Christmas Morning

Ah, Christmas Morning.  At the risk of sounding all soft and fluffy I have to admit this Christmas will be hard to top.  The boys are at such perfect ages for the magic of Christmas, and Christmas morning was no exception.  They came downstairs to find all kinds of goodies waiting for them and they were so excited.  They got excited about every last thing whether it was an awesome bike or a book.  I'll admit they were spoiled, but I'll also admit it was worth it.  I fear these years of "magical" Christmas mornings will last far shorter than I care to admit and we are going to do it up while we can.  I have spent years and years getting spoiled myself (of which I am VERY thankful for by the way) but there is something about being a parent on Christmas Morning that is just so cool.  Way cooler than being on the receiving end.

Here is a glimpse at our Christmas morning.  It was pretty simple.  We opened presents and then spent hours playing with the new loot (and taking naps).  It was relaxing and perfect.  Eventually we took showers and made ourselves presentable enough to go have dinner with Chad's family.  Here's hoping for many many many more Christmas' like this one.

 

Christmas Eve

I know this post might appear a little confusing.  There are Christmas trees, presents and...Halloween costumes.  Yep, you read that right.  Bennett decided his Christmas Eve attire this year would be his Iron Man Costume.  We all know by now that kids in superhero costumes are my weakness and I always give in, even on Christmas Eve.  When I made all the kids sit down to take the annual picture before we start opening presents I could feel the eyes on me wondering "is she really going to let him wear that".  Why yes, yes I am.  1. It's cute 2.  It's Bennett and we pick or battles with that little angel (sarcasm, lots of sarcasm).  So anyway, this is indeed a Christmas Eve post in case you were confused.  We had a great time.  We ate really well. And we all got spoiled with perfect presents.  For the record, even the Kinetic Sand gets an A+ from me.  Once in a while I can throw caution to the wind and embrace a gigantic mess.  Yep, I'm crazy like that.  Now the megaphone, that has been harder for me to embrace.  That might "accidentally" break.

 

Everything Is Not Awesome

Let me set the scene.  We were sitting at the Christmas Dinner table at my Mom and Dad's house.  At the table sat myself, Nolan, Chad, Geoff (my brother), Sharon (my sister in law) and My Grandma (Nolan's Great Grandma).  My Mom and Dad were in the kitchen as well buzzing around getting the final touches ready for our meal.  And then this went down...

Nolan: (singing) Everything is awesome when you're part of a team, everything is awesooooooome.

(For those of you not hip to pop culture, these are the lyrics to a song from the new Lego Movie.)

Nolan: You know Mom, everything isn't awesome.

Oblivious Me: Oh, it's not?

Nolan: No.  It's not awesome when someone kicks you in the nuts.

Me: WHAT? NOLAN!  Where did you hear that?

Chad: Reid calls them his jelly jells.

Me: You're not helping. (insert evil eye)

So, a couple of things here.  I'll just let you know.  It's REALLY hard to keep a straight face and correct your child when 1) your spouse says the words "jelly jells" 2) when the rest of your family is laughing uncontrollably.  I'll also point out that he is probably absolutely correct.  I can't imagine that if someone kicks you in the nuts you would describe that feeling as awesome.  I mean I don't have firsthand experience in this category but I've got to believe he's telling the truth.  So can I really be mad?  Lastly and most importantly, I'm thankful my grandma can't hear a damn thing.

Visit with the Jolly Old Man

Much like our Christmas Card, I always have really great intentions for our visit with Santa.  I always intend to go super early in the season as to avoid the huge annoying crowd.  Sounds pretty smart right?  Yep, I'm sure it is.  Too bad I didn't do it...again.  I waited until a week before Christmas so we could enjoy a nice two hour wait to see the Jolly Old Man.  Thankfully Bass Pro has other activities for the kids to keep them busy while Chad and I take turns standing in the horrific line.  By the time it was actually our turn we were so over it we just threw the kids on Santa's lap, crossed our fingers for a decent picture (or a screaming one), grabbed the kids and ran.  If I'm being completely honest I don't even know if the kids actually told Santa what they wanted for Christmas.  Good thing we had that two hour wait to write him a letter and send it to the North Pole! Maybe I'm not so dumb after all.

Welcome Baby James

I'm going to take a break from this regularly scheduled program of me desperately trying to play blog catch up from the holidays to share a cute cute cute little baby with you.  Meet Baby James, he was welcomed on New Years Eve by the cutest little family (inclusive of Big Brother Will).  James was an absolute angel for his photoshoot...as long as we kept him all snuggled up in a warm blanket.  (Smart boy that lad).  Big Brother Will was an excellent little helper but wasn't too sure about joining in on the picture fun most of the time.  Poor Will didn't realize that I have two boys at home that constantly avoid my camera and I know how to wait them out :).  Persistency is key, well that and gummy snacks.  So meet the oh so adorable Miget family.  They are in for so much fun with these two little boys and I was beyond thrilled to catch a few of their first moments together at home.  
 

  

The Gingerbread House Miracle

I have to start this post by giving a shout out to the person who decided to produce and sell pre-made gingerbread houses.  I mean that is straight up GENIUS right there.  I have seen my fair share of social media posts lately where parents are cursing their gingerbread houses and I have seen the awful pictures that follow.  Walls falling down, children crying, moms...drinking.  Okay maybe actually making the house wouldn't have been ALL bad. Anyway, needless to say we bought the pre-made house this year and by some miracle we managed to decorate it without breaking it, without fighting and without making a huge mess.  You know what else?  The kids loved it.  We had to break out the leftover Halloween candy because they were getting a little over zealous with the kit provided candy (mostly eating with a side of decorating).  So don't mind the sour patch zombies that have appeared on our house, I suppose we just have a "Walking Dead" gingerbread house this year.  We're trendy like that.

Christmas Card 2014

Every year I swear I'm going to put a family picture on our Christmas Card and every year I end up with a card of just the boys.  The problem is I always want a "new" picture for the cards, one that no one has seen yet (because we all know you care, admit it) and if I get family pictures I get too excited and I post them right away.  The "new picture" infatuation always leaves me scrambling at the last second to take said "new picture".  This usually means no planning whatsoever and definitely means I have not hired a photographer to take the picture with us in it.  Hence a card of just the boys.  They are cuter anyway, who are we kidding.  I swear we will be on the card next year ;)

There was no real "money shot" this year, so I went with the theory of throw a BUNCH of pictures on the card and fake people out into thinking maybe there was a money shot.  Did it work?  

Here are some of the pictures and a few additional outtakes.  It even kind of looks like they enjoyed taking pictures this time, I assure you...they did not.  You'll have to excuse Bennett.  He has this smile thing going on where he smiles so big you can't see his eyes anymore.  I'm his Mom and I think it's cute, so they usually make the cut.  Kind of makes you want to smile too doesn't it?  You're welcome.