Goodbye 2013

It was a very blessed year! I'm so glad I discovered this fun app via friends on Instagram to make a highlight video of our year. Here's to 2014 and all the new adventures it holds!

Our Christmas

We kind of had to squeeze our Christmas in this year. Ty's December schedule on his trauma surgery rotation was really busy and he had to work the week of Christmas back at his main hospital. We decided to do it Sunday, December 21st. Ty had worked nights that weekend and was tired, but he woke up early to finish putting together Jack's trampoline during Jack's nap time. He is such a trooper! He never complains about his schedule or how tired he is. I seriously don't know how he does it.

We had so much fun giving Jack his presents! He was more into it than I thought he would be this year. He was the most excited about his red rainboots and gave a big "oooohhh" when he pulled them out of the sack. He immediately had to put them on!

Jack's big gift was a small trampoline. It is about seven feet in diameter and just a few feet off the ground. He loves to jump on the big trampoline at Grammy's house, but we did not have space in our yard for a big one. I was so excited to find this one. It's on our porch for now, but we will eventually move it to the yard. We took a video of Jack walking out to see it for the first time, but it was a little anti-climatic. haha. He was pretty excited to get inside it though!

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Ring around the rosy! He was already signing "more" and I hadn't completely fallen yet!

A frozen wonderland. It was so cold outside. Jack kept holding out his hands for Ty to blow on them to warm them up. He didn't want to come inside though and cried when we made him! 

Pictures from that morning before heading to church. The one good thing about Ty working on Saturday nights is I get to dress Jack however I want for church on Sunday. :)

a little self-timer action:

Santa

We bundled up and braved the freezing temperatures to help Ty finish up his Christmas shopping and to make a stop to see Santa. I love going to the Santa at Utica. He sits in a tiny gingerbread looking house in the middle of an outdoor shopping center. They allow you to use your own camera and it is just you, your family, Santa and either Mrs. Clause or an elf inside. It's pretty cramped and isn't the most elaborately decorated, but I love that it is just you inside and we have never encountered a line.

Jack wasn't too sure about Santa. I didn't give him much time to warm up to the idea. As soon as we walked inside I stripped him of his coat and hat and plopped him on Santa's lap. He was a little startled to say the least.

Notice the leggings under his pants. It was so cold out! 

He warmed up to Santa a little bit once Daddy joined him and after Santa gave him a cookie.

We taught Jack how to say "ho ho ho", but he wouldn't say it for Santa. Maybe next year...

2012--Jack's First Christmas

And because this is one of my favorite photos...on our way to meet Santa!

Snow Days

We spent several days snowed in and it was fabulous! I am so thankful that the snow/ice storm coincided with Ty having some days off. The three of us enjoyed our time together.
I made a batch of chicken taco soup and we seriously ate it for five meals straight. It is that good!

Jack wanted to be just like Daddy and help clear the driveway.

I could not get over how cute he looked in these boots! Thank you to cousin Lucas for sending them our way!

Toward the end of the video our neighbor walked out of his house and Jack said hi to him. Of course, I think it is the sweetest thing. I hadn't seen him do this unprompted. :)

Vacation--May 2013

We went on a great vacation at the end of May to Breckenridge, Colorado and I am just now recording it here. It was Jack's first time to travel via plane and he did great! Ty's parents met us there and it was nice to spend time with them. They also kept Jack while we went on an excursion and to dinner at a restaurant we visited on our honeymoon. The food was just as good as we had remembered!

{look at that amazing posture}

Christmas Cards

I had grand plans this year for our Christmas cards. We spent a few days in Galveston, TX at the beach after visiting Ty's sister and her family in Houston. I had searched the internet for a photographer and had a beach photo session scheduled. We experienced some unusual beach weather with freezing temperatures, rain, and strong winds. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our photo session. The sun did come out on the morning we were packing up to leave. I convinced Ty to take a photo on the beach using the self-timer on our camera. We got one shot of the three of us and it turned out okay. I think it will be making an appearance on our Christmas cards. It's not quite what I had in mind, but what could I do?

Thankfully, I've never had to worry about finding the perfect card. Minted has a great selection of Christmas cards with a lot of options to personalize, from the shape of the card to the text to the back of the card. I know no matter what picture we end up with it will be a quality card.  They also have a great feature called Find it Fast to plug your picture into the cards and scroll through all of their options. It makes selecting the perfect one so much easier!

I love the foil options this year!

I'm off to edit the one picture we got. Wish me luck!

This post was sponsored by Minted. All opinions expressed are my own.

christmas wish list

1. kate spade tortoise drop earrings (currently on sale at nordstrom)

2. large round basket from target (i would love to have a couple of these for toys and laundry)

3. dutch oven

4. gold ray-ban aviators, size small

5. tocca florence perfume, mini size 

6. mini glass pedestal cake stand

7. timex women's weekender watch

I love gifts. I don't mean receiving them, although that is great, and this is my personal christmas wish list. I mean I love giving gifts, I love seeing what other people are giving, wanting, etc. This time of the year people are posting gift guides and I love looking through them and getting ideas. I was really excited to get my December issue of Southern Living in the mail and look through their gift guides. Does anyone else love this as much as me?!

Happy Halloween!

We took our sweet, little puppy dog to our church's trunk or treat on Sunday night. He had the best time!

We tried to get a couple of pictures of him before we left the house.

Luckily, we got a couple of better ones at the church.

Taking a break

I can't resist posting these pictures of Jack last year at 3 months old!

Doctor by day and puppy by night.

His puppy costume still fit this year, so I figured why not wear it again!

Pumpkin Patch

One thing I was really looking forward to when I was pregnant was taking my kids to the pumpkin patch. Last year, Jack was just a few months old, but this year he was ready! I found out that a photographer was offering mini sessions at the pumpkin patch and I jumped at the chance to get some decent pictures of my little man with pumpkins. I knew I would never be able to capture the perfect picture, and decided to avoid the drama that would follow if I tried. Haha.

Although, these pictures of my sweet boy enjoying his afternoon snack are pretty cute!

 

Unfortunately, the pictures happen to fall on a day when the temperature was 91 degrees! Poor Jack developed a heat rash and he was only in his picture outfit for about 15 minutes.

Little poser! Seriously, couldn't have posed him better if we had tried!

I did mention the temperature, right?! Jack was dressed in a lined shirt and lined pants and I was in shorts!

Jack had so much fun at the pumpkin patch. He was excited about all the pumpkins and went around patting them all. He loved moving the little pumpkins around on the displays and tried eating the corn. I think he was the most excited about the bounce houses. The kid loves to jump. I can't wait to take him back next year!