Trains at North Park Mall

We've been looking at a few options to participate in the holiday fun and after a miss at the lights in downtown Frisco due to Jackson's allergies, we decided to join Zoe and her mom to watch the trains at north park mall. The exibit was short but very intriguing, still think Jackson was a bit too young to be fully engaged but he did get a kick out of it. Of course he was not feeling the conductor hat:-) The exhibit had small replicas of the dallas skyline, New York City, neighborhoods and the white house of which the train circled around.

After we watched the trains we walked around the mall and found a puppet show that was near it's end, so we sat and watched what was left of the show. Next year we will definitely plan our holiday events earlier so we don't miss out.

Getting Ready for The Christmas Card

So we thought we would have a great picture to use for our Christmas Cards from a photographer we hired for Jackson's birthday party. Well there was a miscommunication and so she ended up not showing up and we were left to hire my mom as our photographer to try and capture a great shot. Those of you with children know that with little ones the adults have to be ready every shot because you never know when the shot of them smiling will occur. Well of course I had to get on Jarvis for not being ready every moment:-) Here are a few of the ones that didn't make the cut, but were cute nonetheless.

Dr. Seuss Ice Exhibit

We've been spending some time with some friends of ours we met through Gymboree who have a little girl named Zoe whose 3 months younger than Jackson. Turns out they are friends with a mutual friend of ours from Cincinnati. The Dorrah's told us about this exhibit that happens every year at the Texas Gaylord Hotel where for the month of December they create an elaborate ice display based on a theme. This year's ice display was based on Dr. Seuss. We were in awe, it was truly amazing, everything you'll see in the pictures was all ice! Apparently people come from China (I think that's the country) and work on building the sculptures for 30 days. They keep the temperature at 9 degrees in the exhibit so they give you huge parkas to keep you nice and warm as you cruise through the exhibit. This will definitely be an annual thing we will do!

All Bundled Up

I just had to take a picture of jackson in his jacket and hat. He looks just too cute in the hat! He's ready for winter.



I just had to take a picture of jackson in his jacket and hat. He looks just too cute in the hat.

Jackson's Birthday Parties

To celebrate Jackson's first birthday with family and friends we threw him 2 birthday parties.

Jarvis and I typically go to his family's house for Thanksgiving so I think 2 parties will be an annual tradition since Jackson's birthday falls near Thanksgiving. The first party in Montgomery was mostly family but also a few good friends. As you guys know from previous entries, Jackson's allergies prohibit him from enjoying the things we love...cake, icing...ice cream so being the good mommy I am I scoured Montgomery in search for gluten free ingredients to make him his own special cake. After staying up late the night before the big bash and making two cakes (in case one didn't turn out right), Jackson's cake was ready for him to dive in. Of course when it came time to dive in, he needed a little help from me but ultimately was OK not having cake! He had such a good time at his party and enjoyed playing with his cousins. With the party wrapping up around 3:30, the Boyd's were packed up and on the road for our 10 hour trek back to Dallas and Jackson slept 9 of the 10 hrs!

For birthday party #2, I went a little overboard. I handmade all of his invitations.(not sure I would ever do that again after 20+ hrs of work) and attempted to make another cake for him and the cake for the party. The theme was a Jungle so we had blow up jungle animals, jungle treat boxes, jungle theme music and animal tags for the kids. All of his frito lay friends came out to celebrate with him and a few friends that we've met since we had Jackson. I made little mini turkey sliders and animal cookies for the kids. A friend suggested having an older activity for the older kids so we bought some canvases and oil paints for the kids to paint pictures. Everyone enjoyed themselves so I know it was all worth it. Can't believe my baby is one!! This has truly been a blessed year..I will cherish this time forever...

Jackson's Now Walking!!

So as you may remember from my many previous posts, I have been wondering when this day was going to finally come. Well 12 1/2 months and it is here. Jackson took 26 steps today, the most yet and so I will say he is walking! It's soo interesting to watch. It's very robotic, as if they are really thinking "how do I do this walking thing." But we are very excited for this milestone for him. I know we might not be thinking that when we are chasing him all over the house like crazy but for now we are just as excited as he is.