There is no place like home for the holidays!

I think this has been the best Christmas on record for the Palmer family. Bryan had to work in the morning of Christmas Eve so we headed to visit my parents in the afternoon. My boys kept asking the entire month of December "is it Christmas today?" and I would say no so they would say "is it tomorrow?" and I would have to say no. So when it was finally Christmas eve I don't know if they really understood- until that night that is. I still don't think Blake understood what Christmas is really but Tyson really did this year. We had Christmas dinner with my family then we let the boys open one present which was their buzz lightyear pj's and I think a light clicked on in Ty's head. He was SOOO wired! I have never ever seen him so excited. We decided to drive home around 9 pm so they would fall asleep on the way and we could put them right into bed. Blake did just that but Tyson was talking a mile a minute the whole hour drive home. He usually just sits back and doesn't say a word. Then when we got home he was running around and laughing and saying things like "santa will really like our tree mom. Santa will really like our Christmas lights mom. Santa will put my presents right here." When we finally got him in his bed he jumped back out, gave Bryan a huge hug and said "I so happy". I will never forgot how excited he was. Blake was the first to wake up the next morning and I had to tell him that it was Christmas, he wasn't really sure what day it was when he got up. Ty on the other hand ran into our room when he heard us talking to Blake saying "santa came santa came!" Note to self: if we ever have any more kids when they are two don't get them a lot of presents. They only need like 2 or 3. Blake was so happy with the first few gifts he got he didn't care about the rest. In fact we had to talk him into opening more. Ty was ready to open every present though. The best was when Bryan found his snowblower I got him. FINALLY! I got a present right! My hubby is really picky about his presents which I find annoying. I try to get him really nice stuff and I usually spend a lot of money on something he isn't excited about. Last year I got him a really nice tool chest to keep his stuff in one place and it was in the box for two months before he opened it. I got it right this year though. He has been praying for snow ever since. Besides us having a cold though the holidays we had a wonderful time. Here are a bunch of pictures:

Who knew the PJ's would be such a favorite? They went CRAZY! They were flying around and acting tuff. Ty insisted last night that I call him buzz and not Ty.

My parents have a spa so the boys enjoyed it. Blake wouldn't get in so I stayed with him.

He is Actually smiling. It's my Christmas miracle.

I have been working on this blanket for months and got it done a few weeks ago. I knew when he opened it he wouldn't be very excited. In fact it was in a diaper box so I could wrap it and when he unwrapped it he was mad thinking I gave him diapers and wouldn't open the box. I had to open if for him. He sleeps with it now.

Bryan got the boys swords.... not a mom choice of gift. They are always hitting each other.

He wouldn't put his sword down. My dad bought the boys a sled so the guys ran them around the yard. Blake had to bring the sword with him. I love his little face in this picture.

My mom got Tyson a shirt and tie. I think he looks dang cute but he doesn't like it. It will take some talking into.

This is Blake's normal shooting face. The kid is crazy about his new guns.

The new tent with a tunnel my parents got the boys. You know what I love about Christmas now I am a mom? How happy my kids are to go and play with their toys and leave me in peace for a few minutes. Ah- how I love the holidays!

You better watch out! You better not cry!

I can't believe how close to Christmas it is! I'm so excited to see how excited my boys will be. Ty gets what Christmas is and about Santa but he can't figure out the how long until it's Christmas. I tell him it's 10 days away and he says "tomorrow?" and I try to explain it to him again. Oh well! We have been sick around here (again) for the last few days so I hope Blake doesn't get it in time for Christmas.

Our tree- we get the monster trees for our house. I LOVE it! It smells so good. Notice the bottom couple of feet are bare- I'm sure you parents out there understand why. Notice my cute stockings hanging on the shelve next to the tree. I made those a few years ago. Yeah, I'm pretty proud of them.
We have a tradition of letting the boys pick out a ornament for the tree every year. Ty picked out this deer. Bryan was a little bothered it was a white tail deer (I guess we are just mule deer hunters in this house... whatever) and Blake's is a basketball in a hoop.

I was a little too brave and had Ty help me make sugar cookies. Wow what a mess what was. But at least he had fun.

Blake didn't help make but he helped eat the cookies.

He only eats the frosting on them though.

Ho ho ho!

Merry Christmas!!

Home on the Range (shooting range)

For anyone with kids you know how hard it is to get them all looking nice at you for a picture. So I'm proud of this picture even though Ty looks funny.

