Visitors for Thanksgiving

Several of Jake's siblings and their families came into town for Thanksgiving! It was so fun to see everyone. We had such a good time. Here is Elisabeth and Jacob taking a bath. I got to spend a lot of time with Elisabeth this trip and let me just say that I absolutely LOVE her. Who couldn't be charmed by those big brown eyes and full cheeks?

We went into the city one morning to go up the Hancock Observatory and eat real Chicago deep dish pizza. 

The Gillespies have a really fun tradition for Christmas where everyone wears matching pajamas to bed on Christmas Eve. This year we continued the tradition on Thanksgiving. The kids were so excited about their new jammies. 

These are most of the Gillespie Grand-kids (minus 6) These cuties rang from the ages of 3 months to 8 years old.

I am so grateful for my family. I really missed my Ambs family this Thanksgiving and I hope to see them soon but I loved being with the Gillespies. Even though I'm still one of the newest editions to the family everyone has really taken me under their wing and I love each one of them. This week I especially loved snuggling and and playing with my nieces and nephews, going on walks, seeing vampire movies, watching BBC mini series and eating lots of treats with my sister-in-laws, and going to the Chicago Temple with Jake's brothers and their wives.

A little Duckie Halloween!

Here's our little Duckie on Halloween. I tried to teach Jacob how to say trick-or-treat but it was gibberish to everyone except Big Jake and I. We also practiced trick-or-treating so he actually did really well. 

This year we went to the Church and did the Trunk-or-Treat and then on Halloween night we went around the neighbor and did a little Trick-or-Treating.

Happy Halloween!

The Pumpkin Patch

Jacob absolutely loved the pumpkin patch! It was a little cold but I was determined. We bundled up and had lots of fun. He loved the pumpkins and ran around saying "PUNKIN!" and tried to pick them up and throw them around. 

He was very protective of them and got very concerned when anyone got near "his" pumpkins.

This picture is for my Dad :)

He was very brave about feeding the animals. 

Jacob loved the animals. He was really excited once he decided that the real animals were better than his stuffed ones. He was really cute about making all the animals sounds as we passed. 

Boys will be Boys

I love this picture of my boys.

Daddy's Birthday Present

(Sorry these posts are so late)

Jacob really loves Jake's new basketball hoop. Everyday he asks to go outside by grabbing his shoes and whining at the door "BALL! BALL!". He is very persistent.

I love watching my Jakes play together. It was really fun going outside and playing basketball while the weather was nice.

A New Chapter

We are officially in the United States Air Force. Jake passed his physical today and was immediately (once he got his trousers back on) swore in. Now we wait until they tell us when he will leave for basic training. Then it's 8 weeks without him. It will be really hard to be separated from him for so long but I will enjoy visiting my family in Florida. Then they will send him to training with or without me. After all of that, we will finally be stationed somewhere as a family. We are so excited! It has been a long time coming. I feel like we have started a new chapter in our lives. We are ready to serve our country and get some nice benefits in return.

Together Forever

On July 5 Jake and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Orlando, FL LDS temple. Then our son was brought in and he was also sealed to us. My grandfather is a sealer in the temple and was able to preform that ordinance for us. It has been a long, hard journey but we made it. We are so grateful for everyone who helped us get to where we are now. I am so happy to know that my family will be together FOREVER even after we die. I love them so much and am so glad that we will never have to be parted.

I would like to give a special Thank You to all of our family that traveled from around the country to attend our sealing. Thanks Mom & Dad Gillespie, Charie, Jeremy, Lauren, Madeline, Katherine, Elisabeth, James, Amelia, Ashley, Paige, Micheal, Douglas, Joey, Heather & baby boy, Abbey, Jack, Josh, Chris, Emily, Mary, Ben, Will, Lily, Quinn, Annie, Belle, Parker, Carol, Cadence, and Mark. And another Thank You to Lianne, Adam, Mom, Dad, Carol and Ana for hosting a wonderful party for us. We love each and every one of you and are so grateful for your love and support. 

NV Photography Continued

These are some photos from our photo shoot that I loved but didn't get retouched. I still thought they were worth sharing.

 

Nichole V Photography

To announce our Temple Sealing (more on that to come) we had our family pictures taken. We found a wonderful gal who took beautiful pictures. These are some of the ones she retouched for us.



