The story of Carson and Christmas.

After the kids were in bed on Christmas Eve, Drew and I were relaxing and watching whatever random christmas movie was on. Around 11, I decided I should start wrapping the last of Carson's presents and the Santa Presents so that I could go to bed at a decent hour.

Carson, had other plans. As I headed upstairs to the stash, he woke up.  He had fallen asleep on the way home from my mom's house and after a small nap he was ready to go.  And he stayed awake until 1. Which meant I had to hold off on wrapping until that point.

I finally had everything wrapped nicely and placed under the tree by 3:30.  Which happened to be what time I went to bed the night before.


Santa stopped by to eat cookies and milk. Stockings were filled and a present left behind. This year instead of leaving several gifts behind, the kids asked for one present they really, really wanted and that's what was brought.

It looked so lovely! Simple, but lovely.

I took one final picture before going to bed. I was so excited for the kids- this is what they would see in the morning. I left my camera on the stairs so that in the morning, I could take pictures of their surprised faces.

If I only knew what was to happen.

Just before six, I heard a rustling noise in the front room. I was so exhausted that I was really pretty confused.. why would there be anything but silence that early in the morning?

And then I sat up. Carson. It had to be Carson.

I stumbled out of bed and ran into the front room. There was Carson, wide awake, playing with a Lego Miners set. One that I had purchased as a Christmas present, wrapped and was supposed to be under the tree.

I knew things wouldn't be pretty as I headed downstairs but I was hoping that he had just noticed the presents with his name on them (including a HUGE letter C because he definitely knows his name starts with C).  I grabbed my camera that I had just held hours earlier and took two pictures.. it was probably good I didn't have my contacts in to realize JUST how much damage was done.



I felt like I was in a dream as I walked around..was I really seeing what I thought I did? Was it really possible?

My heart sunk as I realized what I was dealing with- Carson had opened everything.  EVERYTHING!  There was two small mugs still wrapped under the tree.. but otherwise, EVERY. SINGLE. PRESENT. had been opened.  The kids had seven presents each.. plus four santa presents.. plus two from my dad for the kids and then a few more for Drew and I.. totaling in at thirty seven.


Can you even imagine?  OPENING THIRTY SEVEN PRESENTS??

I started shaking when I yelled out, "Carson, What did you do???  How could you???"

Drew woke up and ran out to the kitchen- he knows that's never a good phrase to be associated with Carson, especially at six in the morning and on Christmas.. I kept rambling about Everything.. it's everything.. and finally was able to get the whole story out.

Carson was in the front room with his eyes THISBIG and still playing with his new Blue Lego Guy.. you can tell the wheels were turning in his head that this was not playing out how he was expecting.

We tried to get answers from Carson on what happened and WHY but all he'd say is, "But I wanted lots of Blue Lego Guys and lots and lots of presents!".

So not the answer we were looking for.

It was just so bad.. how were we going to wrap everything again.  And really, THIRTY SEVEN?  It was all I could do to not cry.

Carson was spanked a few times and then Drew put him out in the garage for a minute so that there was no beating involved.  I'm pretty sure smoke was actually coming from Drew's head so it was probably a good idea.  He was MAD.  Once the wave passed over, we put Carson in time out and he sat there for another hour.

Meanwhile, Drew and I went downstairs and tried to figure out what to do and just shaking our heads in disbelief.  I had spent HOURS wrapping everything.. how would we do this?  He gathered up the paper while I sorted the gifts.



I started with Aubrey's.. grabbed one, cut out the paper for it and shoved it over to Drew.  Drew then wrapped it ghetto fabulously, scribbled the name on it with Sharpie and threw it under the tree.   Lather, rinse, repeat.   Poor Kaitlyn didn't even get the "T" crossed on her name for most of her presents.  Good thing she can't read.

We put Carson's in a box and in Drew's office.. he was done with presents for the morning.  

And we decided that our month-long threat of  Santa will bring you a rock if you're naughty should be enforced.  Good thing we already had the Sharpie down there.



When we finally finished wrapping and headed upstairs, the other kids woke up shortly after.. we were just in time.  We told them what happened (it was obvious how upset we were plus I was still shaking).. they weren't all that surprised.  Which is a little bit funny, all considering.   And they were happy that everything was wrapped again so everything was ok.

