A White Christmas

For the first time in Dallas' recorded history, we experienced a white Christmas! It was a magical feeling to watch the snow fall on Christmas Eve. Luckily, we didn't travel and could just enjoy the white weather. Here we are enjoying the snow outside my parents' house on Christmas morning.

Jack loved the snow and threw some impressive snowballs

Hmmm, what is this cold, white stuff melting on my mitten?
Jack with my parents (Mimi and Pappaw)Jack with Aunt Kristi. She was very helpful in packing the snowballs.And, before I forget to mention, we did open presents too! Jack opening his "big" gift: a pop-up tent with attaching tunnels. He loves it, and I love that it folds up afterwards!Overall, it was a lovely Christmas and we enjoyed spending time as a family. I hope that it's not our last white Christmas here, but if so, then we have plenty of pictures and footage to last. It's not everyday a Texan gets to have a snowball fight!

2 days left...

Merry Christmas Eve (Eve)! I am getting really excited for Christmas this year. I can't wait for Jack to open his presents. Hopefully this year he can get past the excitement and allure of the bright ribbons and bows, and instead appreciate the actual gifts! During his naptimes the past few weeks, I have spent my time wrapping gifts and getting things ready for the big day. Of course, all the pretty gifts are stuffed in my hall closet, safely out of the reach of curious Jack. He finally learned to leave the tree alone, at least until Mommy leaves the room that is. He has been a real angel lately about things that he knows he is not allowed to play with. For example, last night he picked up the remote control. He then walked over to me and freely of his own will, gave it to me while sweetly smiling. WHAT? Did he really just give up the remote without a fight?! Wow, talk about evolving. So I figured I could trust him, right? Fast forward to this morning, and I have the diaper wipes out ready to change Jack. He decides to go off to play in his room, so I decide to go use the bathroom real quick. Big mistake. By time I get back, Jack has returned from his room and emptied the entire contents of the diaper wipe box all over the floor. And he pulled each one of the wipes out individually! Now, they're all stuffed back into the box, not connected, so you have to reach into the box over and over and over again for each wipe! So now, I'm a little more cautious of Jack's "evolving"- is he really more angelic, or just even sneakier? Do ya'll have any sneaky kid stories to share?

It's the little things

Jack is doing so many precious things lately; I feel crazy trying to remember them all! Here's one example of his cuteness. Earlier this week I put Jack down for a nap...1 hour later and he's still awake, playing in his crib. He usually falls asleep pretty quickly, so I went in to check on him. Turned out he needed a diaper change- so I changed him and put him back in his crib (anticipating screaming and crying b/c he HATES if you take him out of his crib, and then immediately put him back in the crib). So to placate him, I tucked a blanket around him and he gave me the sweetest smile as if to say, "thank-you Mommy." Ahhhhh. 10 minutes later I check back in, and here's what I find: He was fast asleep in the comfort of his blanket. Ever since he was a newborn baby, he has always buried his head in blankets and cushions to sleep. I don't know how he breathes, but he just loves to snuggle. And that is just one of his many adorable qualities.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's our Thanksgiving recap:

Remember how I previously posted on how wonderful nursery is? Well, it turns out there's a down side. It's called catching a cold, and getting an ear infection. Poor Jack was sick over Thanksgiving, and because our family in Midland was sick too, we decided to stay home and not risk Jack getting worse. So we spent Thanksgiving day at home alone, eating zero turkey or dressing!! Luckily, we had a nice turkey dinner the next day at my parents' house. My sister Kristi was in town, so we got to spend some quality time together. Here we are at a creek feeding the ducks. Jack was so adorable the way he threw the bread. He threw it so hard at the ducks, and then he didn't understand why they waddled away from him when he tried to walk up to them.

Aunt Kristi and Jack sharing a moment

Here's some footage of Jack's throwing skills:

Saturday night we ice skated! I've always loved ice skating, especially around Christmas time. We went to the Galleria mall in Dallas, and they had the biggest Christmas tree I've ever seen. It spanned 5 levels, and was beautifully lit.

me and Jon

me and Kristi

We had a good time, and I can't wait for Christmas! This is my favorite time of year. Happy Holidays everyone!

