Christmas 2010 Highlights

This year's Christmas was up and down. The lowlights included: an accident in Oklahoma kept my aunt and uncle from making the trip to Shafter, a death in our extended family, flooding at my parents house, and the Browns moving from California to Oklahoma.

But these things did not keep us from enjoying our time with the family. The highlights included:

Brenna napping with her Papa.

Brenna enjoying her first Christmas. Like the boys before her, she was more interested in the paper and boxes then the gifts themselves.

Connor finally understanding the idea of getting gifts. He was able to remember what people gave him and got excited each time we were opening presents.

Dillon getting an enormous amount of Legos. On top of what he got as gifts, I was able to find my old Legos that were being stored at my parents' house which will add to his massive collection.

Santa's little helper not wearing her Santa hat that went with her Christmas dress.

Jason really liking his Robin shirt Christina got him. So much so that he made Jonathan wear his Batman shirt so he could take this picture.

Uncle Larry giving me this Lakers warmup jacket. I know it pains him (as a Suns fan) to have to buy anything Lakers but he was a good sport about it.

On a side note, I don't have any pictures from Christmas with the Cummings because I left my camera at home and have not gotten the pictures taken with Michelle's camera. I will be posting those highlights after the first of the year.

Vacation 2010

Below is a video I made of our vacation. Sorry, no bidets are in it.

More Brenna Pictures

One of my rules for our babies was that we would never announce the names until after the babies were born. No matter who or how many times they ask, I would not reveal the name. Last night at dinner, Grandma Sharon was drilling me over the name and I was refusing the temptation to spill the beans.

I did say that Dillon was told the name a few days ago but had forgotten it. Christina and I had just asked him the night before if he remembered Brenna's name and he said no. So the following exchange happened:

Grandma Sharon: Dillon, what's your sister's name?

Dillon: Jessie (He was enamored with the name since Toy Story 2 is his favorite movie.)

Grandma Sharon: It's ok Dillon you can tell me her real name.

Dillon: (whispering in his grandma's ear) Brenna Joy.

I guess I won't be sharing any more secrets with Dillon.

A good picture of me and Brenna. Our nurse took a picture of me but it was really blurry so Christina had to snap this one.


Brenna tried to open her eyes for this picture.

Grammy with Brenna. Due to the H1N1 scare, the hospital only allowed two visitors for the entire stay and I count as one of those visitors. That left us having to choose one of the four grandparents be able to hold Brenna during her first couple of days.

However, Ginni knew one of the nurses in the Birth Center and she allowed the other three grandparents in to hold Brenna. That was the one bright side of Brenna being born at 3:31 in the morning, we were allowed to sneak in extra visitors.

Papa Jim was the biggest person to benefit from the "extra visitors" because he was going to have to leave Sonora before Brenna would be released from the hospital. There are not any pictures of Brenna with Grandma Sharon because I had left the camera in the waiting room when she was holding her. She will just have to wait a few days.

By the way, please excuse any typos or misspellings in the last two posts. I don't function well under three hours of sleep.

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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Thanksgiving Pictures

Below are some pictures from over the weekend.


Baby's first Thanksgiving.


Papa sure was happy to have all his grand kids spend the night.


For the most part, these three played well together. Occasionally one of them would try to take the other's toy but on the whole they got along great.


Pops enjoying the always relaxed Connor.


Paint time!


Grandma Sharon helping Dillon paint a giraffe and keeping an eye on Taylor at the same time.


Dillon showing the mess he made.


But Kaleb out did them all by trying to eat his paint.

Pictures

I know I promised to post pictures last night but by the time I got home from the hospital I was too tired. Below are pictures from yesterday and today.

One last profile before we head up to the birthing center. We had to be there by 5:30 a.m., which was early for the both of us.

One of these has an excuse. Can you guess which one? Seriously though, Christina and I were surprised to see Grandma Sharon and Papa had beaten us to the hospital.

Moments before Christina was rolled into the operating room. You can see the nervousness in our eyes.

Grandma Ginni checking out her "perfect" new grandson. At first Dillon was reserved and shy around Connor but once Grandma Ginni held him Dillon decided Connor was alright.

The first picture of all three of the "boys" together. The only one missing is Otis.

Strrrreeeeeeetch!

Papa happy that everyone is doing well.

Today Dillon was ready to hold and kiss Baby Connor. He was also very excited to see Mom again.

Uncle James and Aunt Michelle saw Connor for the first time today. On Monday, Connor will meet his Aunt Jen and Uncle Jon.

"Yeah, that's right, I'm the BIG brother."

My favorite picture.

There is a good chance Christina will be able to come home tomorrow. She was able to walk around this afternoon. She has been a trooper these past nine months and I am very lucky she was willing to go through another pregnancy. I already can't imagine life without Connor and Dillon.

Happy Birthday Dad!

I hope you have a great 50th birthday.

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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Vacation Part I, Pictures

On Saturday we went to a wedding. Grandma Sharon bought Dillon and Kaleb matching suits. I snapped at least a dozen photos and none of them had the two kids looking up at the same time. I finally had to give up because the wedding was starting.

Afterwards, flower girl Taylor gave her cousin Dillon a kiss.

And I thought getting two kids to look up at the same time was tough. I now know how those photographers of lightning feel. You could spend hours and a few gigabytes of memory and still not capture the moment.

Dillon with his great, great grandma. Even at 92, Mum still knows how to entertain the kids.


Papa, Dillon and Kaleb playing on Papa's bed. I play a game with Dillon called "Squish the Baby." It's were I yell out "Squish the baby" and he lays down while I lay on top of him. He was trying to play that with Kaleb here. Papa spent a lot of his energy trying to keep Dillon off of Kaleb.

Dillon found one of Taylor's strollers for her dolls and wanted to push Kaleb around the house in it. Both of them had a grand old time.



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