Christmas 2011

Below are pictures from our Christmas season.

Brenna loves her Great Grandma Dede. The two spent a lot of time "calling" each other on Brenna's play phone.

Six grandkids all ready to have a slumber party with Grandma Sharon. The four older ones got to stay up late one night to watch Cars 2.

For the past few months, since we watched all six movies together, Dillon and Connor have been obsessed with Star Wars. Dillon loved getting some action figures and a Bubba Fett gun (not pictured) from Uncle Jason.

Connor couldn't believe that Uncle Jason got him the Millennium Falcon.

We celebrated Christmas at Grandma Barbara's house on Thursday, where Bradley and Connor had a great time on the see saw.

The feast at Grandma's was, as always, delicious. We ate a very southern Christmas dinner, chicken fried steak.

Friday night was spent at Grandma Dede and Pops' house. Brenna had already become a present unwrapping expert and tore through her gifts with unexpected efficiency.

Someone got so excited over opening Christmas presents that they had a hard time controlling their bladder. (Just kidding, Brenna spilled her water in the funniest place possible.)

The next day we opened presents and stockings at Papa and Grandma Sharon's house. Grandma Sharon stuffs their stockings so full that she needs to hold them to the mantle with 50 pound weights.

Connor, Kaleb, and Dillon watching Toy Story 2.

Christmas Eve we drove back to Sonora in time for Santa to bring Brenna her doll stroller (the doll was courtesy of Aunt Terri) and the boys light sabers.

Christmas day we went to church and then to Papa and Grammy's house. There the boys and Trent honed their light saber skills with epic battles against the dreaded Darth Vader.

The Cummings had a few friends over and we sang Christmas carols before we opened gifts. I belted out the chorus to "We Three Kings".

One of their gifts included some balloons all the way from Japan. They were quite a hit, so much so that we had to put them away just to get the kids to finish opening their presents.

Of course, like every year, the kids got too many gifts.

One of Trent's favorite things to do is come over and play "yegos" at our house. So Dillon made Trent his own Lego figure and put it in with his present. Trent didn't let the figure get out of his line of sight the rest of the night.

Sneak Preview

Here is an early look at a present that Dillon, Connor, and Brenna are giving to their cousins Taylor, Kaleb, and Bradley.

Wagons, Water, and Wussy Throws

Last weekend we went to Shafter to celebrate Uncle Larry's 40th birthday.

The kids love playing in the wagon in Granny Barbara's backyard. At one point Bradley tried pulling the four older kids.

Uncle Larry brought water balloons and squirt guns to his party. He obviously knows how to get the attention of kids.

Connor loved the water balloons but had trouble throwing them hard enough to bust...

...and from the looks of this picture, Connor wasn't the only one with that problem.

Double trouble.

Once they tired of water balloons the squirt guns became all the rage. Eventually, the guns weren't getting them wet enough so they turned to just dumping buckets of water on themselves.

Brenna was content watching the action with Grandma Sharon.


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Now playing: Dave Matthews Band - Don't Drink the Water
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Brenna's First Trip

Brenna made her first trip out of Tuolumne County this weekend for cousin Bradley's one year old birthday party.

During the trip, Brenna met her Aunt Jennifer for the first time. Aunt Jen is just like Grandma Sharon in that they can not get enough of babies.

We also got Uncle Larry to hold Brenna. He usually refuses to hold the babies until they get a little bit older.

I had to snap this cute picture of Dillon wearing Papa's old fireman hat while playing with his fireman toy.

The three older boy cousins needed a bath after playing all day at Bradley's party. Connor would have played outside all day if we would have let him. Thankfully his second favorite thing is taking a bath, as evidenced by they smile on his face.

While the boys bathed, Taylor got to hold Brenna. These two girls are going to be spoiled rotten.

Grandma Sharon wanted a picture of all six of her grandkids. It is impossible to get all six of them to cooperate. This was the best picture of the bunch.


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Now playing: Vampire Weekend - Cousins
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Manteca Trip

On Friday we went down to Manteca to visit Uncle Larry. We spent some quality time with the Morgans, Grandma Sharon, Papa, Grandma Dede, and Pops. Below are some pictures.

Uncle Larry spoiled the kids by letting them play with squirt guns and bubbles in the house.

Play doh was also a part of the indoor activities.

Grandma Sharon feeding Connor while Pops makes smart alec comments.

The three musketeers outside of the Bass Pro Shop.

Grandma Sharon and Taylor running from the bear. I was surprised by the number of stuffed animals at the store. Glad to see the taxidermist is not suffering from the recession.

Connor tried to convince Uncle Larry to buy a ski boat. It didn't work.

