Mrs. Crafty if You're Nasty

well what an awesome Christmas we had. I am gathering pictures of our three christmases, but in the meantime I wanted to share a few crafty crafts with you that I was so proud of. This first one is really all about Jackson and his creativity. I found a recipe for salt dough ornaments and wanted to get Jackson into the crafting scene, so we rolled up our sleeves and got started. We made the dough and tried to get Jackson to smash his hand into it. It took quite a few tries to get them made since he wanted to squish the dough into his fists everytime we would try. With perseverance we managed to make one for his Beasch and Gran and one for his Mammaw and Pappaw.

This was a gift for my mom and dad. As most of you know I have been making blocks for crafty projects lately and when I asked my parents what they wanted for christmas, they asked for blocks with Jackson on them, so this was my interpretation.
It is like a puzzle with different seasons on each side ,so they can keep it up year round. I think I have about crafted out with this one. It was quite the challenge.




Stay tuned for an update on the little man. We have some exciting news!

Fairwell to the Stadium and Hello ICE

So, I have to start this post by saying there will be more walks down the Jackson memory lane, however due to a few technical difficulties and the holidays, we have other posts that are going to come first. No fear though, we will continue with the adorable look at the beautiful past after a few holiday goodies. I have some catching up to do so I must start with the, spur of the moment trip to dallas that took place the weekend before christmas. We were able to go to the final game ever to be played at Texas Stadium (thanks Beep and Amanda!!!). We ate our nachos, drank our hot chocolate and cheered the boys to a horrible loss. Now we didn't stay long, because who likes watching a train wreck, so we headed from the frosty winds of the stadium to a 4 degree warehouse with 200 million pounds of ice. Needless to say we were cold most of the day, but it was all WELL worth it!!!!!

This was the only picture we got at Texas Stadium. It was my first time there and it blew me away how BIG it was! What a neat experiece.


Beep and Amanda in there large jackets supplied by the Gaylord hotel's ICE exhibit. And that large ornament was all ice.

Joey and I trying to reinact the Christmas Story, tongue to the pole scene.

My favorite thing there was the life size gingerbread house that you walked through

Walking over the ice bridge. Joey stole Amanda's hand warmer because it was COLD!

Thanks Beep and Amanda for a fabulous weekend!
Stay tuned for the Christmas blogs to come!!! Happy Holidays everyone!!!!!!!

Sweet Moments From The First Year

In no particular order, I give you some of my sweetest memories from the past year. I am trying to upload video, so please continue checking back....more memories to come!

Our first dance in the rain!

How sweet is this face?!!!

This was the first day that we had him home.....I was scared to death!

So peaceful.

This was christmas. Jess can you believe he was ever that small?!

Christmas at his Gran and Beasch's house. Gran and Carson feeding him for the first time.

Snug as a bug in his christmas outfit.

And I couldn't leave out the LARGE belly at Thanksgiving, just sooooooo ready for him to be here!

More fun pics and video to come. Thanks for reminiscing with me. What a crazy trip down memory lane!

The Winter ONEderland!!!!!

Where does time go? He was in my belly two weeks ago right? He can't be turning ONE?! I just can't believe how time flies, but I am so thankful we have had this year with him. What an amazing child. He is fun, challenging, amazing and perfect all wrapped up in that little body. What a treat it has been to watch him grow. We just had his first birthday party, and he had a blast! I went with the winter onederland theme, and decorated with white, silver and blue. Here are some of the pictures from the party. Thank you Beasch, Gran, Mammaw, Pappaw, Aunt Boo, Uncle Beeper, Aunt Sissy, and Carson for sharing this precious day with Jackson.

This was the sign that I made for his sweet birthday!

We decorated with white, silver and blue (don't know why the picture looks purple) and white lights and streamers!

We did cupcakes with sprinkles.

I made mugs for party favors for the fam.

His birthday sign

After the gift opening we had to play with them all. He loved his wagon!

Playing with his fun "popper" toy with his Gran and Carson

Here he is showing off his walking abilities for the family. What is so funny is that he had been walking some up until this party, but at the party he almost refused to crawl anywhere. He walked everywhere! And now, we are officially walking ALL over the place! I guess he needed his birthday and family to get him jump started.

