CHRISTMAS MORNING...
Here Chris is helping Noah put together his pirate ship. Noah seems most interested in his new castle and ship.

The boys went outside to try out Will's new golf clubs.

Here they are opening their new Foosball table. Ethan seems to think it is cool! Chris is putting it together now so they can play when they wake up from nap. We all need a nap after getting up at 5:40 thanks to the boys. They were done opening their presents by 6:20!

Will asked every Santa he saw for a stuffed horse. He was VERY happy to get this one. He has named him Duke.

Here Will is trying out his new moon shoes. They are calling for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes so we had to get in all of our outside play this morning.

My new ride! All I need is a basket and I'm all set for my Blockbuster trips.

Just a small portion of the mass chaos/mess! After cleaning up the house, we went to Bobbie's for brunch. It was very delicious and I'm quite certain I'll be stuffed for the entire day.

CHRISTMAS EVE...
The boys sprinkled out reindeer food so Santa and the reindeer would know where to land.

The Eagney's and Bobbie came over for Eve dinner. We had lasagna and baked ziti. We exchanged gifts after dinner and from what I hear, there was a lot of Wii action going on after that. Melissa and I had some last minute shopping to do so we were spared. I did play a couple rounds of Twister with the boys after we dropped off donuts to the firehouse. The boys had a hard time departing with a dozen Krispy Kremes, but they were happy once they the firefighters came out to thank them.

The boys killed some time waiting for the big day with a little Perfection action.

It's getting so close! The boys are so excited for Christmas. They can't wait to start tracking Santa tomorrow morning. They had fun at school this week. Ethan brought in donuts to share with his class for his "birthday breakfast" at school. In the afternoon he had his Christmas party at school. He begged Grandma Ann to attend so she did. He was quite happy about that. On Friday Will and Noah had their turn to wear their pajamas to school for their "Polar Express Party." They also had a pizza party. They said that they had a lot of fun. Friday night Bobbie hosted a cookie exchange at her house. We had a good time and came home with a lot of cookies. Emma, Paige, Sophia, and Dara had a good time entertaining everyone by dancing around in their fancy dresses. The boys stayed home with Chris and had a Wii party! After Bobbie's we did some last minute shopping at Target. We went late and did not have to suffer through any crowds. Today is Ethan's 7th birthday. He chose to go to McDonald's for lunch today. We met the Eagney girls there and they all had fun eating Happy Meals and playing on the playground. Tonight we went over to the Eagney's and sang Happy Birthday to Ethan and he had a chocolate pie. I didn't bring my camera with me so I don't have a picture of the birthday boy. I think Melissa snapped one though.
Here are Sophia and Paige showing off their fancy Christmas dresses!

Ethan's stitches are out! He was very nervous walking in and kept asking, "Is it going to hurt?" Well, since I have never had stitches I had no idea. Chris kept promising it wouldn't hurt and the doctor also promised it wouldn't hurt. The first set of stitches to come out was a breeze. The second set, however, was not that easy. The doctor that had put the stitches in had apparently done that one too tight so there was a lot of tugging involved with is still very sensitive cut and still swollen and broken thumb! He didn't cry, but was shivering a bit. The doctor apologized profusely and he once again took it like a champ. He is just happy that the only thing involved in his future is x-rays! I am happy about that as well!! The cutest part of today was that Ethan had a "Polar Express Party" at school today and had to wear pajamas for it. He was VERY embarrassed to walk past the older kids in his pajamas on his way to class. He was even more embarrassed having to walk into the doctor's office in his PJs. In other news, the boys brought home the most adorable Christmas ornaments that they had made at Cub Scouts. The local pottery studio brought the ornaments for the boys to paint and then fired them. Today a group of teachers from work got together at the local pottery place, Fire It Up, and I returned the favor and made the boys a surfboard plaque to hang in their hallway. It fires much darker than the paints look now. Noah seemed to really like it!

Will and Noah had a little Christmas performance at school. We didn't think Will would sing, but he did great! Mom and I went to watch them. Now, if we can just get past the next 6 days of constant begging to open presents we'll be set! Tonight they are going to the Cub Scout Christmas party.

After the party we came home for nap time. We were supposed to camp tonight at the park that Ethan had his party out. Unfortunately, because of the county burn ban in fear of wildfires, we couldn't have a campfire. Well, what's camping without a campfire??? Ethan chose to go bowling instead. We met Mike, Melissa, the girls, Colleen, Aaron, and Kyle at the bowling alley and played a game. They had a blast. It was Will and Noah's first time bowling. After bowling we went to eat at a restaurant on the beach. The kids all ran around on the pitch black beach. There was no moonlight so there were some close calls with a couple poles! After, they strolled along Flagler looking at all the cool motorcycles at the motorcycle stroll. I think we made Ethan quite happy on his birthday party day. They are currently playing the Wii. Tomorrow we pick up Grandma Ann from the airport!

Ethan's party was a lot of fun! The weather cooperated and minus the numerous playground injuries, the kids all had a great time. Ethan of course turned away from everyone when we sang to him. He turned bright red and looked out towards the parking lot. He has at least come a lone way from hiding under the table shouting, "I don't like that song!" Here are a few pictures from the party.

Ethan is doing much better! Yesterday he went to see the orthopedic doctor. They cleaned around his stitches, checked out his x-rays, and re-wrapped it freeing his four fingers. He goes on Wednesday to get the stitches out. After that he has a second round of x-rays on January 3rd to be sure that his thumb is healing properly. We just finished up some Christmas crafts and now all three of them are reenacting the Sinbad Show from Universal. You see, it involves a lot of sword fighting and special stunts which they love to practice to perfection! It has been a rainy afternoon here so we have been trapped in the house.

