It's official, We're THOSE Parents

Unfortunately we have more toys than space.

Here are some pictures from Christmas morning.

This is the way things looked after Santa left presents but before the kids woke up...which was 6:30am for Jack and 15 minutes later for Avery. Santa was considerate enough to put Jack's presents on the right and Avery's on the left. Of course, Avery went straight for Jack's stuff first. She eventually took notice of her toys but his were much more interesting. I think that is always the way kids are. Other people's toys are SO much better than their own. 

Jack discovered his toys from Santa fairly fast. He was pretty impressed with everything on Christmas morning. I was a little disappointed that he didn't try and eat more of the boxes but I guess he is just smarter than Avery was on her first Christmas. I'm sure she'll appreciate me saying that when she is old enough to read.
Avery with her doll from Aunt Tina. She carried that baby around all morning much to the dismay of Grammie who gave her a Bitty Baby for Christmas. Avery also refused to put on the matching pajamas that the Bitty Baby came with. We were so proud....

The slightly sad face she is making is because all she really wanted was an FHS Dance shirt but she didn't get that. Apparently you have to actually go to Illinois for Christmas to merit one of those shirts. We will be going there next year so hopefully she will make the "nice" list and get a dance shirt. 

Uncle "Gooey" sent an ornament for Jack that had his name on it but Avery's birthday. We all know that Larry is getting older so I guess I should let this one slide. It's just sad to see him deteriorating like this. He was one of the greats. Mr. Mascoutah from 1989. Tragedy.

Back to a lighter side of Christmas....

The "bouncy" from Santa was a big hit with both of the kids. Avery loved jumping up and down and Jack loved sitting in the back and being bounced. I am sure this is going to cause some kind of shaken baby syndrome but his laughter is contagious. When he is 12 and just learning to count to 10 I will remind him that it was all worth it because he loved that darn trampoline.

Avery enjoyed hearing him laugh so she kept it up. This is the kind of thing that will land us in the hospital by the end of January. I'm not sure what Santa was thinking. I am pretty sure that he wasn't aware of the size because he would have probably thought twice when he realized that we live in a small house. 

A 1625 square foot house.

Oh man. Where are we going to put all this stuff? It's going to end up in the living room and our house is going to feel like Toys R Us. I don't know how we can escape it. We have managed to keep most of the toys at my parents house up to this point but I'm afraid my dad's head would explode if we show up with anymore toys to keep there.  We already have to sneak toys in and then run out of the house if he finds things we have left there and leaves them in a pile on the dining room table for us to take home. That's just no way to live. 

It was somewhat easier when he was away visiting my brother's family because he would be gone for 2-3 weeks at a time so he would just forget what was already at their house when he got back. (or we would just say, "that's been here all along, dad" and he would shrug his shoulders and go out to the back porch) Now that it is winter and he is afraid to step outside if it is below 60, we are going to have a decidedly more difficult time getting anything in there. Plus if he finds something new he calls and calls to tell us to come get it. I would just avoid answering but he makes our dinner every night so I want to answer in case I have a chance to give input on the menu. Then we have to run out fast after dinner and "forget" the stuff he wants us to take so that the toys can stay there. The pressure to get out fast is just too much.

 

Back to Christmas morning...

Yeah, it's true. Men are the weaker of the two sexes. He was asleep by 11am. He just can't handle all of the excitement of Christmas.

Jack out enjoying his new car. Notice that Matt is wearing shorts and flip flops. That is because it was almost 80 degrees on Christmas day. That is why I love living in Texas. Kids in Michigan are not out playing with their toys at 10am on Christmas morning. Those poor suckers have to wait until late Spring before they can test drive their toys and by then they have forgotten what they even got for Christmas. 

It's sad, really.

The sun shining through the trees at Anne and Steve's house where we had Christmas dinner. Seriously LOVE living in Texas. Avery played outside while dinner was cooking and we managed to make it through the afternoon without breaking anything. That is a huge victory for us because Anne and Steve's house is littered with very breakable valuable stuff. Everywhere you turn there is something that I could not possibly afford to replace just sitting at toddler level calling out Avery's name. I pretty much just spend the whole time that we are there with elevated blood pressure and quick hands to catch anything that falls. 

Now I am off to help boost the economy by doing my part with after Christmas shopping. You can thank me later.