Christmas! And Christmas again when Grama and Grampa got here!

Knowing Grama and Grampa were coming and I wouldn't want to be up FOREVER Friday night blogging I started this post when I had a few minutes Christmas day. But tonight the blogger app has just gone "Poof" and I had to delete it and reinstall it 3 different times--maybe it can't handle all the pics I wanted to post-- So anyway while the post starts out with stories...in the end its just a bunch a pics. Oh well. Its been a great week.

Oh how I love Christmas! Its just a special time of year!

I'll admit when the kids were out of school last Friday I wondered if all the family time was going to do us in??? I don't know what we did Saturday. Survived!! I know there was an abundance of hot glue and we tried to pick up a little bit. That night we went and looked at Christmas lights, Isaac got better about not blowing by the houses at 30mph and then asking "What?" When I ask nag him. At first he claimed he as just in a hurry to get home and have me make popcorn...we'd been gone for less than 2 min. But he got better. He only goes where told, by me or one of the boys, there's no sense of seeking them out, seeing a lit up house in the distance and turning that way? Never. Oh well, the boys constantly had somewhere they wanted to go so it worked out. Sunday morning we woke up to SNOW!!!!! Merry Christmas Eve! It was so fun! It was Sunday but we let the boys play in it and enjoy it. Isaac headed down to the church to help scrape sidewalks with his helpers in tow!I felt like a kid too. We were bundled and out taking pictures before it was even light! (Ps those clearance snow boots I bought myself last spring...AWESOME, snow is way better when it doesn't translate to wet cold feet!)

Church was the best. Ever. We only had an hour and we totally got out early! Brother Speaks for the win! A few families trickled in but when the meeting started there was really only 20 people there! The boys were reverent through the sacrament but then crazies set in. I was so glad it was only an hour.
That night we FINALLY got to open Christmas Eve (aka "X" presents) After dinner of course. That got them to eat! I got the first one! (Preview on last weeks post)

The funniest thing was went I put it on and Cannon said "I'll take the tag off for you." And Isaac and I in unison said "No don't." I guess someone in Cannon's class had gotten their mom a bathrobe so that was where the idea came from and Isaac had tried and tried to talk them out of it, but to no avail but he did tell them that if I didn't like it I would take it back. Hence the tags comment (Oh my goodness, side note--they went crazy shopping for me, Isaac turned them loose and I got so spoiled...aaaannnnnddddd....I did some returning too. But the best part was hearing the stories about it later. For example: I guess they saw the bra section and said "Lets get mom some of those!" Isaac quickly put his foot down "NO!" they retorted "Why not dad? Mom wears those!" to which he assured them I like to buy my own and get away from there. HA! ) Anyway Christmas morning Cannon asked me if I had worn my bathrobe, and I answered "I put it on." True-see the pic- but when I later found out it was a big $6 bucks I went ahead and ripped the tags off it. He could have done it for me in the first place! Of course I will wear a big fuzzy red snowflake bathrobe that I would never wear otherwise if it will make my boys happy, (another side note I saw the other options after I did my returning and they really did good, red with snowflakes was BY FAR the best option!!) anyway boys happy,  the joy in their faces thinking I love it, well...makes me love it!
Enough about me, on to them, they got books on Christmas Eve.

 

That night as we read the Christmas story we put them up to using their stuffed animals as the characters and acting it out. It was great. (Pre-made "Bethlehem hanging from the tree from the Popsicle stick and hot glue the day before.) I really felt like they were following along and paying attention so we were pretty happy. ....a decent picture? No, so settled for the one with Cann Man smiling. But that was then animals adoring the Baby Jesus and Tann finding more gifts to stack that the wise men brought. Ha. 

