO jealous of all the snow! It hasn't snowed since last Saturday. The snow hasn't melted yet. That's how COLD it is, here. So just keep getting GREEN with envy!

Zoey

Our sweet, little baby isn't so sweet anymore. We are on the countdown to nursery! End of February, end of February! Seriously, Zoey is a Daddy's girl all the way! When daddy is around she wants nothing to do with mommy! And mommy isn't crying too much over it!

Zoey turned one at the end of August and is showing her stubborn side. She CAN walk, she just chooses not to. She also loves to climb UP the stairs, but FREAKS out when you try to teach her to come down the stairs. So she climbs up and then grunts LOUDLY until you go up and bring her back down.

Zoey has the cheesiest grin of all my children. It's the greatest! It just makes you smile back. She, for the most part, is a really good baby. She makes herself laugh over some pretty silly things. She loves to be on the couch for some reason. Maybe, she feels like she a big kid or part of the group. Who knows. Of course, she can't get up there on her own, or get down.

It's hard to believe that she struggled in her first week of life. If we didn't have the pictures to prove it, I'd think it was all my imagination! She had underdeveloped lungs and was in the ICU for a week, hooked up to oxygen and a feeding tube. She's such a strong little thing. After all, she puts up with her brother! She just loves her family. She loves to give hugs to all the kids as well as mom and dad. We love having her in our family. She just makes us feel complete. Our family is all together now. We love you, Zo Zo.

Porter

Porter, Porter, Porter. How can I write about my only son? He's just so alien and foreign to me. He makes me laugh so hard, I'm crying. And he makes me so MAD, that I want to sit down and cry, too. He reminds me so much of how Regan was as a toddler only worse. If you read my blog on a regular basis, you see that trouble that he causes me. I guess, I need to include the funny, too.

Porter has the greatest face. He is so expressive. Half of what he says is funny because of the look on his face! He has a great imagination. Tonight, I was pretending to be Zurg and he was Buzz Lightyear. He shot and killed me with his ray gun and then had to pretend to push the buttons on his arm for the intercom (if you know anything about Buzz Lightyear, you know what I'm talking about), to tell the Galactic Alliance he had defeated Zurg. Zurg wasn't actually dead, because I was laughing so hard I couldn't stay still. Man, that kid kills me!

Porter may get into lots of scrapes, but he's really a sweet kid. He's usually competing with Hali over sitting in my lap to watch TV. He gives great hugs and kisses! He's the friendliest kid around. He talks to everyone. EVERYONE! He doesn't have a shy bone in his body. He has SOOOO much energy. More than Hali, which is saying something! He's my little man. And I'm already sad for the day, when he won't let mom give him hugs and kisses. We love you, little man.

Hali

Hali turned 7 this year and is in 1st grade. She loves going to school and is quite the speller. She loves being with her friends and seems to be very popular. Last week I was parked at the school waiting for the kids and Hali came out before Regan. We were parked at the curb right in front of the school, so all the kids passed by the car. It seemed like everyone was saying hi to Hali. I mean, even older kids. How in the world does my child knows EVERYONE? Her teacher even says that she's a "kind friend."

Hali's been doing dance since just before her third birthday. See, Regan did dance for a VERY brief time and Hali would watch the practice and begged me at the age of 2, to dance. So I enrolled her as soon as she was old enough and 4 years later, we're still at it. She tried out for the competition team this year and is loving it. I can't believe the difference in what they teach her and how well she is adapting.

Hali is all girl. She loves dress up, make up, nail polish, clothes, shoes, doing her hair, dancing, singing, anything. She wants so much to do things that Regan is doing. She even wants to have braces like Regan! She just wants to grow up and fast. She'll be an even scarier teenager than Regan! For a different reason. It will be boys, boys, and boys. Start polishing that shotgun now, honey, you're going to need it. Several weeks ago, we had a little boy down the street come over to play, and Hali was this giggling little flirt! She's SEVEN! Man are we in trouble.

Hali is my Linus. She was my thumb sucker (which made her the BEST baby) and had her "B". She's finally kicked the thumb habit, but still clings to her blanket, which had to be replaced several years ago, when we left hers on the Monorail at Disneyland.

