Merry Christmas!

We got an early start to Christmas.  Chloe came running into our bedroom at 2am to wake me up and tell me Santa brought her a bike.  The gate that was put up to keep the kids upstairs until morning (6am or later) was ineffective.  A moment later, I saw Bean scaling the stair railing to bypass the gate.  And then two seconds later, Owen was scaling the railing to sneak downstairs.  

I quietly got out of bed and found my slippers before sneaking down the stairs and through the art room to lurk in the bathroom hallway next to our family room.  The kids were talking to each other.  There was an excitement in the air as they tried to maintain whispers.  Owen was thrilled about his new skateboard and helmet.  When I asked him if he knew what was in the little square box (on the skateboard behind the Santa stocking), he guessed a lens for his camera.  When I confirmed that's exactly what that box was, he almost shouted, "I knew that was going to be good for something!"

Chloe's voice was in awe as she repeatedly asked her brother if he could believe Santa had brought her a bicycle after how naughty she has been.  She was thrilled and a bit in disbelief.  We all went back to bed around 3:30am, but the kids were so hyped they went back downstairs and played with their gifts from Santa and the wii before crashing on our bedroom floor around 5am.  We all got up around 7am to open each other's presents, so there was very little sleep for any of us.

This was a hat Kelley picked up in Greenville, SC at an art show after Owensk begged for it.  He remembered it immediately and was so happy.

He had to run around the family room with it on, as well as two of the little finger puppets he got.

Chloe got another kendama from her Grandma Sharon and Papa Wenzel and was really happy about that.  She loved the colors.

Chloe also got a cool hat and finger puppets which she had also begged for in Greenville.  :)  She has a Christmas stamp on her forehead that she got from her brother. 

Owen got more Under Armor clothes and was doing a happy dance!

Bean is such a clothes horse and was shrieking when opening up clothes, clothes and more clothes.

Owen knew what this was before he had the package opened all the way.

It was the squid (from the same art fair in Greenville) that he really, really wanted and was told it was way too expensive for our family to buy.  Can you see how happy he was to find out the squid was now his?  Love that our boy values handmade!

And Owensk got another kendama, too.  He was excited because it was just the one he asked for AND it brings his kendama count to FOUR (Santa put a gold one in his stocking).  Wow!

The boy is all about comfy sports clothing and was excited to get more of it!

He has been really excited about giving his Daddy tennis balls (his idea) for Christmas and was so excited for Todd to open them.  O was right there to give Daddy a kiss.

And Chloe was excited for Daddy to open the coffee mug she picked out for him.

Our little clothes horse got more clothes and was just beaming ear-to-ear with the thought of having more pretty things to wear.

This was a special card from her Papa Wenzel and Grandma Sharon with serious cash (which has since been spent on an Elite game membership by both kids, so they can 'buy' presents and other items which were previously unavailable through the free membership).

Santa filled stockings for the kids at the Grandmas house, which were brought over for the kids.  All kinds of goodies were inside, including this cute little puppy which Chloe carries around everywhere.

Santa also put fart jars in the stockings.  Owen had fun making fart noises throughout the day with his, but Chloe's was a gooey mess that stuck to her fingers.  We ended up having to throw it away because it didn't work.  Boo.

This was Ruby's first Christmas with us and she was in the middle of all the activity all day long.  She wanted to sniff everything that was under the tree and being pulled out and opened.

Owen received a How to Draw book and was really interested in all of the projects inside that show the steps from start to finish in drawing the pictures.

The Grandmas were excited about getting their 2012 calendar of the kids.

Once all the presents had been opened, Chloe had fun hiding in a big box.  She was getting tickled by her Grandma Vicki!

There was ooohing and ahhhing over new picture frames.

Chloe wanted to wear the scarf she and Owen picked out for their Aunt Kiki at the same time Aunt Kiki was wearing it.  It was soooo long!

Mr. Thomas wanted to wear the scarf, too.  :)

Chloe got her own doctor kit from Aunt Kiki and tried out the stethoscope with Owen.

They had fun blasting each others' ear drums.

Grandma Vicki liked her new scarf that Kelley crocheted (I promise, more are being made and will be delivered!).

The dogs received pigs ears and other treats from Papa Ford.  They were happy dogs!

Such a Daddy's Boy this Little Horse has become.

Gift giving took most of the morning.  We had hoped that we could have gone out to take family photos (or mostly just photos of the kids with their grandparents), but the weather wasn't cooperating.  We have had days (and more projected) of rain and drizzle...thankful that it is rain and not snow (or some of us are and others say they would prefer snow!).  It was on Christmas day last year that our family left early because of snow and the threat of roads icing over.  The afternoon was filled with a long lunch, playing games, naps for some, a showing of It's A Wonderful Life and a dinner table filled with laughter, good food, prayers of thanks and wishes that all of the grandparents could have been sitting with us at our table.  The kids received Shel Silverstein books for Christmas and those were passed around the table after dinner as we all took turns reading some of the poems aloud to each other. 

The boy child noted several times throughout the morning (think 2:30am, shortly after he said "I hate to admit this Mommy, but I've been awake since 1:30am.  I was just so excited and couldn't sleep that I had to check and see if Santa came yet.") and the afternoon that "This is THE best Christmas ever!"