Jack's Favorite Things

 I thought since I'm behind on writing about Jack at 18 months, I would make a list of his favorite things.  It is so fun watching him change and grow. It makes me sad that he is becoming a little boy but at the same time it's so exciting! I also realized that I have not been very good at taking pictures of either kid lately so for once I don't have many to share.  
Jack's 18 month stats: 97% for both weight and height; he is 32 lbs. and 35 in. Doctor said if he continues on this path he could be anywhere from 6'2 or 6'3. 


Jack's Favorite Things:
Place: Outside-he would live outside all day if we would let him.  We just got new sod a few weeks ago and we are loving going out in our own back yard to play
Sports: Baseball right now is his favorite! He loves to swing the bat (left handed). He also recognizes football, basketball and soccer (loves watching his big Sis play)
Fruit: blueberries and bananas are his favorites right now
Meal: spaghetti or mac and cheese
Snack: cheese or yogurt-he is always getting into the fridge to get one of them!
Drink: loves water, but has now taken a liking to juice...he also loves my sweet tea when I have it
Pet: Puppies/Dogs-he is obsessed with puppies (real or pretend). He sleeps with 4 puppies and 3 blankets (ba ba's). He also loves my brothers dog Lily and calls her by name
Song: Wheels on the Bus is probably his favorite at the moment. He loves to sing and do the actions!
Shoes: he loves shoes and wearing everyone's shoes
Sunglasses: He loves to wear sunglasses even though they are way too big (they are always some one else's!
Game: Simon Says...I play this with Allie when we are outside and Jack joins in the fun! It's a great way to work on different parts of the body
Word: Again-he says this word all of the time when he likes something. It is so sweet to hear him say it. 
Words to Strangers: Bye-bye-he tells everyone everywhere we go "bye-bye" and then follows it with a "see you soon" (its all together so it's hard to understand). 
Movie/Show-Praise Baby is still a favorite, but he also loves Little Einsteins and now he is hooked on Bambi. We have a Bambi book and he saw our movie in the drawer and insisted on watching it. He sits mesmerized by the animals. He laughs at the silly parts.  
Toys: Anything that has a steering wheel or looks like it should move. He is always trying to get in the motorized carts at the grocery store!
Things that move: cars, buses, tractors, trains and planes- he loves them all and loves looking for them.  We live by DFW so we have planes fly over a lot!
People: his daddy, his sister, Mimi and Poppy-he looks out the window for Jarod and my parents all of the time. He loves going every day to get Allie from school. 

Our New Normal

We have gotten into what I like to call "our new normal" around the Varner house. Staying at home now has been a wonderful adjustment for our family. It is so nice to not bring home my work stress and to be able to enjoy my kids without worrying about my job. Jarod and I feel so blessed that we are able to do this for our family.

We start our mornings pretty early. I get Allie up at 6:45 and she is out the door by 7:30. Jack wakes up usually by 8 or a little earlier. We both eat breakfast and I sneak in a cup of coffee (barely) and he is ready to go! He brings me his shoes or my shoes and says "go outside". Every morning we walk to the park by our house. Our yard is a mess (we are going to laid sod once the heat goes away). Even when it was 95 or hotter, we went for at least 45 min. The key was getting there early! We also discovered an awesome park in Carrollton that is covered and had a splash park with fountains. Now that the heat has died down, we are able to stay at the park a lot longer. After outside play, we come home for a snack, play a little more and then lunch. Usually we have an early lunch because Jack has to get down by 12:30 in order to get in a nap before it's time to get Allie. Jack loves to go get Allie from school! He has missed his sister.
Once we get home, we have snacks, play time with siblings, and homework. Then Allie helps me contain Jack while I get dinner ready. Now that the weather is cool, we go to the park after school too! Jack loves being outside and that way Allie hasn't felt left out. We also tried toddler time at the library this week. Jack did pretty well. He likes the singing and dancing.
We are all enjoying our "new normal"!




We loved this park...they have two different play grounds for different ages. Jack of course liked them both!

Fun in the water!

Kindergarten Girl

Hard to believe this sweet girl is old enough for Kindergarten! It seems like just yesterday she was this small (see pic below)...
Where did the time go? I feel like the last five years have flown by and my little girl is all grown up. She has been excited about Kinder since last year and couldn't wait for the first day of school. I always thought I would be able to handle it, since I was used to leaving her every day, but I was wrong. Now that I am able to stay home, I've had some "guilt" set in b/c I wasn't able to stay home with her. But, I am able to take her to school, pick her up, go to meetings, go eat lunch with her...things I wasn't sure I would ever be able to do with my sweet girl. I am so grateful that I get to be available to her at school and home with Jack!

This past week I had wanted to do lots of fun things with her, but unfortunately, Jack decided it was a good time to get sick and Jarod was out of town. So, we had to cram in some things this weekend.

