Cousins

I'm a little late posting this, but a few weekends ago, we took a trip to Aurora, MO to visit Papa and Grammy Burton's to visit with my sister, Carrie, and my niece, Amanda, Jack's aunt and cousin. The weather was sooooo nice the day we were there and we all went outside and the cousins were playing and having a great time. It was nice! Jack got to play with Trinnitty and Tyler, more cousins, too!

Papa, Jack, Tyler, Amanda

Aunt Carrie and Amanda

Little Amanda on the go!

Our one and only family picture

Jack LOVED Papa and Grammy's puppies!

Jack and Amanda

Christmas

Christmas was a lot of fun! Kevin and I had a brass gig on Christmas Eve, so instead of our usual travels to our parent's houses, we stayed at our house and they came to visit us! It was kinda nice! Grammy and Papa came first and stayed over Christmas Eve and then Grandma Paulie came a few days later. Kevin wanted his traditional Christmas dinner, so I made a ham and all the fixin's. It was very yummy! I now have a very fond appreciation for my mom and mother-in-law that have worked so hard preparing all the meals for us!! It was a lot of work! I also made my traditional popcorn mix that is soooooo tasty! Grammy made us some fudge and cookies and brought her fruitcake!

Jack did a good job opening up his presents. He would open one present and was pretty satisfied with that and wasn't too interested in opening any more, but he did! Santa brought him some new toys and a new stuffed monkey and some books. Grandma Paulie brought him a new rocking horse that he just loves and lots of other cool stuff!! Uncle Casey and Aunt Kati gave him a new wooden train set which is going to be so much fun! We had a really good time being with our families and just enjoying the break from school!

1st Haircut

Jack's hair was just getting a little wild so I decided that I was going to give him his first haircut. I sat him up on the bathroom counter, gave him my cell phone to occupy him and then started snipping away. I just cut the front, top, and sides. I didn't want to cut a lot off in the back because that's where all his curls are and they're just too precious! He had no problems just sitting there while I cut his hair. He loves my cell phone and I never give it to him, so he was having a grand time!

Before the haircut

After the haircut

Thanksgiving trip

Well, we got a little behind and never posted about our Thanksgiving. We traveled to Fairland, OK and Aurora, MO to visit our families. Jack is such a great traveler and he was so good the whole trip. When it came to the actual Thanksgiving feast, Jack did not eat any turkey....or mashed potatoes. It was funny! He would literally just spit out the stuff. He LOVED the sweet potatoes and the pumpkin pie. At another dinner we went to, he gobbled up the cranberry salad and rasberry salad. I think the kid's got a bit of a sweet tooth! Grandma Paulie put her Christmas tree up early, specially for Jack and it was beautiful! He did a good job of not messing with it, but you could tell he wanted to get his hands all over it! Also, I was having battery problems with my camera and therefore did not take very many pictures. I got some pictures at Grandma Paulie's house, but not a lot. I also got a video clip of Jack playing "high five" with Uncle Casey and Aunt Kati and their dog, Brinkley. Jack loved playing with that dog....I think Boomer was secretly even more jealous than she already is! Poor Boomer!

Jack loved the computer at Grandma Paulie's office


Jack with his cousins, Josselyn and Talon ( I apologize if I spelled her name wrong!!)


Grandma Paulie


Aunt Kati, Jack, Brinkley, Uncle Casey


Playing with Brinkley


Resting on Brinkley


Jack giving high fives

This one is about Boomer

We've had Boomer since December of 2004 and she has pretty much been the happiest dog in the world. Until we brought home Jack. Pretty much since his birth, she's been a sad and depressed doggie. She just lays around with this sad look on her face. Poor thing! But she is still such a good dog. She is so smart and gentle but she still has her playful side too.


We got her from my parents when their dog had a litter of 11 puppies. She was 1 of the 4 golden colored pups. All the others were black. We had to house break her and she has always done very well with it. Besides the training phase, she has only had 2 accidents. One was in our garage because we were gone way too long and the second one happened in her dog pen outside for the same reason. Now that being said, we don't know what happened this morning. She was outside twice before bed, but sometime during the night I guess she had to go and go she did!! Kevin woke up thinking the cats had pooped somewhere in the house, but then he found it. The biggest pile of dog poop ever!! He woke me up and I was horrifed. It smelled up the house and was disgusting. Yuck!! Boomer never even tried to wake us up. It was strange. She always wakes me up if she needs to go out and she pesters me until I let her out. Well, not this time. It took a shovel to take care of the mess and a lot of scrubbing and cleaner. Ick! Poor Boomer. She knew she was in trouble too!

Future Musician?

So, everyone seems to think Jack has a little music running through his blood. I don't know where they get that idea?! But seriously, all jokes aside, Jack loves music of all kinds. He especially has a fascination with opera. We have several opera cd's that he has been listening to since birth and we have the classical music channel on TV that we turn on and he becomes completely mesmerized. There used to be this crazy commercial for some payday loan place and they did an opera jingle and Jack would stop whatever he was doing where ever he was and come watch and listen. The kid's got a constant groove going on. It's great! He likes to play the keyboard, he is very interested in our trumpets, and most recently has discovered the guitar that Kevin and Grandma Paulie plays.

Here are some pictures of Jack being instrumental.

His Sing Star toy that plays lots of different music, he got this when he was 6 months old.

Jack loves to play with his drum sticks, this was around 10 months old

He found our piccolo trumpet and was fascinated with it. 12 months old

Playing the piano keyboard

Trying the guitar, 14 months old

The Last Few Days

These past few days have been very cold outside and we've been hanging out inside for the most part. Since it has been so rainy and wet, Jack hasn't been able to play outside as much, but we went out after it dried up a bit and he was so happy! We got to put his little winter hat and mittens on him. He just looked too cute! In the past few days, Jack has discovered airplanes in the sky and he points to them, he has gotten to wear his new footie PJ's from Grammy Burton, he has started saying, "Georgia, Avery, and Boomer," and he has learned how to make meow sounds like the cats! Oh yeah, and he got to try on a mullet wig that belongs to Kevin. Kevin put it on Jack's head and the kid was wearing it half the afternoon! It was funny!




Pointing at an airplane, there are always planes flying over since the airport isn't too far away.


New footie jammies from Grammy Burton


Drummin'


The mullet wig


He also found my tape measure and was fascinated with it. I had to watch him b/c he likes to wrap things around his neck, but I thought this was cute! By the way, he is wearing Mizzou's school colors here! GO TIGERS!!