Christmas recap and other "big" news

I figured it was about time I posted about Christmas since it's been almost a week! Oops.

Christmas was great. Instead of boring you with details, I'll just give you a quick run-down of how the day went. We were able to spend Christmas morning at home, just the 3 of us and eat cinnamon rolls, open presents and hang out together. After that, we left to go to the airport to meet my dad, who was flying in from Iraq. After the airport, we drove to my dad's wife's family get-together and spent the afternoon there. Jack enjoyed opening presents ALL day long and got some really great gifts. THANK YOU to everyone. We missed the family that we couldn't be with very much. Here are some pictures....

Slide from mommy & daddy

"Jack-a-roo" Teddy Bear from Nana (it had her voice recorded on it)

"Cars" Quilt for his bed from Grandma

Waiting at the airport (the only picture we have of him in his "suit." Ugh.)

Opening presents with Abuelo (Abeeyo)

He got very tired.

For the other "big" news...Jack has moved his way up into a big boy bed. The night after Christmas we made the transition and it has been rough. He has slept great at night for two nights in a row, but refuses to nap in it. Hopefully that will change with time.

Fake 'n Bake

It is a strong tradition in our family to decorate sugar cookies for Christmas. If we didn't follow this tradition, it might as well not be Christmas at all. It is an EVENT. The last two years, we have had the joy of being able to decorate cookies with Josh & Shanna. It was a lot of fun and we missed them so much this year. But, this was the first year that Jack was able to get in on the decorating fun. He did really well for 20 minutes or so. The sprinkles were, by far, his favorite part.

Doesn't he just look thrilled?

A sampling of Jack's cookie art.

I usually use homemade sugar cookie dough, but it never turns out right. I use my mom's recipe (which has been proven successful for 20-some-odd years), but I just can't get them right. So, this year I did the unthinkable - I bought sugar cookie dough. Oh my. I felt guilty the entire time. Until I tasted them. Yum. They are delicious! I think I might continue using that in years to come. Just don't tell anyone, OK? :)

The aftermath (it might not look that bad, but you should've seen the floor - THOUSANDS of little sprinkles. Thank goodness for a good vacuum.)

Catching up...

Several things have happened the last few days that I've been wanting to blog about, but haven't had time! The latest "big" news with Jack is that he is back to wearing an eye patch. He had a follow-up appointment last week and the doctor would like him to wear a patch 4-6 hours/day for one month. I was "reprimanded" by the doctor for not putting the patch on him for the first 2 weeks (um, when he was sick with an ear infection, bronchitis and had a fever of 102-104* for 5 days...which I explained to the doctor), but he said that he saw some improvement just from the few days that Jack had worn the patch. Thankfully, I found a website for a patch called Framehuggers and we ordered one for Jack. It is blue with a picture of Woody (from Toy Story) on it. He fought us the first time we put it on, but he has done awesome with it since then. He left it on for a whole 6 hours this morning without complaining! Praise the Lord! It is such a relief to know that we are doing something to help his vision...but we don't have to torture him in the process. Here's a picture of the little man with his new patch on.

He was complaining in this picture because we were out getting our Christmas tree and he was tired of waiting in the car. Which brings me to my next topic...our Christmas tree. We have made it a tradition to go out and cut down our own tree every year. This might possibly be the last year of that tradition. For starters, it was 5* outside when we were looking for our tree. That is so cold. It hurts. Second, the closest tree farm (that we know of) was 30 minutes away. Third, the tree was still over $50. Fourth, Jack refused to walk through the snow, so we had to carry him the entire time. Holding a 35 lb. toddler while trudging through the snow is a quick way to wear yourself out. Fifth, by the time we drove out to the farm, found the tree we were looking for and loaded it on the car, it was lunch time. Jack was hungry and cranky (and he wasn't the only one!). So we had to eat lunch out. So...was the real, live tree worth all the hassle? I don't know. I think we might browse the artificial trees while they're on sale after Christmas. I might have to eat my words. Here's a picture of our tree at the farm.

Oh, another thing about buying a Christmas tree when it's 5* out....there was ice all over it. I mean...our tree was encased in ice. Not like an icicle here and there. No. Every needle had ice surrounding it. We had to bring the tree inside, put a bunch of towels under it and let it thaw out. Nice big puddles on the floor. It was kind of weird. Anyway, here's the tree after it was all prettied up. (I know, it's dark...but I couldn't get a good picture with the flash on.)

Here's how I survived the morning...

and how I passed time while Lonnie was loading the tree onto the van...

Here's my strapping young husband tying the tree onto the van. He did an awesome job. It didn't fall off once.

Oh, there is more I want to write about, but it is getting late. I hope you all are having a wonderful time preparing for Christmas. Stay warm! :)