Our 15 Most Memorable Moments in 2015

I saw this done on another blog here and thought it was such a great idea that I'd do the same! 2015 had so many wonderful moments in it for us, with the exception of a couple not-so-wonderful moments mixed in. I felt like this was the perfect way to document our most memorable moments for 2015... so here goes!

#1

At the end of January, we took Jackson to Disneyland in California for the first time and it was just as magical as I dreamed it would be. Not only is this on my top list of favorites for 2015, but it is probably in my top 5 moments of my life! It was such a special little trip for us and to see Jackson light up when he saw Mickey for the first time was just amazing!

#2

In February we got a good sized snow-fall and Avery got to experience snow for the first time while Jackson got to make his first snow man! It was very exciting for both of them!

#3

Avery started taking her first steps at the end of February at around 9 months old.

#4

We surprised Jackson with a Big Boy bedroom re-do.

#5

We celebrated Avery's first Easter!

#6

We lost Jake's grandmother suddenly in early April. A very sad moment in 2015.

 #7

Avery turned One on April 28th and we had a party for her in early May!

#8

We said goodbye to our sweet dog, Libby, in late May. :-( One of the worst moments of 2015.

#9

Jackson played his first season of t-ball.

#10

We sold our first home in July!

#11

We closed on our new home in September!

#12

We celebrated Jackson's 4th Birthday with a Halloween Themed birthday party!

#13

We celebrated Jake turning 30 with a big 30th birthday party for him!

 

#14

I became an aunt again! Baby Emerson was born on November 17th!

#15

We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas together with family!

Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Program!

Sadly enough, my 8 weeks of maternity leave ended yesterday as I went back to work and had to leave this pretty girl at home with Maw Maw.

 It went better than expected and we're trying to get back into our routine. Thankfully, Jackson went to Vacation Bible School every day last week, which started at 9 a.m., so that was a good way of easing back into a morning routine. 

(Jackson's first day of Vacation Bible School)

Avery is sleeping really well through the night, only waking up once between 4-6 to eat a bottle and then she goes back to sleep until around 8 or 9! So that's super helpful because both Jackson and Avery are asleep while I'm getting ready for work! That makes life a whole lot easier for me. Just hopefully this schedule continues! Anyone with a baby knows that their sleep patterns can change in an instant.

Avery sleeps great at night, however, she doesn't take very good naps. :-( So in the evenings when she's fussy, I have been putting her in the stroller and taking her and Jackson for a walk up to the park. She loves being outside and going for walks and will often fall asleep, so its a win win because it calms her down and it lets Jackson get rid of some energy!

So hopefully now that things are sort of back to normal, I'll be blogging a little bit more often. I have a lot to share from the time I've had off with the kids. We tried to do as many fun things as possible and hope to continue that the rest of the summer with some fun things we have planned. :-)

Insta - Lately

Here are just a few pictures I thought I'd share from Instagram lately. If you don't already follow me, you can follow me by going here, I'm amyrs81.

Lots of flags for the 4th down by the arch. St. Louis has a great fair every year for the 4th of July with spectacular fire works.

I got Jackson a new patriotic binkie over the weekend so I put him in his patriotic jammies that night and snapped a picture!

Monday, having breakfast at Jack in the Box while we got an oil change in our car! I came prepared with lots of cars to keep him occupied. We also went for a walk while we waited. Glad I brought the stroller along as well!

Bathtime!

Jackson playing in his pool Monday morning!

Jackson and I built a huge lego tower in Nursery Class last Tuesday night at church.

Last Friday driving home from work. Yay for the weekend!

I'm linking up here:

Asking for Prayers

Without going into too many details, Saturday night we got a phone call, letting us know that my husband's dad had passed away. 

Late that evening, Jake and his 2 brothers drove from St. Louis, MO to Phoenix, AZ (where their dad lived) to take care of everything.

Its been an emotional and exhausting last couple of days for them and I just ask that you'll keep them in your prayers.

Jake wasn't super close with his dad, but nonetheless, it was his dad and its still hard.

Thanks so very much for your thoughts and prayers.

Just a Quick Weekly Update

This week has been... well, not so great! 

I was off work Monday for President's Day and also off Tuesday because Monday was my normal Monday off. Having those days off was great, but the not so great part is that we all ended up with the Stomach Flu! 

I should start by saying, this stomach flu was like no other I've ever known. It was like a Super Virus or something. It actually hit my sister's family over the weekend, going through all 4 members of her family. Monday, it hit my parents and by Monday night it hit Jackson. Jackson, only really threw up once and never even acted like his stomach hurt, but he had terrible diarrhea ALL WEEK LONG! I mean like explosive diarrhea. (Sorry if thats TMI, ha!) Let me also add, that this is not fun to change when your own stomach is all upset! He actually still has it, but it seems to be getting a little bit better. Yesterday I must have changed at least 8-10 poopy diapers, and he had to have 2 baths. To make matters worse, all of that caused a diaper rash, even though I was changing him as soon as he would go.Thankfully, when he woke up this morning, his diaper rash was pretty much gone and I've only had to change 2 poopy diapers today.

