A Trumpet and a Peppermint

 Yes, it's embarrassing that I am still catching up on Christmas but the kids birthdays are right around the corner and I want to make sure I'm caught up.  Christmas morning was just perfect.  Both kids came down so excited to see what Santa left.  Griffin got a new bike and Ella got a princess castle with "yee haws" (horses) for their main gifts.  A few days before Christmas I found this trumpet I had ordered for Griff last Christmas and apparently forgot to give him, so I stuck it under the tree too.  Well, of course after all the buying, wrapping, and planning that last minute find was the toy both kids went for first!  Ha.  The kids loved going through their stockings and all their other gifts.  Griff has a major sweet tooth and his other favorite gift was a huge peppermint stick.  We spent all morning into afternoon in our PJ's just playing our new toys and Mimi and Pops.  We also had a nice breakfast and mimosas for the adults and hot chocolate for the kids.  It was just perfect!

There she blows

 Reading his letter Santa left

 Notice the peppermint stick?

 Posing by his bike

 Sweet Ella loves the trumpet too…she's actually pretty good!

 I was worried Ella wouldn't love her princess castle because she's not real into girly things yet, but she actually LOVED it!  She kept telling me she wanted a horse so she was excited with how they clip clopped down the ramps.  

 Griffin got a set of magna tiles and both kids have spent MANY hours building things together!

 Christmas snuggles with Daddy

Ready for Santa!

 Mimi and Pops came to stay with us on Monday and we spent Christmas Eve getting ready for Santa.  We made sugar cookies, picked carrots from the garden for Rudolf, had a nice fire in the outside fireplace (Griff was very worried about Santa burning his pants, and scattered oats for the reindeer.  We also went to church to celebrate Baby Jesus, the real reason for celebrating!  I loved how into the Christmas story my kids were this year, between school, church, and home they really got it.  It makes me sad to send Griffin to public school next year :(.  Anyways, it was a great day and by bedtime, we were all ready for Santa!

 I was pretty proud of our carrots this year!  They were delicious and Pops made sure the reindeer didn't waste them ;)

 Mimi read the Night Before Christmas

 Nothing sweeter than two sleeping babes waiting on Santa!

Christmas with Gigi and Papa J

The Sunday before Christmas we all went to Gigi and Papa J's to celebrate our family Christmas and exchange gifts.  This year, all the grandkids got a Dune Racer and they were a hit!  They had so much fun racing around the property and it was hard to get them to come inside to open the rest of the presents.  The cousins had a blast playing together and everyone got lots of wonderful gifts!

These two cousins are going to be trouble together!

 Uncle J telling all the kids about the "surprise" in the garage

 The big boys raced to see what it was

 Whoo hoo!

 Oops, Griff ran into the flowerbed!  Sorry about your pansies Gigi!

 My sweet baby posing in front of the tree

 Ella loved her fairy wings and princess wand from Aunt Lala and Uncle B

 Thanks Gigi and Papa J!