Christmas Memories

Well, Christmas has come and gone, and despite our financial hardships we managed to make it through and Jack got more toys than we could have ever imagined. We started off at Mark's dad's house Christmas Eve in the afternoon and spent a few hours there. Jack got lots of blocks and a wagon to put them in, a John Deere 4-wheeler (one that he has to move himself...get those legs going!), a super cute outfit and an Elmo which he LOVED. It was so much fun watching him open presents. He wanted to play with every single toy he got, but that was expected.

Opening his blocks...
After Pepe's house we headed off to church. We have been bad Catholics and have not been to church in a while and I really wanted to go, so off we went. I've come out of that experience knowing that it will be a long time again before we go to church with a toddler....especially Jack. He was so tired but refused to fall asleep so we ended up going through a boat load of puffs, some teddy grams and a few trips up and down some stairs in the back. Jack did play with his buddy Alek from gym tots for a little bit to keep him busy, but that was short lived. I managed to listen to about 5 minutes of mass throughout the ordeal. Oh well....we'll try again when he is a little older.

Then we were off to Aunt Debbie's for Christmas dinner with Mark's family. Jack ended up sleeping there for about an hour despite all the noise. He woke up very cranky...

But eventually calmed down and started playing with everybody and being his normal self. He even tried to steal a toy from baby Noah. (Mark's cousin's grandson). Guess we know what we have to get him for his birthday...

Around 9:30....WAY past his bedtime...we headed home. The next morning Santa brought a few more toys for him to play with. Santa decided not to wrap up his new drumset....bad idea, Santa. All Jack wanted to do was play. It took us about an hour to get through 5 more presents because he kept going back to his drums. At least we know he liked them!!


We did manage to get him to open his K'Nex Elmo, which he loved...
And for some reason he really loved his toothbrush and toothpaste. At least he's got good hygeine.

Mark and I got each other a few things....I got three new pairs of pants (which I badly needed) and Mark got a new dress shirt, tie, Scrubs season 7 and a flash drive. The best part of it all was of course watching Jack open all his presents.

After our family Christmas we headed up to Montreal to spend Christmas with my family. It's the only time of year I get to see my Aunt's and Uncle's on my mom's side and my grandmother. We always have a great time up there and stuff ourselves silly with fabulous food. Jack loved going up and down the stairs to the playroom in the basement and kept us all busy chasing him. He also really liked their piano and Mammy tried to teach him how to play....he was more interested in doing it his way. So after all the running around, Mark and I had both of our immediate families over for a Lasagna dinner and opening of presents. Jack got royally spoiled by both families and Mark and I spent three days trying to find places for all of his toys to go. Some of his favories so far are his Elmo Live from Uncle Justin, a tent from Mammy and Papa, his tool bench from Auntie Katy and Uncle Ryan and his Diego backpack from Grammy. Those are the toys he seems to look for every day and play with more than once. I think he has more toys than he knows what to do with. This was our living room the next morning....lovely, isn't it?


That wasn't even half of the toys....Mark and I had put some away already. We have now found a place for everything, thank-goodness.

It was all around a wonderful Christmas. It was a little hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit this year, but I had to keep reminding myself that at least we are able to give our son a few presents, we have food on our table and bills are paid. It took a little extra work on my part, but it was possible.

On a side note...Jack had his 18 month check up today. He is 28 pounds 14 ounces (80%) and 35 inches tall (95+%) We have a tall kid. Everything checks out great and he is talking far more than most kids his age (so our pedi says). He is also showing some typical behaviors (hitting, tantruming) which we both knew was typical but talked to our pedi about anyway. Now we don't have to go back until he is two. I just can't believe that my little boy is growing up so fast.

If you have made it this far....thank-you. I am off to bed to rest up for tomorrow. A night full of friends, food and games. I can't wait. Have a safe and happy New Year everybody!

Merry Christmas!

I am again a little late with the holiday wishes. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had a busy, yet very enjoyable Christmas filled with several family gatherings and a living room full of toys.

We started it off with a Christmas party last weekend with some of Gramps' family and a visit from Santa. I have tons of pictures of that day, so I just put them in a slide show for everyone to view. It starts off with us making cookies at Grammy's house, then the party with Santa and the last picture is from Grandma Joan's Christmas party.

When I have a free minute I'll make sure to post about our Christmas. It's been a long week and we have to head out to the mall now to exchange some things and look for some after Christmas sales.

Visits with Santa

Well, it's official, Jack does not like Santa. We took him Saturday morning up to Begor's in Mooers to see Santa and Mrs. Clause. He had no problems with Mrs. Clause, I think it's because she slightly resembled Grammy, but he cried every time we tried to bring him near Santa. He did have a good time hanging out with Ryan (they met this summer at camp) and a few other little girls, Sophia and Olivia, whose parents are friends of Grammys.

