Sweetness

My new favorite photo: 

These two have special love for each other. Belle loves to watch Jackson doing whatever crazy, silly thing he may be up to at the moment and she gives him such big smiles! Jackson loves to join in when we are trying to get Belle to give us smiles or giggles and he likes to lay close to her while she flailing her arms around because when she happens to hit him, he laughs and says, "she got me!!" And it's not unusual for Jackson to take a break from his playing to go over and say things like, "Hey Baby girl" and "it's a-ight Belle, don't cry." So precious.

Big and little (Danish Version)

We have a new Big and Little in the house tonight--of the Danish variety! Julie's older brother, Christian, has flown in from Denmark to spend his Easter break here in the states.

Maybe Tall and Not-Quite-as-Tall would be a more accurate description!! This picture looks as if Julie is short, but she is actually quite tall. Christian is just *that* tall. And they totally look so much alike. I was looking through the crowd of people trying to see which one was Christian when I saw a face I recognized even though I'd never seen him before (besides a few pictures and a birthday video for Julie)!! Wow, do they look alike!!

It was so cute watching Julie anticipate her brother's arrival. His plane was late coming in and she was going nuts just waiting! (I can relate.) She really needed to go to the bathroom, but she didn't want to miss when he actually came in. I finally convinced her to just go and then in a matter of minutes, people start walking off the plane. CRAP! I was so worried she was going to miss it!! I'm frantically walked down to the bathroom in the opposite direction of his arrival gate trying to get her to hurry. As soon as I saw her walk out, I am started yelling her name down the terminal. She ran over just as he is walking out of the tunnel thing. Whew. Too close! She met him as close to the doorway as she could and hugged him so tight. And then hugged him again for a solid three minutes. It was so, so sweet. I may have teared up a little... but Julie cried more!

I can only hope that one day, Belle looks up to Jackson with as much admiration as Julie does Christian. Though, I can guarantee that Belle won't have to look quite as far up!

Big and little

Look at these two!! How can you not just fall in love?!

Jackson is sporting his "Greatest Big Brother" shirt that aided in our telling Derek's parents about being pregnant with Belle. And Belle's "Little Sister" (written in glitter!) was our first pink purchase- thanks Grandpa! I've been waiting for months to get this picture!

Jackson is a great big brother. He generally doesn't pay all that much attention to her, he is simply much to busy to be still for any length of time. But when someone else starts to give special attention to her, he has to join in and proudly boast "my little sister!" He all join us in our ridiculous attempts in trying to get Belle to smile and will get excited like we do when she does and at bedtime when he's handing out kisses to everyone in the house, Belle gets a sweet little kiss on the forehead. It is so sweet!