Christmas 2011

It's hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone.  It all happened rather quickly and it was a bit warmer here than most years!  We were very blessed to be surrounded by family and friends during this Christmas season.  Scott & I talked openly about the true meaning of Christmas and how thankful we are for Jesus.  I pray that our kids grow up with a deep understanding of God.  Rather than post a bunch of pictures, I want to share some of our favorite moments.

~swimming with cousins at the hotel

~finding "Elfy" each morning

~enjoying a Hershey Kiss for every day in December

~shopping the Elf Shelf at school

~pancake breakfast with Santa

~making chocolate mints & cookies for others

~sleeping in Mom and Dad's room on Christmas Eve

~sitting in "big church" with family on Christmas Eve

~selecting special gifts for friends and teachers

~hot chocolate the way Grandma makes it

~playing games together

~visiting with a real soldier & his daughter

~dance parties in the basement with Kids Bop CD

~popcorn parties while watching movies

~going out to breakfast together

~driving around to look for lights

~playing games at Chuck E Cheese

~1st sleepover at our house with a friend

~staying in pj's on Christmas Day

~chocolate covered strawberries

~watching Eliot "get down" at the dance parties :)
~trying new gluten free buns at Red Robin
~decorating gingerbread train

Ugly Sweater Party

It seems like Ugly Sweater Parties are all the rage right now.  Our friends Kim & Kyle had one a couple of weekends ago.  Kyle is so hilarious, he purposely bought his sweater too small!  On the other hand, Kimi looks quite festive & cute!

Scott said that I looked like I was part of the wait staff with my vest on..."Are you working tonight?  Can you get me something to drink?"  He borrowed that Dickie from Kyle's Mom...she still wears them and let him choose between 3 different colors!  It says, "Noel".

Kelli & I grew up together & have been friends since 1st grade.  I haven't seen her in a long time and it was good to catch up.

Tiff & Nate were hilarious!  We kept teasing Nate that he looked like a Christmas UPS man!  Go brown baby!

There is a story behind Karen & Wally's outfits.  In 7th or 8th grade Karen wore an outfit just like this to the Christmas dance at school.  I totally remember her wearing the outfit and thought she was so cool.  Wally made fun of her and she was in tears.  She decided to recreate the same outfit and make Wally wear it too. 

Random Pictures...

I just realized that I have a few pictures sitting on my camera that aren't worthy of an entire post.  I'm sharing them in a random post because I want to remember them as we read the blog book that I have printed for the year.

Elf on the Shelf visited our house again this year.  He was a little late because of getting his face fixed from a burn he got at our house last year!  Better late than never!

Since he was so late he brought an Elf plate for each of the kids!

We were goofing around one afternoon and got some shots of Eliot.  This is what he does when you tell him to smile.  Eli is looking a little tired and is getting some time with his blanket...which he snuck downstairs!

How silly!  What you can't see is his shirt which says, "Sister For Sale.  Will trade for toys!"

A surprise came in the mail last week...Aunt Cameron sent us a tin of popcorn!  I was a little nervous as I opened it hoping that we would be able to eat it.  As soon as I pulled it out, the words "Gluten Free" were written on it.  Wasn't that sweet?  She researched online and found a popcorn that we can eat.  Thank you Cameron. :)

The kids were so excited that we decided to have a popcorn party complete with hot chocolate.  Yes, Elese has another new favorite head thing.  Last week it was the light, this week it's the sequin headband!

Eliot wasn't about to be left out of the popcorn party.  He LOVES to sit in Elese's Tiny Tim chair!

One evening last week Elese had a Christmas program at school.  All the kids lined up in the classroom before they went out to sing.  I got to help Miss B. keep them all in order.

The 3 year olds sang first followed by the 4's & 5's.  A couple days before the program I asked Elese what songs she was singing.  "I don't know!  Miss B. says I have to wear a dress Mom.  A Christmas dress with no tights!"  I think she might have added that last part herself!

I included this picture because that's Miss B., Elese's teacher.  She's getting married on New Year's Eve this year.  Elese says she'll be Miss E. now.

3 Wise Men & A Baby

The Christmas play at church was 3 Wise Men and a Baby this year.  Emery & Eli were a part of the chorus.  Emery is in plans to hopefully try out for a speaking part next year...we'll see if she's brave enough!

Before the play started, the preschoolers from church sang a few songs.  It was really sweet and hilarious to watch!

Elese was really sweet and quietly sang the songs.  She did the motions and stood very still.  Another boy was jumping around & even threw his bell!  It was quite the production and very funny to watch.

Emery & Eli did really well with their songs & movements.  Last year Eli really struggled with how long they practiced and staying focused throughout the play.  He did SO much better this year & we were really proud of him.

The play was a tad long for the little ones so we let them eat their dinner at tables in the back.  This passed some time & made it more enjoyable for all of us! :)

Kind of gross & cute at the same time!

Our friend Elijah was in the play too.  Elijah had a small speaking part and did a nice job.  Love the look he's giving me!

I always like a picture of the kids in front of the tree at church.  It's getting easier every year.  Check out Eliot's expression...it's his new smile!  I love how they develop their little ways of doing things.

Scott & I were there too!  I'm looking a little rough...this was the same night I got back from my fun shopping weekend.  I.was.tired!

Girls Weekend!

