Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve Eve at Grandpa Jim and Grandma Connie's-

Here you have boys posing for a picture with cousin JT!

We spent Christmas Eve at Auntie Molly and Uncle Phill's.  JT seemed to enjoy spending more time with his cousins. 

 Kyle and JT watching Connor and Nicholas play a Wii game.

 

These two kept hugging by the stairs.  

Meanwhile we all stood ready just in case either of them or both took a tumble down the stairs!

We rushed home after a delicious Christmas Eve dinner, keeping track of Santa's whereabouts via Google Santa Tracker.  The boys rushed to sleep.  Connor was determined to wake up at 3 AM to try to catch Santa in the act.  He actually didn't wake up until 6 AM.  He ran out to check for gifts and came back to his room when he was unsuccessful in finding any.  He figured he was too soon and should go back to bed.  He went out again and finally discovered that Santa did not leave the gifts under the tree this year- that sneaky Santa!  He was thoroughly excited but was trying very hard not to wake anyone up.  He went back to bed and waited patiently for his brothers to wake up.  Nicholas woke up at about 7:45 and Kyle at 8.  They all went out there with us and we started the madness.  At first, Kyle refused to participate.  He just wanted to explore the gifts that his brothers were opening and didn't open any of his own.  With some coaxing from Daddy, he finally started opening his up towards the end.  As soon as they were all done opening gifts, Connor made the sign of the cross and said his thank you's to Jesus and Santa for all the gifts.  :)

Some might say Santa went a little nuts this year.  

It was discussed whether or not we needed bigger stockings!

 Santa enjoyed his milk and cookies.

 Opening our stockings

 

 

 

 

 

Kyle got a very nice Green Lantern pillow Buddy and sheet set for his bed.  He loves it!
We had to put it on right away!

Charlie got Jammie Dodgers in his stocking so we all tried them!  (Dr. Who has mentioned them on a few occasions on the show, so we always wondered what they were and now we know!)

Nicholas' favorite gift was these two little elves.  They visited his classroom in December and he was so sad when they went back to the North Pole, so Santa got them for him.  He loves his Elvin and Ollie elves. 

 They got a ton of Angry Bird finger puppets that they also love!

 

Connor's favorite gift was a scratch art set.  This was his first creation.  He worked on it for quite a while.

Kyle's favorite gift was this paint with water set. He spent a very long time coloring in some of his favorite super heroes!

We enjoyed the giant gummy bear lollipops in our stockings, although they each thought it was too much gummy bear for one sitting.

 

We sang Happy Birthday and had our cupcakes in honor of Jesus' birthday.  Kyle was sneaky and grabbed a second one while no one was looking.  The chocolate on his face was a dead give-away though.

 We decorated gingerbread cookies!

 

Random things from this week

Nicholas took his first field trip on a school bus!  We stayed to see him off and Kyle was quite upset that he couldn't join his big brother.  They went to see the Elves and the Shoemaker.  When he got home, I asked him how it was and he said, "It was okay,  but it was different from the book.  I like the book better."

 

The Kindergarten class also got to make graham cracker 'gingerbread' houses.  It was good there were a lot of Moms on hand because there was so much happening!  The kids all loved it and couldn't wait to eat their creations!

 

 

 

Kyle and I went to a playtime at Calvary Church and he decorated this Christmas tree.  He is quite proud of it.  The decorations were supposed to consist of sequins and pom poms, but there was another project going on where some kids were making angels and someone dropped a googly eye and well Kyle just HAD to add it to his tree!

Watercolor

Today we played with watercolors.  The boys loved it!

My 3 Angels

We worked on this project this week and I'm quite pleased.  The boys love them and it was quick and easy! 

Gilroy Gardens

Last night we went to a theme park called Gilroy Gardens.  We had never been so it was very exciting to find a super great deal!  We had a coupon for $10 entrance per person, plus one free kid per family.  Kyle's not yet 3 so he was free also.  That meant I only had to pay for Connor and I.  The park was all lit up for Christmas and we had a blast!

Riding the train around the park

Connor refused to be in the picture

 We are all penguins!

 Another visit with Santa

 Playing in the snow.  Connor was disappointed it was made of bubbles.

 The waterfalls were all lit up, too!

 

 There was a very cute Charlie Brown show.

 

 The older two went up to dance with Snoopy and the gang, but Kyle refused.

 More snow playtime

 They decided to try and catch some with their mouths.  Gladly, they were unsuccessful.

Kyle got out of stroller to play with it the first time, but he was too tired by the end because it was after 9 PM.

Santa

We went to visit Santa today.  Everyone was excited to talk to him and tell him what they wanted.  Nicholas wanted to ask him a very important question-- Do you eat only cookies or do you also eat other stuff?  Santa told him that he eats all kinds of food, but he loves cookies.  He also asked Santa to please give him two ladybugs, one boy and one girl.  Kyle was excited to tell Santa he wanted Skylanders for Christmas.  He freaked out a tiny bit when we sat him on Santa's lap, but then he was fine when he saw his brothers were there too AND that Santa was giving out candy canes.  Connor decided he needed to dress as much like Santa as possible and said he wanted an Easy Bake oven because he saw a commercial about it and likes the idea of being able to make  his own cupcakes whenever HE wants one.