Christmas day

The rest of Sunday (and Monday!) was spent spending time with family, opening lots and lots of presents, and playing with all of our new toys.

First we went to church, of course.

Then we came home and changed back into comfy clothes, ate lunch, and had quiet time until Grandma Pam came back over and Quinn and Eden arrived - and then it was time for presents!

Chuck had Eden and I had Quinn in our sibling gift exchange, so we were extra psyched to have them open their gifts. Eden was very excited about her Scentsy warmer (and I've lived with Quinn before, so I understand her enthusiasm!) and since Quinn's soccer cleats hadn't arrived yet we wrapped his new cell phone. I also did all the activation for the lazy bum as part of his 'gift' :). Oh, and my mom made Eden the super pretty blue beaded necklace you can see in the top left picture . . .

and I got a matching one in orange, as seen here a couple of days later.

More presents - clothes (including a way cute Star Wars onesie for the baby), Legos, toys, bubbles, and more clothes.

Clyde helpfully aided Grandma Pam as she opened the flamingo windsock he picked out especially for her, and Will was more than happy to help as she opened the photo book of the boys this past year.

Pops left this large box under the tree for a very happy Chuck. You'd have to ask him for the specifics of what kind it is - the most I can do is narrow it down to a rifle or a shotgun :).

And then it was my turn to open (in much disbelief!) the package that Chuck's parents left with my name on it - an iPad2! It's a combined gift for myself and Will (iPads are very useful tools for kids with autism), although Chuck and Clyde very much enjoy their turns with it as well :). Our favorite game app is 'Fruit Ninja'.

We slowed down on gifts for a bit so that we could video chat with Sam and Terri and Bailey and Hazel and play games.

The next night Quinn and Eden returned and my dad came over for Monday Night Football, pizza, and some more holiday fun.

And we Skyped with Sam's family again. Bailey very adorably showed us her princess dolls, waved and blew kisses and colored for us and Hazel sweetly slept in Sam's arms and Terri reassured me that I wouldn't be pregnant forever :).

We felt very blessed this holiday season as we've prepared to welcome a new baby into our home and worked to teach our boys about the birth of our Savior. We loved spending so much time with Chuck and having extended family visit. It was a very merry Christmas!

Christmas morning

Christmas morning was delightful and low-key; Chuck and I actually woke up before the boys which is a rarity. We were psyched to see that Santa Claus had come:

We had church at eleven, so we decided that we would go nice and slow and spend the morning checking out our stockings and eating a yummy breakfast made by Chuck!

Waiting to record the boys' reactions - one of the videos can be found at the end of this post.

Clyde and Will were happy to polish off the cookie that Santa left behind.

Clyde received the gift that he has wanted his 'WHOLE LIFE' aka for the last eight months or so: a Star Wars build-your-own blaster, aka DC-15 Rifle. It's a large contraption that can be separated and put together into three different guns. And each gun makes different noises. We're ALL excited about this gift. Santa also brought him some new Star Wars lego minifigures, so he quickly utilized his gift from Grandma Pam - a Lego Star Wars character encyclopedia - to look up each one.

Will's big gift was a mini trampoline, and I have to say Santa is a genius. Seriously, that guy is amazing; Will loves it. He must have read the research that shows the benefits of trampolines for kids with autism. Will also got a little microphone and recorder (that he calls a clarinet) since he's really into music and instruments lately. Oh, and a Zhu Zhu pet. I know we're a little late on the bandwagon with those, but they are really fun!

Yay for happy little boys!

Clyde helped out by opening the baby's stocking (which Santa and I were hoping would entice the wee one to come early, but no such luck). I think it's awesome that Santa not only shops at Target, but also leaves the clearance sticker on. Isn't that 'little brother' onesie even cuter when you know that it was only $1.12??

Chuck and I were equally as excited about our stockings - Chuck got the Settlers expansion pack, a new water bottle, and the most recent General Conference addresses on CD and I got make-up, lotion, and new drip pans for the stove. Another example of Santa's thoughtfulness - I hate trying to scrub those dang things clean, but it seems silly to spend money to replace them just because I'm lazy. But on Santa's dime? Heck yes!

And here's the aforementioned video of the boys enjoying their gifts:

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve started off with Chuck reading about Jesus' birth from the scriptures while the boys used the Little People Nativity to act it out. I like how efficiently the scene is laid out - the camels are lined up neatly and the Wise Men are going through the 'reception line' to see the baby while the shepherd waits patiently with the sheep.

Then we read more nativity stories with Grandma Pam,

and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas with Daddy while sampling the cookies we were leaving out for Santa.

We also had a video chat with Uncle Cody!

