Christmas Day

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Jack's ridiculous mountain of gifts

We tried to follow tradition on Christmas morning and get a picture of Jack as he came down the stairs. Unfortunately, Jack had become involved in playing with an upstairs ceiling fan while we were waiting to come down, and he did not want to leave the fan. These pictures are of us literally dragging Jack away from the fan to come downstairs to open his Christmas presents.



His mood quickly improved when he saw the shiny toys under the Christmas tree.


Jack had to take a quick break from looking at toys to go into the sun room and make sure his remote-controlled fan was still out there.


Jack checking out the cat


Breakfast


Jack opening presents




Dad's head made a great surface for playing with trucks!


Max the dog got a present too


Uncle Danny and Jack


Uncle Stephen and Jack


Jack had a good time sneaking around all the furniture


Aunt Anna was very surprised about her Christmas gift!


Uncle John liked his High Life sign too


Jack and Tyler


Devon, Stephen, and Jack


Again, the fan...


Uncle Danny with one of his presents (he's an Oregon fan)


Tyler and Devon


Granddaddy and Jack (at the Gambrells')



Christmas night we had our traditional supper of chicken stew and opened a few more presents. The biggest hit was Jack's present of camo hat and mittens from Rita and Jimmy.




Jack liked this flashing Rudolph nose, but he got upset when I put it on him.


Finally, the Fields family


and the Gambrells

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.