Christmas 2013.

  I was expecting more of a reaction out of Rowan on Christmas morning.  I mean, the kid woke up to a bright sparkly Christmas tree that was now littered with gifts that weren't there the night before!  I can't say he wasn't excited, but he certainly did hurry us along or anything.  Which I should enjoy while I can I guess.  I was able to get ready while daddy and Sawyer slept a bit more.  And when we were all awake we had breakfast.  I have given up on having a hearty "special" Christmas breakfast.  I have come to accept that Jon is a cereal man and that is what he got.  I did buy cereals we don't normally buy for Christmas, so in a way I guess we had a special breakfast.  I got Jon Fruity Pebbles.  A cereal he had just recently told me he really liked.  Course we NEVER buy it cause it's like having dessert for breakfast.  SO I got it thinking he'd be all over it, and you know what he does, he opens the Life cereal and pours a bowl of that!  Whatever.  After breakfast we got to the main event.

 Family shot.  It's sure fun trying to get a family picture.  Believe me,  there are many outtakes of this!

 Sawyer wasted no time and got right to pushing around his new cart.

 And this picture of Rowan just kills me.  The way he's contorted his face makes me bust a gut.  Rowan, is that you?  Seriously, doesn't look like my kid!

 Stockings were the first order of business. 

 Daddy wanted to get Rowan an electric toothbrush.  I was going to grab him one from the $1 store, but daddy found a Sponge Bob one for $6 at Target.  It was a great gift idea.  Every night Rowan says, "I wanna do it."  We let him do it first and then we help him with the hard to reach spots. 

 Before we were done with stockings, there was a knock at the door.  It was a special delivery for daddy.  My gift to Jon this year.  A new keyboard.  Apparently the Casio wasn't good enough for Jon anymore.  I picked this up from a guy in SLC (Jon had been sending me KSL links to things he wanted) and had our friends store it at their house for the month.  Matt was kind enough to play Santa Christmas morning and drop it off. 

 Rowan with the gift he asked Santa for.  Skrill.  He's getting quite the collection of How to Train Your Dragon toys.

 Sawyer opening a gift from Grandma Vernie.  Cutest little backpack.  Makes me excited for him to start preschool.  OK, he can stay a baby a bit longer, but he'll be super styling when he does start preschool! 

 The boys got daddy a shirt off Threadless.  I'd tried to get it for him for Father's Day, but they never had it in stock.  I just happened to check again in December and they had it back in stock, so I went ahead and ordered it for him even though he didn't need one more gift!  It was on his Amazon wishlist.

 And since Sawyer had been having so much fun with our Leap Frog car mash-up set, we went ahead and got him the one for animals. 

 Rowan with his Hot Wheels T-rex takedown.  This was a big hit.  You'd think he would stop watching the videos on YouTube for this toy now that he owns it, but no, he still wants to watch them.

 Sawyer having fun pushing buttons.

 This was hilarious.  Jon got Rowan a Lego's Indiana Jone's game for the Xbox for cheap.  When Rowan opened it he almost seemed confused.  He didn't really react much at all.  It was just so bizarre and not like him.  As you can tell from the picture, he just looked at it like, "Hmm.  A game."  Luckily he has enjoyed playing it.

 Rowan brought mommy and daddy a present home on his last day of school before the break.  And the tree is a ornament. 

 Daddy holding the gift.  I was wondering what craft they had made one night when I was giving him a bath and I noticed that he had green paints in his toenails- now I know!  And Rowan holding his new Dinosaur book.  I swear every time we went to Sam's club he wanted to look at this book while I shopped.

 And more books!  Another cute dinosaur one from Grandma Vernie and a temple pop-up book from Grandma Vernie too!

 And since Jon has no desire to take pics of me with my gifts, I do it myself!  He got me the winter boots I wanted.  (I bought them for myself in November but felt guilty for spending the money, so I took them back and put them on my Christmas list!)  And a cute pair of leopard flats.  Love me some cute flats!

 When all the gifts had been unwrapped the boys got to work playing with their new toys while I got to work cleaning and cooking.  Around one grandma, papa, and Megan arrived.  We exchanged gifts- we got papa his annual calendar (surprise) and grandma got a running fuel belt and a massage.  They had a little lunch (or I guess brunch since I made quiche)  with us and then headed back into Ogden.

 Rowan enjoying his new comfy pillow that grandma gave him.  And Rowan enjoying Sawyer's gift as well.  He really is quite entertained by his brother's gifts.

 We went the nontraditional route for dinner and had tikka masla.  New tradition?  Perhaps.

 Rowan with his loot.

 Sawyer with his- including his dragon from Grandma Vernie riding shotgun in the cart!

And mine!  I know, I am cheesy.  Hey, I like knowing what I got each year.  Someday it'll be fun to look back!  I offered to take a picture of Jon's stuff, but surprise, he passed on that offer.

Christmas 2013 was a success in my book, and the only thing that would have made it better would have been having mom and dad Norton with us.  There's always 2014, right mom?!  I think next year will be even better since Sawyer will be older and hopefully more cooperative when I say, "Stay out of the tree!"  And I think Rowan will just keep getting more and more into the older he gets.  Kids sure do make it fun!