We started out the week pretty rough, but it ended great! On Sunday night around 2:30, Jackson caught the stomach bug and got sick in our bed. I felt so sorry for him! He really had it bad. I ended up doing 3 loads of laundry between 2:30 and 8am...I did more that night than I had done all week! On Monday, he was still pretty sick during most of the morning. We thought he was better that night, but one bite of chicken noodle soup proved otherwise, so he stayed home with Tom again on Tuesday. Sounds like they had a great day cuddling together on the couch before going to run a few errands and get their hair cut (after he was better, of course). By Tuesday night, he was back to himself. Jackson was so excited to go see his friends at school by Wednesday morning. As I was getting ready, he kept coming in to say "let's go! Where are your shoes?" When we got to school, he ran to Ms. Rebecca and said "I'm not sick. I'm better. I did it!" He was so proud of himself for getting better. We're so glad, Jackson!

On Friday, Tom flew down to Nashville for the weekend, so Jackson and I had the weekend to ourselves. I decided to spoil him a little while Tom was gone. I always remember how whenever my dad would go out of town, my sister, my mom and I would all go to Western Sizzlin, get a steak to bring home and watch it in front of the TV or eat on our little table downstairs. That was always a fun memory - not that we wanted you to go, dad! So, after doing a little shopping at Target, we went and got ice cream at Maggie Moos. We had such a good night!

On Saturday, Johnnie and Reese came over to play. It was so fun watching Jackson and Reese together. They had a lot of fun in the ball pit and the jump.

Coloring time! Jackson did such a good job sharing with Reese.
Reese loves to read. Jackson wasn't far behind in the queue to read on my lap.

I think Jackson may have a future as a hairdresser. Lately he loves to pretend to give you a haircut and give you a really nice 'do. Reese was very patient. I love Reese's face in the 2nd pic - is he ever going to stop brushing my hair??

The finished product:

Both of them loved cooking in the kitchen. We went to Baja Jacks today for lunch. Jackson had to bring his purse with him....and had to carry it into the restaurant. He seemed quite proud of it.

Sometimes I really do wonder - does Jackson take after Johnnie more than me? Reese didn't quite know what to make of all of the hugs and just stood there with her arms at her sides. Jackson sure loves you, Reese!

Reese and Johnnie wore Jackson out. He wouldn't go to sleep unless he could wear his pirates hat. He even came out of the room after his nap wearing it!

We're so glad you came over, Jenna and Reese! We had a lot of fun. When the kids were down, we had a Sudoku rematch. All of the training I had done since Christmas paid off, though I choked in the last game when we were tied 3-3. Jenna won the last game....but I'm still not giving up!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! I'll always remember how Dad used to get all of his girls flowers - Jenna and I used to each get our own roses in our own little vase. You were so sweet to us, Dad! We love you!

Jackson's class had their Valentine's party on Friday. In this class, everyone has an assigned spot - and they all know exactly where they're supposed to sit.

One of the kids in Jackson's class gave out sheets of Disney and Cars stickers. Almost all of them chose to give each other their stickers rather than keeping them for themselves. Here Jackson is giving Joseph his last sticker.

Tom got attached by the dinosaurs during the party. I absolutely love Tom's faces as he plays with the kids.

After quite a bit of sugar from the Valentine's party, Jackson and his other buds had a blast jumping up and down in the loft area.

I tried to get a few good pics of Jackson and Nash - it's difficult with two kids!

Cupid went a little overboard this year, but I justify it by saying it's all educational....right? Jackson got several books, including a Backyardigans Tag Junior book from Gramma and Papa. He just loves those Tag Junior books; he's read his Curious George and Backyardigans book enough (already) that he's already unlocked some coloring pages online. He loved coloring those, too. He also got an ABC puzzle, which he's probably not quite ready for. I have to admit, the letter are shaped so weird that even I was having trouble for a short bit! :) He also got quite a few stickers, which are now everywhere on him. Jackson particularly likes showing them off on his face and the front and back of his hands.

