This Moment ~ "Hi"

This Moment ~ Baby Exercise

"This is my kind of workout!"

"Whew...feel the burn!"

This Moment ~ Jack-in-the-Box

Jack Update

Here are some Jack tidbits...
Jack turned 14 months today.  He got another tooth last month.  He still is a very good eater although, he has started to show a preference for some foods over others.  I introduced crayons to him today and the first thing he did was try to put one in his mouth.  I think he was very disappointed when he discovered they were not for eating!  I made some pretty pictures though. :-)

He still isn't walking on his own yet.  He likes to push his wagon around and he has been standing by himself for longer stretches of time.  At his 1 year dr. appointment, the doctor said it wasn't a matter of he can't (walk) it's just a matter of will.  Jack has a lot of that so, we may be watching him crawl for quite a while. ;-)

Jack is full of personality and makes us laugh multiple times a day.  The church nursery workers call him a "delight".  He is very friendly while we are out and about and usually has strangers smiling or laughing at him. A cute thing he has started to do is lay flat on the floor and try to look under closed doors. He will wiggle his little fingers or push things through the crack.  It makes me smile because I used to do the same thing to my brother...poor boy couldn't get away from me!

During the day he will randomly hug me and give me "kisses".  He is such a sweet snuggle bug.  He also is saying quite a few words...hi, wow, dad, on, osss (off), ding, uh-oh, done, nigh nigh (night-night), no and um (yum).  He understands more words than these and can (usually) follow simple instructions.  However, he can be quite stubborn at times and like any 1 year old he tries to push the limits.  He really keeps me moving!

Some of his favorite things right now...music, books, blocks, wrestling, phones, flashlights, food and his bed time blankets and bears.  We love you Jack-Jack!

"Look out Mom...here I come!"

He really gets going fast!

Jack helping himself to an appetizer while I was making dinner.  

 Looking cute while he watches me vacuum!

My little businessman!

This Moment ~ Let's just say I lost...big time!

Thanks for all of the nice comments everyone!  I'm glad you enjoy coming to our little space and sharing in our lives. :-)

It's My Blogiversary!

Today marks 1 year of blogging!  I have to say that I am pretty impressed that I kept up with it.  I am not really that much of a talker or have I ever been able to write more than a few pages in a diary.  I have come to realize though that this could be the ultimate scrapbook that is almost indestructible.  I still love paper scrapbooks (and paper in general) but having all of my materials out on the kitchen table for weeks upon end isn't very realistic right now.  At least, I was still able to put some photos on here and a few words during those sleep deprived months!

I really do love having this blog and being able to keep friends and family up to date on Jack and other pieces of our lives. Through this blog,  I have learned so much about computers and photography.  By the way, I finally discovered what a feed reader is and it has simplified my life immensely.  Seriously, if you read blogs a reader is the best invention (I'm sure you already knew that)!

I have made a few changes around here including a subscription button and a search tab as well.  I wanted bigger photos so I configured a different layout to make that possible.  Let me know what you think.  While we are on the subject, I love comments!  There is a comment section at the end of every post and to a blogger getting comments brightens their day :-)  So, could you please do me a favor if you are reading this...could you please leave me a comment...pretty please...okay, I don't want to beg!  It would just be nice to know if there are more than 4 people who read my blog!

I look forward to sharing the upcoming year with all of you on here.  Let the adventures begin!

Jeremiah 29:11

Christmas at Home Part 2

Here is round two of our family's Christmas.  No pictures of the parents but who wants to see those anyway. ;-)  Jack received a homemade nesting rainbow that was painstakingly lovingly cut out by his grandad.  It took many hours because it turns out a scroll saw isn't the best tool for this project.  Sorry about that Dad!   Boy is it nice though!  I especially love the price of less than $5 as compared to the $80 German version!  Jack loves it too and I can't wait to see his creativity as he grows and comes up with more uses for it.

"Wow!"
  His exclamation to lots of things.

I painted it in true Roy G. Biv fashion!

He thought his mouth was a necessary tool in opening gifts.

He got beeswax crayons and a mama made art book.

His phone was a hit.  He made many calls that day!

"Mom, please can I touch that fancy new camera?"
Aren't these jammies adorable?!
They were a Christmas gift from my Mom and we just had to snuggle his cuteness all day!

I think he found the legos the most fun though...

his eyes just lit up when he saw this...

a very tall tower that just needed to be knocked down!

He also got some musical instruments and a Plan Toys car (an amazing thrift store find!).  It was a wonderful time as we celebrated our Savior's birth together and the family He gave us.

Christmas at Home

We have been enjoying relaxing and fun family time.  We celebrated Christmas Eve at Seth's parent's house and had a wonderful time.  The fire was crackling as we talked and enjoyed a delicious meal together.

We did a photo shoot with Jack's great-grandpa's sled.

He wasn't really into it plus, my camera was giving me issues ALL night (more on that later).

He got some great gifts...farm animals, puzzles and an adorable crocheted whale.

He thought grandpa needed some help opening his gift!

Gift bags make great toys too...

Here I am!

Originally, Seth was scheduled to work all of Christmas weekend so we resigned ourselves to the fact that he would be sitting around in a bullet proof vest until he got a call and would have to leave.  Thankfully, by God's grace they gave him the whole weekend off!  It was kind of fun to start some of our own traditions and wake up in our own bed on a snowy Christmas morning.  We went at our own pace and spread the gifts out over the whole day. 

Speaking of gifts, Seth got me an SLR camera!  He worked a 2 week welding job that more than paid for it and now I have something a little better than my 5.1 megapixel point and shoot camera! I have been playing around with it and testing out the manual focus but it is going to take a while to figure it all out.  I am super excited though *BIG smile*.

We used my old camera for the stocking gifts and the new one for Jack's presents.  Jack really loved the box of raisins and mini animal crackers the best (no surprise since we are talking about food here!).

Jack's Grammy made him this cute stocking. 

His new fun Oball!

I think this picture book of family may have tied with the food!

His stocking loot

This picture makes me happy because he loves to play with Dad on this couch 

and look out the window every chance he gets.

Christmas story and breakfast

We tried a delicious cheddar & bacon loaf that may become a Christmas tradition. Yum!

I will share the rest of our Christmas photos in the next post.  Happy New Year!