Merry Christmas!! 2009

We had an amazing Christmas, I hope all of you did too! Pops & Nan came up last night to suprise the boys! They were already sleeping, so it was a huge suprise to the both of them! Caleb came out first and just ran to Nan Nan, and then to Pops. Penny went into the room right when Ay was waking up, and he said Penny! And then he said, "Pah!" and ran into the living room searching for his grandparents he loves so much. It was such a sweet reunion, and the most awesome Christmas present for them.

Here's a collage of pics from Christmas morning/afternoon! Click it to see a larger version. :)

First, Darryl read Luke 2, as we always do Christmas morning, before presents. Then Nan read the boys the Christmas story out of their Bible. It was so cute because they both had their "hot cuckoo coffee" (hot chocolate) with them as they were listening intently. They were both very excited to get to the presents! They made out like bandits. They got Buzz Lightyears, and Doodle Pro's, soundtracks of Disney shows and Toy Story, trains, games, and BIKES!! They were stoked about the bikes, and right when Daddy brought those out they dropped everything and started riding around the house. Ayden is still a bit small for his bike, so Pops pushed him around. It was so cute!! They had a blast doing that for awhile. The boys both got Darryl & I a few gifts and one of the ones to Darryl was a big styrofoam airplane. Well Caleb spent over an hour outside with that thing!

He loved it! And so did all the other "big kids"... :)

Then we took the kids for a bike ride..

And then had lunch! It was so yummy.

Ayden was so worn out from playing that he fell asleep on Pops at the dinner table!

So cute. Pops looks a little tired here too. Hahaha. After lunch, we hung out and played all day, did a fire,and then watched Alvin & the Chipmunks. Caleb loves the movie, butAyden isn't much of a tv watcher, he'd rather run around everywhere. :) Anyway, we all ended up falling asleep fairly early because it was such a busy but fun day!

The next day we slept in and then headed to Cracker Barrel! It was so yum, and felt great not to cook! :)

We then went to the Bass Pro shop in Jackson, my parents had never been so it was great to introduce them to that amazing store! My mom ended up leaving with a pink fishing pole. :) Awesomeness! Then we headed home and played a bit and put the boys down for nap so Pops and Nan could head home without the boys getting too upset. We had a great time with Pops and Nan and were so happy to finally get to spend Christmas with them!

Merry Christmas!

We've been busy!

Traveling to spend time with family.

Baking.

Making.

Learning.

Anticipating.

Loving.

We wouldn't have our "busy-ness" any other way.

Remember the Reason for the season, Jesus Christ. We are so thankful God sent his only son to be born to die. Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas from us, the Phillips family.

Christmas Eve Traditions!

We are trying to instill lots of traditions each year with the boys for them to look forward to. A tradition in my family while I was growing up was always going light looking on Christmas Eve, usually after the Christmas Eve Service at church. We are still church hunting here, and we didn't have a service to go to, so after Darryl got home from work, we ordered a couple of stuffed crust pizzas from Pizza hut, and watched the Polar Express! Then we hopped in the truck and went light looking! That was alot of fun with the boys, and we came across one house that was SO bright! Frustrating that not that many people decorate any more though. Where's the Christmas spirit? Ugh. Anyway, when we got home the boys got to open one present, and it was a bath toy for both of them. A boat from the show Thomas the train, and it goes when you pull the pull string. They got in the bath to play with them and then they were OUT! Caleb fell asleep on Daddy, and Daddy was fading too. (he tends to fall asleep pretty easy, haha)

Unbeknownst to the boys..we had a couple of extra special "guests" visiting for Christmas!! They are going to be SO excited!!!! :)

It's SANTA!!!!

Yes, I watch Elf faithfully every year...what of it? :)

We went to our local "Christmas in the Park" the other night and had a blast! It was so beautifully lit, and had lots of cool things for the kids to do. It had Winnie the pooh, a cool little train ride, hot chocolate, chili, caroling, and Santa, of course! When Santa asked Caleb what he wanted, Caleb just said "a candycane!" LOL He was giving out candycanes to all the kids after they took the pictures with him and Caleb just loves candycanes. It was really nice to get out and see all the beautiful lights.

Speaking of lights, we put our outdoor lights up this same night, and this is the boys idea of putting the lights on the bushes. Caleb loves to plug them all together and see them really bright! LOL
Of course, we fixed it, and it looks beautiful! I'll have to get a pic of it all lit!

My little giver.

Caleb has been so cute about wrapping "presents" for us for Christmas! He'll go get some of his toys and make wrapping paper (out of construction paper that he colors) and wrap presents up with it, tape them, and put a bow on them. Needless to say, I need more bows, but isn't it sweet that he wants all of us to have presents from each other? I love that he's thinking about others, it's just so sweet.

PS~ The boys made more ornaments the other day. I love these homemade ones, they are the BEST. :)

Christmas!

Christmas was such an awesome day! Darryl & I were awake before the boys, wishing they'd hurry up and wake up! We ended up going up there with some snacks and reading the Christmas story from the Bible before we headed down to open presents!

Then we came downstairs, and Caleb was ecstatic when he saw the 50's diner!

Ay was pretty excited about all the presents too!

Caleb was already playing with the diner before opening any other presents.
time to open!
Opening presents from Mimi & Pa J!

In love with his new remote control car from Pops & Nan!

Playing with their easel!

Watching Horton Hears a Who!

For lunch we went to Drew & Cassandra's, and ate an awesome dinner!! I didn't get many pics there because we were so involved in our guys vs. girls catch phrase! LOL But it was soo fun!!

Then when we got home we decided to take a few pics by the tree! Don't the boys look so cute in their new clothes from Uncle Dodo & Aunt Ashley? :)

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve was great! We hung out during the day and got to webcam with Pops & Nan, and the boys even opened a present while we were camming, so that was really cool. Then our friends, Angela and her kids came over and we exchanged gifts. It was really neat, we enjoyed it.

Then we all went to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church! It was beautiful, and really awesome!

Then we came home & opened one more presents! Batman pj's from Pops & Nan!

Then we had some friends over!

Then, before bedtime, Caleb put out milk & cookies for Santa!

And sugar for the reindeer!

Looks like one of santa's elves wanted to taste test the cookies!

Just let him have the cookie!

Reading the Grinch!

Santa came!! :)