What Jackson is Getting For Christmas This Year

Jackson was also fun to buy for this year! We tried to scale back a little bit on his gifts because we had just gotten him the Power Wheels Camaro for his birthday and that was a rather expensive gift. However, I wanted him to at least have the same amount of items to open on Christmas morning as Avery has. So we just tried to make sure his gifts weren't quite as expensive and luckily he's still at an age where we can get away with that.;-)

I think this will probably be his gift from Santa. It's a Paw Patrol Headquarters! He loves these kinds of toys and he loves Paw Patrol so I'm sure this will be a hit.

Like I said in Avery's gift post, Jackson also got a cool desk chair for coloring at or eating a snack. I really think they will love these and they'll come in handy too. :-)

One thing Jackson has really been into lately is legos! He loves building with legos, so we got him this giant box of legos for Christmas.

And because he LOVES playing with play-doh, we got him this whole play-doh fun factory!

He's at a good age to introduce board games. He got Hi-Ho Cherry-O for his birthday and really enjoys playing that, so we decided to get him a few age-appropriate board games for Christmas. We got him Connect 4, Trouble and Hungry Hungry Hippo!

He's also getting a couple pair of pajamas. Sadly, he's starting to grow out of his 5t pajamas and I had to buy him "big kids" sized pajamas this time!

He's also getting a suitcase for our big Disney trip next year which I think he will really like. I think he will get a kick out of having his "own" suitcase!

And then lastly, this will be something for both kids to open. We got them a dual portable dvd player for the car. We thought this would be great for the long drive to Disney World next year and any other trips we decide to take. :-)

I'm so excited for Christmas morning this year. I think the kids are both at such great ages! It will be a lot of fun opening presents!

What Avery is Getting for Christmas This Year

Avery was so fun to shop for this year. Here is what Avery is getting!

Santa is bringing her this pink kitchen!!! I think both Avery and Jackson will enjoy this toy (even though it's pink).

We also got her some play food to go with her kitchen.

We got her this Fisher Price Disney Princess Castle that I'm pretty excited about! She already has a little people Cinderella and Prince Charming. I'm hoping to get a few more of the characters for her stocking!

She's getting this Minnie Mouse chair for when we're out and about. Jackson got a chair this past Summer but Avery was still a little bit too small. So this will be nice to have this coming Summer.

And speaking of chairs. We got each of the kids one of these little desks! They have storage under the seat and we thought they'd be so cute to color at or have a snack. Jackson is getting a Ninja Turtle one.

Then because Avery LOVES Minnie Mouse right now, we got her this giant Minnie Mouse Stuffed animal. I'm not even sure how I'm going to wrap this thing, but it was just too cute to pass up.

And we also got them each a couple pair of pajamas. This set came with a robe which was perfect because Jake, Jackson and I all have a robe and Avery always wants to wear one too. So now she'll have her own. :-)

And lastly, a more practical gift that she probably won't care about for a few years is her very own suitcase. We are taking the kids and my parents on a trip to Disney World next year and I thought it would be fun and convenient if the kids each had their own luggage. So we found these on Black Friday and got them each a suitcase of their own. :-)

So that's what Avery is getting this year!

Our Visit With Santa 2015

We took the kids to see Santa last night and it went pretty much just as I suspected. 

I really talked up Santa this year. Jackson was all hyped up to go see him. He was really excited and was going to tell him all about what he wanted for Christmas this year. He was even going to tell Santa what Avery wanted because Avery couldn't tell him herself. Ha! 

So when we got to the mall and saw Santa down on the first floor, both kids got so excited and took off for the escalator. They couldn't get to him fast enough. So I thought maybe things might go better than I expected.

We always go on a weeknight to avoid the long wait and we've had a lot of success with that. We got down there and there was only one little girl in front of us, which was great, except that she was about Avery's age and she cried the whole time she was on Santa's lap. I'm afraid this may have made both of our kids uneasy about Santa because when it got to be our turn, Avery wouldn't go near him and Jackson decided he was going to be "shy". He wouldn't talk to him or even give him a high five. Jake tried setting him on Santa's lap and Jackson would have no part of it. We even tried hugging Santa ourselves to show the kids that it was okay, but they didn't care. Avery cried when we even got her close to Santa! 

