Christmas In Our Jammies

Our annual Christmas gift exchange with Mom and Dad is usually on Christmas Eve night.  We always are in our pajamas and cozied in for some good Christmas fun.  This year we decided to do it the weekend before Christmas.  Tristin got to be with us and we weren't so rushed to get through things and home for the next day by doing it this way. 

 We started off the day in the middle of the afternoon doing crafts with the kids.  Mom bought plain ornaments and we decorated them with paint, stickers and ribbon.  They looked really awesome while we did them..but somehow ended up odd looking after they dried.  Bummer!  But they were still fun to do.  : )

This is Chase's newest thing.  He loves to make huge cheesy grins.  It gets him LOTS of attention!  He is just too gosh darn cute!

The kids couldn't WAIT to dive into the presents!  Cedric especially kept asking and asking.....and asking if we could open them yet.  I remember being so eager as a child too - heck, I still get pretty excited!!

 Mom prepared a feast for us to enjoy before we started into the presents.  We had a good ole' Christmas dinner.  Everything from ham and potatoes to salad and dessert.  It was super duper!!

Chase was already tired before the present party even began.  My guys enjoyed a little snuggle after getting in their p.j.'s. 

 We attempted to get a picture of all the kids with the tree...and this is what we got! 

Our annual family Christmas picture turned out super good this year!  AND it is ALL of us since Tristin is there.  : )  Good lookin' bunch if you ask me!

Here we go....

I usually help pass out the presents and tell the kids who to give them to and so on....but this year I didn't have to because so many of them can read now!  Crazy knowledge!

 I had a Grandpa shirt made for Dad.  Each shamrock leaf has a grandkids name on it. 

 Awesome shirt right?!

Dad got Mom and sweet new "ride"!  How cool is that?!  He picked it out all by himself and he was pretty proud of it.  I think it's legit - it is a pretty awesome bike!

Intermission...we always have to take a break (or two) to get drinks/snacks/potty.  

 While we were shopping in Iowa City this year Colista and I found these fake gift boxes that were absolutely HILARIOUS!  We were literally on the floor laughing at Bed Bath and Beyond laughing at these!  We decided to do the prank on Jeremy with the "blankeez"  because it was a "blanket for 8 people".  You'll have to blow the picture up and read all the ridiculous things it says on the box.  It is terribly funny.  He had accepted that he was getting that and then realized he had a shirt and hat inside ...so we definitely got him!  It was a great laugh for all of us.  I couldn't contain myself before he even got it all the way unwrapped.  Haha!  I was just glad he laughed along with us and wasn't mad!

Tyson and Vanessa got a lot of new things for their new place.  

Josh got a new coat for his new job.  Lots of "news" flying around this family.  

I got awesome orange Rachel Ray spoons from Tyson and Vanessa...

 and Colista made me a super sweet Christmas apron that's reversible!...

 and Mom surprised me with a brand new coat I told her I liked!  ...all this among other awesome things : )  We all got lots of nice, fun and new stuff!  ...but most of all we have another year of family memories together!

We gave Cedric a dinosaur drawing kit and he was already whipping up some good drawings for us to see!

 He's a trend setter...haha!  Enjoying a huge helping of dessert before heading home for the night. 

Chase loves his Grandpa : )

I think everyone agreed it was a lot more relaxing to celebrate our Christmas a week early this year.  It was nice to actually absorb it all and not worry about the next day.  I love our Christmas in our jammies tradition and look forward to it for MANY years to come! 

Josh, Chase and I were like 3 little kids when we got home.  We opened all our new things and "played" with them.  We didn't even get all the stickers on Chase's train before he was interested in it.  We couldn't keep him off of it...Grandma did good!  Merry Christmas!

Bye Bye Bottle

We have officially been 2 days without the bottle!  This is our third day..and so far so good.  I think we are through it!  He had started flattening the nipples on his bottles and carrying his bottle around with him like a cup - so we decided it was time to give it up.  This battle was actually fairly easy..but I fear the binky won't be so easy. 

Cute Happenings

This is a post all about cute things.  Chase now always puts his cup in his cup holder on his tray.  I find this to be cute - and smart!

Who is looking ever so adorable in his vest?! 

Chase is sharing his bottle with Daddy.  He loves to share his binky's and sippy's and what not too.  : )

Hi - I just woke up and I'm so cute with this sleepy look in my eyes.  

