Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope that you all have had a wonderful time celebrating the birth of Our Lord, and remembering the best Christmas Gift of all. I wish you a blessed 2010!

Here are a few pictures from some of our family time this past week...


We set up all her gifts for Christmas morning... I think she was impressed. :o)







Ethan's gift from me... an official Indiana Jones hat, guaranteed crushable and reshapable!



With my stocking that Ethan's mom made me to have at their house



All I got for Christmas is my two front teeth (on the bottom)

Make a Smilebox greeting

Ellasyn is 4 months old!

Ellasyn is four months old! It has been such a wonderful four months. She is growing so fast... right before our eyes! Her personality is really developing and she has become so much more interactive. She adds new "words" to our conversations each day. She is so observant, it is hard to get her to smile for the camera because she is distracted by the red light that comes on before it takes the picture! Four months old means another picture in her rocking chair, more shots, and rice cereal. She was not so sure about the cereal at first, but she chowed down once she figured it out. It is messy, but so much fun! Thanksgiving was great. I enjoyed getting to see family and spend some time at my parent's home. Ethan and I took Ellasyn to Texas A&M's campus for the first time and took some great pictures. (which are on his phone, and will be added later) Our house is decorated for Christmas, and we even had a little bit of snow the other day! I am so excited to share our Christmas traditions with Ellasyn. She will not remember her first Christmas, but she will definately have lots of pictures to look back on. I am so thankful for digital cameras... I just click away and hope that at least one or two turn out with everyone smiling and all eyes open. Here are some pictures of Ellasyn's fourth month, so far... Four months old... in her rocking chair After her shots at the doctor's office. You would never know that she screamed bloody murder for what seemed like hours afterward. ;o) Not so sure about this stuff. Yum! The Jackson 5 (Plus 5) Back Row: Jude, Chris, Merinda, Ethan, Courtney, Ellasyn Front Row: Cassidy, Sharon w/ Penny, Gary The McDaniel Family Ellasyn was not so happy that we woke her up for a million family pictures! She is giving us 'the look' 4 generations: Sharon Rodgers Jackson, Ella Norman Rodgers, Courtney Jackson McDaniel, Ellasyn Hannah McDaniel Cassidy, Sharon, Courtney Cereal, Day 2 Straight to the bath! Helping Momma decorate the tree, she is already amused by my love for seasonal decorations. Looking back at the tree, it is very tall!

Ellasyn is 3 months!

I can't believe three months have gone by. Then again, has it really only been three months!? I never knew that I could love someone so much. It is a different kind of love than I have ever known.

She is getting so big, and changes every day. She is enjoying tummy time and loves to look at her bear that plays music and flashes his red nose. She just talks to it and smiles. I wonder what she is thinking? She rolls over from her tummy to her back, but only after much frusteration. She loves to suck on her arm. I am not sure why... I guess she gave up on her thumb? She is still sleeping well, about a 6-8 hours stretch each night. She is a ladybug for halloween, and has already been to the fall festival at our church.

I have been doing a little design work on the side and also making hair bows to sell at a craft fair. Ethan just finished up his cross country season and has about a week left of 7th grade football. I think we are all glad it is almost over!

Here are some recent pictures of Miss Ellasyn doing what she does best... being the cutest baby in the whole wide world!

Ellasyn goes to OKC

This weekend we went to Oklahoma City to visit family and also for the U2 concert in Norman (which I will post later). Ellasyn did well in the car, until we stopped to switch drivers. She woke up and I spent the last hour or so sshhh-shh-sshh-ing in the back seat with her. We had a great time with everyone and showing off our sweet girl. Ellasyn was a little out of sorts, though. I think that all the extra people and excitement may have been a little too much for her. And the fact that she does not really care for the bottle made things difficult when Mommy and Daddy left her with a whole team of family to care for her. We are so blessed to have such a great family network!

This was Ellasyn's first time out of Texas, meeting Grama, the Ogles (my aunt and her family) and my brother's family (they drove down from Arkansas). She was worn out when we got home!

Sorry there are sooo many pictures... I had a hard time choosing which ones to post.

meeting her cousin, Jude Jackson (born two days apart)


this one makes me laugh every time... like they have choreographed a routine for us...


Marmee and Papa (My mom and dad)

Marmee and Grama with Penny,Ellasyn and Jude





My precious little ghoul ;o)


Ethan and Jude, our only nephew


More pictures from our visit
Mommas and babies

Meeting Uncle Bubba (my brother, Chris)




Grama, Sayre, Teri


Sayre giving Ellasyn her bottle


Our neice, Penelope Jackson, is a firecracker. She had so much fun playing with her babies, reading, chasing our dog Hollie. Whatever Jude and Ellasyn did, Penny's baby did too. It was so funny to watch her, she is very observant.