Hali is my little sunshine. She loves to cuddle and smile and laugh. She loves to play with her sisters and brother. She's a little mom with Zoey. If anyone is going to teach that child to walk, it will be Hali! She's my little ball of energy. She's always moving and going. She always wants to play with friends and, unlike Regan, there are several girls her age in the neighborhood! We love you, Hali. You're a ray of sunlight in our home.

Regan

Regan turned the big 1-0 this year. And all of a sudden she doesn't seem like a little kid anymore. We've hit pure pre-teen. I'm scared for the full thing. For the most part, she's not bad, but she does have her moments.

Regan is really smart. And she loves to be smart. She loves it when she's right and mom and dad are wrong. Oy. Again, not looking forward to the teenager thing. Regan excels in all her subjects at school. I keep getting notices from the school district to have her tested for the ALPS program. See, here in Utah the accelerated program is only available at certain schools and you have to test into them every year. The ALPS program is not at our school, so Regan would have to go to a different school for elementary, middle and High School. Both the middle and high are on the other side of the valley. It just seems like a lot of traveling and hassle to do it. And Regan is adamant about not leaving her school. So, I just ignore the letters.

Regan is still doing piano. I think she has a natural ability to do it, but she HATES to practice and I don't know how much longer I can hold out on her not quiting. But I'm not ready to give in, yet, Regan, so stop smiling! And along with the musical thing, Regan loves to sing! I wonder where she got that one from? She joined the school choir last year and LOVED it. I'm sure when choir starts up again, she'll be begging me to let her join. As if I'd say no.

4th grade is all about friends. We've already started the bickering. Everyday one friend is mad at another and by the next day they are friends again! But Regan has some great friends that I really like and they've been friends for a while now. Although, none of them live in our neighborhood, or even in walking distance. Which makes it necessary for the mommy taxi to shuttle her and her friends from house to house. Hooray for me. (O.K. it's really sad that she has to lean over my shoulder and tell me how to spell Hooray.)

Regan is really into video games. Like every other kid her age. She's REALLY hoping that Santa brings her a Wii for Christmas this year. She better hope that she's high up on that nice list!

She's a great big sister. Hali, Porter and Zoey all love to play with her. I love seeing my kids play together and giggle. It's the greatest sound in the world.

I'm so happy to have Regan as a daughter. As she gets older, I'm seeing more of a friendship develop between us. I'm blessed to have her in my life and my home. Love you, Ray.

Nikki

It's my turn. It's kind of awkward writing about yourself. Well, here goes. I'm lucky enough to be a stay at home mom. I love being a mom. I hate being a housekeeper. Kudos to those who do it for a living! I'm not a good housekeeper either. So, please, don't ever stop by my house without giving me at least two hours notice to clean my house! Yes, I'm one of THOSE women. My house is usually cluttered and messy. At least, until I can't stand it anymore and then I go on a cleaning spree. Although, I can't stand to have dirty dishes sitting in my sink. That's one thing that I don't ignore!

You know how you always have about 3 or 4 callings in the church that you think would be great to have? The calling on the top of my list is the music chorister in Primary. I've had the privilege of having that calling for the last year. I LOVE IT! I have so much fun teaching the songs to those kids! I love interacting with them and getting to know them. And we have the biggest primary in the stake, even though we were split last spring! Besides this blog, the primary is my big creative outlet. And I get to sing. What more could I ask for?

I'm also a mom taxi. What mother isn't? I limit my kids to one activity per child, just so that I can manage the taxi time without going insane. So, it's back and forth to school, piano, dance and soon Porter will be in pre-school. Well, as soon as I can get the boy potty trained. I admit, it's totally my fault that he's still wearing diapers.

Ok, that's about all I can write about me, so I think I'll turn it over to my dear, sweet, handsome, strong husband. Be gentle.

