Preschool Party and Program

Jackson's class had a fun Christmas party. They made ornaments and ate yummy cookies. All of the children walked into the classroom in these adorable aprons that they had made.

Jackson works on his ornament.

Eating some treats with his buddies at school

Jackson and me at the party

Here are all the 3 year old classes singing at the Christmas program. All the children were their pajamas and look so precious. They sang 9 Little Reindeer, Let's All Do a Little Clapping, Where is Santa?, the Chipmunks Christmas Song, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Jackson did great and sang all the songs. We told Jackson if he did good at the program, we would get a Sprite at Sonic after the show. He was so excited!

Jackson and his fan club...Aunt Amanda, Mama Linda, Grammy, and Uncle Andrew

Mommy and Daddy with Jackson

Parker Family Christmas

On Sunday, we celebrated Christmas with the Parkers. All of Andy's family went to his uncle's church to hear him preach and then we ate lunch there. Of course, the food was fabulous. Mama Gwen and Daddy Parker are wonderful cooks. They made chicken and dumplings and dressing. There were a TON of desserts as well. They always bring to go boxes for everyone to take home the leftovers. We are still eating on our leftovers.

Here is a picture of the whole family

Drew with Daddy Parker and Mama Gwen

Drew loves to play under tables.

After we ate, we played "Dirty Santa." Mama Gwen and Aunt Drucy buy presents throughout the year for us to use. There are always a few gift cards hidden in the mix. It is always fun to see what the various gifts are. One of the presents was a pretend snake, and Addison loved it. She acted like it was a purse. Here is Addison, the snake charmer.

Jackson and Ellah ended up with some crazy gifts because they traded. Ellah has hair extensions and Jackson has an orange hat.

Cousins making silly faces...

Somehow, we left with Lowe's and Kroger gift cards, the orange hat (seen above), Veggie Tales VHS (which we have already watched), a laundry bag, a snowman jar with cookies, a sack of coal, some cheesy snowman figurines, mesh bags, and a screwdriver set. It was a really fun day to be with family. Jackson and Drew are the only great-grandchildren that are boys, so all the girls (all of 8) have a blast with them.

Breakfast with Santa

Saturday morning was Breakfast with Santa at BHCC. This is an annual event and is HUGE! Jackson was so excited to see Santa and eat donut holes. He woke up and we said we were going to see Santa and he replied, "and eat donut holes!" When we went to talk to Santa and Mrs. Claus, he was so excited. He jumped into Santa's lap and told him he wanted hockey guys and baseball guys. Andy put Drew in Mrs. Claus's lap. He just stared at Santa. All these people were yelling, "Drew, Drew, DREW." He would look for a second and then back to staring at Santa. He was mesmerized by the white hair and beard. It was precious. After chatting with Santa and hugging Mrs. Claus, we went into the auditorium to sing Christmas carols and hear a Christmas story. Jackson is loving Christmas songs. Andy made us a CD and we listen to it all the time in the car. Jackson knows the numbers for his favorite songs. This week, he loves The Chipmunks Song, Rudolph, and Up on the Housetop. After the program, they announced that the photographer had a camera problem and our pictures did not take. So we went back to the line for another picture. By this time, Drew had figured out the process and was not as content. Therefore, he has lovie and is sucking his thumb.

Jackson and Drew with Mr. and Mrs. Claus (2nd photo)

Family picture

Drew is shoving a donut hole into his mouth and Jackson is eating a pretzel. Drew was loving the donut holes. He had one in his hand and grabbed one out of my hand with his other hand. He also took one off of Jackson's plate.

Drew and Daddy

Jackson doing "art"--making a snowflake ornament

He won the prize at our table and got this Santa hat and balloons!

Big buddies--Jackson and Tyler

Mommy and Drew

Jackson and his friend Brody with the BIG Santa

After Breakfast with Santa, we went to Brentwood to see Santa's reindeer that brought him to church. Dasher and Blitzen were there. Jackson was so excited to see them.

Andrew's Graduation

On Friday night, my brother, Andrew, graduated from Freed Hardeman with his MBA degree. He has been working on this degree for a year and a half while being a graduate assistant coach for FHU soccer teams. We were so thrilled for him and proud of all his accomplishments...Way to go, Andrew!

Family Picture after the ceremony

Rebekah and Andrew

Andy with Drew and Rebekah with Jackson

Andrew with our grandparents

Christmas Cards

One of my most favorite parts of Christmas is sending and receiving Christmas cards. I absolutely love it! It is such a thrill to go to the mailbox and get cards and look at them and read them. A few years ago, I even started a scrapbook that just has the photo Christmas cards we receive.

