Celebration

Riding his motorcycle he got from Brad and Heather for his birthday. Total. Stud. He's learning to balance with it. The helmet (which is a kid's 5 year old helmet btw) from Uncle Dillon-lighting McQueen-of course!

Sleeping in his new tent.

So excited when he realized the big 'party' was for him-lol.

Jackson dancing to Shake Shake Shake!

Well a month is definitely too long between posts...I have to get better at keeping up with this! But that just tells me what kind of a month it has been.

We have had a full couple of weeks from celebrating Jacksons 2nd birthday (numerous times), to a wedding, to time with family to the start of full swing in our job modes.

First big thing this last month is that we celebrated Jackson's birthday. We had a small gathering at our house and then celebrated again with family later on that week. On Jackson's actual birthday we had Michael's brothers wedding in the Quad Cities. We have decided that it is gonna be hard to compete with that kind of party in the future as the bride and groom brought a cake out for Jackson and the whole reception sang him Happy Birthday...then he was a dancin' man. What a way to celebrate! All in all it has been great celebrating this beautiful kid and what a blessing he is to us!

I started watching the Kalscheur girls, Veda and Averi, two weeks ago. On Mondays they come to our house and on Tuesdays we go to there. It has been GREAT! It is SO good for Jackson to have the interaction with other kids, it's really forcing him to work on sharing and the change of pace on Tuesdays has really helped him. We love the girls-they are so sweet and it has been fun to be around little girls who want to snuggle! :) Plus it allows us to get to hang out with Becky and Dawson on Tuesdays for a little bit-all around its a good setup.

And work is in full swing for both Michael and I. He has started to teach and LOVES it. We meet with an incredible group of people weekly for fellowship and prayer around Verona Young Life startup and that is really exciting. My job is BUSY right now with preparation for our retreat in October but I'm loving it! We sat down at dinner tonight and looked at each other and said, even though we are busy, we feel like we have a somewhat normal life. Finally!

Jackson's vocabulary continues to grow and grow. He is getting so conversational. At least one hundred times a day he is asking "What's this?" which of course can be exhausting but also fun. Here are a few of his favorite things at this point:

• Still LOVES tents. Every morning he asks Michael to make a tent out of the comforter in our bedroom. So for his birthday he got a real pup tent that we put up in the basement (bigger than the one we have-who knew?). He LOVES playing in it and wants everyone in there with him.
• Has to go to sleep with his blanket and book every night.
• He has become super attached to daddy. Every time we get in the car to go somewhere he says, "Go see daddy?" He even calls mommy daddy half the time and just waits for his next time to play with daddy.
• Although he is strong willed he does a good job of listening. However, that does require keeping an eye on him at ALL TIMES. While he listens typically pretty well he is always exploring and discovering new things...so needless to say he keeps us on our toes.
• A couple of weeks ago I was talking to Michael in his office for about 3 seconds when I looked up to see Jackson jumping up and down on top of Cooper's kennel. Who knows how he got up there...but this gives an idea of how much of a explorer he is.
• Stood up on the foot rest of the recliner tonight and said, "Hey guys down there."
• He got a lawn mower for his birthday from Aunt Susan and family...Grandpa Weitl taught him how to start it, by putting his foot on it and pulling the string. Now anytime he uses it he has to put his foot on it to hold it down and start it. Little man for sure!