Time flies! Here is our big boy lounging on the couch today! He makes life so much fun! I’m really not sure what we did before we had him! He keeps us on our toes!  We love him to pieces!

A bout of tummy trouble in our house has kept us from keeping up with blogging. There really isn’t a whole lot to report since we are kind of plugging along with daily life.

Jackson is almost 16 months old and seems to be learning new things all the time. His favorite past time currently is to carry around his phone (or anything that might have the potential shape of a phone) and talk as he walks. He says “hola, mm hmmm, yeah, bye bye”. He even adds in the appropriate pauses! Jackson is speaking in Spanish and English so that has been amazing to watch him develop both! He is talking a lot and running everywhere. I am having a hard time keeping up!   Last week we went to the park and tried out his “leash”. It is much more innocent than it sounds. It is a cute little bear back pack that happens to have an attachment so we can keep him close. Seth was a bit embarrassed to be seen holding the leash so he quickly was running with a cute back pack and no leash.

Seth is still enjoying his job and has been put on a variety of projects lately. He will be overseeing the Embassy 4th of July festivities this year so that will be fun! And a ton of work for him!

We are busy getting ready for Christmas, making plans and buying gifts. Colombians don’t celebrate Thanksgiving so their trees have been up now for a while. It is a bit tempting to give in and put ours up before Thanksgiving! Peer pressure! Of course we know that this will be a challenging Christmas tree year with a 16 month old! I am going to savor these pre-tree days of not saying “no”! And then we will enjoy it while it’s up!We have already gotten the jingle bells out and Jackson has worked hard to make sure we hear the bells throughout the day to remind us that Christmas is coming!

We are anxiously awaiting our trip home to see family and friends! We are hoping for snow in Dallas and lots of Tex-Mex food!

And on to something random..

This is just a link for a happy song we just heard last weekend, (we are way behind so most of your have heard it) it was our friends first dance at their wedding on Sat and we really liked it…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPUJIbXN0WY]

That’s about it from here! Hope you are all well!

Jackson enjoyed getting to run through the halls this year the the Embassy Trick-or-treating.   He was very cautious with everyone in costume but didn’t seem scared.  Here is a short video and some photos…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D1h3nfMTF4]

Already on the run 5 mins into it!

“My mommy told me to be cautious about men in tights.” Jackson slowly backed away like he wasn’t sure about them!

“Mommy, monkeys do not kiss mommies”

Last night Seth and I went to the 233rd Marine Birthday Ball. It was a fun night with co-workers and friends. Seth hasn’t worn a tux so much in his whole life as he has this week!

Sorry the picture sizes are a bit mixed up in this post. Oh well!

Last night Seth and I went to the American Society Gala at the Ambassador’s residence. It was black tie and quite fancy! We were so tired as dinner didn’t start until after 9:30. They had raffles at the end of the night. We waited despite my increasingly fussy contacts from being up so late. I told Seth I knew we would win. They had emeralds and plane tickets and goodie baskets and hotel stays, etc. We waited and after the first couple of prizes my name was called. As Seth ran up to recieve my prize I leaned and asked the lady next to me what we had one. I had difficulty hearing the guy at the microphone. She leaned over and said “you won a basket of dairy products!!!” She was so excited! I was kind of confused. Seth came back with a massive basket of cheese, yogurt drinks,  etc. So weird. As we waited hoping that Seth would win 2 plane tickets, she leaned over and said “do you like your prize???” Well of course, we have always dreamed of winning a basket full of dairy products! So it was quite funny. We will have to give some away as there is no way we will comsume enough before it all expires!  I actually really like the basket that all of the cheese came in so that is a bonus!!!

And then on to even more interesting things, Jackson asked us to post some pictures of him up on the couch to prove his climbing ability! …

Just chillin in my “life is good” shirt that has a sippy cup and says “half full”

much more comfy with my shirt pulled up, belly out and pants hiked up

“I wonder if she can tell I am about to stand on the couch…..worth the risk!”

“AAAHHHH, my mommy doesn’t let me stand on the couch!!!!!!!!! Definitely feeling like life isn’t good and it is more of a half empty kind of day”