Ugly sweater

Nothing says Christmas like an Ugly Christmas sweater and white elephant party.  That's why we were thrilled when our friends the Bunkers decided to take on the task of the throwing one.  I had my cherished ugly sweater that I received from Mysha at a white elephant party a couple years ago.  And I hit up Good Will (ps, Deseret Industries I miss you) for some sweaters for the boys and ended up making some due to the poor selection.  It was a fantastic party that was in need to give everyone a break from the stress of finals.  Jack loved playing with all the kids.

Just for the record, I am TRYING to look gross here.  I think we can all agree I succeeded.

Jack and Kai greeting each other with a hug.

I swear every time I turned around Logan was feeding Jack egg nog or soda.

The white elephant portion of the party.

Carson, Jack and Kai.  They were treating these end tables as drums and platforms to jump off of.

Vanessa the hostess and I.  Remind to not stand next to her when I am pregnant.

This picture is amazing.  What a bunch of dorks.  Adam Watts, Derek Bunker and Logan.

Baby Shower

I never would have imagined that after living in Virginia for only 5 months that I would feel so loved and would have so many friends who take care of me.  That's the magic of the Gospel though I guess.  Three of my sweet friends, Jenna Sturgeon, Rachel Harding and Vanessa Bunker, threw me an amazing baby shower.  The only thing I am in need of is clothing so it was a super fun shower with lots of cute girls clothing to oooooh and ahhhh over.  I really got hooked up and this little girl is set with a fashionable wardrobe for the first year of her life.  Thanks again everyone!

Sara Skidmore and Rachel Harding

Amy Guynn

Merry Brook Butz, Monica Stott (who are both pregnant too) and Kayla Tibbetts and Alison Vadomske

2 years

Jack is two!  I am loving this stage we are in right now.  He is my little buddy and entertains as well as exhausts me all day long.  He is learning so much and seems to just take everything in.  He is a sweet boy who likes other children and adults.  He is a great prayer and makes it through most of the prayer with his arms folded and his eyes scrunched.  He loves nursery and labels most buildings as a temple.  He is still into cars/trucks/tractors/backhoes/monster trucks, all transportation.  He also loves to color and paint and play with play dough.  He loves fruits and veggies.  His latest delight is salad.  At first I thought he only liked it because of the dressing I drench it in but I caught him eating handfuls of raw lettuce the other day too.  He loves to count, label colors and do the alphabet.   He sings along to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and knows the video/book inside out.  He loves stop lights and will religiously remind me what to do at each light (green go!, yellow slow down, red stop!).  I love playing with him all day.  He narrates pretty much everything we do which makes me laugh.  Two years went so fast and I just love this little boy so much!  Happy Birthday Jack!

 

 

Orphan

 

There was a day before I had kids that perhaps I would have judged a mother for having a child who looked like this.  I would have thought,  "Really?  He looks like an orphan. Come on mom."  But now, when I find Jack messy and mismatched, I am proud.  I know we had a great day filled with play and adventure.

Look at that face.  He is wearing his fruit loop necklace we made. It got puddle water on it and he still ate it later.

A big stick!

Thanks trash man!

I recently found a treasure of a box in the recycle bin at our house.  This giant stove box brought us a good week of entertainment until I couldn't take it anymore and tossed it back out.  Jack loved playing in his box.  We colored it, played with the flashlight in it, played "mar-balls" in it and of course cars too.  The bonus was the "ramps" that came in the box too.  We still have these for marble and car racing.

And judging by his dirty face, we ate snacks in it too.

It's fake

We got our tree right after Thanksgiving this year so we would have some time to enjoy it before we leave for the break.  Usually we get a real tree from a lot which is kind of shameful rather than going up the mountain and cutting our own.  And this year we dropped to the ultimate low when we bought a fake tree.  It just makes the most sense but I still wasn't happy about it.  Jack was loving the tree this year.  He wanted to help do everything and pigged out on our traditional tree decorating treats.

Little Debbie Christmas tree cakes while we decorate the tree.

Some frappe' (or frappie according to Jack) and Mexican layer dip.

Assembling our tree.  It just seems so wrong to put your own branches on your tree.

After 5 years of our gross dollar store stockings, I finally made us some.

I also upgraded our dollar tree skirt to something more fashionable thanks to Pinterest.

Although she is fake, she is pretty.  However now about 3/4 of the ornaments on the lower half of the tree have been removed and used as basketballs or other toys by Jack.

Thanksgiving Parade

The day after Thanksgiving there was a parade a couple blocks from our house.  It was held through a shopping center parking lot which sounds silly but it was actually quite impressive.  There were fire trucks, Santa, dogs, cats, candy and coupons.  Jack loved it and it was so fun to watch his reaction.

It was the day after Thanksgiving so naturally I bundled us up.  We were sweating to death with in minutes of baking in the 70 degree weather. 

Jack got lots of suckers!

I was surprised he wasn't scared of this giant dog.  He even gave him a high five.

Fire trucks!  Jack was in heaven.

We sat by our friends Stacey, Brian, and Kai Wotring.  Jack and Kai are good buddies who give each other lots of hugs.