IN



Januray, left vacation for home leaving our families of the North and our beloved mountains


February, celebrated the love we have for each other and our kids, with lots of choc and kisses


March, house hunted with our dear friends, back from Jersey after 4 years of praying


April, watched our little boy blow out 5 large candles on his cake


May, cheered on our little fish while he swam across the pool each Saturday


June, decided on the ways to arrange furniture in two of our "new house" living rooms.


July, cried at the news of a new baby to be, and cried at the news it was not to be


August waved goodbye to our bright eyed Kindergarten Kid


September, renewed our faith in ourselves and our neighbors. 14 days no power (Hurricane Ike)


October, celebrated births newer and older with parties and candy


November, played, papa, party, Port Aransas beach


December we got snow and Martin in Texas for the Holidays.

As the year comes to an end, I like to reflect on the parts of 2008 that are our lives. I hope that in 2009 we

smile a little more, fight a little less, snuggle a little longer

play harder, love deeper, dream, believe, embrace what makes us, us

eat more vegetables, sleep in more, plant a gargen, find more frogs, skip, pretend more,

dress up more, embrace our talets, influnce more, serve more

write more letters by hand, eat out less, play outside more, swim in a lake



Live Love Laugh

Happy 2009!!!

Thanks, for making us part of your always

Sonny Kath Heath & Aus

this year

Austin (2)
Got to start Mother's day out
has 2 cute dimples
had fun at with 2 uncles here for the holidays
learns to talk
loves his dad and food
disliked when dad leaves for work and BBQ
wants to be like Heath
was happy to be the only child at home during the day
made us all laugh a lot
needed more time outside
is sweet and cuddly, a blessing to us








Heath (5)
Got to start Kindergarten
has lots of friends
had two front teeth
learning to read
loves rocks and outside play and gymnastics
disliked waiting and coolwhip
wants a pet
was on swim team for the first time
made it across the pool with out stopping
needed a trampoline
is smart and a stinker

Kath (??)

Got to decorate her own new house

has 2 days with out kids
had fun in port A with family for dad's birthday
loves the beach, sunflowers and her family
disliked the alarm clock and blueberries
wants a Chevy Tahoe
was homeroom mom for Heath's school
made some lifelong friends
needed a maid
is happiest at home with family

Sonny (35)

Got to snowboard in Alaska

had his brother here for Christmas

has 2 boys that adore him

loves to snowboard and eat treats

disliked traffic and loud noises

wants to live near mountains

was many things for many people

made it to 35

needed to win the lottery

is super cute and his families greatest blessing

It is.....

It is giving

It is light

It is hope

It is truth

It is family

It is children

It is believing

It is magic

It is CHRISTmas

Happy Holidays from our home to yours

Sonny, Kath, Heath and Austin

SANTA GRAFF

New shirt after candy cane fiasco 12 dollars
Kids dessert request for party 6 dollars
Drive in after party for kids who don't eat at party 4 dollars

Two happy kids, same photo, with santa, the magic of believing.

PRICELESS!!!!

Thankful thoughts

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

I am thankful for.....

A messy kitchen, with lots of helpers

A loud living room, with lots of excited voices

A cluttered table, with lots of hand made crafts

A busy day, with lots to do

A sink of dishes, with lots of great food

A crazy family photo, with lots of little smiles

But mostly for a family, with lots of LOVE

Teeth Jackson

Heath lost in his own words, his first "important" tooth today at school. (this would be the front left one)

Mom says "show me your smile, you just look so cute"

Heath says"I am tired of smiling and looking cute, just for you"

Makes me so proud!!!

WINDOW WATCHING

Just watching, for dad, for dogs, for kids playing, for bikes and motorcycles, for trees blowing in the wind, for birds, for squirrels and bugs, for rain, for lawn crews, for garbage trucks, for cars, for a chance to ask mom to go out and play.

JUST WATCHING!!

THE WORLD

WONDERFALL

It is a time of apple bobbing, pumpkin carving, candy gathering, pretend and costumes, Halloween bring out the kid in all of us, and there in lies its magic.

