Meet Langley

This year we started the Elf on a Shelf tradition in our house for Christmas. Elf on a Shelf is genius idea where an Elf from the North Pole hangs out in your home before Christmas and reports to Santa each night to tell him how your child has been that day. Your child gets to name his or her Elf and each morning their Elf will be in a new spot in the house for that day. When we first got our Elf I explained it all to Jackson and told him that he was going to be able to name him. When I first asked him he told me he wanted to name him "Jackson". LOL I suggested he try another name and he came up with "Langley". I have no idea where that came from but it worked!

Jackson LOVED looking for Langley each morning and he would chat with him throughout the day. He would say "Hello" and "Goodbye" to Langley when we would come and go and he would blow him kisses at night. It was adorable!

We can't wait too see Langley again next year!

Gingerbread House Tradition

We started a tradition last Christmas of making a gingerbread house and Jackson LOVES it. He was so excited when I told him we were going to decorate a gingerbread house after we visited Santa in December. We used a kit last year and this year which works great because Jackson is only interested in putting the candy on anyway.

Falkor was also VERY interested in the whole process. :)

Christmas Angel (Ummm yeah)

I snapped this pic of Jackson on Christmas and I LOVE how innocent and sweet he looks because it is so very opposite of who he is usually. Well he can be VERY sweet but he's a very typical preschool boy. Mark and I tell him that it is a good thing he so cute! :)

Family Christmas Pics

Our dear friend Shannon took these family pics for us on Christmas and I am just tickled with how they turned out. It would be nice if Jackson was actually looking at the camera in the photo of the three of us but I am still happy with the pic.

Iowa Winter = Insane

Our winter has be beyond insane. We had a major snowstorm with about 14 inches to start our season and it hasn't let up since. Jackson like to play out in the snow...until he gets cold or wet and then it's the end of the world until we are back inside and warm again. We've had LOTS of snow and lovely ice storms that shut the city down. Oh and the nice warm temps with wind chills of -35 degrees. I think it's safe to say that we are all DONE with winter and ready for the spring thaw!

The pics are from our first mega storm and when snow was still new and cool....now....not so much.

Been Neglecting Jackson's Blog!

The holidays were wonderful and full of the normal holiday craziness! Jackson was SO excited about Christmas this year and it was a blast sharing with his excitement and joy on Christmas morning. This was the first year that Jackson actually sat on Santa's lap willing and chatted with him. It was adorable because he was twirling the hair at the end of Santa's beard the entire time they were together. We actually took Falkor to see the same Santa because they had a special pet visit day a few weeks before Christmas.

Jackson and I are both DONE with this insane Iowa winter and I cannot wait for warmer weather so we can be outside. We both have major cabin fever. And the days when school has been canceled due to our lovely winter wonderland are ROUGH!