December 8, 2014

Jackson Turns One!


Our favorite little Jack-Jack turned one over three weeks ago!

*gasp* I know right?

It's always crazy to me how fast that first year of life goes by. So many changes happen.

In a lot of ways Jackson's first year seemed to creep slowly on as we dealt with his cranio, yet now that we have reached his first birthday, I'm sure I've only just blinked and he transformed from a newborn to a crazy, active, constantly moving, running, and purely delightful one-year old boy.


I simply cannot imagine our family without him. 

The older kids just adore him, even if Claira's love often manifests itself in what seems to him as torture.

Ah, toddler siblings.

It's amazing we survive them.

On Jackson's actual birthday, a sweet lady from our ward (church congregation) stopped by to bring him a plate of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

I know right? 

Everyone needs a friend like that.

See, I'm the kind of friend that will always be there to eat your treats for you while you are on a diet.

Someone has to be self-sacrificing like that.

You're welcome.


Jackson takes his first bite.....


Success!! He loves them!


I know this because after his third cookie I told him he needed to take a break.

He wasn't too happy with me.


The next day there was snow, lots of it. And it was FA-REEEEEZING!

Soooooo cold.

So instead of taking Jackson out into it, I brought some of the snow in for him!

Uh mom... what IS that??

Oooohh, coldness! What am I suppose to DO with this stuff?

Let's give it the ole' stick-it-in-the-mouth test. Hopefully they taste better than those stale cheerios I found on the floor.  Hmmm... not bad mom! 


That Saturday we drove up to my parents house for an early Thanksgiving/Jackson's birthday celebration!

My brother's wedding for the day before had been postponed, and since my siblings who had bought plane tickets couldn't cancel, we had a party anyway!

Well, after Jackson's nap we did.


Not long after the gut-filling dinner, my kids were just itching for Jackson to open his present brought by our cousins.

You know you're a bad mom when your cousin brings a gift for your child but you haven't gotten him one yet.

Epic fail.

At first Jackson wasn't sure what to think of all the attention. And what was with this big bag of paper that Savannah kept telling him to pull apart?


Ah ha!! The secret is revealed!

He love loved it!

And yes, he is super drooly. I suppose I would be too if I had half a mouth of teeth coming in all at once!


Who am I kidding. All you have to do it bring chocolate with in ten feet of me and I look like that.



Okay judge, before you pass a final verdict upon my super lame-o cake, allow me to offer up a defense!


Like a good mom getting a head start on things, I had baked the two round cakes the night before.

Once they had cooled I put an entire container of chocolate frosting between the two layers.

Okay... so maybe I was a bit generous with it, but who doesn't like frosting in the middle of the cake!?

Instead of taking the time to freeze the cake and put on a thin layer of icing before actually frosting it, I went ahead and gave myself permission to unload another container of frosting, this time vanilla. You know, for variety sake.

However, soon I noticed little brown swirls appearing in my pristine white frosting!

Oh hang it all. So out comes another container of frosting!

See, I kind of figured that if I just put the frosting on thick enough, I could hide the chocolate swirls.

Alas, my thinking was faulty and the more I tried to smooth and frost, the more the chocolate and vanilla swirled together.

Well, I might as well run with it.

I left it to set over-night. The next morning after getting out of the shower, I noticed little finger-dug holes in one side of the cake!

What!?

KIDS! WHO ATE THE FROSTING!?

Naturally, Not Me had done it.

Not Me is pretty naughty here at our house, always causing trouble and doing things they know they aren't suppose to do!

*sigh* I'm just not sure what to do with Not Me.


Well, I tried to smooth it out but since the frosting had dried, all I got a nice big messy mush-up of dried and soft frosting.


I just quit while I was behind after that.


I put the remaining half container of icing into a decorating bag and added some lame swirls to try and hide the mush-up spot a little.

Even if it looked really, really bad, a cake with three containers of frosting on it should taste good anyway right?


Jackson thought it was awesome!


Photobombed by Uncle Joel.

My dad was snapping pictures with one camera, my mom with another.



Joel you attention hog you!

Clapping after the song!


All the photo moments caught on video!



Jackson LOVES watching his birthday video!

And despite the fact that the cake was a failure to look upon, everyone loved it!

Especially the birthday boy.




JACK-JACK ATTACK!

5 super cool people speak:

Mama Smith said...

How I LOVE this little boy...Our family would NOT BE THE SAME...without him! smile So grateful Heavenly Father let us have him, instead of some other family...He is TOO CUTE...to belong to anyone else...smile

Sarah said...

Awwwww! SO ADORABLE!!! Love it!

Kelly said...

Cute pictures! Also, your cake looks great! Whenever I try to frost a cake, it starts falling apart...

Katherine said...

Happy birthday to Jackson!
With regards to presents, Maggie had her first birthday in September. I had some chunky wooden puzzles in the closet, so I wrapped one up for her. We never got around to opening it on her birthday. Then it sat on the dinner table for two weeks. Then I decided that she's getting it for Christmas instead. I need to take off the "Happy Birthday!" paper and replace it with something more Christmas-y.

Valerie said...

That cake sure looks better than the one I made my daughter a couple of weeks ago. It spilled over out of the pan and caught on fire. There was some left in the Bundt pan so I tried to dump it out of the pan, but it made a mound of chocolate mess, not even close to resembling a cake. My daughter wouldn't touch it. We went and bought one at the bakery. I hate doing that. :)

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