So if you know my two year old you know he is a little crazy about his guns. I know my husband has a little to do with that because hey I don't mind going shooting (it's actually pretty fun) but I don't talk about it all the time like he does. But Ty was exposed as much as Blake and Blake is the gun nut in our house. He even sleeps with his toy guns and we wake up every morning to him pulling the trigger on it. So Bryan decided to take the boys 22 shooting a couple of weeks ago. Before you have a heart attack know my hubby is really obsessive crazy about safety and we make sure they NEVER touched the gun without him holding it the whole time. They also had to say in the car while the other shot. My boys LOVED it though. It was really cold so they didn't shot for too long. Ty liked it better then Blake but I attribute that to the cold weather.

Yes my husband is a member of the NRA and a concealed weapons permit holder. We are gun rights fans in this home. I honestly would love to learn to shot better because if someone ever tired to hurt my family in my home they are asking for it.

Santa is coming to town!l

Ever since Bryan was a little kid his Grandma Palmer had santa come before Christmas and give them one gift early. Bryan's parents have carried on the tradition.

I was worried Blake would be scared of Santa but he talked up a storm to him. He loved it! And the next day when we saw Santa he was the first one up on his lap.

Ty is telling santa he wants a John Deere tractor that plows and rakes up the dirt.

The fam with Santa.

If you ask Blake what he wants for Christmas it's always the same answer "a big gun to shoot big bullets to shoot the big Buck!" this is what Santa brought him. He loves it. I told him to shoot the stupid deer that nibbled the trunk of my little peach tree in my yard. I HATE the deer eating my yard up and they do it a lot.
Tyson really wanted a Dr. kit for Christmas. He likes this blues clues movie we have where they play like they are going to the dr and I think that is where he got if from. He has been listening to my heart and checking my blood pressure ever since.

The Boys with Grandpa Palmer. He was helping load Blakes gun.

Family Tradition

Every year we drive to Idaho to cut down Christmas trees. Only Bryan's brothers families came but we had a great time.

Our BEAUTIFUL tree! I don't have my pictures of it decorated on the computer yet so I'll show it later.
A rare picture of Bryan and I- Looking stupid as always. He really is a handsome guy- it's too bad I don't have many pictures to prove it.

Bryan's brother and his family. They just moved away and we already really miss them!

Blake's diaper leaked really bad and this was the only way we could think of to dry them. They never really dried and he had to ware his snow pants as pants on the way home.

My sister in law and I held down the fort at the cars with the kids while they guys got the trees. It takes at least a couple of hours so it's hard to keep them busy the whole time sometimes. This year wasn't too bad at least. Blake didn't like his snow cloths AT ALL at first but he got used to it.

My nephews. They named the snowman but I can't remember what it was.

My cute nephew just wondered up to a tree and sat down for awhile. He is so cute.

The boys built forts while we waited. My boys had a blast. What a fun family tradition.

Thanksgiving

Well somehow I got volunteered for my husbands family and extended family to all come to MY house for Thanksgiving this year. It was over 40 people counting kids. We had 22 kids- yikes! What are you supposed to say to your mother in law when she asks you the week before though? I also knew my husband would be ticked off if I said no so I said yes. He thinks is wasn't too big of a deal but the three days of planning and cleaning before with someone who still has mono or whatever the crud it isI have was hard. Lucky for me and all of the family I didn't cook much so the food wasn't burnt. I seem to burn everything- I blame it on my blond hair. I get too distracted and burn things a lot. Everything worked out pretty well. It was nice outside so the boys spend some time in our big back yard playing. The only thing that really happened was Bryan's 6 year old cousin peed his pants downstairs then laid on my love sac and sat on my couch upstairs. Nice. So I spent the evening cleaning up after that. I was down on my hands and knees with my sister in law looking for the pee spot- now that is gross. But kids are kids and alls well that ends well. Here are a few pics of the day:

Loading up on the good food.

Blake was so hungry when we finally started to eat. He loved being with all the kids.

This is what my basement looked like before we sat down to eat. I should have gotten a picture of us after we were eating but oh well. We put plastic down under where we had the kids sit so if they spilled it wouldn't hurt the carpet. I requested no red punch or red jello on my 6 month old carpet. I was nervous when they brought down the red raspberry jam but my carpet is still in tact after the whole thing was over. We ate pic upstairs in my kitchen. I think next time we should have it in a church. We are getting too big!