Christmas 2009, Part 1

Phil made it back in town in time for Christmas morning, and to see what Santa brought. In this picture, he's starting the train, under the tree, as my parents are bringing the kids downstairs, so I had to hurry up and snap it. Here's a picture of what Santa left before the craziness started. Left to right- a playhouse for both kids, which JuJu ended up loving the most, a whole Bob the Builder set, with the town, barn, storage shed, all the many characters, etc., and a doll house for JuJu.

The train, which was set up under the tree, was from Mommy and Daddy and was Daddy's as a child. We laid that out Christmas Eve, before Santa came, so it was a surprise for the kids that morning as well.

Walking in, to see what Santa left.

See that big smile?!

And that one?!

Checking out Daddy's train. Chase LOVED this train, and really wanted to play with it, but since it's so old, it's not really a train that he could play with.

Checking out the stockings. JuJu's consisted of several hair bows, all of which she wanted to wear right then, a set of forks, big girl panties, a light-up toothbrush, m&ms, and candy canes.

Chase's stocking also had a light-up toothbrush, underwear, m&ms, candy canes.......and most importantly......

......Blue Lofty!!! This is one of the Bob The Builder characters, which he got in a set from MomMom and PopPop last year, but then quickly lost. Well, that's all we have heard for the past year, "Where is my blue lofty?" Then apparently they retired all the Bob the Builder stuff this past year, so we couldn't find a replacement anywhere! And trust me, we looked! So we are so thankful to Santa for finding Chase a replacement!

Daddy also racked up on some good stuff in his stocking- some good dark chocolate, warm wool socks, a good coffee travel cup, a coffee scoop and an ice cream scoop.

JuJu was cracking us up that morning after she opened her stocking and discovered her candy canes. Every time we turned around, she had one in her mouth. As soon as she would finish one, I would tell her no more, and then 2 seconds later, there was another one in her mouth! She figured out how to open them all by herself and that's all the permission she needed apparently!

She's posing by her doll house in this picture.

And here she is with her new "purse" from Mommy and Daddy. I finally had a girlie diaper bag made for her, so she didn't have to carry around Chase's anymore. She loves it! We'll use this for preschool, since she has to bring a change of clothes, cup and diapers (which we hopefully won't need anymore after this week) each day.

JuJu's new hair bow holder, from Mommy and Daddy. Phil and I actually made this. It was a nice couple project. Phil bought and cut the wood, beveled the edges and then sanded and painted it. I painted her name, the flower and hung the ribbon.

Phil might have been the most anxious to hang this up. He hates digging through a basket (our current hair bow "holder") each morning, afternoon, night to find a hair bow, so he hurried right up stairs to hang this. I already think I need to re-do the ribbon and make them longer. It is already totally full of hair bows (not in this picture though)! I had no idea she had so many hair bows!

Happy, happy kids!

Checking out the view from her side window. :)