Christmas Week in BR

Our Christmas trip to BR started off on Sunday, December 19th. We went to our life groups that morning and then hit the road. It was the day for our Christmas parties at CFBC, and Jacks made the neatest ornament in his class. I'm so thankful for all of his wonderful teachers! I took my Little People Nativity to my baby life group, and the babies loved it. We checked out some jingle bells from the resource room and took our babies on a "sleigh ride" in the bye-bye buggies. We sang Christmas carols and jingled the bells, and they had a ball! When we got back to our room, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and tasted cupcakes (without icing.) They had the best time. I have really loved being a teacher in a baby life group this year!

This was Jackson's hair that morning. It.was.awesome. It didn't look much different than that at church. We tried everything we could to get it to lay down, but it had another plan. You should have seen our little family at church that morning. Most people were in our Christmas best. We knew we were hitting the road right after church, so I had on my Kids Ministry T-SHIRT, no make-up, and a ponytail. Kyle looked great I'm sure, but Jacks...well, there weren't many outfits that would compliment that hair, so we just went with whatever we could find to throw on him. Being completely packed for a trip and getting ready for church is no easy task, anyway, We have a hard enough time getting ready for church, ha!

Our trip over to Baton Rouge was enjoyable (minus the bad mood I had until about Lake Charles...ha.) It was pretty cold that day, so that made it feel like Christmas. We watched ELF in the car, and if that doesn't get you in the Christmas spirit, I don't know what will!

Here's a picture of the Atchafalaya Swamp I caught on Kyle's phone as we drove over the basin bridge. I never appreciated sites such as this when we lived in Louisiana, but now I realize just how beautiful it is and how much it makes me feel at HOME. When we lived in Baton Rouge and would travel to Texas, we would dream about living in a place with big, wide Interstates and sophisticated roadways...Yes, we are kind of nerdy, but we are very fascinated with big cities. We LOVE living in Houston, but it is so fun to see all the sites that remind us of home as we make our way closer and closer to Baton Rouge.

When we crossed the Mississippi River Bridge (at which point in our trip Jackson always asks to hear the Tiger Band because you can see Tiger Stadium from the bridge), we headed to Central to check in at the Silvios. Jacks had fun playing with Grammy and PawPaw Denny and the neighbors across the street. I spend two hours in the bathroom getting ready. It doesn't take me that long to get ready, but any time I can get ready without having to take care of Jacks at the same time, I jump at the chance. Later that evening, Mr. Denny and Mrs. Judy kept Jackson while Kyle and I headed to Baton Rouge to have dinner with the Teekels and Willetts at Ruffino's. This was always a Christmas tradition for us six, but we have not been able to make it happen the past few years, so it was so good to bring the tradition back!

Ashley, me and Mandy

Ashley and Mandy are both pregnant with #2-Ashley and #3-Mandy and are due the SAME WEEK! How exciting! :) Love these girls. And their men!

After dinner, we went to hang at Mitchell and Dustin's apartment. It was our first time to see it, and it is decorated so cute! They have done such a great job. It looks like a Pottery Barn magazine. They had friends over, so we enjoyed hanging out. Mitch helped Kyle get set up with some gear for our ski trip, and I had fun chatting with the girls. I can't believe Mitchell and Dustin have already been married 6 months! Our family keeps growing and growing; it is the most amazing thing! :)

On Monday morning, we went to visit Keith, Kayla and Ellie for a while. It was good to hang with the crew. I can't believe we have two kiddos between us now. I don't guess I have any pictures from that visit. Boo! After our visit, the boys and I headed to Raising Canes for lunch.

Kyle was trying to take a pic to send to Nick to make him jealous. He's quite the Cane's fan. I think the pic was re-taken to get the sign in the background, but I don't know where that version is. Isn't my little man sweet?

The boys and I headed to the Mall of LA to have a link taken out of the watch they gave me for Christmas (love it!) (A side note about my Christmas present: One night when I came home from my book study, Jackson proclaimed as I came through the door, "Hey Mommy! We went to the mall and bought you jambes and a watch!!!" Kyle was speechless, and I was cracking up! I guess you can't trust a 2 1/2 year old with Christmas secrets.) We shopped around and of course had to ride Mike the Tiger! The Tiger at the Mall of LA actually has "Mike" written on it in cursive. :) I'm thinking about writing his name on the one at the Woodlands Mall. Surely they'll understand.

Monday night we ate pizza at the Silvios and headed out to the Messenger home in Denham Springs to see their light display. The Messenger family started this tradition in the 1960's, and you get out and walk around their yard to see thousands of Christmas lights and displays. At least one display is added to the collection each year. There are some really neat ones, and making an annual trip to the Messenger house is a Christmas tradition for many in the Baton Rouge area!

