Come to Papa!

My new phone has a slo-mo video feature. It's hilarious (to me)!

Our boys sure love their papa!

Jack is 18-months!

Our (not so) little Jacker is 18-months-old! He continues to grow tall and strong.

34" tall - 90%

26 lbs. - 50%

48.5 cm (head circ) - 70%

Let's talk about what this handsome little guy has been up to these days. I never find a buckle left undone. I remember Sawyer going through this phase. Whenever I go to load Jack in his booster seat or carseat he's usually fastened everything for me already, very efficient.  He loves ice cream cones. After getting in all 4 molars (that took over 2 months). All 4 of his i-teeth decided to come in at the same time, right after the molars. He's been a champ through it all and fortunately hasn't had too many issues with them at night. He sure likes to suck on that bottom lip still though! He's talking a lot more and we can communicate fine. He attempts a lot of words I don't understand yet though. Sawyer and Jack LOVE when I turn the toddler station on. They sing and dance all over the living room. Jack is obsessed with the top of the couch (it's up against a wall). I feel bad for company because he'll climb up behind them and romp around. He still loves my hair and unfortunately it is his 'security/comfort blankie'. I should have tried harder to find something that wasn't attached to me... Sawyer never really had a 'thing' like that, so this is new to me.

Two HOURS after bedtime.

He switched to a toddler bed this week, and now he has the freedom to 'toddle' right on out any time he wants. The first few nights were long (finally in bed sleeping 2 hours past his bedtime). The first night I found him curled up in the seat of the recliner, and the second night I found him standing on the floor, but leaning over the rocking chair asleep. And during nap times I haven't had him stay in his bed successfully yet - he usually ends up in the playpen, which he can't escape from (yet). Since those first few nights though, bedtime is a breeze and both boys stay in their beds. They love sharing a room!

The results of partying late into the night - can't make it through a tricycle ride around the block, or muster the strength to eat (an early) lunch!

Jack is such a snuggler, and I love it. Forget trying to snuggle and sleep though. Once he realizes you're trying to sleep he will start crawling all over you (usually your head). He's usually more of a peacemaker, but if Sawyer takes a toy out of his hands without asking, everyone in the vicinity will hear him scream MINE!! Unfortunately 'mine' seems to be his favorite word these days.

"MINE!!!"

Quality time with big brother, haha!

I LOVE the times where the play peacefully together (or at least peacefully side-by-side)...

I put Jack back in swimming lessons for a couple weeks when we returned from our trip west. I wanted to break some bad habits he'd picked up from being on the move so much this summer, and not practicing like we should have. When he floats on his back he has the biggest grin on his face and even giggles because he is so proud of his accomplishment :) We're proud of him too!

Look for his smile!

Feeding papa grapes

Helping mom clean the pantry...I guess.

Jack's turn on the crotch rocket. He isn't as in love with motorcycles like his big brother is, but he still enjoyed a ride around the block with papa.

He is into hats these days.

Jack loves his mommy, and I love my Jack Jack!

It's hard to believe that when Sawyer was this age, I had a 1-month-old as well. And look at how grown up that 1-month-old has become! We're so happy Jack joined our family.

Da Hole

Final post in the Trip West blog series...

After a week or so in Boise we headed to Jackson Hole to spend time with my little sister. She took the whole week off just to play with us, yesssss! I love Jackson Hole in the summer. Love. Love. LOVE! I've never been in the winter, so I might love it then too. But oh my. The summers are amazing. I'd be content to play there every summer day for the rest of my life...

A day after we got there Alethea promptly kicked me and Abbie out on our own so we could go for a great hike while she watched Sawyer and Jack. We hiked up to Hidden Canyon in Teton Nat'l. Park, which had a lovely hidden lake for us to take a dip in as well. It was awesome! I'm out of shape and altitude challenged (Florida), but I huffed and puffed my way up and Abbie cheered me on :)

Thimble berries, watermelon berries, huckleberries, blackberries, service berries, black currants, and some other unknowns. The huckleberries were tiny, but they were BURSTING with flavor. All those berries were such a treat on our hike, and made our hike considerably longer. We couldn't stop picking and eating!