I'm so proud of my sweet girl! When I woke her up this morning, she said, "Mommy, I can't believe it...I'm a Kindergartner!" She sounded so grown up and it made me weep. From there she got dressed in her new dress and shoes she picked out when we went shopping. Then we had biscuits for breakfast (one of her favorites), took a few pictures and then off to school. It was weird to be on "this side" of things. I haven never felt so lost! We all took her to school and when we got back in the car, Jack immediately went, "Allie?" and held up his hands. It broke my heart. He loves her so much and I know he will miss having her around.

We had a dinner celebration...spaghetti (her favorite) and I made her a funfetti cake with cream cheese icing and sprinkles. My mom was even able to come celebrate with us.

We are so proud of our girl and look forward to an exciting year of Kindergarten!

Jack of course had to be in a picture and he was squatting down b/c she was:)

A Little R&R in Cancun

Jarod and I were able to escape to Cancun for a few days, while my parents watched the kids. This was a much needed vacation and we feel so blessed that we were able to do this. It was so nice to have no distractions and to be able to rest, relax and focus on each other. We got to Cancun on a Thursday afternoon and we left the following Tuesday afternoon. Jarod and I have not been to Cancun since our honeymoon 8 years ago. For our honeymoon, we stayed at a huge all inclusive resort that was not close to town. This time we decided to not go that route and stay at a smaller hotel (Hilton) and go out for our meals. I really enjoyed our hotel...it was not very crowded, had very polite staff, awesome pools and beach!
We spent every day at the pool and every night we went into town for dinner. We swam, lounged, read (I read 4 books), and took naps. I guess you could say we were LAZY! I only had one major meltdown-I forgot my makeup bag and brush at my parents house. I realized this on our first night at 8:30 and my awesome husband agreed to get out and take the bus to Wal-Mart in downtown Cancun. It was a long adventure and it was hard to pick out make-up when it's all written in Spanish, but something that will never be forgotten. Everyday I looked for seashells on the beach for Allie and Jack. She was so excited to get them!
I fell in love with Cancun again...I had forgotten how beautiful it was there. Every time I looked at the ocean, I kept thanking God for creating something so beautiful and breathtaking.

View from our room...just beautiful!

A room with a view

There were several small pools and one huge pool...it was awesome! When you swam to the furthest point, you had the ocean right in front of you.

I see these pictures when people go to the beach so I felt like I needed a foot picture:)

Me and the hubby...we weren't very good at taking pictures together or of each other

This picture was taken at night and we were having a hard time getting it to turn out

This was my favorite place to be! We were only able to swipe this spot on our last day...it felt like our own private oasis!

#73 was our spot on most days

This was taken on our last day, we got to the pool at 8 that morning. I love how the sun is reflecting on the ocean.

4th of July in Memphis

Friday, July 1st
We headed to Memphis for the 2nd year in a row to celebrate the 4th of July with our best friends Keith, Courtney and their precious girl Maggie Lynn! They are always awesome hosts...we always fill our time together with lots of laughs, yummy food, hanging out and movies! I've added A LOT of pictures and I'm breaking down our time there by day. The picture of above is right before we left. Last year, Jack was awful in the car. He has improved a lot but it's not without everyone putting forth effort to keep him happy. We are very thankful for Praise Baby, snacks, music and his sister Allie!

Saturday, July 2nd
We had planned to get up and go to the zoo in the morning, but we had a hard time getting everyone ready and happy. Jack had to lay down for a morning nap (he hasn't done that in months) and ML was tired too. So, then we decided that we would go swimming after lunch at a friends pool that was close by. We had so much fun...and the pool and area around it was awesome. Allie got to improve on her swimming and jumping in skills, Jack played in the water and our "men" acted like boys! Fun, fun, fun! We ended our day with naps and yummy food.

Everything is better with snack cup in hand!

I'm pretty sure this is the only picture I got of Jarod...priceless!

Sunday, July 2nd
We went to church on Sunday and then over to Keith's parents house for a yummy cook out lunch...hamburgers, guacamole, watermelon, baked beans and of course dessert! Then we headed back to the house and we all took naps. The boys were running in a 5k that night at 7. Courtney and I decided to opt out of dragging grumpy kids in the horrible heat. We just lounged around and hung out with the kids.

