12.17.2012

Riverwoods

Had a little outing with my parents and the Griffin family last weekend.
(Ross' were home sick...and they were certainly missed).

We headed down to the Riverwoods for some dinner Malawi's Pizza and some Christmas-time festivities.

The atmosphere was perfect, and we had a great time looking at the lights, taking a carriage ride, and seeing Santa. It was quite the scene to see Jack request a bowling ball from Santa!
 
Tucker, of course, caused a lot of problems.
It was kind of chilly and wet...but, he didn't mind!


















12.02.2012

Being Festive at Temple Square

We hit up Temple Square with the Jones fam on the first day of December to kick of the Christmas festivities for the year.
 
It was nearly fifty degrees...
which made for a dream outing!
 


 

 
 
 
 
 


 


 



 
Bring on December!
Can't wait!
 



Tucker at 8 Months :: Jack 3.5

 

Tucker
 
:: 8 Months ::
 
Tucker may possibly be the happiest little creature on the planet.
 
He's gone from scooting and rolling to full on crawling and standing up to things this past month.
 
My little tiny baby has now had his crib lowered, has to be watched like a hawk ALWAYS, and must have something in his hand at all times.
 
His quest in life is to get his little paws on Jack's sippy cup of juice, and I fully expect to look over one day soon to find him RUNNING to get it.
 
Tucker seems to be much more fearless than Jack at this age.  He'd plunge off of a bed or couch gladly, if it means getting to something that he wants.
 
He's a good little eater, and a good little sleeper (although he has had some GIGANTIC shoes to fill coming after Jack-the-Sleeper).
I am convinced that if/when Tucker wakes up in the night or early from a nap, it's just because he's too happy and eager to play.
 
He mimics making noises back and forth with you, and loves to strum his fingers over his lips to make a funny sound.
 
Tucker continues to love a bath...so much so that he still takes two a day every day.
 
Most days, Tucker has a bit of time just with mom in the afternoon while Rip Van Winkle is on hour 3 of his nap.  This is typically when I sneak in a little Days of our Lives, and just recently, when Tucker hears the theme music he starts to laugh hysterically and rock back and forth with excitement.
It's rated I for Infant Approved, right ?
 
I say this every month...
But, this one is a gem and a good one.
His dimples will melt you.
See....
 



 

 

 



 
 
Jack
:: 3.5 Years ::
 
A little mid-year update on Jack-man...
 
Big milestones aren't just for the Tuck man.
Jack has been growing up a LOT lately.
 
Not only has he tackled potty training, he's had some other big firsts as well.
 
He recently got a little taste of snowfall.  It was short lived and pretty meager, but it was the first year when he really wanted to get out and explore the snow.
 
 
 
I mean seriously....
Would it be weird if he just wore his snow bibs around town?
Little bum.
 
He continues to LOVE LOVE LOVE Annie's house and her boys.
He and Max have always been paired together to play,
but just recently... they've really acted like they LIKE it.
These two know just how to push each other's buttons, but when they get along-- there is nothing cuter.
 
 
 
As I've mentioned before, Jack is quite possibly the most picky eater that ever lived.
He's always had a limited variety in foods he would eat, but lately it's gotten even worse.
Over time, I've recognized that Jack seems to have a fear of trying new food.
I decided that since he isn't growing out of it, that I would start some intense concentration to try and get this kid to eat.
It has taken some serious consistency, a LOT of pain staking patience, and nurturing...but, this week.. we finally had success!
 
Jack has started trying/eating apples, and also tried some new crackers as well.
 

 
 
He's been pretty proud of himself.

 
He's also pretty proud of all of the loot he has acquired as bribery!
My mom was with us at Target the day he first ate an apple, and told him she'd buy him a present for being so brave.
He picked a bag of 12 tennis balls.

 
An obvious choice.

We'll keep working on the food thing...but, we're encouraged by our recent progress.
 
 
Jack is getting into Christmas more than he has in the past. 
He is very excited by and aware of all of the lights and decor and he had a blast helping to decorate the house.

