After Christmas

Jackson has been loving his new presents. All he wants to do is play with them. Doug's the same way :)

Jackson got lots of art stuff for Christmas and with it he got this nice smock. I love it. It kept him so clean when he painted. I think he should just wear it all the time... Before I took this picture I took a few other ones trying to get a good one but he kept closing his eyes when he smiled so Doug told him to open his eyes and this picture is the result of that. Apparently he thought he had to open his mouth to get his eyes to open.

Jackson painting with his new art stuff.

Jackson in his "new" church outfit. It's new because he's never worn it before. But he's had it a year. I bought it for him last Christmas and he has kind of grown into it now. It's still pretty big on him. But he looks so handsome in it!

Jackson kept looking at his reflection in my new pot and say 'I want jello.' He kept doing it over and over and over again.

Christmas

On Christmas we opened presents at out our house in the morning around 9:30. The kids weren't even awake when we decided it was time to go down and open the presents. My parents came over right when we just about to go downstairs. A little later we went back to my parents house and stayed there all day and stayed the night there since it was still so snowy. We went home the next day during the day when it wasn't quite as cold. Santa brought the boys toothbrushes. Jordan loves to chew on his.

Jackson and grandpa looking through Jack's stocking.

Doug with his new toy... a Wii. He was pretty excited to get it.

Us with our matching pajama pants... and the boys in there matching Christmas sweatshirts.

Doug and Jackson playing the wii. Jack loved playing it. He played a golfing game. The next morning when he got up he said he wanted to play a game and when I asked what game he said "the golfing game"... He's already hooked. But we haven't showed him that we brought it here so he hasn't asked to play it since... I'm hoping that he just thinks it's at grandma's house.

Jackson with a box on his head.

Jack looks old in the picture to me. He's in his new Christmas shirt.

Jackson in a chair in the backyard. He loves playing in the snow now. Too bad for him that's it has mostly melted... Except for Doug's snowman outside.

Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve we went to my parents' house. It was snowing most of the day. There was much more snow there than at our house. We spent most of the day there then went home late that night. My dad drove us home because we were a little nervous our van wouldn't make it and he offered us a ride so we took it. Here's what we did:My dad and Doug shoveled the driveway and the back patio. There was so much snow there... I couldn't believe we were really in Washington. I don't remember it ever snowing this much here.

Doug eating the snow.

Jack and Doug walking up the road after sledding down it. I think it's so pretty with all the snow and trees.

Jack and Doug on the sled.

Every year we have pinata to break open. This year the pinata was pretty durable and lasted through everyone who wanted to hit. Usually it breaks off the hook and my dad has to tape it together at the top because it didn't really break open it just broke off. But this year it didn't fall off.

. Jackson hitting the pinata.

Me hitting the pinata.

Doug hitting the pinata.

Jackson after his nap. He likes to sleep under the mat in the playpen. I don't know how he could think that it's comfortable.

Cute Jackson

Playing in the Snow

Jack finally played in the snow tonight after much convincing from Doug and me. I really think that he thought we were crazy suggesting that we go play in the snow. He didn't seem to believe that people would do that and that it would be fun. But I showed him pictures of him playing in it last year and I think that helped convince him that it really isn't weird to go out in the snow. But he still kept saying that only Doug and I should go out. But once Doug went out and started shoveling it he wanted to go out too. He loved being out there and wanted to go out again after dinner.Doug trying to make a snowman... with a shovel.

Jackson excited to be out in the snow.

Walking in the snow.

He kept falling since the snow was pretty deep for his little legs. He couldn't get up when he'd fall. We told him he should lay down but he wouldn't. He just kept saying "help!"

His favorite part was making snowballs and throwing them... but that didn't really surprise me. Playing catch is one of his favorite things to do.

I gave him the great idea of shooting the snowball. That kept him occupied for awhile.

While Jack was busy playing Doug was still working on his snowman (except when he had to help Jack get up when he fell.) I've never seen anyone try to make a snowman like this.... and it didn't work very well; he decided to make a little mountain out of it instead.

He made it to the top!

Jackson sliding down the mountain slide.

Doug's turn!

Jordan was sleeping through most of it. When he woke up I showed him Doug and Jackson outside. He kept looking at them then turning around confused. I think he was thinking he was really seeing their reflections and was really confused that they weren't behind him. Then he just sat by the door watching them probably wanting to join them.

Gingerbread Houses

We made gingerbread houses tonight for family night. Jackson was pretty bored while we were building the house but he loved putting the candy on the house. He also loved eating the frosting. At first Jack didn't want to touch the house. Maybe it was because Doug and I kept saying do in carefully and such things so he was probably a little nervous that he was going to knock it over or something. But once he put one candy on he kept wanting to do more.

Jordan ate his first graham cracker today. He seemed to like it and didn't choke on it so I was happy too.

Doug and Jack with the finished house.

The view from the right.

The view from the left.