The flu hit me Tuesday night and Jake Wednesday morning! It really has been awful. :-(

Thursday, we got a huge snow/ice storm. We were all still home sick, so thankfully we didn't have to get out in it.

Today, Jake went back to work and I stayed home with Jackson because he was still having diarrhea and I just didn't want my mom to have to deal with it. Thankfully, its been better today and I think it may be safe to say that we are all on the mend. Thank goodness! I was able to get the house all cleaned and sanitized today, which feels good.

So thats why I haven't really blogged this week. Its just been a not-so-fun week. Here's to hoping this weekend and next week are better.

To end the post on a happy note, here are a few pictures from this past week that I posted on Instagram. (Most from before we all got sick.)

Jackson's first time on the carousel at the mall last Friday night. He loved it.

Sunday morning at church in the Nursery Class. I had nursery duty, and I couldn't help but get a picture of these three cuties eating their cookies together. ☺

These next two are from Sunday night. Jackson snuggling with Daddy and...

Jackson standing on his toy! He's becoming a little monkey.

My super silly boy eating lunch on Monday.

Jackson decided to join Libby in her kennel Tuesday evening! Ha.

He also decided to help Daddy out on the computer!

Thursday morning couch time, watching Disney Jr. and trying to get over the flu.

Later Thursday morning as the snow and ice started to come down. You can't really tell from this picture, but the snow flakes were huge!

I hope you all had a better week than we did and I hope you all have a great weekend.

Link Up: "A Day in the Life " [Via Instagram]

I'm so excited to be hosting this link up with my good friend Holly! I hope this helps us all get to know one another a little bit better and that we can all make some new friends!

We'd love for you to add our button to your post!

<a href="http://luvinmylabs.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z468/suit1/linkupbutton.jpg" alt="linkup" width="295" height="295" /></a> <br />

So here goes...

My day starts out at around 6:20 a.m. (sometimes a little sooner, depending on if Jackson wakes up).


 On a normal day, Jackson has already had a bottle sometime around 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. and usually goes right back to sleep. So he will normally sleep during the whole time I'm getting ready for work, which is great!! ☺

I usually get up and get right in the shower. I shower, do my make-up, do my hair and get dressed all by around 7:15. In the mean-time Jake gets up and feeds the dogs and lets them out and gets ready for work himself. He usually leaves the house at around 7:00 a.m.

My mom usually gets to our house at around 7, so that she can watch Jackson for us while we're at work. I'm so thankful to have her watching Jackson for us. My mom usually puts on a pot of coffee in the morning when she gets to my house, so I always have a cup on the drive into work. :-) This is very necessary.


At around 7:20 or 7:30 I drive to work.
 

I have to be at work by 8:00 a.m. I work for the Federal Court of Appeals in downtown St. Louis. I really do love my job. Its not necessarily what I ever had planned for my life, but I do love it. I work with great people and my job is pretty low-stress.
 

This is the view from my office window.


One of the first things I do in the morning is send out the morning announcement. I work in an office of around 40 people and I'm the receptionist of the office, so I find out who won't be there that day and send out an office-wide e-mail saying who will be out. Through-out the rest of the day, I answer the phones (which is my main job). I also enter new attorneys into our database that want to be admitted to our court and I do a few other clerical type things when needed, like make copies, scan in documents and help people with questions that come into our office.

  I go to lunch from 1-2. I usually just grab something close-by.
 

And then at around 5:30 (usually a few minutes later) I finally get to go home. ☺ I work 9 hour days so that I can have every other Monday off! I love this schedule.


The favorite part of my whole day is getting home to see this little guy waiting for me. :-)
 

I usually get home at around 6:15. Jake has already been home with Jackson for about an hour by this time. Once I get home Jake will usually start cooking dinner and I'll spend some time with Jackson.

He sometimes helps me with a little laundry...
 

...and I often feed Jackson while Jake is fixing dinner.


Once dinner is done, we'll eat, and I usually give Jackson some little snacks.

After dinner, I will usually give Jackson a bath. He loves bathtime. ☺


After bath-time, I put Jackson's jammies on him and let him play for a little while. 

After a little playtime, I usually give Jackson a bottle and I rock him to sleep. ♥


He usually goes to sleep between 8 and 9, so that still gives Jake and I a little time together to relax and watch some t.v. before heading to bed ourselves.
 

We're usually in bed by around 10 or 10:30, (11 at the latest).

And that pretty much sums up my average day. Its nothing too exciting, but I enjoy it. ☺

Now its your turn. I can't wait to read all about your day to day routine and meet some new friends!