Our favorite time of year

Forget Christmas and New Year's. Around here, our favorite time of year is the National Western Stock Show that comes to Denver every January! With an unexpected free weekend, we got to go to the first day of the three-week event today. It's basically a state fair that's inside and with more focus on the rodeo--lots of horses, cows, and sheep, a huge exhibition hall, greasy food, and a rodeo. What more could you want? This year we decided to actually go to the rodeo, which we had never done before. It opened with a dark arena, loud music, and fire effects. Jack was not impressed and spent the first 10 minutes with his head buried in Jeff's chest. But after that, he warmed up and had fun watching the cowboys and cowgirls do their thing. It was completely different from anything we had ever seen before, and I'm glad we did it. We'll definitely be back next year!

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy holidays from the Flemings! We are enjoying the last day of two very relaxing holiday weeks. We started our holidays last weekend with a visit to Winter Park to visit the Mitchells. Jack was in awe of all of Nelson and Corbin's toys--we couldn't get him away! Jack and Jeff even got outside for some sledding fun.

 

 
Next came a quick (as in only a couple of hours) visit from Grandpa Steve and Grandma Janet. They dropped off the car and then hopped on a plane to visit James in LA--after letting Jack open a couple of presents first! After church and setting out cookies for Santa, Christmas Day brought lots of presents and play time. We spent the whole day in our PJs, drinking coffee, playing with toys, making yummy food, and playing with toys more. It was a wonderful Christmas with just the three of us until baby makes 4 next year.

Jack enjoying some cinnamon roll

 
"Thank you for the presents!"

 
Hard at work putting together his new crane

 
Paging Dr. Jack . . .

Christmas week finished with a good visit from Grandpa Steve and Grandma Janet, back from LA. Nike and Jeff worked short days while Jack stayed at home to get spoiled. It was a wonderful visit, especially needed to give us a break. While we love the independent little guy that Jack is becoming, we've been struggling with bedtime lately. Grandma and Grandpa provided some much-needed relief and even let Jeff and I sneak out for a date night. We were so busy having fun that we didn't take any pictures while they were here! But trust us when we say it was a great way to spend the holiday week.

Jeff and I were talking last night about where we were at this time last year--in Iowa City at the hospital with Jane, just after her surgery, trying to get a handle on what the next year of chemo and other scary things might bring. Just a year later we have a good-as-new Grandma Jane and a new baby on the way! We are so thankful for making it through a tough 2012 and looking forward to a happy and healthy 2013! Wishing you and yours the same!

Grandma Jane's visit

We are in the midst of Christmas season at the Fleming household! Starting the weekend after Thanksgiving, we got into the mood quickly with a visit from Grandma Jane. We began with a trip to get our Christmas tree after gymnastics class on Saturday morning. Then Saturday night we went to the Parade of Lights in downtown Denver. We saw marching bands, floats, big balloon animals, and--most exciting to Jack--Santa! On Sunday, it was time to decorate the tree. It was waiting for us in a bucket of water outside . . .

 
Then it was time to help Daddy get it set up in the tree stand . . .

 
And then some fun with Grandma Jane while decorating the mini tree on the porch . . .

 

 

 
Last weekend we took Jack to his first concert at the Colorado Symphony. He did great! We had first row balcony seats so he was able to sit on our knees and look down into the orchestra. He was completely enthralled with all of the instruments and once again was most excited when he got to see Santa.

And finally, this weekend, we had some friends over for pizza and beer before heading over to the zoo for Zoo Lights. It wasn't too cold, and the lights were beautiful! Jack also made a paper chain to tell him how many days left until Christmas. He's so excited about it that when he takes the piece of construction paper off at bedtime, he then sleeps with the strip. Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season with lots of Santa sightings that make you shout as excitedly as Jack does!

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.