Twas the Night Before Christmas....and the next day.

Merry Christmas! Lana and I decided to play with some of the boys presents after they had gone to bed.

We tried really hard to be quiet and not wake them. James yelled at us a couple of times.

Plasma Cars are just too much fun. Especially on hard floors.

I wanted to play bumper cars.
But then we got yelled at again :(

They can go really fast!

We parked them under the tree and got to work :)

Christmas morning was fun. The boys had a great Christmas.

Notice Jackson didn't descend from the upstairs. He snuck into our bed in the middle of the night......grrrr.

Charlie jumped on that Plasma Car so fast.

And the traditional bumper balloons.

They all popped before the morning was over.

I could eat him up. I love his feet.

And he got a haircut that night.

The boys with their cars from Grandma.

Santa could have left every Cars car for Charlie and he would have been a happy little boy, not that he isn't already a happy little boy :)

Checkin' out each others cars. Jackson decided to take his pants off mid-unwrapping.

I don't know....

More trucks and cars...because we don't have enough.

Whose next?

I got a cool new lens for my camera. It does some cool tricks.

I've yet to discover them all.
I quickly put in on my camera

and look already at the difference in light!

No flash! I hate the flash!

Aunt Lana got Charlie his own stool for the bathroom.

Jackson and Charlie like to fight over one stool, and they both don't fit on it at the same time.

He got a haircut that night, remember? You don't need to think it.
You can actually see his eyes today. He doesn't have to lean his head back anymore to take in a view.

James excited for his new iPod.

His got stolen out of his work truck.

He was sad.

But now he's glad.

Taking a break from presents for a game of b-ball.

I'm lovin' this lens....

The livng room post unwrapping.

I tried to keep it all under control.

I wish he was like 9 months old again.

I'm serious.

As Jackson likes to call them, candy cans.

And this one just keeps getting bigger by the day.

He likes to dress just like his daddy.

He likes to walk just like his daddy.

He is his daddy.

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas.

Catchin' Up

Today was Jackson's Christmas school program. He's been singing Christmas songs for weeks now...we were ready for the big performance!
I thought we had arrived early enough to get to the church, but as you can see we had to sit way in the back..[overachiever parents, sheesh!] and I don't own the telephoto lens for this camera...so this was the best I could do.
I wasn't about to hightail it down to the front row and park it in the floor....not that brave. Plus it was all James and I could do to keep Charlie from not interrupting everyone in the church during the process. He was standing on James' lap yelling, "Jaaaaaaaaasssssson" [minus the "K"] and waving and giving thumbs up. Then I settled him on the pew with a bag of goldfish and got up and started trying to pass out the goldfish to people around us like he was in charge of refreshments! THEN, he thought it was arts and crafts time and found a pen in the back of the pew in front of us and thought he'd scribble scrabble something in the Hymn book. Then he fell off the pew and cried. A lot.

Back to Jackson...Second row 2nd in from the right in a cream sweater. Poor lighting. Poor seating. Sorry.

Then it was time to head to the banquet hall and have punch and cookies. Snapped this en route...

Charlie looking all Mr. Innocent..grrrr

Jackson and his teacher, Ms. Tina!

He has truly loved his new school this year and I am so thankful. Everyone at his school is so nice.

On Another Note:

I am going to compare advent calendars to my two children. Here I go.

The above advent calendar is Jackson's. It is neat and orderly. There dare not be an opened door with the chocolate ripped out a DAY before it is supposed to be. This advent calendar is a rule follower.

This is Charlie's advent calendar. He wanted to eat ALL the chocolate on December 1st. He almost succeeded....as you can see. This advent calendar is far from neat and orderly. The rules are clearly not being followed. This advent calendar looks like it has seen better days....

On Yet Another Note:

Elf on the Shelf arrived at our front door yesterday! I'd seen this in the book store and didn't really understand it's concept...until yesterday.

The whole idea is that the elf moves around from day to day and reports back to Santa at the end of every day if the kids have been "naughty" or "nice" that day. You name the elf, "Snelf", is what our poor elf's name is, and register him online.

It comes with a book to explain to the kids how he "works" and I think it's a really cute tradition. We're only going on day 2 of "Snelf" and the boys were so excited looking for him this morning.

Lo and behold! He was right above them as they were eating their oatmeal this morning in the chandelier!

The magic of Christmas is in full force around here, Ladies and Gentlemen!

ON Yet Another, Another Note:

Thought I'd share some decorations with you all! My mantle this year. Simple. I love it! The stockings are going down the staircase this year...
forgot to snap a pic of that...

My last minute pot rack decoration all from Micheal's at 50% off! Two ornaments have come to an early death. Charlie launched his loaded diaper across the room the other night and took out two of them in the process. Such is life with boys right?

Our Christmas Tree :)

It's big and smells wonderful, and sucks up water like a cactus!

Merry Christmas!

A Cookie Party

My friend, Tracey, had this brilliant idea to have a cookie exchange party. I totally jumped onboard. I love me a party!
I hosted.
All we had to do was each bake two different kinds of home-made cookies.
Tracey provided the tins...for everyone.
So generous.
So Lana, Jackson and myself baked alllllllllllll afternoon yesterday.
We had Christmas music playing.
It was cold outside.
It felt like Christmas.
James is out of town for the weekend, so I didn't have to cook..and I didn't!

We had a really fun afternoon.

Until Mr. Charlie woke from his nap and decided to start circling the island full of cookies.

He managed to get his paws on quite a few of these cookies.

He'd lick them real quick, then, well, they were his.

I wasn't going to put them back.

Smart little booger.

These two were like hungry sharks circling a boat full of people.

It was all Lana and I could do to keep surveillance on the cookie island non-stop.

And then the party started!

I decided to add to the festivites and make it a Mimosa Brunch full of yummy stuff to snack on while us girls chatted the morning away :)

There were 10 of us. It was great fun. We each loaded up our cookie tins and packed them so we could deliver them. This is such a great idea for teachers, bus drivers, mailman, etc....

Next year we have decided that we need more cookies and less tins!

Tracey on the left...this was her brilliant idea. Her mom does this every year with her friends in Missouri and she wanted to start this tradition here.

Lana and Tracey

This sweet, sweet wildly energetic woman washed all my dishes.

Every last one of them.

I hugged her neck extra long when she left.

I hugged this little neck too.

Miss Evie is soooo cute!

My friends: Sara, Nikki, Me :)

It was such a fun party! I got so many gifts out of the way too! As soon as it stops torentially downpouring outside I plan on delivering some cookie tins to my neighbors.

Thanks to everyone who came! ALL of your cookies were delicious :)