Here is an example of one of the displays. The North Pole Peppermint Factory. It's all handmade from wood, and the elves are moving and working. My favorite part about it is how the peppermints move on this conveyer belt and go from being unwrapped to wrapped when they pass under this little box. I'm not sure what year this one is from, but I know it is one of the older ones.

After the Messenger's, we headed to Istrouma High School to watch Kyle and Keith play basketball. Kyle got to fill in on Keith's team, and he had a great time even though they ended up losing (and he lost his favorite sweat shirt in the gym--ha.)

Watching the game with PawPaw D

Hanging with Grammy

On Tuesday, we headed back to the Mall! I'm just now realizing that we went to the mall quite a bit. For people who came into town completely done with their Christmas shopping (I'm an Amazon shopper), that is insane! This time, however, we were on an elf mission. I can't say much more, lest the magic of Christmas be no more. :) After the elf mission, Kyle and Jacks headed to Maw and Paw's house, and Laura Beth and I went on a Dad/Daughter lunch at Las Palmas. We had a great time! :) LB brought me back to Maw and Paw's, where we hung out for a little while before heading to Central for our Silvio Christmas celebration.

Mrs. Judy cooked roast and rice and gravy and shrimp and corn soup, and we ate and opened presents. Jackson informed us not too long after he finished eating that it was time to open presents! :) He was so sweet and such a good helper, passing out all of the presents and then taking turns with Ellie opening presents. He was genuinely excited about every gift! We had a fun time. Here are some pics from that night.

Jacks is so silly. We are getting into the phase of making goofy faces for pictures. :)

Passing out gifts. At first, J just started grabbing gifts from under the tree and passing them out to people randomly. He ended up getting guidance from Grammy on who to give them to.

Tearing into a gift!

Jacks got his Tag Reader from Mr. Denny and Mrs. Judy. He's really been enjoying it!

We got to meet Kev's girlfriend, Stephanie, that night. It was fun to have her join us! Later that that night, Kyle and I played Apples to Apples (one of my gifts from Mr. Denny & Mrs. Judy) with her and Kevo. We had a great time! Steph ended up whipping up on us all. We still like her though. :) I can't wait to see her and Kayla in a game situation together. They are both pretty competitive! Me...not.so.much. I'm that person who could care less if I win or not but end up winning a lot of the time. Ha! I also can never fully relish in a victory because I feel guilty. I'd rather somebody else win and be happy...ha.

We had a great time celebrating Christmas with the Silvios!

On Wednesday morning, we headed for the BR. I went and met Katie for lunch at Counter Culture to discuss stuff for Brittany's wedding while the boys hung out at MawMaw and PawPaw's. I headed back over there after and we hung out for a while before heading to my parents. That night Kyle got to play basketball again, and Jacks and I hung out at the Shoumakers. I can't for the life of me remember what we did that night, but I know it was fun being together.

On Thursday, LB, Mom and I (and Benj for part of the time) ran some last minute Christmas errands and to eat lunch at Chick Fil A. Of course we squeezed in a Target trip! Nothing makes me happier than "My Target" on Siegen Lane. While we were out trying to make Christmas happen, Kyle was tearing up the shooting range with his brothers. I'm told a good time was had by all! I've seen video footage, and seeing Keith shoot an AR is quite a site! Ha...just kidding bro. A few friends ended up stopping in at mom's house at different times. LB and I were making different Christmas treats. We had planned on doing our usual full-scale operation, but it just didn't happen. It was fun hanging out with Jaime D and Rebecca! I guess we were having too much fun visiting to launch into other things. Rebecca had Jacob with her, and Jackson and Jacob had a blast hanging out and playing the drums with Benjamin. Jackson was too much on those drums. Benj, of course, has a full drum set in his room, and he was showing Jacks how it's done. At one point I walked in the room and everybody was playing a different instrument. Ha!

I don't have a picture of Kyle shooting, but here's Keith. I have the best brothers-in-law in the world. Really, I love them so much!

I tried a friend's mom's recipe for Easy Pretzel Turtles. They were sooo yummy and easy, and they were a big hit.

Later that night, Jason and Skylar came over and we all played Apples to Apples until really late. It was really fun, and the competition between Jase & Skylar was hilarious. Eventually we all flaked out and went to bed.

