the BIG #1..

While we were home, we celebrated jack's birthday. Because Steve was going to be in the city the whole week, and miss his actual birthday, we planned a party on Halloween before all the trick or treating fun.

Uncle Finn and aunt Jennifer got a bounce house for the big event, and it was a big hit with all the kids, as always. Thanks for helping to make the party so much fun!

jack, steve and sam
First came the cake!!the before shot

Although jack was still adjusting to the time change, and was super tired,
he was a good sport and LOVED his cake!he's only getting startedreally going for it..
notice the handful of frosting!as you can see, he enjoyed the frosting!
he just kept going and going.the after shot
(check out those paw prints)

Then came the presents!!
I love how he's standing on one to get a better view of the others


Instead of breakfast in bed on his actual day, Jack got breakfast in his highchair.
But he loved it just the same!Jack with a few of his cousins
Kate, Sam, Abby and Bailey

Words cannot express how much we LOVE this boy! We can't believe how fast the last year has flown by and we look forward to many birthdays to come!

We love you Jack, and can't imagine our lives without you in them!!

trick or treat!!

We took a quick trip home to California last week. Steve had a conference for school in San Fransisco, so Jack and I decided to tag along. We went out a few days earlier and we were able to celebrate Halloween as well as Jack's 1ST birthday with our families! It was SO much fun!

Here are a few pictures from Halloween!

our little spider

sweet molly, our ladybug, helping jack bust out of his hatall dressed up, bag in hand, and ready for some candyour 2 little bugs
trick or treating,
jack is right in front of steve, so you can't see him very well, but I love the "at the door" pictures

a new trick

Our day started as it normally does with jack's daily routine:

• wake up, check
  

• drink a bottle, check
  

• play for a while, check
  

• eat breakfast, check

• take a bath, check

• get dressed, check
  

• go down for a nap, check

At least that's what I thought until jack was fussing more than usual. He didn't seem to be able to get comfortable. I figured he had just thrown his pacifiers out (which he does quite often). So I went in thinking I was just going to give him back his pacis. When I walked in, both the pacis were on the floor, as I thought, but as I looked in the crib i found this...


I had dressed jack in a new outfit that I had been dying to put him in since we received it as a gift from some of our favorite people. It's still a little big, and so he was able to pull it off. He'll still wear it, and I'll continue to put it on him when he wakes up from his naps.

nothing like a rainy day in the park

We got together at the park a couple weeks ago to celebrate the first birthday of jack's friend Gus.

It had been raining pretty much all week, but luckily it let up a little just in time for the party so the kids were able to run around and play. We were so glad we could help him celebrate his big birthday! It's been so fun to watch all these kids grow up together.

we can't all get together without taking a picture of all the kids:
gus (1 year), Eliza (2 1/2 years), jack (10 1/2 mo), macie (1 1/2 years), and coleman (1 1/2 years)

the girls with the babes:
eliza, sarah, coleman, alisha, jackie, macie, jack, me, allice and gus

a few of the guys from Steve and Greg's program came to help celebrate
weldon, gus, greg, alex, chip, jack and steve

picnic at the lake

The sun was setting. The weather was great. And we were itching to get outside. So what else should we do, but have a picnic.

There's a lake not far from our house with a short path along it's shore. Along that path are a series of docks with benches and swings. We decided to take our picnic there. We stopped by one of our favorite sandwich shops and headed over. We had a nice peaceful evening watching the sun set over the lake.

first friday parade

There's a tradition here in Clemson of kicking off the football season with a parade the Friday night before the first game. I can't believe that it has already been a year since my post about "the first Friday parade" last year. While a lot of it was the same, one thing was VERY different, I wasn't pregnant and sweet little Jack was able to enjoy the parade with us. It was fun to watch his reaction to all the festivities. He was just taking it all in.
We were able to meet up with some of our friends and enjoy the parade together.the moms with the babies

macie, jackie, jack, me, allice and gus

the dads with the babies
jack, steve, gus, greg, curtis and macie
the agates and malcarnes
joel, eliza, sarah, alisha, coleman and brian

the cute kids