Christmas PJ Tradition Still Going Strong

The year 2013 would not have been right if our Christmas pj tradition was not a part of it.  So what do you do when the whole family can't be together for Christmas (for like the first time ever)??  That's right, you get them ready early and wear them over Thanksgiving!  And that is exactly what we did!  Lia picked out super soft pjs for the girls, Jess made super cute shirts for the kids, and the guys pulled out their usual attire from the bottom of their dresser drawers :-) 

Funny to me that a "crazy" pic for adults obviously just means opening your mouth real wide. haha  I mean, can you get any crazier??

The girls and the tough guys.  Boys way outnumber girls these days!

Kiddos with CeCe and PePaw

The Taylor's 

Oh my...getting one good picture of this wild bunch takes lots of patience and attempts! They were really into the karate poses this year.

We got one!

Mac...love this one

The Brasher's, complete with Ralphie and The Hill's

Always reminded of how blessed I am with two sisters!!

Christmas!!

With Baby Clara scheduled to arrive on Jan. 27, I was too close to my date to be allowed to travel home for Christmas.  We were a little bummed but also a little excited.  The Christmas holiday is usually crazy, fun, busy and a bit chaotic for us as we travel home and quickly make the rounds to family before we have to return for Sam to work. We knew we would miss being around our family but were looking forward to being able to spend leisurely time at home.  Santa was actually able to arrive on Christmas Day, and the boys had plenty of time to play with their new toys.  

Sam's parents came the weekend before Christmas for a few days, and we received packages on almost a daily basis from my parents :-)  And with great technology like Facetime, we were able to at least see and chat with our families.  And we will soon see most all of them again after Clara is born!

We took our time Christmas morning, played all day, and the boys even took their nap that afternoon.  Christmas evening we went to see the Disney movie "Frozen" which we all four loved!  It was Drew's first full length movie at the theater, and he did surprisingly well.  He paid attention the entire time and ate lots of yummy movie popcorn :-)  It was a pretty great day!

Opening their gifts while Mim and Pop were here.

Anything "Angry Birds" and you have one excited little boy

Santa's goods for the boys, complete with stuffed stockings.  Bless Mac's heart, he was so excited when he woke up and thought Santa had brought him one present.  Even more excited when he realized the bag was filled with presents!

Somehow we managed to find the time to bake and decorate cookies for Santa, which he clearly loved.  

Digging in their bags for a gift

Overjoyed with his "Angry Birds Cheggo Pirate Ship Mac Attack"

And Drew was thrilled that he received his "Big Nerf gun"  He is very loudly saying "Cheeese" behind that box

They so kindly and patiently opened gifts together.  Mac enjoys being a "good big brother"

Swapping hugs after exchanging the gifts they bought for each other at the Dollar Tree :-)

Ready for some Super Hero fighting action!

Playing with his Cheggo set

Showing off his Nerf gun

Boys loved these great uniforms from Momo...and so does Sam!  They always love to play football and tackle and now feel like they are the real deal doing so!

That's a match up right there!

 

Making their tough football faces and showing off their huge muscles :-)

Silver Dollar City at Christmas

Another Christmas must is a visit to Silver Dollar City.  They have lights on literally nearly every square inch of the park with lots of Christmas shows to see.  The majority of December in Branson this year was freezing weather covered in snow or rain, but we got lucky and were able to go on a rare, mild evening.  We met our friends, the Albritton's, and had a great time.

Waiting to see the Frosty show...yep, front row seats!

The little monster eating snacks.  He says "I a monster.  I scary!"

During one part of the show, they call up the kids to come on the stage to listen and help sing.  Drew was quick and eager to go up.  Mac never worked up the courage.  Drew was so proud of himself. I think he thought he was so big and that it was his time to shine, since we had watched Mac in his performances at church and school.  Drew sang and laughed and laughed.   

Checking to see if we were watching :-)

Overall the show was a bit...um, odd.  But the boys sure thought it was great!

Mac wanted to ride the roller coaster since he so successfully rode them at Disney back in October.  He didn't love this one quite as much as the ones at Disney!  He soon buried his head and kept it there until the ride was over. 

Brave britches Drew getting ready to go on his turn on the coaster.  Since I can't ride such things these days, Sam had to ride twice and switch the boys out.  Drew barely made the height mark to ride and tried really hard to convince himself that it was fun! haha

Mac and Abbie

Drew and Daddy

Mac and Abbie piled in a bug together and left poor little Drew to ride alone...he didn't mind!

High-fiving characters in the Christmas parade

 

Walking together to ride on a ride :-)  Sweet friends

Getting ready to shoot some targets

My shooting partner

 

Fun night at The City!  Last ride was the bus to the parking lot!

Christmastime Fun

We had lots of Christmas memories to make and very little time to fit it all in.  The Christmas holidays were shorter already with Thanksgiving falling later in November.  Top that with a winter storm that lasted over a week, snow again the following weekend, and then a last weekend of freezing cold rain, and the time just flew by.  However, I was determined and we succeeded!  

No Christmas Season is complete without Santa pics, and no picture session is complete without visiting Bass Pro!  What a great Santa!!

Both boys were excited and eager to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas.  Mac: "Angry Birds Cheggo Pirate Ship Mac Attack"  (a toy that exists but not by that name!) and Drew:  "big Nerf gun"  

Drew is always quick to give hugs and Santa was no exception

Well you know while at Bass Pro one must shoot a few guns and do a craft :-)

A sweet student in our student ministry at church works at Dixie Stampede and kindly invited us to attend the show with her and her family.  We were honored to be asked and soooo excited to see the Christmas Show!  Aunt Dolly did not disappoint!!

Looking at all of the horses before the show

Clearly Baby Clara is getting close to her arrival date :-)

The boys and I made a gingerbread house.  As you can guess, more candy was eaten than was placed on the house!

 

I love that face!

A Star Is Born

Mac had the chance to participate in the Christmas Program at church this year.  They technically were forming a children's choir with K-6 kids, but they squeezed Mac in :-)  I was very skeptical of how Mac would do.  It has long been very apparent that he has musical giftedness and loves to sing.  However, he's very shy and not a fan of crowds.  Because I wanted him to push through his fears to do something he loves, we worked very hard on his songs, and I talked up the whole performance.  He way exceeded my expectations and was so very proud of himself.  We were very proud too!  

Before the big performance

So sweet on the front row...clearly one of the youngest :-)

 

A few days after the church program Mac was able to sing in his school's Christmas Concert.  His class practiced and practiced.  They were the "Preschool Christmas Carolers" and surprised us with their little hats and gloves.

Waving to us when he heard his daddy's trademark whistle in the crowd

Sweet little preschoolers singing away.  He did a great job and even did his motions to one song, which included dancing!

I am so thrilled that he sang and enjoyed it...hopefully just the beginning of us watching his musical gifts grow and bloom!