Christmas

This was definitely a Christmas to remember for our family, but despite the added crazy of the heart attack, we had a great time!  

My 2 boys (and the stick horse)....thanks to Q and daddy's index finger for holding up the Kan Man. 

Our first stop on the Christmas train was in Paris with my mom's sisters' families.  Aunt Gwen Ann always goes all out decorating for Christmas and makes it fun for all the kids.  

Santa makes house calls! (who knew??) The kids had a blast getting in one last visit with the Big Guy before the Big Night! 

After that, our crew all spent the night at my parents house to have our Christmas there the next morning on Christmas Eve morning.

Q spotted one of his gifts before it was time to open. He was BEGGING to open this and though I wouldn't let him, he enjoyed playing with the sword until it was time to unwrap it. ha! 

All the cousins minus Jaylie.  She was asleep and it just wasn't worth waking her up for.  I kinda regret it because this is SO CUTE and she's not in it! 

My boys got sleeping bags from Paw Paw and Gay Gay.  

We left Paris and came back home so Santa could come to our house. Since the party had ended at Mom and Dad's they came back with us to enjoy the festivities! 

Paw Paw and the boys all in plaid

Milk and cookies are ready....

HERE THEY ARE

This was the next morning, Q wanted to see if they were still there.  He was thrilled that they were gone and even more thrilled that there were some pieces left and we let him eat them. Ha!

I didn't take many pictures of the opening Christmas morning, but it was fun.  Neither of the boys really understood the whole "Santa" thing.  They knew who he was, but they didn't understand when people would say "what's Santa gonna bring you?" They eventually caught on and both came up with something they wanted Santa to bring them.  This all came with very little coaching from us, we just wanted to see when and how they would figure it out and what they would come up with.  About 2 weeks before Christmas, they each had an answer for what Santa was going to bring them.  It cracked me up how once they said something they totally stuck with it the whole time.  Quinn asked for Bullseye from Toy Story.  (they've seen the movie a couple of times but not a whole lot, so it was funny to me that he zeroed in on that).  Santa knew exactly how to handle the Bullseye request, but Kanyon's was a little more tricky.  He kept saying he wanted Santa to bring him "that round thing".  What is that round thing you ask......WE DIDN'T KNOW EITHER! He would make the arm motion of a circle, but that was the only clue.  We asked lots of questions and tried to get him to describe it.  He eventually said that it had balls in it that go around and around.  Santa took the clues he had and came up with a toy (so what if its an infant toy) that seemed to fit the description and klp was very happy with it.  Who knows if it was exactly what he was talking about, but it did the trick this year.  Ha!  Funny boy! 

They were excited when they woke up Christmas morning and had fun playing with their new little toys.  Later on Kory and I were talking and decided that though Q had fun and was excited, we think it was a really disappointing morning for him.  Reason being, I think now, that what he had in mind when he asked for a Bullseye was like the real thing. Like one he could ride around.  And I think he thought when he woke up Santa would still be there.  Ha!  So, instead he wakes up to some cookie crumbs but no Santa and an 11 inch stuffed Bullseye.  Ha! He never said anything about being disappointed but we watched him try to sit on Bullseye a couple of times to ride him. Funny Funny. 

By the time all the Christmases were over, we decided this was the weapon Christmas. They got swords, guns, and knives! (all plastic of course) and have had such fun with them....."No, you can't sleep with your sword" "No guns at the supper table" "No, your rifle isn't a good nap toy" "No sword fighting around Jaylie" and other such statements have all been spoke A LOT at this house since Christmas.  Something tells me the weapons will just keep coming!  

This was from Breakfast with Santa at church back in December.  I only have a picture of the picture church gave us.  This was as close as Q would get to Santa...

With the craziness of the last month, my kids rarely got dressed in anything but PJ's so they didn't get to wear all their Christmas clothes.  The boys just have one shirt, but Jaylie had several cute things that she only wore once or not at all. Oh well.  Here she is in one outfit....and my boys only half dressed...sheesh.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

It started snowing Christmas Day and we were leaving our house to head to Gilmer for Spencer Family Christmas when it really started coming down.  This was our house at the beginning....it was covered way more by the time the snow stopped.  A fun little White Christmas! 

I was so looking forward to this Christmas because it was the first year that both boys were really gonna "get it" and have so much fun with all the festivities and stuff. I was disappointed that most things didn't happen the way I had hoped and MANY things didn't happen at all, but we had a great time!