Santa Sightings

Jackson and I ran into Santa at Zoo Lights

(poor Katherine was sick and had to stay behind). 

We were also happy to see Rudolph as well!

 The next day we decided to take Jackson and Katherine to see Santa at the mall.  While we were standing in line, Katherine kept saying she was going to tell him she wanted a purple book (which is what she's been telling us).  Once we started moving up in line and she could see him, she started telling me, "I don't want a purple book."  After that, I knew we were going to have a picture like this . . .

I told Jackson that no matter what Katherine did, to just look at the camera and smile!

Merry Christmas!

Programs and Pups

The week after Thanksgiving, Jackson's class had their kindergarten Christmas program.

 Jackson started off doing great, but after the first couple of songs, he and the little boy he was standing next to decided that they would be better off playing through the performance.  To put it lightly, we weren't impressed with his behavior and Jackson had to give up his "phone" for the majority of the week.   I added a yellow arrow to the picture below to help find him.

 If you haven't heard, we don't have Rex anymore.  He was constantly trying to bite Jackson (and he was successful a good bit), so something had to change.  Zach found another home for him about 2 months ago.  To fill the void, we decided to adopt another basset hound.

Meet Bella.

She hasn't disappointed yet . . . she's lazy, housebroken, and tolerant of the kids.  She even got excited over a ball one day, so Jackson may even have a dog that fetches!

Tree Hunting

We went to the tree farm last weekend and picked out our Christmas tree!

We picked out 2 or 3 before settling on one.  Jackson took a picture of me and Katherine in front of the first one we chose!

 Jackson is into hunting and had to take his toy gun with him, just in case there was something hiding in the trees that might attack.

 At one point we had picked out the tree behind Katherine, and another family was coming in the area where we were.  She promptly let them know this tree was taken.

 Finally, we decided on a tree!

 We're headed back tomorrow to bring it home!

 Uh oh!  Jackson spotted a wild animal before we left.

 Oh no!  Under attack!

And that was our cue that is was time to leave.

A Little Squirrelly

A quick catch-up from November--

Jackson has discovered hunting games on his 'phone', so before we went to the cabin early in the month, Zach bought Jackson his first set of camo and took him squirrel hunting.  They didn't stay out long and didn't see anything, but there's always next time!

 We started celebrating Christmas early when Katherine spotted a Gingerbread barn complete with a horse, so we had to give it a try!  I must say that it didn't turn out too bad . . . we're making small improvements every year!  By the time they graduate from high school, we'll be creating masterpieces.  Ha!

We headed to AL for Thanksgiving.

 Katherine had been sick and extremely moody, so before taking a group picture I told her if she smiled for the picture she could have some candy.  She promptly gave me a smile and asked for her candy.  Too bad she didn't save this smile for the group picture.  

We stuck around the house on Black Friday and had fun playing chase!