Trip to San Antonio

We got to take a little family vacation right after Thanksgiving.  Ben had a conference in San Antonio at the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort.  So Jack and I tagged along.  

The drive down wasn't as bad as I had thought.  We stopped in Waco at McDonald's for a potty break and so Jack could spend a few minutes stretching his legs at the play area.  Then we stopped for lunch in Temple.  This place had a playground but it was outside and it was pretty cold.  Jack didn't mind, he got upset when we were too cold and were ready to leave.  After that it was nap time and he took a pretty good nap.  He woke up in Austin so we decided to stop at a Walmart to pick up some food for the hotel and spent about 45 minutes there.  Jack walked through the whole store and enjoyed playing with Elmo in the toy aisle. 

Here is Jack having fun in the halls.  I don't think many people were in their rooms  : /

Exploring the grounds of the resort.  

Pretty chilly, Jack learned to put his hands in his pockets...just like daddy!

The first night was a Sunday night and at our house Sunday night is always Pizza Night.  So we looked on our handy dandy smart phone and found a fun pizza place.  Jack had just started liking pizza so this worked out great.  He also enjoyed playing in the game room.

The next day while Ben was in his classes at the hotel, Jack and I drove a little ways to visit my best friend Margaret and her kiddos.  We had a great day.  Her oldest is in Kindergarten so he wasn't with us but the other three boys and Jack seemed to have a good time.  We played a while at their house, inside and out and then went to chick fil a for lunch.  We put Jack's carseat in her car so we could all ride together.  Then we put the kids down for a nap and had some time to sit, chat and relax.

Jack saying cheese in the car.

Jack excited that Daddy is back at the end of the day.  Showing him our patio.

Loves the outside!

I think this was Jack during his night time routine.  

If so, he's watching Dora right before taking his bath.

So cute, so focused.  You can see his poor little thumb.  It was so chapped and raw from him sucking it and the weather being so cold and dry.

I think he's ready for bed.

That night I smashed my thumb in the shower door.  

Here is what it looked like the next day.

 

This is what it looks like over two months later.

The next day...Jack and I strolled around the resort and had snack by the huge Christmas tree.  I texted this picture to Ben while he was in class.

Then we met Daddy near his classes and ate our leftover pizza for lunch.

The last day Jack and I were there, we went as a family to the Alamo and Riverwalk.

Standing in the Alamo

In front of the Alamo with Daddy

with Mommy

Giddy watching a squirrel in the water fountain

Whoa...big cannon

We ate at the mexican restaurant that we always eat at on the Riverwalk but can't ever remember the name. There were so many ducks waddling around.  They would peck at your leg if you didn't give them food.  Jack enjoyed watching them.

Yummm.

The next day Jack and I left and headed home.  Ben stayed one more night and flew back home.  On the way home we were going to stop at a chick fil a in Round Rock for lunch.  I had already planned in my head which towns would be best to stop and had already mapped out on my phone where a Target or Walmart was so that Jack could get out and stretch his legs.  Anyway, Jack had been crying but it was a different cry than normal for the past 20 minutes.  We had just pulled off the highway and were almost to chick fil a when Jack stopped crying....and threw up.  Oh my, I had no idea what to do.  I pulled into chick fil a, cleaned him up best I could and sat there thinking, "is this going to happen every 30 minutes? What am I going to do? we are never going to make it home!"  After changing his clothes and seeing that he seemed ok, I took him inside got some food and then went back out to the car to eat.  I was worried he was going to get sick in the store and didn't want that to happen.  After we ate a little we walked across the large parking lot to a Target.  I decided that I should buy some paper towels and trash bags to put around him in the car. It had been about an hour since his incident and there was no sign of anymore throwing up so I decided that it would be ok to start home again.  Jack took a good long nap.  We stopped in Hillsboro at the Walmart there to walk around for a while.  Then Jack started asking for chicken so we went back to the car and he ate his chicken from lunch.  He had gotten his appetite back.  A few days later we found out that Jack had an ear infection which I'm guessing was the main cause of his car sickness.  Needless to say I'm glad we made it home.

Texas Rangers 2011

What a year for the Rangers!  Even better than the last.  I know I have already posted Ranger picks but as I type this, the season has ended.  Such a great and memorable season that I will never forget.

Jack sporting his Ranger gear the night of the Tampa Bay Rays game.  

He found the cd boombox and enjoyed messing with the buttons.

This was an off day for the Rangers, but they had won the night before.  So this was Jack's outfit for church. Here he is "running" and playing outside.  His red shirt has a baseball and two bats in the top left corner.

Cute backwards hat.

Why is this in the Rangers 2011 blog you ask?  Well, while daddy was off at the game and winning, Jack was up around 11pm sick with his first stomach virus.  This was also the night of the Taylor Swift concert.  Why does this matter?  Because at midnight, after Jack had gotten sick twice already, Ben was stuck in traffic after the Ranger game because the Taylor Swift concert being held next door was letting out as well.  Needless to say, by the time Ben got home from the game around 1:30am, Jack had finally quit throwing up and had gone back to sleep.

