just about all things christmas (the commercial aspect anyway).

Well, I am way behind in my blogging for December, SO, I've decided to combine anything/everything Christmas-y into one post. So sorry in advance for the massive post and picture overload.

gingerbread houses

this was serious business for grady. he actually did much better than i had anticipated! i had assumed he'd eat about 90% of the candy prior to completion,  however, he only ate a mere 60% - not bad!

 he did really well putting on all his own candies, too. although he did want to remove them immediately after placement to eat. even a couple days later (as it was sitting on the kitchen counter) he says "mom, is it dry yet? now can i eat it?" lol.

 next year i am hoping to have a gingerbread house-making party with all kinds of fun (and tasty) ideas :)

serious business..

 ta-da!

{just the lights} part of my twinkle light photo flop

well, i saw a cute idea on pinterest (or somewhere - pretty sure i didn't have pinterest at the time). 

{side note: pinterest = huge time suck, but VERY cool ideas}

anyway, again, no cooperation from my children, but this was my attempt at using the lights only to illuminate my boy. i kept saying "grady, hold them up to your face", which apparently translated to "put them in your mouth and try to eat them". ugh. anyway, i hope that by at least attempting (even if unsuccessful!) all of these ideas this year, it will be a little easier if i decide to try again next year :) 

a girl can hope, right?!

O Christmas Tree!

oh, and our christmas tree. all 9 feet of it!

...which still doesn't have a topper for the second year in a row. whoops.

iPhone pics of the tree

awe and wonder of an 18 month old <3

grady's christmas present to mom and dad. baby jesus in a manger.
beautiful!

Christmas Eve. Santa left his sack of presents.

 {the bokeh} park of my twinkle light photo flop

(the first one is in already in a previous blog post)

 because i couldn't get drew to look at me - his curls - which i love

G-R-E-E-N

{our own Elf on the Shelf}

I have seen these little "elf on the shelf" elves in stores for quite some time now, and I have always been a little intrigued. I decided that this year, Grady was probably old enough this year to understand (at least somewhat). So, we took the plunge and jumped on the elf-on-the-shelf bandwagon. Seriously, if you don't know what it's all about yet - look into it. Such a great tradition for kids. So much fun. AND, as an added bonus, it helps with behavior on occasion as well ;)  - 

"Grady, you better stop crying - Green is watching"!    Crying over.

The down-side: I was pretty horrible at remembering to find a new place for him each day when he returned from visiting Santa, so he spent many days in the same spot. Oops. Grady didn't seem to mind or even notice though. I'll have to work on my creativity and step up my game for next year ;)

our first night with 'Green' the red elf.

a few of the various places Green hung out each day...

some favorites were the cup of marshmallows, toilet paper roll, and bed made of kleenex under the t.v.

CHRISTMAS 

 Christmas was pretty much perfect this year. I was so happy & feel so blessed I was able to be at home with my family - all day. It was great. No, we didn't have any big plans, fancy meals, or big family get-togethers (maybe some day), but it was great. Just us (and auntie Kristin). 

This was the best year yet with Grady. Last year it took about 6-8 hours spread over a couple of days for him to get through all the gifts, as he wanted to open (and then play with), each one. This year, he tore through them in about 30 minutes!
Drew on the other hand, didn't really have any idea what was going on and really wasn't into anything - not until they were all open and ready to play with anyway :) Grady and myself had to unwrap everything for him. Grady was very happy Drew didn't seem to mind, haha. Drew did have a fun time wandering around and getting into mischief though! 

Both boys got a ridiculous amount of toys. We've had to open just a few new things each day. Looks like we will be making a trip to Goodwill over the next couple weeks as well - need to teach the boys it is nice to receive, but better to GIVE as well.
I am glad Grady is in a Christian preschool. Being we are not very religious people & don't go to church regularly, they have done an amazing job teaching him the real meaning of Christmas. For that I am so grateful.

My only {silly} regret at the end of the day is that I never got a family picture of us. Bummer. Really, for taking a million pictures normally, I'm not very good at it at major events...guess I get stuck in the moment (which is so much better, anyway).
So, here is our laid back, happy, crazy family. Merry Christmas 2012!

kirby was the most excited to tear into his stocking

drew digging in

a little nervous about his dancing mickey mouse, but he loved it!

 our video may be a bit shaky

 got to play all day long!

one of my favorites, despite being pretty out of focus.

grady trying to get drew to dance :) didn't work.

trying to face time with family

 oh, just dancing ;)

 and another evening dance party

 dancing with mickey mouse...

Police Car. Tow Truck.

That's all Grady asked for for Christmas is a police car and tow truck. EVERY person that asked him what he wanted for Christmas - that was his reply - Police Car. Tow Truck. Not just any police car and tow truck though (that'd be too easy). THE one's he spotted in the Toys'RUs catalog a month or so before. He sat on Santa's lap, and requested the same two items. 

Thank goodness Santa was able to find them! They have hardly left his hands for two seconds at a time, since. 

clutched tightly in his hands each night <3