His Beasch is giving the "smash cake" pep talk

He just went for it. He two fisted the thing and smashed it in his little fingers.

He shoved the whole thing in his mouth




He still wanted more and took some from his daddy!


What an amazing journey this first year has been. There have been so many moments to reflect on and to be thankful for. We have loved this experience and are so ready for the new adventures waiting for us.
It is officially the 16th so I have to give a shout out, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOYS!"
We have the big ONE and the big Twenty Nine! What a great day it is!

Family Pictures

What a great time we had taking these pictures! Thanks Jess for doing such an amazing job!

Christmas Countdown #10 (The Finale)

Well, I hate to say it but yes, we have come to the very last christmas favorite on the countdown. I know you all will be sad, but grab some hot chocolate, listen to some christmas tunes, while watching a christmas movie, and you will forget all about it. I have truly enjoyed thinking of and sharing my love of christmas with you guys. So, the countdown concludes with something I think we will all agree on. Christmas countdown #10 is....
well.... I couldn't conclude with just one thing, way to hard. So, instead, for your viewing pleasure I have put together a compilation of some of my favorite christmas movie clips of all time. Hope this puts you in the holiday spirit and hope your christmas is filled with all these favorites!


And here is a little Christmas Story for you...

And of course Christmas Vacation

Talent Show

So, before the final christmas favorite, I pause and take a brief detour. For this portion of our show, I bring you the talent show. It is brought to you by our very own, Jackson Philip Kraus. Hope you enjoy! Christmas Countdown # 10 is coming soon.

Christmas Countdown #9

Before I get to the countdown, I must update you on the Black Friday shopping experience. Jess and I got to the mall at 6am when it opened and got some great door buster sales! We didn't get into any fights, no crazy shopping stories to relay so all in all it was a great Black Friday experience. We got lots of shopping done, and had a great time hanging out.
So, moving on, we have made it to number nine on my list of christmas favs. Well, what would christmas truly be without the fantastic songs that echo through the december month. I mean think about it, there are no sad christmas songs. I mean even after all the other reigndeer laughed and called him names, Rudolph eventually got to pull Santa's sleigh. Point proven that all the songs are joyful. Happy and cheery is the theme of the music this time of year, which is a great change from the sad country, my dog died and wife left me songs played the rest of the year. So with a little help from John Lennon, here is my favorite christmas song to get yall in the holiday spirit! (Upper right side of blog)

Christmas Countdown #8

We are heading to the end of this fabulous countdown with only two remaining. I know you are all sad, so to cheer you up, I would like to play you something. Now, for this item on the countdown, I got to go back to the movies, specifically, claymation movies. Now some seem to be scared of this specific type of genre, and I would have to agree, execept for Christmas movies. Christmas claymation made #8 on my christmas countdown. Claymation in and of itself can be a little scary, however when done with rudolph the lovable reindeer and frosty the snowman it is magic! Have fun watching a classic!

Christmas Countdown #7

And the christmas countdown continues. Christmas countdown #7 is decorating the christmas tree. One of my favorite trees is the one in Rockefeller center. The lighting of this famous tree is something that screams christmas. You know that the tradition began in the depression-era. Workers actually decorated a small fir tree with strands of cranberries and tin cans. Alot has changed, considering the tree is now typically around 100 ft tall, adorns 30,000 lights, with five miles of wiring, and is topped with a 550lb Swarovski crystal star. Are you liking this history lesson. Apart from entertaining, I like educating my readers on fun facts that you probably never need to know.


If you haven't, go put up your tree. It will put you in the christmas spirit. We put it up last week and we played christmas music and turned on a christmas movie. So much fun!!!!!!!

Christmas Countdown #6

One of the best things about the holidays is being around family, so christmas countdown #6 has got to be celebrating with the ones you love. I thought it was appropriate to show you all how the three of us celebrate the holidays.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

However it is that you choose to celebrate doesn't matter, just CELEBRATE!!
Thanks Jess for this crazy vidoe!!!