Nursery

A few weeks ago, our new ward's Elder's Quorum president dropped by for a visit. During our conversation I remarked how excited I was for Jack to start nursery in a few weeks. The EQ prez responded a little smugly, "well, you know, if he stays in nursery. Some kids don't like it, and end up staying with the parents."

Fast forward to a few weeks later... I'm taking Jack to nursery for the first time, and so I ask the teacher if I could stay for awhile. I figured Jack might at least put on a show and cling to my leg for a COUPLE of minutes. Nope, the second I put Jack down he was off and running to the toys, playing with the duplos and car garage, talking to the other kids, and completely ignoring me! Honestly he couldn't have cared less where I was. I actually ended up with another kid in my lap while Jack played with a 3 year old. (At this, he did kind of give me a weird look, as if to say, "Hey kid, that's my spot!") After about 45 minutes of this, I told the nursery leader I might as well leave and enjoy the rest of church. Jack watched me leave the room, and I thought that this might make him cry because he DOES NOT like to see people leave. No, no, he doesn't care. Just goes on playing. After church, Daddy picks Jack up and tells me that he found him sitting on top of the table, taking the crayons out of the bucket and putting them back in the bucket. That sounds about right.

Well, I am thrilled that Jack is so social and happy. And I am especially happy to be able to sit through the last 2 hours of church without him, able to actually listen and participate! At least until the next kid comes around...as my mom happily pointed out to me.

Pictures, Galore!

Over a month ago we moved into our new home....and it has taken me way too long to post pictures! Sadly I didn't take any "before" pictures, so I'll just tell you what the walls looked like pre-painting. Enjoy.

Jack's room. I LOVE his stripes, and the photos really don't do them justice. Sigh. Anyways, every single wall in his room was a greenish brown color. ICK. So we did this feature wall with chocolate brown, royal blue, and this awesome green (which isn't translating in the picture).

The other walls were painted a white. Sorry I don't remember the cheesy paint name for the color, but they're white!

Jack's bathroom- I thought the monkey shower curtain was appropriate for a toddler! This room was a dark blue before, and it just made the room feel even smaller. So I chose an aqua, which brightened it up.

Second bedroom, currently used as an office. This was by far the most drastic improvement. The entire bedroom was covered in bubble-gum pink, Yuck. It is now silver-gray. This silver is used in the dining room and our bedroom because we loved it so much.

The two below pics are of the entry, but I couldn't get a good shot in just 1 picture. I love the alcove here. Oh yeah, this was a green entry before. It's now a pink-white, which was supposed to have darker stripes to contrast....but that didn't happen. Oh well, a future project, right?

One thing that sold me about this house was its beautiful entryway, and how it uses arches to lead to different parts of the house. We chose to paint them red- they were just white before.

The kitchen, duh. I fell in love with the layout. Because it's open, Jack loves to run a loop around the kitchen, living room, and hallway. What a cutie.

We only painted the arch. We were too tired and beat-down to paint the kitchen!

The dining room. We did a lot here. Before it was white, with the window seat painted an orange-red. We painted the bottom walls/window seat a deeper red, and the top walls silver. We also did the chair rail ourselves, amazingly. Actually, it was pretty easy.

Our living room, we just painted the wall behind the fireplace a chocolate brown. Before it was a purple color.

Master bedroom, featuring the silver again. This wall was previously the icky greenish-brown color.

Normally, I wouldn't have put a pic of our bath on here, but let the record show that it was a dark green before. Now it's a sky-blue and it feels much, much lighter now.

Lastly, my favorite 2 men enjoying the back yard. Love it.

That concludes our tour for today. Thanks for stopping by!

A Day in the Life...

While not each of these pics were taken on the same day, they show the latest adventures of our growing boy. In one week he'll turn 18 months old! He is continually learning new tricks, which never fail to entertain his captive audience.

Has anyone seen my shoes? Of course!- in the kitchen sink- where else would they be?

On our way to a party: (from left) angel, pirate, and Magnum P.I.

Captain Jack!

Swinging pirate

Here Jack's placing his little trucks on his big truck. He had such intense focus while doing this, I had to capture it on film!

Like father, like son. Jack helping Daddy play video games.

Ahhhhh, I LOVE this picture! My cuddly boy snuggling Mommy.

Mommy's Little- BIG helper

You see this little boy to the left? He is learning all sorts of new skills lately, (including brushing his teeth.)

In addition to this, Jack has become a great helper. He loves to help me clean- it's so cute! He LOVES the broom and dustpan and follows me around helping me sweep. He also picks up crumbs off the floor and throws them in the trash. Perhaps the cutest thing he does is when he takes a dish-rag, wipes the floor with it, and then shakes it over the trash can!! How adorable is that?! He's also learning laundry skills by handing me the laundry to throw in the washer (in addition to a few toys as well). He's great at throwing things in the dryer- mostly non-laundry items. And lastly, he loves closing doors. After seeing me and Jon constantly closing doors to keep Jack out of rooms, Jack thinks it's normal to close every single door. If he sees an open door he runs to slam it shut. I never realized how observant this little boy is. He studies you to learn how to do tasks, and then puts his new-found knowledge to work! I'm a little concerned that he's eagerly watching how I open the pull-out freezer drawer. I just know I'm going to find frozen peas scattered across the kitchen floor soon. In the meantime I'm enjoying my little-Big helper.

PAINT!

We are officially homeowners. Gulp. In an ambitious attempt to make our new house into our home, we have launched a full-scale painting project. We're able to do this because we're not moving for another week, so luckily we can make the house a mess and not worry about living in it. Anyways, Jon and I accomplished a lot over the weekend and the place is starting to look like ours! I'll post pictures when we're all done. But for a preview--we've changed one bedroom from a suffocating bubble-gum pink to a soothing silver, and we've mastered the art of the miter saw. We cut wood for a chair rail in the dining room, and I love saying that I used a compound miter saw! How cool is that? (Especially considering that when I rented it from Home Depot I asked the guy if it came with instructions.)

I just realized that sadly, I did not take "before" pictures of the rooms we've worked on. But I'll start doing that for the next rooms. One negative effect of painting? You are covered with paint, head-to-toe afterwards...even after showering, you find unexpected paint splotches on your skin. You can never get rid of it! I am just imagining the looks I'll get at church when people catch a glimpse of my brown and biege nails.

Did I forget to mention...?

In just a few days we will be closing on our first house! We are ecstatic and can't wait to get settled into our new home. There are so many little details involved in moving that it's starting to get stressful. I've spent the last few weeks calling to switch utilities, cable, water, insurance to the new house. Not to mention the organizing and packing. Oh, how I despise packing! And sadly I realized-- (much to Jon's pleasure) that I need to get rid of some of my books. *sigh* Since I majored in history in college/post-grad, I have TONS of history books. And I LOVE them! I don't even read them anymore, but they're mine and I'm freakishly possessive of them. Do ya'll have any psycho possessive tendencies like that?! So anyways, I just sorted through them and am going to try to get some cash from Half Price Books later. No doubt Jon will protest I kept too many books, but I've got to have my European history books, and those T-H-I-C-K Norton Anthologies of Shakespeare/English Literature (which weigh 5lbs each), and my WWII/Nazi Germany collection, and my Harry Potter collection, and all 4 Twilight books....those are deal-breakers.

Enough of that tirade. To sum-up, we're moving in 2 weeks and are thrilled. Anyone willing to join us in a paint/pizza party, give me a call!

Slurrrrrp, slurp!

The other night I made chicken stir-fry with noodles. It was Jack's first time to eat it, and honestly, I figured I'd be sweeping it off the floor and walls! Imagine my excitement (and relief) when he cheerfully slurped down the noodles. I guess noodle-slurping comes instinctually to kids, who knew? Check out his noodle slurp-fest below...(the last second of the video is the best slurp).

