Santa's Elves Working Overtime

All I can say is that Santa's elves learned a very valuable lesson this year!! Let me explain. I ordered the boys Santa's gifts a month or so ago (one was a bike and the other was a 4 foot tall Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Secret Sewer Lair). They came in very big boxes which I just nicely placed in our room, unopened so as to not have any peekers, where they have remained until tonight. At about 8:30 or so after the boys were nicely tucked in their beds with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads, we decided to open the boxes and start putting together the gifts. Now, my story could really go down hill here and I could tell you that when I opened the boxes the things I ordered were not the correct items, since I never once thought to check them, but luckily the people at the stores spared me and sent me the correct items. Whew- first problem of the night averted! But, it seems like luck would not stay on our side.

Shane decided he would put the bike together so I decided I would start on the Sewer Lair. I honestly figured I had the easier of the two - yea me!!! So Shane is nicely working in our bedroom and I in the family room when I hear Shane muttering in our room. I go in there and he is all irritated because the front part of the bike, that is supposed to attach to the front wheel, is welded at an angle so that there is no way it will fit on the wheel. He pulled on it, pounded on it, and there was no budging it. What in the heck were we going to do??? Casen was expecting a bike, and it HAD to be put together, because let's face it, that's what Santa's Elves do! We tried this, we tried that, and still nothing. After I knew I could not be of any help at this point, I headed back to my sewer lair - heck, we had to have at least one gift put together. I steadily worked on putting this four foot thing together, and then was called to the garage because Shane had a brilliant idea of how to get the bike together. He decided to tie a strap to one of the tow hooks on the front of his jeep and then wrap the other end on one side of the bar that is to go over the wheel. He then wrapped another strap around the other side of the bar and was going to pull as hard as he could while my job was to try to push the wheel up between the two bars. First attempt, I smashed my right thumb - lovely. Second and third attempts were no go's. Finally on the fourth attempt, with Shane pulling with all his might, I finally got the wheel up in to place! Yes!!!!! Casen would get a put together bike after all!!!! Woo hoo!!!!

So, by this time it is close to 10:30. I headed back to my sewer lair and Shane finished putting together the bike. Can I tell you, it took me until midnight to get that dang secret sewer lair all put together??? At least 2 1/2 hours if not more of putting that thing together!!! Who knew????

So, what do you think the moral to this whole story is? First, always check your boxes prior to the day of. I really feel blessed that my items were correct. I have no idea why I never checked before that night, but when it dawned on me that I never once checked the items I was in a panic even before I opened the boxes. And secondly, put together your gifts prior to Christmas Eve (even if that means finding a secret hiding spot in the attic or somewhere else). Could you imagine what poor little Casen's face would have looked like this morning if his bike was in front of the Christmas tree in pieces? Honestly, these are such blatantly obvious things - but apparently not too obvious for some of us. : ) Let's just say, LESSON LEARNED!!!!

Christmas Week Festivities

With time off from school, Christmas festivities are in full swing. On Tuesday we iced cookies that my wonderful friend, Ann, sent the boys. She not only made sugar cookies, but she sent the icing and sprinkles for the boys to decorate the cookies with. They definitely had a fun time with that!

Casen's decorated cookies

Camden with his decorated cookies

The boys were invited again this year by Shawn's sister, Valerie, to decorate cookies with the McAnear side cousins. So basically Camden and Casens' cousins (Mason and Braden) cousins. Does that make sense??? Anyway, it is a fun tradition they do and we have been fortunate enough to be invited to be a part of it. I always enjoy visiting with my sister's in-laws, and the boys enjoy playing with all the other kids. I think Casen felt a little overwhelmed, since he is the youngest, but he sure took a liking to Grandma Diane. 