We had another movie night this weekend. Jackson gets so excited - it's the one night where we don't have to struggle to brush his teeth or take a bath! This week we watched Up - we were not impressed. It was a bit of a downer. Jackson still liked it, though. Here he is getting all ready for the movie to start.

Here he's watching the movie in his Valentine's Day glasses from Ms. Melissa:

Nash and his big brother, Cooper, came over to play on Saturday. Jackson was so excited for Nash to come over. He even helped pick up! As soon as Jackson saw Nash at the door, he started shrieking. It was so cute watching them play together. Jackson was showing Nash everything. Here is Jackson pushing Cooper and Nash in his car....

Nash taught Jackson how to eat the ice. Jackson looks so pleased with his new skill.

They also had a lot of fun playing with the trains. I just love watching Jackson play with his friends.

They had a lot of fun together. The morning was spent playing with trains, coloring on the easel, playing with balls and lots of jumping in the Jump and ball pit. When Nash had to put on his coat, Jackson started getting really upset. He kept asking me to put on his coat so that he could go with Nash. For the next five minutes after Nash left, Jackson was wailing and asking Nash to come back or asking to go with Nash.

For the rest of the weekend, Jackson just keeps asking if Nash can come over again. This morning I asked Jackson if he had good dreams and what he dreamt about. His reply: "Nash. He come over to play again." We'll do it again soon, I promise! Thanks for bringing the boys over, Allison!

We're big into playing pretend. Tonight he was pretending to go shopping, but he had to find his purse before he could leave. I found an old purse of mine and gave it to him. Jackson filled the purse with his phone and some pens, grabbed his keys and turned to say "Good bye. I'll be back." He then turned, walked down the hall and opened up the door to the garage as he pretended to go to the car! Guess we'll have to be locking that door when we get home...or at least make sure the garage door is closed. You're growing up so fast, Jackson!

We found our camera!

I finally found our camera (hidden in a DVD sleeve box at work), so we finally have a few pictures again! It's been a good week. I got my big presentation (at least the first round) out of the way. Jackson is loving having Tom home and gets so excited to go see Daddy at the end of the day. All in all - it's been a great week! I can't get over how much Jackson loves his new class. The other day when I came to pick him up, he and Max were lying on the ground. His friend Julia was covering both of them with blankets and they were pretending to sleep. Jackson called out "Mommy, I'm a bedbug!" and "Look at me, I'm sleeping!". It was cute when Julia kept covering them up and then gave Jackson a pillow to sleep on. It took me over 5 minutes to get him up and ready to go home. He didn't want to leave!

Valentine's day is coming right around the corner, so we went and picked out Valentine's for his class. It was so cute watching him try to decide between McQueen or Buzz and Woody. Ultimately, I bought both. They both had little washable tattoos with them. I thought it'd be cute to put in his mailbox throughout the year.

On Saturday night, we decided to have a movie night. We rented Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and had a chocolate pudding treat. Jackson loves all of the animals in this movie. When we first gave him chocolate pudding, he kept saying "don't want it. Want cereal". What kid wants raisin bran over chocolate pudding with cool whip and bananas?? After he had a couple of bites, he turns to Tom and says "delicious!" Where did he learn that? As you can see, Jackson ended up really enjoying the pudding!

After the movie, he decided to try and hide in the cabinets.

Jackson is really starting to get into dressing up. We haven't got to the point yet where he's putting on the clothes, but he's taking them all out of the bin, telling us what each one is. In the last few days, he's really started liking his cowboy boots. He's so proud that he can put them on by himself!

Here are a few pictures of Jackson painting some more pictures at his easel. And yes, I forgot to mail the previous ones! Don't be offended if you didn't get one. All my fault!

I love how intent Jackson is while trying to paint in this lower area. Have a great week!