The boys stockings and gifts from Santa
The boys "big" items from us this year.
The presents and tree.
The boys slept pretty late on Christmas, I think it was almost 7 when they woke up. We left the door to the playroom closed, so they came downstairs and saw their stockings and opened those, then we went into the playroom and the boys immediately started playing with their castle and batcave. They LOVED them. I'm so glad I opened them before and had them ready. It's such a pain opening up all the boxes and cutting all the strings that are holding everything. I even opened up all the figures and rescue bots that I put in their stockings, it's just easier that way. The boys played so good, that Greg ended up going and taking a shower and we ate breakfast while they were playing, after we all opened the wrapped gifts under the tree.
This is Greg's gift from the boys. ;) I saw the idea on Pinterest and thought it'd be a cute thing to have the boys do. I got a 4 pack of beer that Greg has been wanting to try and then had the boys put pipe cleaners, googly eyes and red noses to make Reinbeers. I did feel a little weird doing a beer craft with my 4 year olds, but I thought it was cute and they had fun.
Greg also loved it. :)
I loved sitting there while the boys played with their new toys. They looked so cute in their little Christmas pajamas.
I knew they boys would like these, they always play so good with the display ones at Kohl's.
I didn't get any pictures of them opening presents, just of them playing a little bit before we got dressed and went to my parents house.
The big thing from Santa this year was bikes. The castles and Batcave were from us and we actually read a note from Santa to the boys that he left them a present at Meemaw and Papaws. So, we headed over to my parents house and exchanged gifts with everybody and Evan remembered that Santa had left them a gift, so he asked about it, so that's when we took the boys outside to the garage and they saw their bikes. They were thrilled.
How precious do they look in their helmets and on big boy bikes!?
These were a lot different than the toddler bikes they had before, so it took some getting used to, especially braking and not being able to turn going full speed. Surprisingly, Evan got the hang of it faster than Carter. We expected Carter to get it sooner because he was a pro at riding their old bikes before Evan would even pedal.
It was such a gorgeous day out. We could not have asked for better weather. It had rained and rained several days leading up to Christmas, even on Christmas eve. There were major roads that shut down because of flooding, but Christmas morning the skies were clear. It was perfect.
Papaw and Carter.
They seem like such big boys to me.
There's a lot of pictures of them on their bikes because that's how we spent a majority of Christmas day.
Evan decided to go off the driveway and ride down the sidewalk to my parents front porch.
My sister gave the boys Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts and the boys immediately started taking off the shirts they were wearing and begged to put these on right away. They were so excited.
I love this age, I love that they were so excited about all the presents they got. So appreciative and happy with everything. They immediately had to wear theses shirts because they were so excited about them, that just made me so happy.
After a big Christmas dinner, some playing inside and a two hour nap (the boys first nap in months), the boys rode their bikes some more. We let them go all the way down my parents long driveway. It was perfect, the boys loved being able to ride their bikes that far (they normally just doing the driveway right outside the garage) and I was able to get a little exercise in. It was such a beautiful day that I didn't mind walking to the end of the driveway and back several times.
Right before we left, the boys asked to put on their super hero costumes that my parents gave them for Christmas. Evan asked if they could put them on and wear them home, so we let them. They were so excited. I actually found these costumes at Target after Halloween on clearance for $2.00!!! I grabbed them and a couple others for the boys to play dress up with and then decided to wait until Christmas to give them to them. I ended up buying too many things for the boys, so my mom and Caroline actually "shopped" out of my gift closet for them. It worked out well for all of us because I love shopping for the boys, I had too much stuff, they weren't sure what to get the boys, so it was just a win-win situation.
How cute is this? The muscles!! So precious. All of us got the biggest kick out of this. The boys loved wearing the costumes and were being so funny.
Haha, flight mode.
Showing off their muscles.
When we got home, the boys had a bath and got to use their bath coloring sheets and crayons that Santa left them. It came with 20-30 sheets and you can wipe the sheets off and use them over and over again. I actually wiped these off that night after they used them and the crayon came off great.
