Christmas!

This year was a whirlwind!  It was really fun, and everyone was healthy so that was all we could hope for.  We had Christmas Eve at Nannie and Papa's house with Brandon's family- so 7 kids opening presents at once.  A lot going on, but it was fun to be right in the middle of it.  The Hammitt/ Gray clan joined, too.  Lots of presents and love to go around. :)

Each of the kids and us big kids, too, got one of these big bags full of toys and clothes!  Every year Nannie says she's going to cut back, but we haven't seen any evidence of that yet. ;-) 

Sometimes it's the little things!  Nannie found a tube full of mini instruments for Anderson- he loved them!

Of course cars for Brady!  Some of the "big" boys were a little jealous of these.  ;-)

Charlotte was very happy with her "Let it go!"

This one will be fun to recreate in 10 years...

Daniel and Anderson being goofy as usual... 

We got home in time to leave cookies out for Santa and get the boys in bed for...

 CHRISTMAS MORNING!

Anderson was most excited about his instruments.  His favorite instrument from what I can tell was his trumpet (not in this picture).  It's pretty cool because he has to blow into it while pressing one of the keys in order to make a sound, so a little closer to the real thing.  Anderson loves it, even though he matter-of-factly said that it sounds a little more like a bass clarinet. Ha.

1st Christmas!

Colby was excited because this had flashy lights and sang songs to him!

This guy had excellent present-opening-stamina.  He is really good about presents- acts excited, checks it out, and is then interested to open more.  Lots of, "I love it!"s.

The first present Brady opened was not trains (which he had asked for over and over and over!)  He was visibly disappointed and said, "I want James and Percy."  We tried the big box next, and to everyone's delight found a set of 6 Thomas TrackMaster trains.  Brady was very relieved and held onto those trains pretty much all day. 

Both big boys opened some super heroes, and Brady also got a little barn-box with some farm animals.  A few resembled the animals on grandma and grandpa's little farm.

Checking out the goods.

I love this picture!  His real, sweet smile. :)

Presents everywhere!

In the family room, the boys each got to open presents from Mommy and Daddy and other family members.  Colby will like this toy even better once he can crawl around (it's several different play-stations connected together).  Brady got Blaze and the Monster Machines trucks and a track.  Anderson got a Hot Wheels track and some Hot Wheels cars.  Both were excited about those, too!

I also had a stocking full waiting for me in the family room- which I was not expecting at all!  Ryan got me a beautiful Pandora bracelet with lots of charms- one for each of the boys, Mickey and Minnie (which makes me think of the two of us), Washington Nationals, and the Bible.  All of my favorite things! :) Then we ate cinnamon rolls, had a little visit with Nannie and Papa, and got ready to head over to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  

They were all (Lauren, Kyle, and Great-Grandma, too) waiting for us with an arsenal of plush snowballs to throw at us.  Anderson LOVED playing snowball fight- he wanted to all day long, which for the most part he did.  Brady got in on the action, too, when he wasn't too busy with toys.

 We all opened lots and lots of presents (no photos of this)- Brady got quite a few big, cool dinosaurs (even a dinosaur train), binoculars, an awesome personalized book about Brady and Batman, and a lot more... Anderson got a talking, teaching microscope, a magic kit, a Super Anderson book, and lots more... Colby got a fun car that he can sit and play in (also his brothers like to sit in it and play in it), a couple of fun LeapFrog toys, and a Colby Pirate book and more.  Lauren and Kyle got the big boys these neat kits that are full of activities and games for the boys based on their age.  We really started looking into them today, and they are very cool!

During the boys' rest times, all of us big kids got our stocking stuffers.  Mom always gets us nifty gadgety things- this years highlights included light-up beanie caps for the guys (Kyle is modeling above), elaborate shower caps for the girls (Grandma's is a crown, mine is a cupcake, Lauren's a raspberry), and Yeti cups for the under-65 crowd.

That evening, we had a lovely, yummy crab cake dinner, gave the boys baths, and headed home.  Tired, but happy.

Anderson dazzled us with his magic tricks throughout the day!

