I love crafting; however, I don’t get a whole bunch of time to do it anymore. So this year, as an excuse (kind of) to be able to, I decided to make a good majority of our Christmas presents. I love getting things that are homemade from people; I love the thought and time that is put into those gifts. I hope that people we know do to, since I am probably going to try and do the same next year too! Although, in a perfect world I would start a little sooner in the year than I did this year. Check out some of the projects we gave…
a necklace that I made for Holly with interchangeable flower pinscookies that I used for my Mom and Frannie's place card at Christmas dinner more gingerbread cookiesan elephant pupet that I made for Jaya camera case that I made for Holly- by far my favorite gift to give, I love how it turned out!shirts made for Jay using freezer paper stencils- a snowflake initial and a "jay bird" shirthooper crossing shirts for Aunt Nicole2010 ornament, Jay's- a Jay Bird and Jamie's- a carrot because we put in the garden this yearbows, bows and more bows that I used for gift wrapping (can be worn later in hair on shirts, purses etc)a wrapped present with bowour table set for Christmas dinnerJamie's place settingJamie making pickleslots and lots of pickles!!
Some of the things that I made but forgot to take pictures of included a “Grandma and Me” book for my Mom, a Perreault Memory Game for my three year old cousin (this was adorable and I regret not getting a picture of it… I’ll have to make one for Jay and take pictures), a frame with family pictures for Mimi (we didn’t make the frame but the pictures are all ours), dog rope toys, pickles- which Jamie and I made together (I actually did take pictures while we were making them just none of them packaged nicely and ready to be given), a delicious honey- cinnamon butter, homemade Almond Joys (that I may or may not have “tasted” while making)cookies, cookies and more cookies! I think when I added up my cookie total I was up to somewhere around 375 and that didn’t count the candy and other baking!
We took so many pictures over the holidays and I have been steadily trying to play catch up. I have finally sorted through all of our holiday ones so here they are…
Sit back, relax and stay awhile :-)
Jay and Mommy playing ball with PiperDaddy and Jay playing four square (they made a good team) at the Holly/Holly Birthday partyYAHA playing four square- one of my two favorites from the game picsa Mimi victory dance- my other favoriteMary Playing a solo at the annual Sing-a-longI can't remember what song this was- maybe Josh would?Aunt Nancy getting the Sing-a-long quilt, it was beautifulChristmas Eve- the bows were so much fun!beautiful tree- spoiled familySanta came- Jay must have been good this year!proof that Santa was here- reindeer tracks in our family room!Christmas morning
playing with his new pull toyPerreault Family picture- 2010Jay's first Christmas walk aroundthe parade...dancing to holiday tunes with YAHA and Mary BethScott and FrannieDaddy with a sleepy boy after his napGrandmom and Jay opening presentsunwrapping time!annual holiday pictureannual goofy picture of Scott and Frannie (or at least annual for Scott)Grandmom and Jay by the treetrying to get a group shota little better this time
Did you know that your cabinets are home to wonderful treasures?!?! Jay just found out and I was just made aware… maybe Daddy will realize now just how pressing the child-locks really are (hint, hint!!)
I have said it before and I am sure I will say it again, but he really is a cute little trouble maker!
I love how Piper is looking away in this one- "if I can't see it, it isn't happening"
okay, this isn’t exactly wordless but… honestly this makes my heart melt a little! The other morning Jamie got out his sax (which he hasn’t played in quite some time) and played tons of children’s songs for Jay. Jay stood there in amazement watching him- sweet Daddy, sweet Boy…
If you noticed Nan’s comment on the last post she mentioned outtakes from our shoot- so Nan because I love ya (and I meant to put these up with the last post) here they are!
While we were taking pictures Jay was sitting on Jamie’s shoulders and while he was up there he spit up a little. Normally this wouldn’t nearly be as funny; however, it took the spit up a good 15 minutes to seep through Jamie’s hair (it’s wild and sticks up a bunch) and reach his scalp. When he finally realized we had almost finished taking pictures (so it was in his hair in most of the pictures) and I couldn’t stop laughing long enough to help him clean it off.
what's even funnier now is how nonchalant Jay seems to be during all of this
Oh and because I love these of Nan and her fellas, I will share them too… isn’t she great and her boys are pretty superb too!
beautiful, just beautiful!one of the many reasons I love this girlthe knights
I love, love, love sending (as well as getting) holiday cards each year and I get so excited to start sending them out. This year Jamie, Jay and I met up with Nan, Jeremy and Leyton to get family photos for the cards- I took theirs, she took ours and man-o-man do I love how they turned out!! I am super, duper lucky to have a wonderful and talented friend, Nan, who is willing to put up with my crazy ideas (trespassing in an orange grove to get family photos done) and then design my holiday card each year. She is amazing, trust me, and I love everything that she has ever done for me and she’s done a lot.
