Christmas 2013 Part 2

The rest of the week of Christmas was pretty quiet. We finally managed to get down to Alex's family Christmas on Saturday. It is always crazy, since the house is packed with people and cousins, so I never get as many pictures as I want! We had a delicious dinner and enjoyed catching up with everyone. I tried to take some pictures while we were opening presents, but it's hard to get many good ones. The boys and their cousin Josh each got big construction trucks, which they loved pushing around the rest of the night. We had all the cousins there, so we were able to get a few cute pictures of all of them together! Love having these to look back on as the kids keep getting older! Crazy already to look at last year and see how little the boys were.

Almost all of the older cousins take music lessons, so some of the boys were showing us the songs they knew on piano. It was pretty cute, since Henry and Holden love the piano! Of course they like turning it off and on and the volume up and down more than playing it, but it was cute to see them all gathered around it. I think they always have a great time with their big boy cousins! Love that they have so many to grow up with on that side of the family. We went down again to visit and play the next day, but I didn't take any pictures. It was a nice Christmas and we love the time with family and cousins! :)

Christmas 2013 Part 1

We had a great Christmas this year. I don't feel like we went overboard, so it was nice and low-key. We did visit Santa, and everyone talked to the boys about him, but I'm still not sure how much they understood the concept. Everyone kept asking me if they were excited, but I don't think that'll be for another year or so when they can understand and anticipate that it's coming up. I definitely enjoyed all the other stuff, like decorating the tree and making cookies, etc, so that was fun to create those memories.

The boys' main present from us was a train table. We'd had a starter set of tracks, so I bought some extra trains and tracks and the table for their big gift. It has an awesome drawer, too, so the tracks can be all put away and we use it for a Lego table too! We got several DVDs since we don't have cable, and some books. I got them a stamp set, some puzzles, a few new dinosaurs, and a new set of hat and gloves. (Along with a few other little odds and ends. Opening stockings was rough since I had put a lot of treats in there that they wanted to eat right away!) Lanore got a new toy to chew up, which she really enjoyed as long as the boys weren't taking it away from her! Poor pup.

We went to my parents' house Christmas evening, after nap. Presents there were more of the same, lots of DVDs and books, and just a few toys. I feel like we already have so many toys for this age, so books are always good! It was really cute to see them opening their own presents, and passing out presents to everyone and "helping" them open, as well! We had our yummy lasagna dinner and just enjoyed time with the family. Definitely a nice Christmas! We are lucky to have both families so close and not have any major travel plans.

The Henry and Holden ornaments that I make each year

Christmas Eve 2013

Christmas Eve I decided to get crazy and let the boys decorate sugar cookies. We pretty much were staying home in our pajamas for the morning/afternoon, so I wasn't too worried about a mess. I cleared off the counters and set up the sprinkles and dough, knowing I'd want to take pictures. Only afterwards did I see how messy the rest of the kitchen was!! Sigh. I should have at least closed that cabinet door behind them...Hopefully you won't notice that too much since the boys look cute! They definitely had fun, and even shared the sprinkles pretty well. Henry kept trying to eat the raw dough and then cried when I told him he couldn't. (In his defense, the play date cookie decorating had already baked and iced cookies, so they could eat them right away. This was the roll of dough, though, so I didn't think eating it before baking was a good idea!)

"Excuse me, mind if I reach across you..."

"Yeah, Henry! Use those sprinkles!"

The finished products before going in the oven. I know you'd eat those...

After nap, we headed over to my mom's house for our usual get together. Alex had a music gig, so he didn't come with us this year, but we had a fun time with Grandma, Papaw and Aunt Lauren and Uncle Evan. I tried to get shots of the boys all dressed up, since they looked so cute! But it's impossible to get both of them to hold still and/or look in my direction. Oh well! We snacked on all our favorite foods, ran laps around the kitchen, and read some books together before heading home for bed!

 

Giving Grandma her present

Handsome boys! (Eating crackers)

Reading the Night Before Christmas

Pajama Play Date and Cookie Decorating Party

I had mentioned wanting to have a pajama/cookie decorating party to my mom group, and one of the girls graciously offered to make it happen at her house! (And she was 9 months pregnant! She's awesome.) We all came in our jammies, and had a brunch pitch in for lunch. She has a great basement that the kids love playing in/destroying. And we even did an under $5 gift exchange for all the kiddos so they all got something to open. (Which really just meant that Henry spent the next 15 minutes crying because I wouldn't let him open and play with the cool Play-doh he got! Sigh.) And we again attempted a group picture, which again means that half the kids need to cry (including mine this time!) :) 

After lunch, playing, and presents we decided to do the cookie decorating. We iced cookies for the kids and set out about 10 kinds of sprinkles in bowls on the table. I was so excited for this part and the kids didn't disappoint! It was so cute to watch. Holden really got into it and dumped tons of sprinkles on his. It was cute to see some kids really want to decorate, and some kids really just want to eat the cookie! Henry got his icing swiped off his cookie from TWO different kids! :) It wasn't even too much of a mess at the end, pretty amazing. We all had a great time, and I think everyone loved showing up in the comfy pjs. I hope we can make this a yearly tradition!

Honestly, we had a really good time! You just can't tell from the kids in this picture ;)

I know you want to eat those cookies...

Play Group Christmas Party 2013

We had our second annual play group Christmas party, and it was a lot of fun! One of the moms used a large room from her church, and we all brought some big toys for the kids to share. It really was a huge room, so the kids could really run and ride! It was cute to see them pushing each other in the wagons, or going down the slide and crashing into each other. We always do a pasta pitch-in, so we had plenty of yummy things to eat.  (I brought dessert and made salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars and mint Oreo truffles. Both were hits!) We also do a mom secret Santa, so we have a good time exchanging presents. The kids were super interested in the opening part, so we think we will do a little exchange with the kiddos next year, too.

 

We always try for a group picture, so here are the ones we managed! Holden sat down in the empty chairs while we were getting set up. Thought that was kinda cute! The next are the several attempts at getting all the kids together (this always makes several of them cry, not sure why but it always happens!) Then we got a whole group picture, which wasn't great since it's hard to be able to see that many people, but it's fun to document. (There will be at least 4 new babies in the next Christmas picture! Ha!) And of course, a moms only picture! I didn't do a great job of taking many, since I had to eat, socialize, and open presents! :) But it was a really fun night and I'm so glad we can actually get everyone together like this. Looking forward to next year already! Love these moms and kids so much.