Santa

Perfection!

Kinder Party

Old Union PTO hosted a Kinder only Christmas party.  The students were invited to wear their pajamas to watch The Polar Express and make Christmas crafts.  Reed had a blast, and all the children were thrilled when Santa showed up.  Love our school!

Pictures with Santa

Ryland, Reed, and Ridley put on their cute Christmas pajamas to take a few precious pictures with Santa.  I was hoping that Ridley would like Santa this year, but as the photos demonstrate, she isn't a fan.

Santa is coming

We are getting ready for Santa to visit, and the boys wanted to leave the reindeer some food for their long trip.  The boys sprinkled food mixed with a little glitter in the front yard.   The glitter was to help the reindeer find a safe place to land.  

We left Santa a fancy glass full of milk and some homemade Christmas tree cookies.  Yummy!

John Chris and I had a sneak peak at all the goodies Santa brought. They must have been good this year.

Letters to Santa

Pictures with Santa

I love these precious pictures of my sweethearts with Santa. LOVE!

Stocking Fail

I was excited to get our new monogrammed stockings.  My excitement quickly dimmed when I pulled out the huge stockings.  What did I do?  Oh goodness, I ordered the wrong size.  I hung them on the mantle, and I couldn't stop laughing.  They are huge, and Santa has a lot of room to fill.

Christmas PJs

The boys loved all the cool things Santa brought, but they were ready to get out of their matching pajamas.  They were ready to build forts and play with the new hunting goods.  The cute jams came off, and the camouflage went on.  I made them both hold on just a bit, so I could take a quick picture of them.  Gotta love boys!

Christmas Eve

Our family traditions continued with a full day of activities.  We decided that Santa would like chocolate chip cookies this year, so we baked a batch of cookies in the morning to start our day.  I have to admit that a little cookie dough is an excellent way to get your day going.  The boys got a bit silly as well.

The afternoon was pretty lazy, just a bit of playing toys and puzzles.  We put on our "handsome" clothes for Christmas Eve candlelight service at church.  This is what really gets John Chris and myself in the mood.  It was a beautiful service.  Ryland fell asleep on one side and slept through the entire service.  He was so comfortable, he kicked his feet up on the sweet lady sitting beside me.  She was a trouper and simply placed her hands on top of his legs to keep them in her lap.  Reed made it almost to the end of service before he fell asleep on the other side of me.  As I sat with both of my sweeties peacefully resting on either side, I was overcome with emotions.  Couple that with the pregnancy hormones and the beautiful music, and I quickly turned into an emotional mess.  

We came home for dinner and put out some reindeer food in the front yard.  The boys sprinkled the glittery food and laughed with sheer joy.  They picked out a few chewy cookies and a glass of chocolate milk for Santa to enjoy.

Santa brought a bunch of fun toys and goodies for the boys.  We can't wait to see how the boys react in the morning.  

Santa Letters

The boys have talked a good bit about what they wanted Santa to bring them for Christmas, and we finally made the list to send to Santa.  They both say they have been nice, but we will have to wait and see.  After the note they received from Santa yesterday, he is really watching them. 

A Note

The boys were wild, and our elf, Tom, took the news back to Santa on his nightly trip to the North Pole.  We were happy to see that he came back, but he brought a note for the boys.  Santa explained that he knew that they had been bad, and he stated that they needed to act better or else.

A Full Day of Christmas

We started the day with Breakfast with Santa at Town Hall.  I have heard about this event for the past few years, and we were fortunate to get tickets early.  It was awesome, and we will make this a new family tradition.  The breakfast was super laid back, and there were lots of fun craft activities for the boys.  The morning was complete when Santa arrived to visit and take pictures with the kiddos.

After breakfast, we were in full Christmas mode.  We ran some errands, did some shopping, wrapped gifts, and finished decorating the house.  We were all worn out by 7:30.  Goodnight, my sweet boys.

Santa was here

Santa stopped to leave the boys lots of fun toys!

 

Ryland and Reed were beyond excited to see all the toys, and they couldn't believe all the Imaginext men!

 

Reed loves his new Elmo doll and loves to push him around in the shopping cart.

 

Ryland found some Operation band-aids in his stocking which are perfect for his hurt thumb.  He wanted one right then.

 

Santa also left some fancy twist up crayons with huge coloring books.  I showed Ryland and Reed how they worked, and we colored for all of 5 minutes before returning to the toys.

Christmas Eve

We had a Christmas treat for breakfast to get us all in the mood for Santa.  Ryland and Reed were so excited to see Santa on their plates.

 

 

I found the Santa pancake idea on Pintrest, and John Chris and I had fun putting them together.

 

 

Later that afternoon when Reed and John Chris napped, Ryland and I worked on a little baking.  We have the cutest gingerbread cookie cutters that assemble to create a three dimensional reindeer, sleds, snowmen, and trees.  Since the dough had to be chilled for a few hours, we were really excited to get started.  After a few failed attempts to cut out the shapes, we decided to go another route.

 

Reindeer poop!  It was so obvious to me at this moment that God knew what he was doing when he blessed me with boys. Ryland and I laughed hysterically and couldn't wait to try them.

 

We all got dressed in our "handsome" clothes and headed to church. Unfortunately, church was packed when we arrived, and the sanctuary was already at max capacity.  We decided to come back for the next service, so we had about an hour to burn.  Just enough time to swing by the grocery store for Vanilla Bean ice cream and deliver a few gifts.

 

The later Christmas Eve service was completely full as well, but we were there in time to find seats.  The music was beautiful and the lighting of the candles to Silent Night was absolutely breathtaking.  It is my favorite moment at church every year.

 

We headed home to get the last little things together for Santa.  Ryland and Reed spread the reindeer food all over the side yard to make sure the reindeer were full for their long night.

 

 

One last attempt to capture a cute picture of the boys in their Santa pajamas and rain boots 

 

 

We headed out to take another look at the beautiful Christmas lights.  Reed requested to see Santa, so we drove to the over the top house in our neighborhood.  They have a huge Santa sitting in a chair with about a million lights all over their house and yard.

 

Ryland was out.

 

We couldn't go to bed without leaving Santa some delicious cookies and a Coke.  Lizzie and Pops had a Christmas Eve present for us to open, and it was a cute glass plate just perfect for Santa's treat.  Ryland also wanted to leave Santa the pictures he and Reed had colored earlier.

 

 

 

Letters to Santa

Santa pajamas

It was cold outside tonight, so the boys could finally wear their new Santa pajamas. 

 

Christmas party with Santa

The annual Christmas party for members of GCSML was once again a blast.  As soon as we arrived, we ran into Santa.  We took the opportunity to take a non-crying, semi-smiling picture.

 

There were lots of fun activities for the kids, and the cookie decorating station was a favorite spot. 

 

 

 

After a couple hours of jumping in bounce houses, eating yummy treats, and crafting, it was time to go.  We couldn't pass up a ride on the train.