A "made" Christmas gift

My friend Bekah came up with the idea of some of us girls from college, who are spread across the country, to do a "made" gift exchange. I immediately thought, "fun...but JUNK!!" For those of you that know me, know that I am ver craft challenged! I went straight to the internet looking for something to make for Casey. I found this website that explained how to make a Williams Sonoma knock-off glass hurricane candle thing using items from the Dollar Store. I used super glue instead of hot glue; tried the hot glue and it didn't really work.

I got the hurricane vase and candle from the Dollar Store ($1 each). They didn't have the base, so Jen picked some a different type of base at Walmart for $2. My wonderful sis-in-law gave me some holly from their tree ($FREE!!). So each candle costs $4 to make ($8 for the set). I had to go ahead and make some for me as well! :)

Here's the finished result!! I was pretty thrilled about how well they turned out! And I plan on changing out the holly with different things for each season (like brown leaves in the Fall - like the Williams Sonoma ones).

(I guess I need to make sure the candles are straight!! hahaha)

Jack's Toddling!

It's true....Jack is taking more and more steps each day!! I don't have a video to show you yet, but if you're my friend on Facebook, you can go to my profile page and see a video that our sister-in-law took Tuesday night.

For MiMi

This one's for you Mom :)

Jack's One Year Checkup...

Jack had his 1 year checkup with the doctor on Monday. Our boy's doing great!! He also had his first birthday party...I'll do a post about that later once I get all the pictures and videos together. I just can't believe he's one! His doctor said I'll be saying that when he's 5, and 10, and 16, and 20..... I guess you never get used to your baby growing up :)

Here's his news stats:
Height: 31" - 75%
Weight: 21 lb 14.5 oz - 25%
Head Circumference: 18" - 50%

Although Jack's not walking yet, the doctor was really impressed with his coordination and balance. When you only have one kid, you think everything they do is normal. I had no idea that balancing on one foot (whild holding on of course) was something I should be impressed about! hahaha

Fun Facts About Jack:

• He takes a step or two here and there. He also can walk pretty well while holding onto one finger. And he cruises ALL the time!
• He mimicks us all the time - which is quite hysterical sometimes!
• Jack eats mostly solid food now. He still has his bottle 4 times a day, but usually only eats a few ounces.
• Some of his favorite foods include: grapes, oranges, Chicken Poppyseed Casserole, Chicken Packets, carrots, green peas, black eyed peas
• Jack's learning how to put shapes in his shape sorter.
• He loves anything that he can spin.
• He gets into EVERYTHING!! He's always on the move and loves to open drawers and pull whatever's in them out.
• He smiles and laughs all the time - he's such a joy in our lives!
• Jack likes to dance to music.
• He's starting to jump....sometimes his feet even leave the ground!
• He's a climber! If there's something he can climb on, he will.
• He loves to play with balls. He's pretty good at throwing them, too. We'll have to work on catching them, though :)
• Jack LOVES taking a bath!
• He also loves to play on our laptops...even if we don't love it! hahaha

We just love our little guy so much and can't imagine what our lives would look like without him!

Thanksgiving

It's time to update our blog again!! Actually, it's way past time, but I'm just now getting around to it :)

We had a wonderful time in GA with Laura's family for Thanksgiving! It's been way too long since we've visiting family in Georgia!

Jack with Uncle Bobby - they formed a special bond over the week :)

I, Laura, made some pilgrim had cookies with my nephew Landon. They didn't take as long as I thought they would. And I think they turned out super cute!!

Landon wanted to wear his pilgrim hat for the picture :)

Jack and Paw Paw

Jack and MiMi - she wanted to hold him like a baby...this is about as close as anybody will get!

Our family on Thanksgiving Day

The grandparents with their grandkids

The great-grandparents with 2 of the great grandkids

...and now with 3 of the grandkids

Landon :) love that kid!

Landon and Jack crawling

Told you they had a special bond :)Jack and Landon playing basketball. As you can see in this video, Jack pretty much watched everything Landon did all week.

Jack got to try lots of new southern foods that I never cook because I married a northerner! :) (Love you, honey!) Some of the foods he tried (and enjoyed) include butter beans, black eyed peas, cheese grits, and Buttermilk Custard Pie (which pretty much no one in Luke's family likes).

Here's the PROOF that Jack loves Buttermilk Custard Pie! And I didn't have to force feed him (Liz...)

I mean....could his mouth get any wider???

Outside Fun!

Jack absolutely LOVES being outside! It's been cold the past couple of weeks, but we're having a warm front right now. So, I took Jack outside yesterday for a little fun. I figured it'll be one of our last times playing outside before the weather turns cold for good.

Jack really enjoys playing in this car that YaYa got him. He loves for me to push him up and down the driveway in it :)

Yeah, so Jack eats a leaf in this video. I was trying to watch through the camera and make sure he was still in the shot and couldn't quite see exactly what was going on or respond quickly....whoops!

Time...

