Highlights from Christmas in TN

Christmas Morning 2009

We're on the ball this morning! Here are a few snaps from Christmas morning!

Our tree.

Before the kids got up!

Jackson soaking it all in.

Jackson getting out the stockings!

Hannah loves her new toy!

The kids immersed in Christmas play!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a joyous Christmas filled with love, family & friends, and worship of the babe who became the King of Kings.

And the Lord said to Joseph, "Mary will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save the people from their sins." Matt. 1:21

Our boy is FIVE!

Five years ago we spent Christmas in the hospital... and we had the best Christmas ever! Hard to believer our little fella is 5... Five sounds so old!!

Jackson, if there is one word that characterizes you it is JOY. You are full of life and have such a sweet heart. You are a magnet for people with your energy, smile, and adorable laughs. You still like to introduce yourself (and us) to everyone you meet. The "no talking to strangers" talk is totally lost on you. Your heart is so tender for the less fortunate and sick. You are such a people-person! We pray that the Lord will use you in mighty ways to reach people for Him!

This past year you have surprised me with your hunger to learn - writing, some reading, Bible stories and more. I'm so proud of you! You can't wait to start Kindergarten this Summer... I'm having a hard time believing it's coming so soon!

You live in the world of imagination and sometimes Mommy and Daddy have a hard time keeping up with it! One minute we are superheroes, the next we are Disney's Imagination Movers, then dinosaurs, Toy Story characters, builders, robots, race car drivers.... the list goes on and on. You are quite creative!

You have far exceeded our expectations with your baby sister. You are so gentle and you love her so much! You have been a tremendous help - from wiping spit, bringing her toys, singing to her when she's upset, and playing with her. She is utterly in love with her big brother and thinks you hung the moon.

We love you so much!! You bring us immeasurable joy!

Christmas traditions

One thing I love about this time of year are the little traditions we have as a family.

As soon as we start to pull out the Christmas decorations Jackson begs for 2 things - his plastic nativity set and his box stuffed characters from the movie Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer... we have the whole set. Countless hours are spent reinacting with those toys!

Every year we make a chain with each link counting down the days until Jack's birthday and Christmas. No longer do I get asked EVERYDAY if it was his birthday or Christmas yet. He loves cutting each day's link.



I tried to skip out on some of my baking traditions this year... but Mike had some serious puppy dog eyes for my chocolate and peanut butter fudges. Jackson and I made our cut-out cookies with icing and sprinkles - they aren't beautiful but they are yummy!


The last two years we have gone out looking at lights and to the Living Nativity at Ephesus Baptist (our old church) with our friends, the Isaacs. So fun and a perfect way to get in the holiday spirit!

Another fun thing we do is the "What God Wants For Christmas" nativity boxes. Seriously, I think I have read this to Jackson 50+ times already this year. Not including all the times Granddaddy, Dad, Grandmomma, and anyone else has read it to him too. This activity is super cute and is a perfect little object lesson for how we can give our hearts to God for Christmas.

We all love the Christmas movies - all of them! Our DVR is full of them. Hands down, our favorite is The First Noel. It is a cartoon version of the Christmas story from the perspective of the wisemen, narrarated by Andy Griffith. Jackson practically has it memorized...fine by me!

Daddy Day at the Airport

So a couple of weeks ago, Dad took Officer Rob Peterson up on his offer of a behind the scenes tour of the new terminal at the RDU airport. We were able to invite several other dads and kids along with us including Tim and Ty, John and Johnny, Fred and Jenna, and Joe Shields and Ian, Reilly, Conor and Keegan. We were quite a crowd! The boys were really excited. The tour started with a tour of the police office which centered on the K-9 bomb detecting dog, Trouble. Trouble showed off by sniffing out a bag of gun powder that one of the officers had hidden in the office. The boys all got coloring books about being a police officer and also sticker "badges." Jackson wore his badge for at least 3-4 days after the tour. Conor asked the officers if they had in plastic guns we could have as well!

Anyway...the kids really enjoyed the whole tour which also included the baggage area, being out with the planes, meeting a pilot, hearing the loud planes, and even getting to climb around in the front seat of the police car before Officer Rob had to race off on a call (which I later learned was about some guy trying to hunt illegally on the airport property!). Oh, and we also ran over to Dairy Queen and shared a blizzard before we went our separate ways.

Here's some of the pictures:

Hope

Wanna know something that brings a huge smile to my face?

This stocking.

I purchased new stockings five years ago for our family. One for Mike, one for me, a train one Jackson ... and I debated for about 1 hour in the store about whether or not to buy a fourth. Of course I would want the stockings to coordinate if we were to have more children.

If.

We knew we wanted to grow our family. Having babies does not come easily for us. We lost our first child when I was 12 weeks pregnant. It took years to get pregnant with Jackson. There was a real chance that this little stocking would never be hung. But, in my heart I felt that our family was not complete. We trusted the Lord and knew His timing and His plans are perfect.

I took the chance and bought the fourth stocking. (We already had the small one in the middle for our beloved Daisy, the cat.

Too many Christmas seasons passed where I pulled the stockings out of storage, held back the tears, and placed this one back in the box. Maybe next year.

Last Christmas we were filled with hope as we entered the 2nd trimester. I ached to hold my baby girl in my arms.

This year I could not wait to hang the stocking. I broke my own rule and started decorating the week before Thanksgiving. While I know she is too young to remember this Christmas, I will remember it forever.

I can't help but be reminded of the centuries that God's people yearned and prayed for the promised Messiah. And in His perfect timetable and perfect plan, God sent Immanuel, 'God With Us'. A blessed baby that was and is the hope of the world.

night cap

"...and Mama in her 'kerchief and I in my cap, had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap." - Clement Clarke Moore from A Visit from St. Nicholas (aka 'Twas The Night Before Christmas)

For the last week Jackson has slept in this little santa hat every night. He calls it his night cap. This kids makes us laugh so much!

It's On

After rolling over a few times when she was 4mo. old, Hannah has since refused to roll again. We know she totally could, but she didn't want to.

Which is fine. I know perfectly well how my days will change when she is on the move. And especially with all the extra Christmas decor around, it was something I was glad not to have to deal with yet.

Then she surprised me this afternoon. When I laid her on a blanket for tummy time she scooted herself on her tummy about 3ft across the den floor. She basically pulled herself across using only her upper body. And then rolled over twice. She was so proud of herself and exhausted afterwards. :)

Of course this was the day mike took the camera to the office with him to download and blog about a daddy and Jackson play date they had yesterday (more on that to come). Hopefully we can get an encore performance on film soon.

So, its on now. No more turning my back to her. No more big brother toys with little pieces outside of his room. No more letting the carpet go unvaccuumed for a couple of days. No more laptop on den floor... now I'm the one who is exhausted!

november pics

Jackson couldn't wait to "help" daddy with the leaves. He and neighbor Henry had a blast running down the hill and jumping in the pile.

Thanksgiving with Grandma

Jackson truly takes after his daddy and is obsessed with all things having to do with Christmas!

1/2 a Year Old

Today marks Hannah's half birthday! With every passing week we see more and more of her sweet personality come out. I am awestruck by how different she is than her big brother. Hannah only wants the thumb. Jack was seriously attached to the paci. Jackson was (and still is) a snuggler. She only really wants snuggles when she's sleepy. Hannah is a bit more timid and reserved. She has a quiet little laugh. Whereas Jackson is generally the boisterous extrovert. Hannah studies people closely and is so curious of everything. She LOVES watching other children. Jackson was a colicky infant. Hannah is almost as easy going as it gets. (But she does have her moments!!)

And, she certainly sleeps less than her brother ever did! Jackson was a prolific sleeper! But, just this past month she began to nap anywhere from 1-2.5 hours at least 3 times a day. The length is never consistent, but at least she's happy either way.

Hannah really hit a growth spurt this past month and is devouring the baby food. She shows no signs of food preference at this point. She just wants it fast, without any pausing! I'm so curious to see how much she now weighs at her appt on Monday.

