Santa!

I went and posted about Christmas and forgot Santa. Silly me! Ronnie had been asking for weeks when he could go see Santa and we made him wait for our ward party. One of the little boys his age figured out who Santa "really" was and made no secret of it, which really upset Santa. When Ronnie mentioned it, I tried to cover up and tell him Santa had lots of children to see before Christmas, so he needed special helpers. He interviews all his helpers and they get special training from Santa. No big deal! "It's okay mom, I know the real Santa is at the fish store!" Translation: Bass Pro Shops. One week prior, we had gone to Bass Pro Shops for their Santa's Shop so the boys could see Santa, but the line was forever long, and my wee one just wasn't in the mood for long lines.

As for the wee one, Ryland was not doing Santa, and he was the only kid all night that cried! What can I say?! Ryland and I had seen Santa walking through the mall one day while we were shopping. He walked over, towering over my little toddler, and tried to talk to him. Ryland just stared up at him, trying to figure out this strange man, and then very cautiously, turned to walk away. He just wasn't sure about this guy! I can't put into words the look on his face...priceless!

Christmas Fun!

We had a great Christmas this year, even though we didn't get to go home to see family. We thought of all our loved ones and enjoyed our time together as a family.

Christmas Eve was our big dinner. Chicken Noodle Soup..Homemade...Of Course! Nelson's dad and step-mom, his sisters, and his step-mom's parents came, so we had a full house...which I loved! There's nothing worse than spending the holidays alone.

We had a great Christmas Eve with a nativity discussion (we were pleasantly surprised by what Ronnie already knew about the nativity story!), the traditional Christmas Eve Jammie's, and a letter to Santa, Ronnie's first, and he wrote it all by himself!

We were afraid we were in for a long night, that Ronnie would a: not go to sleep b: not stay asleep c: get up REALLY early! The two days leading up to Christmas were non-stop "Can we open presents now?" every 5 minutes! Think I'm kidding, ask anyone that was here, we could set our clocks by it! Again, pleasantly surprised, he did none of those. Uncle John actually had to wake the boys up at 6:30, which fortunately was a half hour later than he told us he was going to get them up if they weren't already up.

We were abundantly blessed this year by generous family, who made our Christmas much more than it was going to be. Thank you, we love you so much! Ronnie could hardly wait his turn to open presents, and Ryland could hardly wait to play with all his presents, he was only interested in unwrapping until he could see what was inside, then he either just wanted it out, no unwrapping, or was not interested at all and would throw it to the side. All in all, we have nothing to complain about, it was a wonderful day! We are so blessed and are simply grateful to have a home, food on our table, warm clothing, a job, and most of all, family!

Happy New Year! Make it the best New Year you have had yet!

"Rate my space!"

I recently painted my kitchen "cabin red". I decided I needed some color in my life, and my house is very neutral, to say the least. So, I have been stewing about the color for my kitchen for a long time, and finally decided to go out on a limb. I have a set of dishes that are kind of the theme of my kitchen, and this is one of the colors. I can't decide if I like it. I'm on the line...

What do you think?

Birthday Boy!

Ronnie turned six on Thursday...yes...six! He is growing way to fast...I can hardly remember what he was like when he was Ryland's age. We went to Incredible Pizza, which is like Chuck-e-Cheese, only ten times better, and then had cake and ice cream at home with family.

Okay, so I totally thought I wouldn't have to deal with this until he was much older, but Ronnie spent a good portion of his free time this last week searching through the house for his presents. I don't remember doing that until I was at least 10.

Getting the Ben 10 watch we have wanted forever!

Wall-E! Yeah, still haven't seen! Was it worth buying it?

Superman cake...by request..."Mom, it's AWESOME!" Yeah, I know! (Hey, I'm aloud to be proud of myself every once in awhile.)

Getting ready to blow out SIX candles... ...not quite! He hasn't quite grasped the all in one breath concept yet!

Christmas Tree.

Here are just a few pictures of the big tree decorating event. We mostly let the boys do all the decorating, then we did a little rearranging. Ryland had a blast throwing the ornaments on the tree in the exact same spot, and Ronnie was a big helper this year, he's really starting to be a big boy, I wish he didn't have to grow up so fast!

We started the evening with Muddy Buddies! Yummy!

Pre-Decorating!

Ryland's ornament stash!

Uncle John was assigned to decorate the top of the tree.

I'm sure it's not hard to see why...this is a 9 foot tree.

All done...Until it's time to take it down! Sniff, sniff!

Poser!

These days, Ronnie is such a poser! I believe it 's just a phase...let's hope it's just a phase! He loves to strike a pose..."Mom, take one of this" then strike another "Now take one of this". The one of him in his Sunday clothes, was him "totally stylin' ". Last night he even flipped me off and wanted a picture of that lovely pose, "No Thanks". No, he did not know what he was doing, he wasn't quite flipping it, but close enough. And he just can't wait to be six on Thursday!