The trip so far...

Jackson is doing such a great job traveling, I could not be any more impressed on how well he is acting and behaving in the truck and in the hotels. We stayed in Ocala, FL last night and were swimming at 8:30 last night...in the hot tub at the hotel. We also stopped this morning in Wildwood, FL at Grandpa's favorite place, the "75 Chrome Shop". Wow!!!! Hope you enjoy the few pictures I've taken so far.

Jackson and Midnight traveling...Jackson has either been playing with the trucks he brought or watching movies on the DVD player! Midnight is enjoying all the comfy blankets Jackson brought.

Jackson's reaction to the Chrome Shop...just like Grandpa's!!!

Jackson and Grandpa looking at the inside of a Semi with LOTS and LOTS of Chrome...

Brock's Christmas weekend

We were able to celebrate Christmas with Brock this weekend. Here are a few photos:

Opening gifts at Dad's house with Jackson...

Jackson opening a gift early with Brock at Nana and Papa's house...

And Brock opening one of his gifts...

The ornaments that the boys opened were very cute that I couldn't pass up. I bought two ornaments that had "Brother" on each and said "A brother is a true friend, From day one until the very end." These gifts were to each other and then I bought two more that had "Son" on each and said "There is no greater gift than the love of a son." These are the boys ornaments for 2008.

We also put the tree up finally on Saturday when Brock was home. There will be more pictures to come of the tree and the outside of the house with the Christmas lights...it's just too COLD to be outside. The temperature is only...zero degrees!!!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Updates

Just a few updates on the Poling Family...

I will have our laptop back today and be able to post some pictures for everyone to see. I had to have the computer completely wiped out and redone. Seems there were too many viruses to take care of each one individually, so he took care of it all at once. So we should be good to go for a while now.

I just found out yesterday that I will be laid off almost the whole month of January. So after talking Joe and taking care of a few things at Jackson's school...we have decided that Jackson and I will be heading to Florida with my Dad on the 28th of December. It will take us 2 days to get there with a one night hotel stay, we should be in SUNNY Florida no later than the 30th. We will be flying back home on the....are you ready.....the 18th of January!!!!!! I have to go back to work the week of the 19th and then laid off again the week of the 26th. I will be volunteering in Jackson's classroom that week and spend some extra time with him during school.

I hope that while we are in Florida, I will be able to give a full attempt at the "POTTY TRAINING" while we are able to be outside and in the warm weather. We are very excited, Jackson is happy he gets to ride in Grandpa's big white truck and the DVD player will come in handy. This will be a true test as to how good of a traveler he really is.

A quick update

I wanted to let everyone know that we are having a few virus issues (about 150!) on our laptop at home and we will be having it fixed hopefully sometime this week. We will not have access from home but I will be checking things from work. When the laptop is back up and running correctly, I will let everyone know. Until then, you will have to call our cell phones to reach us.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Our Poling Family Christmas Photo

More pictures to come but I wanted to get this one on the website so everyone could see our updated family photo from Saturday's Christmas party at my Mom and Dad's:

Happy Thanksgiving!

We would like to wish everyone a Safe and Happy Turkey Day. Our weekend will be packed as we have lots of family to visit.

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We will be having a mini Thanksgiving on Thursday with the four of us and set up the Christmas decorations before Brock will need to leave to spend the evening with his mother and her side of the family. The three of us will then be heading to my Mom and Dad's and then to Maumee to see my Sister, her husband and his side of the family / more of our family.

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Friday will be the big shopping day!!! YES, I'm one of the crazy people that get up early and shop, shop, shop. I have a few stores in Adrian to hit and then I'm heading to Toledo with family to get to the bigger stores that are not in Adrian. Once I'm home, it will be gift wrapping time and also to finish up any decorating that didn't get done on Thursday.

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Saturday we will celebrate Christmas at my parents home with my side of the family (since my sister will not make it up in December and it is not our holiday with Brock) We will be eating, playing games, opening gifts, spending time with family, more eating, etc...you know the usual!

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Sunday will need to be a relaxing day. We will be going to church in the morning before Brock has to head back and then we will need to clean house from the crazy weekend and then more relaxing.

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For the family that we will not see over the holiday, we wish you a happy holiday and wish that we could spend the holiday with you, but because of certain circumstances that are either beyond our control or due to distance, it will not be possible.

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Enjoy the holiday and many family pictures to come on Sunday.

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Jackson's school progress

Tonight is Jackson's first "progress report" and will be the first conference that Joe and I will attend together for Jackson to see how he is progressing and doing in school. I am very excited because we will see tonight the things that Jackson has done for the last couple of months and things that we and / or he will need to improve on. Pictures and an update to come later tonight...I hope.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKSON

Jackson turned 3 today! He is growing up so fast and I can't believe that he is already 3! Here are a few pictures from dinner at Applebee's:

Everyone singing Happy Birthday...

