Uffda, now that's a lot of presents

As the family documentarian, I enjoy taking a photo of the little misters spoils of Christmas. Its actually fun to look back and see the gifts change as the boys grow up. Interesting to me, I only missed the Christmas gifts of 2009- the year Lucius was born. (here's the photos from 2008, 2010, 2011)

I didn't think they received too much but when I set it all out, it really was overwhelming to see. Santa, Family members and Marmee & Daddy were very generous again this year. Lego minifigures, new stuffed animals, several handmade gifts, a LeapPad, games, books, puzzles, money, hotwheels and a few other things. Not to mention a large 12 volt Jeep four wheeler which I could not quite fit into the above photo...but easily fits a very excited 3 & 5 year old.

Thanks to everyone for all this stuff. The boys are feverishly writing/ drawing their thank you notes and happily enjoying all their new shiny toys!

At Grandpas for the day

We celebrated our fifth and final Christmas at Grandpa's today. The boys were excited with their birthday presents, one which happened to be a fun and messy project. Grandpa probably didn't enjoy the mess unfolding on his kitchen table but Grandma Julie said it'd be alright. The boys each received a terra cotta warrior to excavate.

Oliver loved chipping away at the clay to find his warrior. He did it so quick it, he was done in only a few minutes. Lucius was a little more focused on eating the peanuts on Grandpa's table. Daddy was helping but it seemed as though Lucius' clay was a lot harder to get into. We put it aside for another time to finish it.

The Little misters played and chatted with everyone. I even got a few family photos.

Then it was time for Christmas presents. Grandpa and Julie got the boys one BIG present this year. They were told to put on the hats and mittens and wait in front of the garage door for the surprise.

A new Four wheeler! They are both pretty excited about it. Unfortunately we couldn't fit it in our car when we left. Oliver was hard at work trying to convince Grandpa to bring it down tomorrow.

Then, since we were outdoors together, I thought I'd take a picture of all the Grafenstein misters.

Yet another fun Christmas celebration spent with family.

Christmas day at Oma's

Drove up to Oma and Opa's house to spend Christmas day with Daddy's side of the family. The boys LOVE playing with their uncles...

and hiding from them. Can you find Oliver in this photo?

When everyone got there the boys got to open presents, but were a bit impatient to wait for anyone else to open theirs... so they helped move things along, much to Marmee and Daddy's chagrin.

We opened a new lego set they had recieved and put it together so they could play with it. They are HUGE fans of those precious little building blocks.

Dinner this year was a fishy one, Oma got Crab legs, shrimp and a handful of other fun sea foods. I've never actually had crab legs before so it was fun to crack them open. The boys tried a bunch of different things.

Later in the afternoon, Auntie Dana provided the little misters the tools to decorate some sugar cookies. It was a fun and messy project they thoroughly enjoyed. Anyone who eats those cookies are in for a real sugar rush.

Check out one of Lucius' decorated cookie... Yum!

Then it was time to snuggle and relax with Oma.

All in all another great Christmas spent with our wonderful family. We have one more Christmas celebration this Saturday with Grandpa and the boys are looking forward to it.

A visit from Santa

Christmas morning Lucius was up at 5am. Of course, we tried to keep him quiet to see if Oliver would stay sleeping for a while. It was a Christmas morning miracle that Oliver slept in till 7am. Then it was all "get up, get up... Santa brought us presents".

They excitedly unwrapped their gifts from Santa and then couldn't wait to see what was in the stockings. Best Christmas morning ever. I love the looks of pure joy on Lucius' face- super excited I actually caught it on film.

After presents it was time to get dressed and ready to drive up to Oma & Opa's house for Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve Night

On Christmas Eve night, it's tradition to gather with my parents, two of my aunts and all the cousins. As the years go by we've added spouses, and kids of our own to the gathering. It's fun to see the joy of the holidays in all the bright eyes of these cute kids.

The boys really wanted to keep holding the two babies all night long. They were so gentle and cute.

We all eat, talk, eat a bit more and then open gifts together. Always a very nice time.

 

We headed home around 8pm, put the little misters to bed and awaited Santa's arrival with excitement.

Christmas Eve Morning

Our First Christmas gathering of the season was spent at Auntie Em's house. We arrived mid morning Christmas Eve day. All the cousins were ready to open all the presents that were under the tree, but had enough distraction to wait just a bit. Aren't they all adorable? Oliver wanted to hold his cousin Carl, which meant Lucius wanted to "hold" Casen. Silly boy.

We opened gifts from the cousins and from Mormor & Morfar. Our little misters have been waiting to open gifts FOREVER and were super excited with all their new things.

After present opening we sat down to get a family photo. Not everyone was happy about it, but my father managed to get a really nice one and a funny one:

We had lunch and then all the littles went down for a long winter nap (well most of the 5 littles napped). When they awoke, they found a willing reader to read a bunch of books.

Of course, mid afternoon it was time for our traditional sledding trip. Thankfully Auntie Em and Uncle Jon have a good sledding hill right on their property. Oliver was REALLY getting brave and loving going fast. Lucius was happy to go down as long as someone went with.

It was a super fun morning/ afternoon. AND then it was time to celebrate Christmas Eve Night with Great Aunts and Marmee's cousins...

(to be continued.)

Winter Brothers

When the Little Misters woke up from their nap I decided to take the sledding. No one really wanted to slide downhill with me, we manage to go down twice but that seemed to be it for them. All Lucius really wanted to do was swing on the swings. Poor guy just wants to play outdoors no matter what the temperature is.