Christmas 2009...

The day started early...Eli was up at 4:00 and did not go back to sleep, no matter what we tried. Asher slept until 6:30, and we waited for Oakley to finally wake up at 7:30. By then I was quite grumpy trying to get Eli and Asher to stay in our room and wait for Oakley. I should have thought back to how excited I was Christmas morning when I was 5 years old. Eli was acting crazy wild and I was so glad when it was time to head downstairs and check out the loot.  Even Harley was excited.

Grandma Lee Ann gave the Oakley and Eli ipods, which they were ecstatic about.  Now I have to stress about whether they're going to drop them in the toilet or lose them.  I thought they were just going to get the smaller, inexpensive ones- but Grandma got them the nicer ones.  She's always too generous!  They look like little teens walking around with their ear buds in. They love listening to Grandpa Fotheringham's classic rock that he loaded for them.

Asher loved to build a tall tower with his Legos and knock it down.

Harley was quite thrilled with his first Christmas.  He received gifts from Milo, Captain, Simon and Missy - his dog "cousins."  The funniest thing he did was "show off" his new toys when Grandpa and Grandma Fotheringham and Grandma Moore came to visit.  When the boys were showing them all of their gifts and toys, Harley went and grabbed his favorite new toy and came over to show them, too.  Harley is positive he is just "one of the boys" and wants to do just what they are doing.  When we were decorating the Christmas tree, he was watching all of us put ornaments on the tree.  Then he went over to the box, gently picked up an ornament with his mouth, walked over to me at the tree, and looked at me like, "Okay, put mine on, too."

Asher was beyond thrilled with the box of gumballs in his stocking.  I think he was more excited about the gumballs than any toy he received.

Oakley has been obsessed with Ghiradeli chocolates ever since he and Scott when to Ghiradeli square on their San Francisco trip.  Santa was aware of this and brought him a bag, which he was really excited about. .

The coaster cars that Santa brought for each of the boys were a hit!  The boys circled round and round on the wood floor.  Mom is looking forward to when the cars can make a permanent home outside in the spring.  They are fun to ride- Mom and Dad take quite a few rides, too.

Even though it was below freezing, the boys just had to ride their new cars down the hill outside.  They were going so fast, I was sure we'd end up in the Emergency Room with a broken bone.  Asher just kept crashing into a big pile of snow Scott had plowed on the side of the driveway.