So Let it Be Written....

Tonight we sat down to write our annual letter to Santa. Thanks to Nicholas' Mommy, we had it easy this year!

B insisted on checking "Nice" even though we all told him it wasn't true!

Mommy made a letter for Dad to write out.  Another false claim of "extra nice!"

I chose to be honest (I always do), and went with "maybe both."

We don't want much this year, just a few very specific things.

Mom wanted a LOT!  Good thing she's been so good all year.

I thought I'd sweeten the deal with some artwork.  Here's the mantle with Dad's empty stocking (because everyone knows he is the biggest stinker around) and Rowan on the couch.

Let's hope he visits this house!

Left Brain vs. Right Brain

We found a celiac friendly Gingerbread House this weekend and got right to work putting it together.

But we soon learned that the one of us who is Type A had a REALLY hard time with the other of us who is Type B taking creative liberties with the design!

We did push through, but not without plenty of heated debate as to whether or not it needed to look exactly like the box.

It didn't and so as soon as everyone left, the one of us who is Type A snuck back in and fixed it :)
 

It's Not a Vandy Party Without a Pinata!

It's rare to have a Vandy birthday party without a piñata. This year, we didn't let the big boys play so the rest of us could have a shot.

We find it best to not look at the kids in these pictures, but instead watch Daddy try to keep everyone safe in the background.

He was working hard!

We tend to get excited easily.

and some of use swing REALLY hard.

maybe we don't value our faces as much as the grown ups do.

c'mon... there's candy in there!

we made it through the line-up two times.

everyone did a little damage.

we worked hard for that booty!

but Daddy worked harder. We finally got that thing open and made sure the old guy got his fair share of treasure.

What a great afternoon for a great kid.

Ferocious 5

After a hectic morning, we continued celebrating Bryce with a party at That Fun Place. It was the ideal day because we got to shoot, play video games, jump and eat cake with 18 of B's best buddies.

If this isn't a ferocious trio, I don't know what is...

We owned that place. We were very busy!

Not too busy to take a quick cupcake break and make sure the man of the hour knew how much we love him.

Can you believe he's 5?!

Not only did a whole lotta kids show up, the Moms and Dads took time out of their busy Christmas season weekends to come too! Some were happier about the mayhem than others :)

Favorites all around!

Aiden's Mom really knows how to party!

We went with a pirate theme this year, but I insisted on having Tyler cupcakes. Gluten Free, of course!

Dylan and Connor came.

Nicholas was there.

Connor cracks the Momparrazzi up!

Will really loves all of the arcade games.

Alex and Jackson had a blast.

So did Isaac.

and B of course.

Hey!  Daddy!!  Those games are for the kids!

Hunter made the trip.

All the big brothers came too. It was pretty hard to get them out of the laser tag room.

Mom and Dad were thrilled to see everyone having a great time - outside of our house.

Connor and Henry are good buds.

Henry is getting so big too!

Thank you so much Chaille, Cooper, Edwards, Meek, Smith, Court-Owens, Getter, Nelson and Stanley families for taking the time to celebrate our favorite 5 year old.

Reasons to Celebrate

Today was the day we got to celebrate little B. It started with a really cool package from Tyler!

He said "the best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing loud for all to hear." Wonder what that meant?

He brought B a karaoke machine with disco lights and beats and TWO microphones!

We certainly sang loud for all to hear :)  Thank you Tyler. After the year my best friend has had, we have plenty of reasons to celebrate and spread some cheer.

Santa Fail

Well Mom tried to rush us over to the Town Hall to see Santa tonight. He was pretty busy lighting our New Pal tree and Bryce was absolutely terrified of him and Daddy really had to pee so..

It was pretty much a bust. Maybe next time!