Little Jack's Corner

Monday, May 21

Jack's 2nd Birthday - Farm Party

I started thinking about Jack's party back in March trying to decide on a theme. I was going back and forth between a farm theme and a firetruck theme. I landed on the farm theme after Jack continued to take interest in animals as well as when he would see a picture of a barn he would say "farm". He also started requesting Ben to sing "Old McDonald Had a Farm" over and over. And then about a week ago he started singing it himself.

We then made the decision to have 2 parties, a friend party and a family party. The first one was at 10:30am and this was his friends party. We struggled for some time deciding who we should invite. We could have invited MANY people but for now we thought it would be best if we just had a few of his "friends". Either those that were closest in his age or those that we've known from some time now. After making and sending out the invites Jack began talking about his friends in his Church Sunday School class. So I was going back and forth, should I invite them? I decided to wait until next year and see what became of these new "friends" he enjoys spending time with at Sunday School.

Something else we did for his "friends" party was asked them not to bring presents but to bring specific baby items that were an immediate need for Mission Arlington. We got some great stuff (lots of diapers, wipes, lotions and onesies with socks) that Jack and I were able to drop off the Monday after his party. When I dropped them off the guy helping unload said that this was going to make someone's day today.

I started with Etsy looking for invitations. After picking about 5, Ben helped me narrow it down to the one we chose.

Then I went to Pinterest and searched for all of the Farm birthday-themed blogs. I found one in particular that I pretty much copied their ideas. So needless to say only the Barn Photo Area is an original thought. I created everything but had a lot of inspiration.

As the guests arrived they were greeted with this balloon wreath. It's pretty simple, click here if you want to know how to make one. I got the wreath and flower pins from Hobby Lobby and the balloons from Oriental Trading. Then I just created the sign in the middle and printed it.

Below is a picture of the entry way.

I ordered the hats from Amazon...a bit cheaper than Oriental Trading. The sign on the wall says "Grab Your Gear" so each child could have a cowboy hat. I painted the letters "TWO" white and then painted black cow spots on them.

Next to the "Gear" were the favor bags. Inside was a cowboy rubber duckie (Jack has always had rubber duckies at his parties as favors and always gets one in his stocking so it is a little tradition I think I've started), a metal pale like what you would put scraps in to feed pigs, colorful farm sunglasses, and farm animal stickers. These were then wrapped up in a bandanna and tied in a bow with raffia.

I wanted to get sunflowers to go in this vase but they didn't have them at the store I went to the morning of the party so these yellow flowers had to do. I framed his invitation and also had his 1st year blog book that I had just gotten made available for people to look through. You can't see it, but above all of these things we had a slide show going of Jack's 2nd year pictures on a loop.

This is the barn I created. I had been to a few kids party this past year where there was a Photo Area for pictures. So I had the idea to create a barn for kids to take their picture in front of. I got bulletin board paper from Mardels, measured the area the barn would go and started creating. The barn was about 5 feet tall. The red paper was easy, it was the white paper that took a lot of time. Measuring, cutting, gluing and so forth. Plus being pregnant, getting down on the floor to do all of this was a little bit more difficult.

I tried to get Jack's picture before the guests arrived but he wanted no part.

The food table. More details below.

Dessert for Jack and the guests.

I was originally going to make cupcake toppers, but when I went to order the cake and cupcakes they said they could put cow and pig heads on the cupcake and it would be no extra charge. So I thought that would be great. One less thing I'd have to create.

Jack has never been fond of cake, cookies, anything sweet really. But he loves fruit. I got the idea of creating a "fruit" cake from pinterest. Then I thought that I could create a barn out of the watermelon since that is the color of a barn. So I shaped the watermelon into a barn as best as I could, added some cantaloupe for the barn doors and a cute kiwi star for the top. I cut up some more kiwi to be grass and had some little farm animals to put on the "grass".

For the food we had all of Jack's favorites except for the Veggies. He doesn't like those.

Animal Treats = animal crackers

Fish from the Pond = goldfish

Fresh Produce = fruit, all of Jack's favorites

Eat More Chicken = Chick Fil A nuggets

Vegetable Patch = vegetables and dip

One thing I'll post here is how we did the ice cream. I also found this on Pinterest and everyone was intrigued by it. I saw that you could pre-scoop ice cream into muffin tins and then stick it in the freezer. This was when it is time for cake and ice cream, someone doesn't have to be standing around scooping ice cream while it is melting all over the table making a mess. Here is a picture of the one that gave me the idea. I had gotten red bandanna cupcake holders and used those to hold the ice cream. It seemed to do well for its intended purpose.

