December update

I thought I should get an update on here since a lot has happened since my last post. The pictures are in kind of a weird order, but it won't let me move them around, so I'll just skip around. :-) These first two pics are of the kids on Christmas morning with their Santa gifts. TJ was pretty excited about his Lightening McQueen bike, and Cooper seems to enjoy his coaster car, although it's harder to get it going than I thought it would be. We had a fun Christmas this year, even though it was a little different. This was the first time that we did Christmas morning all by ourselves. My sister Michelle and her family came over for dinner on Christmas eve, and after a fun dinner and decorating cookies for Santa, we opened the kids pajamas. Before my sister left, we all went outside and threw baby carrots on the roof for Santa's reindeer to munch on while he was inside. As we threw the carrots, we yelled all of their names "Go Dasher, Go Dancer....". It was fun, but I was finding carrots on my driveway for a few days after that, so I guess the reindeer didn't find them. :-) Christmas morning we woke up and came down to see what Santa had left. We played with those gifts for a little while and then we opened a few more. After a few gifts were opened and the kids had things they wanted to play with, we took a break and I made breakfast - Monkey bread, scrambled eggs, bacon, juice and hot chocolate. I've decided that it's not that fun being the mom on Christmas and having to do all the cooking, but I guess it comes with the territory, right? Anywho, after breakfast we opened the rest of our gifts and it was a great Christmas for everyone. After gifts were done, we did haircuts (I know, kind of random for Christmas but all 3 boys needed them) and then we packed up and headed south to Grandma and Grandpa's house. That night Matt started feeling pretty sick, and he continued to feel sick pretty much the entire break, which stunk since we weren't able to really do anything as a family, but at least he was able to use up those personal days that would have otherwise gone unused at work. :-) I think he would have preferred to be healthy.
This next picture is of the boys at TJ's Chirstmas concert. He is taking a music class from the same people who run the Utah Valley Children's choir, so his class was able to participate and sing about 4 songs, which was really fun. It's crazy to see him in a little bow tie - it makes him look so old. The following picture is of me and my siblings, minus my oldest sister Darla, who is still in Chicago. This was taken at the first and hopefully annual Vincent Christmas party. It was held at my house, and it was a blast. There were 32 people here, so it was a bit on the crowded side, but it was so much fun, and I just LOVE having my house full of people that I love. We were even able to have a "surprise" visit from Santa and EVERYONE got to sit on his lap, even Grandma and Grandpa. Below is a picture of Matt, trying to explain this last year....just kidding. Matt was a VERY good boy last year. :-) It was so fun to see how excited the kids got (and how surprised all the parents were) when we heard a "Ho Ho Ho" coming in the front door. There really is something magical about Santa being in your house. Oh, and we had some friends who had dropped by to say a quick hello before Santa got there, and Santa parked his truck behind their car, so Matt had to go and whisper in Santa's ear to get his keys to move it so our friends could get back to the wedding they had ditched to come say hi. Good times. :-)
The last picture is of Matt and I on temple square. We were able to take the boys to go see the lights and meet up with a friend of mine that I hadn't seen in years, and it was a lot of fun. It was the Monday before Christmas though, so it was super packed, but it was still pretty. Remind me next year to go on a different night, maybe a little earlier in the season. Well, that's pretty much our December. 2010 is going well for us so far and we have so much to be grateful for. Hopefully I will have another update on here before too long.