More Christmas...

As promised, here are the pictures from Christmas with my family.  FYI...I have no idea why this line is under all the wording on here.  Dern computer.  Can't figure out how to get it so...sorry, you'll have to deal...

Getting ready to open stockings!

Yeah!  Anthony, Kara and Stayton got baby C this precious sports toy...he loves it!  Now if we can just get him to quit hanging on the rim!

Outside watching Stayton ride his new scooter thingy.  Yes, I did attempt to ride it myself, but I will spare you the pictures...

My parents gave Carson this amazing football field/ball pit.  Chris and I knew he would LOVE it when he saw it all put together.  We were so excited about it that we got home that night and decided to have to put together for the boy in the morning.  We found two manual (and I must stress the manual part) air pumps for this baby.  Our excitement was at an all time high as we sat down to unfold the toy from the box.  Our little fingers went to work...and work...and work...About 30 minutes later the fun stopped.  We soon realized that this must have been mom and dad's way of punishing us!

But we pressed on and FINALLY got the thing put together...

So we had to do a little victory dance to celebrate...in the end zone, of course!

Mind you, the toy came with 50 balls and mom and dad bought an extra 250 to put inside it.  Excessive much???  We decided to keep one bag on reserve to replenish the pit when need be.  Good thing we did.  As of tonight, the balls have migrated all over my house.  And outside the house too.  We found one in the back seat of the car tonight.  Go figure.

Here was Carson's reaction when he saw it for the first time:

Notice the drool.  We seriously thought the kid would hyperventilate he was so excited.  Thanks Mimi and Pops!

The next night mom and dad gave us kids a date night together!  They kept the two boys and us parents got to go out to dinner, a movie, and then a wine/cheese bar!  It was so much fun!

After date night, mom took Kara and I out to the Woodlands to the Aveda Institute to get facials.  It was amazing!

Then,  New Year's Eve we held the annual Game Night at our house.  Here's how the tradition goes...

*Santa brings a new game to us each year.  This year is was Don't Forget the Lyrics.  Santa, you really should have done a little more research because this game pretty much stunk.  The songs were so obscure that even my music-obsessed father didn't know the lyrics.  We made a quick game change though and busted out CatchPhrase!

*Mom provides 7 rounds of prizes and each person brings an additional prize (a $10 value).

*We play 8 rounds of games.

*At the end of each round, the winning team gets to choose gifts first.

*You are NOT allowed to touch the gift before picking it.  You must simply look at the wrapping and then pray that you picked wisely.

*Mom is the gift giver and will hand you the gift you chose.

*Once all 8 rounds are played you set out all your prizes on display

(this is when it gets ugly)

*Now you may choose to barter/deal/trade with other members of the family.  The best gifts this year were the Chick-fil-a gift cards, I-Tunes gift cards, movies, books, and car organizers.

Unfortunately, Carson's bed time is 7:00 pm and therefor he was eliminated from game night.  But no worries, he still got game night gifts!  Two Veggie Tales movies and a back pack!

The boys trying to pick their gifts...see how serious they are??  This is an intense night for our family!

This was Chris's first gift that he chose.  On a side note....I went to him before he chose and told him NOT to pick the red and white package.  Yes, I told him NOT to pick it.  SO what did he do???  Picked it.  He stinkin' picked the package and this is what he ended up with.  Maybe he'll listen next time :)!

All in all, game night was great and we had a fantastic time!  I love that my family loves to have fun together!!

Two nights ago Chris and I took Carson out the dinner and afterwards we sat outside and had Starbucks.  Carson loved looking at the trees!

And finally....here is Carson's backpack that he "won" at game night!  How precious is this???  I cannot wait to take it with us to church tomorrow with his sippy cup and diapers in it.  Is my boy really old enough to have a backpack?!?

One more thing...take a look at my child's closet.  Can you tell that mommy's favorite color is red???