Grandma's House Part Two

We were able to go to Grandma and Grandpa Tams house a few days later for a quick visit.  It was fun to play with Grandma's toys (laser guns and foam swords in particular) and to play games with Grandpa.

Andrew decided to latch on to this little stroller and baby doll.  He was so careful to take care of the baby by putting it gently in the stroller, doing up the clips, and pushing it around the house.

He made sure to hold it carefully when he took it out.  It was so cute to watch him take such good care of it.

Overall, it was a great Christmas season.  We were able to celebrate the birth of the Savior and spend lots of time with family.  We love the Christmas season!

Grandma's House

The day after Christmas we were able to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Tuft.  The boys were so excited to be with them, especially to see Grandma's cars and her special Christmas tree ornaments.

Opening presents - Mario shirt!  Hooray!

Zachary and his Spider-Man underwear.  He had his little heart set on Spider-Man underwear since after his birthday.  He specifically request it from Grandma and she was so nice to give him some.  

He was so excited.

Grandma helping Andrew open a present.  He was a little unsure at first, but he remembered how fun it was and got back into it.

This is the start of something really exciting .... All of the boys opening their presents together.  They knew they were all getting the same thing, but they had no idea what it could be.  Little did they know that mom and Grandma had a special surprise in store.

Nerf dart guns!!!  Ryan had been asking for a "Nerf machine gun" forever and he was so surprised to

 get one.

I wish we had a better view of their faces, but this will have to do.  Big hugs for Grandpa.  So sweet!

Merry Christmas!

The boys were up bright and early, ready for the Christmas fun.  It looks like Santa Claus came!  Here they are rummaging through their stockings.

Andrew was still feeling a little under the weather and preferred to sit in my lap for most of the day.  He wasn't quite ready to open presents yet.

We really like to take our time on Christmas morning.  We take turns opening presents and usually pause to play with what was just opened.  Santa Claus brought Star Wars Legos for the three older boys, so we took a building break to construct the newest sets and to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Yum!

Andrew decided at this point to finally open a present.  He wasn't sure at first about what Santa Claus brought him, but he did like the noises from his robot.

I love this picture!  Last year, the three older boys got some pillow pets for Christmas.  We decided Andrew should have one, so Zachary and Ryan helped me pick out a monkey one for him at the store.  Zachary was especially excited for Andrew to open it and almost ruined the surprise a couple of times.  Zachary couldn't wait for the big reveal!

This is also pretty typical of a birthday or Christmas present-opening.  Mom's official "stand back" arms.

Go Aggies!

After opening presents we took the kids downstairs for the big reveal --soccer nets!  We spent a lot of time playing soccer downstairs.  There was so much running around that I got a bunch of blurry pictures.  I need to figure out how to take better action shots.  We had so much fun spending time together.  

It was a great day.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was nice and relaxing.  Andrew was still feeling under the weather, so we spent the day playing games and watching lots of Christmas movies.  We then read the Christmas story from Luke 2 to remind us of the real meaning of Christmas.  It was really special.

This year we decided to start the tradition of jammies the night before Christmas, and the boys were excited to get a jump on opening presents.

Matthew, Ryan, and Zachary all got football pjs.

Andrew didn't want to participate at first, but after some persuasion from the other boys he decided to give it a try.  He was very excited to see his puppy jammies.

Here's hoping for visions of sugarplums!

Little Sickies

We must not like holidays around here, because we are sick yet again and will probably be so for Christmas.  We thought it was bad for Thanksgiving, but somehow we managed to catch the flu.  Zach started with it first, then a couple of days later is spread to Matthew, then mom, and then Ryan. 

Dad came down with it a little later.

And Andrew has just started.  It looks like we may be sick for Christmas.  Poor little guys!