Wowsers!  Has it really been that long??  Guess life really DOES get hectic w/ more than one kid...on that note...I'll start w/ the youngest...

Frannie:
-9.5 months and has mastered the army crawl.  She can reach Blitzie's water bowl in no time flat and scoot under the dining room table quite quickly when I am chasing after her. 
-weighs in at just under 15lbs!  Barely on the charts; takes after her "big" sister in this aspect.
-waves "hi".  Too cute. 
-I am pegging her as the "thinker" in the family. She is often quite serious.
-enjoyed playing w/ wrapping paper on Christmas morning...
-no teeth (means mommy can nurse a little longer...TMI??? sorry...)

Ceci:
-Turns 3 next week! Augh!  When asked what she would like for her birthday she replies, "lipstick and a vacuum..." She'd have made a great 1950's housewife...We will be signing up for gymnastics as a birthday gift to quell some of her energy.
-loved the "doctor stuff" she got for Christmas but when I questioned her as to why she hadn't been playing with it lately she replied, "because no one is sick".
-still attending the Hebrew Congregation school and learning SO much.
-first haircut right before Christmas (seriously, her first one)
-potty trained---whoopie!! (this truly sucked)

Kevin and I are still working on the house. When I say Kevin and I, I mean he is fixing it up while I watch the kids. Just a few little things left, like painting, before we tackle the larger projects such as adding a second bathroom upstairs.

 I have no idea how many chickens we have out in the coop and shed, nor do I WANT to know.  I enjoy the fresh eggs and so do our neighbors.  I remain blissfully ignorant on this aspect of our lives.
Until next update, hugs to all!

Eggs silence all.

 We are counting down the days for newbie to enter our lives. I know we have a little less than a month, but there is no way Abby will go full term. Just when Cecilia has been taught not to make a bloody disaster of anything she touches, we will have another one to teach. Just kidding.  Cecilia is still the whirlwind of disaster. We really do need a dart gun. Just kidding again...She is just "free-spirited",    right?
     We started putting the baby's room together and cleaning the clothes out of storage. Damn, are they small! I think one of the weirdest concepts of the newbie (for me) is going to be how tiny it is. I know we do not have a amazon on our hands, but Cecilia is going to look like a giant walking around. Picture Godzilla or King Kong (as Abby sometimes calls her when she climbs on top of her dollhouse) flinging toys across the room... I have a feeling we will need to put one of the Chubs in a cage for protection.

    I started a rain garden today. I put it out front by the street, in the area you need Noah's Ark to cross. If this system works, it will pull all the water into one area slowly, absorbing into the ground over time and giving the flowers and ferns planted there a nice drink!  James, the mailman, was walking by and said he had never seen a pool in the front yard. I guess that is his way of saying you are a crazy white boy. It does look like a eye sore right now.  Abby said she didn't think people would 'get it' until there were actually plants and landscaping there as well...We'll see! 
     Our neighbors have been scratching their heads since we moved in. We will have to keep loading them up with eggs; eggs silence all. The older lady across the street, Ann, came by and was wondering what I was doing digging up the yard. So I explained it to her and she looked at me like I was eating chicken poop. I told her rain run off is a major contribuator to pollution, etc.  She still looked at me like I was eating chicken poop, so I merely changed the subject and asked her if she wanted some eggs. The promise of eggs silenced her.
     Head scratching aside, we could not ask for better neighbors all around. This is something we have always wanted.  The family behind us has a 3 year-old girl, Ava (Aba, as Ceci calls her).  Ceci just loves her and is thrilled everytime we drive down the alley past her house.  She points and says, "Aba's house!  Aba!!". Very sweet.  Hopefully there will be many more play dates now that they can go outside!  Ava is not too keen on Blitzie yet, though...poor guy.
     I never thought the day would come when Cecilia would become a opionated eater. Seems like anything I cook, she wants something else. Cereal is the main cause of appetite distruction. Abby has made that monster. The other day for instance, I decided to cook over our fire in the dutch oven. I went to the store and grabbed a bison loin; what else would you cook over the fire? It took a few hours of hard labor. When we sat down eat, Abby and Cecilia both took a bite and the next thing I know, Ceci said, "Cereal?". Abby replied, "You want some cereal baby? I think Mommy is going to have some cereal too..." and so on and so forth.. What the hell? The cereal craze started before that, but now it is a three headed monster. Maybe it is not that bad, BUT MY FOOD IS AWESOME. Pick your battles.....
    Spring is here and outdoor activities are a blessing. Being cooped up (no chicken pun intended...) all winter with the "Wild Thing" is not much fun. We did do some winter activites, but the warmer weather DOES make it a little easier to keep Ceci entertained.
   I took Cecilia down to the Winter Farmer's Market last weekend on the bike (Abby was at work and can't ride her bike anyhoo). We had a nice time. For any of you Hoosiers who have not been, it is a pretty good market. The trip was 7-8 miles each way; Cecilia did not like the long trip, note to self. She DID enjoy all the eats at the market and stopping by the playground on the way back. I need to put a portable DVD in  the buggy. Just kidding, she really does not need any more Monkey Show. Monkey Show (Curious George) is like crack to her...
    We have ditched the paci and she's in a real big girl bed (she looks so sweet and tiny when in it, asleep) Next task: Potty Training.  She goes pee pee every day in it, only because she gets "piece canny" (piece of candy, usually Reese's Pieces...) after she goes. HOWEVER, she has started asking for "piece canny" when she makes a messy (#2) in her diaper...and she'll interrupt any meal or activity to go on the potty just to get that "piece canny"...We'll get it figured out someday!
    Till next time, when we'll be the Jackson 5 again (we were once, then we lost Geronimo...),
Take care.
THE JACKSONS

