Christmas Morning

We spent a quiet Christmas at home this year with just our little family.  I still really missed our extended families in Florida and Hawaii and wished we could be together, but I tried not to think about that too much and just enjoy being with my babies and sweet hubs.  

Here's Phil on Christmas Eve helping Santa by putting together the boys' train table so that Santa didn't have to.  :)  We bought this table a few years ago but never opened the boxes that had all of the tracks and accoutrements.  We finally decided this year to actually put the whole thing together and permanently attach it to the table so that no one (i.e. Emmett or Reid) could destroy it.  Emmett loves to put tracks together and run his trains over them, but then when he gets bored he also loves to just completely tear the whole thing apart, which is really frustrating for Jackson (and for Mom or Dad when we take time to set up a track for him and then 10 minutes later he wrecks it!).  The boys still have some loose Thomas tracks that they can put together themselves if they want to, but now they also have this fun track that stays permanently together.  I think this was the favorite gift of Christmas this year.  

Here's a pic from after Santa came and left all of the presents for the boys...

We had fun having the boys set out the plate of cookies for Santa with their letters and stockings all next to the fireplace.  They were so excited.

And here is Christmas morning...  Emmett made a beeline for the train table.  We thought his new bike would be the biggest hit, but it wasn't.

One of the main things J wanted was a Buzz Lightyear and here's Phil showing him what all of Buzz's buttons do...

It's so funny how times change.  Last year I remember it took forever for the boys to open all of their presents and we even had to save stockings for the next day because they were a little overwhelmed.  This year we had to constantly tell J to slow down!

Reid loves the train table, too.  And it's so nice that he can't tear things apart!  :)

The other main thing Jackson wanted was this stomp rocket.  Some of our friends brought this whenever we went camping with them this year and Jackson was absolutely obsessed with it.  I can't believe we held off so long in getting him one!

Here he is in the middle of yelling, "BLAST OFF!"  Emmett was counting down and then Jackson would stomp on it.  They loved it.  It was such an inexpensive present but so much fun for the kids.

We just crack up when Emmett takes his turn because the rocket only shoots up about two feet and makes the funniest little popping sound.  I need to take a video of it.  He still loves it, though, even if it doesn't go as high as Jackson's.

Here's Reid trying to eat Emmett's new bike...

And the boys opening presents from Nana and Papa Swoop...

They were so excited about these walkie-talkies!

N and PS got them this Buzz Lightyear game that has a gun that shoots little foam disks.  The guns are battery-powered and very easy to shoot and the boys just love them!

Phil had them shoot down the hallway so they could keep track of the disks...

My mom sent the boys these adorable matching Christmas pajamas a few days before Christmas.  She knows that I love for the boys to match whenever possible.  :)  We tried to get a good pic with all three of them in their pjs, but this is the best we were able to do.  Phil and I didn't plan very well... I was obviously not near the camera and they were looking at me instead of the camera.  Oops.

Notice E doesn't let go of his gun!  :)

Reid kept looking up at his big brother.  :)

J is so very sweet to him.

And that's pretty much all, folks!  I got a few videos but they weren't really that great.  The boys didn't say much when they first came out after waking up... I guess they were just taking it all in.  And then my camera memory card was full after a few videos and our other camera was out of batteries.  I really didn't plan well!  It was a very special Christmas anyway, though.  :)  Thank you to everyone who sent the boys such wonderful presents!  They really loved everything they opened and have been very entertained with all of their new loot!