April 23rd - Outside at Holly & Ryan's house

Today we spent the morning at Holly & Ryan's house. The weather was PERFECT, so we spent all of our time in the yard. Coming in from Houston, we enjoyed the lovely soft grass that wasn't full of fire ants like it is at home. Jack enjoyed trying to get close to Lady. She was pretty good at avoiding him.

April 22nd - Jack and Joel

Jack and Joel enjoyed rocking out on the organ. Today we had a little family reunion since many of the relatives hadn't seen Joel and Katherine (or Jack and Espen) for a while.

April 20th - Desert Camo

Grandma bought the boys desert camouflage outfits for Joel's first day in town. He is being mobilized this summer as an Air Force Reservist and is likely going to Afghanistan, although we are all hoping that it will be Phoenix instead.


Joel and Katherine gave Jack his first Mickey Mouse. Yippee!

Espen loved for people to hold him standing up and he would jump and jump.

We have a similar picture to this one from Christmas time.

April 20th - A Trip to the Park

April 19th - First Day in Minnesota

Gentle Jack, Gentle!



Grandma and her boys.

April 19th - How to Keep a Toddler Happy for 3 Hours

It isn't easy...

April 15th - Tess' Birthday Party

Saturday afternoon we had a great time at Tess' 3rd birthday party. I remember going to her birthday party last year with 6-month-old Jack and looking at all of the kids playing. This time he was able to join in the fun. Here he is in the moonwalk.

It was a Dora the Explorer theme complete with safari hats and binoculars for the kids. Very cute!

There was a long short table for all of the little kids with perfect kid-sized chairs. Jack had about half of a slice of cheese pizza. Yippee!

He loved this log cabin playhouse. What fun!

April 15th - Easter Eggstravaganza

On Saturday we went to the Easter Eggstravaganza at our church. There were hundreds of people there, but Jack did pretty good. The first thing we did is get a balloon. Then we looked at the animals in the petting zoo and we all shared a cherry snow cone. Jack made a scrunched up face with every spoon full of ice, but he kept going back for more.

Here we are waiting for our Easter egg hunt to start. The split it up into 3 different egg hunts so the little kids don't get trampled by bigger kids. Ours was for kids age 3 and younger.

The egg hunt was a bit crazy, but Jack picked up about 8 eggs and put them in our little basket. They were all filled with cloth bracelets.

Although he is known as Happy Jack at school, Jack isn't always happy. We tried to take him on a little train ride, but he didn't think that was such a great idea. We usually only post the best smiley pictures, but every now and then we need to post a bit of reality. This was about the same state of affairs as the day before when Jack got his haircut and cried most of the time. A lady asked Ronny on the way out, "Are you pinching that baby?"

April 9th - A Visit from Nana and Granddad - Part 1

We all went to our neighborhood park for some fun in the sun.

April 9th - A Visit from Nana and Granddad - Part 2

Jack loves to emulate us on the phone. He chatters away, taking breaks to wait for a response. He doesn't need a phone either (although he loves to play with my cellphone!). Any remote control will do. Here Jack has called me on the DVD remote from the cable remote.


All good things must come to an end. This visit ended with a cuddle with Nana and Granddad.

April 8th - Waterpark in the Tub

Jack likes to play in my bathtub and after trying to keep his hands off the faucet knobs several times, I finally decided to let him see what would happen if he turned on the water. He had a grand time! He has a little disk that he got as a party favor from one of his classmates. He would use it to scoop up water into his mouth, most of which ended up down the front of his shirt. He was pretty wet by the time he was done playing.

Jack has been sticking his tongue out a lot lately and I caught this funny picture during playtime in the bathtub.

End of March

I couldn't resist posting this picture.

Building Baby Baccus

Well, we have some exciting news. A new baby Baccus is on the way - due November 8th.


Only one week after the picture below (3/28) and our little bean has already grown arm and leg buds. The most fascinating thing about this ultrasound was seeing the baby move. In this picture (above), you can see the black amniotic sac at the top of the picture. The baby's head is on the left, arm buds are in the middle, and leg buds are on the right. The yolk sac is to the lower right of the baby.



Here is a picture from our first ultrasound on 3/21. Little baby Baccus is just a little bean. The baby is on the left and the lower right is the yolk sac, which provides nutrition for the baby for a while. The black area is the amniotic sac.

Goodbye Grandma

Unfortunately Grandma had to leave us on Monday and go back to Minnesota. She sure loved to see her favorite Texan in his cowboy hat!

Compare and Contrast

July 4, 2005

March 5, 2006

A Visit to Space Center Houston

On Sunday, Jack was finally feeling a little bit better after being sick with a terrible stomach virus for over a week. And it was Grandma's last day in town, so we all went to Space Center Houston for a few hours in the afternoon. Looking back on these pictures, Jack still looks pretty sick and isn't his normal happy self.


Here we are by the new T-38 aircraft static display in front of Space Center Houston. We see T-38s flying over our house all of the time and Jack uses sign language to tell us whenever he hears an airplane.

Jack enjoyed spinning the Space Shuttle around in the yaw axis.

This is what Jack would look like as an astronaut on Mars.

Here is Jack at the cafe with a Robot. He looks a little spooked.

Here is Jack by a wind tunnel model of the Space Shuttle.

More fun with Grandma

Jack has been feeling better, but he still has times when he feels crummy. Teething during the stomach virus isn't helping.

Grandma loves to see Jack in his cowboy hat!

Look Grandma! A bird!

Jack loves his airplane!

Higher Grandma - Higher!!!

Grandma is in town

Jack has been having fun with Grandma, although he was pretty sick from Friday until Thursday - a bad stomach bug.


Grandma is trying to snap pictures of Jack whenever he is happy!

Close call

At work, we would have to file a close call report for this one.

Getting into everything

Jack loves to play with the big, heavy, stainless steel pots and bowls. They make great sounds when they hit the tile.



I don't think the toy manufacturers meant for a toddler to spin this spinner with their hands, but Jack has figured out a way.