So this was our first "fall back" experience with Jack. Normally, I LOVE to fall back...it's way better than springing forward! Who wouldn't want an extra hour of sleep?? (Or what usually turns into an extra hour of being awake....) Jack, however, has had a little bit of a tough time adjusting. Yesterday morning he woke up at 6:55am - WAAAAAY to early! But we had to get ready for church, so we decided to go ahead and get him up.

This morning, he woke up at 6:45am -even earlier!! After a while of fussing in his crib, he FINALLY went back to sleep and woke up again at 8:45am. Much better :) Hopefully he's adjusted to the new time for good and will be back on his normal schedule.

Just a few updates....

In case you were wondering what Jack's doing now:

• Jack says, "Mama" "Dada" and "Dog" (which he pronounces "Doh")
• He's got 8 teeth
• He's starting to stand on his own a little more now
• Jack took one step Saturday night and one step Sunday...and I (Laura) missed them BOTH!!
• He points at everything
• He loves being outside and loves to play with leaves and sticks (and tries to eat them, too)
• He dances to music a lot
• He rarely will let us feed him anymore...Big Boy Jack has to feed himself
• I think if he eats another grape he'll turn into one - BY FAR his favorite food!
• He'll be one year old in exactly 1 month and 2 days - I can't believe it!!

Jack's such a happy baby and a joy and blessing to our lives. We couldn't love him more!

Happy Halloween!!

The Moms with the Babes on their first Halloween

Cutest lion I've ever seen :) Love my niece, Sophie! Jack and Olivia - she kept trying to give him a kiss....he kept moving away! haha

TRBC had a whole area set up like Willy Wonka. Jack LOVED the bubble room!!

All of us together - I guess getting the kids to look at the camera is out of the question.

Sophie and Jack having fun on the trampoline. Neither of them was tall enough to hold on to the bar and bounce. (Although they did enjoy some bouncing - watch the video)

Jack couldn't quite figure out that he was supposed to crawl through this.

Sliding with Daddy

Jack started to pick up a duck......

...but then dropped it when he figured out there was water he could play in.

The duck he started to pick up had a #1 on the bottom...1 piece of candy :) Yeah, we're hott! :)

"Jack's" (aka - mom and dad's) stash at the end of the night (pretty sad, I know. Hopefully he'll do better next year!)

AND NOW FOR THE VIDEOS.......


Jack and Sophie having fun bouncing on the trampoline

Jack going down the slide...

Sophie going down the slide (sorry it's sideways)....

Fun times with Jack

We got Jack's bouncy seat back out because we had some friends coming over for dinner who have a small baby. Turns out Jack still loves his bouncy seat, just in a different way! We've kept it out and he loves getting on it all the time!

Without anyone showing him how, Jack just started doing this the other day. What a funny kid :)

Run For Their Lives

Luke and I had the wonderful opportunity to run/ walk a 5K yesterday. This was my (Laura's) very first race ever. This particular race is not about winning. It costs $24 to enter the race. That's the exact amount that it costs to purchase a Thai girl's freedom for one day from sex trafficking. Basically what Freedom 4/24 does is pay for a girl's freedom for the day and then they take that day to show them that there's another way. They show them the love of Christ. I can't think of a better reason to run. Here's how our day went:

Brett and Jack having a little pre-race fun. Jack loved playing with the balloon, so someone ended up tying one to the stroller he was riding in.

Luke about to cross the finish line. I was SO proud of him! He hasn't run in a really long time (like since high school) and he ran the entire race! He finished 67th with a time of 27:37:00!! He did 8:55 miles. Needless to say, he's feeling it today :)
Now, I have NEVER been a runner. In fact, I dislike running...a lot. It hurts. But I did end up running some parts of the race. After the halfway turn around we were going slightly downhill, so I just let go of the stroller and ran behind it. It's amazing how much more momentum you have when you use your arms! :)

Jen came and helped me push Jack up the final (very steep) hill.

Almost to the finish line! Snagging a quick picture with Luke (who helped quite a few women push their strollers up this final hill).

That's me on the left. I decided to sprint the last straight away, passing a few people. Suckas!!! I finished in 511th place with a time of 45:20:00. Now, that sounds a little worse than it actually is because there were about 900 people running/ walking the 5K. I did 14:37 miles; which is better than I do when I walk around our neighborhood (I usually do about 20 minute miles...but hey, it's a hilly neighborhood!).
Luke with Jack by the finish line.

Please Pray

Please pray for my cousins (who will remain nameless). They are leaving tomorrow (Tuesday) to travel to the Middle East to be missionaries. They'll be traveling for 30+ hours. Please pray for safety in traveling and a smooth transition as they adjust to a new culture and learning a new language. And of course pray for the people they'll be in contact with :)

Growing Up...

While we were in Greenville this weekend, I went yard saleing with Luke's mom. I got a lot of great buys! I found one of those cars that kids can ride on or walk behind for 5 bucks! I was planning to give it to Jack for his first birthday, but we couldn't wait :) He loves it!! Here's a picture of his sitting on it and a video of him walking behind it (excuse the mess, we had just gotten home and dumped everything in the house).

