I was expecting to get in a few posts by now but it just didn't happen. We have had such a fun holiday season and there hasn't been a dull moment! We were so blessed to get to spend the holiday with both sets of grandparents. My parents drove in for a quick trip to hit up all of their grand kids' Christmas plays. They stopped off in T-town for a few days and then made it to Kennesaw for Harrison's school Christmas play. Harrison did such a great job and his teacher was so great to let us know which side of the stage he would be on, so we got great seats and were able to see him really well. Davis moved around quite a bit but finally settled in to grandmommy's lap to watch his big brother...
After the play we had a little party with Harrison's class.
We had such a nice visit and decided to open presents with my parents while they were in town. I know they enjoyed getting to watch the boys open their presents and it was nice to break it up a little and give them a few days to play with some new toys before opening others.
Thank you Grandmommy!!
Davis being silly with Granddaddy...
The same day that my parents left, Lance's sister and her girls flew into town, so we spent the majority of the rest of the week hanging out with them. These two were two peas in a pod all week...say hello to Mr and Mrs Claus...
We tried to get a picture of all of the grandkids in their new Christmas pj's...this was the best we could get...
Sweet middle sister Emily and her baby sis, Laurel...
Lance came over to his parents house after work one night to visit with everyone wearing, you know, his typical work attire...
We played around all week and then on Christmas eve we went to our church's 3:00 service. The church has quite a few services to choose from and this was one of the children's services, so I thought it would be fun for Harrison. The kids all dress up and get to go to the front of the church at different parts of the service. I thought Harrison would love it b/c he is such a ham but he had absolutely no interest in partaking in any of the festivities. I will say that he did really well sitting throughout the service (thankfully it was only a 30 min service) but maybe next year he will come around. Anna, Mrs Randolph and Chris joined us b/c poor baby Laurel came down with a fever.
We got Anna to dress up but she wanted to stay in the pew with us...
After church we headed to Lance's Aunt Jane's house to celebrate with his mom's side of the family. It was a nice evening full of kids, laughter, fun and delicious chili (an Eley tradition). Of course the family Christmas cookies were involved and I even tried out a decent gluten free recipe for Lance! Poor Laurel was just not feeling well but her big cousin was there to rescue her...Davis was so cute, bringing all of Laurel's blankets and lovies to her
We made it home early so the kids could get to bed and Santa could get to work. Davis was the first to wake up in the morning so I had Lance go in and wake Harrison up so we could all walk downstairs together. Santa had a few toys set up in the family room and all of the other presents under the tree. The kids woke up around 7:30 but we didn't finish opening presents until after 11! I tried to make it a little less overwhelming by letting them play with each toy that they would open for a while before moving on to the next.
About a month before Christmas, Harrison went shopping with me for the families that our Sunday School class was sponsoring for Christmas this year. I thought it would be a great opportunity to explain to him how it is nice to help others who might not have any presents to open on Christmas morning. He was a big helper, but once he found this Thomas the Train set with the "wiggly bridge", he did not want to put it down. I told him it would be a great gift for the little boy in the family and that if he wanted it, he could tell Santa when we went to sit on his lap. I honestly thought he would forget about it, but every time anyone would ask him what he wanted for Christmas, this was the only toy he would mention. Thankfully Santa listened to him and he was so excited on Christmas morning when he opened it.
As a parent, it is just so fun to see the look of excitement on their faces...
Playing with their matching trucks...thankfully Santa knows how easily fights break out over toys!
Snuggling with my baby on Christmas morning...
Are you sure these books are for reading, because I'm pretty sure they make excellent hats! (you could say its a little bit of an obsession with him lately)
I love my daddy!
We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!
