Christmas 10 lbs later

Christmas was, as expected, a whirlwind of fun, laughter, and a few tears this year. But heavy on the laughter.

We started off the festivities on Christmas eve making cookies for Santa. That was a ball, for all of 5 minutes. Then the boys got bored and I was stuck making the cookies. Well they got bored until the cookie dough was done then they rushed in to help me "put the cookies on the sheet" aka "eat all the dough until mom raced me out of the kitchen". It was a great success and even though my chocolate chip cookies were flat as all get out, the taste was amazing and the snickerdoodles ruled the roost.

Pre-boredom. My guess is they realized flour doesn't taste very good. He he.

Germs included! For free! It adds that extra "splash" of flavor.

Then I made the smart decision to start cooking my breakfast for the next day at 3:30. We had church at 5:00. Yeah. We slid in right at 4:55 only to stand in the cry room the whole time right by the bathroom, which meant the boys had to pee five times each and wash their hands 10 times. 

And if you refuse that will the time they pee their pants because they told you that you had to pee. 

Did I mention it was a children's mass? That means all the kids get to go to the front of the church during the homily while the priest talks to them. It's adorable, but my kids have never got the guts to go alone. Until that night. Lil'Dude took the usher's hand and walked up there, and sat the entire homily. He was bouncing on his heels the entire time, but he stayed up there!

The rest of us were in the back. Well technically I was against the back wall so he could still see me. 

I may or may not have cried a little seeing him up there all by himself like such a big boy. Especially seeing him nudge the boy next to him, point at me, and whisper "that's my mom!" and wave.

At least I think I did. I couldn't hear so he could have said "Look at my mom. She is so lame!" then wave. Me waving back oblivious.

After church we zipped back home, had a wonderful home cooked meal, and unwrapped the traditional one present of PJ's. 

Okay okay so I forgot about dinner that night with all the planning for the next day so we went to a local Mexican restaurant, had dinner in our church digs, then went home and unwrapped the traditional one present of PJ's.

Mother of the Year award goes to....

 They were THAT excited. The kids poured Santa some milk, put cookies on the tray (after taste testing a cookie of course, only the best for Santa!) then put carrots for Rudolph. I even heard Lil'Dude say "Hurry! Hurry Lil'Guy!! We have to go to bed so Santa can come!!" and run to their beds falling fast asleep. Which never happens. 

Brewerman and I stayed up drinking Kahlua martini's and watching Christmas Story. At 12:00 my parents arrived, so after that, Santa came and we went to bed exhausted, expecting to wake up groggily around 7am.

Nope.

Brewerman and I wake up at 5:30 anxious and excited, not able to sleep another wink. Finally at 6am Lil'Dude wakes up and yells "Santa came!!" It was fun, and a whirlwind. But seriously? We are so lucky to have this, and have them to celebrate this with. It's just amazing to us, to this day, that we got this lucky. We are lucky to have each other too, and have great christmas' ourselves (Brewerman got beer stuff, I got a beautiful watch, and clutch, and much more!)

Lil'Dude excited Santa came!!

His Leapster Explorer that he liked a little *too* much. 

The only bad of the morning came when Lil'Dude started screaming and crying because we were going to make him put down the Leapster Explorer he got so we could open up all the other presents. After whispering to him how rude he was being he did finally dry his tears and got into opening presents. We are just mean mean parents.

Lil'Guy slapped on the Santa hat and was like an old pro passing out gifts. 

The best gift for Lil'Guy? The giant 4 feet peg peg (stuffed penguin) nana and papa got him. It's hilarious! He now sleeps with it and even though it takes up 3/4 of the bed, he loves that thing.

Then we ate egg casserole...and monkey bread...and candy.....then yoder sausage (YUM), then cheese, then hummus, then cheese ball, and steaks, and the most fabulous broccoli casserole ever, and Tiramisu Cheesecake.

  Tiramisu Cheesecake!!!

 MMMMMM.....so the 10 lbs? Gained. But it was so worth it. Every single bite.

Of course not being able to fit into any of my jeans kinda stinks, but hey, that's what they make sweat pants for! 

And the boys played a lil' wii. Okay a LOT of wii. The airplane game was their favorite I think, even though my dad spent about 2 hours on it trying to beat the same level. Boys will be boys!

Brewerman telling my dad what he wanted for Christmas playing a board game. Ha!

It ended up being a relaxing holiday, the boys got so many toys that they played with all day, I adored my parents being here. None of us really got dressed up, and we all just had fun with each other all day and all our new gifts.

Basically? I love my life!!