Greg and I both said that this was the best Christmas with the boys. They're at such a fun age. They were excited about everything. They believe in Santa and Dennis the Elf. They loved doing anything and everything Christmas related the whole month-movies, music, crafts, cookies, gingerbread houses, etc. They loved all their gifts and were just so excited about all of them. They didn't ask for a lot, they were so happy with the goodies that Dennis the Elf brought that for the first couple weeks, when somebody would ask what they wanted from Santa, they'd say "oh, we already got some stuff" haha.
I really wanted to do something with the boys where they give back, but I just totally dropped the ball on that one, but I did want them to pick out something on their own to give to everybody. I talked to them about it a couple weeks before Christmas and then the weekend before Christmas, I talked to them about it again and Greg and I took them out and let them get something for everybody. I didn't want them to think they were the only ones who got presents and I wanted them to be excited about giving also. I let them each pick out a gift for mamaw, papaw and Caroline. It was so funny to hear their ideas, but Evan decided to get my dad a shovel so he could dig in his garden (which I thought was so sweet and thoughtful) so he went to the garden section at Walmart and picked out a little hand shovel (it was like 75 cents) We didn't spend a lot, we just wanted to start introducing the idea of gift giving to them. Before, we'd get what we were going to get and show the boys and tell them about it, but I liked the idea of them getting something all on their own. He also wanted to get my dad a card, so he picked one out, colored it and even wrote Papaw on the envelope. Evan picked lipstick for my mom, so we went to the lipgloss section and he got her strawberry chapstick. He also picked a book for Caroline--"one with lots of words and no pictures because grown ups don't like pictures" haha. Carter loves this light up Snowman picture that my parents have at their house, so he wanted to get my dad a sleigh picture. That was harder said than done, so we found a kid's sleigh craft at Target and I let him put it together and he gave him a little homemade sleigh. He got my mom hand soap and a candy cane full of Hershey kisses. I think he remembers us picking out soap at Bath and Body works for my sister for her birthday, so I think he thought "soap is a good gift for girls-haha) And he got my sister a cat toy for her cat. Greg and I had split up at Target and he took Evan to go pick out a card with my dad and Carter and I were getting the candy for my mom and I said "do you want to get Evan something?" and he was so excited and picked out a candy cane of Hershey kisses for Evan too. When Greg and Evan met up with us, I told Greg that Carter had picked out something for Evan so him and Evan went to get Carter something that was just from Evan. He actually picked out a candy cane of starburst jelly beans. That weekend we even had the boys wrap the gifts all by themselves. I cut the wrapping paper to size and they folded it all up and taped it. I kept forgetting to have them wrap each other's gifts because it was something I needed to split them up to do. Christmas night, before bath, I saw them in our bedroom in their Target bags, so I just went in the living room and gave them each the bag and had them exchange gifts. They both opened up their bags and were squealing! They were like "you're the best brother ever, I love it so much" it was the sweetest thing I've ever seen. I love that I didn't have my phone taking pictures of the whole day and was just enjoying it, but I really regret not getting that on video. They hugged each other and kept saying "thank you so much" and then offered to share their gifts with each other. Evan even said "we both picked out treats because we're twins and we think alike" haha.
It was just the best Christmas Greg and I have ever had. I love Christmas and everything about it so I always enjoy it, but it was different this time. I think there's a short window of this magical phase where the kids believe in all the santa stuff, enjoy all the activities, are excited about everything, happy with anything they get, etc. I think Christmas with them will always be great and every other year has been fun, but I know one day, they're going to be over Dennis the Elf, not believe in Santa, think Christmas music and crafts are cheese. I love that they play with their toys that morning in the pajamas, one day they'll want expensive stuff and stuff that you don't play with. :( I just love Christmas this year, it was just perfect. I feel like I'm forgetting so many of the small little details that I wanted to remember. I uploaded the pictures that night and planned on blogging about it that night after the boys went to bed so I could remember everything, but it didn't happen.
Anyways, I love looking back on my blog because it's so hard to remember things, and I want to remember just how perfect Christmas was this year.
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