Ice! at the Gaylord Texan

Yes, it's after Christmas and I'm just now catching up on blog entries from just after Thanksgiving.  I won't give excuses, but I'm sure you will all forgive me when you see the cuteness contained in this entry.

Each year, the Gaylord Texan Hotel in Grapevine (just north of Dallas) puts on an Ice! exhibit and I've always wanted to go.  The Gaylord is a massive hotel/conference center - owned by the same people as the Opryland Hotel and quite similar for those of you who've ever been there.  Each year, they bring in ice sculptors from China who work for months to create an amazing exhibit entirely out of ice.  This year's theme was A Charlie Brown Christmas and it was really pretty amazing.

The tour starts with a brief film on the making of the exhibit.  Then, everyone heads into another room to bundle up in giant winter jackets to walk through the exhibit.  Now obviously there are tons of kids who come to see the exhibit, but I think Jack was the smallest in our group.  We got him the smallest jacket they had, but the tour evidently doesn't plan for one-year-olds because he looked like a jacket with a little head on top.  For those of you who've ever see Monsters, Inc., he reminded me of Boo when they dressed her up in the monster costume as he toddled around the exhibit.  Of course I might be a little biased, but he was definitely the cutest thing there!

Here are some pictures we took from around the exhibit. Remember, everything is made out of ice!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 In the last room, there was a giant ice slide.  I took Jack to the top of the slide, planning to slide down with him, but I was told that I wasn't allowed.  The man at the top of the slide assured me that he would be fine, so we send the little jacket-with-a-head down the huge slide all by himself.  I excepted that he might be upset, but he got right up and toddled off.  What a big boy!

 

 

And yes, of course they talked me into buying the $15 family photo at the end of the tour:

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Our Little Family's Thanksgiving

Given the excitement of Jack's birthday party the weekend before, we made the decision to take it easy for Thanksgiving.  It's never easy for me to be away from family at Thanksgiving, but we decided we really needed some R&R and a chance to start our own family traditions.

On Thanksgiving day, we got up early, watched the Macy's parade, and started making dinner.  We tried to make most of our favorites: turkey and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rolls and pumpkin pie.  I wasn't brave enough to attempt Granddaddy's famous stuffing, and immediately regretted my decision.  Our storebought cornbread stuffing just wasn't the same!  Here's our turkey cooking in the oven:

 And a shot of our delicious meal:

And finally, the pumpkin pie (I may have filled it a little too full):

On Thanksgiving a year ago, Jack was just over a week old and smaller than our turkey.  It's amazing how things have changed in a year!  Here's Jack sampling his first Thanksgiving meal - his favorite was the green bean casserole - Mommy and Daddy liked it all!

Unlike most people, Jack didn't immediately succumb to the effects of tryptophan in the turkey and take a nap.  On the contrary, he decided he would rather get into some trouble.  I'm sure I don't even want to know what else he has in store for me as he grows up!

On Friday after Thanksgiving, we were so excited to get a visit from cousin Emma and her husband Dave (and their dogs Jack Jack and Luke).  They came to Dallas to watch the Cowboys take on the Saints in the traditional Thanksgiving Day game.  Even though the outcome wasn't what they hoped, it was great that they got to stop by on their way back to Louisiana and meet Jack.  Here they are with Jack:

 And here I am with my sweet cousin and my little boy:

Emma and Dave weren't able to stay long, but we loved getting to see them and Jack was so excited to finally get to meet them.  We hope they'll come back soon! (and I hope to get to visit them in their new home town, New Orleans, very soon) :)

We've been busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas - stay tuned for more soon!

The Big Birthday Party

Saturday after Jack's real birthday was the day of the big first birthday party.  At first, I had grand visions of a huge party with tons of children of friends and coworkers running around.  As I thought more, I realized that Jack has plenty of time for those kinds of birthday parties.  For his first birthday, I wanted something smaller, where everyone loved and cared for Jack and were excited to celebrate his big day.

We missed those of you who were too far away to join us, but we were so fortunate that all 6 of Jack's grandparents could make it for the party.  Brandi, Ryan and cousin Lincoln drove over from Fort Worth for the fun.  Uncle Greg showed up and so did Mommy's good friend, Mindy.

The party was a Curious George theme, picked out by Jack himself at Party City.  The adorable cake and smash cake were made by Hands on Cakes and were absolutely delicious!

 Balloons (or "bubbles" as Jack called them) are very popular with one-year-olds and toddlers.  Lincoln had one minor meltdown trying to tie one on his belt loop and only 2 balloons had to be retrieved from the ceiling!