I got a pretty good picture of Jack just before the guests arrived. I got his shirt off of Etsy and it went perfect with the theme.

Jack was very excited when his friend James arrived. If I was actually filling out his baby book, James would be the name I'd write down as Jack's "best friend". James is about 2.5 months younger than Jack and about 3 months ago Jack wanted nothing to do with James. James would want to chase Jack but Jack just wanted to play with the older kids. Lately we've been doing a few more things with James and Jack now will randomly say James name. The night before the party Ben asked Jack if he was ready for his Birthday party with his friends and Jack said James name about 10 times.

Here is Jamie with her two little ones Carson (3 years) and Leah (9 months).

At first Jack was a little leery with everyone playing with his toys but after about 10 minutes I'd say he did pretty well. Better than I thought. The picture below, Jack is going through his picture book that has his relatives in it and he would tell Miss Robin and Aubrey Kate who everyone was.

Jennifer (James' mom) and Carson eating watermelon. I think Carson ate half of a watermelon this day. He loves that stuff!

Baby Beckett (15 months)

A picture of almost everyone at the party and what the backyard looked like. The "playground" (as Jack likes to call it) in the background is from Ben's boss. There should be a post on this eventually if not already. The weather was much better than Jack's birthday party last year. Of course this time it is 11am and not 6pm.

Aubrey Kate at the Photo Area.

I would try to get Jack to go by each of his friends after I had gotten an individual picture of them. It must have been water time when I took this picture of Aubrey Kate and Jack.

We were trying to get James to look at me and smile. Then I told Jack to go stand next to James for a picture and some reason he went over and showed him what was in his mouth. I have no idea why. A boy thing I guess?

Here is James in his serious pose.

Beckett with a big basketball. He was also very serious.

Then it was time for "cake". I lit the two candles on top of Jack's watermelon "cake" and then we all sang Happy Birthday. The whole time we were singing he was trying to blow out the candles. Thankfully he was having no luck. Then mommy and daddy helped him blow them out when it was time.

Jack trying to blow out the candles. You can see his lips pursed together.

"Yay!" Currently Jack's love language is Words of Encouragement because we always find ourselves saying "yay!" I realize it is too early but it sure seems like it.

Jack eating his Kiwi star.

Family pose.

Jack sat down and started counting his vehicles.

Baby Leah...I saw this face and had to take a picture of it.

McKinley, as Jack likes to say "Misseskinwee"

Carson

Linden, McKinley's older sister

Baby Leah

We realized at this party 4 out of the 6 girls that attended were pregnant. So we thought we'd get a prego shot. Jennifer starts us off due in mid July, then Robin at the end of July, then me mid August and Meredith at the beginning of November. Unfortunately I don't know how to totally face the side so it looks like I am way bigger - width wise than I really am.

This picture is towards the very end of Jack's friends party. Jack and Blake are laughing at something Ben said. Just before this, Jack was telling all of his friends bye. I think he was a little overwhelmed and was ready for some quiet.

The 2nd party was at 5pm the same day. This was a family party. Between both of the parties we had a total of 34 people and could have been 40 so I was glad we broke it up. Plus, it wasn't just a one and done thing. Jack took a nap between the two parties (a good nap I might add) and then was ready to go for the 2nd one.

Here is Nanny and Papa looking at Jack's train station that he wanted to show them.

Then Abby arrived and all he kept yelling was "Abby" all the way down the stairs. Here he is giving her a hug.

Then Tessa, Claire, and Grant arrived. Jack also loves Tessa and Claire. Here is a picture that shows his excitement when they came.

Claire, Jack and Tessa. There hands are so cute.

The first present Jack opened was a John Deere hat from Grandpa and Sissy. Little did we realize when opening this present that more came with it. But we had to wait for the present to be brought into the house from Grandpa's truck.

This is a picture of everyone heading out to see what the present is.

Jack in great suspense to see what it is.

After going back inside and unwrapping it, we found out it was an awesome, all metal John Deere tractor from Papa.

Jack loves to wear his hat way low on his head so this was the only picture I could get of his face.

The next surprise present was a John Deere Wagon (an old one) that my dad had refinished for Jack. This was from Grandpa and Sissy.

Jack wore the hat and sat in the wagon the rest of the time opening presents. Jack loved opening his "books" or cards as we all know them.

