Santa Claus came to town

They say that Christmas really is "for the kids" and I completely understand why now. Jackson has been so excited about Santa and Santa came through in a big way this year. We went to church on Christmas Eve with my family. The service was really good and Jackson was even better. Jared and I sat in amazement for an hour and 15 minutes as Jackson sat in "big church" and didn't make a peep. After church, we had dinner at Gigi and Boom's house and then got to open some presents.

Jackson was really good that night, but he did NOT want to take a picture with his sweet parents!! Guess he still is only 22 months old:)

Gigi and Jackson with me and Madison.

Such a great smile...love those dimples:)

The second present Jackson opened was a cookie jar. It was such a big hit that he didn't want to open anything else for the rest of the night! Whenever I'd hand him a present, he'd shake his head no and say, "Cookie!"

Santa worked very hard to put this Rock and Roll Pony together for Jackson. Good thing it was such a big hit!

Jackson's favorite presents from us were his belt and boots. Hmmm...think that has anything to do with him wanting to be just like daddy?

Playing on a toy from Gigi while wearing his new cowboy boots

We went over to the Hays' for dinner on Christmas night. Here's Jackson driving his new car from his Uncle Scott and Uncle Drew.

He got so excited about this that he ran into the Christmas tree and tipped over the car!! A minor crash, but it sure was funny.

After the car scare, he decided it was much safer to play with his new train set. Mamaw is showing him that his new Thomas the Train is also a flashlight...

BONUS!

The last toy of the night was the tried and true Sit and Spin. Jackson went in many a circle on this toy and loved every second of it.

One last pic of the gang before we all went home that night.

Thank you Gigi, Boom, Meme, Madison, Mamaw, Poppy, Scott, Andrew, Carolyn, Pa, Amy and Chris for a wonderful Christmas.

Happy Belated Birthday, Mamaw!

This is a little bit late, but better late than never. Last Saturday was Mamaw's (Jackson's grandma's new name) birthday. The whole gang was in town and we went out to dinner to celebrate.

Before dinner, Jackson helped Mamaw open her presents.

Then we all took a family photo for the Hays Christmas card. Don't worry, most of the group did change clothes before we went out, so we weren't the weird family in all white:) We had such a great time at Brio...if you haven't been there yet, check in out.

Merry Christmas

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day. Jackson certainly had the Christmas spirit. We had such a good time celebrating with both families.

Whenever he saw Santa or heard anyone say the word he hollered, "Ho Ho Ho!" He loves his Santa hat, too:)

Santa's Village

Friday night Gigi and Boom went to Santa's village with us. It was such a neat place and had lots of fun things to do. Jackson got to see Santa arrive in a fire truck, make an ornament, pet some baby animals and absolutely loved the whole night. Who am I kidding? I thought Santa's village was super fun, too.

Jackson and Gigi outside of Frosty the Snowman's house

Jackson meeting Frosty. He was such a nice snowman, but this is as close as Jackson would get to him.

In front of the fountain


Jackson petting all the goats. He's quite of fan of goats.


And he really liked the chickens, too:)

Fun with my cousin

Miss Madison came over to play yesterday and she and Jackson had a big ol' time. Mostly their time was spent destoying my house...truth be told, Jackson was the main culprit! Check out my house after they had been playing for a little while.

They managed to pull out virtually every toy that we have in the house in a matter of 10 minutes. I let them do this because I was trying to get all of my Christmas cards ready to mail. I think it was a win/win for all of us. They had a great time and I got my cards in the mail today!


Their expressions when I said "say cheese." Madison is such a natural and Jackson is the forever silly goose:)

I did manage to get one good picture of both of them.

Christmas Tree Shopping

This past weekend Jackson went to visit a Christmas tree farm with his grandma and grandpa. They had so much fun and took lots of pictures for me.

Grandpa, Jackson, Curious George, Bear and Santa...what a crew!

Look, mom! I cut down such a big tree!

