Christmas Day

Santa Came!

 and

 

 Ethan was completely mesmerized! I have to say that this has been the most fun Christmas yet because he completely understood what was going on and was able to experience the anticipation of Christmas.

Caden...

 

thought it was the best thing in the world to have so much to play with!

 

  AND Daddy thought it was so much fun to put everything together!

Mid-morning Grandad came to visit and the boys got to open presents from him. 

Grandad loved seeing the boys and their excitement over their gifts! As his daughter, I love seeing the smiles that my children put on his face :-)

 

And once more, Daddy and Grandad got to put toys together. Ethan was so appreciative of everything and so sweetly told Grandad "Thank you for my presents." To hear my child say that without prompting brought tears to my eyes. As parents, we try so hard to make our children understand that they truly are privileged and "things" should not be taken for granted. It was so very nice to hear the sentiment verbalized in his own words. That evening as we were putting him to bed, he even said it again, "Thank you Mommy and Daddy for my presents." Sweet boy! 

This year has been a BOY Christmas. Our playroom no longer is a mix of toddler and baby toys. Which kind of makes Mommy sad to see her boys growing up. We are now full-fledged, all out, Lightning McQueen, Tow-Mater, race track, Hot Wheels, radio control car, bulldozer central!

Christmas Eve and Magical Nights of Lights

Christmas Eve came and we were busy getting ready for Santa 

and making our Happy Birthday Jesus cake! 

After breakfast, we started by making cookies and snowmen. 

Ethan got to lick the spoon, can you tell?

 After naps, I had a couple of helpers making silly faces

Then Mimi came and she brought MORE presents

Radio control Mater and Lightning McQueen! 

Caden was so cute!! He thought that you had to touch the antenna to Mater to make him go :-)

Then we put our Christmas PJ's on, blankets, and some of our yummy cookies and headed out to see the Magical Nights of Light. Lightning McQueen had to go with us, too :-)

The Magical Nights of Lights is a spectaular drive through light display with tons of thematic exhibits.

 Some golfers for Daddy

My favorite is the 12 Days of Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Somewhere along of the way, I missed one but it was still an amazing light display.

 The Wizard of Oz

  If you look at the cars in front of us, it will put the size of the display into perspective.

 When you reach the end, there is a small carnival set up as well as a huge fire pit, an ice rink, zip line, and Santa's workshop for some shopping, hot chocolate, and sweet treats.

 Santa's workshop

 We returned home to get snuggled in bed and Mommy tried to get one last picture in their Christmas pajamas. By that time, the giggles had kicked in and this was as good as it got.

We ended the night reading reminding Ethan of why we celebrate Christmas and reading the birth of Jesus from Luke.

Christmas at Mimi's

Last weekend, we went to Mimi's to celebrate Christmas. As always, the boys loved every minute spent with Mimi and had a great time playing with Uncle Chad and Aunt Ashley!

 Caden testing out Daddy's shoe

 High-fiving Uncle Chad

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care"

Mimi and her boys 

 

  Chad and Ashley

Just us

Then all of us

 And finally it was time to open presents...

 Ethan had been asking for 3 nights to open presents and he was so ready!

And he racked up!

Caden was excited, too, and seeing his face was priceless!

 

 Then it was time for the adults to play Secret Santa...

 Maw-Maw and Zeke drew the first two numbers

 

Ashley making the tough decision...what to choose, what to choose???

And Ben ended up with the gag gift. He's a huge fan of the movie, but the lamp was another story...Christmas story, that is ;-)

Sweet brothers playing on Caden's new bulldozer after breakfast the next day. 

Love, Love, Love the moments when they are sweet to each other!!!

When we returned home that evening, Lauren came to play and did an advent activity with the boys while Mommy got to unpack. Which was totally awesome!