The injury...

Ethan went for his follow-up visit today. There was no sign of an infection so that is good. She was concerned with the swelling and decided that we not hold off until the stitches come out to see the orthopedic. He has an appointment tomorrow at 11:30. His stitches come out on the 20th. He has been unbelievably brave. I could barely hold it together watching them work on it today. I got a bit light headed and had to sit and recover.

Well, Will and Noah were not at all phased by Ethan's Razor scooter injury! They were out all afternoon jumping the ramp. Chris nearly had a heart attack when he pulled up and they were on the ramp with their bikes. It was bad timing. He happened to pull up just and Noah and Will wiped out. Ethan has been doing fine today. We have been keeping up with his pain medication and he took a nice long nap.

The injured...

Sunday evening while we were taking a walk with the boys who were riding their scooters, Ethan decided to take a break and walk for a while too. Poor Ethan fell while holding his scooter, and his body landed on the scooter with his left hand on the bottom. This resulted in a lot of crying and even more blood. After some deliberation, we decided that a trip the ER was needed. Ethan was certain that no stitches were needed and did not want to go, but we convinced him otherwise. He was so cute right after; he said that all he wanted for Christmas was to have his finger better and to not be in pain.

It's a good thing we went though, because he broke the tip of his thumb, fractured his index finger and needed to have his thumb nail removed to stitch the huge cut under the nail (which they later stitched back in place as a pseudo-bandage). Ethan was a real trooper while we were there. I still don't know where the bravery came from, but he got the through the whole thing with almost no tears. The ER staff even couldn't believe how good he was.

Well, he has to miss school for the next two days and has a couple of follow-up appointments in the next week. They even advised that we take him to see a specialist, just as a precaution I guess. Pictures to follow later.

Here are a few pictures from Universal yesterday.

The boys in front of one of the Macy's Day parade balloons.Our favorite roller coaster- The Flying Unicorn!

Yesterday we spent the day at Universal. We went to the character breakfast in the morning. Their breakfast was awesome. In addition to the food being really good, each of the characters spent 10 minutes at our table chatting with the kids and goofing around! Noah couldn't stop cracking up at Thing 1 and Thing 2. He just kept laughing and saying, "You're really funny, you're really funny!" Spiderman also spent a large amount of time chit chatting with Noah. He asked Will and Noah separately if he was their favorite super hero! Both said no!!! Noah said it was the Hulk and Will said Superman. Luckily, Spiderman wasn't upset with them. We zipped home from Universal, cooked dinner, and then left for Titusville to see the shuttle launch. It was pretty awesome. Chris got some great pics. He has only converted a few so I will post the ones that he has ready for me. I will have to post pics of Universal later since he hasn't converted those yet.

Sunday was a relaxing day. The boys have been begging us to put up our Christmas decorations. We managed to get the tree up Sunday. The outside is still bare. I suppose we'll have to do that soon! They are nagging about that now. We gave the boys free reign on the tree and they had a blast. This week seems to have flown by. The boys have been busy doing homework and playing the Wii. Today they watched How to Eat Fried Worms and loved it. I didn't get a chance to watch it since I was busy with laundry and dinner. I was told that there is a very scary witch part. There, that is your fair warning. The boys are very excited about all the fun in store for them for the rest of December. We are doing our Universal breakfast and parade on Saturday. The 16th is Ethan's birthday party and camping. Then on the 17th Grandma Ann arrives. The week of the 18th will be filled with Christmas parties and performances. Ethan has made plans for his "real birthday" on the 23rd which involves more partying. After Christmas Grandma Pat and Pop-Pop Bob arrive for a couple days. We plan on meeting up with the Gangloffs in Orlando while they are visiting Disney. Should be loads of fun! Hopefully Chris and I will be able to keep up with everything! We already are behind on thank-yous from Will and Noah's party and Ethan's is just around the corner. Thankfully he is old enough to write his own now! Ah...

We went to the NSB parade after the birthday party. We met up with Melissa, Bobbie, the girls, Colleen, Aaron, and Kyle. Ethan was on the Cub Scout float and was super excited to be in the parade! Here he is going over the bridge.
Walking along with the float.

His view of us!

Our view of him!

The boys had a wonderful time at their birthday party yesterday! All of their friends came and it went very well. They had a great time playing together.

The playground scene...
The wish...

Getting ready to sing...

The presents...

Poor us and our 80 degrees! From www.weather.com ...

High pressure will build across the southern states today, in the wake of the strong cold front which moved through yesterday. Much colder temperature will be felt across the entire south today.
The only exception will be across central and southern Florida, which will remain south of the cold front. This will mean a continuation of warm temperatures for that area.

We are preparing for Will and Noah's birthday party. We will post pics later. Ethan is also in the NSB parade today. He is really excited about that!

Here they are posing in front of the beach shop and the pirate gear!
Here they were watching the twirlers. They were all impressed with their skills. The finale was fire throwing. The boys promptly screamed, "Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' bout," when that began!

They were all amazed by Santa, the reindeer, and especially the snow!

The third grade chorus performing for the crowds. They did an awesome job!

Today we kicked off the holiday season by going to Light Up Flagler. For those of you that have visited us, that is the street in NSB with all of the shops that ends at the beach. The third graders from out school performed and some of the kids I work with were twirling. The boys had a lot of fun. Mary and Emily came along with us and we met up with Melissa, Bobbie, and the girls. We also ran into Sam and her adorable niece. The kids had a lot of fun running around the street (it was closed down) and visiting with Santa. They were most impressed with the "snow" falling in the 80 degree weather!