Andy goes to Austin

Andy goes to AUSTIN!!, not to Austin, Tx, but to

Austin Jackson.

Ragedy Andy that is.

Nana made this for Austin for his 2nd birthday. It is almost a replica of him, with bright eyes, and crazy red hair. Aus loves him and takes him most places he goes. Thanks nana for making him such a special present. HE loves it!!!

EVERYONE LOVES ANDY!!

NO SHAME!!!

When we came back to the front yard
from mowing the back, this is what
we saw.....


Heath, standing on the truck, no pants, singing, shakin' it, squirting water. What else could you need, some shame maybe? He does come from a mom who loves show tunes, and shakin it.

Half painted front door

Stuffy nose, fighting kids, stray mean dog in backyard, cell disconnected, full dishwasher, spaghetti stuck to floor, bathroom light burned out, no milk, library books overdue, front door only half painted.

But, beautiful weather, visit from old friend, new episode Miami Ink, Sonny home early, home dinner date with husband alone in the middle of the week, comfy pants on at 5:30 p.m., unexpected choc pie from home teachers, lite whip cream on hand to go on top.

LIFE IS SWEET!!!!!!

2 CUTE

AUSTIN TURNS 2 TODAY!! It is hard to believe our baby Aus is turning 2. He is such a charming little boy, full of spirit, a sense of adventure and sweet, sweet, sweet!! He loves to play outside, be with his family and EAT!!! People are attracted to his fire red hair and awesome dimples. He is one of our greatest blessings. We are having a great time watching him turn into a little boy.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY AUS!!!!

MY LADDER DAY SAINTS

Here is the giganta hole in the ceiling, from the glamorous leak in the upstairs master bath. It has been there for one month now, but everyone knows the hole in the wall places are always the best. Plus the look is way chic!!! Here are my ladder day saints that showed up to help with the situation.

How do I always get the cutest crew??!!

BOOK WORM!!

Heath brought home his first kindergarten readers yesterday. They are books his teacher has chosen for each student based on the sight words they have mastered. They bring them home every night, so they can practice the words and reading out loud with us. It was so fun to see Heath so excited to read to us. He sounds out the letters and sounds and gets so excited when he masters a word. We are having a blast watching our little guy learn to read. He brought home 4 books, THE FALL, THE PARTY, PET DAY AND SILLY SANDWICH.

We have ourselves a BOOK WORM and we are so excited about the gift of reading.

He loves it!! GO Heath.

CLEAN UP CREW!!!

The clean up crew arrived right on schedule, more monkeys than muscle. They were the motliest crew, but they sure were cute. I had fun flirting with the (TALL) red head. There is just something about a husband doing manual labor, muscular arms, a wheelbarrow and cutie pies having fun!!!!!

HURRICATION

Sonny boarding up the house
We opened our door to this, after the winds stopped
The house after the storm
The huge limb from our nicest oak tree

We survived our HURRICATION, mostly hurricane with a little vacation. No power, almost survivorish. We are 3 weeks post IKE and doing great. The neighborhood is getting cleaned up and people on with their lives, kids back to school. It seems as if september just passed us over. Here are some of the pics for the fam and friends out of state, to see what it looked like. We love you and appreciate all of the prayers, help and support.

We're cookin with fire

So, after 10 days with out electricity, We're back baby. I am a happy girl !!!! Enough said

AUGH!!!!!

DAY 10 NO ELECTRICITY!!!!! THIS BITES, NOT COOL.

We are fine

We are doing fine after the storm, NO power since Friday, lots of tree limbs down, hot, uncomfortable and inconvenienced, but fine. Limited cell power, we will call when we can. At the library using the internet. We made it through and we should be fine. I can check this site from time to time, hope to get power early next week, the 21 or so.


Kath and fam

STORM DAY!!

WATER,WINDS,WORRY,WAITING

the calm before the STORM

We make final preps for Ike, our brother of fury and wait for the rains. May it pass us unharmed. We wait!!!

