Ok, here we have some fresh pictures (less than 24-hours-old, thank you very much) of the wee ones enjoying some christmas festivities. My dear friend, Becca, sent these Superman pajamas, which they still have not taken off, ahem, so thank you, beccabock...they love them! jackson is, however, very concerned that campbell's cape is a wee longer than his...i told him he would be dealing with issues like this his entire life.

we started the day at 7 am with jackson quietly "shh"-ing camp from their room, terrified that he would wake us (we were already up) and lose his gift-opening privileges...i don't know where he got that idea. we ushered the boys downstairs to open their gifts, and they ripped the paper open with wild abandon, pausing only to yell, "next!". among jackson's favorites were a sleeping bag and a "math computer" (a leapfrog educational toy...yes!) from his grandma and papa...cal was most thrilled with his blue's clues plush chair (a hand-me-down, but who the heck cares?) and anything that jackson was opening at the moment. Stephen and i basically skipped gifts for each other this year because a) money is tight, and b)we don't need a darn thing (except insurance, hello!). it honestly freed me up for the entire christmas season, not having to fret about gifts and zip from sale to sale...it really helped us focus on what we were actually celebrating...the first thing jackson said that morning was , "it's jesus' and god's birthday, mommy!"...the house was then filled with the smell of migas for breakfast (thank you, daddy! and if you do not know what migas are, you need to find out, and now). we then headed to G-ma's house for "santa's second stop"...we play around with the story for jax, but he knows it's just a story...we told him so he focus on something other than JUST gifts, even though gifts are certainly an important part of it...we still watch the santa movies and have the santa books, but to him, it's just a fun myth, and he likened it to halloween, when we dress up as characters because we're so excited about the holiday. anyway....g-ma, of course, spoiled them, and then we ate all the candy in our stockings, put a log on the fire ( i mean, pushed the button, and turned the logs on), and went comatose....amazing. camp slept for over 3 hours while stephen sawed serious logs on the couch...a lovely day was had by all...

and finally, jackson's rendition of "silent night":

"Silence night, holy night all has come, all is bright
round young virgin, mother and child,
wait, mommy, what's next?...oh!
sleep in heavenly peace. then end."

in the photos, please note:
*campbell's excitement at posing on a rocking horse with "daxon"
*the charlie brown christmas tree on the coffee table
*the make-me-cry moment of the day when G-ma played christmas carols on the piano while jax and camp tickled the ivories on the far end and sang....even campbell sang, which absolutely slayed me. i am wuss, hear me sob.

chastised!

folks, i have officially been chastised for my blogging, or lack thereof...it seems i haven't been keeping people stocked with pictures and stories as much as they would like, so please forgive me! here are 4 tasty ones for your viewing pleasure.

it obvisouly takes very little to please jax because he flew around the house for almost a week in this "cape", which is actually a piece of tissue paper tied around his neck with a string. here is his superhero pose....wow.

a few ditties from this week:
* at breakfast, after watching campbell consume a bagel, an entire banana, and 3 eggs, jackson says, "he's a machine!"

*during superman, after someone made a comment about working every single day, jackson says, "That's kind of funny, Mommy, to work all the time and not see your kids. i bet superman is sad." so sweet.
*and the break my heart award goes to this unsolicited announcement, "Mommy, you and daddy and campbell are on the list in my heart. that means i carry you with me all the time". i'm still dying over that one.

ok, more to come...i promise!!!
(there you go, scott!)