Merry Christmas!

We woke Jack up early so we could meet up with the rest of our family for breakfast and to open presents. He was in a good mood though and once he saw what Santa brought, he immediately started shooting baskets!


Enjoying all his loot...




Don't you love this outfit? New Buzz jammies with diaper sticking out, new slippers, some necklace I have no idea where he got, and a couple new bruises on his forehead! It was a fun day though!

Christmas Eve

All the ornaments are hung on the advent tree...

Christmas Elf (Jack's cousin Dewy)

On Christmas Eve we went to JP's sister's house and had dinner and played games. We enjoyed a traditional trumpet performance of Christmas carols by Jon Gibb and this year Grandpa DeWitt joined in too!

Christmas Party

Our friends had a party at their house the weekend before Christmas and Santa himself made a guest appearance! He answered questions for all the kids and even brought presents. Jack wasn't a huge fan and didn't want to be in the same room with Santa. I took him back upstairs to the playroom and when we were a safe distance away he said, "silly Santa."

Tree Tour

Every year we go to the home of JP's boss to deliver a Christmas gift and look at all her trees. She has several skinny trees tucked in every corner of the house and all are decorated with a different theme. Tonight I took pictures to share and some of them turned out blurry, but they're still fun to look at!

Countdown to Christmas

This weekend we went and saw the lights at Tuacahn and the live nativity show they put on. It was a lot colder than we thought it would be since we're not used to bundling up here, but we'll know better next year.



And one from earlier in the day...

Jack, Jack, Jack...

How can you be so cute one minute, but then so naughty the next? Like say whenever we try to take a family picture? Even bribing you with a sucker didn't help. Our Christmas cards might not include a picture this year!

6 Random Things

I was tagged by my cousin Rebecca to post 6 random things about myself. Some things you may already know; some things may be news to you. Here goes:

1. I have naturally curly hair which I loved when I was younger, but now I straighten my hair every day. Until it grows out more I do it straight, otherwise I look 12 years old.

2. I recycle. My husband makes fun of me for this because we don't have curbside pickup so I wait for the paper and plastic to pile up then drive to the industrial park to drop everything off about once a month. For all I know everything ends up in the trash anyway because that place is so unorganized, but I keep doing it. I also just bought canvas grocery bags to reuse every time I go shopping.

3. I love to listen to music. I always play CDs while I'm cleaning or listen to my iPod while working. My favorites range from older artists like Elton John and James Taylor to my new favorites: Maroon 5, Nelly Furtado, Damien Rice, Joe Purdy, and on and on. Listening to music also involves lots of singing along--usually in the car!

4. I like to clean. Well, I like my house to be clean so I try to keep it that way but some days are harder than others when Jack follows me around like a tornado undoing everything I put away. My favorite thing is vacuuming and I do that at least twice a week. Love my Dyson. I hate cleaning my shower though.

5. I love reality TV, namely Survivor. I've watched every season faithfully and it's still my favorite. I also enjoy The Amazing Race, Top Chef, American Idol, and I'm ashamed to admit this one, but The Hills--if you want to call it reality.

6. And lastly, I'm a nerd. That's JP's contribution after I asked him for ideas. He always made fun of how much time I spent doing homework when we were dating. Now I work part time as a programmer but another career I considered was teaching math!

Now you've learned 6 random things about me. If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we stayed home and got together with my sister along with both of JP's sisters and their families. We had breakfast at our house in the morning, then headed over to Jenny's house in the afternoon. Jack enjoyed every minute of all the time he spent with his cousins. Our food assignment was pies and I forgot to take a picture of the masterpieces JP made. We bought a pumpkin pie then he made a chocolate, apple, and cherry pie. Good stuff!



Jack is obsessed with wearing our shoes lately and these boots gave him some trouble, but he managed to take a couple steps! Later this same day he managed to fall pretty hard (not wearing these boots) and has a nice bruise in the middle of his forehead. The same thing happened last year right about the time I thought about taking his picture for a Christmas card. Hopefully it heals fast!


Tonight we hung lights outside and all the decorating is done inside. Can't wait to see what Jack thinks of Christmas this year since he's old enough to be excited about everything! It's so cute when he says "Santa" and I tried to catch it on video, but he was mumbling.

Ho Ho Ho!

Town Square

This past Saturday we went and checked out the new Town Square located where the old library used to be. They put in a fountain and other water features that will be especially nice during the hot summer months.

(Yes, he ended up slipping in the water!)

And a couple more cute ones from home recently...

29

Today is my birthday and I am now one year closer to 30! I had to stop and think about that because I can never remember how old I am anymore. In honor of my birthday, we went to a movie yesterday in an actual theater while Jack played with his cousins. When we went to pick him up, JP had arranged a little surprise party where I opened some gifts and we had cake and ice cream. It was a fun day and now I only have a few hours left to use the birthday excuse to not have to do anything around the house.

Here are some photos of Jack from the past week and one from last night where JP and Todd tried out one of my new gifts--a Wii game. JP insisted Jack picked it out himself.

Happy Halloween!

Jack went trick-or-treating with his cousins Cricket (Kim Possible), Tilly (a devil), and Dewy (Darth Vadar). As you can see it was impossible to get a picture with all of them in it.

Checking out each other's loot

Snack break

Pumpkin Patch

We made one more trip to the pumpkin patch last week and here are a few shots--including JP's favorite which is the last photo!

More from last weekend...

The cute couple at the wedding luncheon.

Brody was the entertainment at our table. The lunch was delicious, but unfortunaly JP and Jack missed it because Jack was being so terrible so JP took him home for a nap.

Causing trouble on the roof at the reception.

Keeping entertained

JP with our new niece Zaya and her big sister Sage.