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!