The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This Christmas instead of being stressed I tried to focus on the many Christmas blessings instead of the hustle and bustle.  I must admit it has been a major blessing to be a stay at home mom instead of a working mom, because I have more time at home to wrap presents, find good deals on gifts, run errands, etc.  We were blessed with a wonderful holiday season (other than the stomach bug that struck our home the week before Christmas).  Some of my favorite Christmas memories and pictures are below-

1- Jackson LOVED Christmas lights this year, so we had so much fun driving around at night and looking at houses.  My favorite expressions of his were "Wow!"  "Look at those lights!"  "Awesome!"
2- Jackson was really excited to go see Santa and tell him what he wanted.
3- Will loved our Christmas tree lights, whenever we came in and the lights were off he would go stand by the tree, point, and grunt for us to turn them on (or he would just turn them on himself, even though he got many spanking for it).
4- We bought Jackson a singing Christmas dog from Hobby Lobby.  Watching the boys to dance and sing with it was hilarious.  Will did a crazy one legged dance at least once a day with the dog.
5- Getting all of the adorable handmade ornaments that Jackson made during MMO- My favorite was the Rudolph made from Popsicle sticks.
6- Reading Christmas stories at bedtime
7- Baking and decorating sugar cookies with Jackson (Will only wanted to eat them)
8- All of the fun and memories we made with friends and  family during Christmas gatherings
9- Listening to Jackson sing Christmas carols loudly from his bed each night after we put him to bed (Ironically he wouldn't sing at all at his school's program.)
10- Talking about baby Jesus and the Christmas story with Jackson.  He is starting to understand and really getting into it this year
11- Seeing Christmas through the innocent eyes of a child has been so much fun!

 Aunt Loni and Will

 Kolas and his reindeer ears

Playing Lord of the Ring Legos 

 Jackson pretends to be invisible during the MMO Christmas Performance

Who need gifts when you have an old diaper box 

Mema, Will, and Me on Christmas Eve 

Jackson rocks out with his new guitar 

 

Jackson riding the horse Johnny and Renee sent

The new shelves Brian built for Jack's room 

Will's 18 Month Appointment

Today I took my smallest munchkin to the doctor for his 18 month appointment.  We saw Dr. Humphries and our favorite nurse, Ms. Kacie.  Will has really grown!  He is 27 lbs. just a few lbs. shy of Jackson.  He is in the 98% for the his height and the 90% for his weight.  He is not saying as many words as he should be, but we are working on it!  I guess, sniff sniff, I need to try to eliminate his pacifier some during the day since it seems to be slowing down his speech.  He had a hard day, and he has been running a slight fever I think due to the vaccinations.  Hopefully he will be back to 100% tomorrow.

Praying for my Children

Praying for your children is so important.  I feel like praying for my boys daily is the one of the greatest gifts I can give to them.  Today I was on Facebook and the christian author, Lysa TerKeurst, posted the comment below and I really love it. 

Here are 3 prayers that I pray over my kids every day:

* I pray they grow up to be some of the most godly people in their sphere of influence.

* I pray that they would be caught when they make wrong choices. 

* I pray that God would save them from the wrong friends and save them for the right friends. And that goes for their future spouses as well.

I have currently been reading the Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartin.  She really encourages parents to pray for their children using scripture.  She always encourages you to make a prayer list/journal over things you should pray for your child each year.  I agree with Lysa and always try to pray for my boys to have godly friends and godly spouses.  Friends are so important in guiding the path of your life.  I truly feel God has blessed me with many wonderful friends who have encouraged me spiritually and guided me down the right path.  I have also had other relationships that were not a good influence on me.  If my boys read this one day, I hope you will look at your relationships closely and ask yourself and God if you are surrounding yourself with the right kind of friends.  We talk about this verse a lot in my bible study and I love to pray it for my boys and others-

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

Ho Ho Ho!!!

He's jolly, full of good cheer, and gives away toys.  Who wouldn't love Santa?  That would be Will!  Jackson loves him though and told him that he would like guns, a guitar, helicopter, and more tractors.  All I can say is you definitely don't have to teach little boys to love manly things.  The great part about our Santa visit was they gave me a little receipt to view the pictures online so I didn't even have to buy the bad pictures, I just got to keep them digitally for free.

 This picture was half way decent even though Will wouldn't sit with Santa

 Jackson was doing a really fakey smile by this point

Santa's looking like he can't wait for his break.

Jackson's 3rd Birthday

I feel like we have been celebrating Jackson's 3rd birthday for the whole month of November.  Instead of a party with friends this year, Jackson was excited to go to Build a Bear with one of his besties' Kolas.  Jackson chose to make a monkey, and named him Fred Monkey.  Kolas made a cute orange bear covered with pumpkins (his name is Pumpkin Bear aka Batman Bear when he has on his Batman costume).  I was upset I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures to include of our adventure.

On Jackson's actual birthday, we had a small fiesta at Mimi's house that included presents and chocolate cake (again forgot my camera, but hopefully we'll download some from Papa's camera and add some soon).  The day after Jack's big day, we packed up the van and headed north to Grammy and Pap Pap's.  We had another big birthday bash there with all of the Gannon clan.  Needless to say, Jackson has been spoiled with a lot of cake and new toys.

