Christmas!

Was anyone else up until the wee hours of Christmas morning assembling toys like us???

Okay, I can't really take the credit here... Spencer's actually the one who assembled the boys Christmas gift from Santa... it's a John Deere truck... enough room for two, three possibly if Bentley or Cohen sit in the bed of the truck...  We weren't expecting the truck to require so much assembly--- I mean it came packaged in a HUGE box we could barely fit into the back of our SUV--- we thought it was pretty much already put together, so imagine the surprise we received when we opened the box up just before midnight on Christmas EVE and saw that it came in bits and pieces!!!

While my honey elf (a.k.a. Spencer) was busy assembling the truck, I scurried around the house making sure stockings were stuffed, presents were put out under the tree, lights were lit, the table was set (for our guests at brunch the following morning) and the final food preparations were finished.  If I remember correctly, Spencer made it to bed by 1 something and I was finally crawling into bed by 3:30a.m.... so much for imagining myself going to bed before midnight!!!

I was up again by 6.... I needed the extra two hours before the boys woke up to take my shower and get dressed for the day, set out breakfast (doughnuts & chocolate milk)--- b.t.w. yes, we were eating breakfast before brunch because I knew the boys wouldn't like waiting to eat until 11; the Christmas ham needed to be put in the oven and I needed to get the camera and video camera ready and find Christmas tunes to play in the background (cause that's what we do here, we have Christmas music playing all day long to make the day even merrier) and I called my grandpa who lives in New York to chat with him a little and wish him a Merry Christmas!!! (Note to reader: I NEVER make important phone calls while the boys are awake... they're a distraction and if I take my attention off of them for even a second they're usually into something they know they shouldn't be into).

Just as I was finishing up my final preparations, the first of the four boys woke up... It was Ian... He slept in until I expected him to... 8:20 something...  he's always my first to wake up in the morning... my first to fall asleep at night and my first to wake up.  I brought Ian into our room for a little bit until the rest of his brothers woke up...  they all joined us in mine and Spencer's room... the 2 babies needed diaper changes and they all needed to have their boogies wiped before we could head down stairs and see the loot that Santa left them... They were all so anxious this year (well everyone but Bentley; to him it was just another morning; he was only interested in finding out where his bottle of milk was...)... it's cute to see them progressively get more and more excited about the holidays each year.

Of course I had to take a picture of the boys at the top of the stairs before they were allowed to go down and tear through what Santa left...  Notice Ian still look's a little sleepy... he was...  we were out way past their bedtime the night before--- you would have thought that because they didn't get to bed on time they would have slept in a little longer than usual... not Ian...  Bentley isn't in the picture because he doesn't know how to crawl down (or up for that matter) the stairs yet on his own, so Spencer was holding him already down at the base of the stairs.

First the boys checked out what they received in their stockings...

They each received a candy cane with M&M's in it, a flashlight they could wear on their heads at night to read their books in bed, a little puzzle and these funny little stick thingy's that make the funniest sound when you turn them upside down... (I can't remember exactly what they're called but I remember they were big for a year or two when I was a kid)....

The boys were REALLY fascinated with these noise stick thingys....  they played with them for 20 minutes or so while Spencer and I tried to figure out which tri pod we needed to use to mount the video camera onto... The boys actually even forgot about the presents that were still wrapped behind them!

Noah remembered to look and see if Santa ate the doughnuts and drank the chocolate milk we left out for him the night before... Sure enough he did!

 

AT LAST we were ready to let the boys open all the rest of their presents!  They were ecstatic!!!  They each received a gift from Spencer and I and typically each year they each receive a gift from Santa, along with one great big group gift from Santa meant for all of them to share, but this year, we forwent buying them each a gift from Santa and just bought them their big group gift, the truck!  It was pretty spectacular!!! Both Spencer and I later admitted that when we were both younger we each wanted and dreamed of having a little motorized car to drive!  The boys are lucky Santa was so kind to them this year!!!

