Christmas Cheer

It was alive and well this year at the Mitchell/Terry households! We had so much fun this holiday season thanks to our families and of course Jackson. It was so wonderful to see Christmas through his eyes this year, well with the exception of our Santa visit (he was not a big fan). :)

We headed over to BJ's parents for Christmas eve and met up with a group of other family members. Then Christmas morning we opened presents just the 3 of us at our house before heading back to Nana and Papa's house (BJ 's parents) for our second Christmas morning festivities. Unfortunately Papa had gotten really sick the night before so we changed plans mid morning and decided to head to Chelan to see Grandma and Grandpa Terry. There we had our third Christmas! I know Mom and Dad loved spending the day with us, well mainly Jackson, because they will not see us again until February.

Thanks to Santa (aka Mom and Dad) I'm writing this blog on my new iPad! It is definitely one of my favorite gifts this year. I had to steal it away from BJ... he's having way too much fun playing games on it. .:)

Our family on Christmas eve... in case you are wondering, Jackson is a monster!

BJ and I... we hardly ever get a picture of the two of us these days

Jackson and his cousins Haylee and Kyla (monster again)!

Christmas morning... Santa came :)

Getting the hang of opening gifts

 Playing with his new Buzz toy

 Drawing on his new easel (note the left hand)

 Jackson loves his new CAT dump truck

 Christmas breakfast = pancakes

 Opening gifts at Nana and Papa's house

 Passing out gifts at G & G Terry's house

 Opening more gifts - what a lucky kid

Aunt Stacey helping open his new Woody and Jesse dolls

The Terry clan with the gift I made Mom

Ok, I have to admit, I didn't finish this post on my iPad.  I found out I can't format using the BlogPress App so we'll see how the next post goes.  I'm going to try to do it just using my iPad if my type A can handle it. :)

Winter Wonderland

Well, we had been getting winter storm warning messages on our phones late last week but both of us figured we'd get the minimum.  Four inches and it would be done snowing.  Well, we were wrong and the weatherman was finally right!  It started snowing at 10am Saturday morning and didn't stop until around 10pm that night.  It dumped over a foot of wet snow and it was beautiful. The best part was Jackson was ready to put on his gear and go play. He is finally getting used to his heavy snow boots and doesn't mind them anymore.  Good thing since we spent $40 on them. :)

Getting all geared up to go outside!

Nana (BJ's Mom) came over and played in the snow with us.

 She helped make snowballs Jackson could throw. :)

 Poor BJ... I don't think he had quite as much fun with the snow.  He had a couple rounds of snow blowing the driveway as well as digging us out after the snow plow plowed us in.

Jackson loved the flying snow from the snow blower!

 Look at how big the snowflake is in front of Jackson's coat.

 Another shot of the big snowflakes.

 If you look hard, you can see BJ making Hunter a path in our backyard.

 Hunter loved it!

 These last two pics are from the snow storm we had prior to this last one (not quite as much snow). It was the first time Jackson had played in the snow.

My Lil Big Man

Taking Jackson to get a haircut is always bittersweet for me.  I love it when his hair is short because it is so much easier to manage his bedhead.  However, it always makes me sad to see how grown up he looks when his hair is short. :(  This last time was no exception... especially because he is so grown up now that he wanted to sit in the chair all by himself.  I didn't even have to talk him into it or bribe him. :)  He didn't need me.  He just climbed right up and sat there waiting for Carlee to start cutting his hair.  So for the first time, I was able to sit back and watch and of course, take pictures! 

Here he is with his little cape on! Up there all by himself like a big boy.

  So excited to get his hair cut.

 Looking a little ragged - now you see why I like it short.

 So thankful for Carlee. She is so good with him.

 The finished product!

Deck the Halls

This year I was especially excited to put up our tree.  Every time we were out and about with Jackson and would see a lit Christmas tree, he loved it.  So last Saturday, BJ lugged out our fake tree from the garage and we started putting it together during Jackson's nap time. From some reason, every year this tree ends up a pain to put together.  We decided to label it last year so we knew EXACTLY which plugs went together. Well... a couple hours and a few arguments later, we finally found the stupid #3 plug in that had been missing and were able to complete the tree.  We had to laugh afterwards because no matter what we do, this tree is a nightmare for us. 

So Jackson wakes up from his nap and we are SO excited to show him the tree.  Well... we bring him downstairs and he could care less!  He just wanted to have some juice and play.  The only redemption is that when we decided to start decorating it, he was all over it.  BJ grabbed the camera and got some good shots of Jackson's first tree decorating experience. I think he realizes now how fun Christmas time can be. :)

Putting on our first ornament!

Getting the hang of it - no pun intended. :)

 BJ made us pause for a picture... Jackson was not too thrilled

I got to take a few pics while BJ helped

 So happy to be helping

 Asking for another "ball"

 Apparently I wasn't fast enough because he took matters into his own hands. :)



We Are Thankful

First and foremost, we are most thankful for the health of our families this year.  There have been some challenging times in 2010 so we are so happy that everyone is healthy now.  I have also realized lately that I am extrememly thankful for the roof over my head.  We have had some cold weather lately (it was even in the negatives) and I can't imagine what it is like for those less fortunate.   

For Thanksgiving this year, we headed up to Chelan to spend time with Mom and Dad.  It was a great day and Jackson had a lot of fun playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house!  And he got to see Aunt Stacey and even gave Randy a hug bye as long as I would hold his hand. :)  Here are some pics from the day...

Playing Legos with Aunt Stacey (I think Aunt Stacey had more fun than Jackson!) 

Trying to get a family picture. It's always a challenge with Jackson.

Playing with Grandma Pat

And Grandpa Steve

After the feast :)



The Hunter is Home

And by hunter, I'm not talking about our dog! :)  The hunter I am speaking of is BJ and it was a long two weeks at home without him.  I thought I appreciated how hard it was to take care of a child by yourself but after this hunting trip, I have a whole new appreciation.  Seriously, I'm not sure how the single parents out there do it (well, I guess they don't have a choice).  But really, being a parent is hard work and especially when you add sickness to the mix.  So... we are SO happy he is home.  I was amazed by the change in Jackson's whole demeanor last night when getting to see his Dad for the first time.  He was so happy, it just melted my heart. We are complete again. :)

As we were talking about his trip last night, I asked BJ if he took many pictures.  I should have known the answer was no (other than a few cell phone pics) like usual.  Luckily, his cousin Chad came through!  He posted an album to Facebook so I quickly saved off a couple to share. :)  Chad won't mind (I hope!). 

Chad took some beautiful scenery pics.  Here are a couple of my favorites... 

 Here is the hunter with his deer.  Not the "big" one he wanted but at least he got one.

And I had to include a picture with Chad.  After all, I did steal his pictures.

Finally, here is camp.  As you can clearly see, they are roughing it.  Our trailer is the one in the back corner behind BJ's truck.