Big Boy

(sorry the movie is sideways... I thought this camera could take movies vertically)

Jordan is getting good at standing. He did it for the first time a few days ago and now he likes to come over to me and stand up and let go. He also tries to walk sometimes too... He can take one step sometimes, but usually he just falls when he tries to move. He's also figured out how to get the ornaments that were previously too high for him to reach... He was pretty proud of himself :)

Funny Faces

I was trying to do cool things with my camera and was using Jack and Doug as my subjects. My camera didn't do what I wanted it to do but I got some pretty funny pictures...

Crazy Snow

It's been snowing the past week and it's all been sticking. Usually snow doesn't stick around for very long here. People don't really seem to go out much when there's snow here because of all the hills and ice one them. But I've decided I kind of like the snow. I always hated it in Utah.. we actually the first time it would snow it was kind of exciting, but then it lasted for ever. At least here I know it should end soon. It's been nice just hanging out here. We haven't played in it... We don't really have snow clothes. Jack does, but there's so much snow I don't really want to go out in normal show and freeze my feet off. But the best part has been that Doug has been working from home since Thursday. It's fun having him here all the time and having him be done working earlier. But Christmas Eve and Christmas are almost here so hopefully it won't be too icy or snowy to get out then since we have fun things planned...plus we need milk very soon. Here's our backyard.

Christmas Jammies

I've been making Christmas pajamas for all of us this week. It was my first time using my sewing machine and so I had a hard time getting started. It used to be my mom's so she stopped by today while she was out running errands and helped to get it working. It wasn't working that well when she was there but it started working really good after she left so she must have fixed it. Thanks mom! I sewed most of the day. The boys were really good and let me sew while they entertained themselves and took good naps. I'm almost finished with Jack's pants. I just need to hem them then they'll be done! I'm really liking how their turning out. I still have a lot of work to do on the others but I have them cut out and sewn together so I just have to make them fit, finish the edges, do the waistband and the hemming. I haven't sewn since I took my sewing class in college before Jack was born, but I have been really enjoying it. I'll have to find something else to make when I finish these.

9 months old!

Jordan has now been nine months old for 4 days. I can't believe how big he's getting! I love his age right now. He's so much fun. I love that his little personality is coming out. I love how he loves to play with us and be with all of us. He also plays well by himself. He's getting pretty fast at crawling and is really good at pulling himself up and walking around furniture. He's been letting go of things to try to stand by himself the last few days. He doesn't last more than a second or two, but he tries. He loves his blankets. He has a few that he gets so happy when he sees them and crawls to them and tries to eat them. He also tries to eat anything else he can get his little hands on. Yesterday I came downstairs and he was holding a snowman candle eating the hat. He's always trying to pick things off of the floor to eat them. Today in the waiting room at the doctor's office he found some kid's leftover snack and was trying to eat it before I stepped in and saved him from probably some sick germs. He loves to get things I don't want him to get... like the Christmas tree lights (which he doesn't go for too much though), the remote controls, the phone, the computer and computer cords, any other cords he can find. I've nick named him trouble and Jack has started calling him that too sometimes. He'll say "mom, Jordan's trouble" and I know Jordan is getting into something he shouldn't be. He also loves to go into the bathroom. Whenever anyone heads that way he starts crawling as fast as he can to try to get in there too. I don't know what he likes about it. He doesn't seem to care too much about it if no one is in there most of the time. He has recently started to like to try to stand up at the toilet seat and unroll the toilet paper... I took him to the doctor today and he weighs 21.5 lbs (not up too much since last time), he's 31 inches tall, and his head is 18 inches around. The doctor said he's going to be tall!

He can hold his own bottle now. I (or Doug) usually do it for him still, but he can when I need him to... like during dinner-making time. I don't think Jack ever could really do this...

Showing off their presents

Jordan and Jackson in their new matching outfits. Now people are really going to think they're twins.

Jack got a doctor set from my sister. He loves it. He's putting a band aid on Jordan's knee.

He's taking Jordan's temperature... He tries to do it in the armpit. So he tried to get to the armpit by going in the arm hole.

Now he's checking Jordan's ear.

He's listening to his heart to make sure he's healthy.

Jordan got this car from my sister. It's a noisy toy which is how he likes them to be.

Jordan got this penguin from my parents. It's a pretty cool toy. When you push it down it pops back up. and it makes music and other sounds when you push it down. Jack especially likes to play with it. He really likes to hit it with bats and hammers, but I try to keep him from doing that... Jordan likes it too. He doesn't play with it for long periods of time but he'll go over there and push it around a few times and enjoy it. Their outfits are also new.

Jack wanted to hug the penguin for a picture.

Jackson hammering at his new tool bench. He calls it his work.

Jackson screwing in a screw. He always seems to be looking for his screw driver. He loves this thing. Jordan likes it too. He likes to pull himself up on it and often makes it fall down. He also enjoys eating the screws and nails.