Happy Birthday Fart Face!

Today is my big brother's birthday! Happy Birthday Jer! We love you lots and obviously we need to see you more often because this is the most recent picture I have of you and Jackson and he's ALOT older than this! But he misses his Uncle Jeremy and can't wait to spend the week with you at the beach in August!!!

Easter in STL

Hi Friends. It's been a while and I have missed blogging, but I sort of had to take a break for a bit. You really didn't miss anything-it's just been a lot of the same around here. But we just got back from a fun Easter visit to STL so I thought I'd share pictures, because I'm sure YaYa needs to know what her grandbabies were up to. So here's a short recap of the weekend in pictures: Jackson and cousin Shepherd practiced their jailbird look. Apparently, great minds think alike. Lindsay and I both bought the same shirts for our little boys! Grandma V came along to visit the STL Vogels- Tim, Lizzie, and baby Lilly. They all joined us for a yummy Easter dinner over at John and Lindsay's and brought eggs to fill for the indoor egg hunt- it SNOWED on Easter!

Little cousin Lilly is getting so big! Cousin Eva and Jackson had a fabulous time playing with each other. Jackson likes to play "nite nite", so they would go pretend they were sleeping in Eva's big girl bed.
I have some video of the egg hunt that I need to try to edit and then I'll try to post it too. Despite the snow, it was a wonderful Easter and a great reminder of the the wondrous work that Jesus did for me. We went to the Good Friday service at South City Church when we got to STL and it was a wonderful service and really set the tone of the weekend for me. He is Risen!

Bad Blogger!

It's been a while! Sorry for the lack of activity lately. Really can't think of any good reasons, I just haven't gotten around to it. So I'll try to catch you up a bit.

Yesterday was Todd's birthday!! We had a good time celebrating at home with just the three of us. He requested his favorite meal of steak, asparagus, and twice baked potatoes so I willingly obliged, especially since he still grilled the steak even though it was freaking cold outside. But it turned out great and we found out that Jackson has expensive taste just like his mom and dad when it comes to steak. He loved it and probably ate as much as I did. I didn't get anything too exciting for Todd because he wants a hybrid golf club, so he has to pick it out himself. And I will admit to cheating, this picture is from Todd's birthday last year. I was so lame that I didn't even take any pictures. Sorry Babe! But I love you lots. Happy Birthday!

Randy and Ally and family moved to a different house in Sioux Falls this past weekend, so we were busy there on Friday night and Saturday helping paint and strip wallpaper and all sorts of other things before the new carpet got installed on Monday. Lots of work, but Ally has a way of making any house feel very homey, so I know it will all be worth it. The were so pooped though. Saturday night, they just plopped a matress in the dining room and slept there for the next two days since they couldn't really move any furniture in yet. I can't wait to see what it looks like with the new carpet and furniture in place!

Jackson is continuing to learn new things every day. He is becoming such a big boy, as evidenced by his wanting to sit at the table like we do and not in his booster chair. Playing Peek-A-Boo with the camera...

He is showing signs of being a bit like his mother in that he really thrives on routine and organization. For example, when it is bath time, he does the same thing every time: he runs to the tub and "helps" me turn the water on and check the temperature. They he runs to his room and point up to the shelf with all the bath toys on it. Once we get them down, he runs back to the bathroom and I let him throw the bath toys into the tub one by one. Then he'll finally stand still long enough for me to undress him and get him into the tub. And then he stands there and pees in the tub. Every time. Such a boy.
He also has been really interested in shoes lately. This morning, he was trying to help me get dressed and he kept trying to pick out my clothes for me. He picked out my dirty jeans, a tank top and my black heels. Quite an outfit for a cold winter day around the house. He was ok with me choosing to put on my sweatpants and t-shirt, but was quite insistent about the shoes that I needed to wear. So I obliged and walked around the house for about 5 minutes in my heels and then he finally forgot about it, thank goodness! So that's all some of the latest from around here. Happy March everyone!