Monday, December 29, 2014

Our Trip - Part 1 - Travel

I thought you might enjoy seeing some glimpses of our trip so far! Here you go…


Before we hit the road we attended our church’s Christmas Eve Service.
The reason Nik and I match is because we had reading parts and were asked to wear those colors :)
It was a beautiful, meaningful service. 
I am so thankful to be a part of this church family.

As soon as the service was over…we hit the road!

When Jaxen wasn’t sleeping (which was not that often)...

he was playing with his toys...

or watching movies!

A family pic. This was Christmas Day. 

We ate our Christmas Dinner at Waffle House. 
This is the “after”. We were too hungry to get a “before”!

We worked really hard to keep Jaxen entertained while we traveled.

And he kept busy calling his friends from back home -
updating them on the latest travel tips!

For lunch we finally found a Chick Fil A. Yeah!!!!!
It was so good. We plan on eating there a few times before we head home!

The last 2 hours of the trip Jaxen finally fell asleep and woke as we were pulling into town.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Christmas Again

Saturday we celebrated a second Christmas…with Nik’s family! I’m so glad we were able to be here and spend some time with them. Jaxen is having a great time with his grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins.

His grandparents made Jaxen a special gift this Christmas. Take a look!


Ta-da! It’s a Mater-Chair (Mater - from the movie “Cars”)!

Here is a better view of it

It even has a working wench on it!

They also made Kyleigh a Minnie Mouse Rocking Chair, which is adorable...

and Caleb and Bella a picnic table!

Such talent!!!

And all the kids enjoyed the gifts!



Jaxen received some other really fun Christmas presents as well.



We are having a great time with our family!

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Our Days Lately

We have had some busy days with a nice mixture of quiet and relaxation thrown in there. The best kind of days for this season!


Sunday morning we had a beautiful service at church. 
I love that a cross was included with the manger…
Because, really, you can’t have one without the other. 

The sacrifice of Jesus on a cross, all began with a manger. 
I pray that this Christmas you understand God’s gift to you, His Son - in a manger.


Other happenings this week…


 Jaxen spent a lot of time playing with some of his new toys.
I’m actually so glad we decided to do Christmas presents early this year. 
It has really worked out well for our family!

 On Monday, Jaxen and I ran a few errands getting ready for our upcoming trip.
I love this jacket. It was a hand-me-down and is so cute. And the boy isn’t too bad lookin' either!
Even with that goofy grin :)

We didn’t get a Sunday Selfie, so here is a Monday Selfie for you!

Monday night we enjoyed one last fire before our trip.
Nik built a really great fire. It was so warm and cozy.
And…I even roasted a few marshmallows that night in the fire!
Then Jaxen saw me and he ate about 4 marshmallows, straight from the bag.
He is my kid.

Tuesday night we had a Christmas Eve Eve party with our small group. 
One of the families has an indoor pool and told all the dads/kids that they could go swimming. 
Such a treat!

The party was complete with soups, appetizers, desserts…all so very yummy!
And a lot of laughter and happy sighs. 
We even had a small birthday celebration for one of the ladies in our group.

After the kids swam and everyone ate we attempted to get a group picture of the kids.
Jaxen was not cooperative. He wanted to play.
Finally, we got him (and Nik) in the picture!

We had one other boy who was not feeling well.
We talked the mom into the picture as well :)

What a great group of kids - I’m so glad Jaxen has all these little friends!
After we were done taking pictures, we realized the littlest was not in the picture. 
Next time (she is just a few months old and was sleeping)!

This picture is really just to show you the size of that tree - It was huge and beautiful!

It was a late night, but really really fun!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Christmas!!!

Well, since I decorated my house so early I decided we might as well celebrate Christmas early too! Just kidding (kind of). That is not the reason…but we did open our gifts early this year. Because of traveling to see family next week and Nik’s work schedule I decided that Saturday would be the best day for us to open gifts. We had a completely free Saturday and so, why not!


Friday night, Nik put together a little grill that we purchased for Jaxen…
all ready to go!

It was love at first sight! 
He had the best time cooking and serving us from his little grill!


Checking out his stocking...

Clothes were the least favorite…
but check out those big-boy-underwear! Soon, I keep saying!

 Here he is, trying to hand me a gift. 
He is saying “Here you go” which is his new favorite thing to say!

Playing with his new Magna-Doodle in between gift opening.

He got a new watch, just like Daddy’s!

He loved this little Cash Register.
Pretty much the rest of the day, he checked out groceries for us and took all our money!



That was a little snap shot into our Christmas morning. It was complete with Monkey Bread for breakfast, a morning nap on the couch for me, an afternoon nap for Nik and Jaxen, and an overall lazy day! Perfect!

It was so much fun buying for Jaxen and then watching him open his gifts. I know that is not the most important part of Christmas - but it is a part - and it made my heart pretty happy today!

Christmas is not over though - We are still celebrating! We have “Christmas Sunday” tomorrow, a party to attend on Tuesday and a beautiful Christmas Eve service that we are a part of on Wednesday. 

Friday, December 19, 2014

Pictures From My Phone

Every now and then I go through the pictures on my phone and delete all the “accidental” ones Jaxen has kindly taken for me. Then I see pictures that I have not yet posted on the blog. That is what this post is. Pictures from my phone, not yet on the blog! Clever post, huh?!


It snowed last week! Here are a few pics...


Icicles from our bathroom window. It’s hard to tell, but they were really big!

Jaxen cracked me up when he insisted on having his sippy cup in the tub with him.

This boy is a stinker. Don’t let that face fool you!

And he is an entertainer!

Where’s Jaxen?! (in the white bin, under the blanket)

While waiting to get his haircut - this little waterfall entertained him!
He could see his reflection and it was so funny watching all his funny faces :)

Haircut! 
And yes, I bribed him with taffy to sit in the chair all by himself. He did great!

Jaxen gave us a concert today. He is belting it out!

Nik and Jaxen love to run at each other and tackle. This is their “ready” stance.

This is them running at me!

“Ready” stance. 

Go get momma!


That’s all folks! 
It’s almost Christmas…!