christmas

when the boys were (finally) asleep, i quickly put out the last three 'big' gifts, the filled stockings and a new sled to finish off the tree. manning's 'big' gift was already under the tree because he wasn't going to try and guess.

not too surprisingly, i was the first one up in the morning. i would normally have gone back to sleep since no kids were yet awake and we had no where to go, but i was just too excited and went ahead and got some cinnamon rolls going in the oven. around 7:30 madelyn joined me, followed shortly by daddy. the boys didn't surface until 8am. 

first kid up

snuggling with daddy and waiting for the boys while watching some pbs kids.

we decided to go ahead and open stockings before eating a little breakfast. i think the kids would have been perfectly content with just the items in their stockings! they were just so grateful for everything - which was very sweet.

then we stopped for cinnamon rolls before getting into the presents. just look at this sweet kid across from me at the table.

but this is how he was really eating his roll...

in their stockings, each kid received a flashlight headband and they were a huge hit! again, they were pretty thrilled with their stockings.

and here are pictures of the surprisingly orderly, calm and delightful gift opening. note the pure joy on their faces, especially maddux as the gifts he selected were opened.

the 'big' gifts for madelyn, mason and maddux were large lego sets - their single requests.

madelyn was very pleased with her school store selections for daddy and me. i got a sand and sea shell dolphin figure and daddy received a #1 dad trophy.

daddy said that mason saw this nativity figure and knew that i needed to have it.

madelyn thought that she had received a case of her dried fruit snacks and was genuinely excited about it! but it actually had a sweatshirt with her school logo on it inside - which she also liked, but maybe not as much as the idea of dried fruit. (the fruit would have been much cheaper.)

maddux really likes eyewear and these were two of his requests that he reminded us that we needed to get several times leading up to christmas - bug and night vision.

manning's 'big' gift was an imaginext castle. the other two boys have sets that they play with quite a bit and now all three can have their own.

this boy really loves his puzzles

total happiness

later in the afternoon we used google hangout to have a three-way video conference with my brothers and their families (big pop and grandma were with uncle brad's family) so that the cousins could watch the opening of the gifts from their annual exchange. it was really special this year because we were able to all do it at the same time and the kids were all excited about what they had selected for their assigned cousin. and then we skyped with papa and nana for a christmas 'visit.' unfortunately, miss ashley's sister was in a very bad car accident this week and is in the icu so we couldn't reach uncle derek because they can't use their phones in the room so daddy left him a message from us. it is just delightful to be able to 'see' everyone without having to leave the house! we just love, love being at home on christmas! it is one of my most favorite things in the world!

we are so blessed - to have a savior come for us. jesus is truly a reason to celebrate in the grandest of ways. we did pause in the earthly joys of the day to sing "happy birthday" and enjoy this very special cake that the boys picked out for jesus. it is a little less traditional than we normally make, but it was very tasty!

maddux tracking some animals with his night vision glasses (they have two settings with a black light too)

grandma and big pop sent us a "florida" puzzle. the kids were delighted with it! but not really feeling up to assembling it. (although manning did love throwing the pieces and taking it apart a few times.) i love puzzles but this one was a little crazy. the pieces didn't all interlock and some were in actual shapes (sunglasses, swim shorts, baseball cap, starfish, etc.) and some of the 1,000 pieces were very small (like the size of a pinkie nail). i allowed myself the luxury of working on it for several hours this afternoon and decided this was close enough to call it "done" so that it could be put away before the kids lost any more pieces (there was at least one already missing). they really did like the image, the shapes and the finished product and were very encouraging and complementary. thanks, big pop and grandma!

mason's was the first set assembled - by daddy.

a truly wonderful day! merry christmas every one! love.