Boo at the Zoo!

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a great Halloween and were safe and got lots and lots of candy! *big smiles* We started out our Halloween day by going to Boo at the Zoo. Ben was hunting and Papaw had a funeral to go to so Nana, Emma and I went and then Chad, Christy and Grace joined us later that afternoon! Emma loved all the animals and she actually got to see them feed the monkeys some small pumpkins. She asked the zoo keeper to throw them more, but they didn't have any more! LOL!

I would strongly recommend going to Boo at the Zoo in future years as they have so much stuff for the kids to do. I was really in shock at how much stuff there was. Every bit of empty space at the zoo was filled with rides, games, activities or concessions. Emma didn't get to ride any of the carnival rides as I felt she was still a little young and didn't want to squeeze myself onto the kiddie rides! I know some of you would have liked to seen pictures of that, but couldn't bring myself to do it! *hahaha* Well here are some of the pictures. I left out the animal pictures since I had posted some in an earlier post.

Emma posing for a picture with the pumpkins and hay!

She loves the "punkins"

She really loved these pumpkins and they were everywhere!

This is what I get when I say "cheese"!

Emma and I getting ready for the train ride

Chad, Christy and Grace getting ready for the train ride!

Christy, Grace, Emma and I just strolling along!

Awwww....HUGS! Gotta love it!

I think Grace was trying to get Emma to play chase!

Theres those pumpkins again!

Emma wanted to hold Grace's hand the entire time! It was so cute!

Emma looking at the lionesses! (didn't get them in the pic)

I will post Emma's trick-or-treating pictures another day so come back soon! :)

Bows, Bows and More Bows!

Here are just a few of the bows that I have been making. The first ones are smaller bows that I use to put Emma's hair in pigtails with. They are my favorite. The next one is just a boutique style bow that I did earlier this week that one of my girlfriends had me make for her little girl. I have done a bunch more (some where close to the 100's if not more), but just don't have pictures of them. I will take some more pictures of different styles, colors and sizes to show off. It is definitely cheaper to make them, but it does take ALOT of practice, patience and time, which I know everyone doesn't have! I enjoy making them and Payton even helped make some this weekend.

This is just a close up of the ones above.

Ben's 2009 Deer

Well...like I said in the earlier post, Ben has killed 2 AWESOME deer so far this year. They were actually both killed on the same day, one in the morning and the other right before dark! He got an 8 point in the morning and a 9 point in the afternoon! He brought the first one by so Emma and I could see it and take some pictures. The second deer he got right at dark so after they found him, drove back from deer camp, skinned him, etc. it was really late and we didn't get to see that one. He got a couple pictures with his cell phone though so will share them. It always makes for a less stressful deer season when he kills a good one at the first of deer season. Less pressure I guess you can say! LOL! Here come the pics....

These are of the second deer, the 9 point! Didn't get very many pictures of it since it was so late. These are actually some that Ben had taken with his cell phone. You can get the gist of the size, etc. anyway!

A little catch up!

Yikes...sorry everyone for not being on here in so long. I hope you all have not given up on me. It just has totally slipped my mind I guess. I do apologize and will do better. I was on such a roll at the first of my blog experience and then I don't know what happened! LOL!

Not much has been going on in the Jackson Four's Lives, but I will do a little catch up anyway! :0)

Ben has been hunting, first bow season, then muzzle loader and now gun. On Saturday, October 17th, he actually killed two awesome deer in one day. I will post pics below or in another post. He was so excited and we cant wait to get some of his delicious deer steaks! Yummy! Other than that it has just been work, sleep and hang out with us for a little while!

As for me, I have not been working since September, as a transcriptionist anyway. I have been doing some odds and end jobs for family and friends. I am considering going back to school, but haven't decided for sure yet. I am cleaning houses right now and hope to maybe get a few more to keep me busy during the week and then maybe I can go back to school and be able to stay home with Emma too. So if any of you know of anyone who needs a housekeeper let me know. I will be making some fliers and business cards soon, but just have not had time. If you are interested email me and I will get some to ya!

Oh...I cant forget about my hair bows I have been making too. Several months ago I needed a white bow because Emma got her Cheetos fingers all over her white bow. When I went to the store to get one I was in shock that I had been spending $18 - $22 on simple hair bows so I gave it a try. I love it and cant find enough time in the day to make all the ones that I want, plus try to make some to sell. It has actually worked out nice for some of Emma's friends birthday presents, etc. I will try to post pics of them too so be ready! :) Also, if you know of anyone who wants one of them email me or message me. I will have a shop on Etsy.com soon, but will let you know when I get it up and running too!

As for Emma, she is the busiest of us all! LOL! She always has people to see and places to go! She wasn't quite ready for the pool to be closed or to have to start wearing those bulky and uncomfortable jackets, but she is getting used to the idea. Now she just swims in the bathtub! LOL! She is growing like a little weed and just amazes me everyday with something new that she learns or says. I wish I could video everything she does. Her new thing right now is she tries to sing along with songs. For instance...with Row Row Row Your Boat she says the Row part and the Merrily part. Nana has been teaching her to say Ho Ho Ho in an effort to get ready for Santa this year. We are looking forward to Halloween first of course. I am not going to tell you what she is going to be so it will be a surprise to you all. We are planning on going to Boo at the Zoo next weekend and will have pictures to post of that.

Well...now you are a little caught up on what has been going on in our lives since our last post and I am going to try to start posting more often again!
Here are some recent pics I got of Emma that I think are so cute! Enjoy and I will be posting more pics soon of hair bows, deer and Halloween!

