Jack's 1st birthday: The Party

Happy Birthday Boy

Jack had a house full of family celebrating him on his first birthday.  It was a perfect night - including time with cousins, catching up with aunts and uncles, getting spoiled by grandparents, gift opening, cake eating, and a lot of laughs.

We are so blessed to have a wonderful family and Jack is incredibly lucky to have people that love him so much.  His cousins were big helpers and kept him entertained all evening.  He was full of smiles throughout the night and seemed to enjoy all of the attention.  Thank you family, for making it such a special night!

Time for presents....

Jack's helpers

Happy to open gifts

All smiles all night!

Time for cake...

The Cake

Singing Happy Birthday

First taste

He likes it!

A whole mouthful

Back for more

Clean plate club

Time with family....

Jack and Titus

Drew, Mara, and Jack

Jack and Nana

Jack's 1st birthday: Breakfast

Jack loves my homemade pancakes.  He gobbles them up a few times a week without realizing that they are made with whole wheat flour and wheat germ.  I love that he is such a good eater!

But  for his birthday we wanted to try something a bit different - something you don't get every day.  We decided  that on his first birthday he should get a special treat and wanted him to try real pancakes - the kind you can't make as well at home.  We got up early on his big day and visited Sugar n' Spice for a stack of his very own sweet pancakes.  

At first he was timid and just looked at the big stack.  After we cut up a few bites, and he knew that he would like them, he dove right in.  Here's a few pictures from our morning:

So excited!

Are these really for me?

This is what happens when you give a kid a stack of pancakes.

Devouring the pancakes

Pure joy

Quick update

To say that we've had a busy week would be an understatement.  I'm way behind on blogging (and pretty much everything else), so here's a quick recap of where we've been:

Last week started with Jacob  preparing side dishes and desserts for 120 people for CHCURC's 1st annual Pig Roast and Square Dance. The event was held in the carriage house at Laurel Court (the former Buddy LaRosa's Mansion).  The food was great and I absolutely love how people in College Hill Support their community.

Job well done, Jacob.  Sorry I didn't get a better picture!

Square dancing

On Tuesday Jack and I took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and walked to our new polling place to vote.

Check out that tongue!

I was considering making Jack a Weeble Wobble cake for his birthday.  Jack was excited to practice with me:

Happy baker

On Wednesday we had the privilege to babysit sweet Levi Jumper while his parents went to see Wicked.  Jack liked having a buddy around but did not like it when Levi cried.  Jack tried to make Levi smile, but when it didn't work, Jack cried too.  He's a sensitive kid.

Jack and Levi (eight weeks)

Levi's better here, but Jack was still sad.

Thursday was pureHOPE's annual Silent Auction and Fundraising banquet at Manor House in Mason. I didn't get any pictures of the evening, but it was a great night.  Jack stayed home with my mom and got a special treat:

Jack's first pet

Friday was spent preparing for Jack's big birthday party.  He helped me to make his birthday cake and cupcakes.  Yes, he helped with his own cake... And I used a box cake mix.  I love to bake, but you really can't beat a good boxed cake!

I haven't forgotten about you, loyal blog readers!  I promise to work on getting birthday pictures soon.  

First bath in the big tub

Yes, you read that right.  Today Jack took his first bath out of the baby tub.  Maybe I was lazy, perhaps I was just nervous about our unsteady sitter, but either way, I hadn't attempted to give Jack a bath in the big tub until today.

Jack laughed and splashed and had a great time.  His goal throughout the whole thing was to move towards the drain to pull the plug.  I'm not sure what was so fascinating about the white cover, but he couldn't keep his eyes off of it.

When his bath was finished I let him sit in the tub and watch the water drain - another fun experience.

I'm sure I'll look back on this post and laugh some day.  I can't believe I waited this long!  

Halloween 2011: Beware - Lots of pictures!

Gearing up for the big day with a poster from Grandpa Troescher

This weekend we tried to carve Jack's first pumpkin.  However, when we cut into it we quickly realized that we had a really thick pumpkin, and it wasn't worth the time to cut it.  Sorry, Jack.  Your parents got lazy.  The carving didn't work out, but cleaning out the insides was a lot of fun for Jack.  

Jack's first pumpkin

Cleaning out the pumpkin

Fun!

Pumpkin on the ear

 

 Jack's first Halloween was filled with friends, family, treats, and a whole lot of fun!  We started the day with a party with his friends, then after a really good nap we headed over to his Nana's house for our traditional chili dinner.

Halloween Party 2011 

We took Jack to a few houses in the neighborhood, but he mostly stuck around the house to hand out candy.  He was so happy to see all of the people and kicked his feet the whole time we were out trick-or-treating.

Aunt Christy's helper

Nana and the gorilla

Jack with his grandmas

Jack with his grandpa

Nana and Carl

Even Aunt Louie stopped by!

Joe and Aunt Christy

Check out this line!