18 Months Old

Jack is now 1 1/2.  He is just growing up before our eyes.  Here's what he's up to these days:

*He had 3 new teeth break through this month, all on the top.  He has one more making it's way through on the bottom as well.

*He mimics so much of what we do and say. 

*He loves to look at books and will read to himself for quite a long time.

*He is a good problem solver.  His favorite activities include putting on and taking lids off of empty spice bottles, stacking and knocking down blocks, and putting the pieces into puzzles.

*He continues to climb.  I've caught him more than once on top of the dining room table.  He's also been busted pulling a chair to the counter to steal cookies.

*He is very gentle and gives Hannah's babies hugs.  He's also very captivated by baby cousin Oliver, stroking his cheeks and patting his head.

*He likes to push around cars and trucks.

*He is a big "helper".  I've caught him several times putting clean, unused diapers into the diaper pail.  Not sure how many we've lost, but I'm sure it's more than a few.

Jack continues to be our happy, laid back boy.  We are so blessed to have him in our family.

FMG Christmas Party

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is attending the Frederik Meijer Gardens Holiday party.  With our busy upcoming schedule, we squeezed it in right before Thanksgiving this year.

Both kids went right up and sat on Santa's lap.

Hannah was very serious when she told Santa that she wanted a "purple-pink" bicycle for Christmas.

Once Jack got out of the stroller, he was off.  Thankfully there weren't too many people there, and Hannah did a good job of keeping him under control.

Hannah visited all of the stamp stations to fill up her passport and receive her coloring book at the end.

Jack was totally captivated by the train.  Definitely Daddy's boy!

Our attempt at a Christmas card photo.  In Hannah's defense, she was trying to keep Jack from running away, as the guy would NOT stand still!

Tis the season!

Santa Parade

For the second year, Hannah, Grandpa Cramer, and Jason made it to the Santa Parade in downtown GR.  (Jack tagged along with Grandma and I while we did some Christmas shopping at a couple of area craft shows.)

This year, cousin Kara came along as well.  Both girls were very excited to see the floats and catch some candy.

Getting in the best position to see the big guy...

Santa himself!  A great start to the Christmas season.

Carousel Ride

After Hannah sang in church, we rewarded her with a trip to the mall to ride the carousel.

For the first time, Jack got to ride the carousel as well.

I thought he'd go crazy, as he loves most things that move, but he was actually pretty serious during the ride.  Such a big boy!

Singing

For the first time, Hannah sang in church with her Sunday school class. 

I was afraid that she might have stage fright and back out, but she marched right up front with the rest of her class without any problems.

We are so proud of her!

First Snow

We officially had snow on Nov. 10 (so thankful it did NOT snow on my birthday!)

Not ready to haul out the snow pants for such a dismal amount of snow, I let Hannah go outside and play in the snow on the deck.

She is so ready for winter.  Wish I could say the same.

Turkeys

At our last MOPS meeting, the speaker brought adorable Thanksgiving turkeys, so we thought we'd give them a try.

A fun little Thanksgiving craft and favor.

Birthday Present

The best birthday present a mom can get - Daddy cleaning up after the kids eat birthday cake!

Halloween Happenings

The weekend leading up to Halloween was filled with lots of activities

A friend from MOPS had a Halloween party for the kids.  Our friend Jake the dragon came along as he was spending the day with us.

There was a GREAT turnout, with a house packed full of little princesses, dragons, and other little cuties.  Of course, what is a MOPS gathering without food?!?

Saturday night, we again took the kids to trunk-or-treat at our church.

The place was packed, over 700 kids!

After collecting candy, we hung out in the pit to watch Charlie brown and eat donuts and cider.

Sunday, Hannah and Daddy carved the pumpkin.

Of course, the big event was getting dressed up and trick-or-treating on Monday night.

As has been tradition since Hannah's first Halloween, Grandma and Grandpa Davis came over to help take the kids out and hand out candy.

We had a beautiful night for walking door-to-door.  I heard that after the first couple of houses, Hannah informed the guys that she was a big girl and wanted to go to the doors by herself.  By 8:00 they had made it through our entire neighborhood and both came back with bags full of candy!

Story Time

One of our very favorite activities to do during the week is go to story time at our library.

We attend the 11:00 class.  The 10:00 class before ours is an absolute zoo overflowing with kids.  Ours is nice and small.  This week, we started out with only 3 kids (including the 2 of ours) but eventually ended up with 5.

Both kids love the activities, music, and dancing.  Jack is just now really starting to get into it. 

Of course, their favorite part is listening to the stories.  Miss Morgan is such a great story teller tha the kids just get captivated, even Jack!  I'm so glad that I'm home and can do these sort of things with the kids.