Tuesday I did not have work so we called Christy and Grace to see if they wanted to meet us at Entergy park to play. We picked up McDonald's happy meals for the girls and had a little picnic before playing. The girls had a blast sliding and climbing and racing each other to the steering wheel at the top of the play gym! Neither one was really willing to try and share the steering wheel so whoever got there first it was theirs! LOL! Emma fell off the picnic table bench and we thought she might have broken her nose, but thankfully she didn't. We got the strollers out and walked the trails and then called it a day! We had a great time and Emma and Grace really played hard and had a great time together! Here are some of the pics I got from that day! Be ready for the last two because they are super sweet!

Grace sliding!

Grace waiting her turn for the steering wheel! LOL!

Finally it was Grace's turn and she loved every minute of it!

Emma trying to pass the time until its her turn on the steering wheel!

Right before she went down the slide I asked her to smile and she did!

The girls sitting on the bottom step to take a picture!

Holding hands to go to the car! So SWEET!

More sweetness!

Thank you Grace and Christy for a great day at the park! We are looking forward to many more trips to the park so the girls can play and we can walk the trails!

Emma's First Toenail Painting!

Tuesday before last was Ben's fishing tournament night and Emma and I had been playing outside and just having some "girl time" when I decided try painting her toenails. I had been wanting to do this since I brought her home from the hospital, but she was either too little or too busy. I sat her on her potty chair and explained to her what I was going to do. She sat patiently and quietly the entire time I painted them and even for a few minutes afterwards to make sure they were dried! She did keep pointing to my toenails and saying "Momma's" and then would point to her own toenails and say "Emma's" It was the cutest thing. Of course I got a picture of her first pair of painted toenails to share. We have had to paint them two other times since then because it has chipped off and she did well those times too!

Saturday was Emma’s friend Brody’s First Birthday. His party theme was “All About Me” so I thought it would be cute to make Emma a shirt to wear to the party that said “I Love Brody”. It was a real hit and looked so cute. Lynsey, Brody’s Mom also had him a shirt made for his party and the front said “Its All About Me” and the back was his name with a #1! So cute. Emma had a blast at the party and of course loved the cake almost as much as I did. If you didn’t know cake is my downfall. I can pretty much do without any food, but when it comes to cake….GOTTA HAVE IT! LOL! Lynsey did a great job decorating, there was a slide show and of course lots of fun toys to play with! So here are some of the pictures I got from the birthday party! So CUTE!

Emma's "Bye-Bye"

During the summer Papa gets off earlier than 5 and therefore gets to spend a little time with Emma on the days that I am still working when he gets here. They usually go out to check the mail, play, look for the cat, etc. Recently they have started a new game of playing in every ones cars. Emma loves this game, which consists of everything from rolling the windows down, turning the music way up, working the windshield wipers/washer fluid and anything else that can be changed by the push of a button. They get to play this game several times a week, but recently it has become a MUST! Papa barely gets in the front door before Emma starts saying "bye-bye". You would think that she was just wanting to get out, check the mail or whatever she does outside, but she continues to say "bye-bye" until they get in the car to play and then she is sufficed. One day I was able to catch this on video to share because it is just so funny. Of course it is much funnier when she is in Dad's truck because she can reach all of the buttons and just goes from one to another and the windshield wiper fluid is the funniest. Maybe I will try to sneak up on them one day in the truck and share that too! Hope you enjoy! You may wonder why I didn't just get in the car to video, but this is not a part of the game and Emma wants no part in anyone else joining in on the game. She has to have all doors closed unless she opens them herself and only allows Papa to join in on the game! LOL!

You have to check this out!

Ever wonder what you would have looked like if you had graduated in 1950, or how bout 2000? Well...now you can thanks to a website called http://yearbookyourself.com/. I did all of mine so you could laugh along with me. My favorite has got to be 1960 and 1966! Hope you enjoy seeing mine and I hope you enjoying doing yours! This was so much fun!

A visit with the Kinnu's, Johnson's and one Garret!

Kelly invited Emma and I over for grilled burgers and a swim in the pool. Kerrie & Brent, Wade & Josie and Taylor were able to join in on the fun as well. We hung out around the pool and Wade grilled burgers for us all, which were delicious by the way! Then everyone enjoyed some cooling off time in the pool....well everyone but me. I was in such a rush to get over there that I grabbed every bag in site except my own, which had my swimsuit, Emma's blow up raft, extra swimmers, etc. So I had to sit on the edge, but I did put my feet and half my legs in! *smiles* We had some delicious watermelon, visitated for a while and then called it a night! Thanks again Kelly for thinking of us, we had a great time!

Emma fell down and got a booboo! :(

Kerrie was trying to hide behind Brent!

Little does she know....I got her anyway! *smiles*

Josie looked up right in time to notice that I was taking a picture and

was mad that she didn't get to pose!

She called a do over and got to smile this time!

Brent and Emma giving each other big hugs!

Kerrie got this adorable pic of Emma and I! Love it Kerrie!

Emma was loving her some Josie!

and loving her some Taylor too!

Cropped the picture from before because I thought it was such a great

picture of Taylor!

Emma was fascinated with the sequins on Taylor's swimsuit!

All the big kids were playing with water guns so Kerrie gave Emma one. She could work that thing well, but could only press the trigger if she was holding it backwards...therefore squirting herself in the face! We all got a big kick out of it because she did this over and over for about 15 minutes!

I thought Emma would have crashed the second we got in the car, but she was too busy saying everyone's names that she played with tonight. She would say....Brent, Kewy, Le (Kelly), Jayz (Josie), Tayla and Ade (Wade). Most of the night she called Wade Papa! LOL! We got home, took a bath and she was out and slept till about 9:15 this morning!

Thanks again for having us over Kelly & Wade! *big smiles*