It's a very HULK CHRISTMAS - Asher 2012

This Little Boy STOLE MY HEART today!  

It amazes me to think that my youngest will be five and in Kindergarten the next time we celebrate Christmas.  And so I took all his darlingness in today and tucked so many sweet memories away.

There was only one item on Asher's Christmas gift wish list... HULK GLOVES!  Look at his face below in this next picture when he unwrapped his precious present.  LOVE IT!

Asher spent the rest of the day speaking in the 3rd person with this above expression on his face.  "HULK ANGRY!...  HULK HUNGRY!... HULK READY FOR BED!..."

Goodnight one and all.  And a very Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Brody's Christmas LEGO set - 2012

I can't tell you about Brody's Christmas Day without telling you about his Christmas celebration at his Grandma's last week.  You see, when Caleb brought Brody home a catalogue from Toys R Us in October we had NO IDEA how deeply he would fall for ONE PARTICULAR TOY... Ninjago's "The Great Devourer"  Or, as we've come to refer to it, "The gwate devow-o-o."

While Caleb slept peacefully each night with his toy catalogue on his pillow beside his head, Brody couldn't sleep, for fear of not getting this one toy!  It's been an exhausting couple of months!  But finally the day came and Brody picked up the large box under Grandma's tree, marked with his name.  Uncle Geordie shook it and tried to convince Brody that the box actually just held a bunch of dried macaroni. Lucky for us all, Uncle Geordie was wrong!

By 7am the next morning this extraordinarily difficult and massive Lego project had been completed by Brody (age 7!)  What followed in the wake of that glorious gift was a peacefully week.  He didn't even mention getting another gift come Christmas Day.  But there were more gifts from his Dad and me.  Legos primarily, but Matt also got Brody the family's first Green Machine!

With all the wonderful new gifts, I think the greatest joy for my middle-boy was having his Grandma with us to sit and work on all his fabulous new Lego sets.  What a gift she is to us all...

Caleb's Christmas Wish - 2012

T'was the Night Before Christmas

And all through the house

not a Creature was stirring...

However, one of my Sons was sleeping upon his Toys R Us Catalogue!

We've never been a catalogue family before, however back in October 

when we went to the store for a gift for for Brody's birthday, Caleb 

got 3 catalogues for his brothers and himself to dream over.  

As you can see Caleb wanted a specific toy so terribly bad that he

SLEPT WITH A PICTURE OF IT FOR WEEKS!  

This is the first Christmas I recall any of my children knowing specifically 

what they wanted for Christmas.  As you can see, my just-turned-9 year old 

knew exactly what he wanted.  An electric motorcycle! 

Caleb awoke at 4am this morning and was ushered back to bed by his Dad, 

although my excited son had already glimpsed his 

Blue Razor Dirt Bike beside the tree.  

Needless to say, he didn't sleep a wink between 4 and 6:30 

this morning when we finally allowed the boys to come out 

into the living room to start in on the Christmas morning fun.

And it was fun!  There were Legos for Caleb and Legos for Brody and Asher too...

But the majority of the day was spent doing this...

and this...

and this!

Before he fell asleep tonight I said, 

"I told you I was only going to buy three presents per person this year but I just couldn't stop!"  

"That's okay," Caleb reassured me.  

"But I'm afraid you and your Brothers won't know what Christmas is really all about."  

Caleb propped himself up in bed, looked me square in the eye and said, 

"We know that Christmas is about Jesus, that He's the real gift.  

It's okay, Mom.  Really it's okay you bought us so many presents!"

Laughing tonight as I think on the sincerity of his sweet assurance.

Merry Christmas to my first born son!  And Merry Christmas to you,

our family and friends.

Thankful for Grandma

It's November and Thanksgiving is on the way.  Today I am Thankful for my Mom (who is such a wonderful Grandma!) and the cooler temperatures which makes it finally feel like Fall.

Happy Halloween - 2012

The above picture may be one of my all time favorites, 

with the flying whip and the block of gold.

Brody knew exactly who he wanted to dress up as 

this Halloween...  Indiana Jones!  

Caleb's Darth Mall had also been planned for months, 

but Asher chose to be a ninja on Halloween Day 

leaving his Captain America costume and shield at home.

Though once we arrived at our friends' home 

and found their two boys dressed as ninjas too, 

Caleb lost the mask and joined their Ninja ranks.

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