It's a Party!

My sister and I can't believe our babies are turning 1! Alexis had her birthday on February 13 and Jack's birthday is this Wednesday. These "cousin twins", as we like to call them, had their party this past Friday and we had such fun celebrating them together.

We decided to go with the Hungry Caterpillar theme as there were girl and boy things to decorate with from that story :) Ness and I made cakes, decorations and food and had a great time doing it. Ness very kindly hosted the party in her basement which was perfect. And thankfully Mum came in town just in time to help out with the kiddos!

All dressed up and somewhere to go

Mummies and one year olds!

Mummies and cakes

Drink table

Fruit sticks

Cake table

Goody bags

The room before the party

And the room during...!!

The birthday cousins

And there were lots of babies!!
(poor Alexis decide that since it was her party, she could cry!)

Me with my birthday boy

So glad we did it and although it was quite overwhelming and quite a crowd, I hope to enjoy many more of my Jacko's birthday parties in the years ahead! Thank you to everyone for coming and for the beautiful presents you brought for our babies!

Our Week

Busy week. Work week. Fun week. Lots of friend time sort of week. Here it is in photos for your viewing pleasure :)

MONDAY:

Jack has discovered books this past month and often I'll find him sitting
in hisroom "reading". But he loves it best when we read to him of course.

TUESDAY:

And we took the very necessary plunge and bought him the big boy car seat.
He was MORE than ready for that!

WEDNESDAY: Hannah popped over for a visit after work which was great fun. Jacko was already in bed so we actually got to chat uninterrupted!

THURSDAY:

We met up with Vanessa and the girls at Chick-Fil-A one evening for dinner.
Here are the cousin twins enjoying their
nuggets while staring each other down.

FRIDAY:

And guess who tried chocolate for the first time?

I don't have pictures from the weekend but we had a fun one! We had our neighbors over for brunch (they have a 2 year old) and had a great time getting to know them. Sunday was church and then out for coffee with my friend Pip and her little man. Jack, however, was up to so much mischief (namely emptying all the napkins of the holder, throwing food on the floor and then trying to escape out the front door) that we hardly got any conversation in. Sorry Pippy!!


MONDAY:

On Monday night I went out to dinner with my very special friends
from work, Robin and Ellyn
(pregnant with her third and moving out of state next month).
We had such a blast together. Miss you girls!

TUESDAY:

Little Man has claimed this couch by the window as his favorite spot and
is now learning the genteel art of "reclining" !!

Hope your week is going well too. I have a little before and after project to share this next week...our bedroom makeover!

Jack Shares his PJs

Last Wednesday Michaela and Alexis were visiting around bath time and so jumped in with Jack. The three of them enjoyed splashing about together and then Jack let them borrow some PJs :) Luckily, we have them in all sizes, thanks to kind friends who have passed theirs along to him. He even has several 2T pairs which fit Miss M nicely (us grown ups did have a good laugh at her stripey leggings though!!)

Jack, Alexis and Michaela

The Cousin Twins

Miss M in her big boy PJs :)

P.S. I also want to say a HUGE Happy Birthday to little Alexis who turned ONE on Sunday! You are such a sweet little girl and we all love you!

Times, They Are A Changing

So our poor child has still been using the infant car seat. At 11 months old. I know, I hate to admit it. But the fact that he was out growing it somehow escaped me and perhaps, secretly, I didn't want to acknowledge how big he was getting!

Andre has just finished a big painting project and so had a day to hang out with us. We decided it was CAR SEAT DAY! After visiting Babies R Us and seeing one we really liked (Safety First Alpha Omega Elite for $180), Andre found the exact same seat at Sams Club on the clearance rack with no price tag on it. Long story short, we love the very kind sales lady at Sams. She decided that $70 sounded like a good price for a clearance car seat. Say what?! Unbelievably amazing.

I will definitely be adding that to my 1000 gifts of thankfulness list :)

What a big boy!

Book Page Wreath

Since I've been itching to create something the past few weeks, I finally hit upon something useful, beautiful and do-able! I'd seen this on one of my favorite design blogs and decided to copy :)







Super easy and despite the fact that I felt somewhat guilty for tearing up one of my favorite books (!), I now have "Little Women" hanging on my wall!

Buddies

Jack and Alexis were playing last week and we suddenly noticed how they differ in height!
Aren't they cute?!

11 Months Old

I just can't believe our little boy is about to celebrate his first birthday! He was 11 months old on Wednesday and is just in that not-quite-a-baby-not-quite-a-toddler stage. He is almost walking but still tentative as he knows he's likely to fall!

And, drum roll please, he's kind of sort of said his first word: "guck" for duck :) I thought he was never going to talk but he seems to finally realize that he could if he tried!

He's understanding instructions a bit more now and can turn around to get down off the bed or couch when we tell him to, turn off the light switch, or give us objects. So cute.

Playing with big kids is still a much loved past-time, as is seeing his grandparents on Skype. But Daddy and bath time still rank highest among his "favorite things"!

Happy 11 months little Jack...we are so incredibly thankful for you!