A Look Back at 2012

2012 was a big year for the Morans.  It was busy.  It was fun.  It was full of many firsts for Jackson.  And it brought lots of changes. 

We rang in the year with a infant and wrap it up with a talking, walking, extremely busy toddler.  We bought a house in the 'burbs which we're thrilled with but which also meant a bittersweet change in daycare for Jackson - we love the new school, but truly miss his previous teachers and the great care they took of our baby beginning when he was only four months old.

J experienced his first plane trip when we traveled to the big island with my parents in February.  We also went on a handful of trips to Yakima, and thanks to Corey who watched J, I was able to join my family in Vegas in June to celebrate my grandma's 90th birthday. 

And speaking of birthdays, it was a big year for those around here - Jackson had his first in April, Corey turned 36 in September, and I celebrated my 30th in October, complete with an amazing trip to Sonoma County with close friends, planned entirely by the hubby.  It even included a delicious private dinner cooked by chef Eric Lee.

2012 was a big year for friends and family as well.  Baby Stellan (Nick & Gina's son) arrived in July, our friends Jennifer and Andrew were married in October, and my brother and Anya got engaged on Christmas.

In less happy news, 2012 brought some sad moments as well with surgeries for both our kiddos (more about Jackson's here; more about Roxy's here).  Luckily though, both were only to remove benign cysts.  We also experienced a scary elbow dislocation with Jackson which was quickly fixed and he's as good as new.

All in all though, I'd say 2012 was a pretty great year, and we're all looking forward to what 2013 has in store for us.  But in the meantime, here's a photo recap of our year!

Happy New Year from our family to yours - we wish you love, health and happiness all year long.

Hippity Hoppity

It's no secret that Jackson enjoys dancing.  Here's a video to prove it, taken during our Yakima getaway a few weeks back.  He's dancing along, and sometimes mimicking, a singing and dancing Easter bunny.  I like to think he has his daddy's dancing skills...

(Be sure to watch the full video - the last few seconds are the best part.)

Boots!

It only took 3-4 months and countless attempts to coax them on to his feet only to end in a kicking and screaming match, but Jackson finally (!!!) asked for us to put his bug boots on him on Saturday to go play with balls outside.  I quickly agreed, despite the cold weather, afraid he'd change his mind.  So, boots on, we bundled up and headed outside for a bit to enjoy some fresh air.  Throughout his playing, he'd stop, bend over and point to his boots and yell "BOOTS!". 

Why yes, Jackson, those are your boots. 

Several days later and he's continued to wear and enjoy his boots.  Good thing we still have many months of rain left for him to enjoy them!

Merry Christmas!

Despite the many requests to watch Elmo (seriously, the kid is addicted), we had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with our families over the past few days.

It all kicked off on Saturday when my parents, brother, Anya, and grandma arrived.  The present opening was so much more fun with Jackson this year - he understood the concept of opening them and loved to see what was underneath the paper.  He would then get very eager to play while we opened the boxes to retrieve the toy.  His favorite so far is a shopping cart and groceries.

On Sunday, Corey's family joined all of us here for brunch and more Elmo watching.  We weren't sure how Jackson would react to Elliott or Curtis since it had been awhile since he'd seen either of them (1 year for Uncle E and 6 months for grandpa) but he did great, giving hugs and kisses, playing with everyone, and not acting shy at all.  Whew!

We headed over to Joan's along with Consuelo for a yummy brunch and stockings on Monday.  Monday afternoon, we all headed back this way for secret Santa presents and dinner made by Chef Corey.

We were all completely spoiled by everyone.  Jackson received some great new toys, lots of adorable clothes (the stack of new clothes is like looking at a bunch of Corey's clothes - he's such a little man!), and fun books including a personalized race car book complete with photos of himself and his name used throughout.  Looking forward to playing with everything and trying on all J's new clothes during the rest of our time away from work!

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday and hope that you all enjoyed the time with friends and family as much as we did!

So pretty before all the destruction begins...

Serious shopper alert.

 

 

New Jordans from Uncle E --- and J loves them (not always the case with new shoes)!!

Yes, J's holding snacks - it was the only way we could keep him happy after pulling him away from Elmo for two minutes to snag a family photo.  Story of our life.

 

Gotta love J's mouth stuff with Puffs.  So much for a nice, family photo.   

Trip to the Yak

Last week, Corey and I took Friday off and had decided to head to Yakima since it'd been months since we'd been there. 

J had fun with his grandparents, loved watching Elmo, doing his colorful fish puzzle, playing with all his Yakima toys and going out to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant (El Porton).  He also enjoyed lots of holiday cookies at his great grandma's house.  And another notable was his love of running to hug (and ultimately) tackle grandpa --- something they even did on the floor of Wal-Mart.  Lovely.

Jackson witnessed and experienced his first snowfall of the year there and loved "catching" snowflakes in his mouth (as you can see here).  The good news is that we just got a taste of the snow that eventually came the afternoon after we left.  Yakima got 8+" that day and the pass was closed for hours.  We made it home in the nick of time.

