Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Happy Birthday Jackson!

Wow! Jackson turned a year old on February 17th. We celebrated with a "one cool dude" luau themed party at the house.

 I mentioned in his very first blog that we looked forward to his story unfolding before us and indeed, it has.  He started walking just in time to show off for his first birthday and got lots of really cool gifts.  One of his favorites were his baby Chucks (as in Chuck Taylor-he told me so himself).  He now prefers to walk everywhere, but still assumes a somewhat "drunken" stance when doing so.  He likes to  make us laugh.  He'll crash in to his bean bag Hummer and roll with it across the floor.  He tries to climb in to the bathtub and hasn't quite figured it out yet.  He leans over the tub with his feet off the ground and flails his legs trying to catapult himself over the edge.  Talk about living on the edge!
He delights us each and every day and we are so blessed that God has chosen us to be parents to this sweet, delightful, adorable, bundle of joy!!
All of the family were able to make it except for G who was sick as a dog, unfortunately.  Aunt Sis brought lots of goodies to help decorate for the party and gave Jackson his own personal cupcake plate.  We will enjoy using it for special occasions such as this for many years to come! We wore our koi beads that we got from Papa Ray and Nana Jana during our last visit to Maui.  We had many friends who came by to celebrate his special day and for that we were extremely grateful.  The day was a day to remember and we look forward to telling Jackson about it in the years to come. Aloha!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I think it's every child's rite of passage to have professional photos taken on their first birthday and Jackson was no exception.  We met our friend, Ashly Tucker, at the river for a really fun time of picture taking and lunch.  It's amazing to me the emotions that are elicited through the art of photography.  I think you will agree that Ashly captured some really awesome moments that make Chris and my hearts smile with joy! The up close shot was taken as "Curious George" crawled towards Ashly to explore her camera.  See the river rocks? That was taken just before Jackson attempted to eat a handful of them. And the Radio Flyer red rocket (which Jackson's friend, Carson, let us borrow)?  Every time I sat him on it for a photo opportunity he promptly hopped off like he was dismounting a horse and looked at me like I had two heads!  I guess this means we won't have a space cadet in our future.  Here are some of our favorites: