Playing dress up

When we've had a hard time... or if the boys have been really good with me for some tough errands etc... one of the ways we like to "let off steam" is to visit the Party store... or any store that has costumes. lol The boys LOVE putting on masks and hats... and glasses! These costumes cracked me up. The Hunk/IronMan! lol

Matthew's in the Pack

I had to snap a photo of this. As much as it pains me to see it happening, I had to have proof to show him (and any girl who thinks she wants to kiss him later in life! lol). Aaron watched a show about a woman who trains wolves. Part of the bonding process was letting them lick her mouth, which made her a part of their pack. Matthew heard about this, and decided he wanted to make sure the puppies know he is part of their pack. Gross! :) BUT, His Tiny really does love him!

Christmas pups

Aaron says, "If they were gone tomorrow, I wouldn't care."... but, I see him sneaking in some play time with them when nobody is looking. ;) This isn't a great photo, but it's the only one I got of the little Christmas hats we got the pups. lol They lasted long enough for one snap! ha ha I love this little critters... I could do with out their bathroom behaviors and chewing of random everythings, but they a re so incredibly sweet. If they were gone tomorrow, I'd be heart broken. ;)

Bat Crew

We're knuckleheads. I love my family. We laughed at how the mask squished Aaron's cheeks and made him look like, "Chubby Batman." (like Chubby Bunny). We were all still pretty tired, I'm not sure how we got Aaron to try on a mask before he had drank his coffee! ;)

The Pup Chewed the Pup!

We bought each one of the boys their own box of "kid safe" ornaments when they were 1 and 3. The bottom half of the tree was just theirs. They could take their ornaments on and off as often as they wanted, and often left them in one big clump together. :) Over the years, we have continued to have the boys put their special ornaments out... Joe's being the puppies. This year, Joe actually has his own puppy, who had decided it was more fun to eat the ornament than look at it! ha ha... Oh Scrappy, you naughty little fella!

Shepherds & Wisemen!

We had the experience of being a part of Harvest's Christmas production. Can I just tell you, the actual play was SO fun! The school did such an amazing job working with the students to get ready. All of us proud Jackson boy supporters were pleased!

Joe was a wise-man... wearing his Duck Dynasty beard, my rob, and a sparkly piece of scrapbook paper we found and cut into a crown! :)

Matthew is a shepherd... I used one of my "retired" white muslin backdrops to create his costume! :) Both of the brown pieces on him, and on Joe's head is from an old curtain that I had used at our previous homes and had tucked away... it was a good death for the thing! lol

"We Found A Lobster!"

After one of our recent storms, actually DURING one of our recent storms, I let the boys go play outside. They were all bundled up playing in the water. Matthew came to the door with a raised voice and major excitement in his tone, "MAMA!!!! I FOUND A LOBSTER!!!!" I thought for sure I was walking into a trap of some sort! ha ha

Turns out, there was a crawdad in our ditch. This is very unlikely and we're not sure how it happened... but, he found his "Mini-Lobster!"

Pretty Birds

While on a drive with Aaron, he stopped out of the blue. I didn't know why he had stopped. Aaron knows I like to photograph cool birds. :) He had spotted this guy, and thought I'd like to take his photo. I only had my iphone at the time, but isn't he COOL?

Our Family Photo

We took our annual Thanksgiving trip to SoCal again this year. I was SO happy when we realized we WOULD be able to go up to Oak Glen to take a family photo at the tree we had done every year (but last year) since Joe was 6 months old. 

Only problem was, when we got to the tree... it was dying and the ranch it is at decided to screw a big sign into it. Ack, there goes that plan. It sort of makes it easier for me to move on from the tradition, though, since it's impossible. Now, we'll just have to find a new location in NorCal that we can grow with!

Soooo the Duncans and Jacksons moved on to a park where we still captured our family's photo. :) Thank you to Chris Duncan for making the boys laugh after they had both just been about in tears because of a frustrated Mama trying to get them to be good for a photo! LOL (You'd think I WOULD know better, but... I was bad. lol)

Disneyland & A Perfect Babysitter....

We had a family trip to Disneyland this year!!! WHAT?!? We finally did it! The boys had saved birthday money, I had put my tip money into our "Disneyland Bucket"... and we saved for a long time. We were able to enjoy a two day visit from opening until closing each night.... CRAZY! ha ha On our last night, we let the boys do the water rapid ride in CA Adventure as many times as they wanted before they got kicked off for being closed. I think it was 11 times they got to just stay on and keep going! ha ha They were DRENCHED!

We had a great time, but I left my camera at home. :) I told the boys I would not bring it so we could enjoy the memories together instead of me capturing them enjoying them. They were happy with that choice, so I have very few iphone pics.

We were meeting our friends in Downtown Disney for dinner, and had to stop in at the Lego store, where I found THE perfect babysitter! :)