Christmas 2021

Don't let the sleepy eyes fool you in this picture.  Henry slept in until 8am!  We were all thankful for this wonderful Christmas gift. 

 I'd been telling the boys for weeks that they were only getting three gifts this year so they weren't expecting to see a ton of presents under the tree but I think they were surprised that it was true.  Little did they know the biggest, most expensive Christmas gift was coming......A trip to Disneyland!  Santa brought the boys Disney gift cards which they thought were cool but it wasn't until I told them we were flying there the next day that the surprise sunk in.  They were shocked!  An hour later as Marcus was assembling the lacrosse rebounder, I heard him whisper under his breath, "I can't believe we're going to Disneyland!"  So the surprise was awesome and less presents definitely felt like a win to me.  

The favorite gift under the tree was the new pair of Nikes that each boy got.  My boys love shoes, thanks to Marcus who owns 20+ pairs of Nikes.  

Marcus helped me order all the shoes in all the right sizes and he was quite proud of his work as evidenced by this picture he took.  

 I didn't buy any Legos this year (win!) but the boys were still busy Christmas day as they assembled weird wooden marble run things that Randy bought them.  We spent the day lounging in our pajamas and watching for the snow to start falling.

Santa found the perfect gift for Henry. It's books that are read to you by pushing buttons on a little device. Henry calls them "talking books" and he loves them!  Finding something he'd like, that we didn't already own, and that he would actually play with since Henry won't play with toys (too many screens for this kid), this gift was a Christmas miracle.  

Parker got his own Minky Blanket.  These blankets are worth every penny, and it's a lot of pennies so I only buy them on Black Friday.  #worthit

I had to get a picture of my big boy on his last Christmas at home.  He got a Skyline lacrosse hoodie (and so did Landon and Ethan).  I even splurged and had their names printed on the back.  They were shocked :)

After Marcus tried and failed, Ethan came to the rescue and finished assembling the lacrosse rebounder.  The boys use it to practice throwing/catching.

Look at the bling (and not my ugly hands)!  Randy surprised me with a new wedding ring since I stopped wearing mine ten years ago.  I got mad at him, asked if it was cubic zirconium, put it on my finger, and quickly forgave him for buying the real deal.  It's gorgeous!  He said, "Now people will know you are married." I replied, "Trust me.  Nobody cares!"

The aftermath wasn't too bad this year and was all contained to the living room for once.

I totally forgot about this gift for Henry until the next day.  Oops!  But he was excited for another gift anyway.  Ethan helped me assemble it and about ten minutes in, I decided to stop because there was no way we were keeping this thing.  I envisioned it would be quick to put up and take down on those rainy days when Henry was bored but this thing was not quick and easy.  Ethan and I injured ourselves trying to assemble it but Ethan persevered and we let Henry play on it but now it's back in the box to be returned.

The next morning was a snowy Sunday so church was canceled, giving us time to play in the snow, pack, and head to the airport.  The roads were so bad we decided to pile into the truck and it's a good thing we did because we never would have made it.  We arrived in CA and as our shuttle got closer to Disney, we saw fireworks and the Disney magic filled the air.  But much more on that later.  Christmas 2021 is in the books!