Christmas 2009

Much thought and discussion had gone into what the boys were going to ask Santa Clause for Christmas this year and before I knew their decision had been made, they were sitting on Santa's lap at the shopping mall in Spokane on Black Friday asking for a pogo stick and Thomas the Train. So there you go, the request had been made and the boys one last time made their request before they went to bed on the 24th...


Here are some yummy treats for Santa and his reindeer with big smiles of anticipation :)

This is what the boys woke up to on Christmas morning...stockings filled to the brim and beyond, the tree booming with new presents, a spectacular train table, and 2 special gifts from Santa...

Need some help opening those?

Mason was a good boy this year! Santa brought him a Christmas time Thomas the Train (with a cute Santa hat) and holiday tunnel.

And could it be...Garrett was a good boy too...a pogo stick!

Mason loves the train table, it is so fun to watch his imagination at work!

Thank you Nana and Grandpa, we love our Gifts! Garrett especially loved the Lego set asking numerous times a day if he could do his Legos and we had to keep telling him "once the table gets cleaned off..." Our house looked as though a bomb had gone off between the chaos of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, it took what seemed like forever to get a clear enough area to even consider doing a Lego project! Once the area was ready however, Garrett put all three vehicles together in one sitting! I love that he can do them himself with guidance following the steps in the book; so nice to have Dad home to sit with and guide him through it!

Scratching lotto tickets...although not "big" winners, 25 tickets won us $20...not too bad!

Yee ha cowboys!

Nana and Grandpa got the boys a steer head that stakes into the ground/hay bale/a box on Christmas, along with cowboy hats and a real lasso rope...they were entertained for hours with it and still are! Okay, so it is a given that if you give Mason a rope, he is going to be delighted, but to have a steer head to lasso makes for an extra happy boy! We are now looking forward to some spring weather so we can take this one outside! By the way, check out their out form, pretty good...we may need to move back to the Palouse and raise some farming cowboys!

The pogo stick was another entertainer, and boy was it a work out for Garrett! He set a goal of 10 jumps in a row before he wanted to take the green training bottom off and had met his goal by the next day! My van may not get to park in the garage again until spring (his new jumping location) but it is so worth it to get some of that energy out in such a fun way for him! Jump Garrett, jump!

My proud little three year old sporting his Dads shirt from when he was a boy...too cute!

Steven took the week off between Christmas and the New Year and the boys have been overjoyed, acting as though they never get time with their Dad and boy did they take advantage of every minute with him on this day! They got to read their new book from their Aunt Jackie, play Monopoly Jr. one of their MANY new games (thanks Uncle Mike), put together puzzles, and finally have that chance to do the legos!

It was a gorgeous day on the 25th (hence the shorts and t-shirts!) which allowed for some much anticipated basketball fun with Dad.

Aside from not getting to see my family this holiday and the fever Mason came down with on Christmas, this was a perfectly spent day! We were able to wake in our own home on Christmas morning, getting to sleep in until shortly after 7:00 (I know, this could be close to our last Christmas getting to sleep in that late for a long time!), spent the morning with Granny and Papa, lounged in our jammies ALL day and had great quality family time! I LOVE holidays spent with those you love!