Here are a few selections from the present openening chaos.

The whole family! (plus half of Jean). This is the best shot I got of the family. Most everyone is looking in the general vicinity of the camera anyways.

Hello all,

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! We had a lot of fun. I will post a couple of pics today. Here is the kids making cookies for Santa. He had to have chocolate chip cookies. Of course it might have been that certain children really like chocolate chip cookie dough, but that is beside the point. Santa had chocolate chip, and we had to leave carrots for the reindeer. Abigail was wonderful during Christmas and loved everything. She really loved her digital camera and hasn't put it down since. I started to feel like Britney Spears because everytime I turned around there she was flashing in my face! There were a few taken when I hadn't yet turned around and those were bad, very bad, they got deleted quickly! Jackson had a little bit of a hard time with Christmas. He was overwhelmed, overstimulated and just overtired! He wanted only the things his sister got and didn't handle it well when she wanted those things too! I guess next year it's matching presents for both!

I might not sleep now for a few weeks but Jackson officially has a big boy bed. I'm very scared. Wish us luck.

The kids finally got a chance to see Santa. Abigail told him she wanted an American Idol Dance Mat (or Hannah Montanna) and Jackson told him he wanted a tattoo. Yes a tattoo. When we walked away Jackson said "Well Where is it?!" Evidently he thought Santa was a one stop shop.

Abigail's Christmas Recital

We had Abigail's Christmas recital today and she was a good little tap dancer. Here is the video although there was a couple people standing in front of us. These things are never very easy to see at!

Hanukkah

We were watching the news this morning and they were showing the ice storms they are having in Missouri right now. Abigail asked me "Mom where is Missouri?" I said "Oh, it's a long ways away." To which she replied "Is that where they celebrate Hanukkah?".

How many more days till Santa comes?

That is the many question we hear in our house. "Mom how many more days till Santa comes?" Last night Abigail asked this question for the millionth time. David said "2 weeks". Abigial turned to him and said "You've said 2 weeks 2 million times!". To which David replied "well you've asked 2 million times!!!!".

Yesterday Abigail and Jackson were having a tea party at the kitchen table. I let them have real water in their cups so it was a pretty big deal. Jackson was told he must say "tea my lady" before he would be served any tea. After a few minutes Abigail came running up to me and said "Mom, I'm teaching Jackson to be a tea person! I really am! I'm so excited I can finally teach him something!".

And finally, Jackson and I were going into Walmart today and he started to pull his little trick of stopping in the middle of the parking lot and saying "I can't walk to more, would you carry me?" (and yes he says "to more" don't know why). I said "no, you can walk, why don't you carry me?". He laughed and said "NO", I said "why not?" and he told me "Because, you aren't a Jackson!". Evidently only Jacksons can be carried.

My little elves and I put up a Christmas tree today. It was fun, uh ok, fun for them. Jackson wanted to put all the ornaments on the same branch and when they would fall off (because there were already 20 ornaments on that branch), he would yell and say "It can't fit!". After that if one fell he'd just leave it on the floor and mutter to himself "it can't fit" then go pick out another one. I'm always thankful for naptime!

Well I spoke too soon!! "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, my two front teeth.....". The two side ones are loose too and she said, "mom, I don't think they are ready yet!"

Big day at our house! As you can see Abigail lost one of her front teeth today. The other one is not far behind so we will be singing "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth!". She told me "Mom I'm a tooth lossing girl!". Yes she said "lossing" not losing. She said it feels weird mom!

We are finally making a trip to Disneyland in February and the kids love to talk about it. Last night Abigail was saying "I can't wait to ride the teacups and the Dumbo ride!" Jackson said "I can't wait to ride the elephants and the giraffes!".

Last night at dinner Abigail want to go around and say what you are thankful for. She said she was thankful for "lights, houses and tv." Jackson said he was thankful for "motorcycles, gloves and helmet.".

Jackson crashed one afternoon after not getting his nap. He did move his arm though so he was breathing don't worry!

Abby wanted to hold him all day. I think Justin was getting a little tired of it though!

Here is Jackson and his new baby cousin Justin. Or as he calls him "Jacob's baby".

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving with the family. Abigail learned about Pilgrims and Indians at school. I just overheard this conversation with her brother.

A: "Do you know what an Indian is?"
J: "no, what?"
A: "It's a guy that's brown. Do you know what Dad half is?"
J: "No."
A: "He is half Indian, because he's brown."

Kindergarten

Abigail has really been enjoying kindergarten. Although for a few days she told me it was "stressing her out" it seems to have settled down. We were getting home from school the other day though and she was telling me all the math she's learning, and all the words she can read. I said "boy kindergarten is sure making you smart" and she said "Yeah Mom it's learning me up!". (Ok so they aren't working on grammar yet.)

soooo, tired.

Jackson was up all night last night. First he delayed going to sleep for an hour or so. This is how the night went.....

after taking all of his toys to bed he started yelling "maaaaaaoooom, maaaaaooooommm" in a sing-song voice, so I went in there, "I need to kiss sissy", so he kissed sissy, 10 minutes later, "maaaaooommmm", "yes jackson", "I was thinking". "what were you thinking" "I want a skateboard", ok that's really important at 9:00. 10 minutes later "maaaaaaaaoooom", "jackson, you need to go to sleep", "but mom I have a great idea" "what's that" "how about you turn on the light" "no Jackson, go to sleep". etc.

Abigail looked at her halloween picture and said "MOM! is that how beautiful I looked?!?".

I just had to post this pic. It's the best one we've gotten of Jackson in awhile because when you try to take his picture he closes his eyes and won't look at you.

Tuesday, November 13th

Hello all,

Today was a normal day around our house. Abigail is becoming more and more concerned about fashion and her "look". Today before she ate lunch I told her to run and change her shirt from school so she didn't get anything on it. She came back in with a turquoise shirt on and her jeans. She stopped and said "Mom, do I have too much blue going on here?".

Ever since Jackson got rid of his binky he has taken to using other items to go to sleep. As he walked down the hall towards his bedroom for nap today he had his blanket, 2 toy guns, a car, and his pirate eye patch. In his bed already he had a toy phone and his football helmet. How the kid ever sleeps I don't know. Last night he went to sleep with his camo "hunting hat" on and sunglasses! So normal at our house might not be so "normal".

The kids had a fun halloween as Cinderella and a Football Player!

My funny little man.

I decided to start this blog because I often find myself laughing at the things my children say and do and thinking I should write that down! Well hopefully this will help me write those down more often and share them with you all. I'd just like to share the daily happenings of our laugh and maybe some giggles we have along the way.

The other day after dropping Abigail off at school Jackson and I were making our way back to the car slowly as usual. He has his own pace (slow) and often likes to stop and "smell the roses" so to speak. So this day was like all the others and I was not so patiently waiting for him to catch up with me so I turned around to see where he was. He was stopped under a tree with his hand on his head looking up at the tree and he said "OH, Man!"

Me: "What happened Jackson??"
Him: "that tree watered on me"
Me: "It did!"
Him: "Yeah that tree was jokin"
Me: "Was it?"
Him: "Yeah it was FREAKIN ME OUT!"

Needless to say I had a chuckle all the way back to the car.