Santa Came A Little Early

Because of the distance, we have Christmas at Christmas every other year in Kansas City with the Keims. This was our year to be there for Christmas, so we had to make special plans with Santa so he would know we weren't going to be home. Kris came up with a great idea. He set up an email address for Santa. We planned on leaving for KC on Wednesday morning (the 23rd) so a couple of nights before we sat the kids down and had them type up an email to Santa. They told him that they were not going to be home Christmas morning and asked if there was any way he could come early. They also told him what they wanted. The next morning Santa had returned their email and informed them that he would come Tuesday night, but that they couldn't be home while he came.

So, they were excited! We decided to go out to eat that night so Santa would have plenty of time to come. Actually what we did was load the kids into the car and then Kris went back in the house and pulled everything out so that when we got home, Santa would have come.

This worked well. It is not the ideal way I'd like for our Christmases to be, but we made it work! I guess we will have to do this every other year--at least until the kids are too big for Santa! I guess you could say this will kind of be a new tradition for us.

By the way, the Elf on the Shelf was quite fun this year! I'm glad we did this! The kids loved looking for him every morning and it was a great way to remind them during the days before Christmas that O was watching and would tell Santa if they didn't behave. O was pretty good to them this year because if he'd have told the REAL truth, well I don't know what they would have gotten for Christmas!!! :) Something I really enjoyed about O was hearing Lincoln refer to him as the "Elt on the Shelt." His pronunciation of things are so cute sometimes!

I came in and took a quick picture of the Christmas loot before the kids destroyed everything. We had the video camera set up too to catch their reactions.

Here are the little munchkins running in to see what Santa brought them!

Huge smiles. The first thing Lincoln saw was his Woody doll. Since he had gotten Buzz earlier from Uncle Wes, he was very happy to see Woody. He pulled his string to make him talk and just giggled.

Lincoln goes on to the next thing, while Hannah still isn't sure what to look at first.

Finally she noticed her salon chair. This is the one thing that I knew she wanted for Christmas. Every time she would see the commercial advertising it, she'd run to tell me to come look and say "This is what I want for Christmas." How could Santa not get it for her?

Next, an Imaginext Dinosaur for Lincoln (which makes sounds and walks) and some little Disney princesses for Hannah.

Kind of at the last minute, Daddy, I mean Santa, decided Lincoln needed a real, nice cowboy hat. He loved it.

Hannah found all the salon accessories to go with her chair.

All Cowboys need a gun and holster.

Hannah has really been enjoying her Leap Frog Tag Reading System. She got several books to go along with it.

Yeah for Barbie stuff!!!

Kris came up with the wonderful idea to start getting Lincoln a real tool every Christmas and add it to a toolbox. When he is like 18, he'll have a whole set of really nice tools. With a Daddy like his, he'll probably know how to use them by then! He had wanted to do this starting at Lincoln's first Christmas, but didn't. So he got him caught up with a couple of tools this year--a hammer and tape measure. I just love this. I thought it was very special!

For Christmas this year, I got a new set of stainless steel cookware. This was much needed as my other set, which was the black teflon stuff, was all scratched up and I was afraid to keep using it. Kris also was brave and picked me out some maternity shirts and pajamas. He did pretty good.

He got clothes from his favorite store Jos A Banks. He is obsessed with dress clothes! :)

Lincoln cracked us up when he went to get Buzz and started having Buzz and Woody talk to each other. Funny boy!

Just give this girl and pen and pad of paper and hair/beauty stuff and she is in heaven!!!

One of my favorite things to do is find stocking stuffers. I found these silly glasses at the Dollar Tree.

Christmas just keeps getting better and more fun with each passing year! I get very excited thinking about the new little one that will be a part of our Christmas next year, Lord willing!

12 weeks (a little late)

Okay, I'm a week behind. Here's last week's picture. I look huge. Kris says it is partly the way I stand. I've been trying to make sure my posture isn't horrible in these pictures because I have horrible posture normally. I don't know. I think I am huge.

Nothing too new this week with the pregnancy.

This week, according to babycenter.com, the baby is about the size of a lime.

The Best Stocking Stuffer Ever!

My Mom stills does stockings for all of us--which we love. This year she put a box of bandaids in each of the kids' stockings. Oh my goodness, did they have fun with them!!!! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

I highly suggest a box of bandaids for a stock stuffer for next year for your little ones!

Christmas with my family

The weekend before Christmas was Kris' graduation. Since my family was here, we decided to celebrate our Christmas here. The kids were so excited! Saturday night Mom and I cooked a big Christmas dinner--mashed potatoes, green beans, dressing, cranberry sauce, fruit salad, and rolls. Kris fried a turkey and Mom made a cheesecake for dessert. After dinner we opened presents! Here are the kids anticipating the excitement!

Lincoln was showing Uncle Jeff his boots (like he's never seen them before. The boy wears them ALL THE TIME!).

Lincoln--so many. Which one first?

Pappaw & Mimi got the kids Cars and Tinkerbell blow-up beds. They enjoyed sleeping on them this past weekend at the Keims. They are great for traveling. They are like sleeping bags on a blow-up mattress.

Uncle Wes got Hannah some books for the Leap Frog Tag Reading System that Santa later brought her.

Lincoln got a "big Buzz and a liddle Buzz" from Uncle Wes. He had to sleep with the little Buzz that night. He woke up at 5:30 the next morning and came in our room. I woke up and he whispered ever so sweetly, "My liddle Buzz lost!" He evidently couldn't find his little Buzz. I could not help but smile. It was the cutest thing the way he said it. I got up and went into his room. He had already turned the light on and was really looking for liddle Buzz. He was hiding at the end of his bed under the covers. I gave him to Lincoln, who smiled really big, and went back to bed for at least another hour. :)

Hannah got lots of crafty stuff this year. This bead/necklace set was from Uncle Jeff.

Walkie-talkies from Uncle Wes!

Mimi was so thrilled to get a picture of Uncle Wes! She'd been wanting one for some time!

One of the things we got my Dad was a Farmall Tractor model. He has started collecting them.

Mimi and Pappaw got the kids these thistle blocks. We had some of these as kids. They were a hit!

My parents got me money and this bean pot that I am really looking forward to using!

Another big hit with the kids was the Bounce Back Racer from Uncle Jeff.

They both like this toy!

Wes got Kris and I tickets to go to Dallas in March to see The Phantom of the Opera! We will make a weekend trip of it! I am very excited about this!!!

It was great to be with family and watch everyone's excitement as they opened presents.