Happy Halloween Everyone!

Yesterday was Jackson and Sophie's first Halloween- and boy was it fun! All of the kids looked so darn cute. Jackson was a lion, Sophie dressed as a ladybug and our Halloween pro Anna was Ariel the Little Mermaid (donning a marvelous red wig and all! -that lasted about 10 houses and then she was a blond mermaid the rest of the night).

We all met at Neil and Bonnie's house for the Halloween celebration. They live in a big development with tons of kids so it is the perfect place to do some trick or treating. The whole development gets involved and they make it a lot of fun for the whole family. People bring their fire pits to the driveway; sit out side, and even the adults dress up. The older kids had a blast running up ahead of all the adults hitting house after house over filling their treat bags of candy. Jackson and Sophie rode most of the way in the double stroller, with everyone commenting on how darn cute they both looked. There was one woman that was actually taking pictures of all of the babies in costume. I bet that roll of film is so precious!

After the kid’s candy buckets were all overflowing we headed back to the Stenger house for a “Spooky Dinner”. The menu was MacaBoney and Cheese, Rat Meatloaf (little meatloaves shaped as rats, with olive eyes, pretzel legs and whiskers and curly fries for tails), and a spooky salad. It was delicious and fun!

This was such a memorable First Halloween for Jackson. I am definitely looking forward to next year when him and Sophie will be running right along all the other kids. I have uploaded all of the pictures from the night and also from the Ungar Family Halloween (which I will journal on later, so check back). The pictures from Halloween night are a little sparse because I think our camera is dying a slow death- I know, what in the heck am I going to do?! I will post more pictures when I get the ones from Bonnie and Neil. But at least you can see all the kids in their fantastic costumes. Have fun!

Our Day at Mapleside Apple Farm

This afternoon we had such a lovely time playing with pumpkins, and plopping Jackson all over the place for Photo Op’s at Mapleside Apple Farm. It was almost time for Jackson’s afternoon nap, so he was in an incredibly mellow mood. He was fine with whatever, and wherever he landed. It was a beautiful day- a bit chilly and breezy but with the sun was out it made it a perfect fall day. Check out all of the pictures. We got so many wonderful ones, some definite framers.

The last time we were here as a family, I was 21 weeks pregnant with our little man! If you go to the Belly Pictures album and look at the 6th photo, it was from a year ago at Mapleside. It’s hard to believe how much our lives have changed since then. I never realized how incomplete my life was until we had him be a part of it. Now every day is more precious then the last- we are always anticipating what Jackson will be able to do next and how cute he looks each day. As of today he is now 8 months old by the way. Hard to believe, huh?! He is pulling up on EVERYTHING and soooo ready to cruise and walk around. He thinks that he should be able to walk wherever he wants, and without any assistance. We think he will be standing up on his own any time now- it is definitely not far off. Until then, we get to deal with more bumps, tumbles and bruises. But he has become such a sport! More often then not I am more shaken up by a fall then he is. That just comes with the territory I guess!

Halloween is just a few days away. I absolutely cannot wait for all of you to see Jackson in his first Halloween costume. He is going to be SO cute! I am not going to tell what he is going to be yet- so be sure to check back here for updates…

I "signed the list"...sort of

When Bonnie decided to not go back to work after Sophie was born Anna came up with this idea that to be able to do so you have to "sign the list to not work". She decided that her Mommy signed this list and why in the world didn't I sign it too. I mean, "don't I want to be home with them all the time too?!" I told her of course I do and I would looooove to sign the list but just not now. But go talk to Uncle Scott and tell him I need to get on it sooner then later..heheheh. Well every single day when I would drop Jackson off at Bonnie's before I went to work she would ask me if I am going to sign the list to not work soon. And every day I would tell her not yet.

Well after some figuring of number's we realized that my working lunches was just a waste of time. I was basically working for fun. I would make just enough to pay Bonnie. Ummm, sure Macaroni Grill is a nice place to work and all, but I don't know that I would consider it "fun". So as of Tuesday I am no londer working lunches, just my two dinners a week. It is wonderful!!!! I love being home with Jackson so much. Plus I won't have to cram all of my house work into two days, and I can actually let myself have fun every now and then with Bonnie, or Adrianne or Lora, whatever. I don't have to feel guilty that I should really be vaccuuming or cleaning bathrooms.... It is definately a good thing! :)

Jackson Got His First Haircut!!

