Christmas

As Christmas was on Sunday we decided to celebrate a day early. So on Friday night we celebrated Christmas eve. Traditonally we read the Christmas story out of Luke in the Bible, but since the kids are so young we opted for the nativity movie the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints put out a few years ago. I like the simplicity of it. Then we opened a present and listened to the Tabernacle Choir sing. It was a nice night. Saturday morning was fun, we had to convince Lizzy that Santa had really come and she was sad she missed him. She woke up the Grandparents and we all went downstairs to see the tree.

From 2011-12-24 Christmas

It was so classic. Charles was not ready to get up!

From 2011-12-24 Christmas

Lizzy and Charles had a great time opening gifts. It was great. Later on Jessica and the gang came over to help us celebrate:

From 2011-12-26 Christmas

Good times, good times.

Christmas Traditions

From 2011-12-08 Tree trimming

Here is Charles helping us get into the Christmas spirit! We trimmed the tree together. Then we took a candle light tour of the historic Fort Steilcoom. It was so fun, like we were guests of the Ghost of Christmas Past. The girls really enjoyed the dancing:

From 2011-12-11 Ft. Stilicum candle light tour

I really enjoyed hearing the musicians outside. They let us play the Jaw bone.

From 2011-12-11 Ft. Stilicum candle light tour

It was really quite magical. Next Charly helped us get into the Christmas Mood by Singing at the Seattle Center Winterfest. We had fun riding the ferry and listing to the schools perform. Charly did a wonderful job!

From 2011-12-14 Charly's concert

Every year the Seattle Center sets up a miniature train. Lizzy even got to be a guest conductor!

From 2011-12-14 Charly's concert

Lizzy go to be an Angel in the primary "Picture a Christmas" program. She was so excited!

From 2011-12-16 tward party

Unfortunately she was in the very back so we couldn't see her. Here we all are!

From 2011-12-16 tward party

Then we went to the Clear Creek Nursery to see some real reindeer and a camel! Not only that, but inside they make it snow! Lizzy loved it!

From 2011-12-18 Saturday Fun

And finally our last Christmas stop was Poulsbo! A quaint little Norwegian town. They had Father Christmas and  horse drawn carriage rides.

From 2011-12-18 Saturday Fun

We finished by taking in the lights at the Harborside park.

The Birth of Sean Jackson

It was a dark and stormy night.... OK, it was an overcast afternoon when Jessica got the call to come into the hospital. Her baby was already 9 days late and she was ready to hold him. She asked me to go as her coach and I was happy to oblige. Luckily Daniel was able to stay home with the kids. Here is the before shot:

From 2011-12-02 Sean Jackson's birth

Not bad huh? I never look that pregnant. I never really look pregnant, but enough about me... Anyway we were finally admitted to the Bremerton Naval Hospital around 2. I had dutifully packed my snacks and things since this hospital really doesn't have a cafeteria. They put us in a room and we waited for a while. Then a corp man came and hooked Jessica up to an IV and we waited. And waited. The Dr. came in and asked how she was doing and told her she had already had her trauma 10 lbs. baby today so Jessica could not have one as well. Then she said that she was going home for dinner and that she'd be back later. Here she is with Jessica:

From Sean's Birth

 Well all was well, going slowly actually, it was nearing 4 pm when the petosin was finally administered and then another few hours before Jessica was feeling any real contractions. We sent Rex to go get dinner and snacks for us and put in Harry Potter Deathly Hallows part 2 and settled in to wait for some more contractions. They were slow coming. Daniel came by with Charles so I could nurse him and I went down to the Subway to get a sandwich for later on.  Then around 7PM the contractions had picked up and Jessica was starting to really feel them so they started the epidural. The anesthesiologist was crazy. Making weired remarks about his wife and getting girls paralyzed. Very different.  Well, long story short, Sean Jackson came at 1:06 AM. on Dec. 2nd.  He Weighed in at 9 lbs 4.5 oz and 21 in. long. We were so glad to see him!

From Sean's Birth

From Sean's Birth

From Sean's Birth

Holiday Events

I have been a little lax in my blogging lately so I have a lot to make up for. First let me tell you about Thanksgiving! Traditionally thanksgiving is a nice slow day with dinner around 1PM and lots of family. We don't usually watch football unless my Uncle Harris is visiting, but Dad felt like watching the game and Lizzy sat with him. They were so animated! Lizzy dutifully repeating Papa's words. I took a video because it was so funny:

From 2011-11-24 Thanksgiving

The dinner was wonderful and the company most welcome. Quite an enjoyable day. The festivities continued with our early celebration of Caitlin's birthday. She of course wanted pumpkin pie instead of cake.

From 2011-11-26 Caitlin's Birthday

This was our fourth pumpkin pie event in November. Once is never enough! Sal dressed up for the occasion:

From 2011-11-26 Caitlin's Birthday

Isn't that something? This was his work attire. Pretty spiffy Sal! And finally we went to the Bremerton Stake's Creches and carols display. It was so nice. The kids loved the activity room where you could dress up as characters of the Nativity.

It's My Party

From 2011-11-23 Charles 1st birthday

Charles turned one on the 22nd. We had a great day getting ready for it. Charles helped clean and Lizzy helped me bake the cake.

From 2011-11-23 Charles 1st birthday

We had the Martins over for lumpia and red rice and then we let Charles open gifts and ATTACK CAKE. Here the girls are helping him figure it out:

From 2011-11-23 Charles 1st birthday

It was quite fun. He even chucked a piece of cake at Charly. He did better then I thought he would.

They Finally Got Married

 Sal and Caitlin were married on Nov. 5th. The ceremony was so beautiful and we couldn't have asked for a nicer day. The bride and groom looked so happy. Afterward we all went to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Except from the pollen getting all over us, it was a pleasant day.
 We had the reception the following Sat. in the new Central Valley building. I had planned the decorations and Daniel helped me put them up. We make a great team. It only took us 3 hours to set everything up. I think it turned out nice. The pictures don't do it justice.

From 2011-11-14 Sal's Reception

Charles had fun playing with the lines:

From 2011-11-14 Sal's Reception

Sal and Caitlin had fun dancing to "Moondance."

From 2011-11-14 Sal's Reception

It was fun to watch. The cake was beautiful and Daniel and I even got to dance a little bit! The church was so perfect, we didn't have all the things we needed, but the church had them. That was a blessing. Daniel and I started the tradition of cutting the cake with a sword. It is traditional in Spain. Sal used his Calvary sword he got on his mission.
 We had the best photographer! Doranda Woestman! Check out some of her pics from her blog: http://watchoutforthewoestmans.blogspot.com/2011/11/more-wedding-pics.html  and http://watchoutforthewoestmans.blogspot.com/2011/11/sal-and-caitlin.html

This is Halloween!

From 2011-10-31 Halloween

This year Lizzy got sick right before Halloween. Right after the sacrament was passed she came down with a fever. Daniel took the kids home and I caught a ride with my brother and soon to be sister-in-law. So we had a stay at home Halloween. Lizzy helped me carve the pumpkin.  She didn't like taking out the innards with her hands, but did fine with the spoon. She was so excited to pass out the candy to the trick-or-treaters! All in all, it was a fun day.  I like how our pumpkins turned out.                                      


We went to the Libray's Trick or treat and it was so fun! Lizzy was Ladybug Girl and Charles was a pirate.

From 2011-10-28 Library Trick or treat

They took us through all the inner workings of the library and in the bookmobile "Violet" It was neat to see how they sort and distribute the books.