Video of our family!

I had to share this! Christine who does our photos put together this awesome video of our family. It will definetely be a treasure for us forever!!! Thanks Christine, it is awesome!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u034sVw8bhE

Clare's 18 month pics

As you can see from our finally updated blog, we have some awesome new pictures that were taken by Christine. The very cool thing about Christine and Dimples and Curls Photography is that when Clare was born Christine was just getting into photography. She kept saying she wanted to take some pictures of Clare and I said, "sure anytime!" It wasn't until Clare was 5 months old that we made it over to Christine's and it was her first ever photo shoot. After seeing those first pictures I thought it was insane that she was not already in business. She is good!!! I love that she just lets Clare play in her natural environment and is in no rush, which leads to super quality pictures.

In the last year Christine has developed an amazing business that is growing all the time. I'm so thankful she still takes Clare's pictures because I always look forward to our photo days. This time we were even able to pull LD into a few ;) Also, Millie, Christine's mom makes these amazing little girl outfits that we love!! They are so beautiful and she never uses a pattern...that is creativity!! And I have even more appreciation for the creativity of Millie and Christine because I was not blessed with any.

Here are a few of the pictures Christine took last Sunday. They were taken in the park that is connected to our subdivision and we love spending a lot of time there.

Easter at the Jackson

I'm not sure why my pictures did not work in the last post, but hopefully these ones will. We have had a week long celebration of Easter and it has been so much fun!! Last week my aunt, uncle and cousins came to visit on Friday evening. We had a "mock" Easter egg hunt for Clare to practice, painted Easter eggs, did some shopping and played a lot outside. It was 85-90 degrees the whole time they were here so we got to do a lot of playing!

On Sunday Clare got to wear her beautiful Easter dress made by a dear friend Millie Roman to church and then we all came home to start the huge Easter dinner process. We cooked from 1-4 and at 5 LD left to go pick up my parents from the airport. Finally at 6pm we were all sitting down to Easter dinner and we were all exhausted.

Clare got a total of 3 Easter baskets, a baby bed, a baby high chair, a water table and a swimming pool. Yes, she is very loved (AKA spoiled) by our families and we have a lot of new fun things to start the summer with!!

We hope your Easter was wonderful!!

Parks, museums and family fun!!

I have been such an inconsistent blogger lately, but when I look at what we have been doing the last month I'm really not that surprised. Clare has successfully dropped her morning nap, which means a lot more free time in our day and we have been doing some exploring around the city. Also we have some visitors last week when LD's sister, Lei and her family came to visit for their spring break...it was such a treat!

I am so thankful that we live in a city like Charlotte where there are SO many things to do. And I am so thankful that for the most part we have great weather so we can spend lots of time outside!! A few week ago Clare and I spent the morning at the Charlotte Nature Museum. It was her second time (she went first with Grammie), but our first time together. She LOVED the butterfly house (which Grammie didn't take her in because she is scared of anything that flies!!), and the water table. They also have a little trail out back and we had fun exploring on that.

While our family was here we were so busy shopping for a prom dress for Kara (and we were successful), eating at great restaurants, playing at the park, and stopping by Discovery Place, the children's museum uptown. Again the highlight of the museum for Clare was the water table and she was SOAKED!! We definetely need to think about investing in a water table for the summer.

This week we are preparing for more visitors over Easter. Tomorrow my aunt, uncle and cousins come in, and Sunday my parents fly in. Clare is not going to know what to do with herself when its back to just the two of us!! Right now she has a serious cold and we are praying for a miraculous recovery before our company comes. It is 80 degrees and beautiful the rest of the week and we are loving the sunshine!

Hope your Easter is wonderful! So thankful I serve a risen LORD!