Christmas Time, Baby!!!

This year ended up being an interesting Christmas due to the fact that there was some illness leading up to the big day. Despite all of that, we still had a wonderful time and enjoyed every moment with our family and friends this year. A few days before Christmas, Hayden and some of his friends decorated gingerbread houses. Hayden's is the one in upper left corner where you can see a wreath on the side and licorice lining the roof. Since he had been sick (and continued to be off and on) he didn't really have any desire to eat the candy. The following day, Hayden's friends, Abbi and Ty, came over to play. Then their parents (Michelle and Justin) along with Kyle came over and we all enjoyed dinner together. It was nice to have the kids play together so the adults could take a moment to relax and chat.

We went over to my great aunt Lila's house on Christmas Eve to celebrate with her. Hayden is holding a little stuffed dog that he gave her (which he named Talent despite the fact that the dog doesn't really have any talents...maybe its talent is to just look cute).

The whole family...I love that Gage is trying to grab Hayden. Those two get along so well. Hayden loves to entertain Gage, and well, Gage loves to be entertained.

Hayden posing by Gage in his new Christmas pj's.

In the kitchen with the fun aprons my mom made us. Obviously the one Bob is wearing is supposed to be my mom's, but I think she may have to make herself a new one now. Bob just looks a little too comfortable in this one.

Most of you know that I love to bake. This is just a small sampling of what I made this year: pumpkin bread, cranberry bread, sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, gingerbread cookies, magic layer cookies, peanut butter m&m bars, mint chocolate cookies, chocolate m&m cookies, spice cookies, pumpkin cookies, cranberry walnut biscotti, and chocolate covered ritz crackers with peanut butter and marshmallow creme sandwiched between the crackers. Below is the Christmas cake that I made for Christmas Eve. It also ended up being Gage's birthday cake, too since he shares his b-day on the same day as Christmas. Inside are the two jello poke layers: one is strawberry and the other is lime.

Poor Hayden had been sick off and on the Sunday before Christmas and everyday up through Christmas Eve. After dinner, he just wanted to lay down even though my mom had a gift for him to open early. Now you know that your kid is really sick when he says that he doesn't feel well enough to open his present. Fortunately, that was the last time he was sick and he's been doing well since. Christmas morning he came out of his room just after 7 with his Santa hat on and said, "Merry Christmas, mommy!" Who couldn't love this kid...seriously.

The before picture...before everything is unwrapped. Hayden's stocking is always the first thing he goes through and Santa makes sure that most everything inside is wrapped, you know, it just makes the morning last a little longer. Again, Hayden is a little different from other kids in the sense that he does enjoy getting new clothes--as long as the shirts have long sleeves and that he approves of the design. So when he unwrapped his "Cars" socks he got super excited. Let me just say that he got pretty excited over everything he unwrapped (no, it wasn't just the socks), but to hear a child exclaim "Oh, socks! Yay! I love them!" in a non-sarcastic voice is something that a parent has to appreciate on Christmas morning.

The nice thing about opening presents with Hayden at home is that he takes his time and likes to look at things along the way (it is a different story though when he opens presents elsewhere). Above is a pic of him checking out the book I made him of his 5th year.

Presents from Santa and some from mommy. Hmmm...I wonder if Hayden got the thing he asked for this year.

Well, not yet, but it looks like Santa left Hayden some clues so he could go on a treasure hunt.

I wonder where the clues will lead him.

Wow, look at that big present!

I wonder what it could be.

It's as air hockey table!!! Whoo-hoo, this is one of our favorite games to play.

After doing Christmas at home, we headed over to my mom's for presents and brunch.

I am in my Christmas pj's and my mom and sis had the same outfit on (minus the vest). Hayden really liked his new hotwheels shirt I gave him and had to wear it, so no jammies for him.

Hayden loves his new Leapster and he figured out how to play it pretty quickly.

Posing with the shirt from Brooke, Trav, and Gage (and happy b-day to my cute nephew who is 1 now).

I bet there won't be any cheesy smiles this Christmas...

Oh, I take that back. Hey, at least we know he's happy. My mom and Bob totally spoiled us this year. We are so lucky, but the most important thing is that we all have eachother and it was just so nice to spend time enjoying our family.

