Thanksgiving on the Lawson side of things

On Thanksgiving Day, we headed to Chad and Cassy's house to enjoy Thanksgiving with the Lawson family as well as Cassy's side of the family. The meal was delicious, but the best part was this little girl...Yes, Channing is home!!!! She came home from the hospital the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and we are so thankful the family of 4 is now officially complete at home. She is absolutely beautiful and we are definitely praising God for this special girl. We tried to keep Jake far from Channing, but Jake was happy playing with cousin Cohen...He also had fun playing peek-a-boo with Chad...
We then spent Thursday and Friday night in Gainesville. While we were there, Big T showed Jake his expertise at bubble blowing. He then showed Jake the fan's expertise at bubble blowing. It's hard to tell from the picture, but bubbles were EVERYWHERE! Jake didn't know quite what to do. There were way too many to catch...
We also got to spend time with Uncle Woody, Aunt Tanya, MeMaw and our cousins, the Watts family. Jake had lots of fun at Tanya and Woody's. He especially enjoyed playing with one of the cats' toys...

Peek-a-boo!

As usual, Jake loves being around older kids, even the teenage variety. Brittany and Ryan were great entertainment...
I especially love this picture. It's like Jake is waiting in anticipation for Ryan to share some great secret about growing up boy...
Jake did show Ryan he knows a thing or two about being a boy. Oftentimes, Kevin and I will play with Jake and "get" him, then he "gets" us back. It's super adorable to watch. He will pile on top of you, dig his head into your body and make a funny noise. Here he is working on "getting" Ryan...

Many Thanks

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday with both sides of the family. Jake and I started our holiday off early with my parents in Aledo. On Monday, we took a day trip to the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine. It's a beautiful hotel with amazing Christmas decor. Here are just a few shots of the great decorations...This is a life size gingerbread house. It's actually made with real sugar and candy. It was awesome!

Jake loves spending time with Grandmomma and Papa!
The Gaylord has an attraction called "Ice." This year's theme is "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and is an elaborate collection of life sized ice sculptures. I've never seen anything like it before---it was really incredible. Since it's literally freezing in the exhibit, they give you big coats to wear to stay warm. They didn't exactly have Jake-sized coats, so we bundled him up with his own clothes, then got the smallest size they had and wrapped him up. He looked hilarious. He was such a trooper, and just 'chilled' out the entire time...

What are they doing to me this time?

Along with the Grinch sculptures, there was a beautiful Nativity scene. This picture definitely does not do it justice....

After finishing up coaching, Kevin joined us on Wednesday, and we had a great Thanksgiving meal with my parents. Jake got a look at his first turkey--pre-cooked. He immediately reached down for a touch...

Here's Jake at the table as we were finishing getting everything ready. He was super excited for his first Thanksgiving and did surprisingly well trying new table foods.

On Thursday, we headed to Chad and Cassy's for another great meal...more with the Lawson side of the family to come...

The season begins...

Tonight we went to our first basketball game of the season. Jake did great. He sat on my lap the entire time (except for a break during half time for dinner, then an encounter with a mouse...more on that later) taking it all in. The first half he was just looking, looking, looking all around, then finally by the time the 2nd half came, he was smiling and clapping. I took lots of pictures by holding the camera out in front of me hoping to capture something decent. This pic was near the beginning of the game. He definitely looks unsure of the situation... "OK, this is pretty cool. I guess I'll consider clapping for the Leander Lions..."

A view from our eyes...

"Oooohhhh...whatever this is, it's pretty exciting. I'm going to keep clapping..."

He also started holding his hands up in the air. It was especially cute when a player was shooting a free throw. We both held our hands up, then said, "Swiiiiish!"

"Yes! We made it, we made it!!!!"

The game was going pretty good for the "good guys" right up until the end, then it was time to look a little worried...

Unfortunately, the Leander Lions weren't able to finish through with a win this time, but we definitely had fun anyway. Just one final pic, just because I love those chubby cheeks...

Go Lions!!!!!

