Merry Christmas with Grandpa and Grammy

We had Grammy and Grandpa live with us via Skype so they could watch the kiddos open their presents. Hannah was a little shy/overwhelmed so her tongue is out in almost every picture. *sigh*

The boys got the Imaginext dragon and ogre

Hannah got a portable Minnie Mouse karaoke machine. The flower is the microphone. Grammy bought this when she was in town visiting and Hannah was with us while we shopped. She would not let go of it the whole time we were in Target, and we had to be creative to get it away from her in the car. So, she was very happy to see this toy again!

And the Imaginext castle. To say they were excited is an understatement!

Hannah wasn't too sure what to think of the "roar!" She only felt safe when one of us was holding her.

The boys wasted no time getting the castle and all of its accessories set up.

Hannah chose to move her pet stroller upstairs away from the scary "roar."

At the end of the day, she finally decided the castle was OK as long as Daddy was nearby to protect her.

Merry Christmas from the Fleurys

Andrew and his new Angry Bird matchbox race track.

I'm sad this is blurry. Hannah was super excited about her new baby and had to take a bath with it that night.

Jonathan and his new Thomas train friends

Andrew has some trouble containing his excitement over his new Legos.

Jonathan in his Thomas dress-up clothes. How cute is this outfit?!
Thank you Fleury family for all of our wonderful Christmas presents!

Christmas presents from the Petersons

 

We let the kids open their presents from the Petersons a few days before Christmas. New books are always a hit, unless they are the dreaded Maze book. (Actual title: "Maze, Solve the World's Most Challenging Puzzle.")This book has caused so much stress for Andrew because it is virtually impossible to solve and that just doesn't fly with him. But on a plus side, it has kept him very busy and greatly improved his reading skills! The book Jonathan is holding is hilarious and we highly recommend it. "Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs" by Mo Willems

Thank you Peterson family!

Jonathan's Preschool Christmas Program

Jonathan doing the motions - top row, third from the left.



The theme was, "Happy Birthday, Jesus."

Jonathan's program was on the first day of Andrew's Christmas break, so he was able to watch his little brother perform!

I didn't notice when I took their picture, but Jonathan is holding Hannah's hand. It might've been to keep her from running away, but it looks so cute!

Christmas Tree!

The boys were a big help in putting the ornaments on the tree.

Andrew hanging up his tractor ornament he got several years ago.

We started the decorating process while Hannah napped.

She was very happy to help redecorate when she woke up!

And of course, she used her stool to help her reach the out-of-reach ornaments.

Ruby was very happy to see the tree. I think she thought she was the princess of the forest.

Christmas with Grammy and Grandpa!

Let the fun begin!

By this point, Hannah is a pro at the unwrapping business!

A Red Sox sweatshirt!

Hot Wheels Trios for Jonathan and big sets of little Legos for Andrew

Grammy reading to Hannah

Grammy reading bedtime stories to the boys.

Little ham

Grandpa and Andrew working on building the fire rescue boat the next morning.

Grammy and Grandpa came to visit a few days after Christmas, and we were so happy to see them! The boys could hardly hold it together knowing that we were going to have another Christmas with more presents. So, about 5 minutes after Keith came home from work, we let them open their presents so they had plenty of time to play before dinner and bedtime. And they were not disappointed! Lot of Legos and Fisher Price Trios, puzzles and giant sticker books, oh my! And Hannah scored a little picnic basket complete with picnic supplies and stacking blocks. What lucky little children! Thank you Grammy and Grandpa for coming to visit and making our Christmas complete. You were our best present!

Christmas Morning!

Since Hannah had a hard time going to sleep on Christmas Eve, she wasn't interested in waking early to open presents. We made the boys wait for a little bit then let them open their stockings before their little heads exploded.

The best part about the stockings was their reaction. We had some disagreements in our house about Santa. Andrew didn't believe and Jonathan did. One night when Keith was reading a Christmas book to the boys about Santa, Andrew asked Keith if Santa was real. Keith answered, "Sure." and kept reading. The next page showed a picture of a tired Santa resting after a long night of delivering toys to all the boys and girls in the world. Andrew looked at the page for a second before looking at Keith and saying, "Are you crazy?!"

"Santa" moved and filled their stockings.
Jonathan looked at the stockings and said, "I knew he would come!"

One of the best presents Santa put in the stockings were electric toothbrushes, a Thomas one for Jonathan and Captain America for Andrew. Such a big hit. Who knew?!

Andrew was very excited about his Angry Bird key chain from Santa.

He quickly decided to build an Angry Bird tower.

After a few more minutes, we let them open their presents from Santa. Andrew was in awe when he saw there were several presents wrapped differently from all the others and marked from Santa. (His mother came up with this plan to confuse and intrigue him.) He whispered in awe, "He really is real!" To which I would've laughed, but I was suffering from severe laryngitis and couldn't make any noise.

Santa brought them little tents and a light-up moon.

When Hannah finally woke up, the unwrapping began. New matching T-shirts for the boys and a dress for Hannah.

The boys each picked out a present for each other. Jonathan picked out little Legos for Andrew, and Andrew chose a Chuggington train for Jonathan.

A Little Einstein laptop for Jonathan

An ISpy Leapster game for Andrew

A Little People house for Hannah

A Lego race game for Andrew

Keith got a new remote-control helicopter.
Hannah had started to open this present, and I quickly took it from her before Keith could see what it was. But I wasn't quick enough to avoid the watchful eyes of the boys. I had Keith open it last and the boys came running back into the room right before he opened it and asked if he had opened the helicopter yet. Surprise gift ruined. Oh, well.

the aftermath

Jonathan playing with his new GeoTrax zoo.

Christmas morning dawned bright and beautiful. This was the first time in our 10 years of marriage that we had no place we had to be on Christmas day, and we just relaxed and enjoyed it. I woke up with no voice and it didn't get better as the day went on. I could literally only whisper, but otherwise I felt fine. The interesting part of not having a voice was that I sort of became invisible to my children. In their minds, if mommy can't talk, then she obviously can't hear us either and daddy will solve all our issues. This gave me more time to read a book on my new Kindle! This was literally the quietest Christmas we have ever experienced, but it was perfect!