Christmas 2016!

 December has come and gone and it was a whirlwind! So much fun this time of year!!! It started off with Jackson's Holiday concert. He takes his singing very seriously, as you can see from his facial expressions. I had several parents come up to me and tell me they couldn't keep their eyes off of him! The high school drama teacher asked if she can be looking forward to having him in drama in the upper school. We shall see!!

 Making sure he hits those low notes!

 Beckett was able to participate in the concert as well. When the children sang jingle bells, all the preschoolers came up and paraded around while jingling their jingle bell. It was really cute!

 I am the room parent for Beckett's class, which is actually a lot more work than I had anticipated. Getting the teachers' gifts together can be quite time consuming! It is fun though and I was so excited to get to go to this cuties party. Here he is decorating his wreath.








Super proud of his penguin ornament!

 Christmas tree!

 They did a gift book exchange.

Jackson was able to to ice skating at the St. Regis with some of his buddies from school.

I wasn't able to go since I was working, so I am not sure what is going on in this pic. Some sort of game they made up.

Sweet friends!

Warming up after ice skating!

 So excited to open his first present of the holiday season!

 We made our annual gingerbread house...

 Finished product! Best one yet! It almost made it to Christmas before Lava Ball ate it.

 We went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens with the Postons to see the beautiful lights!

 They had something different this year, which was really neat. When you put on the 3D glasses, all the lights turned into butterflies. Very cool!

 Crazy kids!

 Family shot!

 Dapping!

 It was almost impossible to get a sweet picture of these crazy kids!

 Unfortunately, my camera blurred for this shot. That Christmas tree is made entirely of poinsettias!

 The kids birthday present from Aunt Sarah arrived! They loved them! Star Wars snuggies!!

 Time to make the Christmas cookies! I have 2 excellent helpers!

 Cracking the eggs is their favorite part!

 Time to decorate the cookies for Santa!

 Boys all dressed up for Christmas Eve Service. This year we decided to try the Candlelight service. Daddy was very nervous, but the kids did great!

 They weren't so sure about it until they got to light their candle. Then they loved it! Jackson did great singing all the songs!

 That sweet smile...

 Christmas Eve family pic. This really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Best grandparents ever!

We then changed into our pjs and headed to Aunt Kiera and Uncle Brads for  homemade pizza and presents!

 We headed home early to see if the big man was going to be coming to our house. Here is Jackson watching his video. He made the nice list!

 Beckett was nervous but he also made the nice list! Santa is coming!

 Granddaddy let them each open 1 present from him....this is his money maker! The freedom shirt! Jackson actually guessed what it was before he opened up!

 FREEDOM!

 Time to throw out the reindeer food! Beckett is of course not fully clothed....

 Putting out the cookies and milk! Time for bed!! Poor Jackson. At about 11:30 pm he started vomiting and threw up every 15 minutes until about 4 am. He was so scared that Santa was going to skip our house because he couldn't sleep. He rallied though and we still had a great Christmas morning!

 Here they come! Jackson had set up his Ipad to try to capture a video of Santa coming. That sneaky Santa decided to go down the other chimney instead!

 He came! Jackson's Santa gifts were an electric scooter, Ripstick, Nintendo 3DS, Green Machine, and a basketball hoop for his room.

 Beckett's Santa gifts. A mini green machine, talking hamster, swing, space shuttles, and laser tag game.

 His talking animal....

 Hands up!

 Poor Jackson....

Stocking time!

 Both boys had to try out their green machines before we opened presents..

 I think he is feeling better....

 This is may favorite part. Both boys were able to participate in the Secret Santa shop at school. It is a day when they buy gifts that they pick out for their family members. I just love seeing the excitement on their faces when they give their presents! Jackson got granddaddy a Clemson tie.

 Beckett got him a boat for his office desk.

Beckett got Noni a bird feeder.

 Jackson got Noni a cookie platter.

 Jackson got daddy a cooler.

 Beckett got daddy some new socks.

 Jackson got me a necklace and Beckett got me a purse.

 May absolute favorite part....the boys bought each other gifts. Beckett got Jackson an air hockey game.

 Jackson got Beckett some racing cars. It is so sweet to see how much thought they put into the gifts they picked out. Love it!

 This one's favorite gift..his fishing rod! He has shot that rod into our pool a thousand times!

 Electric scooter! This was his favorite and he has wanted it since he rode it at Aunt Sarah's when he was 6 years. Age recommendation is 8, so he finally got it! Unfortunately, the breaks were broken and we had to send it back. Boo!!

 Testing out his rod!

 Lava Ball and Sweetie got lamb shanks. Yummy!

Crazy boy!

 And now...the moment I couldn't wait for! Their big surprise. I envisioned jumping for joy and maybe even a tear or two. Well, I did not get any of these things. Beckett saw it was a suitcase and flopped on the couch saying he did not want a suitcase. When we convinced him he needed to open it and the balloon came out, he proceeded to punch the balloon. Jackson started to figure it out and once he did, his first question was, " How long are we staying for?"

Well, not at all the reaction I was hoping for, but we are going to Disney for New Year's and I was so excited! I think they were a little overwhelmed by all the Christmas excitement because the next day they were super excited and packed 3 days before we were going to leave! What a great Christmas with family. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family and 2 healthy, happy boys. 2017 is just around the corner and we can't wait to see what exciting adventures it will hold! We love you all!!