After-bath snuggles with Great Grandma

The big boys relaxin in their new PJs and robes.

Christmastime 2015

The anticipation is growing!  Anderson has really enjoyed counting down til Christmas.  Brady has persistently asked for his presents ever since seeing Santa a week and a half ago. :)

Excited to meet Santa for the first time!

Brady hasn't made an official list, but he very consistently wants trains.  Most often, "Santa bring me James and Edward?" or Percy or Thomas.  Especially the Monday after visiting Santa, I must have attempted to explain the concept of Santa coming on Christmas Eve and us opening our presents Christmas morning 1,564 times.  I'm not sure if he understands it now or is just getting tired of asking.  We will all be happy when Christmas morning finally arrives.

Anderson definitely understands more this year.  He definitely "gets" the concept of Santa, and he very consistently wants brass instruments and more string instruments.  I think in his heart of hearts he wants a huge double bass, but I hope Santa appreciates that he's leaving it pretty open-ended. He did make an official list, which I'm hoping Santa will return on Christmas so I can keep it. :)

Both boys were very willing to see Santa this year, although they were both a little timid for the picture.  Santa was hurried and didn't ask the boys what they wanted, so we will make it a point to visit him in a different place next year so there's more time to talk.

Thanks to preschool, Sunday School, some of our Christmas books and conversation at home, Anderson definitely knows that Christmas is Jesus' birthday.  Both boys talk about baby Jesus in the manger, and Anderson can tell a good part of the nativity story.  Today he was dictating it to me as I typed, and he got a lot of the details (the wisemen, shepherds, Mary and Joseph riding on a donkey, etc.), but he wasn't quite sure why Jesus was so special.  That's certainly more abstract, but I'm planning to ask him about the Christmas story every year, recording what he dictates.  I look forward to hearing his understanding of Christmas and his Savior grow as he does.

Colby is cute and sweet as ever, but he has a pretty yucky cold that isn't going away quickly.  He's also gotten 3 teeth since Thanksgiving, and the 4th one is coming so slowly and (appears) perfectly painful.  So he isn't sleeping/ napping quite as wonderfully as I've gotten used to.  All he wants for Christmas is to be held. :)

Tonight, Christmas Eve eve, we got the boys and Sadie dressed in their Christmas jammies for a picture.  Of course getting the boys to look and smile at the camera is hard enough, so adding a 40 pound goldendoodle to the equation didn't make it easier.  But we bribed with candy canes and dog treats and did pretty well.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  Can't wait!

Disney- final days

Thursday- Animal Kingdom

On our way in we stopped for a family photo in front of the big Christmas tree...

We saw Finding Nemo the Musical, which was one of my favorite shows of the trip.  The actors used large puppets, somewhat like Lion King on Broadway.  The actors' voices matched up really closely to the movie, which was impressive! 

We spent some time in the dinosaur area, but we didn't get a lot of pictures.  There was a large play area with bridges, slides, a huge "dig site" (sand box) for the boys to play in.  At first, Brady and I spent some time there while Ryan and Anderson went on the scariest ride of the trip.  A dinosaur jumped out several times during the ride. Ryan said he was talking to Anderson the whole way through to try to make it a little more fun.  He said he was so proud of Anderson who handled it really well but did not want to go on it again.  This photo they took during the ride says it all and a little bit breaks my heart.

Close- up

One of our Fast-Passes was for the safari ride, which was one of the main reasons we wanted to come to this park.  It was great- about 20 minutes long.  There is another option that is an extra cost and over two-hours long.  I don't know that we will ever want to do that, but it gives you the idea that there is a lot of land devoted to the animals, and in no way do we see it all in our 20 minute ride.  

We rode in one of these

Brady loves elephants, so we were all happy to have a few good elephant sightings.  

Hippo!

Ryan being fancy with the camera.

There weren't a lot of rides for us at Animal Kingdom.  And while we enjoyed it, next time we come I'm sure we won't plan a day there.  We did meet King Louie and Baloo, and the boys love Jungle Book!

We had dinner reservations at 5:55, and we were ready to be finished for the day before that.  It was the first day we had some time to kill.  