Looking back, Drew and I can laugh now.  Honestly.  Can you imagine what a grand time he had?  Opening THIRTY SEVEN presents?  He must have woken up shorty after I went to bed to have opened all those.

I really thought he would have ran upstairs after seeing all the presents to tell me.. or I would have heard him yelling about a toy since he's so loud.. but nothing.  Just the time of his life opening the "lots and lots of presents" that he kept saying he wanted. 

I swear... only this child.  This was definitely a Christmas to remember!

Visiting Santa.

I forgot to blog about our Santa visit!

On the 23rd, I begged and pleaded with Drew to go with me to take the kids to see Santa. I knew I was asking a lot: Drew hates almost everything to do with shopping. He hates bad drivers. He hates the mall. He hates crowds. Yeah.....

But being the great man and dad that he is, he agreed to go.

Once Drew was home for work, I asked the kids to all change out of their pajamas (what, we're on Christmas vacation!) and into their nice clothes.

Hayden disappeared into the basement and returned wearing black soccer shorts and a brown pirate shirt.

I kindly asked Hayden to find something a little more appropriated for 20 degree weather. And a little nicer.

Carson helped himself to the dirty laundry in Kaitlyn's room and returned wearing Hayden's camouflage pants. Backwards. And Hayden's green shirt. Inside out but correct direction.

I didn't even know what to say to that, so I laughed.

Hayden happily showed me his new attire. A Tiger Rock Band shirt with brown pants. His big smile was because he still has his origional good clothes on, underneath. He assured me that he wouldn't be cold with two layers!!

I gave up at this point and had everyone put their coats on and off we went.

While we waited in the huge line with all of the other slacker parents, we ate Pretzle Time mini bites and drank sprite. The kids were having such a great time, even Drew couldn't help but smile. (ha!)

I had told the kids this year that they could ask Santa for anything they wanted and I was sure he'd bring it as long as it wasn't too big or cost lots of money. They were really, really excited. On the same line, we warned the kids cough:Carson:cough that if they were naughty, Santa would bring them a rock. Really, what little kid these days knows what coal is?

Anyway, when it was finally our turn, each of the kids happily sat by santa and told them what they wanted for Christmas.

Aubrey wanted a Webkinz or something fun to do.

Hayden wanted a Lego Star Wars or Indiana Jones set.

Carson wanted a blue lego guy (from the Miner's set) and lots and lots of presents.

Kaitlyn stared. And then got anxious.. but she never cried. I had to move her to Aubrey's after she did 'jello legs' and slid down Santa's lap to the floor.

I was pleasantly surprised that it only took three tries to get a good picture.

It was a nice change from the red-faced, screaming pictures that I usually end up with.


I think seeing my kids so happy and in their nice clothes made all the effort worth while. Even if it did cost $15 for one little 5x7 picture.

Christmas Eve.

Every year, we go to my mom's house for Christmas Eve.

Prior to dinner, we sit around and talk while the kids anxiously await the opening of presents.


This year we had the kids each open up their present one at a time and started from the youngest and worked our way up.

I some how missed taking a picture of Kait opening hers, probably because I was laughing at how she dove right in to ripping it open. She got a cute set of 10 Littlest Petshops. She's had so much fun with it! She uses them with our Little People toys.

Carson got a cool Pokemon toy.. it's a lot of fun. It shoots things.. has a hidden area for little things.. perfect for a little boy. He calls it his "pooky" toy.

This was Hayden being told it was his turn. I love this kid.

Hayden and Carson study his Lego Indiana Jones set.. they both love it!


Aubrey had her mouth open for at least 5-10 seconds after unwrapping her present.. she's been wanting this for awhile.


My kids really had a great time.

This makes me laugh and laugh... Poor Megan, as the oldest, was last to open hers.

This is my cute sister Amy.

We puffy heart each other.

Her oldest daughter, Liz, is so cute!


Her other daughter, Jorden is so funny.. she's so much like me. We both like nice things.. love the hair and make up stuff.. we always compare our 'lipgloss of the day'.. she was so excited with her purse and accessories. I don't blame her! She's so cute when you tell her to smile too- she stops smiling and her eyes glaze over a little like she can't be bothered.. I took several of her and they all look the same. Next time I'll have to remember to tell her not to smile and go for candid.

My brother Dan and his boys Nathan and Ben.. they both scored with Transformers.


The rest of the (adult) boys. They stood back and observed during the madness.

This is my mom and John ever so subtly saying Enough pictures later on in the evening.

Hopefully not to many seizures were from my flash. :-S And he usually does close his eyes to help.. guess I did take a lot though. Sorry, John. .

I have to say though, I think this picture made it all worth it though... I actually got a picture of him with his eyes open! This pretty much never happens. No really, NEVER.


We had a really good dinner.. yummy food and great people are always a good combination.

Here's my dad Val and Dan cutting up the ham.


My step-dad is under instruction to avoid stress as he has some odd things going on with his brain and I just brought him home from the hospital on Monday.. so we made sure it was very easy on everyone at my mom's house. We went with plastic plates, cups and utensils. I'm almost thinking we should do that every year, I loved how simple the clean up was!!


After dinner, the boys and Grandpa Val helped Hayden with his new Lego set. Surprisingly, no pieces were lost.


The older girls had fun tracking Santa's progress online.


I'm so glad we could spend the evening with people we loved.


Kaitlyn and Carson fell asleep on the way home. Aubrey and Hayden set out cookies for Santa and then went to bed. We had a fabulous Christmas Eve. Which I really appreciate now that I know how Christmas Morning was spent... it's a story you'll truly enjoy. Trust me.

Reason #179: Why I don't have nice things

Because walking 3 feet to get the White Board is much more inconvenient than just using the kitchen floor.

Pirate, complete with sword, drawn by Carson

Cookies.

With two weeks of Christmas Vacation upon us, I've been trying to think of activities we can do every day that will help entertain my children.

Yesterday, we decided to make sugar cookies.

I totally cheated and used a cookie mix.. and Aubrey is the one that mixed them together. In my defense, I knew it was pretty likely that I'd be picking up my step-dad from the hospital and taking him home as well so I didn't want to commit to a very lengthy project where Drew would be left to clean it up.

Anyway, after the dough had chilled, I put part of it out on wax paper, on a pan, on the table.. it's the only way all 4 kids can get their hands in on the action. I also placed out a bowl of flour and the cookie cutters.



Aaaand then I discovered that I can't find my rolling pin. Figures. I did claim the prize for the first person to make a mess though! Serves me right for wearing all black.


In attempt to be resourceful, I put another layer of wax paper on the cookies and flattened it out with a glass baking dish. It totally worked!

I was pleasantly surprised that the kids all *nicely* took turns with the cookie cutters. However, by the time this all passed, the dough was soft enough that there was no way to scoop up the shapes. Oops.

At this point I figured it was best to just scoop it all back into the bowl and use the cookie scooper. Whatever. It worked.

Each kiddo was given a paper plate with a scoop of frosting, a plastic knife (no children were harmed) and free range of the four types of sprinkles.


I let them eat as much as they wanted. Why not!

They had a great time.

Kaitlyn wasn't too sure at first with what she thought about the frosting.. Carson had no concerns and dove right in.

At this point, she stopped eating the cookie and moved to just licking the frosting. You can kind of tell that much of the frosting has disappeared.

Excuse the blurriness, it was a total action shot.

mmmm Good stuff.


The kids were all kind enough to make Drew a cookie too at the very end with their licked-clean fingers and knifes.

Luckily, Drew was smart enough to question which ones they prepared and which ones I did and then consumed accordingly.

When Moonsand Attacks.

This past Sunday afternoon, the kids were complaining that they were bored. Shocker, I know.

It was too cold to play outside.

Their millions of toys were suddenly boring.

Hayden requested to get the Moonsand out which resulted in Carson enthusiastically pleading for it was well.

Moonsand. Ah, not really my smartest idea. Last year I purchased a lot of it from Amazon for an amazing price. I LOVE how it feels. But the inevitable mess? Yeah, not so fun. Needless to say, this isn't an activity we do very frequently.

But why not.

I laid out the craft tablecloth (meaning I don't care what gets spilled/wiped/gunked on it) and brought out the bake wear to help contain everything.

Hayden enjoyed making igloos for his lego guy to play in.


Carson smashed the moonsand down and then scooped it back up to push in the molds to create a castle.


He was very sad when it didn't work how he wanted.


Kaitlyn just scooped it from the bucket.. into the glass pan.. and back into the bucket.. and back again.


She sure loves her daddy.

I was pleasantly surprised at how little of the moon sand actually ended up on the floor.


However, the table and chairs were sadly another story. :-S