It's always nice to spend time in Yakima - everything just feels more calm and we are able to get in much needed rest and relaxation.

Enjoying what was probably cookie #5 at great grandma's.

Not sure who liked Elmo more...

Grandma and grandpa have all kinds of fun toys at their house.

No caption needed.

Snowflake Lane

We'd heard great things about Snowflake Lane but hadn't ever been.  Jackson loves lights and music, and he'd never really seen or experienced (fake) snow, so with a dry evening expected last weekend, we packed up and headed to Bellevue with my parents.

We got there just in time to snag a decent spot so that Jackson could take everything.  Now, if only weren't for the dads who decided to park themselves right in front of us right before the show started, with their kids on their shoulders, everything would have been perfect.. 

It's quite a show that they put on and Jackson thoroughly enjoyed watching the drummer closest to us.  I don't think he even blinked the entire time.

Looking forward to continuing to experience Snowflake Lane in the years to come.

Jackson Trying to Catch Snow

Jackson's First Snow of the Year

(In Yakima)

Life Lately

Lots of new words being learned and said around our house these days, and I love it!  I hear at least one (and most days several more) new word out of J's mouth every day.

A new word over the last week or so is "garbage".  He likes to help throw things away and the I recently gave him little bits of each veggie from a veggie platter.  He stuck a piece of carrot in his mouth and promptly spit it out, saying "garbage!" and the walked over and tossed it in the garbage can.  Smart kid.

Another funny word is "heavy".  He must have gotten it from us always telling him that he's heavy when he insists that we carry him around at times.  Now he says it when we pick him up, or if he's trying to get us up.  When he wants me to stand up to do something, I ask him to help me up so as he's pulling, he'll say "heavy".  Thanks, son.

His most common word over the last couple weeks has been "LIGHTS", which he says many times every time we're in the car or looking outside as he spots houses with Christmas lights. I have to get it on video because he says it in such a funny way ("whites" with a lisp, but also with a deep voice). 

He continues to say "oh my" at all the right times (he drops something, spills something, is impressed by something, etc).  It's so cute.

Jackson absolutely LOVES watching Elmo.  He's only ever really known Elmo from his diapers.  And until a few weeks ago, he had absolutely no interest in TV...that is until we put on Sesame Street for the first time. Ever since then, he asks to watch Elmo multiple times per day.  I typically put it on when I'm making dinner now and he happily watches while transferring all his books from the shelf to the couch so he can read while watching.  We started DVR'ing Sesame Street every day, but he gets upset if there's not enough focus on Elmo, so we just ordered "The Best of Elmo's World" DVD three-pack.  Sounds like a winner to me.

Watching Elmo with his Elmo slippers, while reading every book he can get his hands on.  All just part of a hard day's work.

Bathing in his Elmo bubbles.

Ho, ho, ho!

Even though Jackson may dislike seeing Santa in person, that doesn't keep him from knowing or liking what Santa has to say.  (Although, I personally think he sounds a bit like Tim the Toolman Taylor from the hit TV show Home Improvement...)

Santa Success

...or lack thereof.

No amount of discussion and reasoning prior to seeing Santa at the U Village, during which J agreed to hug Santa and sit on his lap, brought J any comfort when actually meeting the guy this year.  After saying "hi" to the helper who opened the door to Santa's cabin, J started immediately crying upon actually seeing Santa up close.  He completely lost it when I set him on Santa's lap.

We had two photos to choose from - a sad, crying Jackson, or a terrified Jackson.  Being the great parents we are, we went with terrified.  Go big or go home, as they say.

And bless Santa's heart for remaining so calm, cool and collected in the midst of Jackson's tantrum.

Here's last year's photo for comparison.

Trinity Tree Farm

With no rain falling this morning, we headed back out to Trinity Tree Farm (same place in Issaquah that we got our pumpkin in October) to pick out our first real tree.  (Corey and I both had real Christmas trees growing up, but the convenience of a fake tree won out when we were in our condo. With this being the first Christmas in our house, we decided to try out a real tree.  I'm not going to lie though - while I love the look and smell of a real tree, it's definitely much more work and is way more expensive than a fake tree.  We'll see how long the real tree tradition lasts in this house!)

Trinity wasn't crowded at all and we had fun picking our tree out, and wandering around the property.  Jackson especially liked the rocks (sounds like our pumpkin trip all over again) and the bonfire they had going.

J and I ran some errands this afternoon and when we got home, Corey had set the tree up with all the lights in the living room and it looks great!  Still need to put the decorations on it, but we'll save that for another day.

We were excited to get our tree up since Jackson has been absolutely loving all the Christmas lights up on the houses around town. In fact, he sounded as though he was about to hyperventilate on our way home from daycare on Friday driving past all the lights in our neighborhood. That said, we thought he'd be in heaven being able to see all the lights on the tree in our house. So far though, he isn't too impressed. He was way more excited about helping me organize ribbon and taking it and out of the jar it belongs in. Interesting. This kid certainly keeps us on our toes.

A few pics from our morning at the tree farm, and of the final product.