Tire Swing

Here's Jack on the tire swing. He held on like a champ, just chillin' out on a nice summer day. I love his smile...

The perfect chute

I love this park! This slide is perfect for young toddlers. It's a half-pipe, so you can let go of your kid at the very top, without having to worry about them going over the side. Jack really enjoyed the slide and kept going back to it over and over and OVER again. When we walked back to the car, he refused to get in and tried to escape back to the slide! Too cute.

The Tee-ball Tot

Here Jack is playing tee-ball with one of his birthday presents from my friend Jill. Lately Jack is very into balls- throwing and rolling them.

This is actually from a month or so ago, but I'm lazy in posting videos... To catch-up on my recent lack of photos and videos there will be a new video/photo posted each day for the next week! Aren't you lucky?!

Thank Goodness it's not Cold Season

At Church on Sunday, Jack was especially crafty and cute. During Sunday School, we sat in the foyer while Jack ran circles with his new friend Halley. They chased each other around and around and around!! It was soooo cute and quite impressive since she's 6 mos older than him, and he had no problem keeping up.

Then in Relief Society he and his friend Derrick fed each other goldfish and crackers- only Jack stole the food more often than he shared it. And he stole Derrick's sippy cup and drank out of it. And then held it for Derrick to drink from. It was really funny and cute. And here's the cringe-worthy part: my VT companion just informed me today that her baby boy had stolen the same sippy cup and drank from it during sacrament mtg! So now, he's shared germs with 2 other boys. And that's not the end of it (*sigh*)... Later in Relief Society, Jack ventured a couple of rows up. No big deal, he's being quiet and good. I look up at him a few seconds later and there's a purple pacifier in his mouth. FYI: our pacifier is green. A couple of seconds later, a lady said (loudly I might add) "is that his pacifier?!" No, no it is not. So now he's thieved several items from other babies, and will hopefully not get sick. As the title claims, thank goodness it's not cold season!

So this has nothing to do with the above post, but I just haven't posted pictures in FOREVER, so here's the latest that Jack's up to. He is climbing and exploring even more. Here he is "surfing" his car garage, which is not that sturdy fyi.

"Jack the puppy"

How much are little kids like puppies? TOO MUCH. The other night, I was unloading fresh laundry from the dryer into the laundry basket. My son, right out of his bath- and still naked- walks over to help me with the laundry. Only he pees on it...and the floor, and the basket. Did I mention he peed on his clean clothes?! I just laughed because it was really ironic timing, considering he doesn't usually pee after bathtime, and the time he does, he does it on clean clothes!

Another way Jack is like a puppy? He communicates by yelping and screaming. I swear dogs can understand him, because whenever he screams, the dog in the upstairs' apt barks back. And he had an intense conversation with a black labrador the other day. The two just stared at each other, with the dog shaking his head back and forth and Jack laughing in response. Adorable. It almost made me want to get a dog for Jack- almost.

Who put the door there?!

Picture me asleep in the early morning hours, when I drowsily get out of bed to use the bathroom. On my way back to bed, wham! I literally walk into the door frame, smashing my head against it as if I had run at it. It was so loud that Jon woke up. I hit my head so hard that for the rest of the day I felt both dizzy and tired. And 2 weeks later as I'm typing this post, my forehead still hurts.

Needless to say, I'm much more aware of my surroundings now. Stupid door.

Sippy cup?

Dear more experienced moms:

Please send your wisdom my way. Jack is having a tough transition from bottle to sippy cup. He takes the cup for snack times, but for meal times- no way. Any brilliant ideas?

Much appreciated,
Frustrated in Fort Worth

Ninja Tales: duped by a 14 month old

Did you ever read the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip as a kid? For some reason Jack made me think of that mischievous blonde boy today...

The Ninja-tot as of late has a very naughty fascination with the trash can. For example, he threw away his brand new, left Nike sandal at my parents' house. Well, if any of you know my mom, you know that the shoe was promptly taken to the curb, where it is now presumably sitting in a trash heap somewhere. Oh, I have the right foot sandal, but honestly, what good does that do me? So as you can see- naughty.

Jack knows that the instant he touches the trash can, stern looks and words come his way. If he still persists (which he almost always does), then he's physically removed from the temptation. Well imagine my annoyance when he persisted in playing with the dang trash can today. I come around the corner- where he gives me the cutest, most adorable smile imaginable- and have to fight to keep a stern face. Well he comes right up to me, pushes on my legs, and walks behind me while holding my legs. This is a new and fun game to him, where you just try not to trip while walking with him in between your legs. Okay, Mommy sits down, fun over. The Ninja-tot walks straight back to the trash can, knowing FULL WELL that it's trouble! So the gullible mommy follows and again gives the stern look, when Jack is just flashing that Tom Cruise-esque smile at me and then walks right up to me and pushes on my legs again, for the second time. Okay, Mommy lets him push her around for awhile, and then sits down- fun over. A THIRD TIME, the Ninja-tot goes to the forbidden trash can...annoyed mother now quickly follows, where he immediately leaps from the trash can (and I kid you not, he nearly sprinted at me), grabs my legs and pushes me around to play his game. Have you caught on yet? Because it took me THREE times of this routine to figure out that the Ninja-tot had been using the trash can to lure me out into the open! He never had any intention of playing with the dang trash can, actually using my annoyance with it to his own advantage, so he could push my legs around! Seriously, this boy is sneaky.

What have I gotten myself into?

4th of July

For the 4th of July, we celebrated by going down to San Antonio for an extended weekend. We had a great time, especially since my parents rented a BIG Ford Explorer for the trip, giving us plenty of space. I have tons of pictures, so bear with me as you scroll down, or feel free to skip straight to the comment column!

Jack wearing Daddy's hat, sleeping in the car- (a whole 15 minute long nap!)

Jack with his great-grandmother Nelson, riding in her chair!
Jack stumbling around in sunglasses

INSERT HERE: pictures of our day trip to the waterpark Schlitterbaun, which we wished we had taken! We took our cameras into the park but left them in the locker ALL day and don't have any fun photos now...too bad.

My mom with Jack, directly behind the Alamo.

Really cool tree at the Alamo- they had it blocked off so we couldn't sit on it!

Jon, Jack, and me posing in the area behind the Alamo

Jon, Jack, and me by a fountain near the Alamo.
Drumroll..... the Alamo!! Isn't it beautiful?

My parents and Jack in front of the Alamo

Jon, Jack, and me by the famed Riverwalk. There goes a river boat!

THE CUTEST PIC EVER!! He is the photographer's dream- always smiling!

FYI: THE REST OF THE PICTURES ARE PICTURES FROM OUR RIVERWALK BOAT TOUR

Beautiful views...I felt almost as if we had left Texas!

Really tall building, which I can't remember the name of now!

Gorgeous trees, offering wonderful shade and picturesque views

Awesome architecture downtown with eye-catching bridges. I love the spiral staircase on the left.

Another example of great architecture: click on the picture and check out the "grotesque" faces on the building!

Quack, Quack! Ducks wading through the river.

More wonderful architecture...how beautiful is this bridge?

One of the several hotels lining the Riverwalk. The Hilton, when it was being built, was only allowed to be so tall, fearing that too much height would cast a shadow on the hallowed Alamo!

Another hotel...palm trees to the left.

Colorful umbrellas lining the restaurant decks...

The Tower of the Americas, 750 ft tall!

Jack visiting with his great-grandma one more time. He was checking out her scooter, trying to push it like a stroller. He was frustrated when it wouldn't go!

Me, Jack, cousin Anna, Jon, and Great-Grandma Nelson. Anna had just returned from an African safari, how adventurous!



It was a fun trip. We wish we had more time to sight-see. It's such a great place- you really get a feel for Texas history there, with all the old churches and missions. We will definitely return! What did you do to celebrate the 4th?