Christmas Eve

So, our original plan for Christmas Eve was to hang out at the house and then go to services at church at 3pm and have dinner over at Aunt Wanda's house. About 8:30 my friend, Claire, texts me and asks if we want their seats to the Seattle Seahawks game verses the 49ers. Now, my Dad's most favorite team ever is the 49ers and since we live in Seattle, Gregg likes the Seahawks, so this couldn't be a more perfect game! So, I called Gregg (he and dad were out to breakfast!) and told him what Claire had offered....I hear Gregg tell my Dad and say "what do you think?" My dad says "ummmm...let me think! YES!" So, I called Claire back and got the tickets. 

Kelli decided she also wanted to go, so she got online and got herself and my mom a ticket and off the 4 of them went. I didn't want to go, not only do I hate football, but I HATE crowds and there were suppose to be 67,000 people there. That is definitely not my idea of a good time. Needless to say, this totally changed our plans for the day!

So, the boys and I hung out all day and then headed to church for Christmas Eve service at 5pm. It was a family style service, so I had the boys with me the whole time. Gibson did great. Grady doesn't like to sit still, so he didn't do so good, but it wasn't terrible considering the only other time he has been in there was for "shows" the church has put on.... He says to me when we sit down "where's my popcorn? I want it now."    (wasn't as rude as it sounds) I had to explain to him that this wasn't a show and this was a service and there wasn't any popcorn and he had to sit and listen. It's hard to be 4 sometimes. 

Anyway, the church service was great and the boys really liked that we light candles during the service. 

Came home after church, put everyone to bed, and took care of baking, present, and stockings. It was full day! 

Christmas Eve

The boys in their Christmas Eve pjs. Our standard Christmas Eve gift. 

And yes, this was the best picture I could get. The youngest boy was "mad at mommy" and didn't think he should participate. He's still pretty cute though!

Dinner at Salty's

So, after trapeze class the other day, we decided to take my parents and sister out to Salty's so that we could have a nice dinner out and show my parents the view from that particular restaurant. It's amazing. I'll have to get the pictures off Kelli's camera and post them. 

Like my fat lip and the raspberry on my chin? Ya, I tried to eat the net at class. It hurt!

Auntie Kelli Arrived!

After a bit of a delay and me answering 748 questions about when she would be here, Auntie Kelli finally arrived! 

Dinner out!

Its always nice to go out to dinner and not dirty up the kitchen. Its even better when you can go with family. 

Snowflake Lane

Last Tuesday night we met my in-laws in Bellevue for dinner and then to check out Snowflake Lane. We had never been to this before and thought my parents and the boys would love it. So, we had dinner at Cheesecake Factory before hand and then stayed to check out the show. It was great. The boys loved it. Gibson has asked to go every single night since then! You know its fun for them when they ask to go back nonstop! If you are local and haven't been, definitely go! It's worth the hassle of getting there and dealing with the traffic. 

Grandma and Papa arrive

My parents arrived on Monday afternoon. They decided to drive up this year instead of the usual driving. The boys are very excited that they are here! 

My dad sat down and took a snooze and Garrison climbed up there anyway, it didn't matter that Papa was sleeping, he wanted to sit on his lap. 

 It didn't take Grady long to warm up either. Especially since my mom was playing a word game on her Kindle. Grady likes that kind of stuff! 

Santa Pictures!

This year I wanted until my parents got here to get Santa pictures. Usually we go early on as to avoid the crowds, but I figured my parents would want to do that with the kids, so I waited. What a madhouse! We got there 1/2 hour early and we were at least 30 groups back in line. We waited about and hour and a half to see Santa. As luck would have it Sonnet got in line right behind us, so the kids went CRAZY with their friends while we waited in line. I'm pretty sure the 5 of them were louder than the whole crowd put together. 

Gibson & Kea

 Garrison, Grady & Tiernan

 and...our 2011 Santa picture! 

For the first time in the last couple of years, I didn't have to be in the picture! Garrison wasn't too sure about it, but I put him on Santa's lap and walked away and he didn't cry so we went with it. 

Early Christmas with Aunt Wanda & Uncle Steve

Because my parents and sister are here for Christmas, I didn't want to overwhelm the boys on Christmas day, so we decided to do Christmas early with Aunt Wanda and Uncle Steve to spread out the presents for the boys. It worked out great. We had take out Thai food and opened gifts, plus AW made some DELISH desserts. 

The boys had a great time opening presents and loved everything they got!

 Garrison was VERY excited about this gift. A chocolate covered rice krispy treat! 

Gibson is ALL ABOUT the Angry Birds. 

 Gregg and his chocolates! 

And I'm pretty sure Gregg thinks this is the best present he has ever gotten. A Silvertips coat. His eyes lit up like he was 5 and had just gotten the Golden Ticket. The bar has officially been set. 

 This is my most favorite lipgloss ever. It's expensive so I don't really splurge on it for myself very often and I use it up til I have the last drop out of the tube! AW got me this mini set. The colors are "April" & "Michelle". Totally fun! 

 And I got this really great Christmas apron. I love it. I've been using my Snoopy apron the last few years and this year I was just thinking how I needed to make a new one because I was tired of that one, so this is PERFECT and I don't have to find the time to sew one. Win-win! 

 Uncle Steve

 Aunt Wanda

 Garrison loves Livvie (the dog)

 Gregg and his other gift from AW & US. 

 The boys all playing with their toys and SHARING nicely. It's like a Christmas Miracle. 

 DESSERT! Some of us liked it more than others.