Pulling off the wrapping paper.

Jack loved this frog card. He said "frog" and then "rib-bit, rib-bit".

Inside the frog paper was a hand crafted dinosaur puzzle that Sherwin had made for Jack. Last year he made a wooden red race car which Jack still loves to push around. Jack has since enjoyed taking this dino apart and wanting to put it back together. He's pretty good at it for his age I feel like.

Mommy pointing to Nanny so Jack can say thank you for the chunky puzzles. If you can't tell, Jack loves puzzles and has already mastered the ones he has.

At two different times during opening presents, Jack would "read" his cards out loud. It was the funniest things because he was so serious when "reading" them but obviously was just making up words.

Jack put this bow on his head with no prompting.

Jack got a large tent and tunnel from Mimi and Papa Steve.

I thought this was a good picture that showed most of the cousins playing as well as Grandpa.

Here is another wide party shot.

Grandpa and Jack swinging together.

We decided to have a cake for the adult/family party. I have to say the cake was so much better than the cupcakes. This is the second time I've used Cooper St. Bakery. They are awesome, you just give them your invitation and they make the cake based on that.

Daddy holding Jack's hands down so he doesn't put his fingers in the cake. Oh and it was very windy so the candle wouldn't stay lit. That was fine with me since he got to blow out candles earlier.

Jack enjoyed everyone singing to him.

Mimi, Jack and Papa Steve

Goodyear cousins.

Hawkins side of the family.

Jack giving Grandpa a hug bye.

I hope to update this soon and add what we did on his actual birthday. Currently we are planning on taking Jack to Chick Fil A and then coming home to open his presents from Mommy and Daddy.

Monday, May 14

New Train Station and Playground

New Train Station

Ben's boss, Brian (the CEO), gave us his now 10 year old son's train station. We got this so long ago, maybe around the time Jack was 6 months old. It had been sitting in Jack's closet since then. Around April, Jack started to be more interested in trains and putting things together so we thought this would be the perfect time to get the train station out. We had also remembered that Ben's nephew Grant had a Thomas the Train play table and asked if they still had that. They did!

One Saturday, Ben went to get the train table, came back and put it together and put some of the train tracks out. When Jack woke up from his nap we showed him the train. At first he wasn't that interested in playing with it the "correct" way. He just wanted to take apart the train tracks and try to put them back together but was unsuccessful.

After Ben had assembled the train station a little better so that Jack could reach all of the things he wanted, Jack enjoyed it so much more. The picture below shows Jack playing with the ambulance. He would push the button on the ambulance but it would only make a noise every so often. He then would say "need batteries" over and over. Finally after about 2 weeks we got some batteries to put in it.

This must have been after a nap because he looks a little frazzled. Playing with the firetruck. Another of the trains that makes noise.

He loves to put the firetruck in the fire station. Then you turn the black knob on the side and it opens the fire station doors and pops out the firetruck as a siren is going off.

New Playground

For over a year now Ben's boss Brian had been talking about this large play-set that his kids had outgrown and the possibility of giving it to us. This was exciting for us. We had a smaller version of a play-set but was excited at the opportunity to get a larger one seeing that we were going to have 2 boys in the family now.

Then back in July 2011, Ben's boss had a horrible tennis accident. He ran head first into a pole full speed and had serious injuries because of it. He had to go to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta for a few months where they specialize in spinal cord rehabilitation. He was confined to a wheel chair but began regaining feeling and motion in his arms and legs. After spending some time there, Brian came back to Texas to be able to be close to his family and do up to 6 hours a day of physical therapy. Brian would come into the office once or twice a week for a couple of hours.

One day this spring Brian came in and began discussing the play-set again with Ben. I think he mentioned that his 10 year old son was hoping to put in an area to practice golf where the play-set currently was and they were ready to get it off there hands. All we had to do was get it moved. So after looking into this set and what it would cost to buy it new (thousands of dollars) we thought it was a great opportunity. So Ben went out to see it himself and take some measurements. By now we were sure there was no way we could disassemble it, move it and reassemble it ourselves/with help. So we contacted a moving company specifically catering to moving large play-sets. The price we paid to move the set and have it reassembled was a bargain. We were also lucky to have found a home for our previous play-set.

These pictures are from the first night it was assembled. The two men who moved it all started at 9am and finished by 7:30pm that night. Here is Jack telling us what the colors were on the climbing wall.

