Jackson's Baptism

I know, I know, I am super behind on posting pics and thoughts. I did want to go ahead a post pics of Jackson's Baptism in real time- not 6 weeks later.

Jackson hanging out with Gigi. 

A rare smile caught on camera from Reagan. 

Gigi and Pops are proud grandparents. Blessed they came down for the Baptism. 

I caught this pic before Reagan squirmed away. You can see she was on her way in this pic. :)

The event! Jackson did great, no crying. Just hanging out. He is our mild mannered child. 

The whole fam! Reagan and Jackson are blessed to have G'parents who come visit often! 

The Kingsleys! 

 It was a fun Sunday as we welcomed Jackson in our covenant family. We had family and our staff team over after for a little lunch. All in all a good time! YAY for Jackson! 

Beach Pics

A few weeks ago, Rick and I had a last hoorah at my parent's house in St.Simons, before the craziness of school started. .  In a effort to try and get some family pics my mom took a few pics of our family down at the beach.  None of them turned out great, but at least we have a few to remember this phase in our family!  

One of the decent family pics

A good one of me and the kiddos

It looks like we are having a good tie now! 

Another family pic! 

Our silly girl! 

I think Jackson's face is a little crazy here. 

I love these next two. We usually can't get reagan to smile in pics. 

Mother and Daughter.

We are excited that our staff team is going on a staff retreat to St. Simons in a few weeks to bond as a team and relax after a crazy first few weeks. We love the beach and the whole family can't wait to get back! 

Fourth of July

We got a  couple of good pics this 4th of July. Since Rick still had to go to class, our day was pretty uneventful till the evening. We went to a CRU cookout then came back to Rick's parent's house for homemade ice cream and sparklers!  But of course, before we did anything, I made us get some pics before everyone got too messy! Rick's mom got some great ones!

A pretty good family pic! Reagan is actually smiling! AWESOME! 

Our cute little monkey! 

God bless America! 

Fun times with sparklers! 

Reagan actually really liked the sparklers and fireworks. She's not afraid of much! 

Our sweet buddy, Jackson, in his seersucker fourth of july outfit! 

Jackson's arrival

So I know I am way behind and I feel so bad for poor little Jackson, but I have finally gotten around to doing a little post about his arrival.

Since Reagan came a week early and Jackson was weighing in as a week bigger than he should, we thought for sure he would come early as well. Everyone seemed to think that, including my doctor. Expectations will kill you! I think if I would have thought he was going to be on time or late I would have been fine but since I was ready for him to be a lot early, I was tired of waiting when his due date past.

Four days later I visited my Dr. and she said she wasn't sure what was keeping him in. She said I could be patient and just wait for him to come or we could induce the next day, or induce now. Since my mom was already in town to watch Reagan I decided to go for it. After a short trip to the house to pick up Rick and my bag, we were off to have a baby. I can't tell you have much easier it was than having Reagan. I was induced around 1, started pushing around 5 and  he was born at 5:23.

We stayed that night and after lots of great visitors, we got to head home that evening.


We were blessed to have my mom come to take care of Reagan while we were having Jackson and then stay a few days after, then Rick's mom came in town to take over. It was great to be able to focus on Jackson with the grandmas giving Reagan lots of attention in mean time!


Here are a few pics

Jackson and I just after he was born

My Doctor, Dr. Chamberlin, and I! She was a huge blessing! 

Proud daddy! 

Reagan meeting Jackson. I can't say she was overly impressed. 

Our first visitors and some of our best baby sitters, Carly and Chris from our staff team. We are sad they have now left Gainesville to go on new adventures. 

Our sweet boy! 

My mom and dad- Gigi and pops get to meet Jackson! 

Our first family photo as four!

My mom was a huge help that first week after Jackson's birth! 

Rick's mom came after mine and Reagan loved time with her grandma. 

Our buddy about a week old! 

I will post more pics of Jackson in the last few months! He's a growing boy!! 

Orlando

So as previously mentioned in a blog post, we are in Orlando for 4 weeks while Rick takes seminary classes through CRU here. I will say it has been a challenge for me to have my sole responsibility be taking care of the kiddos but it has been good for me. Usually, I am also working on other CRU stuff, and though I have a handful of responsibilities with some paris summer project finances, I mostly just have to watch the kids.

