We spent Christmas morning in our new home with just our family - I think it is the first year we have done this and it was nice. We were invited to the big celebration at Hopkinon's house and although we wanted to be with all the kids this morning for the magic, we {mostly I} did have the energy to pack everything up and go down there for just one night. We needed some good sleep in our own beds!
First picture of the day {via the iphone} - the kids were excited about the new hot wheels.
I love all the magic.
First things first!
The boys were so excited to give each other their gifts.
Here is Truman trying to guess what Bodie gave him.
How perfect, ping pong balls for the new ping pong table!
{Bodie came up with this all on his own and I though it was genius and so thoughtful since Truman is always playing}
Truman has been whooping up on everyone at ping pong - the kid has got some skills - whenever my mom is over they play a little tournament together which always involves a lot of giggling.
And Truman's gift to Bodie.
A tennis racquet.
Truman really wanted to get Bodie a racquet so they can play together this summer, again, how thoughtful.
New BYU shirt for Truman.
Bodie got a new octopus {current obsessions} shirt which I didn't get a picture of although he is wearing it in later pictures.
To Dad from Truman and Bodie.
This was the year of "teeny-tiny" for Bodie. He loves caring around anything "teeny-tiny" to play with. My parents gave him these micro racers which were perfect!
Gregg was super surprised by the new iphone.
{which was a total last minute purchase by me, and I am go glad I got it because he surprised me with a chromecast}
I thought the new house and new car were our gifts to each other this year?!?
A new army watch which he was happy about.
Books for Gregg.
This is kind of a funny story. I knew we had one of the Bill O'Reilly "killing" books but I could not remember which one {and our books are not unpacked yet} so I stopped by my in-laws house one day to ask my father-in-law if he remembered which one we owned and what ones I needed to buy for Gregg. He ran down to his office and returned with all these books. He said, "Here, Gregg will like all of these, wrap them up and let him read them." Thanks Bob for the recommendations and help {and for lending them to us}. Merry Christmas Gregg and happy reading ... but you have to return them to your dad when you are done!!! :)
More "teeny-tiny" treasures for Bodie - action figure squinkies.
The boys each got a new DK pocket genius book. They are the cutest books ever and our boys love looking at the pictures and reading them. Truman got one about the earth and Bodie got one about animals in the sea.
Bodie pretending to drive the power-wheels. He might need some driving instructions!
Mom, look at this trick - one foot in the air.
We have known for a while that this was the "big gift" we wanted to get the boys. It will be perfect for driving around the basketball court in the winters and out on the driveway in the summer. I thought it was kind of cute how the boys would get a Christmas gift and then sit in the power wheels to open each gift and then find a pace to stash the new gift.
Grandma and grandpa Simons gave the boys each a set of these magnetic shapes to build things with - another huge hit!
Bodie with is squinkies all lined up counting them.
Traditional orange, cranberry pull apart {although it does not look very appetizing in this picture}. This is the perfect Christmas morning recipe because you do all the prep work the night before, put it in the oven and then in the morning all you have to do is bake it. And it makes the house smell so good.
After a quick bite to eat we sent the boys on a treasure hunt. There was a note in an envelope left in our Christmas tree {which Truman happened to notice FIRST THING when he came down in the morning so we had to kind of distract him into looking at the other gifts under the tree since we wanted to wait until the end to open the note...}
The treasure hunt lead the boys all around the house until finally they ended up downstairs in the {almost} finished basketball court.
Gregg, his dad and my dad have been working on finishing the court without the boys knowing - it was one sneaky task keeping the boys from going down there the last few days.
The cement walls all had to be sanded down {which created a HUGE mess in the entire house} in preparation for the siding {which is back ordered until mid January - thats why I said "almost finished"}. Gregg debated and debated over what kind of floor to put down. He finally decided on these basketball floor planks that have a rubber padding under them - they are very similar to what our rec center has. The basketball court lines are being painted in a few weeks.
We got a "mid-sized" basketball hoop for the boys...
...and the big size for dad.
Merry Christmas.
