Christmas in California

We had a nice long Christmas break in California. We were there for almost two weeks and saw lots of family, friends, good weather, and In N Out. When we got back, Dave's brother picked us up from the airport and said "welcome to the cold." He wasn't kidding, it's cold! Dave worked for a day and now has a four day weekend for New Years. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and has a wonderful New Year. Here are a few pictures:

Jack's first fast food lunch was at In n Out. We went four times (yes we are obsessed)! He LOVED the grilled cheese. He ate almost the entire thing every time :)

Jack's first picture alone with Grandpa Boland (how did we make it over a year before I took one)
in our pjs on Christmas Eve

We drink champange while opening presents

My parents live on Balboa Island where everyone goes all out in decorating their house. It's a perfect end to Christmas when we walk around and see the spectacular lights.

Christmas Adventure

We had a fun Christmas adventure this past weekend. The Doyle family was awesome enough to pick up tickets for us to go to the Army Band Christmas concert. It was both one of the best concerts and one of the best Christmas events I have ever been to! The concert was in Constitution Hall (across the street from the White House) so afterwards we went over to see the National Tree. It was an amazing night. I love living here :)

My family at the concert :)

The National Tree

The National Tree is surrounded by a tree for each state. This is the California tree, and we also saw the Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia trees. Our list is getting long.

He's a Toddler!!

14 months and 6 days later, he's finally a toddler. He's been able to do two steps between the coffee table and the couch for a while, but I didn't really count that as walking. Dave was even home when it happened. Jack just stood up and started going all around the room! I got this video on my phone.

Vacuum Story

Jack loves to follow us around when we vacuum. We made one of the attachments a toy for him, and at some point everyday, he is pretending to vacuum with it. Dave and I were wrapping presents the other night, and Dave left the closet door open. We look up, and there is Jack getting the big vacuum out of the closet. So cute!!

Victory :)

SNOW!

Yesterday, it snowed for the first time since we have been here!!! We dressed Jack up in the little leather jacket and winter boots my mom got him. Sorry, I didn't get a great picture of the outfit because it was too cold to stand around with a camera. Jack was so cute. He would open up his mouth and eat the snow. He kept pointing and giggling. I was pointing and giggling all day too :)

Christmas Candids

We have our house all decorated for Christmas, 90% of our shopping is done, and we have a few presents under the tree. We're all ready! I even just got my favorite hot chocolate at William Sonoma. YUM! I decided to take a few pictures of Jack around the Christmas tree. I thought they came out really well. Which one do you think is the best?

Ooooo lights and ornaments!

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A little gator time in front of the tree

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This boy loves to read. He does not get that from his parents.

I love to read!

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving because you get to think about how wonderful life is and sit down to a home cooked meal with family and/or friends. I have so very much to be thankful for this year. I have a wonderful husband and son who fill my heart with joy each and everyday. I am always thankful for all of my friends and extended family who enrich our lives. I am thankful for the absolutely beautiful fall we had here with perfect fall weather and tons of trees to enjoy colored leaves. I am thankful that Dave has a job he loves but also one that doesn't make demands on his time outside of normal working hours. Since passing his licensing exam in August, I am thankful for the complete peace we now have in our lives. We have absolutely nothing going on or coming up. It's been a long long time and I treasure these moments of not having 100 things running through my head.

My first attempts at pumpkin pie (crust from scratch but pumpkin out of a can) and corn bread from scratch

He loves to help

28 lbs of Thanksgiving goodness (courtesy of my sister in law)

Dinner with Jay, Susie, and kids

My little turkey had a big day

AND NOW IT'S TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pizza Night

Last year my friend Jamie introduced me to the Twilight movie. I loved it and want to see the next one in the series. Since Dave hadn't seen it, we rented it last night. We used Red Box for the first time. I think we are the last people to start using Red Box, but if you haven't, it is awesome and only costs $1. Well what goes better with a movie than pizza? We picked up the movie and headed over to Pizza Hut.

The pizza came with one little tiny slice of pizza among the pizza pie. It was meant to be for Jack's first piece of pizza. He was so cute!!! He picked off every piece of sausage and then ate the pizza. Dave got this sweet shot with the camera on his phone.

