Our Christmas...

I had this ONE goal: to survive until Christmas.

I did it!

Jarom was so much help in making Christmas happen this year. Usually I do all the decorating, shopping, wrapping and planning. This year he did it all:)

I even laid on the couch while he decorated the tree. I would bark orders like this one, for example,

"See the red and green polka dot ball...stick that to the right of it."

This went on for HOURS & HOURS until I pulled out the last box of Tree stuff and he decided that was enough. I think his exact words were something like...
"This is called OVERKILL...it looks like something exploded!"

So I nicely closed the box and thanked him a billion times for actually doing as much as he did:)

The patience that man was blessed with is totally unfair to the rest of us.

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The good news is...against all odds...it still felt and looked alot like Christmas at our house.

The Family Room Tree

The Office Tree

Jarom refused to put up any more of my trees. I don't blame him:)

Moving on.....

Hard to believe that next Christmas we will have 5 stockings hanging from the mantle.
Jarom is just happy that we have a FULL YEAR before the trees and christmas figures will be blocking portions of his TV. :):)

So....A few weeks ago a lady in our ward read a small christmas story. In this story, a mother displayed her nativity scene on the table at Christmas time and explained the story of Christ's birth and the importance of each figurine to her small child.

Each morning she would get out of bed, walk into the kitchen, and notice that all the animals and figurines weren't in their proper places. Instead they were all shoved inside the manger and crowded together.

She would call him over and explain that he wasn't allowed to touch or move any pieces of the nativity.

The following morning....the nativity would be the same....with every piece crowded together and shoved inside the manger.

Angrily she called her son over and asked him WHY? Why did he repeatedly touch the figurines when she asked him not to??

He simply replied..."All of them couldn't see Baby Jesus."

It was a darling story.

A few mornings later I was cleaning and vaccuming the rug next to my nativity and noticed something a little different....

Jax had the very same idea it looks like:) He had moved all of the sheep and donkey into a better position. When I asked him why???
He had the very same response as the Christmas Story I had heard:

"This way...they can see Jesus better..." he said.

I agreed. We kept it that way.

Did I tell you that a few weeks before Christmas my parents stopped by and made a gingerbread house with Jaxson?!? I have pictures of it even....I should look for them:)

I was so sick and hadn't moved from the couch for a few days....so I think they felt like doing something fun and special with him to counteract my complete neglect.
It worked! He loved it.

We kept it displayed in the kitchen for the entire month!
Occasionally I would see pieces of candy and chunks of icing missing from a window or the roof.
Jaxson fully admitted to ripping off chuncks and consuming it when I wasn't looking:)

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CHRISTMAS EVE

I had Jaxson dressed for the occasion and looking handsome. It's just that the second he got to nanny's he ripped into his suit case...found his pajama pants and a comfy t-shirt and started playing the Wii.

The non-exhausted version of me would have put up a fight so he didn't look homeless in my Christmas Even pictures. BUT....I am exhausted. WAYYY to exhausted to force him to do things he doesn't want to do:)

Therefore.....he looked like this for our wonderful evening full of traditions.

(sitting in front of nanny's tree...getting ready to open Christmas Pj's)

Jax always gets Pj's and a game to play that evening.

BEHOLD: The One and ONLY picture of myself at Christmas.
You can easily spot where the babies are making their new home:)
It hurts. I honestly feel tearing pain in the night because I'm growing so fast.
The joys:)

It's a tradition for my parents to give us each a new Christmas Story/Book on Christmas eve and we read it together as a family. It's become something we all really look forward too. I also have a huge collection of beautiful Christmas books to read to Jaxson so it's special every single year to add to the collection.

Jaxson never gets tired. I mean....for FOUR YEARS OLD he really never needs a rest, nap or a reasonable bedtime! It makes me crazy...but is more shocking than anything. He can outlast anyone in my family by far. It makes the whole "SANTA...needing to come to town" quite difficult. We all bribed him and begged him to sleep or lay down at around 11:00 p.m.

That was never gonna happen.