We attempted a cute shot of the boys in front of the Christmas tree, but Will wasn't feeling it.

So we lured him over by setting out the plate for Santa. I like how he gets progressively closer to the cookies with each shot.

Mom and Will . . . and the cookies :).

Dad and Clyde.

And then the boys went to bed and the grown-ups followed not too long after, which adds up to a very successful Christmas Eve in my book!

More December merriment

Mid-December brought all sorts of fun and visitors to our humble abode; here's the rundown:

Some Sundays after Clyde has taken my picture I turn the camera around and try to get a shot of the little boys, especially if their outfits are particularly match-y/dorky as in this case :).

Nicole had a birthday a couple of weeks ago so at the last minute we grabbed a couple other friends and hit up IHOP for some delicious hot chocolate (P.S. They give you free refills if you ask!). Luckily we burned off the calories with the ridiculous amount of giggling we did!

Another Sunday, another set of matching boys, another attempt to record their cuteness!

Christmas break brought two of our favorite people to Boise for an extended visit:

Quinn and Eden!

They've been spending their vacation house-hopping amongst parents and siblings and we were psyched to get them for a couple days, the first night coinciding with the 49ers-Steelers game (hence their super cute, coordinating jerseys). My dad came over too and we watched the game and ate lots of yummy food!

We stayed very busy during their visit, filling our time with video games like Tetris . . .

and of course Star Wars.

I recruited Queden to babysit one day while I ran a couple of errands and the next day when I had a doctor's appointment (this is me at 37 1/2 weeks).

Chuck and Quinn took turns beating me soundly in one of their favorite games, Monopoly Deal. I'm really, really bad at it.

Quinn and Eden also took some time to paint canvases for the baby's room, as did Clyde and Will. They turned out really cute, and if I ever finish that room y'all can see pictures of it!

I also appreciated Quinn and Eden being here when our dryer stopped working - Quinn provided the second set of muscles to help Chuck pick up the new dryer!

The same day that Quinn and Eden departed we welcomed another set of visitors: Grandma and Grandpa Izatt! Since we couldn't venture to Elko for a pre-Christmas trip as we have in the past, they came to us.

Grandma helped the boys make fun snowflake ornaments . . .

which were later carefully hung on the tree.

Grandma's IPad was a popular source of entertainment; here Pops is playing 'Angry Birds' with help from two little consultants.

We watched Boise State triumph in the Las Vegas Bowl, yay!

Will and Chuck worked hard on Rudolph puzzles and this is how Will opted to pose with the finished product :).

More fun with the IPad . . .

Naturally, Terri and I did a lot of shopping. I was fairly embarrassed by how many breaks I had to take to sit down, however!

One of the many perks of Grandma and Grandpa's visit was doing gingerbread houses! Top to bottom on the right side: Mine (complete with a 'J' on the front!), Grandma and Grandpa's masterpiece (Pops did the construction, Grandma did the decor), Chuck's and Will's (Will supervised), and Clyde's, which was some sort of Star Wars contraption. Thanks so much for coming to visit us, Grandma and Pops! We had a great time :).

December merriment

At the beginning of December, we traded in our Thanksgiving tree for our Christmas tree, hooray!

Busting out the holiday decorations was a family affair - the boys were very happy to be reunited with their Little People Nativity Set.

They were also delighted to be in charge of hanging the ornaments.

In this set of pictures Clyde decides that when it comes to smiling for the camera, if you can't beat them, join them.

And then give them the Heimlich.

It was at this point the boys decided they were done hanging ornaments for a bit, so we plugged in the lights to discover that only half of them worked - coincidentally, the bottom half. It was quite a sight. . . that Chuck and I opted to rectify by adding (working!) lights and ornaments to the top half of the tree as well :).

For Family Home Evening a couple of nights later, the boys reconvened to set up the train. Clyde was quite hands-on (probably too much so at times) while Will opted to provide moral support.

I think it's pretty customary for train conductors to hug in greeting when they meet.

SUCH happy little conductors when the train was all set up and ready to chug!

Here's Clyde deftly navigating the train through a tunnel.

The new baby got in on the train action too, happily kicking and rolling around as the train whirled by, (as always) paying little attention to my comfort levels.

And finally, here is our oh-so-festive bookcase . . .

and our carefully hung stockings!
(post-edit: to assuage Chelsey's guilt and anyone else's - I did not make these stockings. At all. They are the amazing handiwork of Grandma Pam!!)

And now we're just waiting for two chubby fellows to grace our home with their presences!! (And yes, I know there's a pun somewhere there involving 'presents' but it's too early in the morning and I'm too pregnant to figure it out. Feel free to offer your suggestions in the comments).