In the afternoon, I took Hayden over to the Holladays so that he could do Christmas with them. I missed my little guy for the rest of the day, but it was nice to see him get comfortable and to start playing with his cousins on that side of the family right away. I took this opportunity to do a little bit of relaxing, and what better place to relax than inside of a hot tub. Kyle and I got a chance to spend a little bit of Christmas together, too. However, you know how I mentioned that this Christmas was surrounded with illness. This time it was Kyle's turn, and he started to get sick that day...poor guy. He was such a good sport, though, and didn't complain at all. As a side note, I did go to the doctor earlier in the week to do some blood work. It turns out that I do have anemia so I am taking some iron supplements in hopes that it will help and that's all that I need. The past couple of months I have been extra tired, feel like there are moments where I might pass out, eating tons of ice, been struggling with sleep, and I have been extremely cold this season. There are worse things that could be wrong, so hopefully I will feel more normal in the next few weeks. Anyway, we did have a fabulous Christmas!!!

December Festivites and Other Things

Christmas Celebrations with the Jaco Family

We were able to go up to Layton after our breakfast with Santa outing and visit everyone (minus Colton who is on his mission) and celebrate Christmas together. It was so great getting to see all my sisters and their cute families. Hayden had a fantastic time playing with his cousins, the two dogs, and the cat (the poor cat).

There is no doubt that Hayden likes Scooby Doo...he is a dog person afterall.

Cousins-Hayden, Luke, Layna, and Gage. This is a moment to capture on a camera...everyone is still and there aren't any tears. What a cute bunch of kiddos!

Breakfast with Santa

After doing breakfast with Santa last year at Millennial Falls, I decided to buy tickets again for this year. This costs about the same price as what you would pay to get pics with Santa at the mall, but obviously you get a lot more for your dinero here. We started off with choosing between antlers or a hat (Hayden went with the antlers again and later in the day we discovered that you can bend them down to look like dog ears). Then had a yummy breakfast while Hayden composed a letter to Santa. Oh, and Kyle came with us. He is so awesome and is always willing to do stuff with BOTH of us...I love it!!!

Then Hayden got a balloon animal snake...yeah, not the most complicated of animals but it turned out pretty cute (sidenote: the balloon lady made some pretty fantastic creations so I was surprised that Hayden went with the simple snake). Later the snake turned into a sword while Hayden was playing with the other kids.

Posing with mom...what a good sport. Btw, I have to say that Hayden has been such a good kid the past couple of months. It's like something has changed and he seems so much happier and well-behaved. I have theories about what's sparked the change, but I won't post them. I am just glad to see him smile.

Singing Christmas songs with the kids and Santa.

Hayden got a cool snowman painted on his cheek.

Visiting Santa Claus and reviewing the letter Hayden wrote to him.

I did sit on Santa's lap with Hayden, but I liked this picture with Kyle on Santa's lap even more.

Cute Cousins

Here's a fun pic that I got of Hayden with Gage (Herrud).

Hayden's Preschool Xmas Program

So I am wondering if I have a little bit of a clown on my hands. As the kids walked out to the stage, Hayden kept sucking air up his nose so that his nostrils would stick. He must have just discovered that he could do that because I had never seen him do it before. Despite his goofiness, he sang and did all the actions...happily, too.

This is him blowing a kiss at the end of the program.

Waiting in line to see Santa after the program.

Christmas Festivites

Above is Hayden at the Elves' Gift Show at the South Towne Expo Center. It was fun, and later that day we met up with Kyle for lunch, a movie, and then lights at Thanksgiving Point. The night before we were with some of my friends from high school (Geri and Cami) and their kids for dinner, dessert, and just hanging out. I wish I would have taken some pics...all the kids played so well together.

We also visited the zoo for Zoo Lights. I had to really bundle up to make it bearable since I am always so cold. Hayden loved it and it was fun to have Kyle with us, too.

I laugh at this pic because I look huge with my layers underneath my puffy coat, but you gotta do what you gotta do to stay warm.

They even had a couple of real reindeer at the zoo, too.

Other Kinds of Fun

So the first time Hayden met Kyle was at Chuck-e-Cheese. We all met up there and Kyle even brought Hayden a gift (a couple of those fun little remote controlled Hex bugs). The meeting was a huge success...yay! A few days later Kyle invited us to go to a movie with him...Megamind. Hayden loved the movie and got past his fear of movie theaters. Good thing because the following weekend my work had their Christmas party at the Megaplex where we saw Tangled (and yes, Kyle came with us there, too).

This is what happens when Hayden takes the picture. He doesn't always let you know when he is going to actually take the picture.

Another fun night with the three of us: bowling and then dinner.