So long 2009...

A year of firsts and lasts...

365 days and that's what I can come up with???? I've been thinking about this post for weeks now. What will I write? How can I describe a year's worth of emotions and events in to one, succinct blog? I want it to be something monumental...something worthy of publishing on a blog...something that conveys feeling, emotion, and sincerity as I reflect on 2009. And all I could come up with was "A year of firsts and lasts"? Really?? But...that's truly what it is...in every sense of the quote.

It is 2009...the last year of the decade. This decade started with widespread panic about computer glitches and Y2K scams. And here we sit 10 years later thankful it didn't happen to the degree we were scared it could have. In 2009, our family witnessed a lot of firsts and lasts. We had our third baby, but he was our first son. And he has been such a special addition to our family. With a new baby, there seems to be loads of firsts...a first holiday, a first illness (RSV in April), a first trip to Disney World. And, as quickly as it hit me that we were bringing home our first son, it was also our last pregnancy. In Drew's blog I recall a post about knowing this was the last baby and how that feels. Even as I type those words again, the tears sting my eyes. But...the future holds so many fun and bright memories for this family that the stinging only lasts for a minute. We may have experienced our last ultrasound, our last baby kicks, and our last trip to the Women's Center at Northside Hospital, but there will be plenty of birthday parties, family trips and special occasions to be a part of. This was also Kelsey's first year of school. I recall being worried that she would find it hard and not want to go. We worried about separation and how she would do academically. All we had to compare her to was Ally and she's every teacher's dream. But, she has proved us wrong in every worry and has made a place for herself in her class and has succeeded in ways that make us so proud. Ally finished her first year of school in May. We were sad to say goodbye to Mrs. Lussier...Ally and us. But, we were very excited to get Mrs. Anderson for first grade in the fall. Ally has continued to grow in herself as well and she makes us smile with pride each day. Bo completed his first half-marathon on Thanksgiving Day and came in just over 2 hours. We were all so proud of his accomplishment...13.1 miles is quite a daunting task. And finally, for the first time since high school, we are surrounded by family who lives just minutes away and not hours or days away. The Blums were the first ones here, just over a year ago. And Bo's parents joined us earlier this year. We are so fortunate to have all of them with us. We enjoy having everyone together for all the day to day adventures that life sends us on.

As this post closes on the last day of 2009, I have a chance to reflect on the year. It was a good year. It is filled with memories we will all cherish for the rest of our lives. And though most of it is not earth shattering, it's our life; our family, and that's what makes this post monumental and worthy of posting. So long 2009...we're excited to see what firsts and lasts the new decade will bring to us.

A Magical Night

We spent one of our evenings off at the Lake Lanier Magical Nights of Lights. It's almost a tradition for us to go every year now. We all seem to really enjoy seeing the lights and going to the carnival at the end of the night. And now that we have 2 of 3 children who are old enough to stay up late and ride the rides, it's quite fun. It's nice to go after the Christmas rush because the traffic is minimal and there's no waiting for any of the rides. We bundled the kids up for a cold night of fun and head out to the lake around 5:30. By the time we got there, the lights were on and we drove right through. We got to the carnival and rode some of the rides. This was the first year Kelsey was big enough to ride the "Scrubbler" with Ally and Daddy. She was so brave and wanted to ride all the big rides. At the end of the night, Mommy took the girls on her favorite carnival ride...the Himalaya. On the way out the gate, we took the annual pony ride and this year no one needed a parent to walk with them. The girls are getting so big...and brave...and independent. There are more pictures at the Shutterfly site, but here are a few of our fun night.

http://therealjacksonfive.shutterfly.com

Then A Little Fairy Showed Up

A few days after Christmas, Ally's second top tooth became very loose. She was eating something hard and it was barely attached. After sitting in the bathroom for an hour with Dad, Ally finally got her tooth out. It was already late, so we quickly put it under our pillow and here we are the next day with our payout from the Tooth Fairy.

The Big Man Stops Here!!

