Christmas may be over, but...

...we STILL haven't cleaned up! 

I don't know if it is because I am still recovering, or maybe in denial about all of our presents, or if I am just being realistic about the fact that I have no clue where to put it all!  Ok, I say "our" presents.  But let's be honest: I mean Keagan's presents!  It was, in fact, his Christmas.  And I wouldn't have had it any other way.  Except maybe for him to have had a litttttttttle more interest in opening his presents.  Ours is the child who opens a couple presents and then is perfectly content to play with those toys.  Who cares what's in the other wrapped boxes.  Out of sight, out of mind.  It turned out that mommy opened most of the presents, which made me feel kinda silly.  But when I tried to "force" Keagan to open a present (sounds weird, doesn't it!?) he would get upset and start squealing and whining.  So in an effort to "save" Christmas from a melt-down, Keagan wasn't forced to open presents. 

Regardless, the Owens family had a nice and relaxing Christmas.  It was Josh's parents' "turn" this year and they offered to come down to our house for Christmas because they wanted to save us the trip of hauling a ton of presents home.  Thank you!!!!  However, I am now wondering if they knew something we didn't...and didn't want to worry about cleaning up afterwards!  Hahaha, I am just kidding :)  Even if we went there, we'd still be faced with the dilemma of finding a home for each and every toy.  So, they came here and so did Josh's brother Clay and Clay's wife Jenny.  I am glad they chose to celebrate their first Christmas as a married couple with us.  It really was a fantastic Christmas and watching Keagan's eyes light up with the vast amount of presents was pretty special.  Having the family here made it all that much better for him, he had so many people to play with!

Here are pics of the Christmas Season, because I am bound and determined to make only one Christmas posting and I have failed at getting these up in a timely manner.

Keagan had an Advent calendar...and he thought he could help himself to it anytime he wanted.  When we told him that he could get a treat out of the calendar he would get so so excited!!!  I am so glad he enjoyed this tradition, because it is one of my favorites!

Keagan opening some presents from Aunt Stacey and Uncle Jarrett.  The funny thing is that he felt compelled to climb on, rather than open, the big one!  But he knew right away what the little one was: a laptop computer!

Present exchange with buddy, EJ.  I don't think they really got it, though!  They opened their gifts, but then each wanted to play with what they gave rather than what they got!  Funny kids! 

And finally, Christmas morning.  The amount of presents was overwhelming to me, I can only imagine being a little guy.  Well, his face said it all when he rounded the corner and came into the living room.  He was overwhelmed!  And only wanted to hold his mommy!  But he eventually got into it...(his facial expressions crack me up!!  this kid has so much personality!) 

And the aftermath....yikes! 

Even if you are still cleaning up, like we are, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!  We did!  And now it is time for 2012.  WOW.

Jolly Ol' Saint Nick

This morning our local Dairy Queen was hosting a Breakfast with Santa Clause so I decided that this Santa was probably much better than the Santa at the mall in Paducah.  Less people (waaaaay less people), shorter drive, food.  And if it didn't turn out well, I wouldn't have invested too much into it!  You see, Paducah is miserable this time of year.  The thought of going up there just to see Keagan's reaction to Santa makes my skin crawl.  The thought of going up there this time of year, period, makes my skin crawl.  So when I heard about Santa being in town, I was all about it.  Off we went to DQ to see Santa.  I had been prepping Keagan all morning that we were gonna go see Santa Clause, in hopes of avoiding a major public meltdown when he actually laid eyes on the old dude in red.  Josh didn't go with us (he was duck hunting) so the thought of dealing with a major meltdown alone freaked me out just a little! Pathetic, I know. 

Well. Keagan was perfect. No crying, no fussing at all. He bravely sat on Santa's lap, looked at his beard, looked around, then looked back at Santa and talked to him! It was so sweet. Of course, Mr. Serious is my child's other name, so we didn't get any smiles. But at least we didn't have the anticipated scream-fest!!

I don't know why I expected anything less.  He was quite the champ last year, too...remember?  http://teamowens3.blogspot.com/2010/12/santa-clause-is-coming-to-town.html
and http://teamowens3.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-carol.html

 

One week 'til Christmas.  Are you ready?  I am not. 

Great Grandparents are Grrrrreat!

This past week, my Grandma and Grandpa James (mom's parents) came to visit us...all the way from Northern California!  It has been a very long time since we have seen them--August 2006, to be exact!  And this was the first time they met Keagan, their first great-grandbaby!  They arrived late Monday evening and Keagan was already sound asleep, so they had to wait until the next morning to meet him.  He was smitten with them from the get-go, and I am pretty sure the feeling was mutual!  Keagan shared all his toys and made sound effects for them.  He played and danced and talked all week long.  He was a very, very good boy the whole week (with only a few temper tantrums) and he even doled out kisses and snuggles to Grandma and Grandpa!  We had a lovely visit and learned a lot about them (how they met, married, and their childhood) and a lot about my ancestors.

Pictures, Pictures...

Grandpa likes to sing.  Keagan likes to dance.  They were the perfect pair.  (I love the way Keagan is looking at Grandpa)

My granparents used to own a Western Auto store and would get us grandkids our first bike...and they wanted to get Keagan his first tricycle for Christmas.  So this is what they did!  And Keagan helped Grandpa put it together!

Yesterday we took them to Patti's 1880 Settlement for lunch.  It is always decorated beautifully for Christmas and all lit up, so in my mind we would go to lunch and then check out the pretty lights.  Well, DUH.  They don't turn the lights on when it is light outside!!  So we didn't get to see the lights, but we had a yummy lunch! And Keagan snuggled Grandma and Grandpa a little afterwards.

This was so sweet...Keagan rested his head on Grandpa's...unfortunately the picture isn't good b/c the credit card/receipt holder is in the way!  But you get the idea... 

After lunch I took some pics at home, and got this AMAZING (if I do say so myself!) pic of Grandma and Grandpa and their great-grandboys!! 

Yes, Oscar was beside himself in-love with Grandpa.  Poor Grandpa, every time he sat down Oscar would demand attention.  Grandma wasn't completely off the hook either...she has a pretty good lap and gave good ear rubs!!  You'd think we never loved on Oscar!!!

It was a great visit and we are so thankful they made us a stop on their big trip (they were world-travelling this month!).  Come back soon!