I love my kids I really do, but it has been a big transition for me to not be "working" as much. Or to see my job as raising the kids just as valuable as getting out on campus sharing Christ with students or taking classes with Rick. So to make the transition for the 4 weeks easier, I have found getting out of the house or at least the living room is key!

Here are a few pics of what we have been keeping busy with!

We take trips to the playground down the street from the house! Even in the rain (which we have had a ton of!)

We visit friends. This is Jackson with one of my best friends from High School and College, Chandler's kids Addison and Reid.  So good to hang out with someone who is in the same stage of life as me.  Her kids are both 6 months older than mine. 

We have friends come visit. This is Jessica from my staff team fresh off the plane from Paris. It was so good to see her and visit. And she loves on my kids which I love. Oh and she brought cupcakes. YUM! 

Grandma and Grandpa got Reagan this fun sand box. Reagan really loves playing in it. I think she is a beach bum and this is the closest we can get to the beach for now! 

Probably my favorite snow cone place is here in Orlando called Rainbow snow cones. The kids and I met rick there after class one day. They were delicious and I plan on making a few more trips there! 

Sprinkler time. We weren't quite sure if Reagan would like it but she really warmed up to it. I am planning on taking her to one of those splash pad things in the next few days. 

Reagan loves time with her grandpa. He shows her fun children's videos on Youtube. 

 

During those Rainy days I tried to get Reagan into coloring. She likes to eat the crayons more than actually color with them but I think its a good start. 

And when you really fun out of ideas you play in a box. 

Hopefully, I will have more ideas for the next two weeks! I'll keep you updated! Thanks for reading! 

# 3 Favorite thing

3. Another one of  my favorite things is my Chi flat iron. Anything that can make my hair to go from the left pic to the right deserves to be noticed. There are even people these days that don't even know my hair is curly and as you can see from my high school track picture- it is VERY curly and thick.

I will say some people have had trouble with their chi's dying on them but if you buy it from overstock you can also buy a warrantee pretty cheaply and it is worth it!

My favorite things

So a few months ago, I read on my friend Rachel's blog about a favorite party her and her bible study had. They all brought something for the group that was their favorite thing- like a certain soap , hair product, coffee mug, etc. Then they all made something to eat that was their favorite and shared that and played some games with favorite facts - movie, scripture, etc. I loved the idea and even shared it with my mother in law, Chris who is hosting a favorite party tomorrow with her bible study. I would love to have one myself but until then i thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorites with you. Post by post.

Sometimes I will share a few favorites, sometimes just one. Depends on the mood.

1. First off I love my Dyson vacuum cleaner. It's a DC25 Animal.

We have a dog, Fenway, (see below) who sheds A LOT. When we were thinking about getting a dog just after we got married, I somehow convinced Rick that golden retrievers usually only shed certain times of the year. Not Fenway, (though we still aren't convinced he's truely a golden- a story for another time) he sheds all the time. Anyone who comes over ends up leaving with a fenway hair covered outfit- too bad dog hair covered clothes aren't all the rage these days. So when we starting having kids who crawled all over our fenway hair covered floors we decided to go for it. That and a very very nice day after Thanksgiving sale 2 years ago that allowed it to be possible. Since getting it a year and a half ago, I can't imagine my life without it. It works amazing and with no bag it is so easy to clean! If you are in the market check out the deal site Bradsdeals.com and they usually post when they go on sale somewhere.  

2. Though I think it goes without saying, my kitchen aid mixer is a regular part of my cooking and baking routine.  Though most ladies wait for their wedding, my parents were awesome and gave me one for christmas about 6 years ago and I haven't looked back since. 

In this pic my friend Jessica is using my mixer, proving that it really can make anyone a baker. Ha, just kidding Jess... I really do love it. If you know me at all, you know I bake sugary treats with it several times a week. However, lately rick and I have been using it to make fresh pasta and it is awesome. It is a little more work, but totally worth it. Other things it can do - (if you have the attachments) shred just about anything, grind meat, knead dough, and the list goes on and on. I use it to my my homemade pimento cheese for the summer. Yum! 

Well that's all for now. Stay tuned for more of my favorite things! Sorry I'm not rich enough like Oprah to give all you 4 readers out there one of all my favorites. :)