Oh yeah...the mouse. As Jake was sitting in his umbrella stroller on the bleachers eating dinner, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. My first thought was, "I think that was a mouse. No, surely it wasn't a mouse. Could that be a mouse?" Well, sure enough, it was a mouse. Not being a fan of any rodents, especially the uncaged variety, and with thoughts of a mouse jumping in my baby's lap, I immediately grabbed his entire stroller and moved to the bottom of the bleachers. My reaction had caught the attention of another basketball team sitting in the bleachers, so a group of teenage boys then proceeded to chase after the little visitor. Ultimately, I think they killed it, although I don't know for sure because once I knew the little guy was at a safe distance I tried to block the entire situation from my mind. Anyway, pretty crazy, huh? Definitely not what I expected at a high school basketball game.

Cohen has an announcement...

I have a baby sister!!! Our niece, Channing Rae Lawson, was born Tuesday morning weighing 6 pounds 7 ounces. Jake and I hopped right into the car to head to Dallas in order to visit the first baby girl in the family. Unfortunately, we did not get to see Channing because she was in the NICU due to some minor breathing problems. She arrived about 3 1/2 weeks early, and she's gaining strength before showing off her adorable face to the rest of the world. She is improving all the time, so we're hoping and praying she will be home soon. Meanwhile, although we did not meet Channing, we were able to see some other very important people. Of course, the new big brother... There were some pictures of Channing taken before she headed to the NICU, so here's Cohen taking a look at her sister for the first time. I'm sure it was a little confusing....she's here, but not really. I know once he gets the chance, Cohen will be a great big brother.

One way I know Cohen will be a great big brother is because he was a great big cousin to Jake. He did a great job of sharing his football and cars with Jake. It's fun to see them interacting a little more together now that they're getting older...

Do you want to play?

Two blonde-haired, blue-eyed cuties...
We enjoyed some nice family time, even if we were in the hospital room. Nana is the best story teller!
I ended up staying two nights in Gainesville, so while we were there we visited Uncle Woody and Aunt Tanya. Tanya treated Jake to some really cool blocks...

She showed him how to "rat-a-tat-tat..."
Jake tried out a new walker at church. He loved to have a wide open space instead of hitting walls every few steps at home...
Finally, we stopped by Carla's school on our way home to show off Jake and see her library. Jake LOVED seeing all the kids, and I think the kids loved seeing him too...
We love you Channing! Can't wait to meet you next time!

10 Months

Jake turned 10 months old yesterday. We did a terrible job trying to capture a good picture. He's constantly on the move, so it's pretty much impossible to keep him still long enough for a picture. Thank goodness for professional photographers! Anyway, here are a couple of our attempts...

His eyes look weird in this one b/c red eye fixer went kind of crazy....

Where's Jake???
Giving Mama a kiss...
One quick story of Jake's cuteness. I've mentioned before that Jake has a "lovey" called Blamey (pronounced like lamb, with an -ey on the end). As soon as he sees it, he smiles, grabs it, and usually sucks his thumb, then proceeds to calm down in order to go to bed. Well, he has the tendency to have this reaction to any type of blankey. This could be another stuffed animal or even a kitchen towel. He will grab hold with one hand, suck his thumb on the other hand, and pretty much stay still. This morning he was crawling and playing all over the place, then he found this blankey. It was not close to nap time at all, but automatically, he stopped, stuck thumb in mouth, and looked ready for bed. Super cute...
Also, his 9 month check-up was a little late (just last week), so I think these stats are pretty much 10 month:

Length: 29 inches Weight: 20 pounds 7 ounces Head:45.2 cm Basically 50th percentile across the board.

Halloween Festivities, Part 2

Following pumpking carving, it was time to change into costume and pose for some pictures. We took some with Daddy...

and Mommy...and some individuals..

Of course, Halloween night wouldn't be complete without some trick or treating. We went to just one special house. Knock, knock, knock...
Surprise!!! There's a super cute little penguin at your door. Thanks, Cody and Chez, for Jake's very first Halloween trick-or-treating experience!We hung out at the Dishman's for a little while, and had some other special company. Two of our Huddle girls, Abbie and Jocelyn, came to visit and see cutie Jake...

Finally, we headed home so we could pass out candy to our own trick-or-treaters. We sat out on the front porch to greet all the cute kiddos. Jake even came face to face with a fellow penguin...

Overall, a great baby's 1st Halloween!!!