Tuesday, July 8, 2008

One!

Here are lots of pictures from Jackson's first birthday. He went through about 5 different outfits that day for some reason. It's hard to believe that he's already a year old - I don't know where the time went. We had a great day that began with some inside playing...


Phil and his dad worked on our backyard fence all day. It looks great!

We bought J a little pool a few weeks ago and decided to try it out today. Here is Nana Charlene with the first attempt....


...and Dad with the second attempt....


...as you can see, the pool was not a hit. I think the water was too cold. He's used to really warm bath water! Nana saved him, though, and even got him to pose for a picture (sort of) ...

He was much happier after drying off, coming back inside, and getting to play again.


We had lots of people here for dinner: Phil's dad and stepmom, my mom, my grandparents, my Uncle Dave, and my Uncle Rick and Aunt Janine and their kids Austin, Elysia, and Sami. They seemed to like hanging out with Jackson:


The cake was almost a disaster. I made it myself and took one layer out of the pan before it was cool enough. It pretty much fell apart, but my mom was able to save it with frosting. It ended up being okay. Thanks, Mom! :)

Jackson's first cake experience was pretty anticlimactic. He really didn't eat too much. He did do one funny thing, though. After taking a lick of icing he did a little "sugar shiver", as we called it. He only took a couple of licks, but did the shiver after each one. :) Also, he thought the polka dots were solid and was trying to pick them up. It was cute!




By the end of the cake experience J was pretty tired, so it was bedtime. He had to open presents the next day.








Stars and Stripes Forever!

We had a great Fourth of July! We love our country and had fun celebrating Independence Day!
We started out playing with some toys...


Jackson loves his Nana Charlene!

Then we went to a parade downtown and watched Daddy fly overhead to start the festivities...Jackson is terrified of the jets, though, and clung to me for dear life when they went by!


Notice the boo-boo on J's upper lip- he took a nose dive while crawling this morning and cut his lip. He was not too happy about missing his morning nap and hearing all of the loud noises coming from the parade. He was really good, though, considering the circumstances, and we all had a good time. He even fell asleep in the stroller for a bit. The weather was absolutely beautiful!

Mom and Charlene had on almost the same outfit! They looked cute!

After the parade we came home to grill out. Corn on the cob - mmmmm!

Then after J went to bed the adults enjoyed some wine around the fire pit. Charlene had her very first s'more and loved it!

What's this? Mom with two glasses of wine?? Whoa - take it easy, Mom!! :)

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Time Flies...

It is so hard for me to believe that one year ago I looked like this...

....and my doggies were my only babies....

I remember how ready I was for J to come out. He was born 9 days past his due date and I was getting so impatient! We took the boat out on a windy day last summer hoping that the bumpy ride might make me go into labor, but no such luck.... hello white whale!!

Time has just flown by! Life is so different now, but in such a good way. I can't believe my baby is almost one!

Some Things We've Been Up To...


We've been building fires and roasting marshmallows with our new fire pit.

It's actually been cool enough at night to really enjoy it - it's great!
Hank is a little afraid of the fire - he spent most of his time outside hiding behind the chair like this...
The moon was so big and bright that night (hard to tell from the picture, though)...

We've been playing outside (the weather has been pretty hot lately)....




We've been
wishing we could play outside...


We've been playing inside...


You can't really tell from the picture, but J was balancing on his belly on the edge of the ottoman to try to get at the toys inside. It was funny!

We've been reading....


Grandy has the magic touch...he never sits like this with me to read a book!

We've been hanging out at the park...


My mom's brother, Steve, his wife, Wendy, and their three girls (Kendra, Rachel, and Valerie) were in town this past weekend. While the men were fishing, we girls (and Jackson) went to the park for the afternoon. Then we went out for sushi:

Aren't they beautiful girls? Seeing them together really made me miss my sisters. :(