Christmas came and went in blur. But all of it was fun. We spent Christmas Eve hanging out with family and going to Church. Jackie had made a Christmas Eve lunch for all of us since I did Thanksgiving and it was very yummy. All the typical foods...ham, turkey, macaroni salad, shrimp cocktail, and sweets galore. After the lunch, we headed to church for the early kid's service where the girls went up on stage and played the hand bells. Everyone looked so nice dressed in their Christmas finest. And, when it was all said and done, we had filled up 2 and half pews with some of our closest family and friends for the real reason we celebrate Christmas. It was so nice to have and see everyone at Church with us. When we got home, we let the girls open their 1 Christmas present from us. Every year we get them each a new Christmas book and write a special message in it to remember the year. And then, when they are older and have their own house and kids, they will already have a full set of Christmas books to read and share with their kids. This year's choices were easy. For Ally we got the "Nutcracker"...because we went to see the Nutcracker this year with the girls and we knew she would enjoy reading the story about it. For Kelsey, we got "Auntie Claus"...a story about Santa's sister, who lives in NYC and travels to the North Pole every year to help Santa get through his busiest season. And Drew was super easy...he got "The First Christmas", because it was his first Christmas and because we want to make sure he always knows why we celebrate it. The plan was to read their stories to them, which was why we gave them their books on Christmas Eve, but it was late and they needed to get to bed. So we saved them for the next day. We put out cookies, carrots and milk for Santa and the reindeer and then they were off to bed. The next morning came quickly. Kelsey was actually the first one we heard, but it was because of her coughing and not for Christmas squeals. When we went in to see her, she finally sat up and asked if it was time to get up. By then, it was 6:45 so we tiptoed in to Ally's room to see if she was awake and she was already sitting up in her bed. They both came out and looked over the catwalk to see if Santa had visited and they were not disappointed...Santa had been there and left a huge stash of big and small presents under the tree. The girls were so excited. We walked in to Drew's room and woke him up...45 minutes early because there was no way either one of his sister's was waiting another 5 minutes to go down stairs. We all headed downstairs together and looked at all the stuff under our tree. Santa had been so good to us this year. he even brought us a new air hockey table that he had built and had sitting in our living room. We spent the next few hours unwrapping and playing with all our new toys. It took Drew a little while to get through all his presents, but he managed. One of the things Santa brought was a HUGE wall map to hang in our playroom. The girls always want to know where people live and where we are traveling to and it's hard for them to understand it unless they can see it. So, with this map, we hope to put a push pin in all the places we visit and all the places that people we know and love, live. But, when we walked in to the playroom to find a spot for the map, a brand new craft table had taken the place of our old one. It was super nice and came with 4 stools that had denim padding on the seats. Each kid had a drawer to put art supplies and it even had a roll of art paper that rolled over the top to draw on. That Santa is so tricky. One of the other favorites was a request from both girls...the Polly Pocket Roller Coaster Resort. And, we have played with it nonstop. Drew's favorite toy was the Little People Airport and we are so glad Santa brought that for him.
After we finished here, we headed over to the Blum's for some more Christmas presents and time with family. The kids played with each other's new toys and had fun giving gifts to each other. We headed home for nap after a lunch filled with yummy leftovers from Christmas Eve. And after nap, we went to see Grandma and Grandpa Jackson, Aunt Jenny and Great Grandpa John. They had gotten a few small things for the girls, but the big present this year was a trip to SeaWorld over spring break. Grandma and Grandpa know that these kiddos have everything they could ever want or need...we are very blessed and try not to take that for granted. So, for the past several years, they have adopted the theme of "Making Memories" instead of spending money on gifts that get old or broken. The past 2 years we've gone to Disney World. But this year, we are headed to see the big whale and all his friends. The girls were very excited to hear the news. Especially Kelsey who remembers being there a few years ago and not being able to ride the bouncy crab ride. So, she is much looking forward to riding all the rides this time. We spent the evening eating more yummy food and watching the movie "The Hangover" and then we headed home. Christmas day was lots of fun and tiring too. We're glad we have the next week off to rest up and play with all our new things.
Enjoy some of the pictures here and head to the Shutterfly site to see the rest.
http://therealjacksonfive.shutterfly.com

Bonnie Boot Camp Christmas Party

Every year I do a party here at the house for the kiddos I watch on a regular basis. Today we had snowman cookies for snack, we watched Mickey's classic Christmas movies with Small One, The Christmas Carol and, my personal favorite, the one with Chip and Dale inside Mickey's Christmas tree. After that we opened gifts and played with all our new stuff. This afternoon we'll be coloring Christmas pictures and watching more fun Christmas movies. Enjoy the pics and check out the Shutterfly site for the rest.
http://therealjacksonfive.shutterfly.com

Madison...enjoying her present. She wasn't sure she was allowed to open it. Eventually she tore right through that wrapping paper.