I thought getting a good picture of four kids was tough, now we have to add a fifth for an added degree of difficulty.

Christmas Part One

Christmas was so big for us that I am having to post pictures in two parts. Below are pictures from our trip down to Shafter.


Connor met his great, great grandmother. Dillon and Kaleb also wanted to be in the picture with Mum.


Granny Barbara wanted to take a picture with all of her great grandkids. My Christmas wish was to snap a picture with all the kids looking in the same direction. Sometimes you just don't get what you want.


The pictures in this collage were taken for Uncle Larry's present. They were too cute to keep to myself, especially Connor stuffed in his stocking.


Our first Christmas celebration was at Pops and Grandma Dede's. Connor got help opening his presents from Grandma Sharon.


Next, we opened presents at Papa and Grandma Sharon's house. Dillon and Kaleb each got a hand stitched Cars blanket from Grandma Sharon. I bet you can guess what Dillon now wants to take to bed with him at night.


Finally, we opened presents at Granny Barbara's house. Dillon was very excited about his Lightning McQueen rolling suitcase. He can't wait to use it on his next trip to visit Grandma Sharon.

Part two of the Christmas pictures will come later.



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Now playing: Dashboard Confessional - Hands Down
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A Busy Week

Connor has been a very good baby. He hardly ever cries and has been sleeping well during the nights. Once again, Grandma Sharon has been good to us. She has volunteered to sleep next to Connor and bring him to Christina for feedings. This allows for maximum sleep time for Christina.

Dillon always wants to lend a helping hand. He uses his slide as a makeshift ladder.

We had some visitors come up on Monday. The Morgans, Uncle Larry, Grandma Dede and Pops all made the trek to Sonora. Taylor loved showing off her new cousin.

Grandma Sharon with all three of her grandsons. She has had a grandchild born in each calendar year for four straight years. Jennifer will keep up the streak in 2009.

Dillon has benefited from Connor being born. The toys in this picture are just from Uncle Larry. Every one has been very thoughtful with Dillon and even Connor brought Dillon the Finding Nemo movie home with him.

Getting a three, two, and one year old to look up at the same time and prop up a newborn is almost an impossible feat. We gave up on getting them all to smile.

Holiday Catch Up

This Christmas was a very busy time for the Nixons so I thought I would post what we were up to for the last two weeks.

The weekend before Christmas was spent with the Cummings and Evans. I got a sweet Hawaiian Jamba Juice shirt from the Evans. I now need to find a matching one for Dillon because I have passed on my love of Jamba to my firstborn.

Dillon and I both love the Caribbean Passion and Orange Dream Machine. Here he is on our trip down to Shafter. We have learned to get him his own cup of Jamba...

...because this is what happens when you take his Jamba away from him. By the way, James sent me the following Jamba Juice related video via email with a note that read "Jimmie = Chris Parnell's character."

Jamba Juice - SNL

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Papa and Grandma Sharon helping Dillon open a present while Kaleb enjoys the box of one of his presents.

Uncle Larry helping Dillon with his new motorized tractor. I know that in the summer time I will arrive home from work to find Dillon pulling Otis in the trailer of this tractor.

The theme of this Christmas for Dillon was trains and tractors. Here he is opening up his Lionel wooden train set.

On Christmas Day I had to come back to Sonora to work while Dillon and Christina stayed in Shafter. Now don't feel too bad for me because I spent my evenings playing Rock Band on the PS3 with James. I jammed on the drums while James shredded on the guitar. Our band, the In-N-Outlaws, is on the way to rock and roll stardom.

Three days after returning to Shafter I had to drive back to pick up the family. But the trip was not a waste because Saturday evening was Taylor's third birthday party.

Taylor got plenty of Princess shirts, toys, shoes and dresses for Christmas and her birthday. After her birthday Dillon, Christina and I drove back to Sonora because Christina's cousins, the Naves, were up from Thousand Oaks for New Year's.

New Year's Eve day the whole gang, including the two horses, Otis, Brandy (the Cummings' dog), Snoops (the Evan's dog), Shadow (the dog the Cummings were dogsitting), Lulu and Bently (Michelle's boss's dogs), all went for a walk around the neighborhood. This parade got quite the looks from passing cars.

We even put Shadow to work pulling Dillon's stroller.

James and Scott came to the conclusion after viewing the Time Person of the Year cover that I looked like Vladimir Putin. That meant I had to deal with Russian jokes and stupid nicknames like Jimmie Putin during New Year's.

I don't see the resemblance.

But James used his mad photoshop skills to help everyone else see the likeness.

Though there was a lot of driving involved, we had a wonderful time with family over the holidays.


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