We Wish You a Merry Christmas...

I realized today that it has been a long time since I have posted and I figured I better get some pictures on here while I have a minute. Things have been fairly slow down here the past few weeks. We've had non-stop rain for almost two weeks now and I'm starting to get pretty tired of it. We are actually hoping the snow is still in Kansas when we get home next week, so we have something different to look at. Jason has been waiting (patiently) to do a check-ride for almost two weeks now. No one has been flying T-6's these past few weeks because of all the rain and low cloud coverage. We finally saw a little bit of sunshine on Friday and Jason was able to get in the air for awhile. We are hoping the sun will make another appearance on Monday so he can do his check-ride before we go home for Christmas. We'll just have to wait and see.

Jaxon and I have been staying busy with Christmas shopping, baking for the students and wrapping presents. He LOVES watching me pull out the ribbon and decorate the packages. Jaxon has, suddenly, decided that he wants a little more independence while he's eating. He won't eat much baby food from a spoon these days, but loves to feed himself finger food. It has been a lot of fun trying new foods with him and watching him learn to pick up the food and successfully place it in his mouth. We haven't found anything that he doesn't like (yet), but there are times when he gets sick of turkey for lunch every day. I'm working on being creative with what I give him. Any suggestions are definitely welcome. He is also pulling up on everything now. I no longer feel comfortable leaving him in a room by himself for very long. Sometimes I will walk out of the room to work on laundry or get something from the kitchen, and by the time I'm back, he is under the in-table and pulling on electrical cords. He is enjoying pulling up on the couch and then letting go to turn around and hold on to the coffee table. He also discovered this week that he can go from laying on his stomach to sitting up by walking his hands back toward his body. It is so much fun watching him discover things and we're thrilled that Jason has been home in the evenings to enjoy these discoveries as well.






SUSHI IN STARKVILLE
Jason has been "craving" sushi for quite some time now. I cannot comprehend how one "craves" sushi, but I'm told it is very common. I like sushi and I'm not opposed to trying many kinds, but I still can't view it as a meal. Our friends, Jeff and Caitlin, watched Cooper while we went to Pensacola a few months ago and we've been talking about going to sushi with them ever since. We are still sushi-virgins, so we were looking to them to educate us some on new types to try. They took us to a cozy sushi bar in Starkville, MS, that I don't think we would've ever found without them. They were out of tables when we got to the restaurant, but they did have a private room with a table on the floor available immediately. What fun we had! It turned out perfect because Jaxon was able to play on the floor (where shoes have never walked) and he was right at the same level as the rest of us. He had a ball and was cracking up the whole time (I can only imagine what he was thinking about these four adults sitting on pillows on the floor eating dinner). I decided not to have sushi as a meal, but the rest of the gang did and they really enjoyed themselves.





Here we are around the little table on the floor!



Jeff and Caitlin getting ready to pick out their sushi.



The room with a little table and pillow all around. Shoes could not be worn past the wooden floor.



Here's Caitlin telling Jason and I all about In-N-Out Burger. Caitlin is from California and worked at In-N-Out Burger in CA and in Phoenix (which is where she met Jeff). Jason and I have never experienced In-N-Out Burger, and Caitlin was making our mouths water as she described how one is made.





Mississippi Rain!!! No, this is not a pond on base, this is our backyard!! Cooper thinks we put in a swimming pool for him and he's enjoying drinking and playing in the puddles.





Time for church. We have been attending Hope Community Church for about a month now and really enjoying it. Our friend, Jeff, leads the worship and the pastor is very young and easy to relate to. Jaxon is still very hesitant about the nursery and is crying by the time I pick him up every week, but we continue to take him, in hopes that he will adjust one of these days.





Blogging with my helper!




Chris and Mae opened their home Saturday night for a Christmas party. We had a great time of catching up, playing a game of Yankee Swap, and lots of good food.

Nicki and Chad enjoying the Christmas party.



Jacques and Tricia



The wives of 09-15 who came to the Christmas party. From left: Tiffany, Tricia, Nicki, Mae, Me


Some of the guys enjoying the Yankee Swap. A few popular gifts that got traded included alcohol, a movie from the Discovery Channel about airplanes (go figure), and a machete (don't ask).



Our fam having fun at the Christmas party! Jaxon was quite a trooper! We had been to Tupelo and back already this day and his eating and napping schedule was completely off. He got to bed almost an hour late and he was so over stimulated from being passed around the party, that he had a hard time settling down for the night. He finally did and I'll let you know the next blog whether or not he slept through the night.