The cousins decorating cookies

Casen with his current 'smile for pictures' face

Mason and Kelsi

Braden and Camden

Valerie letting Casen help her pop popcorn
for the popcorn balls

Camden was having a great time

Playing the Pie Face game - Braden got pied
each time it came around to him

Casen was not so sure about the Pie Face
game, so Grandma Diane held him 

While all the other kids were on the trampoline,
Casen was enjoying playing in the pool

When the boys woke up on this morning, they found that Cooper had left them some new pajamas so they wouldn't forget him through out the year. They were really excited and could hardly wait to be able to wear them tonight.

Nana brought the boys a gingerbread house on Monday to decorate, so we took some time today to do that. Camden tends to be a bit OCD like his mother, so he was very particular about where he placed his candies. Casen decorated some, but Camden did the most of it and did a great job!

After going and looking at Christmas lights tonight, the boys put their new pajamas on and said good bye to Cooper. They are already looking forward to his visit next year. They laid out cookies and milk for Santa in anticipation of his visit tonight (which I completely forgot to take a picture of). Here's to hoping they receive toys and not coal this year!

Hood Christmas 2015

Today we celebrated the Hood Family Christmas. Everyone came over to our home this evening. I took the easy way out and instead of cooking a big meal, I ordered fajitas from our favorite local Mexican food restaurant. I must say, it was a win win. Easy to fix, easy to clean up, and yummy! : )  After we ate, we opened presents while sitting around the Christmas tree. It was fun to see the boy's faces light up after opening their much anticipated gifts. I did not do a good job of getting pictures of the adults, but Shane's sister and her family, his parents and Ira were all here to celebrate.

The Hood boys ready to open presents

Casen loved his new Army vehicles

Camden was so excited to get Legos

School Christmas Festivities

This has been a fun few weeks at school for both boys. They both had different Christmas festivities going on. Last week on Friday, Camden wore his pajamas to school since it was Polar Express Day. They enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies while watching the movie.

Camden wanted to pose for the picture.

Yesterday, Casen had his Christmas Party. The kids all wore their pajamas and brought a wrapped book to exchange with their classmates and ate a yummy lunch.

Then last night the Early Learning Center where Casen attends had a Christmas program at one of the local Cy-Fair elementary schools. It was their first ever Christmas program and it was absolutely PRECIOUS!!! Casen's class sang 'Must Be Santa', which was a song I had never heard of. He and his classmates did wonderful. He did all the hand motions and sang out the song. I was a proud momma! After each class did their individual song, all of the kiddos got together and sang Feliz Navidad. Afterwards, everyone enjoyed cooked and milk. It was a fun evening.

I love this picture. Not only is it a good picture of Casen but it wasn't until I was
going through my pictures at a later time that I realized the girl two down from
 him who was so excited about the performance, she pulled her dress up!

Enjoying milk and cookies!

Annual Santa Picture

Santa made his annual trip to our neighborhood, and of course we had to go and take a picture with him. Casen did better this year - although he did not want to sit on his lap, he did agree to stand next to him. Santa gave them each a candy cane and a toy.

Basketball Season 2015

Camden started his first season of basketball tonight. He is playing for the Upward program that is held at a local Methodist church. He is very excited and has been looking forward to playing basketball. He and his dad have been practicing basketball for awhile now and Camden is able to dribble with both hands, which I must say I was quite impressed with his technique during practice. His coach has coached basketball before and at one point he had the kids running horses since they were not being good listeners. On our way he home he said that he had the most fun he had had in awhile - horses and all!!!

Cooper Comes to Visit

As he has the past several years, Cooper made his grand appearance today. The boys were so excited and have been looking forward to his visit for weeks now. Camden even drew Cooper a picture as a welcoming gift. And as he did last year, Cooper brought each of them a chocolate calendar to help us count down the days until Christmas.

After the boys saw Cooper, I caught Camden in the room talking to Cooper and asking him about where he is and what he has been doing. He was carrying on a nice conversation with him - too cute!
This year we are going to have to watch Camden and make sure he does not touch Cooper and thus steal his magic. Several of Camden's classmates have been talking about how they have touched their elf and it still came to their house . . . . Ugh.