So we thought, lets just see how they would do if we were in the picture as well. I sat next to Santa and sat Avery on my lap and she still cried. Jackson did okay as long as he was on his Daddy's lap and the photographer even got a smile out of him at one point. Avery was still very uneasy and though she forgot about him for a brief minute and stopped crying long enough for us to get a picture, she then turned her head and saw him again and then burst into tears! Ha. I'm glad we got a good picture though, even if Jake and I had to be in it this year. Hopefully next year will go a little better.

And here are all of our Santa pictures from 2011-2015!

Linking up here:

Friday Five

I'm linking up with April today for Five on Friday!

  I just can't believe it's already December! How did that happen so fast?

 

 Jake and I just found the show "Fixer Upper" on HG TV and we are addicted. We don't have cable right now while we're living in the condo, but they have the first season on Netflix and we are loving it. I'm sure it's because we are in the middle of our own fixer upper, but it's also relatable as a majority of the houses bought are between $100,000 and $300,000. Some are even bought for under $100,000. Chip and Joanna are just so cute too! Anyone else addicted to this show??

 We were able to get all of our Christmas shopping done for the kids on Thanksgiving day. Between shopping around online that morning and then finishing up with going to Walmart that evening at 6:00, we managed to get the kids completely done! I hope to write a post soon on what our kiddos will be getting this year. Stay tuned. :-)

Yesterday, I finally made my final decision on a light fixture for over our stairwell. I had been eyeing a similar light on Home Depot's website but it was out of stock, and had been for quite a while. I tried searching for it online at other stores with no luck. Finally I found a similar light fixture on wayfair.com that was a little more money, but not enough of a difference to keep me from pulling the trigger. Plus it was no tax and free shipping!! I just love it!!

We hope to see Santa in the next few days and hopefully go pick out our 2015 Smith Family Noble Fir. Time is limited these days, but we will hopefully be able to squeeze in a visit with Santa and pick out our tree soon!

Have a great weekend!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

I had a long 5 day weekend for Thanksgiving and we spent every second of it busy doing something. 

Thanksgiving day was spent with my side of the family. We had dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's house, just as we do every year. It's always so nice to see everyone and spend time with family. At around 6:00, Jake and I and my brother-in-law, left to go do our annual Black Friday shopping at Walmart. This is our 3rd year of doing this and it's always so much fun. Normally my sister comes along too and we just leave all the kids with my parents back at my aunt and uncle's house but my sister is nursing and its just hard for her to leave Emerson this early for any length of time. So she stayed back and the three of us tackled our shopping list. We were in and out of there in record time this year, despite the crowds and long lines, somehow we were able to find everything we wanted and made it out of there in about an hour. We went back and spent the rest of the evening with family, eating a second helping of Thanksgiving dinner and some yummy desserts. 

We spent the next 3 days at the new house. We lined up babysitters for all three days and were able to get quite a bit done. The cabinets are all in (even more has been done since I took these pictures on Friday), the closets are all painted, the garage is all clean and organized and we cleaned up a big pile of brush that had been left over from the big backyard clear out we did earlier this Fall. We also made a trip to Home Depot to buy a new faucet and sink for the kitchen and we ordered our new Silestone counter-tops!!

We were also able to squeeze in a trip to our brand new Ikea!! They FINALLY opened a store here in St. Louis at the end of September and I was just itching to get there and do some shopping. I had seen a light fixture that I knew I wanted to get for Jackson's room at the new house and we browsed the rest of the store to see what else they had. We bought a little step stool for the kids and saw a lot of other things we'd like to have once we're in the new house! I can't wait to get a chance to go back when we have a little more time.

Then bright and early Monday morning we took Avery to Mercy Surgery Center for her ear-tube procedure. We had to be there at 5:30 a.m.!! It went well though and everything moved right on schedule. The staff was all so nice and after the 10-15 minute procedure and about 20-30 minutes in recovery, we were able to go home. Avery did well and the doctor was able to get her ears all cleaned up and the tubes in successfully. The waking up from anesthesia was a bit challenging, to say the least. They told us that some children are "cranky" after the anesthesia, but Avery was quite a bit more than just cranky. She screamed and cried and stiffened up for about 10 minutes or so. She hit us and pulled my hair... it was not fun and I was so glad when she finally settled down. I felt so bad for her, because I knew she didn't feel good and didn't understand what was going on. Thankfully she slept on the way home and was much better once we got her home and in her own surroundings. She was hilarious though, walking around like a little drunk baby. She was hyper and insisted on getting down even though she was still a little wobbly from the anesthesia. Ha. I had thought she'd be tired and snuggly the whole day, but not Avery. She was back to her normal, ornery self just an hour or so afterwards. Ha. I'm so thankful it all went well though and I'm very thankful it's over and behind us.

 (Avery's little hospital ankle bracelet)

So that's how we spent our long, Thanksgiving weekend! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Family Pictures

On Thanksgiving Day this year, the temperature was in the mid 60's and the whole family was going to be together, including our newest member of the family, baby Emerson. So this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get a few new family pictures. We haven't had a big family picture taken of all of us since Landon was the only grand-baby. He was only around 1 and he's now 8! It's been far too long.

So a couple days before Thanksgiving, when I saw the weather was going to be nice, I talked to my mom and sister and said lets try and get a family photo of all of us on Thanksgiving Day. We were all going to my Aunt and Uncle's house for the day and conveniently, their house backs up to woods, so we had a great location for pictures. We started working on coordinating outfits and after searching Pinterest, we chose to go with Fall colors (navy, mustard, brown and burgundy). Thankfully we all had something we could wear and didn't have to buy anything new. 

We were able to get my uncle to come out and take our big family picture and he also took a new picture of my little family of 4 and a new picture of just Jake and I together. :-) I adjusted the settings so that all he had to do was snap away and he did a great job! :-) I'm so happy to have these updated pictures. I really thought we'd have to end up waiting until Spring.

Jackson was my biggest worry because I know he doesn't usually like to have his picture taken. So when all else fails, we use bribery (don't judge). I told Jackson I'd get him a new Blaze and the Monster Machines car he'd been wanting if he smiled and looked at the camera. He did fairly well. The kids all did pretty well considering we have an 8 year old, two 4 year olds, an 18 month old and a 1 week old. I didn't have high hopes for this picture, but I was pleasantly surprised when we got a shot of everyone looking in the vicinity of the camera and no-one was crying. :-) I call that a win with this many small children.

Then I took a few of my sweet parents. ♥ I really liked how this one turned out.

And I got a few of my sister and her new family of 5 as well!

So overall I'm so happy with these new family pictures. My only regret is that I didn't take the time to get a new picture of Jackson and Avery together and I wished we would have tried for a "grand-kids" picture for my parents, but hopefully we can make that happen soon.

Lately...

I don't know about you, but Fall is our busiest season for sure. We have lots of birthdays, I have lots of photo sessions and we have lots of holidays. On top of all of that, we're in the middle of remodeling our new house! SO much going on right now in our lives and I just don't have a lot of time to blog, unfortunately.

However, there have been so many fun and exciting things happen in the last week or 2 that I just have to share!

*First of all, I became an aunt again last Tuesday, November 17th!! My baby nephew is just the cutest. I was privileged to be in the delivery room for his birth and got to witness his entrance into the world. What an amazing experience and one I can't thank my sweet sister enough for. Here is a picture I took in the delivery room and one of the newborn pictures I took of sweet little Emerson Levi!

*Second, Jake turned 30 yesterday!! We had a party for him on the 15th of November and it was a great success. We had it at his brother and sister-in-laws house (since our house is out of commission right now). It was a 1985/Kansas City Royals theme (Since the last time the Royals won the World Series was in 1985, the same year Jake was born!) Here are a few pictures from his party.

*My dad has been working tirelessly on our new kitchen and it is coming along nicely! The back door is in and trimmed around, the walls have been painted, backer-board is down and ready for tile, a majority of the cabinets are in and some of the appliances have been placed! We plan to work there all this weekend, so even more will be getting done and I'll try and take my camera over to take some better pictures. In the mean-time, here are a couple of the kitchen that my dad sent me from this past weekend.

I've also painted all of the bedrooms and the hallway, Avery's chandelier has been installed in her room, we have new light fixtures outside on the back of the house and my dad has the whole basement pretty well tore out and ready to be put back together the way we want it. We've gotten a lot done and even though there is still so much to do, it's so great to be seeing so much progress lately! It's so exciting!!

*I was finally able to get Avery's hair in pigtails last week and it was just too cute. I took my camera outside to get a couple pictures of her in the leaves! She is at such a cute and fun age right now! I'm just loving it.

*We had Jake's family Thanksgiving this past weekend and it was so fun to spend time with family and eat yummy food! It was a really fun day!

So that's what we've been up to lately. We are gearing up now for Thanksgiving this week with my family and then we'll be working at the new house (or as Jackson calls it, "The Swimming Pool House") all weekend. I'm excited to see what all we get accomplished over 3 days!!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!