Thanksgiving

This was our 3rd Thanksgiving in Kansas away from our families. We decided to do things a little different this year to make it more relaxing and decided to go out to eat. We went to a nice restaurant downtown called The Eldridge. They had a wonderful Thanksgiving buffet. The food was great and doing no work to eat the food was even better :) It might be one of the only chances we have to go out on Thanksgiving so it was a lot of fun!
Then we went home and relaxed for a bit and then went and had pie at our friends Nate & Laura's house. Jack got to play with David and Aaron for awhile which he loved.

Then we decided to go out to the Plaza. It is an upscal outdoor shopping center in Kansas City and they were doing their lighting ceremony. They were making it a really big deal on the radio and on the news. They said were having fireworks and everything.

It was a little disappointing but it was nice to go out and do something as a family. It was super crowded and the lights weren't all that great but we had fun. (although I did have a little run in with a jerk that kept pushing my pregnant belly into people. I was full on yelling at him by the end of it...ha ha the things you do when you are pregnant!)

They did have fireworks, and Jack kept saying I saw those with Grandpa! He remembered all the way back to our trip to Chicago with Gpa Neils & Gma Jill that we saw fireworks with them. Its so funny all the things they remember.

fall leaves

11/12/09

friends

We watched our friends little boy, Owen, the other night and we had so much fun with him! Jack usually can be kind of a stinker with him (he likes to push his weight around) but he was sweet with him that night. We read books and Jack and Owen both wanted to read Toy Story on Jack's red chair. They looked so cute. We are so grateful for our friends out here in Kansas!
11/10/09

the big #27

Tuesday Luke turned 27! It is such a big birthday, we have talked about for years that when Luke turns 27, that will be the year he graduates from law school. So it seems almost unreal that it is already here! He has accomplished so much in his 27 years and we are very proud of him! We couldn't ask for a better husband or father! We love this man!

We had a great night out.

We went to Red Lobster for dinner.

Jack loves Red Lobster. It is his favorite place to eat and he loves seeing the lobsters!

Then we went home and Jack brought dad out his Paradise Pie. Mmmmm.

Jack had so much fun blowing out candles with dad. We had to do this multiple times and JAck kept turning the lights out.
11/9/09

Arrrr!

family pictures

A friend of ours, Lori, took some pictures of Jack a few weeks ago. I loved how they turned out! She was able to capture many classic "Jack" faces and we also got a few family pictures. We took them up on campus and there are so many areas that I love up there!

Thanks Lori!

to see some of the pictures go here

new pics for the grandparents

We got a new ultrasound done today and my mom was asking if it was a better picture than the last one. I guess she wasn't happy with the quality of the last one- she couldn't tell what she was looking at. So I thought I would add these because they are much better. We think he is so cute in these pictures and I know it is hard to tell but we think his ultrasound pictures look just like Jack- we will have to wait and see if this is true! I am getting so excited about having 2 boys, it melts my heart that I will have a little Jack and Charlie running around together! We can't wait!

All Hallows Eve

"I be Buzz"

I think we have heard that a thousand times over the last month and finally Jack got to be Buzz for Halloween! Oh and he was the most handsome Buzz around....
This is his serious Buzz face.
Luke was such a good sport and dressed up like Woody for Jack. Jack loved being Buzz and Woody with Dad!

Jack loves to have Dad fly him around in his costume.

We went trick or treating downtown on Mass street. Jack loved it.

He quickly got the hang of it and began running from person to person. Half way through his bag got to heavy he didn't want to carry it any more. I think he got plenty of candy!

Then I put on my Jesse costume and we headed to the church for the trunk-or-treat.

Jack with his friend Abby. Abby's mom helped me make mine and Luke's costumes. Her whole family was Toy Story characters so I just copied her ideas, she was such a big help!

Jack loved seeing other Buzz's. He loves to follow them around.

Our family....if only I wasn't a huge Jesse

Jack and Baby Kate, isn't she just the cutest pumpkin! We love her!

