In an an effort not to bore you, we're switching up the order of the pictures!!! Last party first, first party last.
Okay, really? I loaded them backwards by accident and am too lazy to switch 'em around!
Onwards and upwards people.
Wayne LOVED Christmas. When I was growing up, anticipation was 90% of the fun, and have we ever been ANTICIPATING Christmas. We had the "sleeps" countdown, advent, and his "list." We watched Christmas movies, baked Christmas cookies, practiced for his program.... We anticipated.
And then, it was here. Of course, we didn't tell him it was Christmas Eve until AFTER he took a nap, which in and of itself was a miracle. He was TIRED. It is astounding to me how tired the kids can get from going to just a few parties. They are EXHAUSTED. Once Wayne found out we were going to a party, he was jumping up and down, "There will be presents and snacks and good treats!" "And Grandpa and Grandma and Auntie Shelly and Papa! And Taylor and Brenna." Too funny.
(Okay, so I guess I'm going to have to re-order my pics, since I seem to story tell in chronological order! Give me a minute....)
Okay... Christmas Eve! We got to Papa and Nana's at 5pm, and Wayne had had a 3 hour nap. To say that he was fired up would be an understatement. We all ate dinner together, and Wayne was loving that. He kept going back for more of what he liked (rolls, nachos, jello.) He drank from a glass and sat at the table with older people. He sat and listened to everybody talking, and he occasionally asked me, "Is it time for presents?" I would tell him no, we need to wait patiently.
Here he is, waiting patiently.
After dinner, Papa does a devotional, we read the Christmas story, and we do family presentations. When all of my generation (the grandkids) were young, family presentations were a HUGE deal. We would sing songs from our Church programs, play our school instruments, memorize scripture, and of course, there was the INFAMOUS Klein family "O Christmas Tree" performance, complete with three little girls covered in garland and lights, singing at the top of their lungs. And of course, who can forget the Beld's "Twelve Days of Homeschooling." That one is for sure in the history books (the "five golden rings" line turned into "you are so strange!" Classic!) Anyhoo... This year's family presentations were tame in comparison. I think it's moving down to the tail end of the grandkid generation, and to the great-grandkids coming up through the ranks. Wayne sang is song, and Taylor/Brenna (sorry girls, I can't remember which of you were sitting at the piano, I was trying to keep my kids quiet!) play a few Christmas songs.
Here's Tyler and Wayne.... waiting.
And Aunt Shelly and Wayne.... waiting.
And now Wayne and Weston.... waiting!
Here's Wayne, when the moment is almost upon him.
Papa and Nana gave Wayne the Wonder Pets fly-boat, and he LOVED it!
Tyler left the party with Weston and Wyatt (did I mention that before?) and Wayne and I stayed until 9:30pm or so. At the end, we sat and ate dessert together, and he told me about all the fun he was having, put his hand on my cheek, and told me thank you for taking him to the Christmas party, he loved it. That boy is tooo precious! Then he found out we were getting a ride home from Aunt Tara and Uncle Ryan, and Madelyn and he was super thrilled about that. Riding in someone else's car is always fun!
And now we're on to Christmas morning (and I'm just back from re-ordering pictures... again!)
Wayne was so excited to come down and open the stockings. He sort-of knew what was in them, as he had knocked them down several times (once on Weston's head) and also climbed up on the couch to peek inside. Who's son is he? :-)
Bubble bread on Christmas morning is a family tradition, and this year it was OUTSTANDING. Note to self: Use 28 rolls, let rise for 10 hours, and then bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Note to self 2: Write this down on the recipe, not just the blog!
It's finally time!
The boys both got Vsmile's Vmotion game. They just thought it was so cool that they EACH had a remote.
Wayne has been waiting and waiting for his Rocky the Robot truck. I say "waiting" and not "hoping" because through a husband/wife communication snafu over who was hiding the truck, he had already seen it. But that was awhile ago. He still never forgot though! When he opened it, he hugged it.
Then he danced a jig, and Rocky danced too.
What Silves boy doesn't love a hat on Christmas morning?
And of course.... I had to get him a reading system! I chose the TAG system, because of it's great reviews, and the SMOKIN' deal I got on it all!
