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!