Four Christmases, Part 2

We went to my parents' house to celebrate Christmas, after some time at our home. We opened gifts, and then my mom cooked a delicious brunch. My dad loved his custom made sweatshirt! He had a few surprises of his own tucked up his sleeve....Just ask my mom about that:). My parents' bought me a little camera to keep in my purse. I am very excited about that. Now, I will not look like the paparazzi at every day events that I want to capture on my camera. I love my family. We had a great Christmas!

Christmas at Jack Jack's House

Jackson slept with us Christmas Eve night, and woke up around 7:30 Christmas Day. We woke up, and when he walked into the living room, was a little overwhelmed, but very excited. He would sit in his car, then run to "Elmo's Restaurant," and then play with his trains. It was so much fun, and we had a great morning. I hope each of you and your families had a blessed Christmas, and I wish you a very Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve Night

I love, love, love Christmas Eve. It is a time that I use to reflect, and think about God's faithfulness. Each year, I am reminded of how faithful God is, and I think more and more about what He thinks about me and my family, and what He wants us to do for Him in the coming year. I am so thankful that God sent His only Son, to be born in a manger, only later to die for me. Amazing love. I want nothing more than for my son, Jackson, to receive this gift, my Savior, as his own. I do believe that seeds are being planted, even as young as he is. With that being said, we attended the Christmas Eve Candlelight and Communion Service at my parents' church, and went back to their house to spend some time together. We then went to Blake's parents' house and opened pajamas, and Donnie read the Christmas story.

December 24: Christmas Eve Lunch

On Christmas Eve, we decided to start our own little family tradition. We decided we were going to go out and eat lunch together, just the three of us, on Christmas Eve. After picking up a few last minute items, we went to Formosa to eat lunch. It was nice getting out and having some time together. I hope we can continue to do this for years to come!

December 23: Christmas with the Freeman's

We always celebrate Christmas with the Freeman's on the 23rd. On Wednesday night, we got together and had a great time. I didn't get to take a ton of pics, because I was pretty busy chasing my little buddy around, but my sister in law, Lydia, wrote a wonderful recollection of the evenings festivities, if you want to read more!

More Christmas Baking and Gingerbread House Making

On December 22, Tuesday night, we went to my parents' house, ordered pizza, and made Christmas treats. We made Chex Mix, Oreo Truffles, and peanut butter fudge. My brother and Blake also "helped" Jackson make a Gingerbread house. It didn't stick together very long.

Blake put this on my nose to make me look like Rudolph. Jackson got extremely upset, and was screaming and crying because he thought Blake had hurt my nose.



Do ya think I look like my dad? See the above pic.

The house fell apart before we left. It was fun making it anyway!

Naptime Fun

One afternoon last week, I layed Jackson down for his nap. I came into the kitchen and cleaned a little bit, assuming he was asleep. I heard him laughing, and peeked into his room, and this is what I found. He had pulled this stork (from his Birth Day), off of his wall (somehow), and was dancing away in his crib having the time of his life.

Baking Christmas Cookies

Five Years

On Thursday, Blake and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. We agreed not to purchase gifts for one another, BUT Blake surprised me, and made me cry! He smuggled the vase that matches our china pattern from our home, and took it to the florist. He had the florist (which also happens to be family), recreate my wedding bouquet and put it in the vase. It is gorgeous, and so thoughtful. We then went out to a nice dinner at J. Alexander's. We had a nice, relaxing evening, and just enjoyed being together. Blake is my very best friend. I love him.

As I look back over our short five years of marriage, I am, again, reminded of God's faithfulness. Since we have been married, we have had lots of joy, but also some times of sadness. We have also experienced many changes. We moved into our our "new to us" house, became members of a new church, both changed jobs, and became parents. That is a lot to pack into 5 years, especially for me, who does not like change so much! But in the middle of every happy time, every change, and every sad time, God is a faithful God!

