have yourself a merry little christmas

i hope you had a wonderful christmas with your family and friends.  we had a merry little  large christmas with ours.  josh and i are blessed to have wonderful families and thankful that we have so many "stops" to make around the holidays.  we started off our christmas with my parents.  my mom made shrimp and grits (yes....be jealous....it's delicious) for dinner and then we opened presents.  jake was super excited about all his new thomas the train stuff.  

excitement!

see?? i told you....super excited!

all his new tracks

our next stop was supposed to be grandma betsy's on saturday, but my grandpa was sick with a stomach bug.  then my grandma ended up catching it as well.  so we're planning on celebrating christmas together with them this coming saturday.  

we also went to aunt carol's house on saturday.  we would usually exchange presents with them at my grandma fiske's, but i'll explain that later.  jake had a blast and thoroughly enjoyed all his new toys!

opening his first present from aunt carol and uncle tim

"it's toy story mommy!!!"

he specifically asked for this one!

"aunt cawol got me a fire truck!!!"

it really squirts water too!

a sweet treat to end the day

sunday evening at our church, we had fellowship around the tree with our church family.  lots of good food, good friends, and of course, good singing too.  jake got some presents there too!  his favorite was a rolling book bag from ms. barbara (his babysitter).  he rolled that thing around all night!

monday was christmas eve.  normally we spend that evening with my grandma fiske. but unfortunately, josh's grandma isn't doing to well. so we went down to anderson to spend christmas eve with his grandma and her side of the family.  (i'm very lucky to have a very understanding grandma....who i know is going to read this....love you grandma!!! you're the best and always so understanding!)

christmas eve at josh's grandma's house

jake got a helicopter from lauren

puzzles from grandma cc (his great grandma)

and a construction site from uncle jon and erica

christmas morning was a blast.  ever since jake was born, josh and i decided to stay at our house on christmas day and our families come visit us.  jake's reaction was priceless when he saw this in the living room::

he told santa he wanted a truck to drive

his truck was filled with presents

he said "it won't go!"

"woooo-hoooo!!!"

"mommy, wook at all my guys!"

getting in his truck again

buzz and woody had to ride too

thankfully, the rain held off and he got to drive it outside

telling jake about the REAL meaning of christmas.

we made jesus a birthday cake and sang happy birthday

to him.

a day full of presents and LOTS of family visiting.....no nap.....

means that jake fell asleep during supper at 6:00pm.  unfortunately, 

he didn't sleep all night.  he was back up at 11....ready to play.

daddy went to bed because he had to go to work, but i

stayed up until 1:30 am with jake......we both slept til 8:30 this 

morning.  

we still have two more christmases to celebrate.  some of my friends are coming over tonight and grandma betsy's christmas is on saturday.  jake just THINKS christmas is over. he'll be so excited to get more presents.  merry christmas everyone!!! 

all aboard

i had heard from a friend that there was a polar express train ride in north carolina.  jake loves trains, so i knew this would be a fun trip to take him on.  bless his little heart....he was so excited that he wouldn't eat breakfast, he wouldn't eat lunch, he wouldn't take a nap.  when we arrived, we parked right next to a big red caboose.  jake was thrilled!  even though it was cold and rainy, we still posed for pictures with the caboose.  we walked over to the train museum, walked around the store, walked to another store, picked up our tickets, ate supper (which jake did finally eat), and walked back to the train depot.  we waited, and waited for what seemed like forever.  but when the train blew it's whistle to let us know it was coming, jake's reaction was totally worth all that waiting.  he was very excited about getting on the train, and well, so were we.  it was a wonderful day and we made many wonderful memories. i can't wait to do it again!

jake and daddy on the red caboose

the polar express is behind them

in the train museum

loving the train museum

found a thomas table

"i got my ticket mommy!"

all smiles.....the whole time!

first taste of hot chocolate....he didn't like it

guess who jake saw?

santa claus!!!

jake's first picture with santa

shaking his bell that santa gave him

opening a polar express ornament from grandma to 

remember this special day

a princess

jake likes to watch "princess sophia" on the disney channel.  i don't see anything wrong with it. i think it will make him a good daddy one day.....waaaaaay in the future!  last night, we went to brooke and gantt's wedding and jake said the sweetest thing.  as brooke was walking down the aisle, he said "mommy, wook at dat pwincess!"  there were a few times when jake couldn't see her and he got worried that the princess left.  he literally cried when we left the church to go the reception.  he thought we'd never see the princess again.  so i told him that we were going to a party and the princess would be there and she would dance with her prince.

on the way there, josh asked jake if he was going to marry a princess one day.  jake screamed "NOOO!!!" and started pitching a fit.  (we were baffled.) after jake calmed down, we asked him why he didn't want to marry a princess.  he said "mommy is MY princess. i marry my mommy!"  sweet little boy!!!

jake also informed me that he was going to buy me a pretty dress like the one the princess was wearing at the grocery store! ha ha ha!!!!  and i have to dance and twirl, but i can't fall because princesses don't fall down.  he said he would dance with me too!

after walking into the reception, jake's eyes were looking everywhere. he said "mommy, i don't see dat pwincess anywhere!" i told him she was getting some pictures made in her pretty dress and she would come in a little while.  oh the smile on his face when the princess finally walked in! it was priceless!!!  what can i say? jake loves a pretty princess!!!

brownie points

jake has earned some major brownie points!!  he has been watching "beauty and the beast" at my mom's house and this is what he told my mom:

jake: (pointing to a picture of me in my wedding dress on her refrigerator) "gramma, wook (look) at mommy. she pretty just wike (like) bell."


then today as i was putting my shoes on to go outside and play with jake, he noticed a dress that i wore this summer.

jake: "mommy, you see dat dwess (dress) right there? remember you wear it and you hold my hand on dat road at da beach?"

mommy: "yes, i remember that.  do you like that dress?"

jake: "yes i do.  mommy, you wook (look) wike (like) bell when you wear dat dress. you so pretty!"


ummm.....like i said....major brownie points!!!