Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve as we were putting the boys to bed we told them they needed to go to sleep so Santa would bring them toys.  Brady said "Santa not come into my room"  I told him, "No, Santa is going to come and leave the toys in the living room."  His reply...  "No, Santa leave the toys in the playroom." 

Eamon woke up bright and early Christmas morning.  He came straight into our bedroom to wake us up - he wanted to see if Santa had come.  We went in to wake up Brady, but that sleepy boy didn't want to get up.

 Santa brought Eamon some "little Legos" as he calls them.

 Daddy was finally able to get Brady up.

The boys spent the morning playing with their toys.  

That afternoon Aunt Jen, Nick, MamaMarie, Papa and Uncle Ely came over for Christmas dinner and gifts.Unfortunately, the below three pictures are the only ones I took that afternoon.

Santa Pictures

Santa came to my work one evening to greet all the boys and girls.  Ed brought the boys to see Santa.  Eamon was so excited and jumped right up on Santa's lap and started talking away.  

 Brady was a bit skeptical of Santa and that's how we have this family picture.

Then we attempted to get a picture of just the boys with Santa.

Christmas Program

The boys both participated in their school Christmas program this year.  Brady was the happiest, proudest shepherd I have ever seen.

And Eamon was an angel

 They had been practicing at school for weeks - every time a Christmas song came on the radio that they would be singing in the program, Eamon said, "forget about this song, mom"

Eamon's class played a few songs on the handbells.  He also had several speaking parts.

This was by far my favorite song.  "Thank you Lord for Baby Jesus" complete with the animals thanking the Lord and animal noises.  So cute!

At the end they did a black light show which was very cute and hysterical.  No pictures of that though!!   

Decorating the tree

When we got the tree in the house it was much bigger than it was at the farm. I guess Eamon should have done a little bit more measuring.

We had a good time decorating our tree.  Eamon was the most involved.  Brady tried, but he mainly just placed the balls in the tree and they fell off later.

Elfy returned again this year and brought along a friend for Brady.  Their names - Eamon's Efly and Brady's Elfy.  The boys really enjoyed their elves and tried to take them everywhere.  

Christmas Tree Farm

We had been talking about cutting down a tree all week.  One morning on the way to school Eamon was telling me "the plan".  "OK mom.  We have to get a measuring tape, one of Daddy's, and measure the door.  Then we will need to measure the Christmas tree to make sure it will fit in our door."  I explained to him that we could lay the tree down to carry it through the door.  When he saw Daddy he explained the new plan of how to get the tree through the door.

We headed out early this year to cut down a Christmas Tree knowing that December weekends were full. (Yes, that is Ed wearing shorts and a T-shirt - it was quite warm)

The selection wasn't great - we might need to find a new place to go.

The boys had a great time running around and looking for a tree.  Brady really wanted this little one.

 Eamon carried this saw around the entire time.  At one point Ed said, well...we might just have to get a pre-cut one from a lot.  I responded, "That boy has been carrying that saw around for 30 minutes - we are cutting down a tree!"

This little guy decided to play in a pile of dirt - which turned out to be an ant bed.  He probably had 10 bites on each of his hands and then some on his neck.  Poor guy - didn't seem to bother him at all.

 We finally found the tree!  Daddy and his helpers started to cut down the tree.

 Eamon's turn cutting.  Eventually the little helpers were sent over to another tree to run around while Daddy finished cutting our tree down.

 While Daddy paid for the tree, got it packaged up and loaded, the boys and I got snowballs.

They were offering free hot cider - but with the Summer weather we were having - snowballs seemed best.

Thanksgiving Day

The carving of the Turkey's - yes there were three...One grilled, one fried and one baked.

The weather was beautiful so the kiddos got a lot of time playing outside.

Katie and Ellen took the train from New Orleans to spend Thanksgiving with us. We were so glad that they were able to come.  Eamon especially enjoyed all the cousin attention that he got.

Aunt Jen raked a big pile of leaves for the kiddos to jump in.

 By far, Emily had the best time in the leaves.

 The kids table

 Emily and Brady both wanted to sit by Eamon.

Then Emily and Brady discovered the cranberry sauce.

 

Yes, Brady is not wearing any pants - that's just how we roll.  And "how we roll" is not fighting over things that don't matter - like a 2 year old wearing pants on Thanksgiving.

  The 2-year olds wanted to ride the bike down the street - Ed came up with a solution so that they didn't get hurt going downhill.

 And then Batman returned.

Great Day

Great Food

Great Family

Brady Dancing