It's nights like this one that make me realize it won't matter if we are stationed some where we like as much as Fort Belvoir. We will have a good time together any where.

Jack's First Hair Cut

I have been wanting to cut Jack's hair for almost two months. Everytime I got it in my head to get his hair cut, someone would talk me out of it with "no, you can't cut those curls." It finally got to where I couldn't take it anymore. I loved it when it was just two little curls, but his hair was getting out of control. We brought him in and the woman cutting his hair said "are you sure you want me to cut off these curls?" YES. Jack did really well and the woman did a great job!

snip snip snip
Check out the mohawk
All done

We were told this would happen ..

Now if we could just teach him to use it ;)

The Weekend

Over the weekend we went to a birthday party for our friends' daughter, Dave had a poker night, and we watched football. Everyone at the party was in Dave's last unit at Ft Campbell. Did they all get put out to pasture in DC? I think it may have more to do with the fact that both ILE (major's course) and tons of field grade officer jobs are here. Jack was in heaven playing with all the little kids. It was fun :)

I get CAKE?

This is a random photo that has nothing to do with my post, but I like it :). Jack has made a walker out of our recycling bin.

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween. Our friends Bill and Kim sent Jack a really cute "Jack-O-Lantern" costume for his birthday. He also got a cute little bag that even has "Jack" written on the back of it. Also notice Dave has a cat on his shoulder in the family picture above ..... he is so silly sometimes.
This was the first holiday that was not Jack's first holiday :). We managed to have plenty of firsts though. He stood independtly for the first time, did his first trick or treat, and had his first piece of candy. We went to a party at my friend Laurel's house. Her son TJ is only two weeks older than Jack. After the party, we went over to the Dolye house to watch USC play Oregon. It was a great Halloween!

Jack, TJ, and Keegan

Jack's first trick or treat :)

Enjoying his treat - his first piece of candy!

Cox Farm

We went to a local fall festival at Cox Farm this past weekend. It was so cute!! We went on a really cute hayride, through a corn maze, on slides, pet some animals, and picked out some pumpkins.

Jack loved to pet all the animals and was giggling the whole time.

They had the cutest slides and Jack had a blast riding with his mom and dad

I wanted to go down the castle slide :)

Jack was intrigued by the pumpkins. You can also see the cute pirate sweater my mom sent him

Picking out his pumpkin with Dad :)

Jason's Visit

Dave's brother Jason had an Air Force mission that brought him out to DC for the week. We haven't seen him since he moved from San Antonio in 2007. His unit was nice enough to let him come stay with us Tuesday night until Thursday night! We of course met up with Dave's brother Jay and family (who live here) everyday.

We got to do a lot of catching up and hearing about the world travels his unit has taken him on. I took Jason over to see the World War II memorial because it is the new DC site he hadn't seen. He also got to meet Jack for the first time. Jason won him over. He played with Jack a lot and gave him many treats. Jack was a huge fan. We had so much fun!

I know they are dark BUT I love the view at the Belvoir Officer's Club overlooking the Potomac. It was a beautiful day and we got to eat outside. I had to show the picture :)
The guys with all the DC Boland kids

Jason told us about this "ethnic-y" moroccan restaurant in downtown DC. It was a 3 hour - 7 course - complete with belly dancer event. An unsual and yummy dinning experience!

Look how they poor the tea :)

and who can resist a sleeping baby Naomi?

Now that Jack is 1

Since turning 1 (11 days ago), Jack has started doing some fun new things. He says "uh oh" and ball "bahh." He will ask for his "bahh" and if I kick/pass it to him and miss he goes "uh oh" and goes off to get it. I LOVE IT. He has been holding his hand out for things the last few months, but now he points.
We went over to Portrait Innovations last weekend to do Jack's 1 year pictures. I just love how these pictures came out!! I was going to take him to get a hair cut but Dave talked me out of it. He wanted Jack's curls in the pictures and he was right!!!

So fun to be 1

The rocking elephant was Jack's birthday present from Dave and me. He was even willing to wear his hat for the picture!

His two little teeth

This is the same picture that is on the side of the blog four months later ... He is older :)

I love those big blue eyes