Christmas

Whew! I have dodged a bullet! I am blogging about Christmas over a month later because I misplaced my camera for a bit! I am glad to report I have found it so.... on with the Christmas blog!
Drew and Anna Kate managed to stay healthy this Christmas (if you remember, the were both sick on Christmas last year with Anna Kate requiring a trip to the doctor on Christmas Eve).  Christmas is a lot more fun when you feel good!  Another positive from this Christmas was that we got to stretch it out for one extra day! The Garner side of the family decided to have their celebration on Christmas Eve Eve.  We really did enjoy not having to rush from one place to the other and getting to spend time with each side of the family!
Our first stop was to Pepaw & Ann's house. They get the award for fastest growing family! The crowd feels like it has doubled in size from a few years ago! It's a good thing though. You can never have too much family!

 Cousin Rylee helping Drew and Uncle Aaron open gifts.

 A digger! Someone knows Drew all too well.

 Sis got a camera. She loves to take pictures!

On Christmas Eve we went to Mamaw & Papaw's house. They get the award for most overkill on presents! Not a bad thing either! Ha!  It felt like we all we did all day was eat and open presents and ate and opened more presents!

 Smiling with cousin Raylan. This was the best I got out of about 25.

 Sweet cousins watching for Santa Claus.

 He's here! This was the big even of the day. Santa came and handed out presents! So much fun! Drew and Anna Kate surprised me with how friendly they were with him. Anna Kate went straight to him. Drew was a little nervous at first but warmed up pretty quickly.

 Getting her next present.

 Drew had no time for pictures... he had gifts to open!

 A Doc McStuffins doll! Her face is cute in this picture.

 Drew got more trucks!

 We fed the reindeer at Mamaw & Papaw's house before we left because we figured Drew & Anna Kate would be asleep when we got home. We were right!

 Really getting in to throwing it. If you look close enough, you can see Anna Kate is throwing half of her's behind her!

On Christmas day Drew and Anna Kate got up and played with their gifts Santa left them over night (which wasn't much considering the loot they had received the previous two days).  After they enjoyed their new gifts for a while, we headed to DotDot and Grandaddy's for breakfast and gifts with them and Aunt Ashley!

 Another Doc McStuffin's doll for AK and some Cars for Drew!

Silly kids! I couldn't get them to pose seriously for a picture. This was all I managed....

 And that semi hug turned in to this!

 More presents!

 Sweet girl!

 One of Drew's favorite gifts.  It is Thomas set that you build with Legos. DotDot has to put it together for him when he is at her house and I'm going to go on a limb and say it is one of her least favorite gifts! 

 Sweet hugs for Daddy!  Drew and Anna Kate went shopping for all of their "people" with Aunt Ashley at the Dollar Store a couple of weeks before Christmas. They got to pick out anything they wanted for me, John Clay, DotDot, Grandaddy, Mamaw, & Papaw. I think they had a lot of fun and it was fun for us to see what they picked out. They got me a cell phone carry case, Dot Dot and Mamaw got Santa & Mrs. Claus salt and pepper shackers, Papaw got a candle and Grandaddy got candy.  Daddy's gift was the best. It was a rubber snake.  The hugs in the pictures were to thank Anna Kate for her thoughtful gift!

 Drew got some drums! 

 Anna Kate getting in on the drum action! I think she was singing too.

Drew got a tool set. He was working hard to help Granaddy put Anna Kate's new kitchen set together.

Santa!

We made our annual trip to Bass Pro Shop last weekend to see Santa! This was our third year. (A funny side story... Mamaw Katherine rode with us. Just after we left the house, Drew "called Santa" and said.... "Hey Santa, we're on our way. Katherine is with us." Haha!) That place is really more of an attraction than a store. We spent several hours in there and never ran out of things to do! We looked at the big fish, rode the glass elevator, and then it was our turn to go get in line to see the man himself! They have the line area strategically staged with toy trains, a talking reindeer, and other fun things to look at.  While we waited Drew and Anna Kate were really excited. We have talked a lot about Santa this year and they sort of "get it". I was curious to see how our Santa encounter would turn out this year. Two years ago they sat on his lap but screamed and clung to each other. Last year, they didn't even entertain the thought of sitting on his lap.  They marched down the red carpet and straight to Santa. Anna Kate was very friendly with Santa and talked to him right away. Surprisingly, Drew stuck very close to John Clay and wasn't really sure he needed to sit on his lap. They ended up standing in front of him to get their picture. I'll take it! 

 Checking out the train. The boy loves trains!

 Um..... I'm not sure about this.  Anna Kate told Santa she wanted roses for Christmas. I'm not really sure where that came from because that was the first I had heard of that request. Drew told him he wanted a "big ole' truck and trailer". He wasn't going to sit on his lap but had no problem telling him what he wanted!

A celebratory carousel ride.  They thought they really just needed to stay on it and ride it a few times but the long line of waiters had other plans!

  

 We're going to have to do a little more work on the whole Santa thing and how it all works. Drew thought he would be telling Santa what he wanted and Santa would produce it immediately for him. My sweet, oh so stubborn child was NOT going to be leaving Bass Pro without his "big ole' truck" like he requested. We tried getting an Elf on the Shelf and said that was Santa gave him to them today and that he had to go back to the North Pole to make his truck. None of these explanations were good enough and we finally just had to just leave with an angry boy. We did bribe him with popcorn too. That may have helped a little!

The look on their faces is awesome! Even though Anna Kate bravely interacted with Santa, you can see if her face that she just isn't quite sure about this!

Crazy kids

I have seriously been a blogging slacker. I have good excuses. We have been BUSY! But all of the things we have been up to have also been blog worthy. Hopefully, I will get caught up by the end of the year!
This will be a blog of few words and many pictures as I have found some pretty funny ones on my phone.

 Drew and Anna Kate helped me decorate the Christmas tree this year. This picture is blurry but is the best one to fully show the awesomeness of the entire day.  They were both still in their pj pants (this was at 6ish in the evening), crazy, non-matching socks, and Anna Kate has her shirt on backward. Most people have beautiful pictures of their kids in front of the Christmas tree with smocked outfits on and I have this. Haha! But I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The end result. Notice the heavy concentration of ornaments in the center at the bottom. This took a lot for me to just let it go and let them do it how they wanted to. I did fix it after they went to bed but they didn't notice.  Hopefully, next year we will be living somewhere that they can have their own tree that they can decorate however they want to!

 Gitty up horsey!

 Drew has major issues with his outfits. He has definite opinions about what he wants to wear and usually we are launched into World War 3 if we don't agree with what he thinks he will be wearing.  He has also had a hard time transitioning from shorts to pants and short sleeves to long sleeves. I imagine we will get this issue straightened out sometime in April when it is time to go back to short sleeves and shorts.

 They have discovered Disney Junior and love it. This is a rare moment though. These kids are busy and usually don't sit still for long!

 A beautiful princess riding her 4-wheeler!

 Helping Aunt Teresa blow out her candles at her surprise 50th birthday party. They really just wanted some cake.

 Having fun with cousin Raylan

 Her mad face. Hahaha!

 Good times with Aunt Ashley.

 Drew may be a future cheerleader too!

 She didn't want me to take her picture but she was pretending this basket was her car this morning. Their imaginations are so fun!

Sweet sleepy babies. I love it when they cuddle up and actually lay nicely together. 

Happy Birthday to Hayes!

Everyone we know has a birthday between the end of October and Christmas (or so it seems!). This is wonderful for Drew and Anna Kate who love a good birthday party and love cake even more. This makes an already busy time of year even busier. But it is so much fun and I look forward to the last few months of year because of all the fun things that are in store for us!
Hayes birthday party was a football theme at a gymnastics center this year. It has been pretty cold so this was a great way to let the kids run around and run off some energy. Drew and Anna Kate really love Hayes and I was able to use going to his birthday party as leverage for good behavior for a solid week! :)

 There was an inflatable slide at the party and it was by far their favorite thing.  I am glad they have moved past their fear of the inflatables since our bounce house sat pretty much unused this summer! Can you tell Anna Kate was excited?!

 In the middle of the action with the big kids.

 Having so much fun!

 All smiles!

 Crashing into each other at the bottom.  They seriously went down the slide no less than 40 times. They loved it! I was tired just from watching them.

 Practicing her balance beam skills.

 Drew's turn on the balance beam. I think we are going to be starting them in gymnastics in January. They are going to try and go to a class with Hayes which will be so much fun for them.

 A good day made even better with cake.

 Drew was "helping" Hayes get up.

 Stalling instead of putting their shoes on to leave. We were, of course, the last people out of there.

Again with the cooperation. It is just too much to handle!