While bald has been beautiful, I'm thankful to see some real hair growth. :) It is really light blond so it doesn't really show well in pictures yet, but it's there.

She loves her toes!!

Saw Santa at the Mall Today

Today we went as a family for a little "Black Friday" shopping and ended up at the mall. Of course, Santa was there. Jackson said he wanted to see Santa so I [mike] took him in. I don't know why, but Santa didn't invite Jackson to sit on his lap, but instead Jackson just stood in front of him and talked. Santa asked him, "How have you been?" Jackson said, "I've been bad some. Sometimes I do bad things." Santa was impressed by his honesty and asked him if he was going to try to do better, to which Jackson said, "Yes." Then Jackson said, "I fall down and do bad things." (Translation - Jackson has been watching America's Funniest Videos and often the people on there fall down. Jackson calls that "doing bad things." Jackson runs around the living room and falls down and says he is "doing bad things.") So, essentially Jackson was telling Santa that he ran around the house and fell down on purpose and that was "being bad." Although, I think when Jackson was saying he did "bad things" that it did have a double meaning - getting in trouble and falling down like they do on TV.

After that, Santa asked Jackson what he wanted for Christmas. Jackson's only response was "a slinky." I'm not sure why he wants a slinky, maybe ask Courtney about that one. Santa asked if he wanted anything else. "No. Just a slinky."

Santa gave him a coloring book and asked him to color it and leave it under the tree for him. I'm sure it will be done.

Wish List for Santa

A conversation earlier this evening...

Jack: I know what I can ask Santa for Christmas!
Me: Oh, yeah? What is it?
Jack: I need batteries for all the toys I already have!

So sad, but true. It seems all the batteries in most of his toys are dead at the same time! We have several sets of re-chargeables (a must have!) that we are using, but certainly not for every toy. Santa might have to put some batteries in his stocking. :)

On a side note, we packed boxes for Operation Christmas Child the other day. Jackson LOVES to do this every year and announces to the cashier (or anyone within ear shot) that we are going to give a child their first Christmas present EVER! Jackson is even going around our house and pulling out his own toys to give to other children. Such a sweetheart! (These would not be for OCC, though, because the rule is to pack the boxes with new and unused items.)

Halloween fun

It was an unusually warm Halloween, but fun nonetheless! Jackson determined early on to be Superman and we found this cute costume in Knoxville (thanks, Mimi!). Hannah was a snuggly little bunny (only for a little while since she was burning up in the fleece!). I held her up to a mirror and she laughed so hard! She was so full of herself! She and I passed out candy together and went to a few neighbors homes. Cousin Ethan joined along again this year - he and Jack were the dynamic duo of superheroes.

My Little Buttercup

So... I have this little song I like to sing to Hannah. It guarantees a HUGE grin and laughter every time. The song is "My Little Buttercup" from the movie The Three Amigos (click HERE to see the clip from the movie - hilarious!!). However, my version simply involves bouncing her up and down in front of a mirror, not the shimmies and flare of Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short.

I pondered posting a video of me singing it to her and her ADORABLE response... but that would subject you (and the world) to my voice. Not a chance!

5 Months

Hannah Elyse is 5 months old today. I love to watch the bazillion changes that occur with every month that goes by. This past month we saw her mastering hand dexterity - she is grabbing at everything. The latest is that she loves to pull her socks halfway off and suck on them. (Ugh.) She has rolled a few times, and she can scoot a little while on her back. She is always curious of her surroundings and almost always wants to be held facing out so that she doesn't miss a thing. Hannah continues to babble away and Jackson has learned how to mimic it perfectly... resulting in some hilarious "conversations" between the two of them. This past month she really discovered Daisy - laughing and smiling everytime she came near. Daisy seems pretty enamored with her too...I know that will change once Hannah gets a fist full of her hair! Hannah loves eating the grain cereals now. And, she loves the thumb! She prefers sucking the left thumb while holding her nose. So cute!