It was such a fun Christmas morning! The big hit of the morning was Jackson gift. He got Kota the dinosaur! He just ran around pointing at it and screaming with excitement. He won't sit on it yet but Avery didn't waste anytime hopping up on top of it. We spent the day just hanging out playing with the new toys. We went over to Grandma & Pa Pa's house to spend some time with them and Uncle Kurt while he is home form California. 
We went out to KC farms to get our tree. Thanks to Bruce digging in the snow to get the perfect one. Avery and Jack had a good time in the sled. Now if we could just find the time to decorate it!! 
As it began to snow Sunday Avery looked out the window and with much excitement said "Mom look I never did see snow on the ground". I explained that she had seen it before but it had been a while. She hurried up and got her snow boots on this was before the "big" snow fall. Well when it snowed on Monday there was finally enough for her to go out and make a snow angel. She wanted to send a picture of herself making a snow angel to great grandma who is in Florida for the winter to show her all the fun she was missing. So here is our snow angel Avery.
Halloween has always been lots of fun in my family. Every year my mother would make our costumes because she was never able to afford one when she was growing up. She is carrying on the tradition of making her grandkids costumes. Avery wanted to be Dorothy well as soon as my niece heard that Grammy was making Avery a Dorothy costume that meant Grammy was making her one too because what one gets so does the other. So Grammy made the girls Dorothy costumes and keeping with the Wizard of OZ theme Jackson the cowardly lion. What a perfect day. Thanks Grammy for carrying on the tradition!
Bruce was practicing on Tuesday for the benefit concert the kids and I decided we would make a pile of leaves to jump in. While Avery had a blast Jack wanted nothing to do with it he kept walking to the back gate to see his dog.
Jackson's cast came off!!! We were so happy to see that his leg healed and that he should have no lasting effects from the break. I was thrilled to be able to bathe him!! He enjoyed taking a bath! He screamed when I took him out but he was turning into a prune. He was squeaky clean after 4 weeks of wiping him down with a wet washcloth just didn't do the job like a real bath. He is not walking to good yet but he was just getting really good at walking with the cast on. So after 4 weeks now we are back to square one. The cast didn't slow him down he was climbing and now that the cast is off he is still climbing right up on the kitchen table. I see more bumps and bruises in our future he's all BOY......TO BE CONTINUED I am sure!
We went and picked apples today. Avery had a great time picking big juicy apples. She had to pick one for everyone in the family. Jack got to hang out in the back pack because of the broken leg. Avery also rode on the cow train. Jack had fun waving to his sissy. Now its time to make apple pies.
We went up to Ludington a few weeks back with our friends Nicole & Ben. We had a great time hanging out with them for a few days along with Nicole's parents who opened their home for us to stay at. Nicole & Ben took us to Amber elk ranch It was so cool! Avery & Jack loved it. What a learning experience I never knew that there was so much to learn about elk. They loose their antlers every year. They have velvet on their antlers that rubs off. They bugle. The antlers can sell for as much as $10,000. I don't think it would have been something that we would have picked to do so thanks for the learning experience for us all Nicole & Ben!
O.K. it has been 2 weeks since Jackson broke his leg. We went for his one year check up today. I knew that it was not going to happen from the night we had. Jackson did not sleep a wink tossing and turning all night crying finally at 3 am I took his temp it was 103 Yikes! I was about to call the Dr. when he had what they call a fever seizure it lasted less than a minute but still it was scary! I gave him Ibuprofen and he fell asleep for a few hours. Called the Dr. and she said since he had an apt. today just to wait. We went in and I had told the nurse the host of problems he was having on top of his broken leg, he had a fever and is teething. So they said that he would not be getting his shots but they would do and check to see if the fever was coming from something else. Well on top of all his other problems he has a double ear infection. My poor little baby is just a miserable little man. We started him on antibiotic and reschd. his apt. for a month from now so in 2 weeks we go to see if the cast can come off his leg and then 2 weeks later we see the Dr. again hopefully he will get his shots then and we wont have to go back to the office for a while.
With all the excitement surrounding Jackson I missed telling everyone about Avery's first day of 3 school. On the first day the parents were allowed to go just so everyone could be comfortable seeing what would go on during a normal day. She loves everything about it friends, snacks, singing, dancing etc. She is at Rose Park on Tuesday & Friday from 9-11am with her best buddy Jacob. It is so great to see them grow and learn. It is sad as a mother to know that she is getting so big and independent my baby, my little girl not needing me for everything it is bittersweet. 
Or so we thought! We were in the waiting room at the Dr's. office for a 9:15 apt. and Jack was walking around while we were waiting and he tripped. No big deal I picked him up because he was crying. They called his name to take us back and he was still crying. The nurse started asking me questions and I couldn't hear her over his screaming. She asked if he normally cried like this NO WAY he was inconsolable so I started crying. He is such a sweet happy boy so it worried me that he was crying so much. Finally the nurse said maybe we should take a look at his leg so I took his pants off and I knew that something was wrong with his left leg when I touched it. The nurse sent us to the hospital to get some X-rays. In the mean time I had to call Bruce, My mother in-law , my friend Julie (who had taken Avery to 3 school but wasn't planning on picking her up), My aunt and then our friend's that we were planning on meeting at B&N at 11:30. AHHHHHH. Going into panic mode I couldn't remember any numbers. We went to the hospital and had 4 different X-ray's taken. We waited for about 45 min and the Dr's. office called and said he was fine and if he wasn't putting all his weight on it by Monday to call back because fractures in toddlers don't always show up right away. We went home and tried to make Jack comfortable and Bruce was headed back to work. The phone rang just as Bruce was about to leave it was the Dr's. office apparently they did not read all of the X-rays that were ordered the first time. When they looked at the X-ray of his leg they saw that his leg had what is called a buccal fracture. Basically it bent snapped but went right back into place it wasn't a clean break through and through. With a broken leg comes a cast. The Dr's. office called shoreline orthopedic and got us in at 3:00 so it was hard to contain Jackson for 3 hours waiting for our apt. then when we got there at 3 it wasn't until 4:15 before they even got us in the room and 4:30 before the cast was put on. Check out the pics below Jackson sleeping after his apt. It was a long day for us all for us all! The challenge Will be in the weeks ahead keeping it dry and having a frustrated child to go from walking back to crawling. the cast is on for 4 weeks then they will take it off and see if he needs to have it on for an additional 2 weeks or not. The good thing with young bones is they heal fast. I guess we will just take it one day at a time. 
Jackson has been making lots of sounds and noises. We finally realized that he is saying cheese (probably because I take SO many pictures of him). It is the funniest thing. I am going to try to take some video and upload it later in the week.
We got out to take Jack's one year pictures at Grandma and Pa Pa's house. Avery wanted to be part of the pictures and we got some cute one's of the kids together. What a difference a year makes!
We went to Tunnel park to celebrate Jack's first birthday & Jeff's 29th. They were both born on August 18th 28 years apart. So uncle Jeff is happy to be able to celebrate his birthday with Jackson. It was a beautiful day. Jack enjoyed his birthday cake and it was easy just to hose him down afterwards because he sure did make a mess. Jeff had his own beach ball cake but he held himself back from making a mess like Jack (way to practice the self control Jeff). Avery was such a big helper opening Jack's gifts. It's amazing that my baby is a year old. Happy first Birthday Jack.
