Our Christmas

Merry Christmas! We had quite the eventful few days!

We alternate each year who we spend Christmas with -- this year Christmas Eve was with the Lowes, and Christmas day was with the Wayments. 

Christmas Eve, we went to my mom's house for our annual Christmas breakfast -- so delicious as always!

Kailee, JD, and Kenna

Rowan, Sarah, Ama, my dad, and Trent

Gray got Angry Bird gummies in his stocking -- he was beyond excited! He STILL carries the box around with him! He's quite the Angry Birds fan :)

Nani with the babies -- Holland and Thatcher (check out that crazy hair! hehe)

Look at that sweet little girl! Love those big baby blues!

JD "won" Christmas this year by giving us all the most memorable gifts of all time.  Nude pictures of himself with strategically placed bows, presents, etc covering the naughty bits.  This was my mom's reaction when she saw hers.  She was CRYING, she was laughing so hard! I personally STILL wish I could wash my eyeballs! It was hilarious! 

Thatcher playing with his new squeaky ball

Row and Gray playing with some of the new loot

Holland got her first Madame Alexander doll!

Rowan got the cutest ice cream set! He was quite happy, and was very busy serving everyone their own ice cream cones.

Gray got this awesome dragon from Nani and Pop.  He loves it.

T's favorite present -- a blue raspberry teether -- he loves this thing!

My mom made all the grandkids stockings! So cute!

Rowan and Kailee with their stockings

Gray with his

And little miss Holland with hers (and Sarah, too)

T also got this fun dinosaur ball popper -- so entertaining!

Gray loves it, too

So does Henry! (my mom's dog) -- he was so funny, just sitting there staring at it forever!

Me and my festive hubby :)

T getting adventurous on the stairs

My sweet baby in his cutest sweater outfit, when I got around to dressing him.  Never did get around to doing his hair....

 We went home for naps, (lovely), then we went to Ama's house for our annual homemade soups dinner.  I guess I didn't manage to get any pictures there! (anyone have any they wanna shoot my way?!)


On Christmas day, we went to Steve's parents' house. The boys opened their presents, and we had another delicious breakfast!

Gray got this giant monkey from Gram and Grampa -- so fun!

The boys unwrapping presents

T had a great time with the paper :) 

Gray had a great time spreading his loot all across the floor

After playing with all the new toys for a bit, we were able to go to sacrament meeting at Steve's parents' ward.  It was so nice to be able to go to church on Sunday and have some time dedicated to thinking of the Savior.

Steve and Thatcher in their Christmas Sunday best! Aren't they cute?!

Cute Grayson in his Christmas best.  Love this pic :) 

After church, we came back to the Wayments' house and relaxed for a little bit.  Gray snuggled up with his daddy and played with his new Lightning McQueen toy that plays a game on his daddy's iPad.  It was sweet -- had to snap a pic.


We went over to Steve's aunt's house later in the afternoon for fun and food.  Didn't get pics there, either.  I guess I was too busy :)  After that, we went over to Steve's parents' house again to open our presents from Scott and Jeanne (great stuff -- thanks!)  Then we headed over to Steve's cousin Ryan's house for a bit.

We had a great holiday! I'm so glad we live so close to all our family and get to see them so often! We love you all! Thanks for everything!

Happy Santa Claus Day!

Steve and I decided that our family is going to have Santa come the week before Christmas (we were going to have him come on the Dutch holiday Sinterklasse day on December 6th, but, uh...Santa wasn't quite ready!)-- this way, we can have one day for Santa, and then have Christmas be about CHRIST.  So this past Friday night, Gray made cookies with Nani (the traditional stars, bells, and snowmen, but there were also some ghosts and bats in there, too), and we set them out for Santa.  He didn't disappoint!

Grayson got a little trampoline -- he's loved bouncing like a kangaroo, frog, lemur, and a monkey on it. 

He got these little bath toy animals in his stocking

He spent the first hour just lining the animals up in various places around the room.

T slept in for a while, but when he woke up, he was excited for his bead toy, some books, and a teddy bear.

Playing with the new loot!

I had to put him in his Santa outfit after his morning diaper change.  He is so stinkin' cute!

He loves books, and he really loved the Hungry Caterpillar book! He flipped through it and babbled at it for a long time

...he also chewed on it a bit.

I had to include these cute close-ups -- he is just too adorable

Gray wanted T on the trampoline with him.  T was excited :)

Gray was excited to show T all his animals

T taking a turn on the tramp. Ha - not really, but he did like standing there and kind of bouncing/wobbling around -- don't worry, I was right next to him the whole time.