Chase fell asleep in the car on the way to Walmart.  Typically he will wake up when we go inside.  This time he was CRASHED.  He slept in the basket for quite a while - I was shocked.  I got a lot of comments on the adorable sleeping baby in my cart!  

Chase loves to hang out in Bella's bed.  Josh and I told him we would get him his own if he wanted...Haha!  Maybe one that is a little more manly.  : )

Hello?!  He is so stinkin' smart!!  This phone is used and has been around for quite some time...but is currently one of his favorite toys.  

Still our little snuggle bug.  Love him!!

Date

Josh had all last weekend off.  Starting this week he is on the road for 5 weeks straight.  Since we weren't sure when the next time we'd have a chance to have a night alone would be - we decided to go on a date night on Friday.  We went and had Mexican (our favorite) and checked out the new theater.  The theater is AWESOME!! It's huge and has stadium seating.  Best part is that the prices didn't go up either!  Woot!

Chase stayed the night at Mom and Dad's Friday night.  Tristan and Cedric stayed there that night too.  The boys both had stories to tell about Chase and seemed to be playing with him really good.  Mom said Cedric made a bed under the Christmas tree to sleep - he must have been excited to open presents!  He told her that there were more than 70 presents under there when she woke up.  Haha!  Sounds like he spent most of the night counting presents!  : )

Box

Around the time of Chase's birthday we brought over my old toy box that Tyson made me to start using as Chase's toy box.  We painted a stripe over the pink bows that were on it and I had Mom make a pad to put on the top.  It turned out pretty cute.  Just last week we FINALLY put some toys in it!  We brought all of his toys out of the living room and everywhere else into his room and sorted through them.  He was in heaven!  It was like he had never seen these toys before!  We parked some trucks on the bottom shelf of his bookshelf and loaded the toy box with toys.  For now we don't have many toys out in the living room anymore.  However, we decided the new toys he gets for Christmas will get to be in the box in the living room for a while.  Until he gets bored of them - then we'll switch back to his old toys. 

Tower

Chase was Mom and I's little helper last Thursday while we wrapped presents all afternoon.  We gave him his own box of bows and he was entertained by that for a LONG time.  Him and Grandma had a "sword" fight too.  He thought that was pretty funny stuff!

We caught him minding his own business surrounded by a pile of tissue paper making faces at himself in the mirror.  TOO cute!!!

Owen came over after school and helped us a while too.

Grandma managed to get ALL of her grandkids over to make the TOWER of presents that evening.  It has become a little tradition for the kids to all help bring the presents downstairs and make a tower with them.  They loved it!

Bella

We got Chase a puppy for Christmas.  We picked her up last Sunday.  Her name is Bella.  We wanted a name with a Christmas "theme".  We both liked the name Belle - but Josh and Angie have a beagle named Belle so Josh came up with Bella...and so it stuck!  

We took her to meet Dad on the evening we got her.  He especially has a soft spot for pups right now after losing Buddy.  

The first day we had her she slept a lot and was really cuddly.  Chase wasn't sure what to think of her.  He kept pointing at her and looking at her all cute.  

Owen and Tyson were at Mom and Dad's unloading a trailer late Sunday night and had heard we got our puppy.  Owen convinced Tyson to come by and see the puppy at bedtime.  We couldn't figure out who was pulling in our driveway at 10:00!  Haha!  It was a nice surprise though.  

Tristin called and had us bring Bella over to Mom and Dad's a few nights later so he could meet her.  He really likes her and held her the whole time.  

This Sunday was fairly warm out so we took Chase and Bella for a tiny walk.  We just went a few blocks but it was enough!  It will take some time for Bella to learn how to walk on a leash.  She is all over the place!  Fresh air felt good though : )

We have had her a little over a week now.  My current feelings towards Bella are very love/hate.  I am attached to her already...however, I get very frustrated with her too.  She has changed our life entirely.  Potty training is no fun, her barking and interrupting my day is no fun, her pushing Chase over and driving him nuts is no fun...the list could go on.  I feel like she is taking away from my attention and time with Chase and I don't like that.  I keep telling myself we just need to get through the puppy stage then she will be better.  That is hard for me though too because I know I only get this time with Chase once in my life and I hate giving up any of it to bother with a dog.  Chase and Bella are starting to play together well some times though and it IS cute.  I am going to try and stick this out best I can....I am hoping someday they will be best friends.