Playing in the hay

such the outdoorsman

They even had a little area with animals for the kids to enjoy. I'm sure Jackson told this bunny "hop, hop, hop" about 32 times:)

Happy Birthday Hubby

Happy Birthday, Jared! Yesterday was a very big day in the Hays Household. It started out by us going on a breakfast date to Waffle House since it's one of Jared's favorite places.

The afternoon was filled with lounging around the house and lots of football. Here are my two guys enjoying some goldfish and cheering on the Cowboys.

For dinner we had my parents and Jared's parents over to the house. Both kids were really good--Miss Madison enjoyed eating her puffs while the rest of us chowed down on chicken pasta.

And now for the good stuff. Can you believe that Jared is 29?! I can't...probably because that means in only a few short months, I too will be just shy of 30. Holy moly.

Jackson was really excited about the birthday celebration all day and kept saying "Happy" and clapping his hands. He really liked singing Happy Birthday to Jared. So cute.

He was also a big help unwrapping presents this year. I cannot wait to see him dig in to all of his Christmas presents.

Nicest Dog Ever

I'm sure you've all heard, but it has been a trying 10 years with our black lab. If you've ever read the book "Marley and Me," that's what I'm talking about! She goes crazy at even the thought of a thunderstorm, shoot, what am I saying...just a little rain freaks her out! If I'm not home when this happens, she will jump up on our bed and pee right in the middle of it. Yes, a 75 pound dog has peed on our bed numerous times, which is why I have often threatened to give her away. Even with all her flaws, though, Sadie really is the nicest, most tolerant dog on the planet. She lets Jackson pretty much do anything to her and very rarely gets upset. If she does get annoyed, she'll just walk away. I'm not sure what she thinks about his latest antics, though...

Last night Jackson decided that he would ride Sadie like a horse. To my surprise, she actually sat there and let him do it for a long time.

He was bouncing up and down on her and she was such a good sport. Thanks, Sadie! You're slowly redeeming yourself:)

First Day of School

Yes, I finally did it. I mean, we finally did it. We put on our big girl and big boy pants and went to school. Yesterday was Jackson's first day of Mother's Day Out and it really went well, all things considering. The day could not have started out much worse. First, the spring on our garage door broke at 8:40 am. Jackson was just finishing up his pancakes when we heard the loud kaboom in the garage. I went out to investigate and couldn't see anything right away, so I decided to open the garage and check the outdoors. After I pressed the garage door button it only opened about 3 inches. Arghhh!!! I have an intense hatred for malfunctioning garage doors and did not have time to mess with it right then! After a few frantic calls, I finally found someone who would let me borrow their car.

(quick pic before we flew out the door)

A few minutes later we took off in a mad dash down the street (school started at 9am) and hopped in our neighbor's car. That's when I noticed problem number 2...Jackson had peed and somehow the diaper had failed, a phenomenon that still baffles me. Of course, I didn't have a change of clothes, since it was our first day, so off we went to school. The teachers were really nice and told me they would take care of everything. After a tearful goodbye, I left my little guy for a day of fun.

Jackson loved wearing his "back back" and looked so old to me!

He had such a good time at school and got a glowing report. I am such a proud mom! After we got home, I went through his school folder and found all of the activities that he did--letter and shape of the day, made an angel ornament decorated with glitter and a few other arts and crafts. I know this is going to be such a positive thing for both of us. I cannot wait to see how much he learns over the next few months. And one more thing, the five hours to myself were pretty good, too:)

Weekend get-a-way

This past Saturday Jackson, Jared and I headed up to Lake Texoma for a little weekend relaxation. We really enjoyed our time together, just the three of us...didn't do a whole lot, which was the whole point of going up there, and it was so nice!

Jackson playing outside. He decided that he's no longer boycotting hats and opted to wear his daddy's. Pretty funny that it almost fit him. The kid has always had a big head!

Jared (aka Jackson's new BFF) and Jackson

All three of us went for a spin around the neighborhood. Jackson was mesmerized with the golf cart and loved driving it. He actually spent an additional 30 minutes pretending to drive the cart after we got back and parked it inside the garage:)