Ski trip!

Happy Thanksgiving! We are enjoying a night at home after unpacking from a wonderful trip to the mountains. We spent Thanksgiving day at home, with store-bought turkey and homemade sides. Jack had a good time helping us make everything in the kitchen. He didn't enjoy the green beans very much, but he has been happily eating them the past few days when we promise pumpkin pie afterward. (Yes, sometimes we bribe our child with dessert.)

Jeff had to work on Friday, but when he got off, we hit the road for Keystone. We had been talking about taking Jack for a weekend in the mountains and figured this was as good of a time as any. The snow was not so good and there weren't that many runs open, but for Jeff it was great to enjoy a sunny day and a good workout. We took Jack on the gondola up to the top for lunch, which was so much fun. He was in awe the whole time, not really talking much. He seemed to be taking the whole thing in. We saw lots of kids on skis that weren't much bigger than him, so we're thinking that by the time he turns 3 in March, he might be ready for a run or two with Jeff.

 

 

 

All in all, a great Thanksgiving weekend! We are thankful for so much--the healthy baby on the way, the healthy, happy, and growing boy we already have, the time we get to spend together as a family, the roof over our heads, and the food that fills our cupboards. We hope that your Thanksgivings were filled with good food, good company, and lots of love and laughter.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! A few pictures of our cute little monkey. They didn't dress up in costume at day care today, instead having a PJ day. But he did get his face painted--he told us he was a "scary cat." After dinner, we ventured out to a few houses on our block. Jack was less shy than he was last year, but now he understands what it means to get scared. Jeff and I were talking about it later, and it's interesting because he knows enough to know what it means to be scared, but he doesn't really understand that it's all pretend. So by the time he went to bed tonight he had kind of worked himself up about Halloween being "too scary." We made sure to give him lots of tight hugs and kisses, and we spent extra time making sure he was all tucked in. And we told him that tomorrow will not be Halloween anymore. I think that helped! Hope you all had a happy, and only slightly scary, Halloween!

 

Pumpkins!

Happy Halloween (a few days early)! We got into the holiday spirit today and made a trip to a local pumpkin patch. We had a great time! (Apologies in advance for the long post, but if you make it to the end . . . we have some news!)

But first, a quick review of last weekend, when Nike's girlfriends from law school, Katie and Melissa, came to visit. Melissa brought her husband Jason (one of Jeff's physical therapy classmates) and their daughter Emma. We had a great mix of just girls time with dinner on Friday night, family time on Saturday morning, and then adult time with a brewery tour on Saturday afternoon. It was the perfect weekend! Thank you to the Burgarts and Katie for traveling to see us!

Melissa and Emma

 
Emma was a big fan of Jeff

 
And Jack was a big fan of Katie, especially when she read him books

 
Our annual picture of Jack and Jeff hanging the Hawkeye flag on a Saturday morning

And now, on to the farm! Jack got us in the mood this morning by singing Old McDonald at home and during the car ride. We started with a ride for Jack in the "barrel train." We weren't quite sure what that would be until we saw it--literally plastic barrels pulled by a tractor. It was pretty cute.

 

Next it was on to the animals, playing in the hay bale maze, playing in the wooden train, and a pony ride.

 

 

 

 
After an afternoon nap, it was time to carve the pumpkins we picked out. Jack wanted nothing to do with touching the insides of the pumpkin, but he liked using the tools to poke holes while Mommy did the carving.

 
And finally, our masterpieces. Grover was Jack's idea and Jeff's handiwork.

 
You may notice we have four pumpkins . . . one for each member of our family. We'll get to meet our littlest pumpkin on May 8!

Still no pictures

I just read my last post and realized and I'm sorry to report that we still don't have any pictures! We really need to get better at taking pictures of Jack, even if he won't sit still long enough to take them. You'll see in the videos below that each one ends with Jack saying, "I wanna see it" and reaching for the camera. Since our last post, we took a trip home to Iowa City for Homecoming. It was Jack's first flight where we bought him his own seat, and he loved it! He did great and had such fun. Although it's more work to travel with a toddler, it's so fun to see boring things like security lines and airplane rides through Jack's eyes. We are always entertained!

While at home Jack also got to see his first parade! As we were telling him about the parade beforehand, we told him about marching bands and drums. And we showed him how he could carry his own drum like he was in the band. I think he's getting the hang of it:

While Jeff and I went to the game on Saturday, Grandma Jane watched Jack and took him on the Hawkeye train. They had a blast, and Jack is still talking about it. And, as usual, our trip was filled with lots of family, friends, and good food!