Friday morning came, and we were all so lazy. Lunch time was there before we knew it! Mom decided she wanted to hang lights on the outside of the house (lol...On Christmas EVE), so Benj & Kyle got to work on that (as well as running a few last minute errands.) Granny and Pappy arrived around 4 pm, and it was so exciting to have them there! We haven't spent too many Christmases together in Baton Rouge, so that was extra special! JBC moved the Christmas Eve service up one hour this year, so before we knew it, it was time to head to church. When we got there, it was PACKED. We had to sit at the very top! IT was amazing to see such a large crowd for the Christmas Eve service. My favorite part of the night was hearing Dad sing "O Holy Night." He seriously sings it better than anyone I've ever heard. That includes you, Whitney Houston! I'm for real, y'all! I've heard my dad sing my whole life, but hearing him sing that song gives me the chills. We did not spend our day cooking because this year we decided to have a fiesta!!! It was nice to just order the food and eat off of styrofoam plates! We simply called Ninfas on our way to church and...voila! Feliz Navidad! It was all very yummy. We had a great time just eating and hanging out. After dinner, Jacks sprinkled some "reindeer food" out for Santa's reindeers, and we set a plate of cookies by the fireplace. He was all excited and kept talking about Santa coming.

Granny started doing something on the stove as soon as she arrived! That Gran...it's hard to slow her down!

Jacks sprinkling "Reindeer food"

Lester & LB

I'm not sure who loved playing with the remote control car Jase & Skylar gave Jacks...Kyle.....or Jackson. (Also - please note my mother's very own set of pink tools at the bottom of the pic. Ha! Love it.)

Mama's beautiful tree!!!

Once Jacks was in bed, Mr. and Mrs. Clause (with the help of Pappy and Benj) got to work! Mrs. Clause left the stocking stuffers back home and realized it on Christmas Eve! Ha. No worries...KK came through! She had some really great stuff hiding out in her room, and it was perfect. We got all of Jacks' stuff lined up and couldn't WAIT to see his reaction Christmas morning.

Jacks' presents: a Thomas set, a tool set, and a remote control train for his Geotrax

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Look at all those stockings!!! Everybody wants a stocking on KK's mantle because she does the BEST!!

On Christmas morning, Dad and I were the only ones awake for a long time! They all slept until like 9, and I was DYING or everyone to wake up. I usually love that Jacks likes to sleep in, but that day it was killing me. I enjoyed drinking coffee and watching the weather channel with Dad, though. :) It was fun watching the Weather Channel's "White Christmas" in League City, TX (which is right outside of Houston.)

When Jacks woke up, Kyle warned us that they were going to be coming down the stairs. Of course everyone who was awake ran to the bottom of the stairs, and I think there were at least 3 iPhones out recording. You can guess what happened! Little man clammed up and was so SHY. Bless his heart. He had been so over the moon ECSTATIC about any and every Christmas situation since the beginning of the season, but I had a feeling the actual real deal would throw him for a loop. He was really excited when he walked in to the living room and saw his toys, but he was trying to play it cool. His reaction reminded me so much of my brothers and how they used to be at Christmas. Once Jacks saw his presents from Santa, he jumped into my arms and sat there for at least ten minutes. Then we all quickly decided to let him be so that he could enjoy his presents. We all went into the kitchen so he could warm up to his toys. Honestly, I could've predicted that whole scenario, but we waited so long for him to wake up that we didn't have a plan! Ha.

Helping pass out the presents again...he is such a sweet helper and LOVED handing gifts to people. The only problem was he would get excited and start handing them to random people before I could tell him who they went to. Ha!

I love my beautiful boa scarf from Gran & Pap!!!

So I actually did get Jacks a new set of Christmas PJs this year, but he had worn them the night before. He ended up in his way.too.small ones from last year...ha! I love sweet pics of him playing cars/trains.

He LOVED this Tonka dump truck from KK & Poppy!

Kyle always requests a LSU polo from Mom & Dad, so here's his annual pic with his new one.

Checking out his presents again.

My annual pic of everything in my stocking :) Yes, I'm a nerd.

It was such a fun morning opening presents! I think we opened presents for two hours, and it was SO fun having Granny & Pap there! Mitchell and Dustin arrived later in the morning (they had been traveling the night before), and once they were there we had another round of present opening! It was so great! I could've only been better if the Carpenter's were there, too, but it was just perfect. :)

Granny and Pappy left around 4 pm, and Kyle, Jacks and I headed to MawMaw and PawPaw's, where Jacks got to open another present. We enjoyed visiting with the Silvios again! Later that evening, Kyle dropped Jacks & I off at Mom's and went to a movie with the gang. Jacks and I hung with mom, dad & LB. We had such a good time!

We prayed as a family and took a pic before G&P hit the road. Mom & Dad took the pic.

It was truly a WONDERFUL Christmas. We are so blessed with family we love to be with on both sides.

Well, I did pretty good getting this posted a month late considering I never wrote a Christmas Blog last year! :)