Jack turned 1.

Our baby boy turned one this week. It's already impossible to imagine what life was like without him. Not a day goes by where he doesn't bring large amounts of joy into our life. He's walking and running around all over the place these days... definitely keeping us on our toes. :)

I have to admit, I woke up on the morning of Jack's birthday way more nostalgic than I expected to. Constantly saying, "At exactly this time last year we were..." fill in the blank. It's crazy to have this kid of our own and we couldn't be more happy than that he is ours and that we get to teach him love and grace and so many joys in life. 

As you will see here, Jack is a very blessed boy and has so many people constantly loving him. Both Bill's and my family live within 10 minutes of each other which means we get to celebrate almost everything twice. It's a pretty sweet deal. We celebrated with my family on Monday, we first went to get our Christmas tree, then out to dinner and home to treats and gifts. Then Tuesday we had pizza, cake and gift's with the Baxter's. I think Jack was starting to think this is normal life now. 

My mom and dad got him this rocking chair and he was so excited about it. It was adorable.

Tuesday night's celebrations...

He got some pretty cool stuff. After opening each gift he laughed and clapped. 

We love you little man!

Magic Months: Christmas Tree Day

A few photos of getting a christmas tree yesterday. It was such a beautiful evening and I think we picked out a tree in record time! We always enjoy our relaxing Mondays. Between decorating throughout the day, Christmas music and a wonderful dinner out, we enjoyed a very festive day off. Adam and Jackie spent the day with us also, but they had sleeping babies in the car and I didn't end up with any pictures of them. :) 

  
I love this picture of Caroline.

Magic Months: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving celebrations have not been lacking this year. On Monday Abbie and Stephen came for a couple day visit from Virginia. We enjoyed a lot of good things. Relaxed a lot, went to the movies, laughed, reminisced and heard stories while looking through all of grandma and grandpa's slides, ate some fabulous treats and enjoyed one another's company, to name a few. The boys also played lots of football. We then had our big dinner on Wednesday.  

Here are some pictures from our thanksgiving days. :)

Thursday morning we spent doing what we have for all three of our years together. Eating breakfast and being cozy. It's probably what we're best at.  While watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade of course. It's so festive and fun to us... even if it is mostly silly. :) I'm pretty sure Thanksgiving will be forever changed as we remember our first one as parents in the hospital with our one day old Jack in our arms. It was one of the best feelings in the world and something we'll always remember with joy.

First Thanksgiving just the two of us,

Second Thanksgiving with Jack,

We spent the rest of the morning baking and preparing for the Baxter family Thanksgiving celebrations. Such fun to enjoy another day of deliciousness. Jack also got to spend it with three of his great grandparents, which is pretty amazing.

Sorry for just rambling on, but I have a lot to say about Thanksgiving! I want to talk all about our old family traditions in Niagara Falls with some of our favorite people, last Thanksgiving and the fun stories of being in the hospital, details of our family celebrations, the way that it's the perfect holiday to start off the Christmas season... maybe another time. :) 

We have so many reasons to be grateful. Mashed potatoes is one of them... I mean seriously? How are they so good?! I'll never know. 

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving!