Jack goes to the gym!

Jack loves Julia's toys just as much as she does....

He enjoyed hanging out in the "gym" for quite some time this morning!  We knew something was up when he was being too quiet. The best part was a few minutes after these pictures were taken when he was checking himself out in the little red mirror!

Happy Anniversary!

I can hardly believe that we have been married for...

oh my, 14 years...it seems just like yesterday!

In 14 years we have moved seven times and lived in two different states (Michigan & Arkansas) and two different countries (England & France).  We have been lucky enough to travel to more than 20 countries...our favorites being South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Russia.  A little over two years ago we welcomed our son, Jack and then Julia in September of this year.  Life has never been so exciting!

Some of the highlights-

Our first international move...Manchester, England...at the time we thought our apt. was small.

We moved to Grand Ledge from England and found out we were to move again before all of the boxes were even unpacked!

Then it was on to Arkansas!

Then we found out what small really was...our apt. in Paris was about 600 sq. ft.

 

A few of our favorite trips...

Moscow - August 2002

Cape Town, South Africa - November 2002

New Zealand - March 2003

Nice, France - April 2007

 

We waited a long time for these two little ones...

Jack - October 2007, Julia - September 2009

XOXO!

Check out the glasses!

You wouldn't believe the entertainment

that these glasses provided...

It went like this...Mommy puts on the glasses...

Jack puts on the glasses (then runs to the

mirror to check himself out)...
Mommy puts on the glasses...
Jack puts on the glasses (runs to the
mirror to check himself out)...

You get the picture...this went on for at least 30 minutes...

A big hug says it all...

Grandma & Grandpa knew that Jack loved his Christmas presents...he put them in a pile and gave them a big hug!

In LOVE with the Monkeys!

Did Jack get 2 or 3 monkeys for Christmas?

The puppet monkey from Ma & Pa...

The blue monkey from Grandma & Grandpa...
...and the third monkey Jack attempted to claim...

Julia's pink monkey.
Jack even tried to sneak it into his bed!

Christmas Candy Canes

Here are our two favorite Candy Canes on Christmas morning!

Christmas Eve Stories

Stories with Dad...one of Jack's favorites...The Cat in the Hat

Miss Julia - 3 Months

Little Miss Julia is 3 months old today! She is such a happy little girl...she even wakes up smiling in the morning. She sleeps about 12 hours a night and I was lucky enough to have 8 nights in a row that she didn't even wake to eat...that streak ended two nights ago; however, I am still lucky that if she does get up it's only once a night. She goes to bed awake and falls asleep on her own and has done so since she was two weeks old (I would have NEVER dreamed that this was even possible...especially after Jack). She naps in her swing (this is a habit that we will have to break, but for now it works for us) about 3 times a day. She loves to coo and giggle and has just started blowing bubbles. Her brother even calls her Happy Baby! She eats 5-6 times a day, which I love...I was used to Jack eating 12 times a day and cluster feeding every hour from 8 p.m. to midnight! It's so amazing how one baby can be so different from another!

They may not act alike as babies, but we think they look alike (a good thing since we don't think they really look like either one of us!)...

Jack at 3 months

A New Kitchen

I never imagined that we would have so much plastic in our house! We learned from Jack's birthday that more than one present can be a bit overwhelming for a little guy (I mean you have to play with it don't you!) so we started a little early with his Christmas presents...Jack loves his new kitchen!

Grandma & Grandpa came over to see Jack's reaction to the new kitchen and brought some presents...lots of food...Jack calls it "our town food" (from one of his favorite Fisher Price books, Welcome to Our Town).
Lots of dishes too...
...and a shopping cart!

It's a good thing the snowpants were on sale!

Here's Jack all excited and ready to go check out the snow...

and then...

...he was ready to go in as soon as we got out! Poor little guy was yelling..."back into the house". It took us longer to put on all of the gear than we lasted outside. Better luck next time!

An Interview with Jack

For Jack's first interview he is covered in green beans (I mean green applesauce - we call most vegetables applesauce...it's the only way we can get him to eat vegetables...I will call them anything he wants as long as he eats them!) and chomping on a graham cracker (quite attractive). He tells us some of his favorite things...
Number - 2
Color - Blue
Book - Farmer Jed
Foods - Applesauce & Graham Crackers
Bib - Thomas the Train & Hippos
Letter - J (J for happy....then he changes his mind to J for Jack)
Animals - Octopus & Monkey

Jack also explains that hitting is bad...maybe all of those timeouts are finally working!

All Thumbs!

Julia's been working really hard to get those thumbs in her mouth and she finally succeeded!

She's such a happy little girl....Jack even calls her "happy baby"!

Hey Pa...this one's for you!

Ma & Pa left for Florida and Jack misses his puzzle partner! 

How about...an A and X?

Jack dresses like Pa!

Nothing better than a BIG ABC puzzle!

For Jack there is nothing better than the BIG ABC puzzle that came in the mail this morning! He had already mastered all of the uppercase letters so we are now on to the lowercase letters. He really LOVES his ABC's and numbers! We can't even spell the bad words at our house...he has started repeating the letters! Oh dear!

Jack loves Julia!

I think Jack loves his little sister! He likes to hang out with her when she is playing with what he calls her gym. As she is hitting the hanging monkey and elephant Jack likes to get close to her. He thinks it's funny when she touches his face. We have to keep a close eye on Jack as he wants to hug her like he hugs his stuffed monkey!

Running in Circles

This happens to be in the morning, but I hear Jack before he falls asleep at night...he talks to all of his little bears and monkeys, likes to yell out all of the numbers on his pjs, and has recently started running in circles.

Christmas Card Photos

I am so jealous of everyone that has those perfect Christmas card photos...do you know how difficult it is to get a 2-year old to get his picture taken? I spent all last week trying to get the "perfect" photo...it didn't really happen...but we finally figured out that the only way to get Jack to actually sit in front of the tree was do puzzles! These didn't end up of the card, but are some of the better attempts!

Crack me up!

Another picture I just couldn't resist!

Santa Baby!

I just can't stop taking pictures!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Julia likes to get her picture taken....

Jack not so much...

Happy Baby!

Little Miss Julia is such a happy baby!

Monkey Kisses

Jack loves monkeys and the ones on the Christmas tree are no exception. It's funny how our decorations have changed...I would have never thought I would hang monkeys on the tree...I guess it's going to be a few more years before we bring back out our favorite decorations.

This is an example of how much Jack loves getting his picture taken! Jack has quite the vocabulary these days; however, his favorite words are currently NO and NOPE...I think that is what he was saying here...NO MORE PICTURES!

Thanksgiving 2009

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful lunch with our family at the English Inn. Julia enjoyed her Thanksgiving lunch with a little snooze. We think Jack ate his weight in mashed potatoes, croisants (mine disappeared from my plate), and stuffing...not to mention the Froot Loops that he had for dessert (we were willing to do anything to keep him entertained!). He was a happy guy until it was time to take family photos...he was ready to run wild (can't blame him...and it was nap time). So the best photo that includeds everyone shows Rob's profile and the bottom of Jack's feet...can't say we didn't try!

Jack...ready to eat!

Julia...enjoying lunch!

After many, many attempts...this is the best photo!

This is what happens when you eat too much and miss your nap!