It was a fun, relaxed morning.  Grayson gets so overwhelmed by all the usual Christmas festivities, so it was nice to have a morning to ourselves -- nowhere to be, no one to visit. We let Gray go through his presents at his own pace -- like I said, he spent an hour alone on the animals before he even looked at his other presents.  It was early afternoon before he even got to the tramp, and he didn't look through his books until just before nap time. But he eventually got to everything, and loved it all. In his prayers that night, he thanked Heavenly Father for Santa and all his new presents.  He said it was the "best day ever". And I'm excited to spend the rest of the time until Christmas focusing on the Savior, service, and family. Here's to new traditions :)

Christmas 2010

Here's a really long post about our holiday celebrations this year

Grayson loves our Christmas tree -- as soon as he saw it the first time after we put it up, he wriggled his way underneath it and layed there for a 1/2 hour just staring up through the branches. He turns the lights on every morning as soon as he gets downstairs. He also has fun rearranging the ornaments he can reach.

On Christmas Eve, we went over to Steve's parents' house for dinner and presents. My boys looked so cute in their jackets -- too bad Gray didn't want to cooperate for the photo-op.

Gram and Grandpa gave Gray a motorized Thomas train and track!

He loves Thomas, so he was/is super excited about it!

He also got his very own car! He calls it "sheriff" because it's black like Sheriff on Cars. He couldn't even wait til daddy was done assembling it to climb in.

That is one happy boy!

Here he is dancing -- he 'dances' with his hands mostly -- doing a happy dance.

Stealing some of Grandpa's milk.

Coming down the stairs at home on Christmas morning.

He was so surprised to see all the new toys on the table!

Gray loved the bucket of dinosaurs he got.

Here he is feeding the "big dinosaur" some trees. Guess it's a herbivore.

Giving his new "dragon" a big hug!

Trying out his new tools with Daddy.

A new train, too.

Helping Ollie open his present -- a new shoe to chew on!! (Ollie is so concerned that Gray is trying to steal the shoe)

Daddy gave Gray a model of an orange Mustang -- starting the boy young with the love of cars!

Then we headed over to my parents' house for Christmas breakfast and presents. The little boys were so good to sit at their table and eat (for a minute, at least)

Rowan and Grayson both got these music kits from Nana and Poppa -- but preferred to collaberate together on their jams.

Gray was a little confused as to what was his and what was Row's. He thought everything was HIS. We got it all sorted out in the end, though.

I made most every gift I gave this year, and JD's was the best.  A boobie pillow to snuggle.  I won't post the full-frontal pic, in case we have some sensitive readers here. But it's hilarious. Kenna's face says it all.

I made my mom a Dutch doll -- she got a little teary  :)

Grayson got a little overwhelmed by everything and disappeared into the next room for a while.  When he came back, he wasn't wearing any pants.  I guess that made it all better, and he was ready to open more presents. Of all the awesome presents he got there, his very favorite things are little figurines of a lion, tiger, and bear that my mom gave him. It's so funny how the littlest things can make kids so happy!

Gray loved helping me make treats this year -- because he got to lick the frosting off the beater.  He's doing his happy dance here while licking the beater.

Here are the yummy cupcakes I made.  So festive.

This is the only pic I have of me where I'm actually looking at the camera. My mom MADE this adorable clock for us! Cute, huh!  She also gave me a SEWING MACHINE!!! I didn't get a picture of that, but I'm way excited for it! :)  I also didn't get a picture of Steve in his new jacket from my parents -- you can kind of see it in this pic, but you don't really get the full effect of how incredibly handsome he is in it.  I will get a pic sometime, I promise :)

Random pic, but I think it's funny -- you didn't know there were sports cars at the Nativity, did you?!

Or a giant, clothes-free toddler stomping around outside the stable?

Here is the absolute best Christmas gift! My wonderful in-laws gave us a new fridge!!! It's awesome!

And my amazing husband bought the rest of the set for me as well! So I have a new fridge, microwave, oven, and dishwasher! Whoo hooooo!!! I know, I'm so spoiled!! :D

Christmas night we went over to Grandma Oka's house -- and I didn't get any pictures there. :P  But we got spoiled yet again there! Gray got a Dumbo stuffed animal from Aunt Mitsie that he carries around the house and has to sleep with, and an Elefun game from the Larson kids that he has to play with at least 3 times a day.

Thank you to all our wonderful family and friends for making it such a wonderful Christmas!!

Gray was a bit overwhelmed by all the present-opening, and even told us to "close" them up again. But these few days after Christmas have been more relaxed, and he's had more time to LOOK at all his new toys, and he's loving it!! I apologize to anyone that may have thought him ungrateful or uncaring as he didn't want to look at or play with what you gave him at the time.  Know that they are all appreciated and are definitely getting used and loved now :)