Papa

John's grandfather, Papa, passed away a couple of weeks ago so we headed over to the ranch to spend time with the family and celebrate Papa's life. He was a great man who lived life with joy all the way until the end. It made me tear up when Jack looked for Papa around Grammie's house. He pointed to the chair, "Papa's chair" then ran into the room and looked around for Papa again. I know Jack will be raised with the many great stories about Papa, and I can only hope he can live life with as much zeal for life as Papa had.

His funeral was a true celebration of his life.

 

 After the funeral, we all went over to Aunt Sharon's to hang out as a family just like Papa would've wanted.

 The rest of the weekend was spent being outside on the ranch. Again, just like Papa would've wanted.

 No trip is complete without watermelon.

 Driving the "MU"

 Feeding the cows "Coobs"

 Searching for rocks

Papa, you will be missed. You were a great man.



Slow Down!

Jack,

Time is going too quickly, and you just keep growing too fast. In the last 6 weeks-ish, I have watched you:
*Eat your own yogurt, PB&J, pizza, etc.
*Jump consistently off the ground. You have a pretty good vertical jump!
*Create a special bond with turtle and puppy
*Make small choices of what you would like
*Go down the swirly big slides at the park all by yourself
*Climb effortlessly up stairs
*Talk, talk, and talk some more. You love having conversations in the car - "Mor Momma"
*Do the hand motions to songs:
      Itsy, Bitsy Spider
      Pat-A-Cake
      Row, Row, Row your Boat
      Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
*Put two words together
*Color
*Want to call people on the phone and "talk" with them
*Go down to one nap...and only sleep about 1-1.5 hours :(

Seeing you grow makes me excited about the future but sad that every day, you are less and less of a baby. You no longer really want to be rocked before bed and naps, you don't want to rub my fingers, and you want to do almost everything without my help. I want you to know, though, you will always be this momma's baby...no matter how big you get.

I pray the your daddy and I will know how to raise you up to be a strong Child of God who has a deep relationship with your Heavenly Father. You are so loved.

Fire Truck Day

My church was doing Pre-School story time last week with the firemen and fire truck. We hadn't really ever talked about a fire truck before but there happened to be one right outside of the gym on the day that we were going so that got us excited! We looked for them the entire way home from the gym and all the way to the church that day. Although he was too scared to get inside the fire engine, he did enjoy sitting on the front.

 With Elijah and Claire

 He LOVED his hat and wore it proudly.

My little helper

Jack is at the age where he really enjoys helping. I know I better enjoy it now because it won't last :)

My Little Cowboy

Last weekend, when we were at my sister's house, we played dress up in cousin Luke's cowboy gear. Jack LOVED everything about those boots...even if they were a few sizes too big :) 

Jack's First Day

Jack started "school" last week at a local church. It works perfect as he only goes one day a week for 3 hours. I had grand plans on making a cute little sign saying first day...but time got away from me so simple pictures will have to do.

 As soon as we got to class, he remember the chalk board from Meet the Teacher. He ran from toy to toy and seemed to be excited. There were a few tears shed when he thought we were leaving so we told him to show us some more, and as he got carried away into coloring, we quietly backed out of the room!

He had a great report when I picked him up. I think it is going to be a great year when God is going to grow my little boy leaps and bounds.

Picnic at the Park

We hadn't seen John's sister and brother-in-law in awhile so we invited them up and decided to go out for a picnic. The temperature was almost a 100 degrees so I started to question our whole idea, but it turned out perfect. Part of the park was shaded so it really turned out quite nice.

 Once Jack realized Sharla was a pretty good chalk drawer, he happily sat and watched her closely. It was pretty cute.

 A pretty strong gust of wind came, and he thought it was the coolest thing.

 The park made my little one very friendly. He wanted to tell every person that walked by hello :)

 I'm not sure why we don't do this more often. It was a nice change from our backyard. We ran around, played with balls and bubbles, and fed the fish. Thank you Aunt Sharla and Uncle Travis for hanging out with us :)

Aquarium

Last Friday, we loaded up the car with John's parents in tow and headed out to the Houston Aquarium. We weren't sure how Jack was going to do, but he loved it, and we enjoyed ourselves as well!

He walked from tank to tank exploring the sea life before him.  

I think he resembles my brother here!

 After the aquarium part, we headed over to the stingrays. I stayed far enough away and took pictures :) Jack wasn't too sure what to think of it.

 But then he went for it!

 Then, we headed outside to ride some rides.

 Looking at the sharks from the train.

 The beginning of the Ferris Wheel...

 Once it started going!

 Overall, it was a great experience, and I see ourselves returning in the near future!