A Birthday Celebration!

It was a birthday weekend at the Jackson household! The big day started out on Friday with some great activities here. The rest of the weekend was filled with friends, Brick Street Cafe Sweet Potato Cake, sun, and one year old laughs and smiles. Our good friends Eric & Becky came for a visit from Chicago to enjoy the long weekend with us. Even Lyle's childhood friend, Joe, flew in on his own plane for a night....he just wanted a piece of that yummy cake:)

Here's a little photo montage to recapture a few of the weekend's events.

Giving Mommy some bites.

The favorite toys of the weekend: Nana's punching balloon, the V-Tech vacuum, and the Fischer-Price tool bench from my sister's family. Thank you! Finn would just play on the floor in the kitchen for long periods of time while all the big kids sat at the table to enjoy their morning coffee or left over birthday cake. Miracle!

Finn fell head over heels for Uncle Eric, especially rubbing that head of his.

Sunday we went to Lake Jocassee for a picnic and some sunshine. Lyle, I mean Finn, really hammed it up.

After returning home from the lake, the big kids got cleaned up and went out for a nice evening of drinks and dinner on the town. We even got a baby-sitter! It had been so long since Lyle and I had had an evening like that. We felt like kids again!

What a fun weekend. Yesterday was spent recovering from all the excitement and reminiscing on the good times. It had been over two years since we'd had visitors other than our family in Greenville. Thank you Eric, Becky & Joe!

We'll sign off with a little cottage cheese butt. 

lauren

So much fun....Finn is O-N-E!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FINNLEY!

We love you sweet boy. Have a happy happy day!

love, mommy & daddy

This is what we've done so far today. More to come later....it's a birthday weekend!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the Hunz!

We love all that you do. You are such a wonderful husband, dad, friend, adventure buddy, son, brother and caring doctor! Know that you are loved. Enjoy your special day.

And a Happy Birthday to Big Lyle too!

Love, 

Your Family

lauren, finn, riley & maddy cat

Happy First Month!

Today marks the day that you are 1 month old, Finnley! Wow, has time flown by. We can't believe that it was already a month ago that you entered our lives. God has truly blessed us & we are forever changed. It has been so much fun to watch you grow and see your little personality develop. You've had so many wonderful visitors this past month that have just fallen in love with you, just like we have, from friends to your loving Tutu, Nana & Boppas. Your grandparents all were heart broken to leave you but were amazed at how much you'd changed during their visits. 

Since the time you were born you have started to turn to sounds, lift your head, track objects visually, swing at your friends in your gym, coo & ahh & talk to your toys, take your first bath, take your first bottle, hold onto your paci; and most fun for your mom & dad, you are now starting to smile! You are growing so fast and getting bigger & bigger each day. We can't wait to see what this next month brings us all. We love you Finnley Bryant Jackson. Thank you for changing our world.

love, 

mom & dad

June 6.

Today is June 6, 2012; it's my birthday and a very special one at that. There's something about June 6 that no matter where I am in the country, the clouds like to follow. But it's alright. It naturally lends to a more relaxing day and that's what I get today! 

The day has started out with a great night's sleep. Finn slept really well last night meaning that he easily went back down after each feeding and I got to sleep in a bit. Having my parents in town has been a special treat; Lyle's been so busy I would have spent the day alone with Finn if not for them. After we put ourselves together this morning, we headed out to walk up to Starbucks with the Bob and have breakfast with a morning latte. We didn't leisure as long as usual as Mr. Finnie Minnie was calling for his late morning feed.

After feeding, my parents so nicely sent me off to get a pedicure while they watched Finn. I was tentative because I'm not quite itching to get away yet, but the thought of someone massaging my legs and getting a fresh coat of polish on my toes was hard to pass up. I took them up on the offer! Thanks Mom & Dad! It was very relaxing.

If I didn't personally show you my legs & feet the first week following Finn's birth, here's a glimpse of them. They were so swollen (along with the rest of me, but most evident in my feet) from all my time on the IV fluids; it took them over a week to get back to normal. They looked like cartoon images. I could feel the "extra" jiggling around as I walked. What an odd feeling.

"Before"-Yikes! This isn't even at their worst!

"After"-Birthday Toes

Do you like the color? Notice the difference?

So what does the rest of the day entail? Who knows! Possibly a little nap for this mommy, most definitely a long walk with the Finn-Man, maybe a lunch out....It is a cloudy/semi-rainy day which calls for all things relaxing. Lyle is on call tonight, so I think we'll save any real celebrating for later (aka-ice cream cake). I'm missing him right now.

And before I sign off, here are some of the latest of my Little.

Two of My Favs. Finn & Maddy cuddled up.

Sound asleep with Freddy.

lauren

The Birthdays Weekend.

Friday was a very special day. My most favorite person in the world celebrated another year. However,  it not only was the birthday of my darling husband Lyle,....

but also the birthday of his father, Lyle.........

We got to celebrate the special day and weekend all together. You see this coincidence of birthdays is not only special because of their shared birthday, but also because of their shared birth weight. It was inevitable that they would share the same name as well, Lyle Thomas Jackson. Happy Birthdays Lyles!

The weekend was spent with plenty of eating of course. Friday night we had a delicious steak dinner at Rick Erwins downtown and shared some very special birthday gifts. I cooked a bit this weekend as well. Here is a meal I prepared that was a hit and was enjoyed over two nights. It wasn't the lightest fair, but got us in the mood for fall and was belly yummy filling.

Roasted Chicken

With the chicken I added some garlic stuffed inside as well as to roast with the carrots, and I left out the potatoes because I was going to make this....

Peas & Scallions Mashed Potatoes

These mashed potatoes were so good. And so easy. Try them. 

And we also had these yummy biscuits....

Herb Biscuits

All these pieces to this meal went so well together; I would make it again in a heartbeat. 

....And we had this squash as a yummy snack later....

Parmesan-Roasted Acorn Squash

A Happy Birthday Weekend. Have a safe flight home Jacksons.

lauren