Merry Christmas 2009

Our Holidays are nice, relaxing and WHITE so far. The one bump in the road has been that Justin's parents have not been able to travel yet. We are hopeful they will arrive in Overland Park tomorrow to spend some time with our family.

We started Christmas Eve with baking some cookies.... I let Jackson get ahold the jar of peanut butter for some odd reason....


My Parents soon arrived from Warrensburg and we headed out to our local Community Center/ Recreation Complex where they have an awesome open gym set up. Justin and I could not decide who had more fun... Jackson or us! It was a great time running and jumping.

We attended Christmas Eve mass as a family as well. As we walked out of church we quickly realized the weather reports of a "blizzard" were true. Normally they like to talk drama... but they were right on this time! UGH!

So we headed home to enjoy my family's tradition... LOBSTER on Christmas Eve. My Dad is from Massachusetts so we really enjoy getting live lobsters and steaming them ourselves. They really were fabulous this year. Jackson was not sure what to think.... he kept calling them "BUGS"

Of course no Christmas Eve in our home is complete without reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and putting out some cookies for Santa! Christmas morning we woke up and enjoys gifts and relaxing times. Jackson got some great new toys.

Jackson and Justin enjoyed some fun out in the snow, although it was just too cold!!!

We feel so lucky this year. We are very thankful and so happy we have our new home to celebrate in! We cannot imagine what the next year holds for us.... but we are so excited. Right now we are just hopeful the snow stops so we can enjoy some fun with the rest of our family. Although it is nice having Mimi and Poppy trapped here.... I have gotten so much more done!

Christmas Treats

This year we are fortunate to have a kitchen that is fun to bake in! So we invited my mom up to help with a little Christmas baking cheer! I felt very Martha Stewart- minus the criminal record of course.

My mom and I made our traditional Gingerbread People and also added some new treats- chocolate covered pretzels, peanut butter blossoms and sugar cookies! Jackson helped some as well. He loves walking around asking for cookies now! We then delivered them to some of our neighbors! Jackson of course just wanted to walk right in and take off his coat to stay for awhile.

We hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season.

Crown Center Trip

In my attempt to start new traditions I thought it would be a great idea to make the trip to Crown Center for a afternoon full of holiday fun. Apparently the rest of the midwest thought so as well. It was so crowded....

Regardless we enjoyed some fun showing Jackson some neat stuff.. There is a huge Gingerbread Village display which has several trains going through it. We also played at the Crayola store. Some of the other events we hoped to do were just a little too crowded.

In other news Jackson has a growing vocabulary. See below some examples...

Jen: Good morning Jackson how are you?

Jackson "Good"

It was so funny to hear as he has never really answered this question before.

Every time we go upstairs or down stairs...

'Mon Chewy aka Come on Chewy... he must make sure Chewy goes everywhere with us. Along with telling us to sit on the couch or in chairs. He also really tries to ask for things and likes to put his arms in the air and speak some foreign language to debate us. He also has started to stick out his bottom lip to pout. Little does he know I was the queen of temper tantrums and he is not going to have a chance.

Jackson Goes Ice Skating

Yes- Jackson is 23 months old and we thought it would be fun to take him ice skating!! Justin loves everything winter so he was excited to take Jackson out to a small ice rink today.
Jackson seemed to really like it... but he got tired pretty quick. By the end of the skating trip he was at least able to walk in his skates. He thought it was funny to run in place as Justin held him just above the ice.On the way home Justin commented that he hopes Jackson plays hockey.... Really? Maybe we should encourage him to swim with sharks too...

We are very excited to be spending a fun winter weekend together. We have some other fun activities planned... so stay tuned.

New Song

I found this song today and can't wait to teach it to Jackson...
(to the tune of I'm a little teapot)

I’m a little penquin short and stout.
I flap my wings and waddle about.
I wear a coat that’s black as night.
But my tummy is soft and white.
I’m a little penquin black and white.
I like to waddle across the ice.
When I reach the water, I dive right in.
I hunt for fish, as I swim, swim, swim.

O' Christmas Tree

The Van Gundy family bundled up this morning to search for the perfect Christmas Tree! Growing up each year my family cut down a Christmas tree at a huge Christmas tree farm in Warrensburg. Last year we skipped putting up a Christmas tree so this year I was sure we made up for it! After searching through a local Christmas tree farm for the traditional Scotch Pine.... we ended up bringing home a Balsam Pine shipped from Wisconsin! It is a beautiful tree measuring 9 feet and with a fabulous pine scent. We also enjoyed a tractor pulled hay ride which was Jackson's favorite part of the day. Justin's parents (Mimi and Papa) were able to join the fun as well.

Later in the day Jennifer's big brother and his three little girls came over to spend some time prior to thier trip back to MN. The cousins all helped decorate the tree. Jackson loved the ornaments, aka BALLS. Jen also took the three older cousins on a trip to see christmas lights!

The holiday season is going so fast and we hope to sit back and relax in the coming days!