Asher...the veteran, tore in to his right away.

Max was super pumped about his ball popper. but, once we turned it on, he was a little scared at all the balls popping all over the place. It was the crowd favorite today...I'm sure he'll grow to love those flying balls!!!

Caroline...loving her new puzzle!!

Drew playing with his magnetic car set.

Kelsey and her Under the Sea puzzle.

Party...Party...Party!!!

You can always tell the holiday season is upon us when you have 4 parties in one day. Today, Kelsey had her holiday program at pre-school, Ally had her holiday party at school and both girls had Christmas parties at dance class. Four parties in one day will take it out of anyone. But, it was nice to have them and be done with them in one day.
First we headed to Mt. Zion Baptist Preschool for Kelsey's program and party. All of the 4 year old classes got together to sing some Christmas carols and Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then we headed to their rooms for yummy food, a book exchange and a very creative Nativity Scene craft. I'll have to put that idea in the back of my head for future use. It was white wooden building blocks with stickers of the animals, the stable, Joseph, Mary, the Angel, the 3 wise men, and baby Jesus each on their own block. So now, we can use our blocks to make a Nativity set...very crafty!!
We headed out of Mt Zion at 11:00 and went to Ally's school party at 11:15. Since there's not a whole lotta Jesus going on in public schools these days, it was a Gingerbread party. All the kids brought in a different part for the gingerbread houses and then they each made their own using milk cartons, graham crackers, and icing as glue. The house were very cute once they were finished and Ally's is sitting right in our kitchen for everyone to see. Ally had no idea we were coming to the party, so she was very happily surprised to see our smiling faces when we got there. Her favorite part was getting checked out early and coming home with mom. Today they are having Polar Express Day at school...wearing their jammies, drinking hot chocolate, eating popcorn and watching the movie. It's a great way to send them out for the holidays.
The dance parties came and went in a blur. As the room mom for both classes, I had to organize the food and make an appearance at both places...with a baby in tow and Bo out tutoring. Going back and forth between rooms proved difficult with a 23 pound crawler to tend to. Drew was everywhere and in everyone's food. You'd think he was starving, I swear. So, between keeping up with him and helping both girls get food, play games and do a craft, there was no time for pictures. But, rest assured, they had a great time even if you can't see it first hand on film.
Check out some of the pictures below and then be sure to click on the Shutterfly link to see all of the Christmas events and things we have done so far.
http://therealjacksonfive.shutterfly.com/

Kelsey and Asher getting ready for the program.

Kelsey singing with her class. The little red head in front of her is her friend Laney, I think. :)

Kelsey was so glad we were there with her.

Ally was glad we all came to her party too. Mrs. Anderson is such a great teacher. We love her!!

Just What the Doctor Ordered!!

A night out with friends. And wine. And good food. And more wine.

All I Want for Christmas is my Big Girl Teeth!!

Ally lost another tooth today. This one was SUPER loose and took absolutely no effort to get out. Ally is always so scared to pull the tooth because of the blood, but she's always so happy to have it out and have a visit from the Tooth Fairy. Hopefully she will visit us tonight!!

Holiday Festivities

The Jackson house had a very busy holiday weekend of fun. It started on Friday with a trip to the mall to see the big guy in the red suit. The girls were so excited to see him and we were so excited to see how Drew would react for his first visit. After waiting in line for a short while, we were finally next in line and Kelsey was becoming more and more afraid of sitting on Santa's lap. Even at 4 years old, we have not grasped the concept that Santa is the one who brings us presents on Christmas Eve and that it's ok to sit on his lap. Surely, we thought, if Drew sat on his lap it would help Kelsey to feel better. Drew was the first one up to see Santa. Each of the girls have their own picture with him their first Christmas and we had to keep the tradition alive. And, our little buddy did not disappoint. Drew's amazement of the big guy was picture perfect. And it seemed that Santa enjoyed his first visit with Drew as well.

After Drew's debut with Santa, the girls were supposed to come up and sit with him for a picture before they got involved in lists and toys and wonderment. Unfortunately, Kelsey was having nothing to do with Santa...scared WHITE!!! So, the nice people there gave here a little stool to sit on so she could still be in the picture but not on Santa's lap. And after that was all said and done, Ally proceeded to tell Santa what a good girl she had been and listed several things she and Kelsey wanted for Christmas. Our type A child...so helpful to her sister!!

