{christmas} take five

{christmas} take 4

{christmas} take 3

Christmas Eve started out great- we had a relaxing morning and afternoon at home spending time together before going to church and then to the annual Christmas Eve party with my dad's family. But, then things went downhill as Dan first mentioned that he wasn't feeling well and then Jackson clearly wasn't either. We only got to stay at the party for a short while before deciding to get our little guy home to rest and hopefully get better. Both Dan and Jackson spent the rest of Christmas Eve and all of Christmas Day under the weather, but fortunately we still were together as a family and they're feeling much better now!

happy birthday, jesus

{renovation} progress!

It is an (almost) Christmas miracle- the renovation & addition are so, so close to being finished and we couldn't be happier about that. After more than 10 months of watching it come to life we are just a finished hardwood floor, baseboard trim, a few more lighting fixtures and a stair/balcony banister away from completion! Here are some progress shots from Christmas Eve...

{christmas} take 2

headlines

random headlines from our life this week:

1. i had a minor heart attack this morning when our insurance company told me audrey was never added to our plan. after an hour + on the phone they realized they had made a mistake. enormous medical bill crisis averted.

2. i told jackson last night at bed time that we needed to clean the house today. he was ready to get at it as soon as he woke up & impatiently instructs me to "clean house" whenever i need to take a break to help audrey. 

3. the never-ending, always-expanding home addition/renovation project is finally ending! the last 2 weeks have included finishing demo'ing the existing upstairs, drywalling the upstairs and the addition, putting up trim, priming and painting everything and today they have begun putting in the new hardwood floors. we are hoping they will finish by saturday and then all that is left is for dan to put in the finishing lighting fixtures so we can turn the rest of the power on and then install the stair and balcony railings. 

4. audrey's habit of having "peanut parties" has only gotten worse instead of better this week. she is wide awake, happy, smiling and coo'ing for hours each night... really adorable and really exhausting. 

5. i had my post-partum check-up yesterday. i have completely healed (much more quickly than with jackson) so can officially get my butt running again. 

6. we have rounds 2-5 of christmas beginning tomorrow night. which means i better go finish up my to-do list! good thing i have 2 sweet little helpers.

baking cookies, jackson style

yesterday jackson and i made cookies together. this was serious business and he deemed it his job to hand me the eggs which meant he was NOT happy when I told him we needed 4 eggs since 3 is his favorite number and wants everything done in "3's" right now...

He was beyond excited to try his creation. But, what he didn't realize was that we were making these to give to our work crews so they were filled not only with sugar and chocolate, but also with gluten, which meant he couldn't have any. So, I pulled a sneaky move and put a couple gluten-free cookies on the drying racks when he wasn't looking and then pretended to use a spatula to put the "hot" cookies onto his plate and then blew on them for at least 5 minutes per his orders before he ate them. 

He had no idea he was missing out on the real thing which I enjoyed thoroughly, leaving me feeling guilty so I also let him try for the first time a few chocolate chips. He loved them, obviously since it's the closest thing to candy he has ever had, hence the chocolate all over his face. While the dirty face didn't bother him, he was totally disgusted when he realized that making cookies leaves you with some flour spilled on your shirt, so he went into his closet and pulled out his pajamas for a quick mid-baking change of wardrobe.

When Dan came home later Jackson was so excited to show him all of the cookies he had baked, so excited that he began giving the cookies kisses... resulting in his face once again being covered in chocolate. Jackson has become a little stingy in giving kisses to Dan and I and yet gives the puppy and now cookies endless kisses... should we be offended?

PS: Don't worry, there were no puppy kisses prior to the cookie kisses.

{christmas 2011} take one