On Monday, October 1st we all ventured next door to our neighbor's house and Lora gave Jackson his very first haircut. He was such a good boy! Aside from being a wiggle worm, he hardly fussed at all. He just mainly didn't like the back of his hair being cut because he couldn't see what Lora was doing back there.

I was probably more of a nervous mommy then he was anxious! I felt a little sad that all of the hair that he was born with is now all gone. But at the same time I felt good that now he wouldn't have hair in his eyes anymore. And now looking at him, he looks so handsome!! Although no more rock star- just a sweet little angel. Not that he wasn't an angel before, just now he looks like one! Unfortunately the batteries to our camera decided to die the moment she started cutting. So Lora let us use her 35mm camera to take pictures. Once we have these developed we will scan then in for you to all see the Event. But please take a look in his Baby Pictures to see him with his new Do. You gotta see how blonde he is now!

Jackson cut his 1st Tooth!

Yayayayayay! Yesterday afternoon after taking a really good nap I noticed that there was a little white thing in his mouth- sure enough it was his first toothy! It was his bottom middle one on the left side. We had to call Daddy right away and tell him the good news. We are all so excited for him!

And then today the right one on the bottom came through too. He is getting to be a big boy! Hopefully now he will get some relief for a while from the teething aches and pains.

Congratulations little man!

We're back from OBX!

This has to be a short journal entry because I have to get myself ready for work. But I wanted to be sure to tell you that all of the pictures from our trip are uploaded into the Baby Albums page. I will tell you more about our vacation later this week once I am off of work. But I can say that it was incredibly hard to get back to the real world of working and getting up early (because we have to, not because Jackson woke us up)! We had a fabulous time and are so sorry that it is over all ready. It was one fast week!

So be sure to check out the pictures from Jackson's first vacation and if you have time, leave us a note in the guest book. We always love hearing from you guys!

We leave tomorrow for OBX!

We are all so excited! This will be Jackson's first vacation, his first time feeling sand and the ocean on his feet. It will be so neat for us to watch all of his reactions. I have the day off today so I will be working like a mad woman to do all the laundry, straighten up the house (so we don't have to come home to a messy home) and then try and get everything packed. Although I am sure I will forget something along the way- thank goodness for Food Lion! It is really amazing how much stuff an infant needs for vacation. I think Jackson has more stuff then Scott and I combined!

We are splitting up our drive between two days. We will drive halfway tomorrow, stay overnight in a hotel and then finish the trip on Sunday our check in day. In the past we have driven straight through. But with a baby we are concerned that it would be too much for him. Plus, we don't need to enter our vacation stressed out if we don't need to. We have stocked up on Baby Einstein, Praise Baby and Classical Baby DVD's and have borrowed Bonnie and Neil's portable DVD player. We are hoping that these will bring a little bit of entertainment for Jackson so he won't be completely bored and thus fussy. Keep your fingers crossed that the drive won't be a total nightmare for all of us- we are remaining positive!

I am definitely excited for this trip for other reasons too. This will be the perfect opportunity for Jackson to get completely cozy with Grammy and Pop, and Great Grandma Lois and GiGi. At his age if he isn't seeing people on a very regular basis he gets a bit nervous and clingy with me. The books call it Separation Anxiety. If it has been a week or longer since his last visit with a person he has to get comfortable all over again with them. So it will be pretty cool for everyone for some nice bonding time together.

There is a hurricane coming through the surrounding area of OBX- not hitting us but we will probably be feeling the affects. Hopefully they will be minimal and we can still enjoy the weather and not have all rain everyday! A day here or there is OK, perfect shopping weather :) But I need a tan, darn it! Please God, send us some nice weather!

Well, when we get back I will upload all of the pictures of our trip, so be sure to check back in a week! Lots of love to you all and we will talk to you all soon!