And while we're talking about music, here's a couple videos of Jack playing the piano. My favorite part is when he turns the pages in his book like he's reading music.

Happy fall!

I realized this week that it had been a while since we posted anything, and when I went to get the camera today, I realized we had three or four videos since our last post and no pictures! This might be the longest stretch since Jack was born that we've gone without taking pictures. We had a busy August, with visits from Jeff's parents and my uncle Dave, his wife Bev, and my aunt Sue. Dave and Bev had never been to visit us in Colorado, and it was really fun to have them here. They also went up to Winter Park to visit my cousin and his family too. Then my mom came for my birthday weekend to watch Jack while Jeff and I took a vacation to Las Vegas! It was wonderful! We got some great quality time by the pool and only lost $5 gambling--and ate some incredible meals.

Now we're back in Denver for at least a few weeks. Jack started gymnastics last week in a parent-tot class. The first five or ten minutes he's been really shy--just checking out the scene and getting comfortable. Then by halfway through the class he is bouncing all over and very happy. It's pretty adorable. Other than that, not much going on with us. Below are a couple of our latest videos.

Jack getting some golf tips from Jeff

 

 

 

Learning his Hawkeye cheers from Grandma Janet

 



Catching up

Hello friends! Just checking in and catching up in the midst of a busy, busy summer. As we mentioned in the last post, we had a great trip to Iowa, followed by getting Jack into a new big boy bed. We are happy to report that he still loves his new bed, and he still sleeps like a champ. In the past month it seems like he's grown so much! We need to start keeping track and actually measuring him. He is so much more of a little boy now and less of a toddler every day. His favorite book right now is "I Love You, Stinky Face," and his favorite question seems to be, "What are you doing?" He hasn't started with the "whys" yet, but I think it's only a matter of time.
After our trip to Iowa, I got to take a trip to Chicago for work. I was there long enough to catch up with some good friends, attend a great conference, and even sneak out one afternoon for a river/lake architecture tour. The week after that was the 4th of July. With the holiday being in the middle of the week and already having taken our summer vacation, it was pretty low-key. We pulled out our recently purchased bike trailer and took it out for a spin. Jeff did a great job of pulling it behind his bike, despite having to change a flat tire and some very hot weather! We went to a local reservoir, so we were able to cool off at the end by dipping our feet in the water.

After the holiday, we've had visits from Kacie and her friend Laura, Jeff's friend Brad and his brother, and Grandma Janet and Grandpa Steve. It's been busy!! Grandma Jane and Grandpa Randy got here on Thursday, for the first trip they've made since last fall. It's a long overdue trip, and we are counting our blessings that Jane is able to visit her grandbabies again. They brought Jack a batting tee, and it's quite a hit! The video below doesn't do justice to his skills--he's actually doing pretty well with it--but it was too funny not to share.

Finally, we had our family pictures taken a few weeks ago, and they turned out great! Here are a couple of our favorites.

Summer vacation!

I owe a much longer post about our fantastic week in Iowa, but I'm feeling lazy. Suffice it to say that it was wonderful! As with most of our trips home to Iowa, the same is true here: we got to show off Jack to everyone, visit with friends and family, drink, eat, watch a thunderstorm, drink some more, and eat some more. This trip had the added bonus of bringing good news about Jane: her cancer is almost gone! The latest CT still shows a couple of spots, but because they are so small, the CT can't accurately diagnose whether they're cancer or scar tissue. Hurray! Jeff said that the doctor was beaming when he walked into the room after she had her CT. Can't ask for better news than that! (For Jane's blog, click here.)It's hard to just choose a few pictures from the many we took, but here are some favorites:

Riding go-carts with Jeff at Fun City in Burlington

Deep in conversation (and goofing off) with cousin Connor

Grandma Janet's grandbabies

A quick family picture before celebrating the wedding of Megan Moeller and Jesse Hammes with Jeff's athletic training classmates

Also, while we were away, Jack often fell asleep on a regular bed before we put him into the crib. When we got home, he told us he didn't like his crib anymore. We knew he would probably be ready for a big bed sometime this summer, and it turns out, he told us when he was ready! We converted his crib into a toddler bed and bought him a new comforter. Last night was his first night. After about 10-12 trips back to bed, he was asleep, which we consider a success. Today at nap, I only had to go in once. And right now (after only two trips in), I hear him talking himself to sleep saying, "I got a new bed!"

Helping Jeff make his new bed