And then it was on to Christmas. There was method in us letting them play in the snow, tucker them out! But Tanner woke up-mad-at about 12:30. Which in turn woke Cannon up. Santa had already been here so there was plenty to be excited about. I got Tanner back to sleep, but Cannon-no way. He "didn't" wake Colt up...yeah right! So they went through their stockings and played with one thing each that Santa had left unwrapped until they finally went back to bed around 2. After that we made it until about 7:00 and then the fun began. Christmas morning is pretty magical. I love it. And for as hard of time as I give my Brother...I'm close behind in how much I like it.
We took turns opening presents-my requirement-much to Cannon's chagrin but he did good. I felt like even Isaac was so fun, getting excited with and for the boys with his "Whoa"s and such. Actually he said that alot and I didn't even notice until Cannon pointed out that Tanner was copying him. So cute! Tanner is just a fun age for unwrapping and being excited. It was a good! Fun! Christmas morning!

The boys had been wanting a blow up Snowman to add to our outside decor, the plan was to talk daddy into buying one after Christmas but Santa beat him too it! (And the lighted little sucker ruined a lot of my pictures. Oh well. It was fun.)

 

At first Tan wasn't awake but we let the big boys open one thing while he was still asleep. The excitment quickly woke him up. He was a little overwhelmed at first with them both holding things up to his face and showing him what Santa had brought...but he quickly woke the rest of the way up and got right in on it too! He loved his basketball but old Santa didn't anticipate how much he would LOVE LOVE LOVE the little four wheeler guy that game with Colt's Paw Patroller. Lets get real--Santa might not have even known Colt's think came with a little dude "Ryder" and a fourwheeler but it was a fast favorite...for Tanner! In the end Colt really liked Tanner's tablet (I thought it was red...maybe even orange-ish red but Colt thought it was pink) so we ended up making a deal that he could have the new tablet, Tanner could have his old one, and we could put a paw patrol game on it if he would let Tanner play with the Ryder and 4 wheeler without causing fights...so pretty much Tanner have it.  Its worked while I've been pretty loosey goosey with tablet time the last few days...long term?? Time will tell. Santa might need to be a little more careful...but hey--he's got the whole world to cover, cut him some slack right?

Tanner really was just a cute fun age this year. So if I have too many pictures of him...well its really his fault.

However he had no use for packaging once he had unwrapped presents, it was pretty funny. And that big "Paw patroller" truck--he wanted IN it to drive.

Cannon got Battleship so we have several games of that. Santa left Colt a cooperative game where everyone wins or everyone loses called Hoot Owl Hoot. We've only played once but I LOVE IT! We need more of the cooperative stuff around here!

 

And the day after Christmas, CHRISTMAS KEPT COMING!!!

Grampa won all kinds of points passing out nerf guns pretty much right after we walked in the door. The boys were OVER the MOON. (They've had them before, Cannon's broke, and they play with them all the time at Grandma Ison's but we haven't had them here since the one broke.) We're not anti gun-just anti fake gun that get pointed at people and dialogue that sounds like "I killed you" and "You're dead" I just hate it. But real guns, Isaac bought two last month, we'll have real guns.  Soooo Grampa won BIG points right off the bat and now we have little nerf pistols  (I may have heard he even shopped for these himself???) Anway grampa big points, and mom laid down rules. NO GUN WARS... we shoot targets only. I said "Maybe sometime" but then within two seconds they were pointing them at each other so I quickly went back to no never.
(Should I explain that ugly green star??? It was leftover from the Church Christmas party, we were going to put it up above our nativity outside, it never happened so Christmas Eve the boys but it up instead of our clock...???)

 

Tanner was in on every bit of it. And content (Bottom right of next one) to just lean back and Grampa and have him help him. It was pretty cute.  And then the best thing happened, the boys opened these little helicopter Grama had sent them (from China...really) but they are self flying. So it really worked out PERFECT with the guns because they had and continue to have a BLAST trying to shoot those little helicopters out of the air with guns. Boys say "thank for the guns" Mom says "thanks for the targets!" We still have to work on paying attention to if we're shooting toward people but its a work in progress.

 

A few dollars to burn holes in their pockets and new quilts! Spoiled Spoiled Spoiled. 

 

Tanner got pretty attached to any package that had "Ho Ho" paper on it and wanted to open it, so he got to help Grampa.  No Santa on the paper? He didn't care about those ones. I just noticed this the day after...thank goodness, we'll see about next year, yikes.

The weather has been horribly cold. When Grampa wake up and checks his phone and its says -9...not quite St. George weather! So outdoor adventures have been limited but we're thankful for a warm home and thankful for Grama and Grampa time! Lots of snuggles, lots of tickle monster, a fair amount of screen time too.

 

We went up to Cantril one day where they had a screaming deal on Pepsi so Colt convince Gramapa we needed some. They've been freezing Pepsi's out on the dog house and making Pepsi slush ever since. Tanner obviously wants in on it.

 

 

Goofballs!

Today we went bowling! Even dad took a break and came with us. It was pretty dang fun. Tanner loved it and wanted it to be his turn ALL of the time!

I've been having a blast. I went shopping with my mom, Chip and I hit a few stores too.  I love scoring on all the after Christmas sales. I thought the other day I wonder if Isaac knew how much I LOVE to shop when he married me??? Probably not. But then I reasoned--whatever I ONLY like to shop if I'm getting a good deal! 50 cent socks for the boys. $1.60 wrapping paper a skirt for $3.50...and a few others. I've got some good deals😉
What a fun week!
We'll be back to real life soon so we've got to enjoy it while it lasts!

St. Louis

So on Black Friday Six Flags St. Louis had a deal on season passes (I don't think I've blogged about this--if its a repeat...sorry) anyway I went for it! But part of the deal was to get all the little upgrades like free parking and such we had to go before the 1st of the year-even though they are 2018 passes. So anyway...we'd been looking for a time to go-and it was supposed to be good weather Saturday so we went for it. Cannon was hilarious, he said he didn't want to go because dad wouldn't want to pay. (Did I blog about time Isaac and Cannon went to a theme park around closing time and tried to get in free? They didn't but that is Soooo Isaac...and apparently it scarred Cannon. Ha. Every once in a while there a glimpse that he is my kid too.) Anyway I assured him that mom had already payed and told him it was an early Christmas present, and that we could go back another time too. The park didn't even open until 2, which meant there was no point in leaving here before 11:00 so it was a pretty chill morning around here but then Isaac had the idea to go to the temple first. Brilliant! We've been going to go to Nauvoo but we haven't made it. So we did end up hurrying out of here. Worth our rush! It was awesome! I printed off a couple family names that I had reserved (super cool--I need to get my tail in gear on finding my own because it does magnify the experience when you know you're related to the person!) Anyway I had been to the STL temple one other time when our friend Robyn went through and it totally reminded me of her, so I snapped the selfie below and sent it to her and told her I was thinking about her. We both just did initiatories and it was super quick but awesome, there is a park RIGHT next door to the temple where the boys ran and played and made sand angels in the volleyball court. (Sand angel? I'll take it! Can you believe we haven't seen a flake of snow yet? I'm sure its holding out for when Grama and Grampa come.) Anyway a great addition to our trip that I think we will want to make a habit of!

After the temple it was a Little Caesar's Pizza (something we're deprived of in Kirksville) and off to 6 flags. I think everyone had fun.

 

Cannon was barely tall enough to ride the Ninja-but he did it! The other boys settled for taking a picture by the Ninja. I'm not much of a roller coaster person (which might beg the question: Why on earth would I buy Six Flags passes?? But the answer is I did it because I thought Isaac would love it. But Colt and I saw an "Old Rusty One" aka the mining train we thought would go slow enough for us. Ummm Wrong. It wasn't Slow!!! He did okay though-my favorite part was when he was telling Grama about it later on the phone and "that mom was screaming like a baby" Hahaha my version...not like a baby! But it did surprise me several times! I went one more time though with Cannon. And it was more fun when I new what I was getting into.

When we were on the mine train there were signs everywhere that if you got your phone out you'd get kicked out of the park for a year, no exceptions, no warning. Well that sufficiently scared me. No way-we just bought year long passes. So later when we stopped by to see Santa Isaac pulled his phone out and I was like "No you can't do that!" So he didn't, which of course they want to sell you the picture (FOR $50!!!!) Breaking the rules on this one probably wouldn't have been as big of deal because its not a safety hazard. At any rate the cruddy picture of a picture with no faces is all we got as far as the boys with Santa year. Darn. Oh well.

 

But we had fun, it was a great trip. (Except for how sick the convenient store hot dogs made Isaac on the way home--He should've gone for McD's with the rest of us!) Long day but we'll do it again!

Sunday fun... Ho ho'n and play'n the bells in primary.

https://youtu.be/g7IUQ9lL0rg

And while I'm posting a movie...did I post this one already? If so sorry for the repeat! The motorcycles really are Tanner's happy place. And its usually not too hard for him to talk his dad into watching them on his phone either! (He's no dummy he asks dad for motorcycles and mom for basketball.)

https://youtu.be/hOrR3C2fqyI

 

The boys have been having fun but I'll tell you what our house is paying the price! Someday my kids will be gone and there will be vacuum lines in my carpet...and I'll wish they were still little...

As for now the disasters reign~

 

Part of that downstairs mess what the costume box...but when they were SO pumped about Christmas and just wanted to get out Santa and Rudolph--and could I please make Rudolph some hooves-- Of course that is what we wore to deliver Christmas goodies. And they LOVED IT. I guess that's why we go all out on Halloween costumes, we're still getting mileage out of 2+ year old costumes. And it was worth the mess. I can't say its all cleaned up but I can say its significantly better. (TanTan is a reindeer Santa combo...he brought me both things to put on, just trying to be like BOTH of his brothers! haha)

 

I stopped by Cannon's class party to take a breakfast casserole (how do they get away with that when you can't take homemade anything...whatever, that's what I signed up for) anyway there was a trophy on Cannon's desk, I asked "Whats with the trophy?" He said "I have the most DoJo points." I figured it was picture worthy! I didn't stay for the party, I got back to the other boys so Isaac could go into work but Cannon LOVED it, said it was the best party ever. 

A few of the pictures in this post I had to steal off of Isaac's phone. He got this next one too and I forgot about it in the Sunday section. Our sweet and incredibly faithful home teacher Brother Knight came over Sunday night. We had our friends the Goerings over and it was SO cute when he was talking to them about Christmas and all of them huddled around the nativity scene pictures.

These were also on his phone... he picked the boys up from school Thursday (Colt's in his pajamas because it was Pajama day--the others, who knows?!) and they went shopping. Should I be nervous? They're pretty darn cute though!

 

And shopping? Isaac? This is good, but I didn't shop for him! So I reminded him about his 2 new guns and told him Merry Christmas! I would try and get him something but he won't be excited or want anything so Santa might put a thing or two in his stocking and we'll call it good.
Oh that reminds me. I said something about Santa (probably something about how he doesn't HAVE to come) and Colt informed me "Mom, you are not the boss of Santa!" ...hmm I thought I was!... He also has this way of showing me how ridiculous I am by acting just like me. It kindof sucks. The other day Tanner did something and he just froze and let out a super frustrated grunt/growl/yell "ahhhh" and then yelled "TANNER!" I had to laugh when I realized that is exactly what I would have done and how I would have sounded. At least he didn't opt to hurt Tanner--that's what Cannon's been up to lately, in that same frustrated moment he would have grabbed him, and pushed his head into the couch or floor or something. And thereby gotten himself in trouble instead of whichever brother, he's been struggling with that lately. He put it to me this week too though. I was really frustrated with Isaac -hey, it happens (and if you had a week I could tell you all the reasons I was completely right and he was completely wrong...oh your not buying it... ok fine, it was probably a little of both of us but in the moment I was NOT seeing it that way.) ANYWAY Cannon was nagging me to do something (probably the reindeer hooves) and I totally snapped at him. Recognizing that it wasn't his fault I gathered my thoughts, while still on the treadmill, then stopped and apologized. I said something like "I'm sorry buddy, I'm shouldn't have snapped at you, I'm really frustrated with dad and I took it out on you." To which little smarty pants said "Mom, if you're frustrated with dad you should just take it out on dad!" OH okay, thanks for the advice Cann.
Anyway speaking of Super dad--he's not always in the doghouse! Today they were building ships out of Popsicle sticks...which later progressed into ninja stars you can throw and they break. Hey, if nothing else, we have fun!!