Where to start. Nikki is very fun to be around. She is always good for a laugh when you need to brighten your day. She does a great job raising our 4 somewhat demanding children.
I have shown our blog to guys at work and they really enjoy the way Nikki writes on the blog. She is very good at writing about our life. Nikki reads so many books that I am sure she has a great grasp of writing styles that she is able to write on the blog with humor and whit. She has talked about writing a book at some point, but I think this blog is a great outlet for her. I am not as good at writing as she is, so read fast to get to her writing. She keeps this family together. We have a wonderful family and it is because of Nikki and her way of dealing with the kids that makes our family a very happy family. I also have the privilege to be in our ward's primary and see Nikki lead the kids in music. She is soooo good with the kids and teaching them music. The kids really love her. She always has kids from primary come up to her to say hi even outside of church. I still need her Christmas list so I can shower her with gifts.(Hint, Hint) Well that is about all I can think of. I LOVE YOU TOO.

Scott

Instead of our usual "brag" letter, this year I'm having everyone check out our blog. After all, this goes into much more detail and has more pictures! So, I've decided that I need to do an individual blog about everyone in the family. Seeing as my Christmas cards are going out tomorrow, I'd better start.

Scott started a new job last May. He now works for GE Healthcare. It's part of the big GE that was started by Thomas Edison. There are a lot of perks, working for a big company. First of all, GREAT benefits. We have better healthcare now than we've ever had. Would have been nice, when Zoey was born. Anyway, he likes it and it's another step in the direction he wants his career to go.

Scott's really gotten back into mountain biking this year. He used to go a lot when we were first married, but life got busy, and I'm not much into riding down mountains! Go Figure! But there are a group of guys at work that go once a week in the summer time after work and he's been hooked. Again.

This was Scott's forth (?) year with University of Utah football season tickets. He goes with a friend and his brother, David. He loves to go, even when they don't start off too hot. We are definitely known as Ute fans in the neighborhood! People have threatened to paint a big blue "Y" on our lawn, but it hasn't happened yet! You sissies! (I only say that, because we don't send Christmas cards to our neighbors, we bake them something instead. So, we're perfectly safe!)

Scott's been getting into shape this year. He goes to the gym most every morning and has dropped 20 or so pounds so far. I'm very proud of him! He's been jogging and lifting weights and watching his diet. Go, Honey!

Scott teaches the oldest boys in Primary. He's been doing this for more than 3 years. He's really good at his calling. The boys love him.

Scott's a great dad. Zoey LOVES him! She just loves to sit in his lap or have him toss her in the air. Scott took Porter on the Father/son camp out this year and Porter still talks about camping with his dad! He's a big help to me, now that Regan and Hali are both so involved in dance and piano.

Scott is a great husband, too. He makes me laugh. I love to laugh. He's my best friend and I love to spend time with him. We will celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary in January and I doesn't seem like that long. I'm not an easy person all of the time, and he's really done a good job of handling me during some bad personal times. I've married a very SPECIAL person.

I LOVE YOU!!

Tis the Season to be Stupid

Ok, by now you all know how crazy I am about christmas lights. If you don't, see the tree below. So I was trying to put lights on my banister that is all decked out with fake green tree stuff. I got it all the way to the top and realized that I didn't have a plug. Crap! So I took it all off and was really disappointed. So today I went Visiting Teaching and was admiring Gabi's decorations and told her how jealous I was that she could put lights on her banister. Now remember I live in Utah and ward bounderies are smaller, so all our houses are built by the same builder. And my partner agreed with me. She also wanted lights and had wished that she had the builder put an outlet at the top of her stairs. Gabi looked at both of us as if we were stupid. "I don't have an outlet at the top. I just drap it down to the outlet on the wall beneath the stairs." Oh. Um. Wow. I have one, too. Karen, my partner, and I laughed and I was glad that I wasn't the only clueless one out there! So, now I have lights on my banister. Just not as many as on my tree.

The Gingerbread FLOP

You know how you see something that someone else has done and it makes it seem so much easier to do. I checked out my sister in law's blog last week and she and her family had done a gingerbread house for FHE. We saw one in the store last night, and I thought, "hey, that looks like fun. And if Natalie's little ones can do it, so can we!" Well, they must be super kids. I followed those directions to the "T". You put the frosting on to glue the house together and wait 15 minutes before you can decorate. I even set the timer. The roof would NOT stay on! It kept sliding down! I guess I will never be a great gingerbread house maker. Shoot.

Well, at least the kids look like they had fun. I'm looking a little pained.