The trick was letting him lay in nanny and papa's big bed and watch ICE AGE on their TV.
He finally fell to sleep around 12:30 a.m. I think:)
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Finally, SANTA CAME!
&
left Jaxson enough to keep him busy until next year:)

Among some of his favorites for 2011 were....
(for journaling sake)

His Remote Control Helicopter

A Nintendo 3DS and games
(LOVED his face in this one:)

Skylanders! These little creatures have taken over our life.
The Wii Game, Portal and LOTS of the little Skylanders from Nanny!

We had to snap one with little Lexi-loo.
Jaxson's One and Only cousin:)

He also got a fun Paint your Dino kit.
This kinda thing is right up his alley.....

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Which is why.....he had to paint it the second he could!
Other than trying out his new Wii games and electronics...it was first on the list:)

Oh yah....
Does your kid like Cool-Whip???
Mine does.

When I look at these pictures I can't decide it it's complete and utter neglect that he helped himself to cool-whip for lunch....or if he is really the luckiest kid in the world.
Toss-up...for sure. ha!

I bought it to make pies...so it wasn't the small package either.
When I walked in the kitchen...he was really going for it!
Made me laugh:)

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The Holiday was magical and fun for Jaxson.
It was a lot of work for Jarom.
I lived through it....and really enjoyed the parts where I felt a little LESS like all of my insides wanted to be on my outside:) Blah.

One thing is for sure...next Christmas will be awesome.
I plan on having the OLD ME back and three little faces to smooch on and spoil:)
Here's to hoping:):)

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The new year...brings with it lots of changes...and hopefully the first one will be a magical cure to the all-day sickness! I am hopeful.

It would be nice if I could win the lottery or find an unlimited supply of energy so I can take care of 2 babies and a kindergartner and still repay all the wonderful people who continue to help me!!!
2012 will be FULL.
It will also be the best year I've had since the birth of Jaxson in 2007.

Definitely something to look forward too!

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For NEW YEARS we celebrated with a group of 25 friends and family at Soldier Hollow.
Nothing like ringing in the new year by flying down an icy-snow-packed mountain on a tube.
I couldn't participate. For obvious reasons.

I really think I would have been just fine to take a few runs....but I'm not really in the mood to start this whole thing over....so I sat on the couch in the toasty warm lodge by the fireplace and ate Nutter Butter Cookies instead.
aaaaaggghhhhh.
Not bad at all.

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Jaxson on the other hand....was nuts!
He flew down the mountain with his mouth wide-open & grinning and then begged for more.

They went down and down the mountain for 2 hours straight.

In the lodge with Daddy.

NOT VERY HAPPY that it was time to go:)
A little boy could do something like that for weeks before growing tired of it!

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We went to lunch in Heber City and then headed to Herriman for a big Family New Years Eve party.
I think we pulled into our house at around 2:00 a.m. and finally carried Jaxson to bed.
It was a LLLLOONNGG day...but full of fun and definitely a great way to ring in the new year:)

It's back to Routine & Preschool this week!
I'm not going crazy in the goal-setting department.
Instead...I am deep cleaning my house and organizing every drawer and closet (but that's more of a nesting thing than a new years resolution:). I also plan on ATTEMPTING some kind of bedtime for Jaxson (maybe...) and planning a few special actitivities to do with the little man before he's not our ONE AND ONLY anymore.

It will be such a great thing for him to get a few siblings.
He will LOVE EVERY SECOND...I just know it.

BUT...it's only natural for me to start counting the lasts!!!
(especially since I'm crazy hormonal and it's been just the three of us for sooo long)

We just celebrated our last Christmas with the 3 of us.
Kind of a bittersweet moment for the mama:)

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We are looking forward to January and finding out if Jaxson gets 2 brothers, 2 sisters....or his WISH....ONE of each:)

We are also planning his big #5 birthday bash! I am thinking we need to do something extra special since shortly after his birthday he will no longer be the baby!
His life is gonna change drastically this year...

2 Siblings
Turn 5 years old
Start Kindergarten

oh boy:)

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Bring it on I guess.

Love, ME