Noah received a race car track with two race cars from us; Ian got Batman and a Batmobile; Cohen scored a set of 6 little cars from Disney's movie Cars and Bentley got the classic little kiddie telephone, you know the same one from Disney's movie Toy Story...  they all also received a Light Bright and a set of Lacrosse sticks.... (okay so I lied before, I guess Santa brought them two presents other than the John Deere truck)...  Grandma and Grandpa Truesdell renewed our family pass to Thanksgiving Point as our family's Christmas present (seriously this is T.H.E. B.E.S.T. present EVER because it's the gift that just keeps on giving through out the year) and Grandma and Grandpa Campbell spoiled the boys rotten with all sorts of little presents, but their absolute favorite gift they received was the collectors Walt Disney Treasures DVD with Donald Duck cartoons on it that grandma found them!  It's a set of two dvd's with 4 hours+ of old classic Donald Duck cartoons... my boys LOVE Donald and LOVE to watch these old cartoons.  If I could afford to own the entire collection of all of the Walt Disney Treasures cartoons, with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, etc. I would... but the entire collection is SUPER expensive, so we'll begin collecting just one at a time.

Have I ever expressed how STOKED I am for when the time comes that my boys will be eligible to begin playing lacrosse?!  Seriously.  I've looked into the programs around here and they don't allow kids to start playing on a team until they're in the first grade... that means Noah still has another year and half before he can play... anyhow, I thought the boys could get some practice in so they can have the upper hand once they do start playing, so Santa brought them their own sticks.

Don't worry mom and dad (grandma and grandpa)---

No one is going to get their teeth knocked out with these balls;

they're made of foam.

We made the boys wait to unwrap the truck that I'd carefully wrapped with LOTS and LOTS of wrapping paper, until after all of their other gifts had been opened.  It took me at least 15 minutes to wrap that beast but they had it unwrapped in less than a minute!!!  They were SO  thrilled to see the truck... Noah exclaimed at least a dozen times "This is what I have ALWAYS wanted!!!"  as though to suggest he's wanted it for dozens of years!  Funny, he's only been alive for 5.

Unfortunately they couldn't drive it right away.... the big old battery it came with was still charging, so we told them they'd have to wait until after dinner to drive it.  I thought they'd all be up in arms about the situation but surprisingly they weren't...  They were tickled pink just sitting in the car without it moving an inch!

Every now and then, I'd peak around the corner from the kitchen to look into the living room and I'd see one, or at times, ALL of the boys piled into the car...  They loaded the bed of the truck with all of their Christmas loot and one time I looked over to see Cohen calmly sitting in the passenger seat of the truck reading a book, sipping away on his drink.

The boys raced Cohen's new cars for a while with Dad...

... and when they were done racing the cars, they moved onto racing Noah's new race cars on the race track!

I SERIOUSLY LOVE THIS PICTURE!

Our guests-- Aunt Tricia and Uncle Victor, along with all 9, yes 9 of their kids-- arrived for brunch just a tad bit later than when we were expecting them----no matter though--- we weren't in any hurry to go anywhere... If you'll remember Tricia's family moved from Utah to Texas back in July, so it was fun getting to see them again since we all missed them SO much!  It was also our very first time meeting the newest addition to their family, cousin Juliet...  she was born in September.  She's so tiny and precious.

We stuffed ourselves with french toast and all kinds of other yums, the adults mingled and the younger kids had a hey day playing together... just like old times!

The boys car battery still wasn't completely charged but that didn't stop them from pretending they were on a safari together, hunting down lions!

Trish and her family hung around for a couple of hours before heading off to visit with other family of theirs...  we spent the afternoon hanging around in our pajamas watching movies and the Disneyland Christmas Parade we recorded from earlier in the morning... that evening, Grandma and Grandpa Campbell, along with Aunt Laura, stopped by for a visit... the boys were excited to show them their stash of new toys!

They played a game of "Snap" with Aunt Laura...

... Then they played with their new Light Bright...

THEN... They showed off their mad driving skills in their new truck around the house but while doing so they scuffed up a couple of my baseboards... Spencer and I decided that for now, the best place to put the truck is downstairs in the unfinished basement... since it's still too cold to play outside, the boys can drive that and race their bikes downstairs.

And before our guests left, we remembered to light the candles on the Nativity windmill so we could watch it spin around.

We all enjoyed a very MERRY Christmas indeed!