 And here he is on his big day in his Elmo "You Had Me At Party" shirt:

A little spoiled are we??  Here's the little guy's stash.  Thanks everyone for the amazing gifts! 

Jack's attention span lasted long enough to open a few gifts. Mommy had fun opening the rest (mostly the clothes) after Jack went to bed.  He got a cool "Jack-sized" chair from Mommy, Daddy and Uncle Greg: 

And a wagon from Poppy and Gigi:

 And so many cool other presents from everyone else.  He's a lucky little boy.  Here we are opening presents - I think Max is just as interested as Jack:

Cousin Lincoln loved the airplane from Aunt Katy, Uncle Ian, and cousin Evan and Ben:

Here are Lincoln and Jack strolling around with their push toys:

Here are a few pics from around the party - Aunt Brandi and Uncle Ryan (with Uncle Greg in the background because somehow there are no other pictures of him):

Grandma, Mommy and Mindy:

And Jack with all 6 of his Grandparents:

Finally, its time for the fun part, the cake!  We got Jack his own mini "smash cake" to have fun with.  Here he is watching everyone sing Happy Birthday to him:

Taking a break from eating to smash some cake in Mommy's hair:

He was tentative at first, daintily sampling the cake:

Digging in a little more...

Now, I'm starting to get it...

Cake power!!

That was fun!

As you can imagine, this little munchkin went straight up to the bath.  Messy yes, but so worth it.  Thanks to everyone who made Jack's first birthday so special!

Happy First Birthday, Jack!

One year ago, I had a one-week old baby boy.  We lived in in a rental house Stamford, CT.  Tommy worked for Freeman Co. and I reviewed SEC documents for Deloitte in our National Office.  Obviously, a lot has changed in year.  We moved to Frisco, TX and bought a house.  Tommy now works for Microsoft and, while I still work for Deloitte, I'm back to auditing again.  By far, the best change has been our amazing little boy.  Yes, he has brought many challenges to our lives - we've been sleep deprived, frustrated, and worried more often I can remember.  He's also brought more joy to our lives than I thought possible.  I love his chubby cheeks, his giant smile and his huge dark-brown eyes.  I can't help but smile when he giggles while I tickle his feet or toddles towards me, arms outstretched for a hug.  I love watching him learn and explore the world around him and I can't wait to see what the years hold for him.

So on November 16th, we celebrated Jack's first birthday.  I bought cupcakes to take to daycare, and made cupcakes to celebrate at home.  Yes, it was probably a lot of sugar for a little boy who has never really eaten sweets, but you're only one once, right?

Here's our smiley man, excited about is cupcake:

Having fun with his birthday cupcake:

If you think he had fun with the cupcake, just wait until you see him with his birthday party smash cake.  Stay tuned!

Jack had his one-year checkup with Dr. Le on Thursday.  He wasn't happy about his two shots, but he didn't cry for long.  The doctor says he's a perfectly healthly, happy little boy.  We are going to start transitioning him from formula to whole milk soon - wish us luck!  Here are his one year stats:

     Height: 30 inches (50th percentile)
     Weight: 21 pounds, 4 ounces (25th percentile)
     Head: 18.5 inches (65th percentile)

And a little bit about Jack at one year old:

• He's been walking since a few days before he turned 10 months old.  At a year, he is still a little unstable, but almost always walks (or runs) instead of crawls
• He is always babbling.  Mostly still just noises, but he knows a few words.  He says "Mama," "Dada," "Baba" (bottle), "Nana" (banana), "Mumum" (when he wants to eat), "ball", "dat" (pointing at something he wants to know about), "bubble," "uh-oh" (usually holding something in his hand and getting ready to drop it).  He understands "bye-bye" and will start waving as soon as anyone says the word.  He waves bye-bye to Daddy every morning as he leaves for school.
• He loves music.  Whenever there is music playing, he rocks back and forth to the rhythm, dancing to the music.  Just recently, he's starting spinning in a circle, too.
• He's a good eater, and will eat pretty much anything although his favorite appears to be any kind of pasta, especially with tomato sauce.  He also really likes bananas, yogurt, and squash.  He takes after his Mommy and will suck on a pickle or a lemon without even making a face.  Of course, he also has his cajun roots and seems to like spicy foods as well!  He has six teeth, four on the top and 2 on the bottom.
• He's a great sleeper and usually sleeps through the night from about 7:30pm to 6 or 6:30am.
• He loves to play with his puppies.  He will hold toys in his hands and play tug of war with Albert.  He also tries to give them hugs.  At this point, he is a little rough with them, so they spend most of their time running from him, but I think they will become great friends as he grows up. 

Finally, a couple more shots of our birthday boy in his birthday shirt: