Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Love, 

The Jacksons

Elf on the Shelf

Last year, we introduced Noah to our Elf on the Shelf {thanks Nana and Papa} and had a blast looking for him every morning.  He's back again this year and has been making Noah smile since Thanksgiving!

Each morning Noah search the house for him and he's been in some fun places!

He started out on the mantle.

Breakfast anyone?

 Swinging from the chandelier.

Elfie joined the Nutcracker Army.

 Is it Christmas Time yet?

Hanging out in the bathroom.

Keeping an eye out from above our front door.

Trying to "pop the pigs" with Noah's Angry Birds game.

 Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

 Getting into Noah's potty chart stickers.

 Just hangin' around.

Starring his his own Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

Elfie colored in Noah's coloring book.

Gettin' crafty.

Watching his favorite show {our digital picture frame}.

Elfie thought our Christmas Tree needed to be redecorated.

Elfie enjoyed checking out all the Christmas Cards.

 Having a snack after all that traveling.

 Making a Lego Zoo Tower.

 Elfie was helping Noah put up the next piece of his Advent Calendar.

 Perching up high on the wreath that Mama made.

 Eating the gingerbread cookies that Noah made.

Walking around in Daddy's shoes...one of Noah's favorite things to do.

Elfie got into Noah's favorite crackers.

Zip-Lining through the living room.

Bringing a little bit of the North Pole to Fresno by making snow angles {in the salt}.

 Elfie wanted to give Noah a picture of himself.

Elfie and Waddle's Brother are having a photo shoot.

Even Elfie knows the reason for the season.

Evening Entertainment

After dinner, we are so fortunate to have the two Piano Men play for us.  Jonah decided that his song of choice was The ABC Song.

Cousins at the Park

It is so much fun to have Cuz Jonah in town.  Noah and Jonah went to the park today and had a blast!  After showing Noah how to climb up the rock wall and scale the rope ladder,  Jonah encouraged him {with a gentle push} to go down the tall slide.

Wheeee!

I also got to go down the slide with My Little Man.  So fun!

So great to watch these two kiddos play together!

All photos courtesy of my AMAZING brother.  

Thanks Bro!

Christmas Baking

A few years ago, I discussed the fact that I don't bake.  Cooking...yes...do it most nights...love it!  Baking...no...don't do it...don't like it.  That all changed the day Noah received a Gingerbread Man at school and proceeded to lick, munch, and chew his way through most of it.  

What?!?  My son actually put a soft cookie in his mouth and enjoyed it?!?

Mr. Man has been working on biting foods for several months now and has made very slow progress.  He seems to prefer taking the smallest bites of crunchy cookies that will disintegrate in his mouth without the need to chew.  The fact that he took bites of the soft gingerbread cookie...well...it was AMAZING!

Kc found a recipe for soft gingerbread cookies this morning and I decided that I could get over my no baking rule for the sake of my son {I know...such a sacrifice from this Mama}.

Bubs had so much fun measuring all the ingredients.  

 

Why, yes, that is an Angry Birds hat that Mr. Man is wearing.  Some bakers wear aprons, but the real professionals wear Angry Birds hats.

Please don't tell Nana that I am not using Penzey's Spices.  When you don't bake all that often {ok...never} you don't fill your pantry with the best cinnamon.

 

We sifted all the dry ingredients and only made a small mess.

Mixing the dough together requires quite a bit of concentration.

How good a cookie tastes is in direct proportion to how messy you get while baking them.

After allowing the dough to rest and rehydrate for an hour {the longest hour in Bub's life} it was time to roll it out.

We started, of course, with the classic Gingerbread Man cookie cutter.

You have to push down really hard on the cookie cutter.

Come on, push down even harder.

Bubs is showing me how hard you have to push down...he's grunting super hard.

Oh, we get to do it again?

And again?

And again?

After we used the Gingerbread Man, it was time to mix things up a bit.  Miss Willow gave Noah some fantastic whale, shark, seahorse, and dolphin cookie cutters, and who says that gingerbread cookies have to be human. 

 Bubs loved the sea creature cookies.

After a few short minutes in the oven and a bit of time to cool, it was time to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

"I bite the head off," Noah told me as he attempted to put the entire thing in his mouth.  Bubs bit down, but was unable to break it off.

He moved on to the arms and tried to take a big bite.

Success!  Noah managed to take a bite and actually kept it in his mouth for a moment.  After attempting to chew this HUGE bite, Bubs wiped it off his tongue and went in for a much smaller bite. 

Mr. Man went back for several more small bites and even chewed and swallowed most of them. 

If Noah responds this well to homemade cookies, I just might have to change my no baking rule into an only baking with my son rule.