Look out Michael Phelps

A couple of weeks ago Jackie successfully scaled the pool wall from end to end as her Dad, Mom and Giddee watched.

"I Drive!"

We can't go anywhere in the car without Jackie saying "I Drive". Sometimes we cave and let here take the car out for a spin (not really). It takes a couple of minutes to pry Jackie from the wheel and to reconfigure the car after she clicks and flicks every button within reach.

Milkaholic

Sadly, we discovered Jackie sneaking milk drinks between meals recently. Mom and Dad suspected something was wrong when we discovered milk drops on the couch and floor. The biggest shock came we when opened the cabinet to to put away dishes and found this:

First Birthday Celebration!

For Jacquelyn's first birthday I went a little overboard.  I wanted to plan an extra special day for her surrounded by those who love her most.  We invited family and friends and were so blessed to have 42 people cram into our house to celebrate a very special first birthday.  About half way through the party the A/C went out on a very warm Texas summer day but our friends and family were great sports and continued on with the celebration. Special thanks to everyone who came and made this an extra special day.  I will forever be grateful to my mother who came into town early to get the house ready and prepared all of the food.  I am so blessed to have such an amazing Mom. I hope I can be half as great to J as my mother is to me.

The invitation that started it all.

J eagerly awaiting the arrival of her guests.

Rear view of J's party outfit.

Aunt Cindy came early and brought some extra food to help accommodate all of our guests.  Since she was there early she also got to spend some extra quality time with J.  Thank you Aunt Cindy for all of your help.  I don't know what I would have done without you and especially Mom to pull this party off. 

Fully dressed and ready to party!

J's personal smash cake.

My adorable cousin Megan and beautiful Sittee. (and a huge thanks to Megan's husband Aaron for taking all of these great pictures)

As always I was running behind.  Here I am still setting up after my guests have arrived.  Better late than never I guess.

We were so lucky Rebecca and Addison were able to join us for J's special day.  They came in all the way from Odessa to be with us. 

While I was running around entertaining friends and family Lise stepped in to take care of our guest of honor. 

Giddee showing off his granddaughter. What a proud grandpa.

Dad was outside manning the grill with the help of Bryan and Clint.  Mark was a good sport and even wore orange for to stick with the theme of the party.   

When it was time for cake we stripped J down to her birthday suit fully prepared for her to dive in.  She choose this time to be very dainty and refused to get dirty.  This made clean up very easy.

This is my favorite picture of the day. Look at those beautiful eyes.

While we cleaned J up from her birthday cake our family and friends enjoyed the following slide show looking back at the wonderful year we had.  Because the digital age has made it so easy to take and store pictures this slide show is lengthy.  I won't be offended if you turn it off after a while, it is just under 15 minutes.

Then it was time for presents!

Did I mention after we cleaned her up there was a wardrobe change.  When planning the party I came across two outfits she just had to have so we made sure to wear both and show off for everyone.

J playing with her new toys.

Coming down from her sugar high.

On Sunday morning we had breakfast with family and continued the celebration.  Here is our sweet girl excited for the new day and so happy to be 1 year old.

This is a special picture for J's Dad.

Huge Apologies

I want to start this post with an apology to our loyal fans.  I am sorry for our absence and even the demise of our custom URL.  As Jacquelyn has aged our blog has fallen by the wayside but we are back and better than ever because we have almost a year to catch up on.  If you are wondering what we have been up to since July, don't worry you are about to find out. 

Loyal readers welcome back and enjoy!

Love,
Rachel, Mark and J

iPhone Blogger App

This is a test of the iPhone Blogger App. It's not aesthetically pleasing at all and it's about 5 years too late. In my opinion, this type of app is better suited for the iPad.

Here's a picture of Jackie at Alki Beach:

Celebrating our Nation's Independence

Happy 4th of July!