Then it got dark so Buzz had to put his night vision goggles on.

Jack and his friend Emily. He kept getting in her face and wanted her to look how cool his goggles were.

Time to go home so Buzz took one last fly around the car.

Showing me his loot!

I think he did pretty well!

Happy Halloween family, we missed all of you!

music class halloween party

Last week was our ward music class's Halloween party. It is always a good time and Jack loves getting dressed up with his friends.

The cupcake walk, Jack loved this game. He didn't care that he already got a cupcake, he just kept going round and round.

His spider he made.

He loved this game too, eating a marshmallow off a string. He ate a few marshmallows thinking he was supposed to keep going and going.

Fishing for books!

10/22/09

halloween package

Jack got a fun Halloween package in the mail from Gma and Gpa Peterson! He knew right when I got the mail that it was something for him, and was so excited! I am glad the grandparents took care of Jack this year because I have been a bum of a mom!

They gave him some monster Halloween jammies that are super spooky (Jack loves that word). I love this new face he makes when I want him to say cheese and he really doesn't want to but he will do it for me.

I couldn't resist.......

introducing......

Charlie Rex

So its a boy!!! We are super excited! Jack can't wait to have a brother, Luke was relieved (he was nervous about having a girl) and I am preparing myself to have 2 crazy boys! We love him already!

isn't he handsome?

It is amazing to us how old he is looking and acting. He is such a big boy now.

He is talking better every day and it is so fun to see the things he comes up with. I wanted to make sure I am remembering some of these things so we never forget......

-Whenever he sees the Allstate commercials he says President Obama. (you know the ones with Dennis Haysbert)

-He has been wanting to play switching roles. Either he is the mom or dad, whoever he is playing with, and we are Jack. He then tells us what to do. He told me one day he was mom and we were going to the zoo.

Or my favorite was when he told Luke he was dad and then put him in time out on his red chair. Then he said he needed to clean the room and started to put his toys away. He did get Luke out of timeout and told him it was okay and then wanted to read books, he sat down and patted his lap and told Luke to sit down.

-We try to remind him to say "no thanks" instead of just saying "no", but it has come to bite us in the butt. He is very good but he will use it at times when we ask him to do something now. "Jack will you pick up your toys?" "No thanks mom."

-He is always talking about Grandma or Grandpa or Ethan, Haylee and Avs. The other day he brought me pictures of the kids and said, "My cousins!"

wichita

Last weekend was Luke's fall break, so we decided on Saturday to head down to Wichita. Some of our good friends, Brad & Mandy, moved down there this year and we have been dying to go visit them! We had a great time. We were able to see their beautiful house and Jack finally got to play with Jane again. We hung out at their house, then we went and had some yummy greek food, then we came and put the kids down to bed and had brownie sundaes and chatted all night long.

Mandy got the kids pumpkins so they could paint them.

They had so much fun playing in the backyard. Their backyard is huge, I think Jack thought he was at a park.
We really miss the Serafines in Lawrence, but we are glad they are only a couple hours away so we can go visit! Thanks for letting us come stay at your house, we had a great time!
10/17/09

late night in the phog

What's the best thing about living in Lawrence? the basketball of course. :)

Friday night was the big Late Night in the Phog. This is where they introduce this year's basketball team and gets you all ready for the season. Usually it is midnight madness and goes pretty late, but it started earlier this year so we decided to take the whole family. We went with a few friends and had a great time. It is definetely a little long, okay way long, but it is pretty fun. The end is the best because that is when the men's basketball team is introduced and they play for awhile. They of course will never forget about 2008 when they won the national championship so it was way fun to remember all the fun times we had when they won.

by the end of the night Jack looked like this, actually he passed out in my arms, even with all the crazy noise

4 hours was a little long for him

***Luke wanted me to point out that every expert picks the Jayhawks to win the National Championship this year, so things are looking good! Hopefully we will be celebrating again come March!

10/16/09