Jack crawling up the ramp. We need to replace the rope that creates a hand rail.

Swinging on the swingset

Climbing the ladder to go down the slide.

"Look Daddy" showing the third story of the play-set. He has yet to go up there but he has plenty of years to explore everything.

Here is a comparison picture...The left is Jack's 1st Birthday party in 2011 and the right is his 2nd birthday party 2012.

*Update - June 1, 2012

This is a very sad update to include but I thought it was important. On Memorial day, Ben, Jack and I were in San Antonio just beginning our 2nd half of our family vacation. (I'll post on this vacation soon) We had just arrived at our hotel resort and spent the afternoon swimming with Jack.

We were driving to dinner when Ben got a call from his boss Dickie (the CFO). Dickie called to tell Ben that Brian, Ben's other boss had just passed away. This was horrible news and deeply affected Ben. I had told a few people that I had never seen him this upset. I think a big part was how sudden this was. Ben later mentioned it was one of the first people he knew and was close to, that had passed away at an early age with so much life left to spend and "young" children being left behind.

Another reason is there was so much hope in the office and I'm sure Brian's family the week prior to this tragic event. Brian was just two days away from going down to Houston to complete a Physical Therapy program at the TIRR Center. This was a very exclusive program where you only get picked to participate if they feel like you would be successful. I know Brian and others were hoping at the end of this he would be walking. So needless to say this was very sudden and so tragic. Here is a copy of Brian's Obituary if you are interested in knowing what a great businessman, dad, and all around guy he was.

Friday, May 11

Rangers Game in the Rain

This was Jack's first Ranger game this season. Ben had made a comment earlier in the week that since Jack has been alive, the Rangers have been the ALCS champions. Anyway, I like to post pictures of Jack doing the same activity the year before to compare how much he has changed.

June 2011 May 2012

So this year Jack got a shirt that was just like Daddy's. On the way to the ballpark, Jack was holding the umbrella and saying what sounded like a rain chant. I was hoping it was a "rain, rain, go away chant". He would also say "Go Rangers" which was super cute. We parked in one of the farthest lots so we had a long way to walk. Jack was so excited, he held both of our hands and practically ran to the stadium. He'd also let out a scream of excitement here and there as well as a "Go Rangers!" We'd ask him "Are you ok Jack, do we need to carry you?" because he was breathing so hard. But each time he'd say "no!" and keep hustling.

Once inside (it was very crowded, the games were sold out all weekend) Ben carried Jack so that he wouldn't get lost.

We finally made it to our seats (3rd deck, but row 3 so it wasn't bad). Jack was so excited as you can see by the picture above. Once he had looked at everything around he asked to color. So he colored as well as would look at the field. The video below shows Jack taking it all in.

Mommy and Jack

After sitting in our seats for about 15 minutes, the announcer came on and said there was a Thunderstorm threat in the Arlington area and people in the upper decks (that was us) should take cover. So we waited about 5 more minutes then gathered our things and headed down one level. The picture below is of Jack and Ben at the top of the Stadium with the storm coming in behind them. This picture doesn't do the storm justice. It was a lot darker than this picture shows. I guess that's what you get when you use an i-phone camera.

We got to a lower deck before the crowd rushed in. After Ben got his hot dog, the rest of the stadium (so it seemed) crowded around where we were. They had delayed the game due to rain. So as the rain came pouring down and the wind blew like crazy we tried to keep Jack entertained. We had heard we might have to do this for an hour, which at first freaked me out. I thought there was no way Jack was going to be content with all of these people around for an hour. We quickly found a table with empty seats to sit at. Jack colored for a bit, then we got out the fruit snacks. I knew this would keep him occupied for a little while. Then he wanted to walk around. So daddy took him for a few minutes then they returned. Then we heard the storm should be dying down so we made the trek to the opposite side of the stadium to head back to our car. By now it was 8:30 and probably the time we were going to leave anyway.

Ben carried Jack to the car at a faster pace than I could go. So I kept the umbrella and walked at my own pace. I just laughed the whole time so I decided to take a picture of me walking back to the car. It had pretty much stopped raining halfway back to the car.

We didn't get Jack down for the night until about 9pm and they actually didn't resume the game until 9:30pm so it was a good thing we left when we did. I told Ben on the way home that I wouldn't be surprised if Jack had a night terror tonight since he got to bed late. And sure enough at 1am he had a night terror. I will be glad when he grows out of these.