Jolly's Arrival

This morning we had quite a surprise when we came downstairs!  Santa sent an elf to our house and he made us a special breakfast!  There was Christmas music playing and Santa even sent a few little gifts with the elf for us.  Owen named the elf, "Jolly."  The look on his face was priceless when he walked into the kitchen!

We found Jolly taking a bath in marshmallows!

 Jolly brought special treats for us for breakfast like powdered donuts and hot cocoa that we don't normally have at our house!  Thankfully Jolly brought some greek yogurt and fruit in little elf-sized dishes so we had something that was decent for us!

 Jolly brought Owen a special cup and plate

 Laying eyes on Jolly for the first time....LOVE!

 Amazing how good fruit bars are when you cut them up and eat them with toothpicks!  And bananas taste that much better with candy cane picks too!

 Daddy reading the story of Jolly for us

 O's first experience with hot cocoa.....

 And he was back for more.  I think he liked loved it!

 One happy boy!

 After we finished breakfast, O wrote a letter to Santa

 Then we put out Owen's nativity set

You can tell that we are working diligently on potty training at our house and the conversation somehow always seems to make it's way to pee or poop.  Today Owen told us that baby Jesus had poop on his bottom and was stinky.  He also told Jolly the elf several times, "Tell Santa I no pee in mine pants!"  He also kept telling us that he wanted to be a good listener so Santa would be happy.  I think I like this elf on a shelf deal!!!

Christmas with the Withers'

Yesterday we had an absolutely lovely morning in Hutchinson with the Withers family.  Typically we meet somewhere in the middle and go to the zoo, Nik Universe, etc., but this time we got to hang out and just relax.  It was so nice!  Nesha had a great Christmas craft all ready for the kids and Bobby made amazing chicken dumpling bread bowls and chocolate chunk pecan pie - to die for!!!  The Withers' are like family to us and we feel so blessed to have them in our lives.  They are wonderful godparents to Owen and Livia and Sophia are two of the greatest kids we could ask for as godchildren!

Frosting and decorating Christmas tress

 This is how O looked most of the time!

 He was in heaven running around with all of the Barbie cars, plus two girls and a dog catering to his every whim!

 Watching Copper open his Christmas present

 Giving Bobby bear hugs while Nesha opens their gift from O

 How cute is she!?!  Owen wanted to use the camera and actually took some good shots!

 Paul and Copper - another Owen shot!

 There is a really neat place not far from their house that has all kinds of animals (and birds :(....) that you can feed.  O loved feeding the deer.

He had so much fun playing that he just crashed on the way home.  We are looking forward to seeing the Withers' again very soon for the Holidazzle parade!

New Blog Home

I went to login to our blog last night and got the unwelcome news that we've used up the 1 GB of storage that is allowed on blogspot blogs. So, here I am, at our new blog home. Thanks for following our adventures!

So now where was I?   I'm behind a few weeks in blogging because life at our house has been crazy!

I always forget how crazy this time of year really is. I am swamped at work, putting in lots of long, physical labor filled, stress induced hours. My Santa's arrival event is always the week before Thanksgiving and as much as I try to be organized and prepared, the unexpected always happens. This year, it was that our staff lost a long-time member, leaving us short-handed. Then a few days later, I do promotions at the mall for Black Friday that have me up with the chickens and stressed about how they all will go.  This year, tack on  Paul traveling three days out of each week in November and December, throw in some three year molars, a virus and a cold for Owen, a cold, not being able to sleep and lots of migraines for me and you have a crazy, hectic time of year that I love, but am always so happy when it is over!

Believe it or not, we have had some fun moments in there too, and here are some of them that I don't want to forget! Lately, Owen has been telling me, "Mommy, you're a good cooker!" When a cartoon or one of his toys "does" something he thinks is funny, he says, "Silly Guy!" His favorite songs to sing are Twinkle, Twinkle, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus and Rudolph. He asks to watch Toy Story a hundred times a day.

A few weeks ago, we started to talk about Santa and how we are going to put out a cookie and milk for Santa. I got out the plate and cup that we are going to use so he could see them. He said, "Santa better eat a good dinner or he no get cookies!" He then proceded to take the following items out of the fridge for Santa to eat: Salad, Hershey's Syrup and cookies.  Don't forget Mr. Bear, the hammer, his tool belt, drill, saw and the toy catalog that he circled toys in!

Paul brought O to my Santa's arrival event and work so he could see Santa and the fireworks.  We ran into this little rascal and Owen LOVED him!

Not to mention the fire truck!!!  Santa arrives on a fire truck each year and O was finally old enough to appraciate it this year.