THANK YOU NOTE

September 11
We have spent the day in quiet preparation for Hurricane IKE and his impending wernting on our Texas coast. I think of another day of disaster and can't help feeling a little sad that this day went by where I selfishly worry about fitting the car in the garage, enough water and if we will be hot for the next couple of days. Fire works tonight, flags at half mask, a prayer for families who have lost, and a quick thank you to our service men and women.
May God keep you.

P.S. Kadeon we miss you and pray for you by name

First Day of School -2

Look who started
School 2

MOTHERS DAY OUT REALLY,

But as far as Austin is concerned, if you wear a backpack, bring your lunch, and wear real shoes, it's SCHOOL!!!

Austin started mother's day out today!! His teacher is so sweet, Miss Elkins, she is kind, loving and has the best smile. He cried, but did great. He loved carrying his own backpack, lunch, using the nap mat. Tried out the nap mat this morning, on the living room floor before we left, loved it, and new exactly what to do with it. He has watched Heath do so much, and now it is his turn and he knows it. His teacher said she would put the food they do not eat in the lunch box, so we would now how much they are eating, Lunch box empty!!!

He is growing up fast, and it is so fun to watch.

Go get 'em Aus!!!

CORDUROY THE BEAR!!!!

Heath studied about CORDUROY the bear's first day of school, during his first week at school. They colored worksheets and drew pictures and wrote poetry about it. It was so cute, here is the poem Heath did in his poetry journal and the picture he drew of Corduroy the bear. They have started math graphing and sorting, language arts poetry and sight words, and tying their shoes. Keep up the good work Heath.

Corduroy, Corduroy, wave your hand

Corduroy, Corduroy, wink if you can

Corduroy, Corduroy, bend down low

Corduroy, Corduroy, sit just so.

LURKING??

For those nonbloggers, LURKING is looking at someones's blog on a reg basis and not commenting. Come on, we all do it, but stop, make a google account and comment away. It is fun and a great way for us to see who is enjoying our blog. Ok, with that said, I will give you the insturctions, so you have no excuse. Best of all it's free. YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!

1. Read one of my posts
2. EW and AHH at what a clever and witty writter I am (HA!!)
3. Spend time looking at my cute kids
4. Click on the word comment
5. Go to the right bottom corner and clik on NO ACCOUNT?? Sign up (it's easy, you're ok)
6. Fill in your email address and password, follow the instructions for the rest
7. ENTER
8. Then go back to my post, GO from there and comment away

Hope to hear from you all soon

UNCLE ROUGHHOUSE I mean RYAN!!!!

My younger Brother Ryan is in town from UTAH and that means happy Heath and Austin. Heath adores Ryan, he is such the fun uncle, roughhousing, wrestline, tickling, checkers, coloring , riding around in the restored 57' chevy truck. You name it he does it. We have had a super fun time visiting with Ryan and we will miss him when he is gone. Thanks for being so great uncle Ryan. We are super proud of you and glad you are doing so well in Utah, we just wish it was closer. WE LOVE YOU!!!

KINDERGARTEN KID

LOOK WHO STARTED SCHOOL!!!!

Heath started Kindergarten today at the elementary school in our neighborhood, Dad and I drove him on his first day. He was very nervous, mostly about not meeting friends and not having his friends from his old school at this school. He started out with breakfast in bed.

then moved onto his new outfit, and then his backpack and lunchbox. He was off to school, his teacher is so sweet and I think he will really like her. We found his desk and name tag, put his lunch in cubby and we were off, no tears, or drama (I was referring to me and Sonny) and we were off. It was so great to see our little Heath on his first day of school. He is so ready to learn. We are so prould of the person he is becomming. He is intelligent, confident and yet so fragile. We love our sweet little student.

When I picked him up he had met a new friend, learned about the fire drill system, ate in the cafeteria and had a great day. Way to go Kiddo!!!!

TEXAS TREE TRIM

So of course in Texas we do everything BIG, you know live large. So when it came time to trim the trees, Sonny took hold in true Texas fashion. That means you don't hire someone, or use your gardening clippers, or just stand on the ladder. NO, you climb the tree, use the BIG saw and you do it all yourself, while giving your wife an heart attack. Needless to say the trees are trimmed and Sonny is not broken.