"For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100:5

Christmas at School

Jackson's Christmas party at school was on Wednesday. He and Micah, whom Jackson has named Pee-tah, are the only boys in the class, and are pretty funny playing together! They are only a couple of days apart in age, and they have a good time at school. Merry First Christmas, Micah!

Our Santa Pics

Jackson has discovered Thomas the Train, and now loves, loves, loves, choo choo trains. So, a lady at my parents' church told my mom that Santa was going to be at the Train Depot this Saturday morning, taking Santa photos. We decided to go, and I am so glad that we did. Jackson loved watching the trains, but didn't love Santa so much. It was so still lots of fun, though!

Seriously?

Okay, okay. I am normally not the ranting type, but this week, two very odd things have happened in the land of motherhood. My reaction time was a bit delayed on both, and maybe next time I will be a bit better prepared.

Situation #1:
On Tuesday, I met Melissa and Abby, at Chik fil A. After a nice lunch, we headed down the mall play area. The novelty of the play area seems to be wearing off for Jackson since he has discovered the "transportation area" to the left of the play area (the cars, trucks, etc. that you pay to ride, but Jackson doesn't know that they really move, area). Anyway, Melissa and Abby continued to play in the play area while Jackson was climbing and playing around on the cars. I noticed a lady and possibly, 2-3 year old twins were doing the same thing. After a few minutes, the lady looks at me and says, "Hey, I am going to run my packages out to the car. I will be back in a few minutes." And off she goes down the mall. What in the world? Who does that? I yell across the mall to Melissa, and explain the ordeal. She is cracking up, and then says, "Oh my, what if she doesn't come back?" Wow. Didn't even think about that. I was seriously, speechless and thoughtless! What am I supposed to do? Sure enough, a few minutes later, this mother/grandmother/or relative yanks the two kids up by the arm, and starts walking out to the car, and looks at me and says, "Oh, thanks!"

Situation #2:
Now this just made me mad! Today, I was strolling through Target, and some random lady walks up to my cart, as if she were inspecting the contents of it. Hmmm, Huggies and Zip Loc bags, not too exciting. She then looks at me, and in her teacher voice, says, "I really wish you would use the strap on the seat, and buckle your baby up." I think to myself, I really wish you just would shut up and leave me alone. I know, that is not very nice. She rambles on about this story, about how her daughter in law didn't use the straps, and her grandson fell out, and hit his head, and got a concussion, and how she wishes I would just use the straps. Are you kidding me? I just came to buy diapers, lady. I mean, I am really sorry that happened to your grandson, but are you now on the safety board for cart patrol at Target? I may not be Mother of the Year, but I don't think I am totally inept, either. I have seen parents do some pretty crazy stuff to their children, but I don't really feel like it is my place to tell them what to do with their baby, I mean, its not like I left Jackson with a stranger in the mall play area so I could take packages out to my car! So, all you idiot mommies out there that don't use the safety straps , buckle those babies up!

Has this crazy stuff happened to anyone else?

Trim the Tree Party

Tonight, after our crazy busy day, we had a party at our house. We had both sets of parents, and Brad and Lydia over to decorate the tree. We had soups, cookies, donut holes, and punch. My tree. Well, as you can see from lots of our posts, it is pretty much Jackson's world around here. Our house has a very open floor plan, so there is really no way to block anything off, if that makes any sense. So, the tree....I took all of my sentimental ornaments and put them in my bedroom on a tree that he can't reach. We put some shatterproof ornaments on the bottom, and Jackson took them off and threw them across the room, bowled with them, and played soccer with him, and cheered for himself, having the best time. So, he has some ornaments to play with, and only about 2/3 of our tree is decorated, which is the part that he can't reach. Seriously, I don't care. I am LOVING this chapter of my life and love having a 1/2 decorated Christmas tree.

He took this stocking ornament off, and tried to wear it.

I found a Hot Wheel car in my Snow Village. Love it.

Do you love it?

Oh, check out my cousin Jennifer's, blog (linked on the side). Her updates about her poor tree are cracking me up!