The latest and greatest from Crystal, Jared, Jackson, Lila & Cameron!
Every morning I get to read just a tad of the newspaper. Jackson often likes to look at a section and check out the latest happenings in Dallas. Now, Jackson was just reading the Metro section, but I can't find him all of a sudden. Where could he be?
There he is!
Jackson was in a great mood all day long. This kid was such a wiggly worm, though, that it was really challenging to take his picture. This is the best fam shot we got:)
Jackson and Madison with their Gigi
Jackson is teething right now, hence the fingers in the mouth, but I love the big bow in Miss Madison's hair!
Jackson got to visit with his Uncle Andrew
and hang out with his Uncle Scott, too. What a fun day!
It's very snowy at the North Pole!
Our Santa Excursion group
After a little lunch, we went down to the play area. Jackson had such a good time there. We might just have to go back sometime soon. Mama does like to shop:)
Love that smile:)
Here they are at the beginning of the afternoon. Jackson had so much fun pushing Madison in the jumperoo and she LOVED it...just look at that huge grin on her face! The difficulty came when I decided that I would try and get them both down for their afternoon naps. I somehow got Madison to sleep first by just rocking her in J's room. As soon as I tried to lay her down, though, she woke right up and looked at me like, "what exactly are you trying to do?" Then I decided to take both of them for a car ride. As I suspected, Jackson fell asleep before we got half way down the street. This was encouraging, so I drove around a little bit longer, just to ensure he was good and asleep. We came back home and I got him out of the car first, but before I got him all the way into his crib he woke up. At this point I was starting to get a little bit flustered! Now Madison was screaming in the car and Jackson was hollering b/c he wanted out of the crib. Arghhh! After about another half hour of rocking Madison and getting her back to sleep, Jackson decided to start making noise (why he wasn't asleep by now was beyond me). I didn't want him to wake her up, so I went over to his crib. He started whining and asking to be held, so I had no choice but to pick him up, too. And that's how I got myself into this conundrum...
After about 30 more minutes of rocking both of them, they both fell asleep! Only problem with that is that I was stuck in the chair. My mom did come back and rescue me. Hallelujah! My right arm (the one under the 30 pound child) was completely asleep. 
and then moved indoors for a little more domestic flare.
Jackson really loves playing in the kitchens...hmmm, maybe a future chef? Wouldn't that be nice:)
We attempted to let all the big kids make their own cookies. It began with them sitting down and putting on aprons.
That lasted about 2.7 seconds and the apron came off! Jackson was the only kid that flat out rejected the apron. 
Some of the kiddos were really trying to roll out the cookie dough and use the cute little cookie cutters. Jackson pretty much said no thanks to the entire process. Oh well, his mama sure liked the delicious finished products--icing, sprinkles and all!
Jackson and I made signs (ok, so I really made them and Jackson mostly hollered at me b/c all he wanted to do was mess with the tape...he even crawled up onto the kitchen table when I put the tape in the middle of it. Who knew scotch tape was that much fun?) Here he is practicing holding the sign for Grandma.
He did so good for the real thing! He actually held his sign for at least 30 minutes while we waited for Grandma. Now that's dedication!
Yay Shelley!
Here they are right before I left. 
Jackson is really into reading books right now, so he started bringing them to Gigi. After story time, she asked him if he wanted to go get some dinner at Wendy's. He agreed that a good cheeseburger sounded pretty tasty, so off they went. He even waved and said "bye bye." Wow. What a difference! So much for the old days of screaming whenever he thought I might be leaving. I feel so much better and so does he:)
He really has outgrown his big bear. Oh well...he still had fun sitting on it for a little while. After this, he drug it into the living room and put the new monkey that he got at the zoo on its lap. Then he sat down beside the monkey and was so happy with himself.
We began the day with a great breakfast at the Ol' South Pancake House. De-li-cious. Jackson chowed down, as did the rest of us. Here's the crew as we entered the zoo.
Grandpa, Jackson and Jared with a very large gorilla just hanging out behind them.
The silly monkey himself being a little bit goofy.
Grandpa and Grandma Hays with J and the elephants
The fam checking out the giraffes and ostriches.
Grandpa bought some food to feed the fish...Jackson would throw in only one pebble at a time:) Guess he wanted the moment to last as long as possible.
Big daddy lion just roaring at all of us. It was really cool!
Mama lion and her cute little cubs
Enjoying a safari ride
Checking out their wing spans. I'm pretty sure Jackson had no idea why they were all standing there with their arms outstretched, but he went along with it!
We ended the day by taking a short train ride back to the entrance. Our feet were so happy with this decision.
The silly little guy and his new monkey. He was asleep in the stroller before we made it all the way out to our car. Such a big day!
His favorite part about this playdate was not the cookies, finger sandwiches or craft time. No, all of those were fun, but not nearly as great as playing with the beans and rice in this table. Who knew?! After some lunch and a nap, the dragon was ready to make an appearance again.
He did so good--the headpiece stayed on the entire night! 
Miss Madison came over to trick-or-treat with us. She was such a cute little dragonfly.
Jackson had a pretty sweet gig. For most of the night, he got to ride in the wagon and just make pit-stops for candy. Our neighborhood organized a halloween parade and encouraged everyone to sit out by the curb with their candy. This was such a good idea and really made trick-or-treating a cinch!
Some of the neighbors stayed in their houses, though, so Jackson still got to go up to them and get some candy.
After the parade, we headed over to see what kind of candy Grandma and Grandpa Hays had at their house. Jackson got to hang out with them for the rest of the night while we went to a Halloween party. We had so much fun! Thanks, Rachavongs for such a great time.
Slash, Axl Rose, Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo
Us girls--unfortunately my camera blurred the shot of all the girls who were there, so this is the best one I have:(
All the guys. 
