Christmas - 2014

"This is the best day ever,"  I heard that a few times on Christmas morning.  What a fun day!  We told the boys on Christmas Eve that when they woke up in the morning to come into our room and wait for everyone to wake up so we could all go into the living room together.  Ethan was the first one.  At 7:30 I heard him jump out of the top bunk and race up the stairs.  He snuggled in our bed for awhile and the wait about killed him.  Luckily, at about 7:45 Quinn yelled that he was awake from his crib, and Caden came bounding into our room with a big grin!  I ran out first and got the video camera ready to capture the first couple minutes.
I love their excitement:

I think the best surprise of the whole day was this little horse that Quinn has named Lightning.  He knew from the second he saw it that this horse was his.  After riding it for a little while he said, "I need some boots,"  luckily, Santa had brought boots too!  He put on his new boots and then requested a rope...so a shoelace was provided and the little cowboy was ready to gallop into the sunset.  After a bad experience meeting Santa at our church party this year, I asked him, "did Santa bring you this horse?"  He replied, "no, it was Mrs. Clause."  He's such a little character.  He literally spent hours on Christmas day riding his horse and yelling, "I a cowboy, yee-haw, yippee ki yay!"

He was so content to just play with his little horses and cows all day.  That pile of unwrapped presents in the back are his, but he didn't feel like unwrapping anything else.

Ethan loves to run and be fast, so he requested roller skates this year for Christmas!  He immediately put them on and I think he had visions of having super hero speed the second he stuck those skates one...there will be a bit of a learning curve, and my poor toes got run over twice!  But, hey, it's Christmas...so we let him wear them around the house all day, and he was a bit better on the carpet.

Caden was just thrilled about everything!  He said, "wow I must have been really good," when he saw all of his presents.

We loved that his bed head matched his lion's mane.

We also got a new robot that acts a lot like a dog...we'll see if we can keep it alive.

Colorado hats for the whole family!

The boys were soooo excited to exchange gifts.  Caden picked Ethan out a secret agent trap that works with a motion sensor to shoot darts, and Ethan got Caden a Big Hero 6 mask and fist that fires off his arm.  This was one of my favorite moments of the day!

Grammy Tammy slipped us a couple of costumes under the tree...now Dad can be Batman!

There were lots of hugs given.  Lots of assembly, lot of batteries, and lots of playing.  Ethan had to try everything out the second he opened it.

There was even a little time for snuggling.

We saved a big surprise for the boys until the afternoon.  We are going on another conference with Clark in February that will put us close to Disneyland...so we figured why not.  We decided to surprise the boys on Christmas and tell them about that trip.  They opened a big box and found a Disney stuffed animal for each boy and a clue.  The clue led them on a treasure hunt around the house, even outside to the mail box, they had to collect a puzzle piece at each stop.  Then they came inside and put the puzzle together to find out their present.  It was pretty fun!

Quinny just trying to keep up with the boys.

This little video shows their reaction:

That evening we went to our friends the Fowlers for a Christmas Story inspired Chinese dinner.  We were so excited by all of the snow we found when we went outside.  A white Christmas for sure, Caden insists that it was his Christmas wish that made it possible.

Ethan, Katelyn, and Kylie all got kangaroos for Christmas!

Mason and Caden both requested lions!

Our giant minion pinata was a hit!

Ethan is jumping in this picture!

After giving the 7 kids about 10 turns each we let the moms and dads take a few swings.  This minion wasn't going down without a fight!

The boys have figured out the day after Christmas is pretty great too!  Another day of playing and sledding with friends!  I'm grateful to be a mom to the fun boys everyday, but on Christmas I'm especially sappy about it...I can't imagine anything better!

Christmas Eve - 2014

I love Christmas Eve.  I love being nestled in my warm home with my family, everything is done and ready, and just enjoy the moments.  The anticipation and excitement is so great!  It's so special to reflect on the birth of our Savior, and just be grateful.  All the magic is tangible on Christmas Eve.  This year the night turned out pretty perfect.  We started with our traditional fondue dinner.

