An Arizona Christmas

We loaded up our truck with kids in tow and headed for Arizona for Christmas. We left the Monday before and left early Friday. The trip was a long one (15 hours there and 17 hours back). Scott's brother Mat and his wife Amanda also came so we had two extra drivers which was nice. The kids did exceptionally well for the most part going there with Jackson only having two meltdowns. Coming back was a different story. We won't get into that though. It was great to see PawPaw, Nana and Nick. We hadn't seen them in so long. It was the first time we had visited Arizona and it was a major difference from Dallas, Texas. The weather was nice but we didn't get to go skiing which we were hoping to do. Oh well, it was really nice hanging out with family instead. Christmas was great. Santa came early that morning and brought lots of neat toys for the kids. The day we left it actually started snowing! We had to cut our trip short but we ended up having nice weather on the ride back. It was great seeing them. Jackson really took to them, especially PawPaw. It was nice to see since we hadn't seem them in a while and I was hoping he wouldn't be shy. I think Jackson's true colors came out as he was wrestling PawPaw and Nick. He got so rough with them!

Cars!

Jackson received a Cars ride along toy from Grandpa Reyes, Teri and Alysom for his birthday. He loves riding it all over the house. He has actually started using it as a stool to reach things he's not supposed to get in to! Thanks DAD!!!!!

Christmas at Nina's house

The weekend of the 20th we spent celebrating Christmas with Scott's mom. We had to do it early since we were leaving for Arizona the next Monday. Scott, Jackson, Ava and I spent the night so we could get up early and go see Scott's grandmother. We had a really great time opening gifts and attempting to play our annual "game". The kids were in rare form so it made it difficult to play. It was fun watching them open gifts. Jackson got the ultimate gift from Nina. He got a huge red wagon. He and Rian had to go for a ride later that evening in the wagon with a cozy fleece blanket! Ava got a toddler chair. Last year Nina made all the kids chairs with their name on it so this was her year to get hers.

Ava sleeps through the night!

We can't believe it! Ava slept through the night for the first time last night! She slept from 8pm to 6 am! I did get up and check on her since there had been no crying. She was snoozing like a baby! Hopefully this will be a trend for her. It makes for well rested parents! Now if we can get her brother to follow suit and stop coming to our bed in the middle of the night! He seems to do this every other month! It always seems when one sleeps well the other doesn't! The joys of having two!!! :-)
Here is a couple of pictures of Ava standing up by the living room table. I really didn't think her little legs would sustain her for very long but she stood there for a couple of minutes watching mom do Christmas cards.

My sweet little boy is 2 years old!

I just wanted to wish my sweet baby boy a Happy Birthday! Today he turns 2 years old! He is definitely into the terrible twos! He throws tantrums when he doesn't get his way but quickly pulls it together if we threaten to take "bunny" away. He loves showing us his many tricks from jumping from various heights :-\ to coloring, riding his bike in the house, and learning his numbers and letters so well. I can't believe he is already two! The time has flown by. Everyday is something new and exciting and I treasure every minute! I love you Jack!

Finished product

So we gave up taking their pictures and let the professionals do it. Still, a crazy picture. Jackson cried and Ava was trying to pull off Santa's beard! Too funny!

Crazy Christmas pictures take 2

So Scott wasn't too thrilled with the pics I took. He thought he could do better so I let him experience it for himself! We tried the same night after dinner with no luck. This time in front of the fireplace. Jackson again thought it was a game and ran off everytime we got them in a great or shall I say decent pose. We probably took around 20 or so pictures with maybe 2 or 3 being salvagable. Here are the pics.

Crazy Christmas pictures take 1

Why didn't anyone tell me that trying to take homemade Christmas pictures with the kids would be such a disaster? I waited for the best time to do this, post nap and lunch and early enough before bed, dressed them up in their holiday attire and attempted the unthinkable. I had the perfect shot, then all of a sudden Jackson gets up and makes a dash for the door and Ava spits up all over her pretty dress! Jack ran around the house like a crazy man! He thought it was a game so everytime I had a shot, he would get up and run off. Ava did pretty well but it took me so long to get Jackson settled by the time I had another chance she started getting cranky. Jackson also thought it was funny as I put Ava in front of him to hold. She can sit for a couple of seconds before plopping over so my window to get a great shot was small. As soon as she started leaning over Jackson thought this was so funny. He would crack up laughing and then run off. Take a look at the following pics and you'll see my attempts at taking a great Christmas photo.

ICE!!!

We got to go and see the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Texas last night. It is a huge ice sculpture exhibit. It was so cold they made you wear huge coats. Jackson looked adorable in his huge coat. Everyone was saying how he looked like the kid on A Christmas Story! We think the temperature was -4 degrees inside! It took about 30 minutes to walk through. We took Jackson and left Ava with family for the evening. It was nice to have the one on one time with him but we did miss little Ava. Way too cold for her though! Afterwards we went to the Rainforest Cafe (very neat place to take the kids!) Jackson loved seeing all the animals make loud noises! We took some great pics, hope you enjoy!