Dinner was yummy and we got to see more characters.  Unfortunately, during our time-killing before Dinner, A & B both fell asleep.  Seeing characters was touch-and-go to begin with, so waking both tired boys up to see characters and eat was not the best situation.  The highlight was right at the end, as the restaurant was closing (the park actually closed at 6) they brought out some little instruments and encouraged the kids to all march in a parade with the characters.  Both big boys jumped in and enjoyed it!

(All of these photos didn't come out very good because of the low-lighting)

Daisy kept making eyes at Grandpa

Here's a video of the little parade.  Brady's the third little one, boppin right along.  

I feel like you get to see a lot more of Brady's personality in a quick video than usually comes across in a picture. :)

On our way out, Ryan grabbed a cool picture of the big Animal Kingdom tree at night...

Friday- Magic Kingdom (our last day at the parks)

Magic Kingdom is our very favorite, so we wanted to end the week back there.  The truth is, we probably would have been fine with just two days (not two and a half) because it seemed like this last day dragged a little bit.  But we wanted the boys to have a lot of say in what rides we did since at this point they'd been on a lot of them and knew what their favorites were.  We tried a few new rides, including Dumbo, which the boys wanted to ride twice.  Brady asked to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean again.  Also, much to my dad's delight, he loved the Country Bear Jamboree and asked to see it twice.  My parents took him the second time and said he was dancing and so happy throughout it.  Anderson wanted to ride the racecars again (and again...) but also requested to ride It's a Small World for a second time.  

Here are some pictures from that morning...

Takin it easy

Mary Poppins was about to get set up for autographs and photos, but Colby was truly irresistible.  She came up to him and started talking to him in the prettiest accent.  She stayed for a good little while.  We were like, okay, Mary Poppins....we'll see you later... ok.... bye....  Ha.  She was very nice, though.

Tea cups!  Anderson was so mad Brady picked a pink one.  

My pick was a Fast Pass to see Mickey in the Town Square Theater, and it was such a highlight of the trip!  Unlike all other character interactions, this one each family had time to actually talk to Mickey, and best of all, he talked back! We were able to see him even speak a little Portuguese with a family in line in front of us.  He sang songs with the kids to try the help them warm up to him, and he was as awesome as you would think Mickey Mouse would be in real life. ;-)  Brady did not want to leave and kept going back for more fist-bumps.  

Here they were pretending to be birds from the Tiki Room.  The boys hadn't been to the Tiki Room, but they improvised. :)

This video picks up between during some of these pictures...

We all loved him!

Some nights during December, starting at 7pm, Magic Kingdom has Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.  This is when all of the characters really dress up in their Christmas best, there are Christmas shows, free hot cocoa and cookies, fake snow, etc.  At least that's what the description online said.  It's also something like $80 a person- even if you already paid for park admission that day!  Anyways, we opted out, which meant we had to leave at 7.  We squeezed in one last ride and walked out as the party was starting.  It looked fun, and if our boys were old enough to stay up late enough to really enjoy it we may have considered it.  But it was nice just getting a glimpse as we left, including the castle all "Frozened" out.

Saturday- Disney Springs and departure

Saturday our flight didn't leave until 8:30, so we went to Disney Springs (aka Downtown Disney).  Ryan, Colby, and I looked at the shops for an ornament I'd been wanting while grandma and grandpa took the boys to see the Lego shop and some cars driving in the lake.  We all met back up for lunch at the Dinosaur restaurant.  It was super cool with lots of realistic-looking and moving dinosaurs.  It even had a meteor shower every 15-20 minutes.  Also it was the yummiest meal I had the whole trip.  They we booked it over to the movie theater to see The Good Dinosaur.  Meh.

Then it was time to hustle back to the resort, load up our luggage, and head to the airport.  The boys did really well flying back.  Ryan had to work a little hard keeping Brady entertained, but Anderson was happy to play on tablets and sweet baby Colby ate and slept.  Thank goodness for a short flight!

Finally, home sweet home.  We all loved our week in Disney World!  We were all also very glad to be back in our own beds.