Jackson's First Birthday

It's official, Jackson is 1. This little guy has been adventurous from day one and has brought so much joy to our lives. Here's a look back at some of the highlights from his first year:

First trip to a fire station (<1 minute old) and a few since
First ambulance ride (<10 minutes old)
3 airplane rides (El Paso, Seattle and Florida)
Trip out of the country (Canada)
Snow in Houston, twice!
Real snow in Whistler, BC
New House
New room
New friends
2 trips to the beach (Galveston & Florida)
All around Texas (El Paso, San Antonio, Ft Worth, Grapevine, College Station, Galveston)
Swimming
First Aggie game (and they won!!)
First trip to The Dixie Chicken
Started "school", more new friends
Walking like a champ!
And much much more...

As you can see, Jackson has been busy this year. At his one year checkup, he weighed in at 22.06 lbs (50%) and 29 inches (25%) with a head of 18+cm (25%). He is back on an antibiotic to hopefully get rid of this cold which has turned into a sinus infection for good. Poor guy's eyes were all red and he still has his cough and runny nose but he was still happy and playing around.

Jackson's birthday celebration lasted a week! His first trip was to the fire station and a visit with the crew that delivered him, and others. He got his first birthday presents there, had some cake and explored the fire engines. What a great time...
Checking out his gifts

Yummy...cake!

All aboard

Here we go, I'm driving this time

Hanging out on the back

And of course my favorite sister got to check it out too. I love my big sister :)

Inspecting the hose

So, what did you think about that last call, it was a doozie huh?

Yeah, I'm the chief

What a handsome dude

Jackson and the crew

Haley, Jackson and the crew

Thanks for the fun time at the fire station!!!

On his actual birthday, Thursday, we took him to Chuck E. Cheese. Grandma came along too. It has become a Vara tradition as we took Haley there too for her first birthday :)

Jackson loved the horse, yee haw Cowboy

Big smiles

Hey Chuck, what's going on?

And to cap off his birthday week, a family party on Saturday. Grandma Vara was going to come down but unfortunately Uncle Michael got sick. We missed her but we are glad Uncle Michael is doing better.

The decorations

The cake and the mini cake. I have to brag that I designed the cake and I think it turned out perfect! And it was yummy too :)

Some of his presents. Check out the cool fire truck Grandpa Vara sent. Jackson loves it

Uncle Mark got Jackson his first electric car. Every kid needs a Lightning McQueen 4 wheeler (and an Uncle Mark!).

Checking out his firetruck

Opening up other gifts while sitting on his firetruck

Blowing out my candle

What Jackson's mini cake started like...

Diving in...

Silly Uncle Nathan made a mustache on Jackson, but he didn't mind...

Oh yeah...get after it Jackson. Several times he decided to forget his hands and went straight for the face in the cake

Almost finished...

But first I'll give some to Uncle Mark

After a quick bath in which the bathtub had to be filled with water twice to get Jackson clean, it was time to open more gifts. Grandma got him a ball pit.

Jackson liked all his presents and we thank everyone for making Jackson's first year memorable. We love you Jackson!

Halloween 2010

We are glad to see November! October was not the best month for us. Both kids came down with upper respiratory infections that lead to double ear infections and two eye infections for Haley. Poor kids were miserable for about 2 weeks but are finally on the mend. Whew!

Despite not feeling 100% we managed to do some fun activities. We visited the pumpkin patch one morning and the kids had fun climbing on the pumpkins, riding the train and taking a hay ride.
Haley loved to climb to the top

Jackson and the pumpkins

Hi Mom and Dad!

I'll take this one

Finally our turn for the train

The silly Vara kids

Jackson was the first to start feeling better. Once he did, Matt put him to work! I died laughing one morning when I looked outside and saw this...

Never too early to train them

Pumpkin carving time! Haley was taking a look at the "gooey stuff". She decided she didn't want to help clean it out and watched Daddy do all the work.

Jackson was too busy eating to help too. Did I mention he is within 4 lbs of Haley? No wonder why, this kid can eat.

Matt did an awesome job on the pumpkin. He created the Disney Castle and had lots of compliments from kids on Halloween night. Yay Daddy!

The kids being silly the night before Halloween. Jackson was walking and jabbering away. His newest word is "Ut Oh".

Cookies...Cookies...Cookies. The kids waiting for the cookies to finish baking.

And finally, Halloween! YAY! Grandma, Uncle Nathan and Uncle Mark took Haley and Jackson to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. This was Jackson's first trip and he really enjoyed the rides. Haley loved it as always. After nap time, it was ready to get dressed and go trick or treating. Grandma stayed and helped pass out candy while Matt and I took the kids down the street. Jackson made it to the end of the street before he was done so I took him back. Haley, on the other hand, was quite the trooper. She caught up to one of the neighborhood girls and they did the entire neighborhood! Matt had to carry her near the end and she wanted to eat her M&Ms but she did great.

Cinderella, Grandma and the little Spider

Darth Vader (a neighbor), the spider and Cinderella

Ready to go to his first house

Brooklyn and Haley hitting up the neighborhood.

Happy Birthday Haley!

I remember growing up and my parents always saying they didn't know where the time went and how I will always be their baby, blah blah blah. Wow, now I know what they are talking about!! I cannot believe our baby girl is 3. It seems like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant, then came the day we found out it was a girl. That evening Matt painted her room and we started to get our head around the thought of having a little princess. I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. 11:57am on Tuesday, October 2, 2007 Haley Grace Vara came into this world weighing 5lbs 11ozs and 19 & 3/4 inches. She was perfect. Flash forward 3 years, yes 3 entire years!! She is still perfect, more precious then we could have ever dreamed of.
She officially weighs 26 lbs now and is 36 inches tall. She loves art, books, movies, playing outside, and of course, anything princess related. She's a good talker and is potty trained, yay! She is a wonderful big sister (most of the time) and and even better daughter. Haley, we love you so much, more then words can ever express.
This year we did a swimming party in the backyard. It has been a very hot summer and of course the first cool front of the year came through the week of the party. We heated the pool a little so the kids would still get in and the weather was perfect. A big thanks to everyone who was able to make the party and help us celebrate Haley's big day, especially Kenneth, Karen and Kourtney who came from Ft. Worth. She was very excited and so happy to see everyone. THANK YOU!!!

Here's a few of the over 100 pictures from the day.

The birthday girl

Haley & Uncle Nay Nay

Corry & Drew

Kourtney

Chubbs!!!

The kids in the pool while the adults relaxed. Matt, Jimmy & Kenneth ended up in with the kids eventually :)

Drew, Corry & Calyn checking out the hot tub

Kenneth & Jackson chilling

Emily, Haley, Matt Payne & Max creating their own rubber duckies

Grandma & Jackson

The princess cake

Haley getting ready to blow out her 3 candles!!

Yummy cake

Haley checking out her video montage. Every picture she had a commentary for. "That's me! That's me with Chubbs. That's me with .... " It was cute :) Oh, and love the shoes...

Ashley looking on while Haley opens some presents

The littlest party goer, Abbott Rogers. Sorry Deachi, caught you mid sentence :)

Not pictured were Andrew Rogers, Conner Clardy & Max Payne (or a front picture of Max). They were too fast for the camera to catch a good picture of. Thanks again for making her day special :)


After the party Jackson had a great time in Haley's balloons.

Haley loves the table Grandma & Grandpa Vara sent. "It's prefect" she tells us. We agree! Perfect place to do art, puzzles, play games, etc. Jackson likes it too.

A few randoms shots of Jackson...
Jackson showing off his walking skills. He is so close to full time walking.

Jackson getting ready for some Aggie football.