The blessed lake on top!

Abbie was excited to see this smoke column - hoping Chris would come down from AK to fight fire in Idaho, turns out he did :)

Nice place to push a stroller and for Sawyer to ride his bike (Tetons in backdrop). This is what Alethea was doing while Abbie and I hiked.

Wooden boat rides right at tipi camp. In the summer the owner of tipi camp runs these wooden boat tours down the Snake River and then serves great food, in the winter he offers horse drawn sleigh rides. It's such a wonderful environment!

Abbie created this master piece.

Sawyer and Abbie having fun launching their home-made water craft down the stream and chasing after it.

The boys were in heaven with their own personal hot tubs.

Look at this service! Aunt Abbie spoiling them with hot cocoa in their hot tubs.

Oh Sawyer, the cuteness is too much!

Content litle boy...

Ahhh, this is the life.

Abbie & Jack went out for a little hike and then rode the lift down.

Alethea took us to the Wildlife Art Museum in Jackson Hole. Such amazing art!

Sawyer chillin' with the AA's

 Abbie & Alethea on the Big Kahuna rapid.

Liz & Alethea on the Big Kahuna rapid.

 Alethea guided us in this duckie down the canyon. We didn't flip! It was a blast and so fun to be sitting so low in the water. The boat is called a Tomcat Tandem. I want one! The next day we took the boys out on the lake near tipi camp.

Just because he's so cute :)

Love these rare times that Sawyer and I can snuggle up on the grass for a nap, and we actually sleep :)

Am I a bad mom? Sawyer hadn't tried hot cocoa until this summer! We just don't drink a lot of that stuff here in Florida. He loved it SO much. Every morning he'd hunker down for his cup of hot chocolate. And since then we've been on a couple plane rides and that is what Sawyer ordered from the stewardess. 

The magical tipi. You can see Alethea's raised garden bed off to the left.

Playing in the tipi with Aunt Aleafala (that's how Sawyer says her name--so cute!)

Morning time at tipi camp. My boys are still early risers - usually it's at least in the 6's now though, and sometimes even the 7's if I'm lucky. 

We enjoyed eating outside for all of our meals.

Alethea and Abbie swimming across String Lake one evening in Teton National Park.

The boys really enjoyed 'outside' living and would be pleased to continue this feral lifestyle, haha. We had an absolutely wonderful visit, thanks Aleafala. It's hard to believe snow is covering the ground there already, yikes! We sure miss all the family time.

Jack's 1-year-old Photo Shoot

Now that he's a year and half I'm finally posting his adorable 1-year-old photos. My talented friend, Megan, from Shimer Photography did such a great job. She came to our home and captured Jack's cuteness.  Enjoy!

The wind was blowing the balloons around which disturbed Jack. Plus I wouldn't sit in the chair with him. So sad.

My dad would always try to motivate us to do our homework by saying something along the lines of you don't want to be a ditch digger when you grow up. Apparently I need to invite Grandpa Lewis over to have a chat with Jack.

So the idea was to let Jack do a cake smash and then put him in a bubble bath afterwards to clean up. Well he was very reserved when it came to the cake. Probably because I used a yellow cake, instead of chocolate. What was I thinking? I thought the chocolate frosting would suffice, but not for Jack. I've taught him well apparently. I really should have made an ice cream cake. That kid LOVES ice cream. The bubble bath afterwards was a hit though, especially when his streaker brother was so willing to hop in with him :)

Even with papa and Sawyer showing him how it's done, Jack wasn't into it.

Although he wouldn't eat it, he thought stepping in it would be ok.

Sawyer trying to show him how it's done.

He wouldn't calm down in the tub until we let Sawyer hop in with him.

Sawyer was more than happy to oblige :)

Our blue-eyed boys

My absolute favorite

Mommy's boy

And an impromptu family photo at the end. I love these humans so much!