Christmas Eve

Jack and I are still in Georgia, but seeing as it may take me all of 2010 to post the hundreds of pictures and videos that have been taken over the holidays, I figured I'd better get started.

Grandma started with the pictures as soon as we got out of the car after arriving at the house from the airport on Christmas Eve. Jack looks a bit tired from his long day of traveling. I'm pleased to report that he behaved wonderfully on the airplane (and no pooping). The last time we flew, he wasn't able to walk yet, so I had been worried about how he would do now that he's mobile. But he was great--slept for an hour and was easily entertained when he was awake.

Jack and Aunt Anna, who picked us up from the airport.

Jack got the best Christmas present of all when he walked in the door to the house--there's a ceiling fan in every room! Best of all, the fan in the sun room has a remote control! Yea!! He has since spent about 75% of his visit to Georgia walking around with that remote in his hand. This picture was of Jack and Grandaddy flipping switches to the fan in the living room, as Jack had not yet been introduced to the remote.

We went to Aunt Nancy and Uncle Danny's house for dinner. It was great to see them and our cousins Devon and Tyler (visiting from London). Aunt Anna's family was also there--her parents Rita and Jimmy, brother Matt, and brother Josh and his wife Evelyn.

Jack is usually wary of people he doesn't know well, so we were surprised to see how willing he was to let everyone pick him up and hold him. He especially seemed to bond with Danny (maybe has something to do with their brains operating at similar levels?) Or perhaps it was the height issue, since Danny could get him so close to the ceiling fans and chandelier.

The highlight of the evening was when Danny opened his gift from Rita and Jimmy. It's a monkey holding 2 baby monkeys that moves and sings "Day-O." The singing monkeys actually tore Jack's attention from the ceiling fans for a while.

Winter wonderland

Last weekend we went to the house in Michigan. There wasn't any snow on the ground when we arrived Friday night, but by Saturday morning a few inches had accumulated. We didn't stay outside for long, but Jack had fun shuffling around in the snow.

Here's what a stay-puft marshmallow looks like when trying to walk through snow:

Jack doing some naked lawn mowing (he was getting ready for his bath)


I took these pictures today when we went to Grandma and Granpa Nold's to drop Louie off. (We're flying to Georgia in the morning). Jack figured out how to rock in Grandma's old rocking chair.

A cute pic of Grandma and Jack looking at each other

Lou snuggling with Grandma; already looking nervous about us leaving. We'll miss you, Lou, but we'll be back for you after the holidays!

Christmas, part 1

We spent Sunday afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa Nold's so we could open Christmas presents before Jack, Andy, and I leave for Georgia on Thursday. Grandma reserved a few ornaments for Jack to help her hang on the Christmas tree. Louie was a big help too.

Lou had no trouble sniffing out which was his gift under the tree.

While Jack is definitely more interested in his actual gifts than he was last year, he still really thinks it's fun to rip that wrapping paper!



Jack also got a big kick out of the Christmas display at the country club when we went to dinner.

He absolutely loved the toy train, which is what he and Andy are looking at here. Unfortunately my camera died right after I took these pictures, so I couldn't get a video clip of him.


He's grown up so much since last year! What a little peanut he was.

Blowing kisses

We've tried for the longest time to get Jack to blow kisses, but he never seemed interested until recently. He hasn't figured out yet that he's supposed to make a kissing sound, but at least he's doing the hand motion fairly well. I don't know what the deal is with the snarly face he makes after blowing a kiss.


This picture is a bit dark, but here's Jack and Andy at the playground across from our house. It had been shut down for construction since July and was supposed to be ready in October, but it didn't end up getting finished until last week. It was really a bummer for Jack and all the neighborhood kids to be without a playground for the whole summer and fall. They're loving it now, though, at least when it isn't too bitterly cold outside! It really is a cool new playground--beats anything I ever had as a kid!

Goofing around

I just had to take some pictures of Jack's crazy bedhead the other morning.


Jack has a little basketball hoop that he used to throw balls into. These days he seems much more interested in walking around with it,

or even better--wearing it.

I'm so excited

Jack posing with Dad's sunglasses during breakfast the other morning.

One of my coworkers gave Jack some toys that her two boys had outgrown. You can see Jack was extremely excited about this toy! (Both the video and picture were taken with my Iphone, so that's why they look a little different.)

I took these pictures last weekend and am just now getting around to posting them. On Saturday, Aunt Lisa went to a wedding. We thought it would be great to get some cute pictures of her all dressed up with Jack. Unfortunately Jack wanted no part of it. Aunt Lisa tried bribing him with Cheerios, but he still pitched a fit when he was being held. Oh well. At least we got some nice pictures of Lisa.

Lou was more cooperative.

Jack discovered Grandma Nold's piano for the first time.

Note the elegant positioning of his hands--will he be a piano playing phenom?

Jack demonstrating the complex, but seldom-seen, method of playing the piano with one's face.

Thanksgiving

We had a busy but very happy Thanksgiving. We were excited to meet our cousin Parker for the first time (Scott and Michelle's son). It was a struggle to get all 3 kids to sit still for a picture--I actually had to hold Jack down--but we finally got one! That's Jack and Parker with Alexis, who's looking like a model. Parker is 5 months, Alexis is 3 1/2 years, and Jack is 1 year 8 months.

Here's Uncle Bob with Parker.

Parker and me.

Jack was not overly thrilled to see me holding another baby.


Being with family reminded us of last Thanksgiving, when we went to Vermont. Jack has grown up so much since then!



Jack playing with one of Daddy's old toys.

Those who have met Lou know he is not what you would consider to be a brave dog. When all the relatives arrived, Lou got nervous and hid out in the sun room. Alexis found him and gave him some TLC.

Jack still has an undying passion toward ceiling fans. He was in heaven when Dad put him on this chair so he could reach the control panel for the fan in the sun room.

He'll also still play with light switches from time to time. He's playing with some here that he discovered hiding behind the curtain. I'm sure the neighbors were wondering why the outside lights kept going on and off.

Finally, a few videos. This one is sideways, but I thought it was too cute not to include. Jack took advantage of cousin Marty's height and had some fun at the dinner table.

Jack put on a show for everyone by sitting on his horse and dancing to the music it played.

I think Jack has developed a little crush on cousin Alexis. Toward the end of the night, he started following and chasing her around (or at least he tried to chase her).

Weekend at the lake house

We spent a nice fall weekend at the lake house--this was the first time Jack and I had been up there since early September. The weather turned out beautiful, and we had a good trip even without having our boat (that's our shore station that was taken out of the water for the winter). Our friends DJ and Dustin came with us. All the boys reverted back to childhood at some point and played with Jack's Legos. Here's DJ building something with him:

Jack had fun rediscovering his toys that we leave at the lake house. He also thought this chair was pretty cool.

Jack still managed to tear himself from the toys long enough to pester Lou.


Dustin building something with Legos. Lou kept dropping his toy on top of Dustin and would climb on top of him to get it.