Family Festivities

Since we weren't going to be with my mom and brother on the 25th, we celebrated with them a few days before Christmas.  It turned into an all day celebration when we invited some of our extended family over for a big lunch that day as well.  My mom said she'd handle the majority of the food if we were okay with hosting and that sounded like a great deal to me.  Matt positively loves when we have company for the sheer fact that it's the only time our house is really clean!

That Thursday morning we also had Adam's ENT appointment, so it was a busy day to say the least.  And don't even get me started on the chaos of getting out of the house when my babysitter...ahem Alex Christopher!...didn't hear his alarm go off and was MIA when it was time for me to walk out the door.  Had to run around like a nut case to get Drew and Titus dressed and make it to the doctor's office in time.  Bub didn't even wake up until 2 hours later and boy was I ready to tan his hide.  Good thing I'm a mostly forgiving person.

Matt went back to the office for a little bit after the appointment and the boys and I stopped at the store to pick up a veggie tray and a few other things.  By the time we made it home, mom had 2 amazing soups (that she'd made a few days prior) warming up on the stove.  Cheesy corn chowder and shrimp/chicken gumbo...and both were out of this world.  My mom is one phenomenal cook.

All the family arrived at noon and even included Jan and Bruce, who drove through snow and ice, all the way from Colorado Springs.  We had a huge feast that could have fed twice as many people and  Matt was able to take a 2 hr lunch break and spend some quality time with us as well.  It was such a special afternoon and I hope it will become a yearly tradition.

Part of Alex's punishment was being demoted to the kiddie table. ;)

After Matt went back to work, GiGi snuck out to do some last-minute shopping.  Big Bub played with Adam and Drew upstairs and while Titus napped, I crashed hard. I had no idea I was that exhausted until I had some peace and quiet.  Must have been the fact that I was mopping my kitchen floor at midnight the night before.  :)

Adam was a man on a mission as soon as Matt walked through the door that evening.  He immediately confiscated Matt's wallet and wrapped it up to give to him as a Christmas gift.  Such a sweet idea, but the gift had to be opened shortly after since Matt was paying for our dinner that evening. The fact that Adam was so excited about it made it absolutely adorable. He also wrapped up 2 quarters inside a dollar bill for his daddy. And a ball for Titus. The rest of us got big fat goose eggs.

Drew did not get a nap that day and was pretty rascally before we left the house. At one point he came up to me teary-eyed and mad as a hornet. He said something along the lines of, "Mama, you lied to me! You told me when I had my tonsils out that they would put me to sleep and I wouldn't feel a thing, but you lied and I felt EVERYTHING and it really, really HURT!" He was absolutely furious and was definitely letting me know. Never mind the fact that he's never had an issue with his tonsils in his entire life! I guess that ENT appointment short-circuited his brain or something.

We eventually made it out for our Christmas dinner at Texas Land and Cattle, where all the grown ups had big ol' yummy steaks. That could be another Christmas tradition I'd be more than happy to continue!

We had dessert and present time when we got back home.

GiGi had 3 gifts for each boy. When Drew saw his Trio Batcave, he kept screaming, "I got Batman! I got Batman!"

And he somehow ripped open this Angry Birds game when no one was looking and the pieces were EVERYWHERE and mixed in with all the discarded wrapping paper before we ever noticed. That was fun. Not.

Adam was ecstatic over his new Bakugans.

But when GiGi told him to go look by the back door, he screamed like nobody's business when he discovered his very first skateboard.

I don't think I've ever seen Adam as excited or surprised about a gift. He had to test it out right away.

T's favorite gift of the night was his Rock n Roll Elmo. Either that or my new slippers.  :)

We had such a great day with my mom and bubba.  Love them forever, like them for always!