Stayin' busy!

We are stayin' busy with busy bags! Busy bags are cheap home made activities that can fit into a gallon ziploc bag. I participated in a busy bag swap. I chose an activity and made 11 of those bags. Then, I went to the swap and received a bag from each of the other moms. We now have 11 new activities to try out! Jet is still a little young for most of them but we did 2 of the activities this week. The first one is the one I made. It's a plastic bottle with beads in it. The idea is when he gets older he can dump the beads out and put them back in the bottle. I would imagine this helps develop fine motor skills as well as keep him busy for a while. However, right now it is used as a maraca :)

 This is the latest skill.. carrying things in his mouth so his hands are free.

The next activity is called rainbow rice. We have 5 different colors but we just used one, the green. I never realized it but Jet has never put his hands in rice! At first he was quite timid but once he realized it's not sticky (he doesn't like his hands being sticky) he dug right in.

Some rice stuck to his hands and he didn't like it... so he picked it off :)

Once he realized I wasn't going to make him keep it in the bowl, it all ended in his lap.

Picking off more rice.

Good sensory learning. I love little hands.

Looking forward to using our other busy bags!!

Jet Thomas Turns 1!

*Sigh* - Where did the time go? Jet Thomas turned 1 year old on January 3rd (at 5:21pm!). We celebrated by having a small family birthday party on December 30th with my folks, my brothers, sister-in-law, and my Uncle Matt and his kids (my 6 cousins). Aunt Nancy was sick and had to miss the festivities. Here he is on the big day.

ps- Here are his best friends in the whole wide world, Moses, Wilbur, and Buster.. my parent's dogs. Jet Thomas loves.these.dogs. Thank the Lord they are so gracious and patient with him. He normally shows "love" by pulling on their fur to stand up, poking them in the eye (accidentally!), and crawling on them. They just sit there and let him be the 1 year old that he is. We're blessed that he likes dogs as he's not afraid when he sees them out and about. Such a blessing they are!

Pulling up on Moses

So happy

Aunt beth picked out an awesome cookie cake for Jet. We put a "1" candle in the middle and sang to him. I had a cute hat for him but as you can see below, it didn't stay on his head very long.

Singing!

Tried the hat again... no go.

Best family pic we got

Trying a cookie for the first time...

...and he wasn't the biggest fan. 

Found the balloons next to him

These are fun!

Later in the week Grandma came over bearing lots of gifts. We're so fortunate to have my parents close by. Jet already knows who they are (definitely lights up for Grandma) and I get a break often from being a full time mom. My parents are a blessing to say the least :)

Jet went for the bear. You can't see it but the bear has the year 2012 printed on the foot... so sweet!

Helping to unwrap his Jet plane!

The book in this present is one of his all time favorites right now. It's a book of "The Wheels on the Bus," and it has a button that when pressed plays the tune to the song. Jet presses said button all.the.time.

Helping to unwrap his birthday PJ's!

She loves him so much... the feeling is mutual :)

Birthday PJ's from Grandma!

On the night of Jet's birthday we had a celebration with just us 3. I made him the Rimbey staple (yellow cake, chocolate icing) and he wasn't a fan. We tried to feed it to him but the best we did was get icing on the outside of this mouth. I'm sure next year he'll have no problem eating some cake.

I love my Daddy

And I love my Mommy!

Pointing to his Birthday balloon

Thanks Daddy for getting it down from the ceiling!

He let it go and we pointed at it again

What a fun time. I'll write another post about Jet Thomas and his 1 year old memories. To say the least  (without tearing up too much), we had no idea the blessing that was about to be entrusted to us a year ago. This boy brings so many smiles to our faces and sunshine to our life. I love my Lord and Savior, he has blessed my life with such sweet boys. I love my husband as he truly is the best husband and father I know. And I love this sweet boy who I get to spend all my days with. He makes me not dread Mondays :) Happy Birthday Jet Thomas, we love you with all that we have.