At least he wasn't crying....but he still isn't happy.
He seemed much more comfortable with Mrs. Clause...I also got a few cute pictures of him while we were there. He had a great time running around and playing with the other kids. He also got to color a little bit with daddy, eat a candy cane and a cookie, and he got a movie from Santa. Mark and I also got a chance to meet a few friends of Grammy's that we have been meaning to get together with and I got to see a few kids that used to be in my classroom. It was a pretty fun morning.

Playing in the racks of clothes...
This is what happens when Jack gets a hold of my camera...
We attempted to bribe Jack with a soda that Santa had, but that still didn't work...
After that he passed right out and then later in the evening he went and had his picture taken with Kasey. I was working my last night at the studio (YEAH!) and did Keith, Erika and Kasey's pictures as their Christmas present. I wanted to try to get a picture of the two of them together, so we attempted it. It turned out pretty cute, but Jack wanted no part of it. Kasey was a great sport through the whole picture experience and we got some pretty cute ones of him. The rest of my night was a little hectic because I started getting a little sick and didn't end up leaving until an hour after we close. Grammy and Gramps took Jack for the night so Mark and I could go shopping for him on Sunday. I ended up catching Jack's stomach bug and was a mess all night and all day Sunday. I still got out and went shopping though...although it was pretty rough.

We are both feeling much better today, but neither of us is really eating much. It's a good thing for me to not eat, but I worry about my little man not eating much. He still is full of energy, no fever and making enough wet and dirty diapers though, so I don't think I need to worry too much.

Today Jack's day care provider took him to have breakfast with Santa at Duke's Diner in Plattsburgh. I figured this is his third encounter with Santa and it would probably go smoother...wrong again. Of course he cried and would not sit on Santa's lap. Oh well, maybe when he gets older we can get a picture of him smiling.

I'll leave you with a picture of Jack near our tree playing with his Santa he got last year. He is a little blurry, but it's still a cute picture.

Brownies!

I have been trying to let Jack try to help with some of the baking and cooking lately; i.e. mixing or placing toppings on pizza. He brings a chair up to the counter, takes his spoon (or cheese) and starts copying me. He loves helping and I'm an advocate for having children help with a lot of household things, of course all of them being safe things. So the other night I was in the mood for chocolate, but the only thing we had were low fat brownies. It has been a while since I made brownies, so I decided to go for it. Jack of course brought his chair over and starting stirring away. After everything was mixed well, I poured them into the pan and let Jack lick the spoon. The licking of the spoon turned into dipping the spoon in the bowl and making a mess all over...see pictures below.



Don't worry, low fat brownies do not require anything but water, so he wasn't exposed to any raw eggs. He absolutely loved being able to dip the spoon in the bowl and of course getting chocolate on the spoon was an added bonus. We had to take it away though because it was getting all over him and the floor. This is what happened after we took the bowl away...

Thought everyone would get a kick out of those pictures. Anyway, our monkey has had the 24 hour stomach bug and resting with Grammy all day. Lucky lady. He seems much better tonight and has been playing for quite a while at Mammy and Papa's. He was tired though, and just passed out about 20 minutes ago.

Tomorrow is a big day for us...we go see Santa and Mrs. Clause up at Begor's Supply in Mooers. The owners are Gramps' Aunt and Uncle, so we are going to visit with them and some other friends and family. Look for lots of pictures of that =) We also have pictures to take of him and Kasey (and auntie Erika and uncle Keith) and one of Jack alone (I forgot to order the 10x13 for our living room and I need more wallets for x-mas cards). So he needs his beauty sleep.

Hope everyone is enjoying the snow!!

I've been slacking....

Sorry about the lack of posts lately...we've all been a little busy around the house.

My two jobs are going well...but I can't wait for a break. I work a full week providing therapy and then I work about 17-20 hours at the Portrait Studio, I'm getting tired. It's great for Jack and Mark to hang out though, and they were even able to go shopping for me last weekend. Nice boys day out. I on the other hand, have not had one free moment to shop for anyone. I think I'll be one of those Christmas Eve shoppers. Oh, well.

Jack is feeling much better and back to his happy ol' self. We took him to see Santa on Friday night up in Rouses Point with Grammy, Gramps, Erika and Kasey. While waiting to see Santa, Jack took off on Grammy and ran down the sidewalk. Well, my child is just as clumsy as me on his feet and he went face first into the sidewalk. Ended up with a big scrape on his nose. Poor baby was crying so hard. We then went for a walk down Lake street in Rouses Point, went to see the tree lighting and then had cookies with Santa. I thought for sure Jack would like Santa, it's his new favorite word, but I was wrong. He loved watching him, but as soon as I went to put him on Santa's lap he started crying. I was shocked. So the pictures we have are of Jack crying with Santa and a big scratch on his nose. It makes for an interesting story when he gets older.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of him with Santa...Grammy took them and I'm waiting for her to e-mail them to me *hint hint*.

Other than that, not too much is happening. We are catching up on some Christams movies, spending some time with our families and relaxing if we get a chance to.

As soon as I get those pictures from Grammy I'll make sure to post them. As for now, here are a few I took of Jack the other night.

His new favorite thing is doing Patty Cake by himself. It's the cutest thing ever. This is him saying "all done"My little ham...