We have a walker!

Jackson has been taking steps for several weeks but today he took off and hasn't slowed down since! He looks adorable and is so proud of himself. :)

Helping mommy vacuum.

I think sticking his tongue out helps him concentrate. ;)

SO excited!

Photo Shoot and First Birthday Party

Jackson will be one on Wednesday and we had his party at our house yesterday. We sure missed all of you out of town family and friends! It was a wonderful day.

Update

It's been too long, now I don't even know where to begin. I know I said I would update you every ten days on my reading through the bible in ninety days and it's been way more than ten days. (Sorry!) We have been so busy! I am still going strong. I am in Psalm and loving this journey. God is revealing new things to me each day and I am almost half way through!

Below are two cakes I made recently. I just finished my second cake class and love trying the new things I have learned.


My little guy is growing like a weed! He was 11 months old on August 8th. He is pure joy. He is pulling up on everything and "cruising" holding onto furniture. He will walk holding onto one of our hands and can stand alone for a little while before he realizes he's standing alone and plops down.

This past month he has said: "dad", "dog", "bird", "uh-oh", "ball", "fower" (flower), "BewBew" (Bella- my sister's dog), "out", "eat", "eye", "book" and "boom" (when he falls). Some of these words he's only said once. It blows my mind when he points to something and says it's name. Did you notice something missing from this list? Well, I did! He is apparently saving "Mama" for a special occasion. I can't wait to hear that word!!!

Visiting Aunt Leah

My sister, Leah, is in Fort Walton for the summer. Jackson and I had a wonderful day visiting her!

Aunt Leah was very excited about taking Jackson to feed the fish. (He LOVES fish...and birds....and dogs....okay, he LOVES all animals.) Although Leah is holding fish food, Jackson looks like he's thinking about digging in.FishLeah loves pictures as much as I do. I have taken almost 3,000 pictures of Jackson since he was born. Although we didn't take that many during our visit, I had a hard time choosing which ones to post. So I posted all of my favorites. :)Worn out after a day of fun.

Bible in 90 Days Update

I will be checking in every ten days to update you on my journey through the bible in ninety days. It has been so much easier than I anticipated! I just finished day ten's reading and am halfway through Numbers. It takes about thirty-five minutes each evening and I have a great little routine that includes putting Jackson to bed, making coffee, and sitting at the kitchen table to read. I continue to be excited about this experience and pray that God will reveal Himself to me through the reading of his word.

I have to remind myself on nights like tonight when I am reading about descendants, rules and customs that each word of the bible is inspired by God and worth reading. I cannot wait to be able to say I have read the bible cover to cover!!! I am 1/9 of the way there. I'll be back for another update in ten days.

I encourage you to do something that you've wanted to do for a while but have put off. Whether it's reading the bible, an organizational project, exercising, or pursuing a new hobby- there's no better time than now. If you're anything like me you have quite a list of things you'd like to do and an even longer list of reasons it's not convenient to do them now. Take the plunge...you'll be glad you did!

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite pictures from this week. (I just couldn't help myself.)

Jackson and Mommy ready for church.

Now that Jackson is crawling, pulling up and cruising on furniture I never know how I will find him when I check on him in his crib. This has become one of his favorite positions.

Maybe I'm just overly sentimental (okay, I am definitely overly sentimental) but have you ever had a moment where you were just completely overwhelmed with love and gratitude? When I walked in Jackson's room and saw these little feet poking out through his crib that is exactly how I felt. So in love....with these little feet....with this precious child, and SO grateful that God heard my prayers for him. Sometimes I get consumed with life's details and a moment like this snaps me back into reality and reminds me to treasure each moment with these little feet.

10 months old!

Jackson's crawling!!!! A few weeks ago he ditched his pitiful slither I previously described and opted for a much easier, faster approach....real crawling! He is completely adorable and getting faster by the day. Jackson is ten months old! He is so much fun. He loves to play with his toys, read his books, dance to music, play in water, go outside, swing, talk, and be with his Momma and Daddy. Only two more months of our first year together. I cannot believe it!
Many of our summer days are spent like this, splashing away in the backyard. Jackson loves his pool although he looks less than thrilled in this photo.

Did I mention this kid LOVES books? He would pick a book over a toy any day. This is what his room looks like after he picks out a book to read.

Sleeping angel.

He loves shoes. Well, technically he loves taking them off. This is why he is barefoot most of the time.

Ready for a walk.

This is the life!

Cake Decorating

I love all the cake decorating shows and became inspired to take some classes so that I can make cute birthday cakes. I just finished my first decorating class and will be beginning my next class this week. I am having a lot of fun! Here's what I've done so far....