Christmas Part 3

Well now we have come to the final Christmas post…I think.  The Struckmann side, never boring…never quiet.  Just the way I like it.  We opened presents, ate some pizza (that's right homemade pizzas for xmas eve, did I marry into the right family or what?), played some bingo and headed home to wait for Santa.  Good times my friends, good times.

The evening started out with a little band performance by the little ones….

While the older ones dove into their new technology…

Then we moved on to opening some presents...

Bennett got a present that included 3 little balls with it.  We purposely did not open it.  Uncle Eric felt bad for Bennett because all the other kids had their toys open, so he opened Bennett's present.  So what do you think Uncle Eric is doing in this picture?  He's searching the toy closet for the balls that Bennett has launched in there that's what he's doing.  Oh Eric, one day you will be as smart as Chad and I.  Until then…you will search for small toys all over the basement while a small child screams at you.

Then it was time for some Bingo fun...

Bennett didn't care too much about Bingo, but he sure loved the toy closet and all it had to offer (especially the pretty necklaces).

And I'll leave you with my final attempt of the year at getting a picture of the two boys together.  Here's hoping we have a huge turnaround in our picture taking skills in 2013!!

Christmas Part 2

Christmas Part 2 brings us to, drum roll please...Christmas morning with just our little family.  Christmas morning was pretty darn spectacular this year I can not lie.  Nolan was SUPER DUPER pumped and Bennett was right there with him tearing the paper off those presents like a pro.  Santa brought all kinds of fun goodies and I think we had two very happy little boys.  #blessed

Here is our vicious "guard dog" keeping watch over all of the presents...

Yes, we had to wake this sleepy little boy.  Can you tell?

Nothing a little cookie for breakfast can't cure right?  Don't judge.  Santa didn't finish it…it was fair game in Bennett's eyes.

On to the presents.  

And yep, in case you haven't noticed from the 1 million pictures above I did in fact dress the boys in matching PJs.  This is something I said I would never do.  I'm very much a fan of coordinated outfits instead of actual matching, however seeing these two in their matching PJs made my heart melt.  I got a suggestion from a "friend" to have Chad wear matching PJs with the boys next year.  I'm considering this suggestion a challenge, and I'll see what I can do.  

But seriously…could they be any cuter?

Christmas Part 1

This year splitting our time between families on Christmas was a little different, so we ended up seeing both sides of the family on both days (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day).  I've decided for blogging purposes to post pictures by Family as opposed to by Day.  This will explain any outfit changes that you may observe in the below documentation (please take special notice of my Dad's get up this year, a Grinch t-shirt one day and a Santa t-shirt the next…Jolly Old St. Nicholas Steve).  Today I'm starting with my side of the family.  We spent Christmas Eve morning with my family opening presents, then we returned Christmas Day to open the stockings bags that Santa left us and finally rounded everything off with a delicious dinner.  We had an added bonus this year, my nephew Cy enjoyed his first Christmas here with the gang.  Sure, he slept through the opening of all of his presents but don't fret his parents acted out the emotion that they thought he would have to each present.  They are weird, that's all I can say.  Weird, but entertaining nonetheless.

One of the treasured traditions in our house is the Scratch Off tickets that Santa leaves in our stockings. We all get quite a few and then we sit around the table and trash talk as we scratch off all of our tickets.   This year my Mom started in on the "I don't know why Santa buys all of these, I NEVER win anything…EVER".  Please note the last picture in this sequence and which individual is the one smiling and posing with the winning tickets.  I don't remember how much she won exactly, but I do know it was more than $100.  Want to know what I won?  A ticket, just like every other year.  Merry Freaking Christmas.  

Told you so?

My Grandma was in town for Christmas, and my Mom had one request.  A request that I honestly think she believed would be simple.  However, being more of a "realist" myself I knew the task would be next to impossible.  This was the request:  "When your Grandma is in town I'd really like a picture of her with the three boys".  She didn't even have to finish the sentence and I was already in panic mode.  But being the NUMBER ONE daughter that I am I decided to humor her and give it the old college try.  I let it go on for a little bit with all of the hootin' and hollarin' to get the kids attention, there were people chiming in from all over the room.  I have NO IDEA why none of them are looking at the camera!  Anyway, I let it go on until Bennett continued to dive bomb off the couch REPEATEDLY and I feared his life was in danger (as well as everyone else's in the room if the hollering continued).  That was that, I tried.  Do you think these are the pictures my Mom was longing for?  Merry Christmas Mom?

Letter to Santa

I knew this year was going to be BIG for the Struckmann boys when it came to visiting Santa. I was prepared for an Epic Failure to be honest, but in the back of my mind/heart I was really hoping for a miracle. Nolan has never been a fan of Santa, or anything dressed up for that matter, but this year he became wiser with age (see Fredbird Post) and I thought we might have a chance at meeting the Big Guy...and NOT freaking out.  We talked a lot about the visit, and came up with a plan.  We were going to write Santa a letter and then hand it to him.  No funny business like sitting on his lap, or GASP talking to him, just hand him the letter and run.  Nolan seemed good with this plan.  So we wrote the letter (okay I wrote it, Nolan signed it). 

Then the time came to go up and give it to the Jolly Man, so Nolan marched right on up there (as I stood shaking, not a lie...shaking) and handed him the letter.  

Santa told him he would read the letter on his lunch break, and offered him a high five.  Nolan obliged.   Then Santa asked if he would like to sit on his lap, and he DID.  I stood there in awe, almost so shocked I forgot to even take a picture...and THAT is just down right amazing.  Nolan was pretty darn proud of himself, as you can tell from the below smirk.

This is where I need to start apologizing...to Bennett.  I was SO overtaken with what was going on with Nolan, I didn't even notice what Bennett's reaction was to Santa.  And as you can see, it was no good...SHOCKING.  I can't lie though, I don't think Bennett was really scared of Santa he just doesn't like to be held/stopped. Keep in mind this whole encounter lasted approximately 30 seconds. 

I'm thinking there is a CHANCE next year we could be a family that gets a cute Santa picture, but honestly what fun would that be? 

Side note, does Nolan look absolutely huge in this picture?  I mean how old before they can't sit on Santa's lap anymore, surely they don't age out at 5 right?

 

 

Nolan again told us (just like with Fredbird) that when he was 3 he was scared, but now that he was 4 he wasn't anymore.  Phew, I am so glad he turned 4 this year! We decided to celebrate after the big Santa Visit.  Guns and Carousels all around!