Allie and Maggie Lynn

Jack LOVES him some Maggie Lynn! He was so excited to hold her, hug her and kiss her. Sometimes she wasn't sure what to think about it. They are 9 months apart in age...Jack looks like a GIANT next to her:)

Monday, July 4th
We had again talked about going to the zoo, but I thought it would be horribly crowded so instead we headed off to Shelby Farms (huge park) and checked out their very cool new park. It is not your traditional park which made it so much fun! We had fun playing, then had a picnic lunch which seemed to help put everyone in good moods, then we went and slid down these awesome slides! I had not had that much fun in a long time. We got some great videos of us all going down and laughing...really so much fun!
After the park, we went home for naps and the grown ups had time without the kids. Then the men and the kids went to buy fireworks and food to cook. The guys grilled out and Jack and Allie played in the sprinkler. Jack was not a fan of the sprinkler and instead splashed in ML's pool. He thought it was okay. The water was really cold and it wasn't very hot outside (strange). After dinner we had a dance party and waited for it to get dark. Once it was dark enough, we headed outside to shoot fireworks. Jack and ML did really well until the boys shot off something incredibly loud that none of us were prepared for. After that, he sat in my lap and never moved or made a sound (not like him at all). All through the neighborhood, people were shooting fireworks so we go to see a good show!

These swings were awesome!

Love this picture...notice how tan my child is? Crazy!

ML and her sweet mommy

Jack loves to watch you cook so Keith obliged

Sweet ML was tuckered out and missed most of the excitement

Me and my sweeties...both were exhausted!

Tuesday, July 5th
We headed home early that morning. We are so glad we were able to go and see our dear friends and spend time with them. They will hopefully be heading this way in November!

Jack is 15 Months

Hard to believe Jack is already 15 months old and he is changing so much every day...I'm so glad I get to be around every day now to witness it all (the good and the bad)!
I love that Jack is learning, understanding and talking a lot, but I do not like what comes with this age-frustration and horrible tantrums! This has got to be my least favorite phase ( I remember not liking it with Allie). The problem is, he is learning more and more every day and although he has added a ton of new words to his vocabulary, he still cannot communicate as quickly as he would like to. So, instead, he screams, yells, pushes things over, hits, bites, pinches, scratches...it sounds like he is mean, but really he is the sweetest boy who when he gets frustrated he doesn't know any other way to express himself! It's a battle everyday to help him learn the error of his ways...and there are days I want to give up or give in, but I don't. I know in a couple of months time it will get better and he will be in a new challenging phase!

Jack has LOTS of personality...he really is a ham-bone! When out in public, he likes to wave at everyone, give them a cheesy grin (that says, "how can you not think I'm adorable?") and enjoys making people laugh-whether it's making silly faces, almost standing on his head or just being a goof ball!

He is also a busy-body...he gets into everything, stands on everything and climbs on everything! He has recently learned to climb up on my couch, so we are learning the safe way to get down, b/c he has fallen head first once or twice before I could catch him. He likes to be as loud as possible, the louder the better!

Things he knows or can say:
*body parts-nose, eyes, head, ears, feet, toes, mouth, belly button-likes to find your belly button too! (98% of the time)
*can tell me that he has pooped (this is recent...I ask and he says poo poo and points to his bottom)
*puts his hands up when we ask where something or someone is
*understand simple directions
*can open some doors (he is tall)
*give hugs
*blow kisses
*words-mommy, daddy, Mimi, Poppy (sounds like puppy), puppy, help, please, thank you, more, hot, Allie, cracker, water, milk, apple,shoes, baby,water, ba ball (basketball), mouth, waffle (keep in mind some of the words are perfect but we know what he is saying), uh oh, bye-bye, hi, no,amen
*animal sounds-he recognizes several animals and can tell you their sound: moo, quack, baa, bark for a dog, hoot for an owl, monkey noise, tries to growl for a bear, makes a fish face (hilarious), snort for a pig
*right now, he will attempt to say whatever word you are trying to teach him...it's pretty funny. A couple of weeks ago, he wouldn't!

A Few other things I want to remember:
*favorite song right now-Happy and You Know It; he likes to say Amen!
*favorite fruit-watermelon, although he will eat any fruit you give him!
*he is attached to his puppy, actually he sleeps with two!
*loves going to Hawaiian Falls
*loves messing up his sister's room and playing with her toys
*still in size 4 diapers, but I think I'm going to buy size 5 soon
*wears size 6 shoe
*2T clothes
*not the best nap taker (I'm lucky if it's 1 1/2hrs)
*daddy's boy
*has lots of new teeth...I think he has 12 or 13 total (a few of them are molars)
*loves being naked or to have some piece of clothing not his body
*still not great in the car, although has made progress over the last week or so

15 Month Stats
30.2 lbs. (97%) this is with clothes and a diaper on
33 in. tall (97%)
Yes, it's not a shocker that Jack is big...he started that way and has never slowed down! Doc said if he continues on this pattern he could be 6'2 or 6'3 when he is in high school! For those of you who do not know, my dad is 6'4 and my oldest brother is 6'8.

Not the best picture in the world, but if you look close, his friend puppy is eating breakfast with him!