Saturday, January 4, 2014

Christmas Day

We woke up Christmas morning with one excited little boy!  He jumped right out of bed and was ready to come down to see what Santa brought him!  In Lane's letter to Santa, he asked for a soft, brown teddy bear and a doctor's kit he had seen in a catalog that had x-ray cards.  Santa brought him the teddy bear when he came to visit Lane right before Christmas, and came through with his other request on Christmas morning!  He also brought Lane a working microphone.  He must have known how much Lane loves to sing!  Especially Christmas songs!


We had already opened all of our family gifts the night before, so Santa's gifts were easy to find!





Along with the doctor's kit was a clipboard to hold his x-rays and a stocking with some goodies inside. 


 Peeking through the stair rails to see his loot!


Look at his excited face!  Priceless!
 


He went straight for the microphone first.  This was an item that Lane had never asked for, so he was extra surprised.



He sang a few songs for us before moving on to the other gifts.


 


Looking at his doctor's kit



X-Rays!


Inside his kit was a REAL stethoscope!    He has a few toy stethoscopes, but all of them end up falling off and not fitting correctly.  Lane was impressed with these and was excited that they actually fit in his ears, stay on well, and can really detect a heartbeat!



New Batman jammies in his stocking!


Lane's favorite candy...M&M's


 Santa ate some of the cookies and drank ALL of the Propel that Lane left him.  He must have been pretty thirsty after a long night of delivering toys!



After playing a bit with his Santa gifts, we headed to Gran and Pops' house for the day.  They were eagerly awaiting our arrival and we were excited to have yet another Christmas with family.  Lane was thrilled to get to open even MORE presents!


Buried in wrapping paper!  He was pretty much on a mission.  Would open one gift, throw it aside, and move on to the next present.

He got a lot of fun presents from Gran and Pops!
 


Gran's puppy, Sawyer was excited to have Lane there.  She loves jumping on him and playing with him.
 

She looked so cute in her festive collar!


New drumsticks from Uncle Trent!  They are really neat and play a drum sound when you tap them on any surface.  Of course, Lane doesn't just tap.  We heard some loud noises for the rest of the day!  Thanks, Trent!  ;-) Haha
 


To add to the noises, Trent got Lane a megaphone that changes your voice to different sounds.  Lane thought it was pretty funny!




 Still rocking the fake smile



 There's a real smile!!!  He loved his Playmobil rock band from Gran and Pops!





 We had a GREAT Christmas with each of our families.  They all spoil us rotten and we truly enjoy being able to enjoy both sides of the family at Christmas time.  Lane's grandparents, aunts, and uncles make him one happy boy!



Thursday, January 2, 2014

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family, as usual.  This year we decided to go to the 2pm church service because of the kids napping schedules.  It felt strange to go to the candlelight service in broad daylight, but it was nice to get back home and have plenty of time to eat dinner and open presents.  Lane (and Kyle) took a nice nap after church and were ready for the fun when they woke up!


We took our family pictures before church.




The Armstrongs!
 


A cute pic of Mums and Evin!  Lane wasn't cooperating, so he skipped out on his pic with Mums.


Handsome guy!



Looking good in his new cowboy boots!  An early Christmas present from Mommy and Daddy.


 

 Evin looked adorable in the smocked Santa dress that Kyle's mom bought her before she was born.




Of course, we tried for a cousin picture.  Of course, we didn't really get a decent one.  Lane insisted on having his instruments in the photo and when we tried to take them away there was a meltdown.



Evin on the jingle bells, Lane on the piano and recorder!


Sad boy with no instruments...
 


He cheered right up when Mums let him open one of his presents.  A new WOW toy!
 



We have had a yearly tradition of eating homemade soup on Christmas Eve, and this year mom made my favorite creamy chicken and vegetable noodle soup from Trisha Yearwood's cookbook.  We all ate dinner and got into our jammies to open presents.


Even baby Ellis got some gifts!


Scout and her mama


Lane was definitely into opening gifts this year.  He would open one so fast and then be ready to move on to the next one.  Then he would decide he wanted a toy opened to play with and take a break.  He even helped Evin open some of her presents.


Lane gave his silhouette picture to Mums for Christmas.



 A new puzzle!


Evin was excited to see all of her new toys!


Mums gave Lane a Playmobil farm


We had to work hard to get any smiling pictures of Lane and most were quick, forced smiles!  Too much other excitement!


We gave Evin some new baby Toms!


Another super enthusiastic smile from Lane!


 



 


This was Evin's favorite toy of the night!  A new rocking giraffe!
 


After we opened gifts, Daddy put together some of Lane's toys.  He was very excited to play and it was hard getting him to bed!





 


Right before bed, Lane went out to leave some carrots for the reindeer.  Mums helped him throw them on the roof!



And of course, we left out the cookies that Lane helped make for Santa.
 


Rather than milk, Lane decided to leave a bottle of Propel for Santa.  I guess he thought St. Nick could use some H2o with his cookies!


Finley kept guard on the cookies until bedtime!



We all finally got to bed so Santa could drop off some Christmas morning presents!  Was Lane on his nice list this year???