Life is good at our house...I have to say, like always. Baylee is still the greatest kid ever. She is making all A's and this week is "going out with" an eighth grader. Remember, she is only in seventh grade. Boys Boys Boys...they are coming out of the wood works...she is killing me. What happened?? Where is my baby girl? She is going to start swimming this March. We are waiting until after her birthday in March for her to start back and then she will be swimming with the high school kids..I'm not sure if I am ready for that. Bigger and faster girls but that tends to drive Baylee more to swim harder. We are praying about sending her to the Auburn swim camp for a week this summer. She is fired up and ready to go...but I'm not. I am sacred to DEATH to send her all alone and without ME. She is ready to pack her suitcase! Haha, that's my girl, NO FEAR! I have been busy with work and loving my job. I have made so many friends and look forward to going to work...kinda of weird, I know. Michael is doing great and is still the best husband ever. Although, right now he is on the hunt for a boat. He cracks me up...I knew getting my BMW would eventually have strings attached. No strings, just a boat. That's ok, I want one too but don't tell him. Life is good...lot of stress in our life is finally gone for good with no turning back. God has continued to bless us and we are excited about what is in store...big plans are ahead.

Kaia

I haven fallen head over heels in love...with my niece Kaia. As I talked about in my Christmas blog, we have a new addition to the family. Kaia is 2 years old and just the cutest thing EVER!! She reminds me so much of Baylee at that age. Life of the party and never meets a stranger..so funny. Kaia and my brother are in town until next week, so I sneak over to Mom's every chance I get. The funny thing is that Kaia has fallen in love with Michael. She wants him to hold her and and she snuggles up to him. It is so cute! He is such a GREAT Uncle to our nieces and nephews. They all love him...I have to share my baby snuggle time with him. I am trying to figure out a way to lay on the runway to prevent them from flying home to NYC. I could drive them home in my new Christmas present but...that is a 2 day trip. So, I will spend as much time as I can with her and beg and plead with my brother to move back to Alabama. I will keep you posted...if you hear about a woman arrested on the runway at the Mobile airport...don't worry, it's just me! Send any donations to Michael for him to post my bail...is that a federal offense??

A new year

Wow! A new year already, I can't believe it. It has been a wonderful year for Michael, Baylee and I. We have learn so much about life, married life and parenthood. Some things that were wonderful, hard lessons that we learned, and somethings that we just needed out of our lives. God has continued to bless us and touch our lives everyday. I have never been so happy in my life and there are many days that I just want to pinch myself to make sure that it is all real. I am excited about what 2009 has in store for us. We are getting ready to build a house. We are narrowing down the field of house plans and agreeing on the style of house. Right now, we are trying to decided on acreage to build on or a neighborhood. I vote for the neighborhood, we don't have time for up keep of property. We are leaving it all in God's plans and know that he will put us in the right place at the right time. Although, we are very excited to get into a home that is "ours." Baylee is continuing to grow and blossom into a young woman before our eyes. We are already discussing colleges..WAR EAGLE! She is really helping me so much around the house now that I am back to work. I am off for the weekend and am looking forward to spending time with Baylee. With 2009, comes life in the fast lane. Our calender for January and February is already full. So , stay in touch and let us know what is going on with you. The Jeffrey-Jackson bunch is wishing you a wonderful and blessed 2009!

Christmas

I don't even know where to get started to even talk about Christmas...it has been a wild ride. I had to work Christmas Eve until noon...let's put this way. My body was at work but I must admit I was on the phone in my office coordinating the week's events. Ok, let me go back. My brother Jordan came in from New York this year, which is a rare occurrence. According to him, we are all toothless, redneck marrying cousins. Psst...he doesn't realize that he is a toothless redneck too but in New York clothes, hehe! Anyway, he brought home a new member of the family. Her name is Kaia and she is my 2 year old niece. We are so excited and she is beautiful. And for those that know my family, she is so a Carpenter. She LOVES to talk and has to be the center of attention. It is a long story how this all came about, but Jordan is going to be a full time single Dad. He has a lot to learn but who didn't when they became a first time parent? The only difference is she has a huge vocabulary and she can tell EVERYBODY when Daddy messes up...which I think is hilarious. She was our best Christmas gift ever! Then my cousin, Stephanie and her family came in town from Tennessee to spend the holiday with us. We were so happy to see her and her cute little family. I am thinking about stealing Emma and Sarah and not letting them go home...I'm not sure if it will work though. I'm not even to Christmas day. Whew! Ok...Christmas morning I woke Baylee up at 5am! She was not happy. Why 5am you ask?? Well, I was having Christmas breakfast at 9:30am and I need to get Santa finished and cleaned up. Baylee wanted a new i-pod and "teenager clothes." She got the i-pod and the teenager clothes. She put some of her new clothes on...OMG! When did my baby grow up?? Try to shop in the little girls section at Target as long as you can..say no to hollister and aeropostle. Christmas breakfast was a success...everyone was in their pj's. Every year my Dad fusses about driving across town in his pj's. By the way, my mother was still in her pj's at Christmas dinner that evening. Then we had round 2 on Dec. 26. My sister and her family came in from B'ham (3 kids) and we all opened gifts...Let me say it was wild. There was 8 kids under 12...ripping paper and screaming. At one point, I looked down and some the kids were just ripping open presents. But the funny thing...they were not theirs. They didn't care...it wasn't what was in the gift. It was the excitement of the ripping of the paper. Needless to say...we are still recovering from 3 days of Christmas and Baylee's room looks a miniature shopping mall. The perks of being an only child with multiple sets of grandparents. We had a wonderful Christmas and was blessed to spend it with family.