Since, I sent them the week before Christmas and I am assuming everyone has already gotten them; I am going to post a few more from that day that didn’t make it on to the card but are too good not to share…
a picture of the ginormous pile of cards that we sent before they were dropped off a the post office- we send close to 80 each year
great one of my guysprecious, just preciousone, two, three- wee!! probably my favorite from the day
2010 has been a blessed and wonderful year for us. However, I am super excited to see all that 2011 has in store for us! Happy New Year Everyone!
January- We waited around, finished up last minute baby preparations and welcomed James Vickers Perreault Jr to our family.
February- We celebrated Valentines Day with our little love bug, enjoyed the Olympics, cuddled a lot and didn’t get much sleep.
March- We had visitors from Cananda (Great Grandma and Great Auntie Deb) and Asheville (Aunt Nicole), we spent a lot of time outside enjoying the weather and Daddy went back to work part time.
April- We celebrated Jay’s first Easter and Earth Day and we started sleeping through the night frequently.
May- We celebrated our first Mother’s Day, Jay laughed and rolled over for the first time, he met some more of his cousins (Mary Beth and Sean) and we took our first swim.
June- We celebrated our first Father’s Day, Jay started sitting up on his own and eating solid foods and we had another visit from Aunt Nicole.
July- We celebrated Canada Day, the Fourth of July, Jay’s baptism and Mom’s 28th birthday.
August- We sat in grass for the first time without a blanket, we enjoyed some really nice afternoons outside and we started scooting around on our belly.
September- We started going to the Library Storytime, planted our first garden, played at the park in the swings a lot, began crawling and we took our first trip to Terra Ceia.
October- Our little Jay Bird got his first set of wings, we ate our fill for Canadian Thanksgiving and we celebrated Daddy’s 30th birthday.
November- We (Jamie and I) celebrated 5 years of knowing each other, we hung out in the hammock a whole lot and we cruised to the Bahamas and Key West.
December- We decorated our house for the holidays, we (Kristen) baked a ton and we celebrated the holidays with tons of family.
I should probably say 5 days ago I was… but we’re not really counting. Jamie, Jay and I have been unplugged for most of the Christmas holidays and it has been so nice! So please excuse the tardiness of this 11 month post, it doesn’t mean that it was any less appreciated or celebrated.
Stats:
Height- 28.5 no change from last month
Weight- 19lbs 2oz
Teeth- 7, one more than last month and oh so close to 8!
Things of note:
*Jay has always taken great interest in the things around him and has been quite the observer. However, now he is points things out to us. Frequently, we will hear this sweet “ohh” come out of his mouth while he points at something. It’s adorable and I love, love, love it!
*I told you a while back that we were going to work on baby sign language well we have (although not as much as I would like) and Jay now knows the sign for juice, airplane, and more and can sign fan and milk. I am sill working on finished- I think that would be far more useful than fan…
*Jay has started dancing just within the last week or so. It is adorable and it cracks me up. He bobs up and down along (kind of) with the music- I love it. He also bobs up and down when he gets excited over things.
*Jay has always loved peek-a-boo however, he has started playing it ALL of the time now. Anything that can be held in front of his face or that he can hide behind is fair game. I especially love when he holds up things that he can see around or through and he still thinks he is hiding. Jamie and I are frequently wondering “where’s Jay?” and it never ceases to entertain him and therefore we continue to look for him.
*His balance has improved by leaps and bounds this past month. He is constantly standing on his own and he now bends and squats while standing and maintaining balance. He is also quite the cruiser right now. He still prefers to crawl (it’s faster); however, he can walk around and between furniture/walls/etc.
*He talks loudly and frequently. Jamie and I sometimes find ourselves yelling over him just so we can hear each other.
*He has started playing shy with strangers. When people talk to him in public he will rest his head on my or Jamie’s shoulder and snuggle in- something that both of us hate ;-). He has gotten to where he will smile back at them but it does take a minute for him to react.
Likes:
*Food- honestly he loves most everything that is put in front of him (as long as it has flavor); however, his current favorites are Chili (he loves it spicy too), blueberries, yogurt, prunes and gingerbread cookies (yes- he was spoiled over the holidays).
*Wagon Rides– these still remain constant at the top of his list. He loves to be outside!
*His animals!! He seriously gets excited every time any one of them (Dolce, Bella or Piper) comes in view and he will follow them until they can’t be seen anymore and when they get out of view he crawls, strains, pulls up etc until he is able to see them again. Our furry children are a constant recipient of his “ohhs” and finger pointing. He has even started hugging them- he will put his head down on them and pat them a little. So, so precious!
*Crawling through the chair and table legs in the kitchen and dinning room. He loves the obstacle course that they provide for him and it is even more fun if he has something that he can drag through the course with him.
*Balloons- this will be a must for his birthday party- thanks Nan and Leyton for the introduction to them!
Dislikes:
*Sitting still for diaper changes or getting dressed- basically sitting still in general.
*Being hungry. This little boy can pack it away (10th percentile- ha!) and he can get pretty darn mad when his belly is empty.
love those toessharing his toys with Daddy (whom you can't see)love those lashesI just think this one is funny- Mr. Cool...
the perreault family 