On Sunday, we took the girls to see the Nutcracker at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center. We have a long time family friend who has a daughter that has danced in this show for years and this is her Senior year. So, for her final performance, she danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. It was so nice to go and see old friends and watch Rachel dance her way around the stage. She was quite the performer and we were so glad to be there to see her. The girls were mesmerized by all the lights and great costumes. Kelsey fell asleep half way through the second act, but she enjoyed the parts she did get to see. It was a wonderful way to kick off our holiday season. We have many more weekends of holiday fun planned before the big man arrives and we are looking forward to all of it!!

Family Christmas Pictures

Here are the Jackson Five looking especially dapper for the Christmas Pictures of 2009.

Gator Family

It's that time of year again...SEC Championship Time!!! And in true Gator Spirit, I have to post our most recent family picture. Here's to a Gator Victory on Saturday...it's gonna be a tough one boys!!!

The Finish Line!!!

In August, Bo started training for a half-marathon to be ran on Thanksgiving morning. After many long weeks of training, the race was run and here are a few of the pictures from his amazing accomplishment.

Before I post these pictures though, I have a few thoughts of my own to share about Bo's big run. First...it was so awesome to be at the finish line waiting to see Bo run by us and finish his first race. All of us were there to greet him...the kids, his mom and dad, Jenny, and even Stefan got to come and represent the Blum family on a blustery 39 degree morning. We brought our cow bells to cheer him on and it really was such a cool thing to witness so many people finishing up a 13 mile run. Speaking of 13 miles, I am wondering how many of you ACTUALLY COMPREHEND how far 13 miles really is. The night before the race, Bo and Nate (his running buddy) stayed in a hotel to avoid traffic and getting up any earlier than needed the day of the race. After the race was over, the 2 of them piled back in to my car and we headed back towards the hotel to get Nate's car. I couldn't figure out for the life of me why they stayed out past Spaghetti Junction (where I-85 meets I-285) when the race was downtown. It didn't seem to make sense that they stayed so far away. It wasn't until Bo's dad made a comment about how much more convenient it was to stay here than at home when Nate said that the start line was only 2 miles from their hotel. By this time we had been driving for a good 20 minutes and I was floored at what that meant. Bo LITERALLY ran the entire length of the connector from north of Spaghetti Junction all the way to Turner Field where the finish line was. And my new word for things this astounding is that this distance is RIDONCULOUS!!!! I mean seriously...who in the world voluntarily runs that much; that far. And, this was the half-marathon. There are idiots out there who started at Turner Field, ran north to Bo's start line and then turned around to head back to Turner Field for the full-marathon. A disease...I swear!!! And last, I might share that the pictures you are about to see of Bo actually running the marathon are not mine. Thankfully, my super brother in law and father in law were able to grab pictures of Bo finishing the marathon. And, it wasn't because my camera wasn't ready. Picture this...Bonnie is patiently waiting and looking for Bo from about 8:15 AM on. The race started at 7:00 and Bo thought he would finish in about 2 hours. But, I thought with all the excitement that he might come in a little under 2 hours. To avoid missing him, I am intently watching all the runners come through the finish line starting about 8:15. And, just as an aside...the winner of the half-marathon finished in 1 hour, 9 minutes. That's a 4 minute mile for 13 miles, folks!!! During my waiting time, I am trying to keep the kids entertained and warm and keep my camera in focus on the road so that the pictures aren't blurry. I have changed the setting to "burst" so that I get lots of pictures of Bo running and we can pick from the best to put on the blog. I keep looking at the official clock and it says 2 hours...2 hours, 3 minutes, 2 hours 5 minutes...and I'm still looking. Now, Bo was under strict orders that he had to finish this race because there was no way I was hauling my rear end 13 miles back the race course to find him. So, at 2 hours and 9 minutes we spot him coming over the top of the hill with the Olympic Rings and Torch in the background...the perfect picture and my camera is on him and focused. He sees us. Runs up to us. Give the kids and all of us high fives. He's in my camera lens and I can see him. He crosses the line and the race is over. At that moment it dawns on me that I was so excited to actually find him in the mass of people and so proud of him for doing something he worked so hard at that I never finished pushing the shutter button on the camera after I had pushed it half way to focus it. Really??? Seriously??? I had come all this way and waited all this time to get the perfect picture of his first race and I got NOTHING!!!!! Thankfully Stefan and Dad had gotten some great shots and I have those to share on this blog.

