Disney 2009 All Star Trip

We recently went on our Alfa All Star Trip to Disney and although we hated to leave Jackson at home we decided that a 1 year old + Disney + Hot July Days = an uphappy little boy and an unhappy Mommy so Jackson stayed home with my Mom. He of course had a wonderful time and was of course spoiled rotten!!! Here are some of our pictures from our trip, even though we missed Jackson a lot we did focus on having a good time and eating some great food!!

At Epcot after our dinner in the French Restaurant

At Epcot in front of "The Ball"

In France before we had dinner at Les Chefs de France and it was so yummy!!!!

We stayed at the Dolphin inside Walt Disney World. This is a picture from The Boardwalk looking at the Dolphin.

At Magic Kingdom isn't it beautiful at night. They had extra magic hours from 10 pm to 1 am and we did everything we wanted to do in those 3 hours. We got to ride 10 rides (including all the big ones) in 3 hours at Magic Kingdom I think that could be a record.On night we made our way down to City Walk at Universal Studios with Mike, Kelly, Eric and Jennifer we all had a good time socializing. At Animal Kingdom in front of the Dinosaur ride.On Kilimanjaro Safari we saw lots of animals but we saw so many elephants and no real Bama fan can post a blog and not include the elephants... RTR!!!!!

Our sweet little man was happy to be home and in his room and with his stuff it was like all new stuff!!!

Jackson's 1st Birthday Party

Our outdoor decorations

Jackson's Cakes

The food

Jackson with his cake

He liked his cake can you tell?

His sweet little hand
Jackson's gifts
Where Trip was during Jackson's gift opening Jackson with his wrapping paper Jackson decided to climb up on his gifts all on his own. He is so "all boy"!!!We wanted Trip to give Jackson a hug but they did not really cooperateHey Mommy I think there is something good in this one.....
After the party was over I put Jackson in his bed for a well needed nap but it turned into another playtime for the boys!!!

All in all this was a wonderful 1st birthday party. Jackson had a great time playing with everyone and everything. He is such a blessed little boy to have such good friends and family!!!!!

Jackson's Cake Smash

We decided to take some pictures of Jackson prior to the day of his party in his new "Jackson 1" shirt and his Bama shirt. Also we decided to take some of the cake smash pictures early too so we would have more time to let him play in the cake. And although at 1st he was not sure about the whole cake thing he quickly warmed up to it and let that cake have it!!!!

Jackson's 1st Birthday Photo Shoot

Our wonderful friend Ashley took Jackson's 1st Birthday party picts the night before his party. We decided we would just do some casual picts of Jackson in the yard. The last two pictures are also special to us. They are of our new puppy Denny and of our wonderful friend Ashley. I got her to let me take a picture of her with Jackson because she is such an important person to us I wanted to make sure she made it into the blog. Ashley has done a wonderful job with Jackson's picts this year. We have used her 3 times and loved every single photo she has done!!!

Preview of Jackson's 1st birthday photo shoot and cake smash!!

Ashley has been so kind as to email me a preview of Jackson's birthday pictures and cake smash session. She has also posted them to her blog check it out:
http://lifesmirrorimages.blogspot.com/

Ashley has been doing pictures of Jackson since he was about 6 or 8 weeks old. I can't believe how much he has changed as I got back and see what memories she has captured for our family. Thanks so much Ashley and if anyone needs a photographer get in touch with her you will not be disappointed!!!

Jackson's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Jackson's 1st Birthday on July 11th. We had an Alabama themed party at our house for just a few people. Of course we had enough food to feed a small army but that is ok.

Of course like any party ours was not without a small incident. We decided before hand that we would have some pictures made of him on Friday night with a second smash cake so that Ashley would be able to take more time and get the pictures without all the distraction. Also we took several more pictures in his birthday shirt. So just after we finished the cake pictures we took Jackson to the bath tub so we could hose him down because he had cake from head to toe. After we washed his face we started to notice these blotchy red spots on his chin and his arm. Yep an allergic reaction but only on his skin. Other than that he was just fine. Later we investigated more to find out it is something in the icing on the cake but that is really all we know right now. So on Saturday at his actual party we only played in the cake for about 3 or 4 minutes and after his hose off we put Benedryl on his face and there were only a few very small break outs.

Jackson really enjoyed his party and showing off that he can walk now. We decorated the front yard with lots of our tailgating supplies including the tent and all of my Bama trays.

Jackson loved all the food especially the cake. We had 2 cakes 1 football cake which was chocolate cake, chocolate filling and chocolate butter cream icing. The other cake was the old school Bama logo with the elephant walking through the A. It was a vanilla pound cake and half of the cake had a cream cheese filling and the other half had a strawberry filling with a butter cream icing. His smash cakes were both small footballs with chocolate butter cream icing and a red #1.

Jackson also really liked all of his presents. But even more than that he really really liked the wrapping paper!!! He got so many neat toys, some clothes, a carseat for Daddy's truck, a DVD player, a bookshelf and some money. He is such a lucky little boy.

Jackson can walk!!! OH NO!!!!!!!

Jackson took his 1st steps on June 26th at our friends Tim and Amanda's house. We knew he was getting close but he refused to walk the many times every day that we tried to get him to. So Amanda and I were sitting on the couch not really looking at him and we looked up and saw him taking 3 steps and she asked me if he had already been walking and I said no and yelled for Chad to come into the room. So for one week I tried to get video of him walking so I could post it here with no luck. Finally, on the 4th of July I got video yes I know he is not wearing a shirt but that is because I took his white shirt off before I let him have chocolate ice cream. Also, I do know you can't see his face but that also means he can't see the camera. If he sees the camera he gets excited falls to the floor and crawls really fast to try to get the camera. Since this video he is walking more often and more steps but only on his terms. He will walk when he wants to or to get something he knows he is not supposed to have and that is it!! He is so rowdy that I am sure this walking thing is going to wear me out!!

In addition to walking this past week in the past two days we are bottle free. Yes completely on a sippy cup and he seems to love it! He drank more milk tonight that he ever wanted from his bottle, we finally had to cut him off! He has been drinking from a straw for a few weeks during the day but he was still on a morning and night bottle so I guess I now can get all those bottles out of the cabinet. I am not sure where my little baby went. I was already feeling like he was growing up too fast as I get everything ready for his birthday party on Saturday and his actual birthday on Monday and now the walking and the sippy cup!! I know I have to let him grow up but does it have to happen so fast?????