CHRISTMAS!!!

Man, oh man, it's been a whirlwind of a Christmas weekend!  But it was perfect and pricless and all
those other adjectives that come to mind when you're describing something that you'll remember forever.  It just gets better and better each year with our amazing little boy growing up and learning the thrill of Santa Claus and the true meaning of Christmas.  But, things weren't all rosy and jolly this week.  On Tuesday night, I was awoken by the horrible sounds of Nicholas coughing.  And it wasn't just your typical cough but it was the quintessential "seal bark" that mommies and daddies hear about when people describe the croup.  By Wednesday, his fever had spiked and he was clearly feeling much worse.  They squeezed us in with the doctor where he tested postitive for Flu A as well as the croup.  It was an awful couple of days watching him suffer to such an extent but luckily he started to pull out of it just in time to enjoy the holiday.  We had such a wonderful time!  We made cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and tracked his progress around the globe with NORAD.  Then we snuggled up next to the fire while we watched my traditional 24 hours of A Christmas Story.  (It wouldn't be Christmas without it!)  Afterward, I tucked Nicholas into bed so we didn't delay Santa's arrival by one single minute.  Christmas morning finally arrived, but we practically had to drag him out of bed since he still wasn't feeling great.  I'm sure that won't happen again! Once he saw all the presents stacked under the tree for him IT WAS ON!  The biggest presents were the first to be opened because, as we all know, bigger is better, right?  He was a wrapper ripping pro and kindly helped us open our presents too.  I couldn't have been a happier girl then I was on that morning.

After our Christmas at home we went to Mimi & Papa's house for the traditional Eggs Benedict breakfast followed by more presents.  Nicholas was having loads of fun but he wasn't feeling too hot so we took him home for some rest.  That night Daddy went to the Thunder basketball game but I opted to stay home with him for a little extra recharging.  On Sunday morning, Grammy & Papa came over for breakfast and MORE presents!  It was so wonderful to be surrounded by our parents and share such a happy time together.  Nicholas is definitely a very loved little boy.                

Here was Nicholas on Wednesday.  This is how he stayed most of the day.  If I tried to move him for any reason he cried and pleaded with me to lay him back down.  Ripped my heart out.   

Making cookies for Santa!  He wasn't as interested as I thought he'd be, but he helped a little bit.

After Santa's visit!  Look at all those presents!

Christmas morning!

Mommy got an iPad!!!!  Lucky me!

Nicholas thought it would be cool to  hop in Santa's sleigh with him.  Didn't work out too well.

And now for the grand finale as promised a few weeks ago.  I mentioned that Santa was

bringing something extra special that was going to knock Nicholas' socks off.  The boy got

oodles and oodles of awesome toys but this one takes the cake.  TA-DA:

I think we need a few more driving lessons.

Watch out world!  My boys are coming for ya!

And as Nicholas would say, "Merry Chrimiss".  And it was a very merry one indeed.

Merry Christmas From the Jaggis

I wanted to share our Christmas card with everyone again.  Greg, Nicholas, and I hope all of you have a very blessed holiday that's filled with the love of family and friends, joined by good food and good times!  Merry Christmas!

Merry Montage Christmas

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One With Nature

Turns out the lake is just as exciting during the winter as it is during the summer.  Even boatless (much to Nicholas' chagrin) we managed to keep ourselves entertained with abundant deer sightings and a very special moment when we spotted 2 bald eagles fishing across the cove.  I was able to capture a few pictures of them, and although they're not great, you get the idea.  I was so excited because I had never seen a bald eagle in the wild.  Those of you who know me well understand my ties to this beautiful bird. 

And Nicholas got to spend an entire afternoon playing in the enormous piles of leaves that the guys were raking up in the yard.  It was pretty cold outside that day but he was having way too much fun to care. 

Watching for more deer from the best seat in the house...

Great weekend!

#1 Christmas Ornament

Today was Nicholas' last day of school before Christmas break and when I picked him up this afternoon his teacher handed me something special.  The most fantastically wonderful Christmas ornament ever made!  As I hung it on the tree this evening he stood next to me beaming with pride.  It melted my heart to hear the satisfaction in his voice as he told me all about making it for us.  I couldn't love anything more and it's proudly displayed front and center on our Christmas tree.  And that's where it will be every Christmas from here to the end of time.

And just for fun I thought I'd show off his official ornament for 2010.  Each year I've bought him a commemorative ornament from Lenox with his name on it.  They're really beautiful and I love adding a new one to the tree each year.  I can't believe it's already his 3rd Christmas!

After we got home from school today, Kacee, Max, & Baby Aiden all came over for a play date, which is always a good time.  Not just for the kids but for us mommies too.  They eat suckers and marshmallows and we get to catch up and share some laughs.  What a deal!

Tippy-Toes

We've discovered that Nicholas has a very interesting method of walking on his tippy-toes.  Looks a little painful to me but he doesn't seem to mind a bit!

 

Traveling

Nicholas and I just got home last night from our first mother/son trip.  We went to Missouri to visit my family, and although I was nervous about going it alone, we had a phenomenal time!  Nicholas was an amazing kid the entire trip and absolutely adored getting to hang out with his cousins.  We spent the weekend with them in Branson and those kids played and played and played some more.  He also got to spend some real quality time with Pop, which was something I had really been wanting him to have.  He was completely captivated by his great-grandfather.  He would just sit and listen to him talk about this and that with this look of awe spread across his face.  But his favorite part was watching him add logs to the wood-burning furnace in the basement.  We promised that when he was a little older he could even help and that made him pretty happy.  In addition to seeing Uncle Jeff, Aunt April, Pop, Jake, Alli, & Kami we got to spend a few days with the wonderful Aunt Julie.  We packed in a bunch of fun activities including a trip to her mom's farm in Competition, MO.  It was a beautiful old farmhouse with portions of it that had been built in 1860.  Talk about quiet relaxation!  Nicholas got to play with Julie's nephew, Joseph, while us ladies lounged around in front of the crackling fire just talking and catching up.  It was very hard to leave such a peaceful place and head back to the real world.  On our last day, Nicholas got to hang out with his cousin Aiden, who he hadn't seen since he was a teeny baby.  The boys ran laps around Pop's house shooting each other with toy guns and just being boys.  All the way home that afternoon he kept asking to go to Aiden's house. 

It was such a wonderful week with my boy but I think we were both ready to get back home to Daddy.  And I think Daddy was ready for us to be back home with him too.  I am a very lucky woman to have all that I have.  I truly believe I am blessed with the most wonderful family in the world and there's not a day that goes by that I don't thank my lucky stars for all the love in my life!

Nicholas decided early on that every gun of Jake's he could get his hands on should be holstered in his pants.  And this is only the front....

And it didn't take long for Nicholas to discover Uncle Jeff's boat sitting in the garage.  I swear he can sniff them out like a bloodhound.

Julie's nephew, Joseph.  He's a complete doll with the most gorgeous eyes you've ever seen!

Thanks to Grandma Sharon, the boys got to eat some ice cream and red velvet cupcakes while they watched The Polar Express.  He looks a bit like the Joker, wouldn't you say?  "Why so serious?!"

And I couldn't sign off without giving a shout out to Julie's baby, Manos the kitty.  And yes, he was thumbs!