3 T's & Me: Merry Christmas

We have had one of the best Christmas' during this wonderful year of 2009. We were off to a fast start the last week of school. Trever had a field trip to the zoo and Christmas Party. Tyler participated in a school performance of The Friendly Beast (lyrics found here http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/f050.html). He did a good job keeping his volume the same as the other children in the class this time. I think it was because he didn't know all the words to the song ;) Here he is singing away.

Friday the 18th, Troy and I celebrated Christmas with our co-workers from Mankus Properties. We had dinner at Ruth Chris! The food was very yummy and I was able to score a seat overlooking the St. Johns River. My view looked directly at the Main St. Bridge and the Modis Building. They were both lit up and shone off the river making a beautiful picture. We had a wonderful time.

The next morning we packed up the van and drove to Pensacola. I must say the the new van provided a wonderful expirence for this 6 hour drive. The boys were watching thier tv with head phones while Troy and I were able to listen to the radio, use the GPS and more. It was great, definately worth purchasing the Limited version...glad we did! Saturday evening, my brother and his family joined us for dinner at our Grandparents house. Grandma Amy always does such a wonderful job preparing meals and being a hostess. We exchanged gifts and the boys got to spend time with thier cousins. I think they enjoyed being with their cousins so much that receiving presents was just an added bonus. Sunday we drove to Alabama to check out the Christmas lights at Bellingrath Gardens. It was breath taking and definately worth the expirence. If your schedule allows some Christmas in the future I would definately recommend checking it out. http://www.bellingrath.org/magic-christmas-in-lights.html. On the way home we at dinner at a BBQ restraunt called Dreamland. Good food. (One of my favorite things about Christmas is all the food, which is probably why I have told you 2 times now about the food we ate. ) Monday we celebrated the passing of my dear Grandmother Frances Crowell. It was a good service that honored a strong woman. As soon as the small talk was finished and our good byes were said we headed back to Jacksonville for the final days of Christmas. Unfortunately my camera battery died as soon as we got to Pensacola, so I do not have pictures to share with you here of these events. However, Sarah took pictures and some day in the future I will acquire them too..

My father, Roy, joined us on the ride back to celebrate Christmas with my family at our house. He spent Tuesday and Wednesday being a sitter to the boys with my sister, Sarah, while Troy and I did our best to get a 5 day work week into 2 days. It was a challenge to accomplish work deadlines, finish Christmas shopping and complete the Christmas presents I had decided to make. But thankfully I have a wonderful husband and my dad and sister helped out alot!

Before I knew it Christmas Eve was here and it was time to celebrate Christmas with Troys Family. We had a wonderful time! There were lots of laughs exchanged and great food. The presents were plentiful and company was fun. Tyler had moments of too much excitement and needed some serious discipline that evening but its hard on a 3 year old who can't really believe that this is all happening!!! Tyler tends to act out when he is super excited. Trever however is a constant, always polite and kind. Thank you to everyone who we celebrate Christmas with on the 24th. We enjoy being with you all and celebrating so much!

Christmas Eve when the boys are tucked into bed we begin the process of unpacking gifts and getting prepared for Santa. This is my favorite time! This year I had procrastinated on cleaning out the boys toys to make room for new toys. So this was the first thing to be knocked off the list before we start playing Santa. 2 bags of garbage and 3 bags for Goodwill later we begin the process of putting together Trever's Electric Razor Scooter and Tylers Cars Big Wheel. My dad was here along with our good friends JB and Trish Zimmer. A great time was had by all organizing and preparing for Christmas Day. The boys were super excited to wake up and enjoy their presents from Santa. Around 10 am my mom, my sister and her husband, my brother Isaac and JB and Trish all arrived to eat and open presents. We played the Wii game Family Game night for hours! Tyler received a Police Costume from his Aunt Sarah and was uninterested in opening any other presents once he received that from her! They received Snuggies, Tools and Clothes from Troy and I! Troy gave me beautiful diamond earrings and I gave him tickets to the Daytona 500. We gave out mom's necklaces from http://thevintagepearl.com/

Here are the pictures taken on Christmas Day.