 

I bought him a gingerbread house kit one day, and let him go to town decorating it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
It took some serious restraint and self control on my part not to intervene, but it was worth it to watch how much fun it was for him.
 
 
 
Lastly, in Jack news, he has made leaps and bounds in his talking the past few months.
He says the most hilarious things, and will talk to just about anyone who will listen.
 
He loves to tell me and Brett to be quite because "he is talking!"
 
I don't know if it's being a big brother or what...
but this has been a HUGE 6 months for Jack.
So proud of his mug.
 
To wrap up...
J + T
 
 
 
 
True Love

11.06.2012

Halloween 2012


After 6 weeks of festivities, the actual week of Halloween finally came!
 
We kicked off the holiday with Evil Ball #8.
Brett and I had no clue about costumes until about 4 days before, and we maybe bit off a little more than we could chew.
 
What started as some simple paper mache pumpkin heads, quickly turned into sculpted, lit from inside, harnessed pumpkin heads.
That's what you get when you're married to an artistic wizard.
 
Let's just say we stayed up some late nights and made a few runs to the craft/hardware stores before it was all said and done.
 
Worth it.
 
We took home the Most Original Costume prize...2nd year in a row!
Damn straight.
 
 
 
All Homemade.
 
Next year, I'm going as a ghost.
I'm still tired from pulling that one off...and Brett did all the dirty work!
 
They were a bit of a pain on the old dance floor, but definitely provided some humor!
 
 
Brett, Becky, Mom, Annie, Me
 
 
 Minus our Heads
 
Mom, Annie, Randy, Dad
(Lady from the Birds, Gabby Douglas, Michael Phelps, Crazy Bird Witch Thing)
 
 
Not a clue who these people are.
(LOL!)
 
This was Jack trying my pumpkin head on for size during the construction process. 
Funniest thing ever.
 
 
On Monday, we picked 3 of our 16 pumpkins to carve.
I wasn't quite sure how Jack would take to cutting up his precious pumpkins, but he had no problem with it.
He also had very little interest.
Apparently, the smell of the pumpkin innards were just too much for him.
He kept a safe distance.
 
 Tucker was a happy bystander.
 
 
The crazy artist at it again...
 


 We tried really hard to force Jack to like this activity.
 
 
He made for a good peanut gallery
 
 
I should never be trusted with sharp objects.
Really.
I broke every tool in the kit.
 
 
Here's Brett's Jack the Pumpkin King creation...
 
My pumpkins are hardly worth sharing.
 
 
Wednesday was Halloween, and we started the day with Jack not really feeling like Halloween.
Of course.
He couldn't stop talking about and celebrating it for weeks...and then the day came and he kept telling me "Halloween is broken."
\
Luckily, a visit to Kate's school got him out of his funk, and he was ready to sport his bones costume and get into the true Halloween spirit.
 
 
 
 
He particularly enjoyed marching around the school with Principal Ross (Dorothy) and all of the other kids.
 
 
After some naps... we were off to Annie's for our traditional Halloween festivities.
 
Annie's boys were off by the time we got there, so my Griffin pics are lacking, but Lucy and Izzy were beyond perfect for prancing around the neighborhood with Jack as he trick-or-treated.
 
 
 

 
 
He was excited at first, but quickly realized it was a lot of walking and effort to just get a bunch of candy he wouldn't eat anyway (weird kid!).
 

 
So, his trick or treating lasted about a half hour, and then he was more than content playing at his girlfriend Annie's house the rest of the night.
 
We enjoyed yummy soup and breadsticks, and had fun just hanging out.



 




 
 
 
Tucker, as usual, was a huge problem.
(In case you can't tell, he too was bones.)
 
I could not wait until November 1st to take down and collect all of Jack's hundreds of random Halloween trinkets that were cluttering the house.  We really did have so much fun watching his little obsession, and I can't wait to celebrate the next holidays with him as he is older and starting to understand better.
 
We most definitely exhausted this holiday!
Now, onto the next!