The day before Cecilia turns 2

  Tomorrow is Cecilia's second birthday, but if you ask her she says she'll be three. So my daughter is skipping a year of her life. I think she will regret losing that year... Abby had the day off, so she and Cecilia baked cookies. Trust me, I was surprised too.  They were actually victory cookies for winning the outcome of the traffic violations court date that I had. Kevin: 1; The Man: 0. I do not think Ceci understood what all that meant, so we just told her they were birthday cookies.

Abby and I have been practicing singing Happy Birthday to Ceci for a day or two now. When she sings Happy Birthday, it is always to Pop-Pop; he was the first person she ever sang that song to! She moved up a class this week; she is now a Panda. So long Lambs. The teacher said she knows her colors and ABC's, etc.  In fact she was not letting the other Lambs get a chance to say the color when they used the flashcards in class! I think the real reason is Ms. Misty, the old teacher,  cannot tolerate her WILD behavior and is sticking her with the next chump, Miss Rose ("Wose" as Ceci calls her...). Just speculation though.

 Ceci and I added to the flock (SURPRISE MOMMY!!). We now have two Black Copper Maran chick and one Blue Copper Maran chick. They are about two weeks old. They lay a dark chocolate-colored egg. How cool is that!?  Soon it will be time for our neighbor to feast on some of the older ladies. Today was a great day for laying, too; 8 eggs! The most we have received from them in the past was 7. A new Jackson record.

I read something interesting about their eggs today. Free range chickens can have up to 35% less fat, 60% more vitamin A and 200% more omega-3s in their eggs. Too bad they have been stuck in their coop for the past few days with a foot of snow surrounding their pen. Come on spring! I really cannot believe I am saying that. Winter is a wonderful time of year. Our other beast, Blitzen, ate half of his food due to Cecilia opening up the bin where we store his nibbles. Blitz actually refused dinner tonight and is sitting there looking like he is ready to pop. Kind of like Abby, at least that is we have been told.

 Time is quickly approaching on the due date. We really do not have anything prepared, maybe after Ceci's b-day party this weekend we can get things moving. Our biggest dilemma is agreeing on another girl's name. Abby prefers Bernadette and I am leaning towards Josephine. We like both names, but each one of us prefers the other name. Abby said maybe we should wait till the child is born and if it is a girl, then see what name fits her. I just do not know if we can go into labor with out one of the most important characteristics of the new child up in the air. Hopefully we will be ready......

Jacksons at the IMA

The new coop is up and going. I will upload a few pics here soon. The chickens are loving the heated accomidations, they have started laying again. BRAVO! Cecilia and I added two new ladies to the flock the other day. The farmer said they are New Hampshires, but I do not think in his eyes there are actual different breeds besides dead and not dead. So we have 6 ladies and 6 chicks with a egg or two a day. I hope the spring kicks up the laying. I cleaned out the coop yesterday and to my suprise there were 4 eggs under the tarp where I keep the hay. LITTLE BITCHES! That is white gold in a shell I had to throw AWAY! The eggs went into the compost heap to feed my veggies. I really cannot wait to start the garden in the spring. It is the farmer's life for me...

The whole family went to the IMA, Indiana Art Museum, today. Cecilia was interested in paintings with animals, children and naked boobies. She also loved the clay baby dolls from the asia artifact area. The funny part of the trip was when we were in the modern art floor and a sculpture looked like a genitalia of a man. So I leaned over to Abby and told her what it expressed to me as I was holding Ceci. Cecilia decides yell out "PENIS". Not just once but twice in a very loud voice. We had a good laugh.

With all the snow covering Indy, I bought Cecilia a new sled. This sled is perfect for her. It is kind of like a toboggan with a back and side rails. Saturday We bundled up the chub chub and took her for a ride around the block. The sled has two runners on the bottom made out of plastic. It turns on a dime and is very easy to pull, not like pulling 20 pounds of chub chub is hard anyways. So we were out on the street going for a walk and I was kind of whipping her around in circles. She was having a blast. Abby decided to film a couple of stunts and thats when it happened. The sled hit a groove in the snow and Cecilia went flying. We ran to her side while she laid face down. As I picked her up, Abby was brushing her white coverd face off. She cried a little and was ready to go at it again. What a sport. The great thing is, Abby has it all on tape. So everyone can see my parenting skills at their best.

Birth of second chub chub is nearing, be ready world......