Wisconsin Christmas

On Friday we got up very early and drove to WI to spend time with my family.  Jack slept almost the whole way there- woot!
We stayed with my sister and her family.  It's so nice that Jack gets to play with his cousins and start to form that relationship with them. I grew up seeing my cousins a lot (which was a lot of fun). I know Jack won't see his cousins that much since we live in another state but they do get a lot of quality time together when we do see each other.  Before we went to my sisters we ran a few errands and made a stop at my Dad's grave to put out new flowers for the holidays. Friday went out for fish at my local favorite, Geno's.  Yum.
Saturday afternoon we did presents with my mom and Grandma Joyce. It was a lot of fun. Jack got a lot of fun toys. It was cute to watch the kids open their presents and be so excited.
Sunday we packed up and drove to the Milwaukee area for our extended family Christmas gathering at my cousin Bob and Kristin's house. It was great seeing everyone.  I always look forward to our family gatherings.  Good food,  and great to catch up with family.  Jack had a great time. He was so good this weekend. No fussing just happy smiles.  We are so blessed.

Merry Christmas - DeCair Style

Jack's 1st Christmas! 

We had to wake Jack up at 9am for breakfast and presents!  

Luckily, he is a very happy baby in the morning! 

Our little boy- ready to open presents!

He was good at getting the wrapping paper off!

Jack loved playing with the foam bath fishies he got. 

I'm pretty excited about my new straightener. Rose gold with polka dots, of course!

Colin putting together Jack's new play hut!

Jack loved exploring. 

Happy boy!

Dude is always on the move! 

Christmas Lights & Jack Photo Shoot

Tonight we took some fun holiday themed pictures of Jack.  He is such a fun baby. Enjoy! 

They each are a little different. 

 I had a bit of fun with the settings on our camera. 

Inspired by Pinterest - per usual. 

We had a hard time keeping the Santa hat on Jack. 

Pictures from the past week

This past week was full of holiday fun. On Friday we went to Colin's work holiday event and Jack got to sit on Santa's lap. He promptly freaked out. We brought him by Santa 30 minutes later and Jack was fine with him. I think lil Jack was just overwhelmed. At the event Santa brought Jack 2 presents: How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the story of Rudolph.  How sweet! Jack loved them.
On Saturday we got Jack his holiday outfit and did a little shopping at the outlet mall. We then put up and decorated our tree ( it's been in the garage for a few weeks waiting for the baby gate to arrive). Then we had friends over and went to Candlestick Lane to look at holiday light and came back and watched Christmas Vacation. Sunday Colin and I baked and got presents wrapped. Fun little weekend!

Jack 'Helping' Mommy Wrap Presents

Jack 12/8/14

Jack is getting so big! Almost 11 months. He had a rough weekend. Teething (he has 2 teeth) and his ears are having problems since the tubes 3 weeks ago. He went in for his ENT appt and they said that his tubes were blocked and that his hearing hasn't gotten better. So we are giving him ear drops for 2 weeks that will hopefully help.  He was very fussy this weekend, for good reason! The ear drops seem to be helping because tonight he seems much happier.

Thanksgiving

Hello! Jack's First Thanksgiving was low key - we just had a family day which was really nice.  All 3 of us were recovering from being sick, so we just rested, and watched the Lions game and movies.
I bought a cute hat at Babies R Us that I thought would be cute for baby picture based off of an idea I saw on Pinterest, so we did a baby photo shoot - Jack liked playing with the wooden spoons and also enjoyed taking OFF the hat. Of course!
For dinner we had turkey - so I found a recipe for a Maple Cider Bourbon Brined Turkey . Colin then cooked it on the grill.  It turned out very moist and tasty! I would recommend.  I also made my Mom/Grandma Hartzheim's scalloped potatoes recipe for the 1st time.  They turned out good, too - a little taste of home.  I also tried my hand at a lattice cherry pie, it turned out okay - I'm excited to try it again soon to become better at it.  I've included some videos of Jack within the pictures (even if they are kind of silly, I think it's nice for family from far away to see Jack's mannerisms and personality.)
Enjoy!

After a big meal and a day of playing, Jack was ready for bed. I'm so thankful for my little family.