Love is...

...watching the two of these guys together. Even doing simple things such as reading a book. I've said it before but let me just say it again. Jason is not only a terrific husband, but a super awesome daddy. Just look at Jack's face if you need proof.

Announcing...

After learning in August that we lost a baby at 11 weeks, we are happy to announce:

Here is me at just over 14 weeks. :) It's not hard to tell huh?! Guess I'm going to be HUGE! We could not be happier though and all looks good.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

I used to have this really awesome Christmas tree. I got it from Family Dollar when I moved into my apartment. It was a six foot prelit tree with really full branches that spread out and folded up nicely. It was really a fantastic cheap-o tree. When Jason and I moved in together we used that tree until we bought our house. The first year we moved into the house we did not put a tree up because we were spending Christmas in Tulsa. The next year we bought a small real tree. When we bought that little tree Jason decided that our basement could no longer hold my pretty prelit tree...because "it didn't fit in the box and took up too much ro

om". So I let him convince me to throw it out. BIG mistake! Jack's first Christmas we passed on a tree again since we'd be in Tulsa and we figured at 7 months, he didn't really need a tree anyways for the time we'd be in Indy for the Christmas season. But this year we're home and Jack's a year and a half...so we thought a tree was necessary. I wasn't really fond of the mess the real tree made, so I went in search of a new fake tree. Now, we don't have much room in our house so I started looking for another 6 foot prelit tree. After looking at a few stores, I quickly found that a) prelit trees are expensive and b) trees under 6 feet look like Ch

arlie Brown's rejects. I am so sad that we tossed my perfect little tree! =( So we ended up getting a sad looking little tree so Jack would have something to decorate. He seemed to really enjoy putting the ornaments on his first tree....even if it is something even Charlie Brown wouldn't take home. It's the process not the product right? And besides...when he's grown, he'll probably be more embarrassed about the outfit I have him in than the way the tree looked! Below is the best picture I could get of the sad tree.

Thanksgiving

Each year we alternate where we spend Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year it was our turn to go to Tulsa to spend Thanksgiving with Jason's family. The weather was really nice so we were able to spend a lot of time outdoors. Jack enjoyed spending time working with his Grandpa when we were indoors. I love seeing him sit on John's lap and "working" at John's desk in the office. Jack also enjoyed playing in the creek that runs through Grandma and Grandpa's back yard. This is a creek that Jason, Todd and Daniel spent a lot of time playing in while growing up. Nice to see the creek on it's second generation of Ravenscroft Men. I think Jason enjoyed sharing this experience with Jack as well.

Other outdoor activities included checking out Grandpa's bird wall outside the kitchen window,

fishing at a local park (which Mommy doesn't seem to be too good at. I was the only one to

throw the pole in the water while casting),

and sliding.

Jack also got a kick out of riding the little wooden rocking chair and just chillin' with Grandpa. Obviously we have lots to be thankful for this year.

My dad is...

I think Jack has to be one of the smartest kids that ever lived. Here him and his daddy are playing with magnetic letters. See what Jack has spelled out on his board? I think Daddy's pretty awesome too Jack. =)

Reading

It's a little long as I was trying to get his animal sounds on video...but here's some video of my little reader! Have you ever seen one so excited about a book! I think he's going to be a talker!

Happy Halloween

This year we decided to celebrate Halloween at our house, in our neighborhood. Last year we drove Jack around to my mom's friends and didn't actually do much trick or treating. I figured this year with a "wild monkey" and a scared banana in tow, we might have more luck a little closer to home.

Jack was all prepared...having gone through several dress rehersals at Zoo Boo, our Toddler Time Group and Ashley's work trick or treating. The kid actually didn't mind his costume because he knew it was going to get him some candy. He was so anxious to get started, he was actually crying as we kept him on the porch.

Monkey on the loose

Jack enjoyed taking his pumpkin up to the houses and getting candy from people. How quickly they learn with such sweet positive reinforcement.

The other highlight of the evening was Jack walking his "banana"...my sister's dog Ema. Ema was terrified and will never enjoy Halloween again, but Jack loved every minute of it. We only ended up making it to 8 houses...but with a monkey and a dog dressed as a banana...I don't think that was too bad. Next year our goal will be to make it to 10 houses in less than an hour.

Carving some Pumpkins

Jason's dad was in town this weekend so we thought a fun activity for him to do with Jack would be to carve some pumpkins. I really love this shot because it's three generations of Ravenscroft men carving pumpkins together! With Jack's grandma and grandpa living in Oklahoma, it's sometimes hard to share in holiday festivities, so this was a special time for the boys. Jack really got into carving his pumpkin.

He really seemed to enjoy scooping the pumpkin out more than anything else. He was up on the table on several occasions helping Jason scoop out their pumpkin. He wasn't afraid to stick his hand in the pumpkin guts at all! He's all boy in case you couldn't tell!

Him and his daddy worked really hard to get their pumpkin just right. He worked just like one of the big people standing over his pumpkin working tiredlessly until the job was done. I think theirs turned out really cute!

My pumpkin was a little symbolic. It simply read "Jack". Who of course IS my little pumpkin. It was a fun evening for us all.

Monkey running wild at Zoo...

This Sunday my mom, dad, sister and Jason and I took Jack to Zoo Boo at the Indianapolis Zoo. We thought this would be a fun Halloweeny thing to do with Jack's Mamaw and Papaw since my mom is going to be away this year for Halloween and will miss out on him trick or treating. Zoo Boo is pretty fun because the kids dress up and visit 6 candy stations set up in the Plains area of the zoo. Jack had a blast running wild in his monkey costume. The candy was fun for me! (Side note...if you look closely you'll see Jack's costume is a little small for him. He was the only monkey at the zoo sporting a camel toe!)

Jack loves going into the Waters Exhibit. I think he was role playing a bit from his Curious George book where George visits the aquarium. Here you can see Jason help our little monkey see above the water to look at the polar bear. I love this picture...Jack looks so cute in his little monkey body.

At first he didn't want to go up to the people passing out the candy, but once he realized he was getting something from them, he was all about it. Wonder where he gets his love of candy from? Could it be the hours mom spent eating it during planning sessions at work while pregnant with him? hmmm....

Stashing his candy. He didn't want me anywhere near him after getting several pieces! The kid is smart. We had a fun time except for one part. There was a building exhibit where kids could get little kits to make different wooden items like bird houses and ant farms. My mom suggested going over and seeing what it was all about and I thought Jack might enjoy doing this since he loves banging with his hammers at home. So we got him an ant farm kit and Jason started to help him by getting all the pieces out. Only problem was, Jack couldn't care less about building, he just wanted to swing and pound the hammer. A real metal hammer with a nice claw at the end. It was kid sized, but still...all I could think about was him clawing his eye out or busting one of us in the head. And he didn't want anyone to "help" him with the hammer, he wanted it all for himself. I ended up taking it away before one of us lost an eye and boy did the that ever make him mad. He screamed and threw a fit for the rest of the time. Fun stuff. As logical as it sounds, I guess my lesson for the day is kids and hammers don't mix.

Jack's First Camping Trip

So after weeks and weeks of Jason about ready to crawl out of his skin, we finally made it out to take Jack on his first camping trip. Jason has been waiting for this all summer long. We decided to meet up with Johnny (of course...we can't go outdoors without Springer! LOL) in southern Indiana at Shakamak State Park. Johnny lives near there and reserved us a couple of spots. Wally and Angie were going to go, but decided after taking Lilly last time that she's still too little. So Brady joined us instead. Jack loves being outside so this was a dream come true to him. And just like his dad...he was moving nonstop, checking things out and trying to build a huge fire.

Jack helped Jason get dinner ready.

A boy and his lantern is a must when camping. He loved this little thing. I'm so glad we brought it. He carried it around and kept squatting down to look at the light and show it to us. It was a big hit.

Of course Jack had to inspect the fire wood and make sure it was stacked properly and that we had enough on the fire.

He even found a nice stick to stir the fire. (No, we did not let him play in the fire although he tried with all his might.)

Jack and Daddy got to roast some marshmellows and make a Cookie S'more to enjoy before bedtime.

Jack did great in the tent. He went down super and slept all through the night. I think being outside wore him out. He truly is just like his dad...loves to be in "the great outdoors".