YE HAW!!!!

A handy husband is great on the checkbook, but can make you crazy with worry. Oh well all in the name of a slammin good yard right!!!???? plus, that is the best looking tree trimmer I have every hired :)

The Final countdown

One week and counting until Heath starts school.

With one week left things in the Jackson house are getting really exciting. We registered Heath for school and bought his supplies. We got the lunch box and backpack and the school clothes. We meet the teacher on Thursday. We wonder what school will bring for Heath?? We hope a love of learning, reading and great friends. We hope he finds his hidden strengths, talents and enjoys a lifetime of learning. We wonder what the first year of school will bring. But, we can't help but wonder what the last years will bring. Maybe he will be a .......
SCIENTIST?


ROCKSTAR, PAINTER, FIREMAN???



Whatever school brings Heath, we wish our little guy all the best as he starts school.

Enjoy your last week of summer bud.

The most beautiful drive in the world

We came across a story on MSN the other day. It was a story about the most beautiful drives in the country. The second most beautiful drive in America is the Seward Highway in Alaska. It runs from Anchorage to Homer. This hwy is about 200 miles of the most beautiful and unchanged parts of this country. It is mountains, waterfalls, wildlife, glaciers, meadows, absolutely breathtaking. We have to take this HWY to get to Sonny's parents house in Soldotna. It is 3 hours of the most intense scenery I have ever seen . It gets prettier each time you drive it. We have driven it a million times, and never really appreciated it like we should. It was fun to see it and know that we have been a part of this amazing landscape. Even though it got second we think it is the best!!!

We are glad we got to be part of Alaska's frozen chosen!!!!!!!!

Ponytail challenge

THE PONYTAIL: EXCUSES! EXCUSES!

"My hair looks better up"
"I did not have time to do my hair "
"I was just staying home anyway"
" My hair is too curly"
"I was going to work out"

Whatever your excuse,ponytail, Clip or hat, you are not alone. You are among the large number of women "NOT DOING YOUR HAIR" you do everything else to get ready in the morning, but you are not living up to your hairs full potential. If you are like me, you have a thousand reasons why. But, it is going to end this week. I am proposing a challenge to all my ponytail enslaved friends. I Kathleen am accepting the challenge of not wearing my hair in a ponytail for one whole week. I am calling you all to join me, you heard me, rather read me. DO YOUR HAIR!!!!!!! Everyday all the way. Your ponytail can be one of the following, a clip, bun, hat, scrunchie, Headband, updo, twist, or braid. It has to go.

This will be very hard for me, as I think I have ponytail reflux disorder. I will blog about it all week, and want you to start whatever day you are reading this. Join me and then comment away..
If you are already doing your hair everyday. ROCK ON SISTERS!!!!!

The intruder

So, last night we had an intruder. He snuck into out house quietly and unnoticed to us. It was not until 10 at night that we found him. Sonny was in the shower and I had walked into the closet to put some clothes away (housewife of the year), and that's when I found him. I yelled to Sonny, "Get out of the shower now"!!! Sonny promptly with his eyes closed and soap on his face, with out turning off the water jumped out and closed the door. Then I told him that there was an intruder, in the shower with him. A COCKROACH!! A HUGE ONE. It was on a school bus chassis, about the size of a UPS truck. With his little beety eyes, and antennae. Poor Sonny had to chase him around the bathroom, naked with soap in his hair and on his face, dripping wet. He killed him, which takes some effort, they are fast little critters. It was awful. We did get rid of him "Ryan Nelson(Broinlaw) style, by pummeling him into submission, then flushing him exactly 3 times, followed by bleach in the toilet. He is done for. We felt violated, and you thought we had a burglar. He was big enough to carry the TV out.
We then worried about bugs the whole night. It is time to make friends with the exterminator.

NO PICS FOR OBVIOUS REASONS. Holy coach roach batman. FUN EVENING!!!!

Austin and Mom

We love to Hug Austin, mostly because he lets us. He is so sweet and fun to be around. So loveable. What a sweet boy, our Little Monkey.