December 31st

We went over to my parent's house on New Year's Eve to watch the Cyclone Men's Basketball game and eat ribs!  We were home just in time to watch the ball drop at 11pm in New York and were all alseep by 11:05pm!  We are such party animals!

December 28th

We celebrated Christmas with Grandma Bailey & Aunt Nancy on Saturday.  I sucked at taking pictures and didn't get any of Nancy or the beautiful quilt Chris got.  We had a great time and ended up staying late playing card games.  They taught me how to play Canasta and I ate WAY too many sweets!  (That always happens when I am around those two!)

December 27th

Zach, Spot, a Care Bear, and a dune buggy...life doesn't get much better than that when you are 4

December 26th

I had all of the Christmas decorations down and put away by noon on the day after Christmas.  The house was so cluttered and crazy that I couldn't relax.  Zach spent the day playing with his new toys.  He was in heaven.  I was in heaven that we had absolutely no where to be.

December 25th - Farm Christmas

We ended Christmas day at the farm.  Zach & Chris raced Amber & Kyle on 4-wheelers...but I don't have any pictures because I was nice and warm (and lazy) inside!  We had a great time playing Bingo and hanging out with everyone.  I didn't get any pictures of my grandma with Zach, but she did a great job (as always) hosting and spoiling us all.  Thank you to everyone who made our Christmas so great!

December 25th - Huntrod Christmas

After Zach opened Santa's gifts and we exchanged as a family, we headed to Mimi & Papa's.  Kyle & Amber had spent the night there so everyone was ready when we arrived.  One of Zach's favorite presents was a $2 Kansas stocking my mom found at Hy-Vee!  He also LOVED his dune buggy and new scooter and insisted on riding them outside in the snow until I made him come in.  We had really great breakfast burritos and a fun time together!

December 25th - Santa Christmas

Sometimes during the holidays I set these unrealistically high expectations of what should happen.  This year I just sort of went with it.  Cookies for Santa...didn't have any so we went with brownies.  Food for the reindeer...forgot that so we used dog food.  Cute Christmas jammies...they were dirty so wore what we had.  Christmas is stressful and letting myself off the hook this year made all the difference.  Zach was thrilled with his Santa haul and I enjoyed every second of the joy on his face.

The last picture is how Tony spent Christmas morning.

December 24th - Huntrod Dinner

It wouldn't be Christmas Eve without crab legs...and pincher pictures!

December 24th - Palmer Christmas

We had Christmas Eve lunch at Grandma & Papa Palmer's house.  Peggy made ham and cherry pie and amazing sides.  After we were stuffed, we opened presents.  The little boys had fun playing with all of their new toys.  Somehow the playing turned into a wrestling match...which almost always happens.  After wrestling there was a Nerf gun fight...which also almost always happens.  We ended the afternoon with little boys playing in boxes.  It is also a Christmas tradition.

December 24th - Elfie

The best part of Christmas Eve for me is that dang Elf finally leaves!  Haha...just kidding...sort of.

This morning we found Elfie in Zach's stocking with a pack of mint Oreos.  He had also gotten out Santa's magic keys.  Since we don't have a chimney to go down, Santa uses these keys to get in.  He also left this note:

Zach,
Santa comes tonight!  Thanks for being such a good boy this year.  I really enjoyed being with your family.  Santa said you can give me 1 goodbye hug without me losing my magic.  I love you Zach.  Merry Christmas & I will see you next year!
Elfie

December 23rd

Zach started his Christmas break from school today and I decided to take the day off and spend with him.  We baked and cooked and prepared tons of food for the next few days.  We decorated our gingerbread house from Grandma Bailey.  We watched Christmas movies and stayed in our jammies until Chris came home.  It was a great day.

Elfie was hanging out in the tree with a pirate kit & toy binoculars.

December 22nd

Today Elfie brought a Christmas-themed Look & Find book.

Tonight we drove through Jolly Holiday Lights.  I thought Zach would love it but he got bored pretty quickly.  To entertain himself, he took pictures out of the car window of random things.  The excitement leading up to Christmas is just too much for kids sometimes.  I enjoyed the lights though!

December 21st

Zach LOVES NFL football teams...mainly their logos.  He can't remember the number 7 for the life of him, but he knows every logo & what city each team is from.  Today Elfie brought him a pack of football cards.  He was hanging out with Da Bears bear.

December 20th

Today we found Elfie & Spot pretending to be doctors.  He brought the game Operation.  Zach can't wait to play tonight.  He said "I am going to win you know!"  Yeah buddy...I know!

December 19th

The kids at Karen's celebrated Christmas on Wednesday since it was the last day she would have everyone before the holiday.  She gave Zach a really cool Power Rangers Super Samurai construction set.  We started putting it together Wednesday night and it had a million pieces.  While we were sleeping, Elfie finished it!  He also brought a Lego Christmas tree!

December 18th

Zach loves paper mazes.  Today Elfie brought a big Holiday coloring & activity book and ripped out the maze for them to do together.

December 17th

Last night on the way home from Karen's, Zach and I had a heated conversation.  He announced that Rudolph is not real and was just made up for a good story and song.  He said Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, & Blitzen were real, but he didn't believe in Rudolph.  He made some good points like "Mom, have you ever seen an animal with a red nose or even a nose that glowed?" and "What exactly are reindeer games anyway?"  I finally convinced him he was real and how much it would hurt Santa's feelings if he didn't believe in Rudolph...Santa's FAVORITE reindeer.  (Man I hate lying to my kid)  By the time we got home, he believed in Rudolph again.  Today Elfie brought Zach some coal (made of chocolate) from Rudolph.  Zach thought it was hilarious.

December 16th

Zach declared Monday morning the best Elfie day ever.  I considered it a very scary glimpse into the not-so-distant future.  Today Elfie brought Zach a Ninja Turtle shaving kit.  He loved pretending to be big just like Daddy.  I know he is only 4 and shaving is a long ways off, but I am pretty sure it is going to be here before I know it.