Congratulations on your run honey!!! We are all so proud of you!!! Be sure to check out the shutterfly site for the complete set of pictures.
http://therealjacksonfive.shutterfly.com/

Maguire Get Together

This past weekend, we headed up to Seneca, SC to visit Grandpa Maguire and all of the Maguire family. We had an early Thanksgiving with all the family...Uncle John, Aunt T, and the fabulous Maguire Sisters...Lindsey, Summer, Katie and Kristen. Plus, Grandma and Grandpa Jackson were there with Aunt Jenny. And, we got to meet some of the people we hear so much about, but have never actually met...Mary Rose and Uncle Bill and Aunt Jeannie. We spent Saturday afternoon cheering on the Gators, who played South Carolina, coincidentally. On Sunday, we spent some time walking around Lake Hartwell and then we visited Clemson...home of the Clemson Tigers and Death Valley. The kids played on the playground and swam...yes swam, don't ask...in the lake at the "Clemson Beach". Once we were all cleaned up, we headed back to Grandpa's for a yummy Thanksgiving Dinner with all the fixins. The girls were especially sad to leave...they had so much fun playing with the cousins. But, we got home safely and headed straight to bed. We were tired from our fun weekend with our family.

See all the pictures at the Shutterfly site:
http://therealjacksonfive.shutterfly.com
Here are a few to get you started.
The Whole Family...aren't we a good lookin' bunch???

Playing at the playground and in the lake.




Visiting Clemson...

The Beginning of School Projects

Ally has officially started working on planning for projects and completing them in a specific time frame. Her first school project was a book report based on a setting. She had to choose between 3 projects...a diorama, decorating a t-shirt, or creating a book based on the story she chose to read for this report. Of course, Ally chose the diorama. She read the story The Little Mermaid from her big book of Disney stories and came up with the idea to do an underwater diorama. We went to Michael's and found paper to cover the shoe box, fish stickers, "jewels" to use as bubbles, and pipe cleaners for seaweed. She was quite creative. She spent the better part of 2 days working on covering the box, hot gluing the jewels and sewing on the seaweed so it would stand up...which I helped with for safety reasons ;). She added in the Ariel, Sebastian, Flounder, and Ursula figurines we had at the house and completed the project with some real seashells she found at the beach. She is VERY PROUD of her hard work.

A Fourth Hole in Ally's Head!!

Last night, Ally FINALLY lost the dangling tooth from the top row of her mouth. That poor thing has been hanging on by a thread for a week now and Ally was scared to pull it. But, after some convincing, Ally let me pull it. She didn't even know it was out because after I got it out, she asked to pull it herself. When she realized it wasn't there, she rinsed and smiled for the camera...with one less tooth!!

Happy Halloween

It was a fantastic Halloween here in Georgia for the Jackson Five. Our weekend was filled with fun Halloween activities. We spent Friday night watching The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, a yearly tradition at our house. And then after dinner, we were in garage with the kids carving out our Jack-o-Lantern. When it was finished, we put on some music (just a little ZBB and some Kenny Chesney) and danced around the garage. On Saturday, we spent the morning celebrating a friend's first birthday and then headed out to Aunt Jackie and Uncle Stefan's house for the big Florida-Georgia game. It was a good win for the Gators and we were excited to celebrate in Gator fashion with the family. As soon as the game ended, we headed home to be with our friends and go trick or treating. It was a short outing compared to past years...we only did the 2 streets by our house because of the rain, but we hauled in tons of candy and the girls were excited to be with their friends. Ally and Kelsey were super cute as Glinda and Dorothy. They held hands the whole time they trick or treated...and that, for me, was the best part. People were running all over the place and there were my precious girls walking together, holding hands, big sister and little sister, taking care of each other. Warmed my heart on a cold rainy night...because that's what I look forward to most in their lives as sisters...a closeness no one will come between. Drew was a sweet Toto and sat in the stroller the whole time...taking in the sights, sounds and fun. We came home and had a few pieces of candy while we watched Charlie Brown one more time. And, then it was off to bed...an extra hour to boot!!
As always...all of the pictures are on the Shutterfly share site.
http://therealjacksonfive.shutterfly.com