A child is born!

our little pumpkins

Thanksgiving 2009

We traveled to Laurel for Thanksgiving to celebrate with both sides of my family. Thanksgiving morning we were treated by Chef's Rayner and Myrick to a delicious New Orleans breakfast - if I knew how to spell it I would share what the exact dish was...all I know is it was fantastic!

Chris (annoyed that I'm taking his picture, but still willing to smile for me) and baby Jackson

chef Rayner

chef Myrick (who also makes beautful pottery)

Warner's little side kick - baby Laurel - with her Kissy

Thanksgiving afternoon, Pat & Gibson hosted the Rayner side of the family to a delicious traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Cole, Warner, and Sydney - I hate that we don't get to see them more often. Warner has so much fun with these two.

another shot of Laurel & Kissy - Laurel loves my mom!!

Mamaw with 3 great-grands and 2 of her 4 grands

brother-in-laws

We have so much to be thankful for this year!!

in the meantime...

Thanksgiving pictures are coming, but I wanted to share these first. I put the Christmas decorations up early this year (before Thanksgiving). We have a busy week and I wanted to get them up last week while I had time. I decorated everything but waited to put the ornaments on the tree until yesterday. Warner was my little helper - he would unwrap each one and oooh and aaaah over it and then hand it to me to hang on the tree. He LOVED every minute of it! Only 2 ornaments were broken during the process - 1 by me and 1 by Chris. He was so proud of himself for helping that I had to take a picture of him in front of his decorated tree.

this makes me smile....4 stockings hanging on my mantle

tummy time

brothers

Warner is so good with his little brother! When Jackson wakes up from his nap, Warner will go in with me to get him. He'll say "hey precious, did you have a good nap?" It is the sweetest thing! I know he's just repeating what he hears me say, but it's still really sweet. The only time he gets frustrated with having a little baby around is when he wants me to do something for him and I'm feeding the baby. He'll say "aw, you're feeding him AGAIN!" That's the same way I feel buddy!!

I love these pictures because it shows how much Jackson is already mesmerized by his big brother. Look at the way he is looking at him & watching everything he does. Warner is doing head, shoulders, knees, & toes for Jackson.

you decide...

Warner at 3 months

Jackson at 3 months

3 1/2 years old

Today my biggest baby is 3 1/2 years old!! WOW! Time flies when you're having fun.

He has taken on his role of big brother better than I would've ever imagined. He loves Jackson so much...if you could only see the way he talks to him you would agree.

He is so smart..I know I'm his mom, but he really is! Or maybe all 3 years olds are this smart?! He remembers everything! You can sing him a song once and he knows it! He learned our phone number in one try! He can write so many letters, knows the sound they make, loves to point letters out to me on everything he sees. His little brain is just so ready to take it all in..he is excited about learning...maybe that's why he loves school so much.

He still loves Thomas the Train, but now loves anything that has wheels. His favorite thing right now is tractors...that makes his daddy happy! He tells everybody that when he grows up he's going to be a farmer. He loves books and loves puzzles.

Most of the time he is the sweetest, most precious, loving little boy...but he has his moments. He is very hard headed!! I say he gets this from his daddy, but of course Chris says he gets it from me. He still uses the "5 more minutes" method with EVERYTHING!!

We just can't believe how fast 3 1/2 years have flown by. Warner is so big and he's only going to get bigger. Happy 3 1/2 birthday little bit...you have made our life so full!!

Jackson's first(s)...

In the past week Jackson has experienced a lot of firsts:

- first airplane ride

- first long car ride

- first time spending the night away from home

- first time to sleep through the night (8-6)

- first laugh

- first time staying in a hotel

- first shopping trip

- first tailgating experience

He is just the cutest, sweetest, most lovable, easy going, light up your life baby!! I might be a little biased. It is so true what I hear about your second child - you don't worry about the little things and you just enjoy every minute!!

I finally caught a big open mouth smile!

this was our long road trip to Starkville - I was squeezed in the backseat between these 2 sleepy heads. Jackson was so good during the trip - he would wake up when he got hungry, we would pull over and I would feed him, then he would go back in the carseat, give us a few smiles and coos, and then go back to sleep.

He slept through most of the tailgating too...

Texas to Starkville

Well, I did it!! I survived my first flight by myself with TWO! The trick that saved me was getting permission for Chris to go through security with us and get us to our gate. I'm not sure I would've been able to do it all without him - get Jackson out of the car seat, Warner's shoes off, Warner out of the stroller, my shoes off, get all the bags on the conveyer belt while holding Jackson, try to keep my eye on Warner so he doesn't wonder off somewhere, get everybody through the metal detector and then repeat the process in reverse!! Funny story - a long time ago when traveling with just Warner, we were going through security and I had taken Warner's shoes off and was busy getting all the bags on the conveyer and making sure my liquids were in a ziploc, etc....I look up and can't find Warner anywhere!! My heart just dropped. I started yelling his name, and the next thing I know I hear a little laughter. I look down and he had crawled under the table and was sitting on a shelf right up under me!! SO anyway I was very thankful to have Chris with us to help get through the most difficult part of flying. Once we got to our gate everything was smooth sailing - Jackson slept, Warner colored. We landed in Dallas and Warner did his usual of running to my parents and jumping in their arms! We enjoyed a nice long week at my parents house.

On Friday, after the long (with many stops, 12 hours in the car) trip to Starkville, we reunited with daddy to watch a little MSU football. Not a good game, but we still LOVE our Bulldogs!

I got to visit with one of my best friends from high school - miss you Shelley!

Warner got to play with one of his new best friends, Camp - they played so hard!

The Rowells and The Rayners - these 4 go WAY back!!

our Halloween in pictures

meeting Sarah Blake

Thursday night Laurin arrived to meet little Jackson. Friday morning we drove to Memphis to meet little Sarah Blake - Jan's new baby girl, born three days before Jackson. Lena met up with us after work. We had such a great visit! It's always good to see these girls - we need to do it more often. Sarah Blake is absolutely precious - I wish I would've been able to get better pictures. Jackson looks like he's 3 months older than SB - she's a petite little girl and Jackson is a BIG boy! Can't wait to see how much they've grown next time we get together! Thanks Laurin for driving up to see us and thanks Jan's parents for letting us crash for the day.

one proud mama!!

Every month Warner learns 2 bible verses at school. I pray that he keeps these words in his heart forever and that they become more than just a fun song he learns at school. I love his school and am so thankful for his teachers...and the time they take to love on these children and teach them about Jesus.