A couple weeks ago was our annual girls shopping trip!  We do this every year the 1st weekend in December.  It gives us some much needed shopping time and night away from responsibilities.

Kimi & Kelly arrived on Friday and we hit the ground running.  We took Elese & Eliot and started our weekend over at IKEA & Frontgate Outlet.  We must have been excited to take 2 little kids with us.  We dropped the little ones off to Daddy and headed out again.  We were just getting warmed up for Saturday!

I was up bright & early motivating these girls to get moving!  After a coffee stop we were on our way to Columbus for a day at Easton Towne Center.  We met up with 3 of my other friends from Pickerington.  This was all of our packages after a morning of shopping and a 2 hour lunch at Brio...which was fabulous!

And here we are at the end of the day...completely worn out!  Instead of going out we checked into the Hilton, put on pj's and enjoyed some relaxation.

What a fun weekend catching up and just enjoying being a girl again!  Can't wait for next year...oh & this summer too.  We've decided to add a trip in the summer so we can lounge by the pool all day! :)

Counting Down to Christmas

We've been counting down to Christmas here at the Jackson's.  My sister-in-law always crafts up a homemade count down chain complete with a Hershey Kiss for every day in the month of December.  The kids LOVE their count down chains and look forward to them every year!  So, all the kids have been doing well taking care of eating their kisses until last night...I awoke this morning to find a complete mess in Miss Elese's room!  She had an accident in the middle of the night, woke up and proceeded to eat all but 4 of her Hershey Kisses!  Seriously/  The poor thing cannot handle that much dairy and was on a major sugar overload.  I had to shake my head and laugh on the inside!

Happy Birthday Scott!

Scott turned 36 years young on Monday.  We celebrated his birthday over the Thanksgiving holiday.  The kids are always excited when it's a birthday.  I made min a Derby pie as his cake...this is his favorite!  Each of the kids made him a card and we gave him tickets for him & Eli to go see the Harlem Globetrotters. Happy Birthday honey, we all love you :)

Thanksgiving

We started our Thanksgiving holiday a little early this year and left Tuesday evening for my Mom's cabin.  We stayed until Friday morning and had a wonderful time.  My Mom is so good about getting gluten free food for my family.  She had everything ready to go for us.  The only food I took with me was snacks for the car ride!  That is a huge deal for us.   

On Wednesday morning the kids were up and ready to get going.  Emery & Elese were doing their school work on Grandma's "tiny Tim" chairs...she has 3 of these!  Funny how they are sitting on the "time out" chair which I don't think she's ever used!

Eliot was having a fun time playing with all of Grandma's beads.

Elese is really into wearing something on her head all.the.time.  She wears headbands, lights or a hat.  She actually wore this light to church the night before.  We got many questions about that!

We always celebrate Scott's birthday at Thanksgiving so Emery was working on a birthday card for her Daddy.  Our gift to him was tickets to the Harlem Globetrotters here in Cincinnati.

Eliot started playing with this baby while we were there.  I'm surprised he's just now interested.  Eli loved babies and even pushed a stroller around.  His favorite thing to do right now is sweep with a broom.

This is so funny.  The kids and I were having a dance party (we do this quite often) & Scott was laughing at Eliot dancing.  This is a new move for Eliot so I was encouraging him and he just kept smiling!  He already has more rhythm than Scott :)

It was nice enough in the afternoon to head outside.  The kids were in and out all day but Scott and I joined them after lunch.  This is a new trike that Grandaddy bought for Elese.  Mom has bikes for Eli & Emery at the cabin too.  Elese was doing so well peddling herself around.  They have everything they need at the cabin!

Of course Eliot was not to be left out!

This is one of the few pics of Eli.  Eli LOVES going to Grandma's cabin and we rarely see him because he keeps himself so busy.  Being in the woods in the middle of nowhere is just his style.

Emery persuaded Elese to let her stand on the back while she peddled.  This kept them busy for awhile.

Scott & I were playing a little badminton.

Group shot compliments of Emery!

During nap time my Mom & Emery got to work decorating her Christmas tree.

My Mom still has several ornaments from my childhood that she puts on the tree.  This one is from 1st grade.  Miss Shultz was so special to me and I decided in 1st grade that I wanted to be a teacher.

My Mom has a silver bell collection going back to the 1970's.  It was stared by Aunt Fran and then passed to my Mom.  Each year is a new bell with the year engraved on it.

 
Emery had a drawing contest for the adults and I won!

This is the card Eli made for Scott's birthday.

Uncle Jason came up on Wednesday afternoon.  He was enjoying the afternoon off by relaxing on the couch.  TC quickly jumped up on his lap.

 Here are the girls getting their IPad/IPhone games in!

The boys had a little target practice after nap time.  Eli has gotten much better at hitting the circle...if you look closely you can see his hits.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful day.  We watched the parade, cooked up a storm, played a game & even managed a group photo.  After the feast Mom & Cameron were checking out pictures of Cameron's trip to Ireland.

Grandaddy was dozing off on the couch after our feast.

Krista always brings her nail kit and offers pedicures & manicures on our holiday celebrations.  Emery's always 1st in line!

My favorite part of Thanksgiving is watching Scott & Jason clean up all the dishes and the kitchen!  I think they were in there for over an hour this year.  Thanks guys!