Christmas 2015

Christmas morning this year was filled with excitement, joy, hugs, and playing!  These are a few of my favorite faces that sum up the moments pretty well!

 The BEST was when the boys finally got to give their gifts to each other.  They were more excited to give the gifts they had picked out tan to receive.  It was awesome!

Grandpa and Nada gave the boys this awesome set, it's like life size tinker toys.  I think Clark had the most fun helping the boys build a rocket they could all fit in.

I got a selfie stick from Santa!

We stayed in our pajamas all day!  It was perfect.  We enjoyed a fondue dinner and then finished the night with several rounds of Pie Face.

Quinn gets the wet sponge instead of Whipped Cream...the dairy free version.

Christmas Eve 2015

Christmas Eve is one of my favorite nights of the year!  It's cozy and special and the anticipation of our little boys is the best part.  This year we spent the day and evening having lunch with some friends.  When we came home Clark read to us from Luke 2 and we acted out the story.  For some reason every year I end up being Mary.  We watched a few special short movies, read The Night Before Christmas, hung up our stocking, opened our new Christmas jammies, left treats out for Santa and went to bed.  Clark and I discovered a little flood in our basement that night, so it was a late Christmas Eve for us.  Luckily, Santa doesn't come to Pueblo until really late so we made it!  Every year I think the boys are at the best ages for Christmas...this year they really were!

On the Eve of Christmas Eve

The night before the night before Christmas Eve was one of my favorite.  The boys sat up an epic indoor snowball fight in the basement, it was so fun!  We were all exhausted and laughing by the end.

We filled the living room with mattresses so we could all sleep under the tree.  The big boys fell asleep really quickly, but Quinn was just too excited...he stayed awake chatting with me until 11:30!

When he woke up the next morning he yelled out, "Merry Christmas to all...my Christmas wish is for a new cow!"

We discovered in the morning that our elf Snowflake had made herself a bed next to us.

Can't wait for Christmas!

Elves on the Shelves

Our new shelves gave me the inspiration for our Christmas card this year.

Caden was the most pleasant elf on the shelf!

The height made Ethan nervous, and Quinn was just grumpy!

When I safety pinned the little collars on their shirts I had no idea they'd be wearing them in public, but the elf costumes have come in handy this year!  Some ladies that Clark works with did a project at work to fill stockings for people at an assisted living center near the clinic.  The boys had a great time filling stockings to donate.  Then last night the boys and I were invited to join them to deliver the treats.  It seemed only fitting for them to wear their outfits.

I knew  everyone would love the little elf in cowboy boots, he melted everyone's heart.

What a wonderful opportunity!  The patrons at the care center were so gracious and kind.  They loved their little gifts!  They really loved the elves!  One sweet lady just cried.  Ethan wasn't nervous at all and jumped right in, Caden needed me to help him with the first one and then he was good, Quinn had me stay pretty close and would about make the people fall out of their chairs standing just far enough away he kept his distance.  It really was so sweet.  My boys felt it the true Christmas spirit.  As soon as we got in the car to leave they kept talking about how fun that was and how great they felt.

Ethan was horrified to find out we were running to Walmart and Sams Club afterwards and that I didn't bring him extra clothes to change into.  He begged to stay in the car.  I convinced him that the elf suit would brighten people's day as they were hustling through the store.  I was right!  They were pretty much instant celebrities!  Everyone wanted to stop and tell them how cute they were.  Several people asked to take pictures, of course, Quinn gave his best grumpy cat glare, which would then cause everyone to laugh and more phones were pulled out.  Caden said "I think I'm famous."  A true Christmas miracle to find a little Christmas spirit in Walmart on December 23rd.

Our own elf on the shelf, Snowflake, hasn't caused much mischief this year.  She's just had really good hiding spots.  Quinn was so proud to be the first to find her 2 different times.  One morning the boys woke up and were shocked that Snowflake hadn't moved that morning!  She was still sitting on the Christmas tree.  After a little investigating they found out that mom hadn't slept that night so she must not have had a chance to go back to the North Pole.  They had a little talk with her explaining that we would be at the YMCA that morning, and she had 70 minutes to get the North Pole and back if she needed to.  When we got home from the Y the boys bounded out of the car to look for Snowflake.  She had moved!  She was there on our landing of the stairs looking down on us.  Oh my!  What excitement!  How was that possible?!  Christmas magic is the only explanation.

Today she got herself into quite the predicament.

This is our I-pad.  The sign she's holding says, "Ethan, Caden, Quinn, Help me!  I'm stuck inside here."

She somehow changed the passcode too!  Hmmmm....not sure how she's going to get out of this one!

December Fun

Oh I love December!  I love the holidays!  I love every part.  I really do.  It is so much work, but I really do enjoy the hustle and bustle.  I've been reflecting lately on how I have been able to be so much more productive this month than any other, it's a phenomenon.  I've still had time to relax by the fire and watch Christmas movies too...I don't get it!  Luckily, I can go back to my less productive ways in January.  On the 12 days leading up to Christmas we do a countdown of activities and traditions with our boys.  These activities make Christmas for me.  Here are a few snippets of the season!

One of my favorite traditions is the Johnson Polar Express.  This year the boys remembered that the night we watch the movie we also take them on the Polar Express.  It told them that wasn't the plan this year to throw them off.  After we tucked them in, we made hot chocolate, then crept back to their rooms with the Polar Express song playing on my phone and bells softly jingling.  It got really quiet in their room and then the boys came bounding out with big grins on their faces!  "We get to ride the Polar Express!"  They ran into Quinn's room to get him and we all jumped in the car to drive around and look at Christmas lights.  

Another one of my favorite traditions is to take the boys shopping for gifts for each other.  We go in groups and sneak around each other at the store to avoid getting caught.  Ethan and Caden are so excited for their presents for each other they can't stand it!  When my mom asked Ethan his favorite part of the whole Christmas season he says, "I just can't wait for Caden to see what I got him, it will be the best part of the whole Christmas!"  I tried to point out that giving is more fun than receiving and Ethan pointed out to me that buying a present for Caden is pretty much like buying a present for himself because they like the same things and he knows he'll get to play it too.  Oh well.

Clark found us the perfect tree this year!

I've had so much fun decorating our new house this year!  When our realtor first showed us this house I had visions of decorating the stairs for Christmas and a daughter walking down in a prom dress.  I got 1 of the 2!  And little boys wrestling on what they now call "the magical stairs" is pretty special too!   

The Nutcracker exhibit at our Children's Museum was amazing!

And I got to attend Nutcracker in a Nutshell with the Activity Day Girls, yay for me!

Ethan wanted to send a Christmas card to his old fist grade teacher.  I told him he needed to write a little letter on the back giving an update on his life.  I love what he came up with:

Quinn and I got to go to the Kindergarten holiday party.  The kids had 20 cents to buy supplies for the gingerbread houses.  While I manned the marshmallow store, 3 year old Quinn sold the licorice.  He was a tough little salesman.  No one got more than 2 pieces of licorice and ONLY after they had correctly counted out their 3 cents.  He's 3 going on 30.

The holiday brings out the love in Caden.  Everyday, we find at least 10 loves notes and cards stashed around the house from Caden.  Mom Loves Dad...Dad Loves Mom.  We all love Caden.

Caroling at a nursing home was a very sweet activity for our girls.

We went to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for their light safari!  It was awesome!  The zoo is built into the mountain, you take a chair lift to the top.  I bought our tickets on Groupon and so we had to go a certain night.  Of course that night happened to be the coldest ever!  It was 9 degrees, but we wore lots of layers and had a great time.

I can't put my arms down!

The view coming back down from the chairlift.

We had a fun Christmas party with 12 little friends!

The boys wore their elf suits to deliver neighbor gifts.

We had a sugar cookie party with one of the boys friends one afternoon, and another family joined us that evening to make gingerbread cookies.  I don't know what I was thinking?!  Sugar overload!!!  At 10 pm Ethan was still bouncing around the house.

BEFORE COOKIE PARTY

AFTER COOKIE PARTY

Fun, fun, fun!