Merry Christmas!

Ho Ho Ho Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Jackson's 2!!

My oh my how the time has flown over the past two years. It's hard to believe our little baby boy is now 2 years old! It's so cliche to say, but it really does seem like just yesterday we were rushing to the hospital and he was a teeny, tiny little bundle of perfection. He's still perfection - just a much bigger and sometimes sassier version! =)

We just finished up a three day extravaganza to celebrate... Thursday party at daycare, Friday fun with Mommy, Daddy and Caroline on Jackson's birthday, and then a Saturday party with all the family over. We were ALL pooped Sunday (and even Monday), but it was all worth it as we had an amazing time!

Goofing around - jumping on the bed in one of Daddy's high school baseball jerseys

Always lots of love for his sister!

Digging his new Fisher Price iXL game... woohoo! So glad, because we apparently could have made a FORTUNE on ebay as this has turned into one of the hot toys this season... who knew we had such great intuition?!

Neato Mickey Mouse birthday cake

Blowing out the candles with Daddy

Everybody Smile!

Finally, we did it! After a blizzard-induced reschedule, we were able to skip off to the studio and get some pics done. It was a big day... Christmas pics, Caroline's 3 months and Jackson's 2 year pictures (goodness where has time gone?!), and we even had time to swing by to say hi to Santa!

Both kiddos really did great and we had no major meltdowns that couldn't be solved by a bottle of milk (Caroline) or an Oreo (Jackson)! =) And of course, the best part is we got some wonderful pics of our two cuties to capture the memories!

Deck the Halls

I LOVE putting up the Christmas trees (yes, we put up two) each year... and this year was no exception as Jackson was able to help out and had an absolute blast doing so. He really loves hanging up the decorations... and maybe once he's taller than 3 feet we'll have a few more decorations a little higher up on the trees =) Luckily Daddy was available to act as the ladder!

And how did miss Caroline enjoy the festivities, you ask? Well, I'd say she was pretty darn pleased with the whole thing, don't you think?!

Tis the Season

We made it through Thanksgiving, the tree is up and signs of Christmas are appearing throughout the house. Next up, another of my favorite parts of the season - picking out the family Christmas card (and of course the photo to go on it)! As I have for the past few years, I'll once again be ordering ours from Shutterfly - especially because they have an absolutely wonderful promotion for bloggers to earn 50 free cards! Check it out at http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Since the kiddos have come along, we seem to be racking up more and more purchases from Shutterfly. Of course, I can't complain as I'm always a satisfied customer! We've made custom calendars the past two years. This year we used pictures of Jackson each month from the previous year, so we have a "then and now" comparison - it's rather fun to see what he was doing during each month last year and compare to now! And since our little man is such a book lover, we have several custom photo books as well that I've designed - our vacation to Shedd Aquarium and Brookfield, ABCs, Plains and Trains, and most recently a Colors book... Jackson loves them all!

Our birth announcements for both kids also came from Shutterfly; although after ordering Caroline's I noticed that I must favor designs by Stacy Clair Boyd at Shutterfly, as it seems both last year's Christmas card and her announcement are rather similar... ooops =) I promise to studiously review all the Christmas Photo Cards and holiday photo cards available to ensure this doesn't happen again and we will have a new, unused design this year! There are literally hundreds to choose from, the hardest part will be making the final decision!

And remember, if you're a blogger, you can get in on all the fun as well to earn your 50 free cards!

Happy Thanksgiving

Caroline's first Thanksgiving... she couldn't have a prouder big brother! We certainly have a lot of blessings to be thankful for here! =)

Farmin...

Check out how well Papa can multitask... combining corn + wrangling both Jackson & Caroline! =)

Halloween Fun

Caroline's first holiday was definitely a success... granted, she slept through most of the "trick-or-treat" excitement, but hey she looked absolutely adorable as a little pumpkin ballerina. And big brother Jackson was definitely a hit decked out as a farmer with his John Deere tractor costume. He and Daddy had quite the fun time making this one, and I do have to say it turned out pretty neato - complete with working headlights and taillight!

Cheering on Our Favorite Team...

Just in case you weren't aware, here at the the Tautkus household we are pretty big fans of our favorite college team - the Illini, of course! So naturally when we were at the studio getting our pictures taken earlier this week, we had to get one of the kiddos sporting their Illini gear.

Ready to cheer on the Illini... Let's hope they beat Purdue tomorrow - I L L!!

Pictures!

Picture time again... little miss Caroline turned a month old just over a week ago (I know, you're thinking "really, already?!" - it's gone fast for us, too!), so getting some professional pics done was a must! Love, love, love that our kiddos are so adorable, happy and rather photogenic!

Without further ado, here they are... Caroline @ 1 month, Jackson @ 22 months...

We finally have a new family pic,

and a season-appropriate one at that! =)

Our New Favorite Song...

We've decided on a new favorite song here at the Tautkus household... the lyrics to Sweet Caroline seem to be popping up more and more often. Might possibly have something to do with the arrival of the newest family member, Caroline Jane Tautkus! She came just a bit earlier than expected, and in a hurry (just like her big brother Jackson) - and of course we couldn't be happier!

Caroline was born at 3:51 am on September 15, weighing in at 7 pounds 3 ounces and measuring 21 inches long. Cute as can be and the perfect addition to help round out the "boys vs girls" counts in the household.

We're head over heels for her, and big brother has been absolutely AMAZING with her - he's even shared his blankie with her several times - for those of you who know him is a really big deal. Seems like we're going to have to keep her after all! =)

Best Big Brother around, hands down!

Reminds Mommy of her big brother in this picture! =)

August Recap

August... well, it seems that August has flown right by without a blog post. So that no one misses a WHOLE MONTH of Jackson, we'll have to have a catch-up post to highlight some of our fun! Here goes...

Lots of fun decorating Daddy's Birthday Cake!

Music Day at Daycare... we love to dance!

Papa's first place pumpkin

Cruising on the fair rides

Woohoo, a semi ride - always a big hit with this boy!

Random self portrait with Mommy

Finally, a pic with Grandma and Papa and all the Grandkids!

Just the cousins

Can you believe it, Jackson already took his first airplane ride! He had a GREAT time with Daddy, Stephie, Chris and Papa T!

Checking out the sights with Daddy... I think Daddy was just as happy as Jackson to be up in that airplane!