I pretty much had to hold it like this the WHOLE time for the kids to be able to decorate it.

Yes, the roof is sliding off to the side.

The BIKE

Just so Scott can show off. Here's the new bike.

Snow Day

Yesterday the Salt Lake Valley got nailed with snow. We loved it! The kids couldn't wait to get outside. It always seems, though, that the first big snow fall catches you unprepared. We scrambled around for gloves, hats, and boots. Only Hali had everything, having all Regan's hand me downs. We couldn't find both of Porters gloves, and wuss boy got snow on his hands and that was it. He was in the house and done with the snow. That's why there are no pictures of him.

We got extra Christmas money from Scott's dad this year (thanks, Jeff!) and so Scott and I got a little money to spend on anything we want. Pretty cool! Scott used his money to buy a new bike for a ridiculous amount of money for a bike, but he says he got a great deal. Well, what do I know? The thing that I wanted most to buy? A Snow Thrower! I'm the one usually shoveling the driveway and every year I swear that our driveway gets bigger! And we are on a corner lot, so we have a ton of sidewalk, too. So Saturday morning in all the snow, Scott drove to Sears and bought our snow thrower. I did have to remind him that I was the one who was going to use the thing, so he needed to hand it over!

My new toy.

Me in action!!

Regan and Hali enjoying the snow.

Hali making snow angels.

Oh Tannenbaum cont....

Ok Here's the picture I promised. Again, the real thing is MUCH better. And we can't have the tree lights, the entry light and the porch lights on at the same time or it flips the switch! HEHE!

Oh Tannenbaum

I think that everyone has one thing that they are really obsessed about. Mine is really quirky. I'm obsessed with Christmas tree lights. I can't get enough. It's taken me two days to get the lights on my tree. Every year I buy more lights. Regan thought that our tree was growing because this year I have bought so many more lights along with the ones from last year. Our tree is fake. I think that I've probably spent over $100 dollars on stupid Christmas lights yesterday alone! I went back to the store 4 times, for more lights just yesterday and still had to have Scott stop at the store on his way home! We even blew out a fuse last night! I have to get a couple more extension cords, I think.

I totally know where this came from. When I was a kids there was a house down the street from our Cabrosa house. Every year at Christmas time I loved to drive by their house at night because I thought they had the most magical tree of lights in their front window. Since then I've tried to get that same tree in my window. I'm sure if I were to see that tree now, I'd probably be totally underwhelmed. I'm sure that my memory of it was much better than the real tree, but I think that this year my tree has finally matched my memory. I think I have roughly 4500 lights on my tree. I KNOW! Scott just laughs, my kids think it's great and even Zoey says WHOA when the lights are on. Of course, she said that when I plugged in every strand, but I choose to interpret it my way! I'll try taking a picture of it tonight after I get the plugs all worked out so we don't blow another fuse. Although, lights on the tree never look as good in a picture as they do live, so if you live in the area drive by my house instead, it's much better in person!

Anaheim Ducks

On Friday the 23rd Glenn took the boys to see the Anaheim Ducks play against the Phoenix Coyotes. We had 4 seats on the glass and 4 seats 4 rows up. Here are some pictures of the game.



The Ducks lost in a shoot out 4-3.

Thanksgiving: Easy Style

This year we decided not to do the traditional Thanksgiving and go to Disneyland instead. Grandma, Grandpa, and the McCusker's (my sister and her family) went with us. We had a great time. The crowd wasn't too bad and by nine, we were pretty much walking on everthing. The kids didn't even have to get out of the boat on Splash Mountain to ride it again!



Just a cute picture of Zoey and me. Well, at least of Zoey. I think we were on It's a Small World.

Scott, Regan, Hali and Porter in front of the Christmas tree on main street.

Got to love those self portraits!

Ever wonder what Space Mountain looks like when the lights are on? Wonder no longer. While on the ride, I guess two trains got too close together and the ride automatically shut down. They had to manually release the brakes on each train in order to start the ride again. So they had to turn the lights on and go from train to train. Everyone got quite an eyeful and then got to ride again.

My Dad got this BRILLIANT idea to buy everyone a silly hat and then take a goofy family picuture. He spent over $300 dollars on stupid hats that he wanted us to wear the rest of the night. We roped some woman into taking the picture and then my dad promptly gave her his hat! Excuse me? We all have to wear these things and you don't? I don't think so.

