Chewy 1 and 2

A couple of years ago, my brother and his girlfriend got Jackson a Chewbacca suit.  Then, this year for Halloween, Sarah's trumpet section dressed as Star Wars' characters, and she went as Chewy.  So, I just had to get a picture of them together in their suits!  They're my very favorite!

Halloween Dinner

At the beginning of each October, Jackson asks me if I'm going to make the Halloween dinner, because he loves it so much!

I made the Halloween-themed meal last week, and Jackson picked out a Halloween movie for us to watch while we ate!

J's favorite part of the meal are these mummy hot dogs!  He always eats at least 2 of them!

I thought these turned out so cute!

And as usual, we had no shortage of dessert!

Pumpkin Patch

On Monday, we went to the pumpkin patch with our littlest pumpkin!

He wanted to go in the hay maze so badly, but it was closed due to all the rain we've been having.  Luckily, these cutouts of his favorite cartoons made him smile!

This was our first time in 16 years going to the pumpkin patch without our Sarah Bear--she was at band practice.  She's so busy with school, that she told us she didn't mind if we went without her, but it just wasn't the same!

Date with Jackson

Yesterday, while on my date day with my favorite 8 year old, Jackson asked me if I would love him "always and forever."  So, like I always do, I promised him that I would love him always and forever.  Then, I made him promise me that he knew that, and he said he did...unless I become a bandit.  He said if I ever become a bandit I would stop loving him, because bandits don't love anyone.  Like I said, he's my favorite 8 year old.

Baking Cookies

Yesterday, the kids were home from school, and it was cold and rainy, making it the perfect day to bake cookies.

We've been making these refrigerated cookies since Sarah was a year and a half, and now that she's 15, she still asks me to buy them each time a holiday rolls around and the stores sell them.  So, they'll always hold a special place in my heart.

The kids love eating the dough raw...

...and Jackson obviously thinks it's hilarious!

I love being in the kitchen with them!

I think I'll still buy these cookies when Sarah's in her 30's and she comes to visit!

17 Years Later

Last Friday, Bryan and I went out on a date.  We went on our first date 17 years ago, when we were 17.  And even though we've been together for so long, as I was getting ready for our date last week, I still felt all those same feelings.  Excitement, butterflies, smitten-ness.

Things I did not do 17 years ago when I was getting ready for our date:

*make sure our first baby had a ride home from the football game and knew her Friday treat was waiting for her on the kitchen counter

*pack an overnight bag for our second baby to spend the night at Nana and Grandpa's

*pluck my gray hairs

*put on bracelets that Jackson picked out for me

*drink caffeine at 3 pm so I can stay awake on the date

*have Jackson take our picture

I don't know how I got so lucky that I get to date him for the rest of our lives, but I am so grateful.

Marching Band

This afternoon, we meet the grandparents to watch Sarah and the marching band perform in their first competition of the season!  We loved cheering them on!  It took us back to when we were in band--which Bryan informed me on the way home was 20 years ago, (when we were freshman anyway!).  I can't believe it's been that long!  I'm just glad Sarah loves it as much as we did!

Cooking with Jackson

Jackson has this cookbook that has a recipe from all 50 states, and he asked me if we could make something from it.  So, he picked out 2 recipes, and we made them this week.

First, we started on the golden delicious apple pie from West Virginia.

He likes to taste test a lot along the way.

A lot.

He's so cute!

Once the pie was in the oven, we started on the ham with cherry sauce from Virginia.  He said he chose this one for Daddy because "he loves beef!"  I thought that was so sweet I didn't have the heart to tell him ham isn't beef!  Dinner and dessert was so yummy, and we had so much fun being in the kitchen together!  We both said that it's been way too long!

Sweetness

Leaving for school the other morning, Jackson looked at me and said, "I can't wait to get home and see you because you're always my favorite part or the day."  I loved that so much!  Because he--and his Sissy and Daddy--are always my favorite part of the day too.

Aggie Game

The Aggies played their first game two Thursdays ago, but we went to church that night because Bryan was going to be on call on Sunday.  So, he recorded the game to watch it after church.  When we got home from church that night, Jackson went to take his shower, and Bryan sat down to start the game.  As soon as J got out of the shower, we were going to tuck him into bed--it was already well past his bedtime for a school night--instead, he plopped down on the couch next to Papa Bear, and exclaimed, "I'm ready to watch the game!"  Nice try!  

Since we didn't kick off the Aggie's season opener with tons of game day food like we usually do, I made sure that we had plenty of food for their game on Saturday!

Another cute Jackson story that I don't want to forget--when he saw that the Aggies new coach was Jimbo Fisher, he asked Bryan if he was related to Bobby Fischer, the famous chess player!  It was so cute!  We love how much he loves chess!

Sweetness

Sometimes, the simplest things can make you stop and whisper, "Thank You, God."

I love watching these two together.

17 Years

17 years ago today, my best friend asked me to be his girlfriend.

15 and a half years of marriage and 2 kids later, and he's still my best friend.

I'm also still pretty smitten with him 17 years later.

Dates

The start of school means the start of my weekly dates with the kids.  This one-on-one time with them holds such a special place in my heart, and I hope they cherish it as much as I do.

Jackson picked Tuesday to be his date day, and we had our first date last week.

Sarah had a weird band schedule last week, so we didn't have our first date until this morning before school. 

Both of them are my very favorite!

Friday Sweets

In her cookbook, Joanna Gaines writes about baking banana bread for her kids every Friday and having it waiting for them when they get home from school.  I thought that was precious, and I wanted to start that same tradition!

So yesterday after school, I had homemade brownies waiting for kids!

First Day of School Treat

Yesterday after school, we went out for our traditional first day of school treat!  This is one of my favorite parts of the whole day because we get to hear all about the kids' first day of school.

Jackson:

My day was good!

Mrs. Pollard is really nice!

I saw Beckett at lunch!  I liked your note that you wrote!

I just talked at recess because there was no soccer ball.  

It feels like so many things changed at school.

The first day is not hard—you barely do any work!

I went to PE, and it was fun!

Science and math are going to be fun!

Sarah:

It didn’t even really feel like a first day of school.

I really like Mr. Woody, my World History teacher.  The class is going to be impossible, but fun.

I’m looking forward to my English class.

Jaclyn brought a Keurig for journalism.  We all couldn't wait to get to that class!  Then, after school, I interviewed Mr. Bird, the new band director--11 minutes were on the record and 5 minutes were off the record.

I already hate algebra.

My chemistry class only has 9 people.

We missed them, and were so happy to have them home and loved hearing about their day!