Christmas Day

It's Christmas!  It's Christmas!  So exciting!!!

 Owen's Gifts

 Drew's Gifts

 Clayton's Gifts

 Clayton was up super early...

 The little two woke up about an hour later...  Still with sleepy eyes and bed head.  ;)

 Owen doesn't wear a shirt very often.  It is such a normal thing to me, that I didn't even think to ask him to put on his jammie shirt.  So... he's half naked in all of our Christmas pictures.  Oh well....  ;)

 The boys had their snowman and reindeer donuts while Wade & I had a berry strata and sausage.  Yum!

 Clayton was really excited to get a slack line.

 And O was thrilled with his Cowboys jersey and helmet.

 It was 73 degrees on Christmas day!  73 degrees.  It was wild!  It sure didn't feel like Christmas!  But... it was nice to let the kids ride on all of their Christmas presents and eat their lunch picnic style in the driveway.  :)

 Short sleeves and shorts.  On Christmas.  Only in Texas!

 Drew's scooter shoots sparks out of the back when you press down while you are riding.  He thought that it was the coolest thing!

It was a very Merry Christmas at the Carpenter Casa!

Christmas Eve

One of my very favorite Christmas traditions is going to our church's Christmas Eve Service.  Being in the Lord's house worshiping Him fills my heart with joy.  I love hearing scripture and singing Christmas hymns.  And then when they dim the lights and the sanctuary is filled with candlelight as we sing Silent Night...  It makes me teary every single time.  I am just overwhelmed by the fact that my Savior sent His Son to die for me!  I hope that my kids always remember these sacred times...

 Mrs. Nancy has been so sweet to Clayton since he was little bitty.  He thinks so highly of her!

 We came home from service, and the boys opened their Christmas jammies.  :)

 The big boys had bought family presents at their school spirit store.  I took Owen to the Dollar Tree so that he could do the same.  They were all soooooooo excited about the things they had chosen!  It was fun to watch their genuine happiness to give gifts!

 My sweet babies spoiled their Mama so!  I got so many wonderful things!

 My Drew had talked up his gift for weeks.  "Mama, you're going to LOVE my gift!  It was supposed to be $10, but I only had to pay $2!"  Haha!  He knows how much I love a good bargain.  When I opened it up, I could definitely see what all of the hype was about!  He got a lot of bling for his buck!  ;)

 Drew pooled his money for his brothers and got them a joint gift - an icee maker.

 There were lots of hugs and "thank you!"  It was so sweet!

 After our little Christmas Eve gift exchange, we did our annual PJs, Cocoa, and Christmas lights.  We went to the Starbucks in our Kroger, but we got there 5 minutes after they had closed.  Oops!  Luckily, they were kind enough to give us some cups and there was a microwave in the little food area.  So... we improvised and bought ready made hot chocolate from Kroger, put it in the Starbucks cups, and microwaved it.  Done.  :)

 The boys had fun looking for all of the things on our scavenger hunt.  It's always a fun time!

 We sprinkled reindeer food...

 Read the Night Before Christmas...

 And put out cookies, milk, and carrots for the reindeer.

Then it was off to bed, in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there....

Gingerbread Houses & Gingerbreadmen - December 24, 2015

We had gingerbread men & gingerbread house kits that I had intended to do with the boys.  But then, December was busy and we never got to make them.  On Christmas Eve, I figured there is no time like the present, so we got right to work.  :)

 The final products!

 Super cute little village

I sure love all of the holiday activities that I get to enjoy with our boys!  They are so fun!

Carpenter Christmas - December 22, 2015

On December 22nd, we were able to host my mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister and brother-in-law, and nieces for our little Christmas.  It was so much fun!  My mother-in-law & father-in-law are so sweet to provide a huge meal and plan really fun games for our crew!  I seriously cannot imagine a better parents-in-law - they are the best of the best!

 These cousins are the cutest!

 These two are hilarious - they schemed over Thanksgiving and asked Grammie to get them these windshield wiper glasses.  Ha!

 Christmas Pie time!

 This was the point in the afternoon when we all started to look like bank robbers.  Ha!

This game required us to put black pantyhose over our heads.  So funny!

 Both of our second born children opted out of the pantyhose.  Drew lasted approximately 2 seconds (long enough for me to snap a picture) before he freaked out.  There were tears.  Lots of tears.  Bless his heart.

 I thought that my bro-in-law was the funniest of all of our family of bank robbers.  I can't look at this picture without laughing!

 Me & Leigh  :)

 The matriarch and patriarch of the bank robber family

 Owen looked like a Who from Whoville  ;)

 My MIL brings prizes too!  I was super stoked when Wade won the smores kit.  Yum-O!

 At present time, Drew got a Rival Nerf Gun.  Clayton started shaking in his boots a little bit.

 We had gone in together to get Grammie & Papaw a big present...  Close your eyes...

 Surprise!

 We got them bikes!  After years of buying bikes for their kids & grandkids, we got to return the favor!  They were so cute in their enthusiasm!  They just hopped right on and zipped down the street.  They're so cute, right???

Thanks, Marsha & Terry, for a wonderful Christmas!  We are so very grateful!