Dreamer.Thinker.Player.: Christmas Morning

Christmas morning had finally come and Santa had been here! He brought all sorts of fun gifts for the boys!!
Ben is teething his top 2 teeth right now and I didn't know it at the time but he was working on a cold/ear infection. So sleeping was fun for him and he decided not to do it. Christmas Eve night he and I got about 4 hours of sleep. He was wide awake at 7:00! It took me a little bit to wake up, but after 3 cups of coffee, I was there! Michael joined us around 8:00...And around 9:00 Jonathan finally came out and saw that Santa had come!!
He was so excited! It was fun!!
Michael and I have been trying to start our own Christmas traditions, trying different ones, etc! This year I had planned on making a big breakfast after present opening! Unfortunately, around 10:30 am a transformer blew in our backyard! It made a really large popping sound and then the lights went out! Ugh! We were about 3/4 of the way through opening gifts...it was taking a while because we had stopped a lot to play with our new toys!
My frustration grew as time passed and still we had no power. I still hadn't made my big breakfast, we still hadn't finished opening gifts and we still needed to take showers and get ready to go to Pat's and we only had 2 hours!! Thankfully a man with the electric company came and had it fixed in no time! So total time with no power was 1 hour! Not too bad, but it was getting cold!
The original breakfast I was planning went out the window, so instead I made "snowman" pancakes! It was a big hit! So all was not lost and that might be our new tradition after all!
We got ready, ran Jonathan out to ride his new big wheel trike, loaded the car and still made it to Pat's on time!
Some fun things that Santa brought Jonathan: Big Wheel Trike, his first Lego set, Monkey's in a barrel, "Mac" from the movie Car's, a large Helicopter set, and lots of new clothes!
Some fun things that Santa brought Ben: lots and lots of clothes, a Musical Penguin, Stacking Rings, a ball and some books!

Santa brought Julie a 64 gig iPad!! And I LOVE IT! (thanks Michael!!) I also got gift cards to iTunes and Target...my two favorite places!!!

Santa brought Michael: a Ukulele, a Jade Bonsai Tree, new coffee to-go cups and new Eco-Drive Watch! - One of Santa's elf's gave away the Watch prior to Christmas though...over dinner one night he said, "I'm not going to tell you about your new secret watch Daddy." - Nice. :)

I took this at 12:22 am, just before I went to bed, for the first time that night. (I was up and down with Ben a few times after that.)

We decided not to do the big tree this year, for our curious little Ben's sake. Jonathan helped me decorate the tree! I took this at night after Santa had visited!

The cookies that Jonathan made at Amy's. Santa took a bite out of 2 cookies and ate a couple more. Michael thought it was silly that Santa took one bite out, but I think it makes it look more realistic that he was there and took a bite...ha!

Okay, even though I was super tired...this was one of my favorite memories. Sitting with him in between my legs waiting for everyone to wake up! Despite his discomfort with his teeth and ears he was a super smiley boy that morning. It looks like he might scrunch his face when he smiles just like his big brother did!

He's awake! Good morning glory!!! (He likes the footie PJ's, he just doesn't like the feet, so we cut them off, that is what he is wearing!)

Good morning Daddy!!

Getting started opening!

Yeah! Big Wheel Trike! - Ben wants to ride too!

Jonathan picked that out for Michael! Ha! - Ben just likes the wrapping paper!

New trike! (You can see Momma's new stationary bike behind him!)

I think he looks so much like his daddy in this pic!

Awesome! I love this kid.

Michael is so excited about his new Elmo book! :)

What-cha got there brother???

Thomas book with Thomas and Friends to play with! Thanks Santa!! (You can't really tell because of the flash on my camera, but the power is out in this pic and the 3 others below)