Quinn enjoyed chicken nuggets not contaminated by the rest of the meal.

 After dinner we played a Christmas matching game and sang Christmas carols.  Then we acted out the nativity while Clark read from the scriptures.

For some reason I am always Mary.

 We watched a special video on Jesus' birth, and then enjoyed a little chocolate fountain.  The boys made sure to save some for Santa.

 We all got to open new jammies, and then the boys ran outside to put a little reindeer food in the driveway.

Caden drew the targets with sidewalk chalk so Santa would know where to land his sleigh.

Then we settled in for a long winter's nap.  I probably slept the least that night, I was just too excited!

Dear Santa,

I know this letter is late, but I'm hoping my request gets to you anyway.  If possible, my Christmas wish is to always have a 2 year old in my home at Christmas.  The fun and excitement is out of this world this year!  I love that he has started calling you, "Santa Closet."  He says things like, "Santa Closet is coming to town,"  except he doesn't really say it, he shouts it with excitement.
This morning I brought him into my bed to snuggle with him and see if he'd sleep another hour, and with his eyes closed, half asleep, I heard him mutter, "Once there was a snowman, tall, tall, tall."  I love that he sings in his sleep.
Just now he helped his Dad wrap a present for me, he then ran out into the living room, chucked the gift right at the tree, and said, "here's some gloves for you mom."
I love that he still likes to give me kisses under the mistletoe instead of running away like his older brothers.
I also love that he has been wrapping himself with blankets and very reverently telling me, "I'm Mary."  He also told me that the Duck Dynasty guys (Clark has a rug with their faces in our bathroom) were the wise men.  I love my boys at all ages, but this age 2 right now is about as good as it gets!

I promise to be a good girl all my years.  Love, Stephanie

Popcorn Pajama Party

Ethan is quite the party planner.  For the last week he has been planning all the details for this shindig...complete with hot chocolate, popcorn, cookies and everyone bringing their favorite stuffed animals.  It was a cozy and fun Christmas night!

Operation ECQJ

What a fun holiday weekend!  I love spending time with my little family, I love the littleness of my boys and the way they make everything fun...like tonight when we made snickerdoodles and Caden was so covered in cinnamon by the end he had to change his pajamas.

On Friday night we watched Home Alone and had a slumber party under the Christmas tree.  Clark and I were a bit stiff the next morning.

 On Saturday Ethan came with me to Zumba, and I had a grin on my face the whole time, he is quite the dancer and can shake it with the best of them.

 On Saturday night we went to the Botanic Center in Fort Collins to see the lights.

 

 Afterwards we had planned on taking the boys Christmas shopping to find gifts for each other.  On our way there we told them how we had wanted to do something special for a family we know that needs some extra help.  We told them it had to be a top secret mission and that they can't tell anyone about it so it remains anonymous.  Well, using the words secret mission got the boys right into the spirit.  They are real secret agents you know.  They went back and forth arguing about what to call our secret mission.  They finally agreed on Operation ECQJ...(using all of their initials).  We had a lot of fun completing our mission, and the boys loved picking out presents for each other.  They were so excited when they got in the car they immediately started telling each other about the present they had picked out for the other.  So much for top secret!  It cracked me up, but it made me smile to see them so excited about what they had chosen.  I hope at their ages they find joy in giving and not just receiving.  I'm not sure that they really got any great life lessons out of Operation ECQJ...but maybe one day they'll remember and use their secret agent powers for good.

Here are their letters to Santa this year:
Ethan's list included several items including a new baby sister, accessories for the baby sister, and his own set of utensils...but on the back he wrote "uspeshle" especially roller skates.

 Caden kept his pretty simple.  He wants a stuffed animal dad lion, and a baby lion.  Also a pack of Skittles and 2 Starbursts.

When we ask Quinn what he wants for Christmas he says a candy cane.