Merry Merry 2012

The excitement, anticipation, and joy of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning were truly about as good as it gets around this house in the past few days!  The boys have been so excited and have probably been the most fun yet about this one.  They are at a perfect stage because they all still "believe" and Hudson is just getting to where he understands that Santa is coming and bringing him things if he's good!  Hopefully Cooper, our spiritual little guy will help Hudson (as we will of course!) understand a little more about the true meaning of Christmas next year as this year it was all about fun for him.

We went to church Christmas Eve, which was very long and I'm sure boring to Carter and Cooper but they were thankfully good and patient and happy to come home to Christmas Eve festivities.  Ashley and my parents came over for the night and we had a great time cooking, playing, eating, and genuinely enjoying each other's company.  The boys went out to spread their reindeer dust and came back inside for some more playing and a Christmas book with Jamey before bedtime.

Hudson was looking at the pictures with me and said, "Cooper making crazy face" about this one:).

This was the sweetest.  Carter pulled our ottoman into the room with the Christmas tree and started talking to Kate (our elf who was in the tree) when no one was looking.  He was telling her all about what he wanted from Santa and for her to have a good trip back to the North Pole and that he would miss her while she was gone:).  It was precious!

Love these angelic faces

Cooper pretending to have some of Santa's milk!

Silly boys definitely did not eat Santa's cookies!

Carter wrote Santa another note and put at the top Dear Saint Nick all on his own:).

Santa has come!  Carter and Cooper were awake around 7am but we waited on Hudson and didn't go downstairs until almost 8.  The boys were bursting with excitement to go down and check out their new stuff as you can imagine!  My parents came over just in time to see them come down and spent the morning with us before they headed to South Carolina to be with my aunt and grandparents.  We spent the day just the 5 of us playing outside, straightening up, and getting ready for Christmas Round II that night.  Jamey and I were both shocked by how quickly the day seemed to pass.  Christmas usually seems to slow down in the afternoon but I don't think we stopped for one second as there was always something to put together or help with but that was just fine with us!

Can I come in Mommy?!

Just a tad bit excited over his new train!

Sweet Hudson had a great morning but was a little cute and quiet, just taking it all in!

He loves his grill!

Thanks for the hat and watch Santa!

To the Batcave!

All three really loving the train.

Carter and Cooper watched some of The Santa Clause Christmas afternoon and I came down to find this watching quietly.  I'm so glad they love each other so much!

One of Carter's favorite new toys.

Ashley and Andrew came for dinner and presents on Christmas night so we were happy to have them and have a chance to celebrate again with them and their sweet dog Lily.  She is so good and so tolerant of Hudson climbing all over her!

Cooper was anxiously awaiting Ashley's arrival so he was standing guard at the door looking out for her with Lily by his side.  Hudson asked me just before she came, "Mommy, when's my Ashley coming?"

Thanks to Ashley and Andrew for some fun "boy" toys that they are really loving!  To a 7 and 5 year old it doesn't get much better than Nerf guns and Beyblades and for 2 year old Hudson, Thomas is where it's at!

Thanks so much to everyone who sent us all these great Christmas cards!  I love hanging them over our window like this and being able to look at them all the time.

We made gingerbread house a few weeks ago but I hadn't had a chance to take a picture so better late than never!  They loved making them and really did a good job each doing their own thing with a little icing help from me.  Merry Christmas everyone!  We are truly blessed to have such an awesome family that we love so dearly!  Now the countdown begins to Christmas Round III with Brian, Sarah, and Willie.  We can hardly wait!

Party Time

Today was a celebratory kind of day for Carter and Cooper.  Carter's teacher organized a breakfast for the class just to commemorate being halfway done with their school year and Hudson and I got to come help out with it.  He was too cute sitting in his own little spot eating his chocolate, sprinkle-covered donut!  Carter was really sweet as well and very proud to have us in his class for a little while.  His teachers are both so nice and seem to really love him, which obviously makes me like them just as much!  They both went on and on about what a delight Carter is to teach and have in class and said he has the best manners and biggest vocabulary than any child they've ever taught.  They said you can tell that he really loves his family because he talks all about us and especially Cooper and Hudson.  I'm always proud of my big boy but today I was especially smitten hearing such high praises from his teachers.  It's always such a proud feeling to know your children are behaving just as you'd like them to, especially when you aren't around!

This silly man is a hoot and loves Hudson so much.  His son Sam and Carter were in Kindergarten and now 1st Grade together and they have gotten to be good buddies.  Mr. Daeke is putting on an impromptu puppet show for Hudson as you can see!

Cooper had his last day of preschool today and had a Christmas Program in the sanctuary where the 3 and 4 year old students all sang their Christmas songs.  He's been so excited about this and was the most excited about the hippopotamus song:).  They all did great and were all smiles to finish up the 1st half of their school year.

Today was a little bit bittersweet because we sadly found out last week that one of our very favorite teachers at St. Paul's, who is Cooper's teacher now, is leaving the school for a "real" job so she won't be back after Christmas.  She was the first teacher Carter had at St. Paul's and we really fell in love with her and were so excited for hopefully all of our boys to have a chance to have her as their teacher.  She is patient, kind, nurturing, and so loving to them and just really makes you feel like you are leaving your child in about the best company and hands possible.  Cooper really loves her but I know will be fine with the change!  The class was giving her a hug bye.

Miss Jenn will be dearly missed by our family but they also announced today that the replacements for her are teachers very dear to us.  Carter's teachers from transitional kindergarten retired but have agreed to come back and each work two days a week in his class along with his current assistant teacher who will take the lead.  They were both so great and I know Cooper will love them just as Carter did.

 After our goodbye's, we headed to the parish hall for some of Jesus' birthday cake!  Talk about a happy two year old, a donut for breakfast followed by cake before lunch!  Thank goodness the stomach bug has left the building (knock on wood)!