Christmas continues...

After Santa and Christmas presents at home, then its off to Nonnie's and "Little" Granddad's house. And, finally, our last stop of the day is MomMom's and "Big" Granddad's house for lunch and more gifts!

Let me tell you, if you thought the room was packed full of craziness at Nonnie's when the wrapping paper started flying, you ain't seen MomMom's house! :) Unfortunately, in all the commotion, I failed to take pictures! At least I got a few pics before the paper and boxes started flying!

(Do you SEE that mountain of presents around the tree? And, the sad thing...what you can't see how the trail of presents wrapped around the wall and into the entry hall! Nor, can you see the boxes that were piled up behind the loveseat!)

Grandma "NeeNee", the Christmas tree, and the mega-ginormous pile of presents!


The boys working on their stockings!


Since I managed to get no other pictures, you'll have to take my word for it that we all got very nice gifts and the boys had a fantastic time!

And, after a full day of Christmas....we headed home for 2 hours of NAP TIME!!!

Christmas Morning

After seeing what Santa brought early this morning, and spending a few hours at home playing with all the new toys, it was then time to go to Nonnie's and Little Granddad's house for breakfast (Kenny T's famous cinnamon rolls!) and even more presents!!!!

Christmas morning with Nonnie is so much fun because most of the Taylor side of the family is there and we fill the great room! I mean, seriously, there isn't even room to walk! Plus, add presents, boxes, and wrapping paper into the mix? Woah. You better find a place to sit, plant it, and don't even try to wade through the room!

MomMom and Katie



"Little" Granddad and Sally. Pic is a little blurry, but the only one I managed to snap of him! :)


Chase telling "Big" Granddad a wile tale!



Nonnie, "Little" Granddad, and Chase! Preparing for the onslaught of present opening!


Paul's family: Abby, Chase, Paul, Caylee, Lisa, McKenzie, and Sarah


Kenny, Jeff, and Kellie



Chase playing in a big box! Who needs toys when you can play with a big box??



Cole and Chase can't seem to get their gifts open fast enough!!


Chase putting ribbons in his hair!


Cole and Uncle Paul popping a huge piece of bubble wrap!


As always, the boys received lots of nice Christmas presents! Two of their favorites were the John Deere tractor/farm set with battery operated conveyor belts for putting your hay in the loft of the barn, and the "dump" from Toy Story 3! The boys have spent hours playing with each of these since Christmas!

Ho Ho Ho....Santa was here!

Does it get any more exciting than being 3 and 6 years old and waking up to find Santa has been at your house?!?!?

Santa left the LOOT!



Chase with his new rockin' guitar!



Chase's new Chiefs helmet! (You'll see the rest of the uniform in later pics! He didn't take it off for 2 days straight!)



The ONLY present Cole asked Santa to bring...a real laptop!! (He must have been a good boy this year, huh?)


Chase playing with his new Legos! And, Daddy in the backgroud admiring his new toy (chainsaw!) from Santa! (And, yes...he did immediately go outside in the freezing cold the very next day and cut down 2 trees! Oh yes he did!)



The full uniform!

Christmas Eve!

The boys have been waiting and waiting and waiting! And, Christmas IS FINALLY HERE!!! They got up early and went with Daddy to Nevada to pick up great-grandma Mabel! And, after many hours in the car, they arrived home full of excitement!

Mommy fixed a big lunch and Daddy's side of the family all came over to eat and open presents! The boys could hardly contain themselves, and were so excited that they couldn't even sit still at the table long enough to eat! And, after everyone was finished eating, we quickly moved on the much anticipated part of the day....PRESENTS!!!

Waiting...not so patiently!














Chase is just a little bit excited here!

















Cole tearing into a present!

















He loves his Pillow Pet!


















Chase helping PaPa open his present!














Cole helping Aunt Robyn with her bracelet.

















Chase took this present to Great-Grandma and said, "Here Grandma, let me help you with this one because you're old." Ah....out of the mouth of babes!














After Nana, Papa, Robyn, and Great-Grandma went home, we cleaned up the aftermath, the boys got into their pajamas, and we started to talk about the biggest event which was still yet to come.... SANTA!!!!

Cole wanted to set out the cookies and milk. And, then he disappeared for a little bit. Soon, he appeared with a sign he had made for Santa which he wanted to hang on the fireplace...just above the cookies and milk. And, then he made another trip through the house gathering the rest of the items Santa would need...a Christmas card (which Santa took back to the North Pole!) and a pretty bow to top everything off! Cole really worked hard making sure everything "just right" for Santa!

Chase in his Christmas PJs!













The ensemble Cole put together for Santa! :)

Christmas Card

Merry Christmas



Love, Cole and Chase!

Snow!!!

We finally have some snow on the ground (albeit not much!) and the boys begged and begged to go outside to play in it! Nevermind that it was coooold. And the windchills were awful. And, there is really only a dusting of snow outside.... I guess if you are a kid, none of that matters. The white stuff was calling the boys!

So, I bundled them up and away they went! They were disappointed that there wasn't enough snow to sled or shovel. But, they managed to make due with the tractor, dump truck, and wheelbarrow! Kept them busy for quite awhile.

And, Mom?

I was happily snapping pictures through the window inside the warm house! :) Thank goodness for the zoom!

Santa Clause

This morning, the boys got to sit on Santa's lap! (And, can't you just feel the excitement from Chase?) Ha ha!

And, to make it even better... Santa actually came to our little town to visit boys and girls! The Boy Scouts hosted a pancake breakfast and Santa was the guest of honor! Daddy, Mommy, Cole and Chase all headed down to the breakfast this morning and filled our tummies with pancakes and sausage. After only a short wait, it was their turn to sit on Santa's lap!

Cole, who went with a clear agenda of letting the Big Guy know that he is needing a laptop this year, hopped right up on Santa's lap and started telling him about the gift he wanted. Chase, on the other hand... He was backpeddaling and trying to get as far away from Santa as possible. It took Mommy picking Chase up and putting him on Santa's lap just to get this one picture! And, Chase was less than thrilled...

But somehow I'm sure that Santa will know just want Chase wants for Christmas this year. He's magic like that!

Karate Promotion: Green Belt

Cole has been promoted, once again, in his tae-kwan-do class! He is now a green belt! Mr. Standley has also approached us about advancing him up from Basic Training into his Junior Leadership program! The opportunity to move into the Leadership program is by invitation only, so it is quite the honor. This program would be more intense, with longer classes, sparring, and more advanced weapons. We are considering this move and are discussing it with Cole. If Cole does decide to advance to this new program, it will likely be in the spring.

Chase holding the new green belt before the promotion ceremony!



The class standing "Set!"


Getting his nunchuks ready for action!


Aye-Yah!


BIG hug from his little brother!


Chase is going to tie on that new green belt!


Chase trying to hit the bag with the nunchuks!

Cole's Class Play

Cole's 1st Grade class put on a play tonight which was very cute! It was a story about dogs (boys) and cats (girls) and how they lived on opposite sides of an evergreen tree. The line was drawn down the middle and the dogs stayed on one side and the cats on the other. However, a little puppy and kitty decide to be friends which eventually causes the older dogs and cats to reconcile.

The kids did a great job with their lines and the music was really cute!

Getting ready to start the performance!


Cole...my little dog!


At the microphone!


The dogs...hanging out!


The dogs and cats fighting!


Dancing!


The finale!

Cole's Reading Award

Cole came home from school today with a reading award! He has read 60 books so far this year!!! Woo Hoo!