Gingerbread Men

Little Gingerbread Men...

and a BIG Gingerbread Man

Both kinds are delicious! 

Our present to you: some recent videos...Merry Christmas!!!

*Little G-Men

*Eating the decorations

*BIG G-Men

*Christmas present from Aunt Cat!

*Jack-in-the-Box

Shutterfly Card 2010

Sweet Chocolate Christmas Card

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Must Be Santa!

It has been SO much fun teaching Jackson about all of the winter things! I wish December lasted longer than 31 days! Since Christmas displays started before Halloween, he started recognizing Santa many weeks before I had a gift wrapped or was even close to putting on the holiday music. 


We first met Santa at UTC mall. We waited patiently in line with the promise of the train ride after the photo with Santa. Jackson was very good at waiting because he could see that train choooooooooooooooo-chooooooooing nearby. When it was time to enter Santa's Workshop, he went right up to him and said, "Hi, Santa! How are YOU?!" He also had his first candycane that day.

Our next Santa sighting was yesterday at daycare. Each year Ms. Sue invites Santa to come to their Christmas party. 


Apparently Jackson was first in line to sit on his lap. He likes to ask Santa for "Elmo Firehouse DDD" which is a DVD we borrowed from the library during his Potty Party. This boy LOVES firetrucks and firefighters. Thank you Caitlyn for taking these photos--so hard for a working mommy to be in two places at once but it felt like I was there with everyone! Santa sure did spoil Jackson yesterday! 

Today when we picked up Uncle Clint from the airport, his flight was delayed a bit so we decided to get a Starbucks (of course). We spotted Santa sitting by himself amidst all the holiday travelers. Jackson marched right up to him, received some help from Santa's special helper to get on his lap, and gave Santa a great big hug. You know all the travelers in line were loving this moment! 


Santa told Jackson that Mrs. Claus would LOVE him and he was just so adorable. Jack said, "Thank you, Santa!" Then he checked out his boots and said good bye to everyone. 


Santa's Helpers took pictures, uploaded, printed, and shared them with us for FREE! Very cool! We also learned about a photo feature with Windows Vista 7 which we now have on Sierra's new laptop. I'll have to play around with that in the new year.  

I was shown this really cool Santa website where you can upload pictures and help Santa share a special message with your child. If you haven't done this yet, and you have a kiddo who is old enough to get it...YOU MUST! It is ADORABLE! Santa is such a techy! 


Click here to see Jackson's video message. 

Santa Claws shows off her mitten scarf!

Holiday Fun

I thought I'd post some pictures from the last two weekends...
Sierra's holiday work party (PDI) was held Downtown at Basic in East Village and the after party was at Stingaree. Kelly helped me put my cool outfit together! I love Kelly's Kloset--she even let me borrow the necklace! Kevin was so generous as usual and we had a fabulous evening which lasted until 3 a.m. I think the after, after party was at a Mexican restaurant close to our hotel? This was Jackson's first night away from us (when we were in town)...his first sleepover at Auntie Autumn's! It was also our first night in a long time to party too hard! Ugh...we are getting old!

in the lobby waiting for our taxi and a fun night to begin!

The beautiful dates of PDI guys: me,  Sarah, and Carrie

The cute guys at PDI: Chris, Sierra, & Kevin aka Haas

Sierra begins to dance...

...priceless

Sarah and Kevin =)

Stacey joins the fun at Stingaree! 

apparently we need to learn how to pose for the paparazzi.

Last weekend we had my work party at a DELICIOUS Italian restaurant in Tierrasanta--Andiamo. Once again, Kelly's Kloset provided my wardrobe. :) Let's just say teachers are a different type of party. As social committee co-chair, I somehow was sucked into organizing this and it turned out great! Everyone had a fun time...especially the gift exchange. Starbucks gift cards are always a hit with teachers (hint, hint!)...we were in bed by 10 p.m. after this party! LOL! Yum I'm still thinking about their chicken marsala! Waking up the next morning was EASY compared to the previous weekend!

Ha! Ha! I kept stealing my own gift back! 

Doyle Dolphins...I hope I look this good when I'm 50!

Where's Mama and Dada?

::ashley perry::

...we love having Ashley Perry take our family photos because we have a great time, love the photos, and can't believe how fast she works! She really makes us feel so comfortable and I feel natural and not posey. Is that a word? I am not a big fan of photo sessions (unlike my husband). Jackson would rather run away from the camera and play or watch for firetrucks and airplanes, yet she's still able to catch his smiles and cute expressions!

We took our holiday photos this morning and I'm not sure how she's able to make us look so good and blog about it...in addition to being a mommy of two ADORABLE kids. Click here for a sneak peek (which may look similar to a future Christmas card). 

If you haven't thought about professional holiday cards, it's not too late to get New Year's, Valentine's Day, or something extra special! Check out Ashley Perry Photography for your little and big moments! Thanks (again), Ashley!!!

Turkeys

We spent Thanksgiving in Ventura with Sierra's family. On Thanksgiving morning, the boys golfed and Gram Roni suggested we go visit her friend in Ojai who just had a baby girl. Can you believe this is her backyard view? Beautiful! We took a great pre-dinner hike (Jack's first) and enjoyed nature. Later, we spent time with family and ate a lot...Jackson fell asleep after a few bites but then was wide awake for more food.

We have so much to be thankful for this year. Our healthy family, employment, the opportunities we are able to take, and our love that continues to grow and become stronger as a family of three. We hope you had time to reflect about what you are thankful for as you stuffed your belly! :)

Gram and Jackson before the Ojai hike.

this is a long way for my little legs!

wow! 

Jackson kept putting Brandy in timeout
for "hitting" him with her tail.

Cousin Eleanor brought Jack gifts! 

Yum!!!

uh-oh...I'm getting sleepy!

Eleanor and Sid are newlyweds! Congratulations!

Where's the pumpkin pie?

The Izzard Men

Uncle Pete and Gram

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Jackson celebrated Connor's 3rd birthday by hogging the baseball tee (Santa--we could really use this!). He stopped for a minute to give his favorite redhead, Olivia, a hug. He couldn't wait to eat cupcakes and watch Connor open his gifts. Fun party, Reardons! 


P.S. we had to get Jack's hair cut professionally...dad's job started to show. As soon as Jack sat down, the hair stylist said, "home job?" 

...and some videos:

• sliding
• playing at home before bed
• potty time