Our Little Celebrity

Jackson was in the newspaper today! http://www.news-journal.com/featr/content/features/stories/2009/05/26/05262009_pythias_bikes.html

Simple prayers...

"Dear Lord,
Thank you for this day. Please let Pawpaw feel better. Thank you for Mommy & Daddy. Let's have another great day tomorrow!
Amen. "

from his precious lips to God's ever-hearing all-knowing ears

Where's Waldo?

Jackson is a HUGE Waldo fan. I love that he can sit for long periods of time, entertained simply by the mission of finding one goofy guy among millions of distractions. He gets so tickled by some of the things in the pictures, and he has an admirable sense of pride when he is able to solve a particularly difficult page. The point to telling you all of this is: I want to give him a "Waldo" birthday party in May! He'll really think it's cool and I will be able to avoid a super-hero theme party for at least one more year. WIN- WIN! Birthdays are a big deal at our house, and I want the party to be fabulous! I would love to hear any cute, original ideas you might have to help me pull this off. Put on your red & white thinking caps and let me hear what you've got! (THANKS IN ADVANCE).

Yummy recipes to recommend

I've been going through a bit of a cooking spell (this happens rarely and doesn't last long). I have tried a couple of new things that I feel I have a moral obligation to share... they are THAT good. Last night, I made Bacon Cheese Chicken with Garlic Cream Sauce that I found on the Sunday Baker's blog. Click here to see the recipe and photos that will make you get in your car and head to the store for the ingredients. Honestly, I want to make this sauce to go with everything I cook from now on. Delicious!

I served the chicken with linguine and Paula Deen's roasted baby carrots. We never eat carrots, but I wanted to try something different. Jon and I both enjoyed the change. I found the carrot recipe in this cookbook. I've had the book for awhile, but never made anything out of it...UNTIL... a friend talked me into making the Lemon Blossoms. They are my new favorite dessert! Tart and sweet...yum!!

Ok, now that that's out of the way, I've gotta go pop a frozen pizza in the oven for dinner tonight.

Sorry I'm late...

Well, I did it again... When I get out of blogging mode, it's really hard for me to get going again. I have lots of Christmas pictures to post, so here goes nothing...



We had a wonderful Christmas. We got to see many family members and spend time with friends.

I decided not to put up both trees this year, but I made a few decorative changes to our main tree.

I put extra effort into my giftwrap this year (with a bit of help from Jon).

Jackson can never have a relaxed smile in a posed photo. What a cheese ball!

Jon's gingerbread creation won second place in the annual contest.

Jackson assisted in making a variation of last year's Rudolph cookies for his class party.


On Christmas Eve, Jackson (finally) fell asleep using his favorite new stuffed penguin from Papa Mitch and Mama Lane as a pillow.

Santa brought him exactly what he asked for!!

I love this picture of Jon, Jackson and Drew trying to figure out all of Jackson's new Transformers.

Jackson giving Drew lessons on the new DS.

Jackson's very own PILE of gifts at Neane and Big Daddy's house.

It seems like we are still catching up from the holidays. Things are busy as usual around here. Jackson still has not finished all of his thank-you notes. (I really wish I had made him finish before school started back! It's a long slow process with him). Jon's band has been playing once or twice a month, and business is good for him at work. I've been working one or two days most weeks for a little change of pace.

Jon's grandfather has been very sick in the hospital since last Thursday. We finally got a good report today, and he seems to be on his way back. Praise God!

Jon was able to do some duck hunting in Arkansas with friends this weekend. I entertained my friend, April and her daughter Sarabeth while Jon was hunting. We had a lot of fun visiting and playing with the kids. I posted some pictures of Sarabeth on my photography blog.

I'm going to try to get back to picking up my camera and posting regularly. Stay tuned!

Honey DOES!

Amazing things happen at our house when Jon's honey do list includes electrical tasks.LET THERE BE PENDANT LIGHTS!

We found these lights for a great price at Lowe's and I knew they were perfect for our kitchen. With free labor, it turned out to be a big bang for our buck! You know I love a thrifty project. The finished result is just lovely, if I do say so. Jon likes to be technical, so he still plans to put the new lights on their own switch. Not sure when that will happen, since I'm not exactly a "paying" customer.

My husband rocks!

Happy December!!

A few years ago, we started a new Advent tradition in our family. I began collecting children's Christmas books and wrapping them like gifts on December 1st. Jackson gets to open one each night to read during the countdown to Christmas. He really looks forward to it, and gets so excited about some of the books he has forgotten about throughout the year. This year, he even picked out the wrapping paper at the store, although I'm still shocked that he chose shiny red and gold over a colorful and playful Santa print. This "new" tradition of ours really helps to get us in the spirit!

P.S. In the beginning, I didn't have enough books to last the entire Advent season. I wrapped the ten or so books that I had, then re-wrapped the favorites after they were read the first time.