Happy 2nd Birthday Jack

We had a lot of fun celebrating Jack turning 2 at his Farm themed birthday party! It was a pajama party for the cousins and Jack loved his new monkey PJs Grammy made for him.

 

 We had a delicious brunch spread! Yum yum!!

Thanks Grammy and Papa for hosting to make the party and decorating so cute 

 Farm animal cake:) 

 Jack's favorite part of brunch was the sausage and "rolls" Daddy made. Steve helped out SO MUCH by baking the cake, scones (rolls) and blueberry muffins!

 Cousins giving Jack a new book and he has LOVED reading the monkey stories and all the curious things George does. 

 Meeting his new friend Oscar the bear. 

 Starting to get the hand of opening his own presents!

 More new books! Mommy and Daddy are so excited for something new to read!!! New books hold Jack's attention better too!

 Our little family enjoying Jack's party, and Jack enjoying his "certified heart breaker" shirt too!

 Jack, we have learned, loves fire. He wanted to play with the little flame rather than blow it out!

 

 Even after filling up on some sugar...

 ... our boy was worn out at the end of his party.

We had his big family party the weekend before his actual birthday. But on Feb 3, we had so celebrate our little man again at home.

 He enjoyed hot dogs, cheese, tater tots and oranges as his birthday meal. 

 having fun with his birthday balloon ("boon")!

 Happy Birthday dear Jack, Hapoy Birthday to you!

It's hard to believe you are two. 

You keep each and every day different and unexpected. 

We love you with our whole hearts and can't wait to see how you grow and entertain us this next year.

Happy Brithday sweet baby boy. 

Love you forever.

Snow Adventures and Sickness

We had the opportunity to enjoy some snow time during a little stint of time off work. It was so fun to get to have some family time between Christmas and New Year. We tried to make the most of it and took a little trip up the mountain to find snow. 

It was Jack's first time playing in snow and he had a blast:)

It was the most beautiful day!

 Having some fun at Trillium Lake!

Sadly we didn't make it around the lake, not prepared this time, but we'd LOVE to return to make the hike.

 I mean, gorgeous. SO PRETTY.

 Then after we went to find the snow, a little snow came to us!

Jack loved to look out the window at it all

 He took a little adventure over to Grammy and Papa's house

 It's so impossible to get clear pictures. 

SO busy, but SO fun.

 Working on picking all the ice off Daddy's car.

 He really liked hearing all the crunching sounds under his feet.

 Jack's next adventure was graduating to a big boy bed! 

Well, a toddler bed at least.

 

 This is the cute set up I made for him, but of course he still prefers no pillow and just his baby blanket.

 The switch hasn't been horrific, but it's had it's bumps. During the initial switch, he went 3 days with no nap at home, but we started "quiet time". If he doesn't nap, he doesn't nap, but he is in his room gosh darn it so Mama can get stuff done!

He is content to play in there until we come get him, but he has learned to play a bit and then take himself to bed for a nap after a few minutes alone too. 

We're learning about this new normal together.

 Showing off his drill he was using to "help" daddy put his new bed together.

 And lastly, Jack took another turn suffering through croup. 

He went to bed a seemingly happy boy, and woke up 2 hours later looking and sounding TERRIBLE.

 

 With a slight suspicion of having swallowed something and having that get stuck, we drove to the ER, waited for a bit, decided he was recovering and left the ER without being seen. 

That's what he gets for having a nurse mama who was questioning the necessity of the trip the whole time after the advice nurse told us we should go. 

We could monitor him just fine at home.

Needless to say, monitoring at home translates to almost no sleep for anyone that night.

 While Mama trekked to work the next day, Daddy took Jack to the doctor for a little steroid treatment, which really did help.

 Trying to hydrate with Popsicles!

Peeking out during nap time. 

 Finally a sweet little smile at the end of a long week. 

So long croup, see you next time. Hopefully not for a long time. 

So that is it for now:) Lots of little adventures!

Merry Christmas

We have been a busy bunch.
November found us sharing sickness, sniffles and tissues.
Thus the lack of posting, we were doing nothing more than laying around the house trying to feel better!

We were thankful to say goodbye to November and welcome December!

Jack found the Christmas stockings hung at the fireplace with care... and decided they belonged on his feet. Takes after his mama on that one, and I didn't even have to teach him!

We opted against a trek in the forest this year, as we were still trying to catch up from "Sick November." We found a cute little tree farm out in Helvetia to march around in and find our tree.

Clearly, the colds had not left completely yet.

Boy was a trooper though.

Mommy and Jack cheering Daddy on as he chops down our tree!

I knew Jack was feeling poorly when he actually fell asleep on me and took a nap!

I get his snuggles often enough, but they only last for about 1.7 seconds, and then he's off on the move again. I didn't like he felt so yucky, but boy did I soak up some good cuddle time!

Jack got some pretty cool toys a week before Christmas during the first of many family gatherings. 

He was clearly THRILLED to get three new "BALLS!!!" for Christmas :)

He also now has his very own tool belt to help Daddy out in the garage!

Christmas Eve found Jack completely enthralled with Stella's viola playing skills and liked listening to everyone sing along with the Chiristmas carols.

And on Christmas morning was thrilled to find his new wheelbarrow, most commonly referred to as a "car" by Jack.

And he got  lots of other much needed toys that are more developmentally appropriate for him than what we had before!

The happy chaos of Christmas morning!

Sitting by the fire with Papa for Christmas dinner.

Here are Jack and daddy building his new airplane from Grammy and Papa. 

He LOVES the drill that actually turns on to screw the screws into the plane to put it together. 

Lord help the person that tries to take that drill away from the boy. 

Total meltdown.

And an end to the evening. 

Jack loves listening to music on Daddy's headphones, specifically, Adele's "Hello."

The kid's got sophisticated taste lol!

We hope you all had a Merry and Bright Christmas!
The only thing ours was missing was SNOW!!!
We have fingers crossed hoping the snow will make an appearance sometime this season.