Outta my way!!

JACKSON IS CRAWLING!! He's been toying with the idea since the 22nd, but he is officially mobile as of December 27th. He prefers being carried, but he'll gladly follow Ethan and Spine anywhere.

I'm trying to motivate him to crawl to me.

On your marks.....

Get set.....

GO!

47 degrees?!?!?!

I woke up today to 47 degrees!?!? That is the coldest it has been in the two years that we've lived here. I guess it's time to bundle up!

Andy and Jackson are ready for a walk to look at Christmas lights.

Ethan REALLY doesn't like wearing his coat, but he'll wear it if that's the only way Mom will let him outside. To think he was born in Massachusetts and lived in Maine. He's going to be in for a rude awakening when we move back.

Merry Christmas 2008!

All of these new toys, and he's happiest in Mommy's lap.

Ethan and his great Mack MegaBloks truck from Momo and Papa!

Jackson and his haul.

Ethan and his haul.

Merry Christmas 2008!

Thank you friends and family for making this a

blessed Christmas for our family.

Christmas Eve

This was Jackson's 1st Christmas Eve. Andy had to work, and Ethan had school so it didn't really feel like Christmas Eve until the evening when we ate Swedish meatballs and Grandma Haxton's corn. We then went to the Christmas Eve service at the Chapel.

Despite it being past both of the boys bed times, we made it through the entire candlelight service without having to get up once!

The boys on Christmas Eve.

Super cute and super tired.

Jackson, Mommy, and Ethan getting ready for Christmas Eve church.

If you can't tell, Christmas Eve church coincided with bed time.

The great gingerbread house Andy and Ethan

made at Ethan's preschool Christmas party.

The new Goldhahn BOY tradition:

Camping in the backyard on Christmas Eve, awaiting Santa's arrival.

Please note, this tradition will likely move into the living room

when we move back to winter weather in the U.S.

Ethan's complete Advent calendar!

Thank you Aunt Lisa, Uncle Eric, Lars, and Annika.

Christmas Eve - getting ready for church.

Notice Ethan's decorating (a.k.a. flashlight)

in the background.

Jackson's 1st Christmas Eve...

My mom made his shirt because they don't make

1st Christmas outfits in his size.

Christmas Cookies!

Ethan and I did our annual Christmas baking on Sunday.

We made Swedish spritz cookies,

sugar cookies, and Reese's bars.

Ethan puts the "H" in helping!

Courtney Christmas Festival

This weekend was the annual Courtney Christmas Festival.

Ethan had a great time (see below)...

Riding the rocket ship!

Riding the train!

Zooming down the giant tiger slide!

And as always, Jackson was a great trooper, following his brother around the festival. Jackson was in his backpack for over an hour and didn't make a peep. We might be replacing the stroller with the backpack!

A Visit to Santa

Ethan and Jackson met Santa Clause today. Ethan got a flashlight, and Jackson got a truck. THEN, both boys won a drawing for another present from Santa. Ethan won a monster truck, and Jackson won some stacking cups. It was a great afternoon at Andy's Christmas party. Besides Santa, there was delicious food and a bounce house. It doesn't get much better than that...well except a white Christmas.

Just a day at the beach...in December

Ethan wrote his name in the sand, albeit in the wrong order. Oh well!

Jackson hung out the whole time and watched Ethan play.

It is still weird to say we went to the beach in December. I guess there are perks to living in Okinawa. It was a fun afternoon and a nice alternative from the park.

Boys will be boys....

Ethan being Ethan...in the dryer.

He still can't crawl, but he can scoot his butt all the way across the living room to demolish a package of crackers.

The newest addition to our backyard: SWINGS!!

Thanksgiving 2008

For Jackson's first Thanksgiving we hosted two of Andy's Marines for turkey and all the fixings. We also decorated our house for Christmas. Sorry I didn't take more pictures.

Jackson is SO big...

Sorry I haven't blogged in so long. Jackson had a six month height/weight check, and he is 25 lbs. and 28 1/4 in.; that's the size of a two year old. However, because of his "thickness," he is standing and almost crawling.

Back from vacation...

Jackson catching some waves.

Ethan doing the hula.

Ethan's new favorite drink is a pina colada (virgin of course).

Jackson having fun at the luau.

Momo and Jackson at the Kalua beach.

The Goldhahns at the Hale Koa luau.

Fun with Momo and Papa!

Ethan was born for the beach.

We're back in Okinawa after a great week in Hawaii. We went to the beaches, a luau, and Pearl Harbor. We also did some shopping and eating out at places we don't have in Japan (just about everything). We hope you enjoy these photos.

Aloha!!

We are in Hawaii with Momo and Papa (Karin and Dean), and it's a great place. The weather is so warm, and fortunately, a little less humid than Okinawa. We've been to a luau and Pearl Harbor and the beach. We've also toured the Marine base to see if it's up our alley for our next duty station. We like it here, but we're not sure if we want to live on an island again. I will post pictures once we get home.

Happy Halloween

Jedi and Batman getting ready to go trick-or-treating.

Jackson also doubled as a skele-cat for his first Halloween.

Skeleton Baby and the Jedi.

Ethan the Jedi got to wear his costume to school.

We had a great Halloween. Ethan had a parade and candy-hunt at school, and we went trick-or-treating that evening. Jackson fell asleep about 30 minutes into his first trick-or-treating experience. We also handed out candy to military kids and Japanese kids. My three bags of candy lasted 17 minutes so that tells you how many kids we had to host.

Ethan also had his 4 year check up on Halloween. He is 40 inches tall and 39 pounds. Growing like a weed! He also got five shots. I don't know who cried harder, Ethan or Mommy. We leave for Hawaii at 3am on November 3rd so I'll blog more once we return home.