Gift bag with Jackson's own name...thanks Nana...

Car and truck garage from Dave, Karen and Nene...

Uncle John's Lighting McQueen sleeping bag and pillow...

Waiting for Mommy to finish reading a card...

And here is Jackson, "The Rock Star"...thanks Grandpa and Grandma...

We had a lot of fun tonight with all the families together, after a few hiccups that I think went ok with most, we were able to enjoy dinner and cupcakes and Jackson was able to open up his gifts and as you can see above, play with most and finished playing when we got home tonight.

I can't believe my little boy is already 3 and growing up so fast. Thanks to everyone who was able to come to Jackson's birthday dinner.

Halloween with the Polings

We started our Friday at Nene's and Jackson went to a few houses before he was done and wanted to head back to the house.

The Dragon with Nene getting candy from one house...

At Nana and Papa's house with Mommy, the "Vampire Vixen"...

Jackson had more fun at Nana and Papa's house handing out candy rather than getting the candy, which was very cute and adorable to see. He gave two pieces of candy to each kid dressed in a costume, one piece in each hand.

We had so much fun that night and we were all very tired by the time the night was over.

Kapnick Orchard visit

It was a beautiful day today and Jackson and I spent most of the day in Tecumseh at Kapnick Orchard with my parents and Grandma Bales. Jackson road a pony named "Peanut" and then we fed some animals, a donkey, a mini pony, a goat and a "baa". The sheep wasn't as hungry as the other three so we didn't get a picture with him.

Feeding the pony and donkey at once...such talent!!!

The goat...he was so hungry


Jackson's pony ride with Peanut...

We had such a great day together. Jackson even had time to enjoy his new stroller (from our surprise adoption shower ~ more pictures to come of that day), thank you to the "J's" (I will explain in the shower post) and to Michelle.

He even played "peek a boo" with Mommy coat...

Our Little Dragon

We went camping last weekend and Jackson was able to do a little "Trick or Treating". He tried on 3 or 4 costumes and decided on the dragon. He was absolutely the cutest dragon I've ever seen, I'll let you decide...

Coming out of the "corn maze" for kids...

Eating a sucker...the first of many that day...

Showing off my wings and tail...

One last picture with Mommy before collecting candy!!!

First Day of School

Jackson is loving school and doing such a great job. Joe and I are very proud of how well he is doing and all of the new things he is learning. Here are a few pictures of the first day, I have more, but these are three that I had on my camera. I need to get the rest from the pictures my Mom took that day.

Labor Day Weekend

It was such nice weather for Labor Day that we spent a day at the zoo and another day on the lake before school started for Jackson on Tuesday, here are a few photos from the weekend.

Drowning Grandpa...

Sitting on Mommy...

The famous Elephant at the Toledo Zoo...


A picture of the Lion and her cub and Jackson and his Mommy...

More updates to come!!!

I know it's been a few weeks since I've updated anyone with some pictures. I will work on getting some posted tonight and also update everyone on Jackson and how he is doing with school. We love you all.

School!!!

Well, we just finished with Jackson's Headstart orientation at the school tonight and I am happy to say that he is very excited about school and is looking forward to the bus ride next Tuesday. I am excited that he is excited but nervous at the same time. He is growing up so fast and is becoming so independent.

Here are a couple of photos of him by his locker with his name and the picture he picked out at our home visit. Picture is of a jar of jam or jelly (as Jackson calls it) that starts with a "J".

More stories to come of school, I'm sure...I'm so sorry Aunt Joyce, I will apologize in advance and hope that he behaves all school year.

Jackson's sunflower

We planted a couple of sunflower seeds the beginning of summer and they have grown quite tall. We were only able to make 2 out of the 6 grow, but grow they did. The tallest one began blooming a couple of days ago, I think Grandpa Bales had something to do with it. I do not have any luck making anything grow, but this sunflower is absolutely beautiful. Not as large as last year at my Mom and Dad's, but again, Grandpa Bales had a special touch on making anything grow and look beautiful.

It's hard to believe it's actually been one year since he has been gone and is missed so very much and thought about everyday.

Love you Grandpa!

First fishing trip, boat ride, swim from the boat

Jackson is still a little too young to understand the fishing thing...too much like Mommy, I don't like to wait for the fish, I want to catch. I'm told that's why it's called fishing! Jackson loved the water. He jumped from the boat to Mommy, yes...I was in the water with him, but instructed Joe and my Dad that if any photo was taken of me in a bathing suit, they would have to walk home. They both were able to ride home in the truck.

My little fish!

Papa and Jackson

Enjoying the boat ride...

Ready to go fast!

Jackson kept telling Papa to go faster. I'm not sure who enjoyed the boat ride the most, Jackson or Papa or Joe and I. It was very nice to get the boat in the water, it's been almost two years since anyone has had it in the water.

Grandma Juju was not able to make this trip, we hope next time to have everyone.