THE RANGERS CLINCH THE ALCS AND ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!

Jack just before bed, taking a picture to send Daddy who was at the game.  Sleepy baby!

Ben took these photos- after the Rangers won the game...love these boys!

Fireworks

Confetti

Ben's cousin Jeff, one of the guys who went in on the half season tickets.

Setting up the stage for the presentation

Ben's world series tickets that came in the mail and now are going to be used

Jack and mommy after church the day after the big win.

World Series Games

Playing outside.  Took some photos to send to daddy while he was at the game.

Playing inside

with his baseball hat and t-ball set.

Watching the game?

Reaction to the game?

The next day, game day, sending daddy another picture

Rangers win!

Ben at the World Series Games 6 & 7 in Missouri

Baseball Stadium

Game 6, so hopeful!  This game was a heart attack waiting to happen.  I could feel my heart beating through my chest.  I knew I couldn't take another game like that.

Game 7, picture to send to Ben...honestly by now I knew we couldn't pull it off, just because I knew our pitching situation.  If we couldn't win by now, there was no way we could win this night.  But as I said over and over (at least on facebook) I was so proud of those boys and thankful for a great season.  So looking forward to the next.

18 months

Since I am writing this three months after the fact, I don't remember many facts and details.  But I came across these cute pictures and wanted to include them in his blog.

Cute little firefighter.  He'll walk around saying "woowooo" pretending to be a firetruck.

I thought this was cute.  I don't know what they were doing but it looks like Jack is copying daddy.

A nice November day outside:

Yogurt time!

In the middle of yawning.

A chilly day at the park.  Must have been close to nap time.

 This was Jack's first trip to Chuck E Cheese.  We went on a Saturday night at 6pm.  It was SO crowded!  But I think he enjoyed it.  It was not something where he has asked to go back (and we haven't, don't plan on it) so I guess we aren't at that stage yet.

I think we are going to have more pictures sucking our thumb then not from now on.

He loved the car.  You can't tell by his facial expressions but if it stopped or you tried to take him out he'd fuss.

Bob the builder

Getting out

Wee...the car rocked front to back.

Reading with mommy

Pointing at the train

Pointing at something else.

Daddy and Jack, how cute!!

Teacher Conference Fall 2011

So, this past week I met with Jack's teacher for the fall  parent teacher conference.  I was excited to hear all the wonderful things she was going to say about Jack.  What parent isn't?

She started off by saying how great he is and how much they enjoy having him in class.  He gives them lots of laughs during the day...they say he is very funny and talks up a storm.  I also think he is one of the older ones in his class.

She mentioned that they are working on colors with him because he already knows and can say purple for sure.  He sometimes says yellow and can identify it and is working on blue.  Sometimes he says "a clue, a clue" very excitedly instead of the word blue.

He seems to be right on track with everything he should at his age...the only thing he isn't is singing songs.  Which is interesting since we've all been singing to him since he was born.  *Side note- Ben read this and for some reason this paragraph bothered him.  He took it as something was wrong with Jack because he isn't "singing" yet.  So I told him I would put in that he did sing "Bye, Bye, baby" this summer and sings the Aggie War Hymn...the ending to it.  But Jack has no reason to sing these songs at school so it is just something that  they haven't seen him do yet.

His teacher says he loves to push the cars and trucks around, loves art- messy art- and loves the home center.  She said he'll put food in the microwave of the play kitchen and then punch the buttons.  She said he can hold a crayon, marker and paint brush and can run, walk, throw balls, and bounce balls.  The last thing she mentioned was they might move him up to the older toddlers at semester.  That would be sad because I LOVE his teacher but I know he will learn so much more from those who are a bit older than him.

I've taken pictures of his form that they send home each day and put them on a separate post.  You can read his September forms here and his October forms here.

New words since June:
map- "say map, say map" from Dora
go- Ben has taught Jack that every time he throws the ball he needs to "go" after it.  Also, when he is in the wagon and it stops he says "go, go"
milk- it's interesting to me that he is just now saying this word.  It sounds like "me"
clock- this would be thanks to a Halloween Dora episode that we watched about 100 times 2 weeks leading up to Halloween.  But now he knows how to say and recognize a clock.
uh-oh- this is his cue word for doing something bad.  He has an uh-oh mat that he also knows is his uh-oh mat.
oh no!- that is how he says it, with the inflation as if something bad has happened.
bubbles
turtle
shapes
circle
yellow
purple
car keys
star
cow
duck
bea band - for the Fresh Beat Band
two
close
flower
plane- when he hears a plane, even if he is in his room, he'll look up to the sky, point and say plane

He repeats lots of words when we say them, but I don't count these as words he knows if he doesn't use them often.