Merry Christmas!

After a fun weekend celebrating birthdays and Christmas in Texas we came home to get ready for Christmas.  We loved having family at our house to celebrate Jesus' birthday. Merry Christmas!

We made Christmas cookies using this wondferful gluten free sugar cookie recipe.  I'm not sure what was more fun - eating the cookies or decorating them.  Santa liked our cookies too.  He only left a few crumbs on the plate on Christmas morning. :-)

This is what happens when we turn Daddy loose in the kitchen

Who wants to decorate cookies when you can eat them?

On Christmas Day we had lots of fun playing and sharing gifts.

Daddy got a BIG Christmas surprise!

 

Daddy used the new Big Green Egg he got for Christmas to fix yummy hamburgers for Christmas dinner.  Jack was definitely a fan of bacon cheddar cheeseburgers and french fries. It was a great day and a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The End

We've reached the end! My baby boy turned ONE not long ago!  We took one last Wednesday picture (and it's a good thing it was the last one because he was TOTALLY uninterested in being photographed) . . .

. . . and then it was time to celebrate Jack's birthday!

Jack had a great time on his birthday!  When he went to school on his birthday his teachers threw a party for him complete with his favorite snack (yogurt) and a balloon tied to his bed when he woke up from naptime.  Jack LOVED his balloon. He carried it with him around the house for days. 

That night he had his favorite dinner (beef, sweet potatoes, and pears) before diving in to cupcakes and presents!

Jack playd and played and played that night before he finally crashed (sugar rush from a cupcake, maybe?). The next morning we got to sleep in and then we headed to Texas for a birthday/early Christmas weekend with family.  On the way, we stopped to see a special someone . . .

On Saturday we spent a fun day at Papa and Nana's house. We played and played again, visited with lots of family, celebrated birthday again, and had Christmas, too!  It was a lot of FUN!  Mommy was again bad about remembering to take pictures but Daddy came to the rescue and got a few on his camera. Way to go, Daddy!

On Sunday we celebrated again with GeeGee, Mimi, and Granddaddy. There was cake and presents and snacks and more FUN!  Again, Mommy fell down on the job about pictures. When it was all done, though, we ended the day with a nice, relaxing soak in the tub.

After such a fun weekend it was time to come home and get ready for Christmas!

Winding Down

A while back I shared my Wednesday picture plan to chronicle Jack each week for his first year.  Today is his 51st Wednesday picture and I can not believe it. My sweet baby boy is almost a whole year old!  I'll think about that later. :-) While I have been faithful about taking the pictures each week, I have not been so faithful about posting them to the blog each week. So here's my catch up.

40 weeks

41 weeks

42 weeks

43 weeks

44 weeks

45 weeks

46 weeks

47 weeks

48 weeks

49 weeks

50 weeks

51 weeks

FINALLY! I'm caught up! I promise I will not be as tardy next time. Good thing I've only got one week left before my project is complete and my baby boy is ONE!

November

What happened to the month of November? It was over before I realized it!  Perhaps that's because I spent my time running after a little boy.  After taking his first tentative steps in late October, the week after Halloween Jack decided he had this walking thing down pat - and once he took off he hasn't looked back!

Other major milestones in November were waving (at the appropriate times), turning off the light switch (thanks to GeeGee my house now sometimes has the strobe light look thanks to Jack's new favorite pastime of flipping the switch), and walking, walking, walking!  Once he wakes up in the morning, Jack is a chatterbox! Da-da is the only word we've understood so far, but that doesn't stop him from telling you EXACTLY how he feels.

We made a quick trip to Tyler over Veterans' Day but I neglected to get any pictures. Bad mommy! It was good to see family though, even for a short trip.

We ended the month with Jack's first Thanksgiving. GeeGee came to spend that week with us but she had to go home on Thanksgiving Day.  It sure was fun to have her with us, though!

After GeeGee left we went to visit friends and had lunch with the Freeman family. They are so kind to invite us to join them on special days - and they're lots of fun, too. Jack enjoyed playing with all the big kids. Kathleen, Elli, and Sally were so nice and had made a special "Jack-proof" play area complete with freshly washed toys for him to enjoy (Such sweet little girls! They're great hostesses already!). Barrett and Michael let Jack join them with the guys watching football after lunch, too. He had a blast!  Best of all, Jack enjoyed a yummy Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings.

For the first time ever I was actually off work the day after Thanksgiving. It was so nice to get to stay home with my boys that day. We were busy though! The day after Thanksgiving means that it's time to DECORATE!


I love to decorate for Christmas but I admit that this year I did have to be a little more thoughtful than normal since Jack is in to EVERYTHING these days!  He thought the Christmas tree box was the greatest thing ever!

 That is, until he saw the fully decorated tree. Then he decided that was the neatest thing he'd seen.  Three are definitely zones on the tree this year - Jack-proof ornaments on the bottom, delicate ones up higher, but Jack loves walking up to the tree and touching the branches and ornaments. So far he's been very gentle. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he doesn't get bolder in the next 3 weeks or so.

Once we got the house decorated and presents under the tree we were all ready for Christmas - or so we though! November ended with a super COLD snap that really put us in the mood for Christmas.

So now that we're ready, bring on DECEMBER!