You cannot imagine the disappointment I have felt the past few days, because I had yet to receive a Christmas card (not that I have sent mine either). However, today I got two cards in the mail...hip, hip, hooray! The Christmas card season has officially begun at the Parker house. Thanks to the Austins and the Forresters (who had super cute cards) for being the first to send me cards. I am supposed to pick up our cards tomorrow and the addressing process will begin. In a weird way, this is also fun to me:) It is a time to think about all the various people on our Christmas card list and what they mean to our family and how they have touched our lives.

So, Happy Christmas Card Season to all of you! I cannot wait to see your cards...

Fun with Friends

On Friday, my friend Melissa came into town from Kentucky with her baby Asher. I was so excited to see the two of them. He is adorable and so precious. Here are some pictures of a fun night with great friends.

Melissa and Mandy

Jennifer, Amy and me

An attempt at a group picture with Asher...for some reason, he liked my "Joseph coat of many colors" sweater

Branches of Love

Yesterday, Laura Beth, Stephanie, Laura and I decorated a Christmas tree at Lipscomb University for a new project called Branches of Love. Lipscomb is now hosting an event at the beginning of the holiday season called Lighting of the Green. It is wonderful show, and this year featured Amy Grant, Phil Stacy, Lelan Statom, DLCS choruses, etc. Santa and Mrs. Claus were

also there to talk to the children. They also take donations for Second Harvest Food Bank. This year, they added a Christmas tree decorating contest known as Branches of Love. Groups decorated trees yesterday afternoon. Today, those trees will be delivered to people who would not have a Christmas tree. Our "team" picked the theme Santa Claus is coming to town. Although we did not win, we thought our tree turned out pretty good. We even had enough "stuff" to decorate a second tree. Here we are with the finished product.

Our Santa themed tree

The second tree we decorated

Here is Jackson with Santa and Mrs. Claus. He was so excited to see them! He immediately told Santa he wanted Hockey Guys, Baseball Guys, and Buzz Lightyear.

Thanks to my sweet friend Mandy for watching Jackson for me and to my dad for watching Drew so I could decorate the tree.

Love at First Bite

On Friday morning, I went to Target early for some of the Black Friday specials. I was able to pick up a few Christmas presents for various people on my list. On my way home, I stopped by Krispy Kreme to pick up doughnuts for breakfast. This was Drew's first doughnut and he loved every bite. Here is Andy showing him the doughnuts...

He immediately grabbed the chocolate iced with sprinkles with a tight grip...

Enjoying his doughnut...

Turkey Day

The Parkers had a fun Turkey Day and definitely gobbled 'til we wobbled. Our first stop was the Williamson County Habitrot, a 5K run around Cool Springs. Drew was not a fan of his coat or hat and screamed until we took them off. After a little nap for Drew, we headed to Columbia for lunch with my family. Lots of good food while we watched the Titans pound the Lions! After that, Andy, my brother, and Jackson played football outside. This was Jackson's favorite part of the day (along with the turkey and ham...I think he was on a low carb diet yesterday). Drew loved the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, however we were not feeding them to him fast enough so he started just grabbing handfuls and shoving it in his mouth. He prefers to inhale his food rather than eat it. For dinner, we went to Andy's aunt's house in West Nashville. Jackson and Drew enjoyed playing with some of their cousins. We are so thankful to live close to both our families and be able to enjoy part of the day with each of them.

This is Drew crawling under the table. He did this before, during and after we ate.

Grammy and Papa with Drew

Me and my brother Andrew

Jackson kicking off during the football game

According to Jackson, he is thankful for...

• God in heaven
• Sports
• Lambie
• His bedroom
• Tennessee Vols
• Titans
• puzzles

What a Weekend!

Last weekend was pretty busy for me. On Friday night, I went to see the Twilight movie with some girls (thanks to April, Elisha, and Lori for inviting me). We actually went to the 9:45 pm show, which is LATE for me. I am usually in my pajamas by this time and ready to call it a night. However, I purchased a diet coke for $4.35 (isn't that price gouging) and stayed awake.

I was really excited to see the Twilight movie after reading the books. At the theater, it was crazy. Girls, only a few guys were there, were wearing Team Jacob and Team Edward t-shirts. When Edward came on the screen, girls were screaming. Overall, I liked the movie. Of course, parts of it were different from the book. They were definitely setting the stage for the other movies with a little foreshadowing. Random thought...Rosalie reminded me of Madonna and Carlisle was not handsome but creepy!