We also upgraded Jack to his "big boy" tub. I know most people probably just bathe their kids in the bath tub, but I got this super cute ducky tub that'll use less water. Right after I put him in it, I made the duck quack by squeezing it's beak. He was NOT a fan of that!! He crawled right out of it into my lap! hahaha Hopefully our next experience with the ducky tub will go much better :) Here's a picture of him in the tub (not happy) complete with a new ducky faucet cover...

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!?!

Jack LOVES balls! We happen to think he's pretty coordinated for a 9 month old (although we have nothing to compare him to - just let us think, ok??). He was having fun playing football with Daddy while Daddy was watching football this Sunday afternoon. I love them both so much!!

Fun with Jack!

This is so funny!!

Quelf

Nick and Liz got this game called "Quelf" and they brought it over to play with us while Mom and Dad Nickels were in town. You have to do all kinds of crazy stuff. Here's a few videos of the fun! :)

Mom had to write a rap about herself and here's what she came up with:

Luke had to do a disco dance and try to get someone to dance with him. Nick did (of course, we didn't know what his card said):

Dad had to sing this same line is I think 5 different genres. Good luck figuring out what they are!! hahaha

If you're wondering about the snorting in some of the videos, I had to snort like a pig every time I laughed.

Updates

Jack has 4 teeth now! You can't see the 2 on top, but here's a pretty clear shot of the 2 on bottom.

We have been without a lawn mower for the majority of the summer. (Thanks Matt and Jen for letting us borrow yours all the time!!) Luke got a steal on a new one from Lowe's. And he can't to have Jack sit in his lap while he cuts the grass!!

The Joys of Motherhood

I absolutely LOVE being Jack's mom! There are so many things he does from day to day that make me laugh and make my heart melt. It's so fun watching him grow up and learn to do new things each day. Here's some things that Jack has done over the past few months that have put a huge smile on my face (in no particular order):

- the way he giggles when I tickle him
- how when i'm crawling down the hall he thinks it's so fun to crawl after me
- when he's eating cheerios and he tries to feed me one
- how just now he fell asleep in my arms while i was rocking him and singing to him
- that time i was read him "Goodnight Moon" before his nap and he put his paci in MY mouth
- how he dances when he hears songs with a beat
- the way he lights up when his daddy comes home from work
- how he'll come find me when i walk into another room
- the way he giggles when he's playing with Levi (our dog)
- when i say "give me kisses" he opens his mouth up as wide as he can :)
- when he says, "mama"....even though he's not saying it at me yet

Lord, thank you for the wonderful opportunity of raising Jack. What an awesome and huge responsibility! I pray Luke and I will be godly examples for him. I pray we would be able to teach him right from wrong. And most importantly I pray that he will grow up to love you!

What a day!

So.....long story, short. Levi (our dog) came in from being outside yesterday and laid down on the couch. When he got up, I saw what, at first, I thought was black beads on the couch. I kept looking at these "beads" and noticed they were moving!! That's right, moving! Any one have any guesses as to what these tiny black things are? Nope, they're not fleas. They're baby ticks. That's right, TICKS!!! I don't know what Levi walked through/ played in outside, but it was like baby ticks hatched all over him!
I didn't know if these ticks were a new addition to our household, or if Levi had brought them in earlier. So what did I do? I became an emotional wreck and called Luke at work ... who came home promptly :) The whole time I was crying I was thinking, "Laura, God's in control. It's ok." But I couldn't help being VERY upset. I ended up taking Jack over to my friend Jen's house while Luke fogged the house, bathed Levi (twice!), and cut the grass. Luke said he pulled about 20 more bigger ticks off of Levi. We put Frontline-type stuff on Levi. This morning, we found a few more DEAD baby ticks that Levi lost overnight. I think our pest problem is solved. And remember what I said earlier about God being in control? Well, He is. Although clean-up took several hours, it only cost us $9 for the bug fogger stuff. Praise the Lord we caught this early on and it did not cost us an arm and a leg!

Hungry Boy!!

Jack is working up quite and appetite. Here's an example: at breakfast this morning he ate

-8 ounces of formula
-4 tablespoons of oatmeal
-1 cube of apples
-about 1 inch of banana

After that I quit feeding him. I hope this is just a phase!!

And now a message from Jack:
`xqszxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc xtgfgbbbsssawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwawzzzzzzzzzz36621`

What a mess!

His mother should teach him not to play with his food!

(You really have to click on the pictures and enlarge them to get the full effect)

Bathtime Fun!

Jack LOVES being in the water....bath, pool, lake, whatever. He inherited this trait from his Daddy. Here's a video of him thoroughly enjoying his bath :)

Old Friends

Last week I got to visit with my dear friend Christie, who I met a camp when I was in 11th grade! It's amazing that we've been able to keep in touch after all these years! It's been about 4 years since I last saw Christie (waaaayy too long!)....I got to meet her son (who's almost 1) for the first time! What a cutie pie!

Christie and Jayce

Big boy Jayce standing up!

Jayce and Jack playing...I love the look on Jayce's face in this one!

Now they're playing with the DVDs

We let them play with some dolls...thought their dads would get a kick out of this!

They were so interested!

Jack givin' the baby CPR

Holdin' the baby's hand and picking her nose

Christie and me with our babies :)

OK - switch babies!!