I couldn't even begin to name everyone in the order that they sit without getting a brain hernia, so I'll just name everyone in the picture in order of family. Jordan Law, Lynne Law, Glen McCusker, April McCusker, Elyse M, Carson M, Max M, Ian M, Avery M, Camden M, Caelum M, Scott Jackson, Nikki Jackson, Regan J, Hali J, Porter J, and Zoey J. Whew!

Hali and Camden sitting in the teacup outside of the Mad Hatter shop.

Zoey in my silly hat. She just sat there looking so cute!

I Love Blogging

I love blogging because it can be done anywhere! I'm here at my parent's house in California, sitting at my dad's computer. YEAH! I guess I'm feeling some blog withdrawl.

Our little sickness turned into a family affair. First Zoey, then Porter, Scott, Regan and finally me all before we left for the sunny state. We were praying so hard that Hali would be bypassed. She was fine until about 4 am on the day we were going to Disneyland. Luckily, the bug didn't last long and she did ok. She just didn't eat anything while we were there. We were a little worried when she threw up just as we got into the Disneyland parking lot, but that seemed to be the end of it. We didn't go on any roller coasters, so we could keep her stomach settled.

We are going to go to Disneyland again tomorrow (yes, we know that it is Thanksgiving tomorrow) with my parents and April's family and hit all the good rides then. I have to say I was surprised at how many people were there yesterday! Hello! Is no one in school? She says, convienently forgetting she took her own children out. It seemed like there were people everywhere, but the lines weren't very long. It was pretty strange. I'm hoping that there won't be many there tomorrow. We'll see.

Well, we just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! And Dave and Nat we got your text! Congrats!!!!

Ugh!

This is my second day in a row cleaning Porter and Zoey's bedding. Zoey somehow caught a bug and started throwing up on Sunday. Yesterday Porter caught it. So I've spent my week cleaning up puke. Sounds fun, huh? I'm just praying that no one else catches it! We are leaving on Sunday to go to California for Thanksgiving. And we are taking the kids to Disneyland while we are there! I really can't get sick!!! And since we are taking the girls out of school for three days and Scott is taking vacation time, no one else can get sick, too. UGH!! I guess I should be thankful that it's happening this week and not while we are at Grandma's house.

Porter is turning out to be a typical sick man. He's Horrible! He thinks that if he runs away from the toilet or the bowl that he won't throw up. So I have to physically restrain him so that I'm not cleaning it up off the floor. So far I've been successful on everything except his bed. Hence, the bed cleaning fest. I'm going to be so sick of laundry by the time we leave for our vacation. And then you come home and do it all over. I'm so glad that I have a washing machine and dryer. Can you imagine doing laundry in the old days with a tub? No thanks! I'm very grateful for my modern conveniences. And now I'm just rambling. I think I'm trying to put off any housework. It's one of those days, when you just don't want to do anything. Maybe I can get away with just surfing the internet all day. Then again, I have 2 sick children. sigh. At least I have next week to look forward to! YEAH!

I Love My Son redux.

Porter really doesn't do these things on purpose. He's not a mean kid. He just has a LOT of energy and he's really curious. I'm just waiting for him to really calm down. Maybe when he starts pre-school he'll have a better outlet for that energy, but in the mean time this is my life.

This would be the box of baking soda that I keep in the fridge. I was upstairs giving Zoey a bath and came downstairs to find this. He was probably looking for a fruit cup or yogurt and thought, "What's this?" I'm sure he didn't mean to dump it all over the floor. And if you look up in the top corner, he tried to clean it up! He opened up the pantry and got out my little sweeper broom and dust pan! And the white thing is one of those Swiffer Duster things. I guess he's seen me clean up enough of his messes that he knows what to do!

Happy Birthday Hali!

Hali's 7th birthday was on Friday. We told her she could go anywhere she wanted for dinner. I really need to stop doing that. She picked Chuck E. Cheeses. YUCK! Have you ever had their pizza? But the kids had a great time, so I guess it was worth it.

Hali got a pink Nintendo DS and a fashion designer game. Regan plays with the game more than Hali. Which if you really know my girls, is really shocking!

They had this really cool booth that you could pose for a picture and a drawing of the picture would come out.

Regan and Hali being goofy with their "ticket" prizes.

This is Hali with her birthday cake. She didn't have a friend party this year (we only have parties on even numbered birthdays), but we had family over on Sunday night.

Did Any of You Catch Oprah Yesterday?

I sure did. I never get to watch Oprah! The tv's usually on Spongebob or something like that. But I made sure to watch Oprah, yesterday. Why you ask? BECAUSE THE OSMOND'S WERE ON!!!!! I'm sure my kids thought I was nuts. I was dancing and clapping, laughing and even tearing up, when they talked about the death of their dad and eternal families. It was so sweet.

So, of course, after the show I HAD to go on itunes and buy me some Osmond songs. Scott is sure I'm totally off my rocker. He did not have the privilage of having a red 8 track tape to dance in the living room to! How sad for him. So now I'm rockin' One Bad Apple. This is so beneath Scott, I LOVE IT! Pure torture! Hey, he's bigger and stronger in the tickling department, so I have to take what I can get. Now I just have to get the kids to sing Puppy Love all the time and I'll win this round, at least!! (Cue evil laugh).

A New Tradition

A couple of weeks ago, we had our ward Super Saturday. One of the classes was about Birthday Party themes. They also did a section on Birthday traditions. The one I liked the best was this. You select a door in your house(It has the be the same door every time)and on a family members birthday you decorate it. You can keep it decorated for however long you want. I just thought it was cute and easy! So Hali's birthday is today and we thought we'd start the tradition. Regan and I made signs and we put up streamers. I forgot the balloons! Sorry, Hali! I'm still working out the bugs!

Hali in front of the Birthday Door. It was really early in the morning, that's why she's looking a little possessed.

The Blogging Sickness

Blogging changes a person. I think it's a lot like Scrapbooking. You take lots of pictures. About everything. Your camera is your best friend. I suppose that's good in a way, my kids will have tons of pictures. And we will have TONS of incriminating evidence to show future sons and daughter-in-laws! But I think a little cruelty comes out in the quest for a good picture. Case in point. Here is another Zoey asleep in the high chair pose.

I must point out that Scott took these pictures, so the blogging disease is spreading to him, too. This is what we let happen in our quest for the perfect blog post.

It's a sickness, people! Don't Start!

I Love My Son.

I remind myself everyday that I love my son, so that he will live to see Christmas, let alone his 4th birthday. I went upstairs to get dressed today and this is what I came back to:

That would be an entire box of Corn Flakes. The white pieces are felt things that belong to this book I bought for Church, that Porter loves. It's only supposed to come out on Sunday. We don't really eat Corn Flakes. I just use them on casseroles. They only come in HUGE boxes, so a box will last me for about a year. Well, they would if Porter could manage to stay OUT OF THEM! He has this strange obsession with them. He doesn't eat them, he just plays with them. I find the box out more times than I'd like, but this is the first time he's dumped them. Unfortunately, I have a hard time disciplining him. I mostly laugh. This time I really tried to scowl, but a really big snort slipped out and then I was done. I guess if I didn't laugh at him, he probably would be dead.


He even put Corn Flakes in the pocket of the book that holds the felt pieces!

Sweet Babies

Yesterday we went to the baby blessing of Scott's cousins new babies. She had twins about three months ago. The great thing was, I got to enjoy babies and NOT WANT ONE! It was very free-ing. They were so sweet and great to hold, but I didn't want them to be mine. So great.

Brock Wade Jackson

India Marsha Jackson

A Personal Narrative by Regan Jackson

Last week was Parent Teacher conferences. The first thing out of Regan's teacher's mouth was, "You have an incredibly, intelligent, child." Yes, I do. And she didn't get it from me. So her teacher shows me this paper that Regan wrote in class and said that she made a copy for herself because she couldn't believe it came out of a 4th grader! So I thought I'd share this story with all of you, because it really is good.

"Regan!" called my dad, Scott. "What?" I asked. Then Scott replied, "It's time for the hike." That news didn't excite me at all. My bum still hurt from the crash the other day(She crashed on her bike). So I sadly said good-by to Betty and Jack(They were the puppies that belonged to the farm near where we were staying). And then, we were off. After a few minutes, we arrived at the trail parking lot. We met up with my cousins at the head of the trail. While walking, we saw a sign that read: Very Hard Trail Ahead! But we didn't care. While hiking all the kids complained, including me. Me and my family lagged behind. When we finally got to our destination, I stopped in my tracks and gaped open mouthed in awe! It was beautiful. There was a lake with a mud colored log right through the middle of it. Right above the lake was a crystal waterfall running into the emerald green lake. It was so beautiful, that when we left, I was sad. While hiking down I learned going down was harder than up. About halfway along the trail, my mom, Nikki(written with hearts over the "i"'s), said, "If you guys make it all the way down, we'll have ice cream!" That got me going! Finally, we were in the car eating ice cream. Yum!

Obviously, the parentheses are my comments! And I fixed the spelling, but other than that, it's word for word. I would have saved myself the typing, but our scanner is busted. Porter decided to see if it was anything like a trampoline. Thanks, bud. It doesn't even look remotely like a tramp. Who knows what makes his mind work.

Regan can't figure out why everyone is making such a big deal about her "stupid paper". It's because you have a great vocabulary for 4th grade, babe.

Trick or Treat!

I just had to get a picture of the candy haul. Hello! And that's not even all of it! I couldn't fit it all in the bowl! And I even gave some out!!! It seems like we didn't have as many trick or treaters this year. I was giving out candy by the handful. Maybe that's why we got so much back. Everyone was giving out handfuls, too!




Hali's Dance School had a Trunk or Treat on Tuesday night. I think the kids had more fun manning the Trunk than walking around. I know we are so boring, no trunk decorations.

Thoughts on Potty Training

It's probably been 4 years since I potty trained Hali. Last night we used the last pull-up on Porter and I decided (or was guilted into it by Scott) that it was time to bite the bullet and potty train Porter. Ugh! It's only part way through the day and I'm so not liking this. I totally forgot how gross it is to wash poop out of underwear. Why is poop so much worse in underwear than it is in a diaper? I'm an old pro at the diaper thing, but the underwear makes me gag. I know this is sickest post I've ever had, just be grateful I didn't take a picture!

A Little Vent

ok, so my sister-in-law, Natalie, has used her blog to vent about her husband, and now it's my turn. Last Christmas, I asked for a new knit cap to keep my head warm in the winter. I'm envisioning a cute knit thing with maybe some flowers on it. Something cute and girly. This is what I opened up.



Yes, it does say University of Utah. The point, Honey, is to get something I would like, not you! Needless, to say, it's now his and my head is still bare. I bring this up, because last night we were talking about Christmas and I said that I needed to get to the mall. I'm all out of perfume and I've had this bottle for like 5 years (I don't wear it often), so I have no idea what's out and what I would like. Scott says to me that HE should pick out the scent, because he's the one smelling it on me. Now, who would trust the man who bought the hat above for his WIFE, to pick out the same woman perfume? I don't think so. So we've settled on this. I will pick out about 3 or 4 choices and then he can pick the one he likes best from that. You'd think that after almost 12 years of marriage, I would know to SPELL things out and he'd know my style!

P.S. By the way, this was not the only gift I got. To give Scott some credit, the rest of my gifts were lovely and I loved the watch he picked out particularly! Love you, Hon!

Regan's New Do!

Regan needed a haircut. We (meaning me) decided that it had no style and needed something different. I don't think I was thinking so drastic, but I love how it turned out. More importantly, SHE loves how it turned out. So CUTE!


It's not uneven. She just put one side behind here ear.


A view from the back.

Halloween Parade

Friday morning, the school decided to do it's Halloween Parade and Parties. I hadn't planned on staying for more that the Parade, but the girls didn't want to change out of their costumes until the parties were over and especially Hali couldn't stay in it the whole day.



Regan posing during the Halloween Parade. Can you believe that the girl on the right is in 4th grade?



Hali going by in the Halloween Parade. They were moving pretty fast so she only got in a wave.



Hali and her best friend Kylee are playing the mummy game in class.