Sweet Home Alabama

Well, those words have never had so much meaning to me since this last week of work travel. First of all, it is no fun to travel at Christmas. Especially, when you have not finished Christmas shopping. I had to go to Ruston, Louisiana. What is in Ruston, you ask?? N-O-T-H-I-N-G! Rain, Fog, and cold. Then to top things off...my family was sick and I was stuck in a hotel room and there was nothing I could do about it. They survived though and realized that life goes on even when Mom is not at home. Especially with reassurance phone calls from me every few minutes...even 1 am texts to Baylee when she was sick to her stomach from too much Chinese food. I got home this afternoon and the house was still standing. The laundry was almost all done...and my hubby is cooking dinner! I hit the husband jackpot folks! I am hoping this doesn't all wear off after a few times of travel. I am happy that we all survived my travels...including the dog. By the way, he is currently standing on me and will not leave my side. ( he is my 4lb Yorkie-poo who thinks that he is a human baby, seriously!) Well, famous last words...Sweet Home Alabama! Thank God!

Ahhh...Christmas!

I love the holidays...except for the tree. See my previous blog entry regarding that, otherwise I love it. By the way, the tree has perked up with the addition of some new stuff and a big bow. You know you are from the South when a big bow can fix things. HAHA! I love the hustle and bustle of it all. The excitement in the air and spending time with family. I am so sad that Baylee finally let go of the idea of Santa Claus. Ok, I must confess...I told her. I was thinking that I was getting too old to be climbing in and out of windows dragging her stuff in from all of my hiding places. Why was I climbing in and out of windows you ask? Well, my backdoor squeaks and we keep bells on the front door just in case Santa can't make it down the chimney. That way Baylee could hear if he came in the door, just in case the reindeer on the roof didn't wake her up. That started during her "Spy Kids" days, when she boobie-trapped everything So, it stuck and till this day, the bells are on the front door. It so funny how I hang on to the little tradtions from Baylee's childhood. I have gotten more organized since my last blog entry and feel that things are back under control. I am looking forward to time off from work and being able to enjoy Christmas without all rushing around. We are staying in town and will just go from house to house this year. I hope everyone has a great holiday and posts lots of pictures!

It's begininng to look a lot like Christmas...

Like week after week in our house...things have been chaotic. The other night I was sitting on the couch thinking about all the time that I use to have when I wasn't working. I lounged around and ate bon bons all day...NOT!! What I missed the most is that fact I could start a project and finish it with out getting interrupted for example...the Christmas tree. That has been a work in progress! It has literally taken me a WEEK to put the 9ft thing up. Last year I purged a lot of ornaments and thought I will go buy all new stuff. Well, that was the plan! Let's just say that my plan didn't work out as expected. Just because it has taken a week to put up the tree, doesn't mean it's a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. Actually it is looking quite plain..to me. I am one of those that has to have everything to match...all the wrapping paper and bags must have coordinating ribbon and sort forth. This year I have come to a conclusion.. 1. Be glad you have a present 2. Be glad your present isn't still in the bag that I brought it home from the store 3. My tree looks retarded. So there, that is Christmas in the Jeffrey-Jackson household. If I get enough energy to get off this couch...I might head to Old Time Pottery and attempt to perk up my tree. But at this moment, my couch feels wonderful and I think there is good Lifetime movie on...Merry Christmas everyone!