Here's Wayne giving Weston his gorilla. You can see in this shot, Wayne is still pretty unsure of the thing!
Weston gave Wayne a snow game for his vsmile/vmotion.
After playing with his new toys, we went to Aunt Trisha's house (bet you didn't know that! ;-)
Wayne was excited once again, and buddied up with Ethan right away, playing their TAG books.
After a morning of opening presents at home, they were both pretty excited for the fun to begin. I think that Wayne must think that Christmas is the holiday that never ends!
Tyler, attempting to restrain Wayne from the presents.
We had a lovely Christmas dinner, and Wayne scarfed his down. (stay tuned, I'll show you the adult perspective in the next post, for now, all Wayne cared about was the food!)
Ethan gave Wayne a flashlight and a Nerf dart gun. Wayne calls it his "boomer with sticks." He wanted it, and I asked him why. He told me, "I gonna boom Weston!" Needless to say, he didn't get it yesterday!
Grammie and Duane gave Weston a HUGE pirate ship, that goes in and out of the bathtub. He has played with this for HOURS at a time.
And Diane also sewed him a pair of Curious George fleece pants. He loves them! He put them on right away, then curled up on the floor to go to sleep. When I took them off later, when he finally let me, his legs were SLICK with sweat! That kid is hot blooded like his Dad!
Later on at home, Wayne was itching to take a bath with his new boat, so we let him. I think he was in there for 40 minutes!
Closing Comments:
For Wayne, this was a wonderful Christmas. He really understood that it was special because of Jesus' birthday. And he knew it was coming and was excited for it. He was so appreciative of his gifts, and would tell people thank you without being asked. My favorite was, "Thank you for making me happy! I so happy!" He also loved to give presents, which was fun to see. It was a joy to watch him and share it with him. I love that little boy to pieces!
Oh, and I did sooo love seeing McKenzie. She just graduated from some hotshot college back east (Cornell?) with some type of dairy degree. She's quite the smart gal! She got hired on by a California farm to work in milk futures. Crazy, my cousin is THAT smart! She is also a DELIGHT to be around to boot. And I believe she's single!
Not this girl though, she's taken. Kelsey was helping out with the kiddo's, and as the saying goes, "It's not Christmas until someone's crying!" Christmas had now begun. Oh, and her boyfriend, Aaron? Also a delight. I really, really like that boy. Okay, he's probably technically a man, but he's younger than me and therefore a boy. And he's not married. Yet. Oops, did I put that on the blog???? I've been cooped up in the house with the boys too long, give me my fun!
And here's the "tootest" (aka cutest) girl around (on this side of the family.) Madelyn!
We gave our grandparents a digital scrapbook of the cousin photoshoot I did of the kids back in October...
After doing gifts, we all sat down for a quick round of "The Newlyweds." Because Tyler had taken Weston and Wyatt home, I proposed to Brenna. We did not do so well together, and I asked Ryan if we could enter counseling! (ha-ha. If you didn't know, my brother-in-law is a pastor.) Anyhoo... It was definitely a game full of laughs!
One of Tyler's gifts was a state road map for outdoorsmen. Or something like that. 
You know me, I have to document the moment! Here's the havoc wreaked during gift opening... Goods on the table....
Garbage on the floor!
And later.... Uncle Jason and Aunt Tanya with the babies.
Grandma joined us, and I honestly hope she thinks nothing less of us after spending the afternoon with our kids. I hope.
Paiger's has been feeling a little under the weather, but she was happy as can be.
Brenna... I think she's still on a "Wii" high from earlier that morning!~
Trisha went over the top with her decor and hostessing. Here were the place settings.
And apparently you can't have Christmas without a drink bar... Coffee, punch and hot cocoa!
Too much food for one table, so we spilled over to another.... Oh yeah, and those are Tanya's homemade rolls on the right!
This was on the kids' table. The sign was all too appropriate!
Let's eat! Caeser salad, corn, brussel sprouts, vegetable casserole, and ham and rolls.
Trisha's tree. (Todd gets no credit here! :-) Get a load of those snowflakes!
And the cutest one of the bunch (excuse the bias!)
