No, the Jackson family is not dead, nor have we gone underground. The reason for our recent blogging-world absence is simply that I am a mother with three children who has just entered the last trimester of her pregnancy who is also going to school part-time to get her Master's (I got an A- in each of my classes last semester for those who are curious) and was incredibly busy over the holiday season. I'm sorry. But now we're back into the flow in life (any other mothers that were ready for school to start again?) so I'm hoping to have a little more blogging freedom. Here is my attempt to quickly catch you up on the happenings of the Jackson family over the last couple months, in no particular order.
My little sis, Meagan (aka "May-May") came to visit us for a whole month! Billy had a business trip to take in India and we were all glad that Meagan came to help out. She stayed from Halloween through Thanksgiving and this picture is of her eating her first bite of pumpkin pie since she was a little girl. Billy was trying to convince her that it's not nearly as bad as she remembers...may have been successful?
Auntie Em (Billy's little sister) came up for a day and went with the kids to Chocolate World. We wish she could've stayed longer! She's so much fun.
Our first ice storm! I couldn't believe how much everything was absolutely covered in ice. This is the rose bush and grass in our front yard. School was canceled for a couple days and we had no power or heat for a while. All over town there were trees and things that had been knocked over.
Once it finally warmed up a little for the ice to start melting, it became extremely windy, blowing chunks of ice everywhere...which didn't help with the power crisis. This pic is our side yard - it looks like someone dumped out their ice cooler!
Uncle Joe (Billy's bro) came for Christmas and New Years. This is his beautiful gingerbread house. You'd never guess he was the artist in the family. Here are some more pictures of our gingerbread house making adventures (for some reason the only pictures we took of Christmas, although I did get a lot of video).
Sorry, too lazy to rotate...
Can't you just sense the sugar?
Billy's Cocoa Castle...
We had a great Christmas with way too many presents and a lot of yummy food - exactly what Christmas should have, right? We missed all our family and loved ones as we spent our first Christmas with just us since we were married but thanks to modern technology we were able to talk to or see most of you! Gotta love the holidays.
Kasia was content to swing for a while but soon got bored and then very muddy as she slid down the wet slide again and again.
Joe and Billy convinced Isaac that they used to play this game when they were little where someone chases you with a big stick and beats you if they catch you. The game lasted for a long time (probably until Joe got too tired) and lucky for Isaac, he never got caught.
No Jackson family trip to the mountains would be complete with out one of the famous Jackson family hikes. This small jaunt turned into a 4 hour excursion up the face of an incredibly steep mountain. Lucky for me, this prego stayed home. And nobody was hurt.
A cave we discovered at the local pond. Kosh had no fear and headed right in (with Billy close behind). The boys weren't so sure but enjoyed listening to the echoes...