I got to my house at 12:45 am on Saturday morning and left again at 6:45 am to go to the flea market. For months, I have been saving and looking on the internet for some furniture for our "mud area" and Jackson's room. I got there early and made an order with a furniture guy and then headed downtown to meet Amy and Jenn to go to the Kelly's Kids warehouse sale. Another crazy event with women (just older than the Twilight crowd). People were hording clothes like crazy. We got some stuff from the racks and then walked around waiting for people to discard some of their finds. After that I met up with Andy to get the boys because he was going to the UT/Vandy game (finally a win for the Vols!).

On Saturday night, Andy and I went to see Quantom of Solace. Andy is a James Bond fan. I liked the movie, because there was more of a storyline than the other 007 movies. It has been since the early 90's probably that I have been to two movies in one weekend.

On Sunday, Andy, Jackson, my mom and I went to the Titans game. Unfortunately they lost to the Jets and we had to sit by some obnoxious Jets fan. Jackson was worried because Albert Haynesworth got hurt twice.

Sunday night, we had fun watching 24:Redemption with some friends. It was really good and made me excited about next season which starts in January. Only Jack Bauer could take out an entire block of snipers by himself with a handgun!

24 Reasons Why Jack Bauer Rules

Okay...the 24 television event (or whatever they are calling it) is merely hours away. YEAH! I found these 24 reasons why Jack Bauer rules on the Fox website and had to post it.

1. Jack makes carrying a purse masculine.
2. He gets perfect cell phone reception, regardless of his location.
3. He's tough enough to withstand torture, but isn't ashamed to cry.
4. He gave Cheng the silent treatment for 2 years.
5. Jack can fly a plane and a helicopter.
6. Jack doesn't care what other people think of him.
7. Jack Bauer is always right.
8. He got Erin Driscoll to listen to him eventually.
9. He pulled the trigger on Chase. Talk about dedication to his work.
10. Despite suffering from Herion withdrawl, he was able to break Ramon Salazaar out of prison.
11. He broke Ramon out of prison in less than an hour. It took Michael Scofield a whole season to break out of Fox River.
12. Hacksaw.
13. He doesn't always listen to orders, because he knows he's right.
14. Jack hurt that annoying scumbag Joe Prado.
15. He killed the whole Drazen gang by himself.
16. He figured out to look up presumed dead people in order to find Saunders.
17. He can hold his breath forever.
18. His magic hoodie is very impressive.
19. Straight men have crushes on him.
20. He can kill people without using his hands or legs.
21. He asked for forgiveness before killing Chapelle.
22. He's "died" twice and yet seems to be in great health.
23. He trusted George to take the plane down.
24. Despite saving millions of people over and over again, he has never asked for a thank you!

Oh, I went to see the much anticipated Twilight movie last night. More to come about my feelings on that...

Applause of Heaven

Last night Drew and I were downstairs ready to leave for church. I called for Jackson to come downstairs so we could go. When he got downstairs, I asked what he was doing. Here is our conversation.
Jackson: "I was talking to God"
Me: "Oh...what were you talking about?"
Jackson: "I told him we were going to church and God was clapping and Jesus was clapping, too."
Me: "Why were they clapping?"
Jackson: "They are happy because we are going to church."
Me: "Oh..."
Jackson: "You know we worship God and Jesus at church."
Me: "That's great!"

Children never cease to amaze me!

Overtime!

Last weekend Jackson and I had the opportunity to attend a Predators game and a Titans game. On Saturday night, all of us went to see the Predators play the Panthers. We went with a company Andy works with and got to see how "the other half" lives. We parked in the garage attached to the Sommett and sat in a box. Wow! It was really fun and lots of food. Drew was loving the popcorn and Jackson loved the hot dogs and Pepsi. In case you did not know, Jackson LOVES the Predators. He knows a lot of the players and their numbers, plays hockey in his room all the time, and wants Hockey Guys for Christmas. When he goes to a game, he is serious and intense. Jackson wanted to go early to see the Skate Around. The Predators did win in an overtime shootout which was super cool!

All of my boys are ready for the game.

Jackson is very thrilled to be at the game! He wants to play for the Predators and be the goalie like Dan Ellis.

Drew and Daddy wach the pre-game warm-up. Drew liked the beginning of the game, but then he got tired.

On Sunday afternoon, Jackson and I went to the Titans game with my parents. Jackson was again pumped. Andy dropped us off after church and we watched the Titans practice. Jackson also adores the Titans. His favorite players are Chris Johnson, Keith Bulluck, Albert Haynesworth and Jevon Kearse. He wants to play on the line when he gets big so he can sack the quarterback. We were thrilled to see the Tiatns beat the Packers in overtime and stay undefeated.

Jackson enjoying some cotton candy during the game. The package comes with a mix of pink and blue. He would only he eat the blue, because it is the "boy cotton candy."