More Christmas. . .

Around mid-day on Christmas Day, we packed up the car and headed to south Arkansas to have Christmas with Jeremy's family. We had to do some convincing to get Jackson to leave the train table. :) Once we got there, he was so excited to see Judson!

Jackson even got to test out Judson's gift from Santa. Judson was great at sharing - because Jackson loved driving Judson's "blue 4-wheeler!"

Jackson was actually a pretty good driver - he did better with this than he does with his green jeep!

A guitar (Jackson is really into instruments right now)!

Wow, both boys got a Thomas the train tent.

John Deere hats
(You should hear Judson sing all of his John Deere green songs - that boy loves tractors)

And both boys got tricycles - luckily our new house has a much better driveway and a great cul-de-sac where Jackson can practice!

We definitely took over Grandmother's house with all of the excitement! We are blessed - we had great Christmas celebrations with all of our family members. We love you all!

Santa Came!

Jackson has been scared (more like terrified) of Santa this year. When you mentioned Santa coming to your house, you would quickly get a "NO!" and usually some tears (and of course, in December, EVERYONE makes comments to kids about Santa coming to your house!). However, on Christmas Eve, he wanted to leave cookies for Santa and food for the reindeer, so. . .on Christmas morning, Jackson entered the playroom and saw his train table - and all of the sudden, Santa was fine!




After playing with the toys from Santa, we talked Jackson into going downstairs to open stockings and gifts (Santa delivered his presents up to the playroom this year because that's where we left the food). :) Jeremy actually had to pick him up and carry him downstairs because he didn't want to leave the train table. . .but as you can see, stockings and gifts quickly became fun.


We had a Merry Christmas and hope that you did, too! More pictures to come of our Christmas in south Arkansas with Jeremy's family. . .

Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve. Jackson and I went to our church's family service at 4 pm (which was definitely kid-friendly) and he saw his school friend, Elle (side note: he calls her "Elle Belle" and she calls him "Jacksie").

Jeremy got off work at 6 pm and we headed over to Mimi and B.B.'s house to celebrate with Uncle Matt, Aunt Molly, Aunt Pat and Grammy. I hardly took any pictures, but we had so much fun. Jackson got lots of stuff, but his favorite was a fire station from Uncle Matt and Aunt Molly. . .

And a trumpet from Mimi and B.B.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We had a great Christmas Eve with my family - thank you!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours. May you and your family enjoy the holidays remembering the true reason for the season.

Matt and Molly's Wedding

My brother and Molly were married on December 19! It was a busy weekend full of many pictures and fun memories. Special thanks to Grandmother Gail (Jeremy's mom) for her help - she kept up with Jackson and kept him happy.

*And for those of you who were wondering - Jackson walked down the aisle holding my hand - and then promptly sat down with Gail on the front row. Emory RAN down the aisle toward her mother (and her milk) exactly when the flower girl was supposed to go down. :) Then Emory and Jackson headed over to the reception to check things out while the ceremony took place!

Jackson's School Christmas Party

School Christmas Performance

Tuesday night, Jackson's school had their Christmas program. The 2 and 3-year-olds sang a few Christmas songs and then we all ate dinner. Pretty funny! Jackson actually stood up on the stage without crying (see previous post about his Busy Bees open house) and moved his mouth a little bit (Mimi and B.B. came and when Mimi asked if he had fun singing, he said "I sang with my mouth!"). :) B.B. used my phone to record a video - and it is basically 4 minutes of Jackson standing up on the stage. I was hiding behind people and taking pictures - and at one point during the performance, I noticed that he saw B.B. and was trying to figure out what was going on!

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Fixing Things with Daddy

Jeremy has been working on a few different projects (getting the garage organized like he wants it, etc.), so Jackson has enjoyed "helping" daddy fix things.


In fact, tonight I took him to a toy store to pick out a toy. This is the toy that he will get for walking down the aisle at Uncle Matt's wedding on Saturday. (And for those of you who think I am terrible for bribing my child, I'm sorry. I've heard many of my friends who have tried this with great success. Whatever works!!!) Anyway - he picked out a Handy Manny power tool (saw that can also be a drill) - WOW, he is super-excited about walking down the aisle. . .

Busy Bees

Jackson has a gymnastics/rhythmic movement class (Busy Bees) that he takes once a week at school (rhythmic movement pretty much means dance, but we don't tell daddy that). :) His teachers tell me that he loves it and always participates. The teacher had an open house for the parents on Monday, so I went. Let's just say this is what Jackson did the whole time (sit in my lap):

Until Ms. Tiffany promised cookies, and then. . .he did a backbend! :) He also attempted a forward roll, but we had to promise another cookie.

And proof that we follow through on the "bribes."

Trains

Last week, one of my volunteers invited me to bring Jackson to his house to see his village and train set. He has a very nice Lionel train set that "choo-choos" and steams. Jackson LOVED it - nearly threw a fit when we had to leave. (He doesn't look thrilled in the picture below because he was scared of the dogs). :) Hope he isn't disappointed when Santa brings a wooden train set. . .

Erin's 2nd Annual Cookie Party

My precious friend, Erin, had us over Sunday afternoon for her 2nd annual Christmas cookie decorating party. Oh my - she had covered every detail! The kids wore precious aprons (Erin made them) and took home a ton of goodies! The kids had a great time. Thank you, Erin, for putting so much time and energy into preparing for this!

Beautiful cookies :)

Jackson and Sydney sat at a table together - and at one point, Sydney looked at me and said, "Mmm, this frosting is good." :) We decided to stop fighting it and just let J & S lick their utensils and stick them back in. . .Ha!

Aren't the aprons too cute? Thank you, Erin!