Christmas

At about 3:19 in the morning Kolton came into our room and asked why the kitchen light was on.  We had accidentally left it on when we went to bed.  I told him I didn't know because I wasn't really fully awake.  Brady asked him if Santa had come and Kolton said he wasn't sure so Brady said we should go check.  Oh goodness! Haha.  So, we went out at 3:20 in the morning and opened presents.  :) Kolton was so super excited.  It was so fun to see how excited he was for Christmas! He got lots and lots of presents and was so excited and grateful for them all! Every time he'd open a present he'd say "Thank you SO much!!" in a super sweet, sincere voice.  It was cute!

Kolton and all his gifts! 

Kolton had made a present for Brady and I at school.  He was so excited for us to open it on Christmas.  We ended up keeping our tree up a couple more days than normal because he wanted us to be able to see his ornament for a few more days.  I love it! 

We ended up going back to bed around 5:30.  Kolton did not want to go to bed but we told him he'd be miserable the rest of the day if he didn't.  We slept until 8:00 and then got up and ate cinnamon rolls.  We got ready and skyped with my family for a little bit too.  Then we went over to the Brammers for Christmas lunch. 

As we were waiting for it to be ready Kolton got Dylen to play Trouble with him.  Kolton LOVES the game Trouble.  He plays it AT LEAST once a day and sometimes will play it by himself even.  He'll play it over and over and over and over.  :) 

 

We ate lots of Mexican food and then the boys went upstairs and watched Madagascar 3 and played Trouble.  Kolton was excited to teach them how and they played for quite some time.  

We watched sports and Madison braided my hair.  :) 

And we enjoyed the view outside.  We were supposed to get like 6-9 inches of snow but we only ended up getting a little over an inch.  It was still fun to watch, though.  

Brady and I both got lots of cool presents from our families and from each other.  We had a wonderful Christmas and felt very blessed this year.  Brady and I have really felt the Lord's hand in our lives a lot lately and are so grateful for His presence.  Our hearts and minds were full of gratitude this year as we celebrated Christmas and the birth of our Savior.  It really was a great Christmas! 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Brady had to work until 2:00.  So, I spent the morning cleaning the house.  Like deep cleaning.  It was nice to get it all done! Brady ended up not getting off until 2:40.  He came home and then left with Kolton and his dad to go to a Mexican grocery store.  While he was there he had to speak Spanish to the workers because they couldn't speak English.  He said that Kolton looked up at him and asked very cautiously "Why are you talking like that Dad?" Haha.  He said it was pretty funny. Brady talks Spanish to Kolton sometimes but he does it slowly and just short sentences so I guess it caught Kolton off guard when he was talking it for real.  Brady loves the beans and rice from there so he was excited to go get some and for some reason we only do at Christmas time.  

After they came home it as about time for dinner.  Kolton loves Christmas Eve dinner! 

 "Ho-Ho"-ing like Santa.  ;) 

  

We had ham, rolls, and twice baked potatoes with fruit salad and corn and of course our traditional sparkling grape juice.  Kolton loves that we drink them in cool cups.  

After dinner we opened our Christmas Eve presents.  Kolton was SO excited.  

Kolton was SO sweet when he opened his present.  I had put his present inside a Frosted Flakes box just so that it was easier to wrap.  When he unwrapped it he just thought it was a box of Frosted Flakes and he got this sweet smile on his face and said as sweet as he could "Thank you so much!" I couldn't help but get teary eyed.  You could tell he was trying so hard to hide his disappointment because he did not want us to know he was disappointed.  He was so appreciative for a box of Frosted Flakes.  It just melted my heart.  It still makes me emotional.  I couldn't help but hug and squeeze him and tell him how much I love him.  We then told him to open the box.  

And then he was super excited! ;) I had originally bought him some dinosaur pajamas but then decided he would love The Avengers ones better so on the Saturday before Christmas I went and got these ones for him and I'm so glad I did because he loved them.  

 Brady always teases me about all my picture taking but he took pictures of me opening my present.  Haha.  I'm including them because there are never any pictures of me doing anything.  :) 

 I got Thunder pajama pants that I absolutely LOVE.  I wear them as much as I can.  

I got Brady a pair of pajama pants from Old Navy that were grey.  (His other Christmas Eve present from me was not taking pictures of him while opening them. Haha)

  After pajamas Kolton talked to my mom for a while and told her about his pajamas and his day.  After that we watched the Living Scriptures "Nativity" DVD.  Once we finished that we went down to Norman to go to the Downs Family Light Show.  We've been going there for years and love it.  It has become super popular the last several years.  Our favorite part this year was during their intermission.  They lit up a bunch of red and white lights for all the OU fans, then they lit up one orange tree for the OSU fans, and then for the Texas fans they lit up all the red and white lights again and played the "Boomer Sooner" song.  It was funny.  

While we were out looking at lights my mom sent us some pictures of their cookies that they were making.  They couldn't find their cookie cutters so they were cutting them out with knifes.  They turned out pretty awesome! I wish I had the pictures but I had to exchange my phone and don't have them anymore.  

After the lights we came home and Kolton decorated a cookie for Santa and left carrots out for the reindeer.  

We had such a fun Christmas Eve.  Spending time with each other was just a blast.  I'm so glad I have such a wonderful family! 

Weekend before Christmas

On Thursday, the 20th, we finally made it up to Bass Pro to see Santa.  We had been trying to go for weeks with the Foys but we couldn't ever find a day where both families were available so we ended up being able to go on Brady's half day that week. We picked Kolton up from school and went straight there.  He was so excited and could hardly wait!! 

When we got there there wasn't hardly anyone in line.  I think there were 2 families in front of us.  It was wonderful!! Kolton walked up to him and sat on his lap and told him he wanted a black Batman and "black Batman car." He is just so cute!!

After Santa he had to play all the games! 

 After Bass Pro we left and went and got some dinner thru the McDonald's drive thru and then went and picked up Andrew to go to see the lights in Chickasha. We ate dinner in the car and the boys watched The Grinch and Polar Express.     

 We walked around the whole display and then drove thru it.  It was fun and Kolton loved seeing all the lights! After we were done there we went to Dairy Queen since we don't have any around here.  :) It was amazing! :) 

On Saturday, the 22nd, we pulled our mattress out in to the living room and watched The Santa Clause.  I made white chocolate covered popcorn and we just lounged all afternoon.  That evening we then watched the last Lord of the Rings but Kolton fell asleep and didn't get to see it all.  :) 

 He still has to have his "George-y" and a lot of the time he has to have his other little stuffed guys.  

 On Sunday, the 23rd, we went to the Brammer's for dinner.  I had planned on Kolton making sugar cookies that evening and had already made the dough so we ended up just taking it over there and he did it there.  I made a ton of dough and we made seriously like 5 dozen cookies but he had a blast cutting them all out! 

 He only decorated one cookie but he made sure and loaded it up with a TON of sprinkles.  :) 

We watched the Christmas concert that our church put on at 6:00 that night.  They had preformed it that weekend and then it was aired on TV on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  It was neat to see so many people that we know perform in it.  It was a wonderful concert! 

After that Kolton got to play Twister.  It was funny to watch him try and get it all right.  :)