reindeer games

2004 E-15 mo

2005 E-2 yrs

2006 O-10 mo, E-3

2007 O-22 mo, E-4

2008 O-2 1/2, E-5

2009 L-9 mo, O-3 1/2, E-6

christmas

I love this picture- not just because it shows our little Charlie Brown tree that I love (I only got blurry shots for some reason...) but because of the clock in the background. I think we did better than previous years and were done around 1:30 AM. We have learned a few things from past years and now we wrap most of the presents before Christmas Eve.

Ollie woke us up around 7:30 and we waited until Elliott woke up closer to 8:00. We let the baby sleep. I love how excited they are.

Ollie's stocking

Elliott's stocking

Elliott was our little present helper this year.
Adam was still sick and had to go lay down the second we were done unwrapping. It was really sad.

Baby Linc joined us half way through. He was just excited watching everyone and seeing paper everywhere.

Adam's gift to the boys- old school laser tag sets. He loved these when he was a kid. Thank goodness for ebay.
Ollie with his silver rocket and color changer race track.
Elliott with his pogo stick and spark scooter.
Adam helped get this started with water before he went into hibernation for a few hours. This meant I got to do all the package unwrapping, battery installing and breakfast. It was sweet. Our house is still a disaster area- a fun one though!
Elliott's scientific kit with a talking microscope. I just love how it's all rigged up.
Sweet Baby Linc. Notice he's playing with the paper and not his toy...

My boys.

Oh yeah- that's my card table on the right. I've wanted one since we got married. Adam hooked me up this year including Erasure's greatest hits CD, some cool jewelry and the best present of all, a love note. I could never understand why my mom would suggest a note from us when we would ask her what she wanted for Christmas/ birthdays/mother's day. It means so much to a girl!

{Tagen and Eric with Oliver and Elliott}

Later that day we went to my parents house. Elliott got one of his favorite presents from Grandma and Grandpa- a real life handy man kit- with everything just his size. He wouldn't take the ensemble off- pretty funny. He couldn't believe the hammer and screw drivers were real- and all his very own!

Grandma and Grandpa with the boys.

We finished off the night at Adam's parent's house. This was the first year all of their kids were out of town, except for us. We had a fabulous dinner and opened even more presents.
Grammy helping Elliott figure out his new Bakugans.

Grammy and Grandpa with the boys. (Ollie holding his new Rocky the Robot dump truck.)

Our family on Christmas night. It was a great day.

Christmas Eve

Cookies (thanks M) and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. We never got to send our lists off, so the boys wanted to put them right by the cookies. Oliver only wanted a silver rocket, a color changer car set and some Optimus Prime pajamas, even though he put some other things on his list. Elliott's list got a little extensive, but what he wanted most was a spark scooter, some legos, a pogo stick and a dinosaur that he could ride on and control like a robot???? And at the last second, he added a kitten.
The paper from Ollie's "I-can't-take-another-second-of-just-looking-at-the-presents-under-the-tree" fiasco. It was bound to happen...
Santa's magic key to get into our house.

Christmas Eve is also the last time we saw Corny. Cornelius the elf helped us through the whole Christmas season. He would fly back to Santa every night to report the boys' good or bad behavior and then land somewhere else for them to find each morning. Some days he liked to fly to the same spot. Sometimes five days in a row....
This wall made me so so happy. I loved checking the mail every day.

So Christmas Eve would have been such a great day, but Adam has been sick the last little bit (gall bladder maybe?) and he spent the day in the ER while I did last minute things at home. I really missed having him be the excited and giddy Santa's helper. He's usually the one who remembers the details like the batteries and moves furniture into it's Christmas position. But this time, it was mostly me. Although he did help assemble the toys that needed it. It really makes you appreciate the health most of us enjoy....

Santa

Linc and Collin

Linc and Grandpa watching the excitement. We're so lucky we just happen to be at Grammy's house every year when Santa comes. No visiting the mall, he comes to us!

Santa showing how his magic lights go in Ollie's ear and out the other. The boys were amazed. Santa tells jokes, does magic and knows special details about what the kids have been up to- it's pretty cool.


Getting ready to sing "jingle bells."





Just had to throw this one in. Baby Linc is always so interested in everyone. He couldn't resist that white, flowy beard.

Ames, Cody, Kenzie and Collin

Scott and Christie

Tanner and Megs (and gus gus)

Steve and Karen

The annual Christmas duet. I love to hear these girls play- they are amazing! It makes me want to gather everyone and sing carols around the piano.
Gingerbread houses. In the end, we sucked at putting these together. Grammy had frosting everywhere, until I took over and saved the day. (Yeah right!) And Megs started making Adam and Eve gingerbread men with body parts.... oh gees.

And finally- Christmas pj's from santa.

Elliott- 6, Kenzie- 4, Oliver- 3 1/2