First Birthday

Jacob just had  his FIRST birthday! I know, I know...he won't remember it but i still wanted him to have a fun day. Jacob got to play with Mommy and Daddy all day. He ate chicken nuggets, opened presents, played outside AND went to the DINOSAUR museum, which actually turned out to be a lot of fun. They had a lot of kid's exhibits that he was allowed to explore.

(however, this was not one of them...oops)

(This was!)

That night Jacob had a pizza party! He didn't love the pizza or should I say the bread (he would put a bite it, suck all the cheese and sauce off of it and spit the bread back out). He also had sugar for the first time. Mommy made Funfetti Cupcakes with funfetti vanilla frosting. And did he like it?

A pictures says a thousand words.

Happy Birthday to my sweet little Jacob!

Spring or Summer?

Just so everyone knows...Florida does not have seasons...we have Pretty Freakin' Hot, Just plain hot, soaking Wet, and kinda Cold. Even though I miss Florida terrible, it is so FUN to live somewhere with seasons. I learned that I really love spring. After being cooped up for months because of the snow I am so excited to smell freshly cut grass and see flowers blooming and of course feel the warmth of the sun on my skin (FINALLY). Jacob and I have been spending a lot of time outside. Everyday we go outside and swing or go down the slide or take walks but the other day is was HOT! So we got out 6 ft long blow up pool, put it on our deck, filled it up and spent the afternoon in the cool water. We had a blast! We're loving Spring and can't wait for Summer! (especially since I missed summer last year because I had a baby).

Look at that smile! Somebody was having a fun day.

Belle figured out that the best way to splash Jacob was from inside of his inner tube.

Happy Easter

I meant to get a picture of him in his cute Easter Sunday outfit...

...but it just didn't work out.

Oh well, he LOVED his basket!

Six Teeth!

I went into to Jakey's room the other morning to get him out of bed and there he was hanging on the railing gnawing the heck out of it! It is such a pretty crib too. Oh well, at least he's not biting me...hard :)

Crawl Jake, Crawl!

Watch out! This kid moves so fast. I find myself exhausted at the end of the day trying to keep up with him getting into everything! But we are having A LOT of fun. I bet he'll be walking any day now.

The Curly, Red Mullet

Doesn't this boy have beautiful hair?! But unfortunately we had to cut it. No son of mine is going into public with a molet. So we went into the bathroom and buzzed his whole head. It was really sad ( I am in LOVE with his curls!) but it had to be done. Now that it's been a month, it actually looks pretty handsome and may I add beautifully even.

Jakey the Jockey

This week Jakey and I went to a Fun Farm with Belle and Aunt Annie. Jacob was very confused. We walked around and pointed animals out to him and he clung tight to me and just stared. He rode the tiniest, cutest pony ever. He was unimpressed.

We saw lots and lots of Farm animals. He was unimpressed.

We put him in a child sized jail... happiest kid ever.

'King Jacob's in the Bathtub and He Won't Get Out'

I found this video on my camera and realized I forgot to post it. This was taken over Christmas vacation in Chicago. It was Jacob's first time in a big bath. At the time he was still taking baths in his infant bath and he had just learned to sit up by himself so he is a little wobbly. This video is so cute I had to post it even if it's a little outdated.

Baby Hout Shower

This past weekend I got to plan a baby shower for my sister-in-law, Annie! It was so much fun. Going baby shopping, making the decorations, organizing the games. But the best part of all was the baking. I found the best recipe on one of my favorite sites. http://www.joyofbaking.com/

I made individual sized cheese cakes with a chocolate drizzle and berries. They turned out so good. It's fun when people ask you if you got the desserts at Costco and you get to tell them that you made it in your own kitchen. They were so easy and beautiful. Hooray for online cooking sites and pregnant sisters!

I know Annie already posted these, so these next pictures are for my non-Gillespie crowd. haha. I had so much much doing the decorations I had to show them off.

(The food)

(The Prizes)

(The Entrance Way)

Love.

Love is a completely different feeling than I always thought as I sat around reading stories of brave women and perfect men. As I think about the way I used to feel while indulging in these characters, I'll tell you something... Mr. Darcy, Corinel Brandon and Mr. Knightly have nothing on my Jake. I love him thoroughly. And the imperfections? Those are my favorite part.

My other Valentine this year has stolen my heart completely. I was a sucker for him the moment he was placed in my arms. Every time he puts his chubby little arms around my neck, every time he leans his head against my cheek, my heart melts.