Christmas morning was pretty great! It was so fun to listen to the boys as they were looking through and sorting the presents. Radley was the first one to wake up, and we told him to go see if Santa had come. He went into the living room and came back saying, "Santa not come." Kyler got up just then and went into the living room and saw all the presents under the tree. Radley's mood immediately changed. They could have sorted presents for hours! They came into our room and were so excited. We asked if they had seen their stockings, which they had not, so they took off to go find their stockings. They found a note from Santa they couldn't read, but they noticed the candy! All of a sudden I heard Damon say, "I need to go look in the backyard and see if Santa left my dog." Dagger to my heart because he has been asking for a dog for a long time. I ran out of bed and stopped him because I wanted to be there for their reaction to the trampoline. We caught them in time, and it was fun to watch them race to the backyard. The rest of the morning was fun too! Damon kept telling us this was happy Christmas, and yes it was!!
Santa brought the boys a letter telling them he left a BIG present outside.
They found it!
It works!!
3 very anxious little boys!
They drew names for each other this year, and we opened those presents first. It was really fun to watch them give each other presents.
We love watching Damon. He is so expressive! No matter the gift he gets excited.
I don't know how many times he told me, "I'm so excited!"
The Hot Wheels track he really wanted from the store.
He had to give Kyler a hug as soon as he opened it. It was amazing to see him do this on his own without being prompted or asked. They do love each other.
Kyler shed tears over leaving the store and not being able to buy the green Power Ranger. So he was extremely happy to get it.
I love how Damon was even excited for Kyler to get what he wanted!
Someone else was excited about Christmas morning too!
She had a lot of smiles for us!
She also got a cool Bentley that lights up and moves! Damon was pretty stoked about it too!
This Christmas was special for our family because we were able to be at home. The boys have been really fun this Holiday season because of how excited they have been about everything. It was nice to teach them about the birth of Christ and to see them happy about all things Christmas and Santa! We attended the HUGE Keys Family Christmas Eve celebration at Nanny and Papa's house. There are always tons of people, food, and fun for the kids. Santa came and delivered any early present to all the kids, and we sang a lot of songs led by the cute little Mason. After Nanny and Papa's, we went to Nana and Papa's house to do the annual Nativity play. The boys got into it and loved the costumes. We were few in number at Nana & Papa's house since everyone else in the family were gone, but it was still nice to remember our Savior's birth. We got home a little late, and Santa's elves had a lot of work to do setting up Christmas!
The boys with the one present to open before going to Nanny & Papa's house. The only presents under the tree were the ones from Grandma and Grandpa Hill (I didn't put any other presents under the tree because I knew how tempting it would be for them to try and open them). They picked out the best present possible, new pj's and slippers!! It was perfect!
Radley was terrified of Santa, but Nana pulled him over to Kacy to try and grab a picture. Even the comfort of Kacy was far too close to Santa!
Kyler told Santa he wanted a real watch.
Bentley's first encounter with Santa didn't bother her a bit.
Cookies for Santa, donuts for the elves, and a letter from Kyler.
Kyler's letter/picture for Santa. The one on the left says, "This is me Santa." the one on the right says, "This is you Santa."
Damon's letter to Santa that he wrote at school was put in the paper. His letter was cutoff at the bottom and continues on the next column.
Kyler's letter to Santa, "I want a real watch and a real man and a costume and a minion."
Here are all the kids waiting on Santa to arrive! We always sing songs to wait for him, and this year Mason (one of the cousins who has cerebral palsy) led us in singing. Thank goodness for him because he knew all the songs and every verse to every song. He kept us on track and kept the beat going!!
Damon was very unsure about Santa, but he really wanted a present. He settled for sitting on Kacy's lap, and he surprisingly told Santa he wanted a dog.
I have to say, making cookies for Santa is not my favorite Christmas activity. I never realized how much work was involved and how hard it would be with 3 little boys! I'm not so sure it will become a yearly tradition in our house! Maybe next year, if we try, Kenney will be home to help. I could not believe the incredible mess they made. There were even blue specs of Playdough mixed throughout the cookie dough because I didn't catch Kyler getting it out until it was too late. We'll just have to give those cookies to Santa!
We started out the morning by making Elf donuts. Those were actually really fun and not too messy. They had a lot of fun with those too!
These boys find the most interesting ways to entertain themselves, especially if Damon is involved. He is the most creative by far! One morning Damon decided to cover the entire living room with blankets. Not sure why, but he had a blast and continued to do it for the next few days.
Bentley always gets dragged into these things too!
Bentley has also started smiling! I love it. All of our kids started smiling right around 4 weeks. Kyler and Bentley both smiled the day they turned 4 weeks. I have been trying since then to get a picture, but have failed. I finally got a video.
Here is the living room covered, furniture and all. After it was all done, Damon wanted Bentley to join the party and asked if she could lay on the blanket he set out just for her.
They were very proud of themselves!
The potty training has begun with Radley, so he runs around like this most days!
This happens multiple times a day too! They smother her, and she takes it really well!
Then it gets carried away...
The poor girl has her brothers monitoring every move she makes.
They also love when any of her pants have decorations on her butt!
Closest smiling picture I've gotten so far. On Sunday Aunt Kerry got more smiles out of her than I have ever seen. I was quite jealous and disappointed it wasn't me making her smile, but I loved watching her. I was hoping she would do the same the next day when I had the camera, but she wasn't so generous. Eventually I will get a good one!
I didn't get the best smiles out of her, but this is better than anything else I have gotten so far. Hopefully I can get some better video soon.
This is one of several attempts to get some decent smiles out of her. She of course wouldn't cooperate, but she is still really cute!
The leaves on the other side of the yard started to come down quick this week. The boys helped Kenney to pile them up, and then started to jump out of the tree into the huge pile. They loved it and told me to come get the camera and get pictures of them flying from the tree. There are some random pictures of Bentley too since she didn't jump out of the tree!!
I'm not the only one to accessorize this girl. When I left the room she was sleeping on the bed without a bow in her hair. Someone, I think it was Damon, put this little bow in when I was out of the room.
Kenney and I have spent a lot of time shelling pecans lately. We have been borrowing an electric cracker from his parents. However, we have to share it now so we shelled as many as we could this week before we have to let someone else use it. Both of our hands are getting quite callused. If anyone needs pecans let us know! We still have tons left and ready to be shelled.
Look at that cute little butt!! I love when babies sleep like this.
Damon had no reservations jumping out of the tree! At one point after I went inside, he decided to belly flop (on purpose) out of the tree into the pile!! What was he thinking??? He is crazy!
Kyler flying through the air!
Radley was quite nervous the first time around, and I can't blame him. It's pretty high, especially for someone his size!!
Hanging out in the leaves
He did it and loved it!! He jumped several times too.
It's so fun to have a yard. Have I mentioned that before?!?
I am still shocked Radley jumped! It was a long way for him. These boys love the trees!
