Jackson's first Christmas

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas! We sure did. Little did we know that last Christmas would be our last Christmas as a duo. Jackson has  been such a wonderful addition to our family and he made the holidays all the better this year!

Our Christmas celebrating started on the 23rd with Marty's side of the family. His brother Stephen and his wife came in from Virginia and his brother Tom who has been in Minnesota came in however we didn't all get to get together. Tom and his wife Andrea tried to make it up but ended up getting stuck in Wilsonville and had to turn back around. It was a bummer that we couldn't all get together but the time we had with everyone else was wonderful. I ended up forgetting my camera so I will have to try to get some photos from Marty's mom and hopefully take more when we get together again tomorrow before Stephen and Kayleen head back to Virginia. 

We stayed the night with Marty's family Tuesday night then headed back to Dayton for Christmas eve evening with Anna's family. This is the first year we have not made a Christmas eve service. The services at our church were cancelled and it ended up taking us 3 hours to get back to Dayton so we were just tired and Jackson had enough so we stayed in. We had a great time wrapping presents. The boys spent a lot of 'boy time' in Anna's Dad's shop. It was fun to hear the loud man laughter coming from the shop while the girls took care of stockings, and watched more Christmas movies.

Christmas morning we woke up, read the Christmas story, opened presents and stockings, and had a yummy breakfast. Jackson got a lot of really fun presents, he is such a loved little man! Marty was thrilled that Jackson got some more books to add to his book collection. Marty is a bookaholic so is eager to pass that on to Jackson and so far, he seems to LOVE LOVE LOVE books!

We had Christmas dinner at Anna's Grandma's house. As always the menu was grand and we had VERY full bellies by the end of the night!

Here are some photos of our day. I have not been able to upload all photos yet as we have been taking photos with 3 different cameras the past few days. 

Blessings to you and your families! Stay warm and have a very Happy New Year!!

Some last minute gift wrapping in the shop

Singing Happy Birthday to Anna's youngest sister, Tasha. She is a Christmas baby.

Reading the Christmas story on Christmas morning.

The first present Jackson opened.

Daddy helping Jackson open his presents

Jackson with his stocking.

Jackson with some of his stocking presents

Happy boy on Christmas!

Ready to go to Great Grandma Dorothy's for dinner!

Mama with her baby on Christmas

Daddy with his little man on Christmas

More December fun

We have had a WONDERFUL December and hope you have too.  After our nephew's birthday party we got snowed in in Dayton. By the time the roads were decent again we would have to turn right around for more birthday celebrations and Christmas so we have just stayed. It's been wonderful! Here are some random photos of the last few weeks.

SNOW! Little did we know it would keep on coming, we measured over 17 inches on the 21st.

Jack hanging out in the wrap. Were helping/watching Mima make yummy Christmas candy!

After being stuck in the house for probably a week, we made a trip out to Walmart with Mima and Papa.

The snow was coming down pretty hard and Jackson was loving watching out the window while being cozy with Daddy.

We swaddle Jackson for bedtime and naps, he LOVES it. One morning we woke up  and one of his cute little hands had made an escape!

We took Jackson out to take some snow photos and he was soooo tired. He ended up just falling asleep.

Happy boy

Marty and Anna checking out the crazy snow

This is the play structure in my parents back yard, covered in snow.

More December fun and SNOW!

The December fun continues!

Thursday our sweet nephew, Ronnie turned 1 so we had dinner and celebrated with my brother and his family. Stay tuned for a blog with photos from Ronnie's parties.

Friday we had our December Friends gathering. We had a wonderful meal, hung out, did a gift exchange, and had some yummy deserts! I am kicking myself for not taking more photos. I didn't even get the camera out until we opened Jackson's present from Mike and Carol which was a cute cute hat. Reid, Jackson's buddy also got a cute hat so we HAD TO take photos of the babes in their new cool hats.

Saturday we had Ronnie's official birthday party. Lots of fun. (Again stay tuned for photos of that)

Sunday we got SNOW!! Yay! It has been coming down on and off and actually sticking!

Here are photos of our last few days...

Jackson and Reid in their new hats

Jackson LOVES books. He actually pays attention and kicks his legs, moves his arms, and talks while he is read to.

Our cute, crazy haired, baby.

Bright Blue eyed boy

Enjoying the snow

Can't get enough of those cheeks!

Such a happy little man

December fun...

December has been a pretty busy month for  us and were only a week into the month. We have several birthday's on Anna's side of the family, church events, Christmas gatherings, and other random traditions. We LOVE it!

Jackson is 9 weeks old now and we are enjoying him so much. He is usually a pretty laid back kid, almost always has a smile for you, and is just so darn cute! He has rolled over quite a few times but Anna refers to it as, "Tipping over." Either way, he has done it! Thursday Jackson had shots, it was definitely much harder on mom then it was on baby! Jackson did great, he cried after the first shot but we gave him his binkie so we think that helped him not freak as much. Mama picked him up as soon as they were done and he was asleep just a few minutes later. We were advised to give him Tylenol BEFORE his shots so we did. we have nothing to compare it too but he did pretty well. He felt a little warm that evening but we kept Tylenol in him for 24 hours following the shots and he seemed to be ok. He sure slept a lot though.

Saturday we did our Annual Gingerbread house making get together with Marty's best Friend, Eric's family. As always it was a blast! Eric's mom loved on Jackson while we made our house then afterward we all went to McMenamins Imbrie Hall for some grub. Good Times!!

Here are some photos..

Jackson in one of his pairs of winter Jammies. Too cute! They say, "Lil Man."

Jackson was 'rapping' a little Christmas jingle for us... ;-)

Jackson reading with Mama. He loves to be read to! 

Wearing his overalls for the first time.

Our Gingerbread house!

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