Here are some fun facts about my big guy as he turns the Big THREE-
His loves are-

- Jimmy's Restaurant turnip greens, noo noos (mac and cheese)
- Construction machinery (that's his big thing right now)
- Mighty Machine movies
- Cake, berries, chicken nuggets, sweet tea, broccoli, beans, cheese sticks, and more cake
- Shows- Chuggington (aka Chug and Chug), Mickey Mouse Club House, and Calliou
- Racing around the yard
- Playing with buddies at school/church
- Reading books (His favorites are Audrey Wood's, Truck books, and Cliffords)
- He loves to go Wal-Mart and Publix and help me shop
- Coloring
- Wrestling with brother

There are so many things I love about this little man but here are some of my favs at this age-
- His big smiles (the little crinkle at the top of your nose when you grin really big)
- All of the funny expressions he makes
- How he notices little things, like my new toenail polish or my earrings
- The cute way he pronounces the "r" sound as a "w" sound
- When he comforts Will when he is upset
- When he says "I think that's a good idea" about all of the things he wants to do
- Our nightly prayer time when you thank God for all of the "little" things

 All of the Gannon grandkids (Will did NOT want to sit still for this)

 Jackson and Daddy at the Reston Christmas Parade

 Time for cake

 Jackson loved the red icing on the cupcakes

 Jackson and the girls playing

My loves the morning after we got back

Happy Halloween

This year we had a superhero, Spider Man, and a pumpkin come hang out with us on Halloween.  This was the first year that Jackson really told me what he wanted to be.  We have never even watched Spider Man, but somehow he is really into him!  Will was pumpkin, because I found his costume for $5 at a consignment sale.  We had fun trick or treating at Mema's retirement home, and then we went to our church's trunk or treat.  Jackson has had way too much sugar, and now that the kids are in bed, I can eat some of my favorite candy!

 Spider Man showing off his muscles

 Visiting Mema at her home

Will and one of this besties', Miss Jaymes

It's Fall Y'all

This past week, we had some super fall fun (sorry for the cheesy intro- it is just the elementary school teacher in me).  We just visited Denver Downs this weekend for the first time with our Sunday school class and had a blast.  It will definitely be added to one of our fall family traditions.  I also went with Jackson's preschool to Calaham Orchards.  Last night, the boys and I carved a jack-o-lantern and toasted pumpkin seeds.  The older I get the more I enjoy this time of year.  The leaves crackling, playing outside, and seeing all of the fun decorations makes me so excited for Halloween and Thanksgiving.  The beauty of the leaves is just a reminder of how beautiful God's creation is. 

 Jackson milking the cow at Calaham's

 Will loving the air pillow at Denver Downs

 Daddy and both the boys

 Riding the cow tractor pull

 Will and Daddy

Jackson as a scare crow

Grammy and Gigi Visit

Brian had to travel this month for work, so we had an extra special visit from Grammy and Gigi.  They flew down south on an "airpwane" as Jackson calls them.  The boys were treated to a fun visit to the Children's Museum and we all visited Sky Top Orchard together.  If you haven't been to Sky Top, I definitely recommend it.  There is so much fun for all ages.  Our family loved the apple donuts and we tasted Asian pears for the first time!

 Sitting in the pumpkin wagon

 Yet again, another picture where at least one person is not looking at the camera

 Grammy and Jackson on the swing

 Will was sucking down cider most the of the day, he loved his apple sippy

 Jackson and sad pumpkin face

Reading books at the end of day

Pigeon Forge

I am very behind in my postings.  We had a great time in Pigeon Forge when we vacationed there last month.  The boys loved Dollywood, maybe as much as me.  Going to Dollywood made me feel like I was ten years old again.  I had such a blast!  We also got to hike and sight see around the beautiful Smoky Mountains.  Jackson loved looking at the all of the classic cars since it was classic car week.  Below are some my favorite pics of the family.

 Jackson as we set out on our trail adventure

Taking a snack break, anyone who know Jack knows we can't go far without food!

Mimi and Will 

 The Pigs were one for their favorite rides

Our family picture- We don't have any where we all look at the camera

Our little engineer

Beach Time

We recently visited Kure Beach, NC for vacation with my husband's family.  They rented a beautiful town home with a pool that was only a block away from the beach.  The boys had a great time visiting with Grammy, Pap Pap, Gigi, Uncle John, Aunt Niki, and their cousins, Kyleigh and Camryn.  Jackson had a blast getting so much attention from the family, especially from his beautiful big girl cousins.  Jackson had been talking about the trip for weeks.  He was excited to see everybody.  He wanted to be involved in every aspect of the trip, even packing.  As we were packing our bags, Jackson was helping us pick toys he wanted to take.  Suddenly he grabs his bib off the table shoves it in the bag and says loudly, "We gonna need to eat at the beach!"  And eat he did, he carried around some type of snack or ice cream the entire time we were there.  Some of the highlights of our trip were visiting the aquarium, going to the town of Wilmington, flying a kite on the beach, going for almost daily ice cream trips, and splashing in the pool and ocean.  We enjoyed some great family time together.

Jackson doing his favorite thing, digging!

 Enjoying the carnival