Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning the boys woke at their usual 7 a.m. But surprisingly, Nolan was the first one up and waiting to go downstairs to check to see if Santa came. Shortly after he woke up, Heath & Brooks came out of their room. We always make them wait for us to film them as they go down the stairs. 

They were so excited and so cute and appreciative this year. It is fun to watch them all be at ages that truly understand Christmas and are awed by it's wonder! 

Heath was SUPER antsy to start, so we let him do his stocking first. 

(Apparently I took a lot of pictures of Heath and his stocking.)

Brooks was next...

Brooks was funny, he lined up everything that he took out of his stocking. It was cute. And reminded us of Uncle T. 

 Nolan waited patiently to open his. 

Santa did a really great job on their stockings this year! (wink wink)

After the boys opened theirs, Mark and I exchanged our stockings too. 

Brooks loved my new Bears ornament! 

The perfect Snickers bar for Mark. 

After stockings we started in on the presents. We told the boys that because we had just gone to Disney World, that we wouldn't be spending as much money on gifts this year. They were funny because they kept saying and thinking that they would only have 1 present under the tree which would be from Santa. They were totally fine with that too because we had such a great time in Florida. But we still wanted them to have fun opening presents on Christmas morning, so we still got them their usual 3 gifts, just spent less on them overall. (one from Mommy & Daddy, one from Santa, and one from their brothers) So they really were so happy and amazed when they saw all of the presents under the tree. 

This picture is a little blurry, but I like how Nolan is smiling as he's opening the paper. 

Nolan loved his new Avs hat. 

Determination. 

A Buffs Hat! 

Cuties in their new hats from Mommy & Daddy! 

Brooks doesn't like wearing hats, so we got him something different. 

A fishing pole like his brothers'. 

He loved it! 

But he had his eyes on his Santa gift the whole time and would not stop bugging us about opening it. Usually we wait and open the Santa presents last. But this year, we let him open it up early because he simply could not wait. 

He was so happy to have a Power Ranger gun! 

Next up, Heath opened his presents from his brothers...

He got a new bat and an UA sweatshirt in his new Parker Hawks colors. 

Nolan got Minecraft Legos from his brothers. 

He was so happy! 

Loved his grateful smile. 

And Brooks got Hockey helmets from his bros. 

Lining them up again. Ha! 

This is not the best photo because Heath has his eyes closed, but I wanted to remember this moment. This was the first year that Mammoth Heights had a Holiday Gift Shop. I gave the boys each $10 to spend there to buy each one of their brothers a gift. They both came home with their gifts wrapped, so I didn't know what they bought. And they kept their purchases a secret. 

Even though the items are inexpensive and sometimes silly, they had so much pride in being able to shop for each other and pick out whatever they wanted. 

Heath bought Nolan this super cool necklace! ;)

And he got Brooks a bouncy ball. He only spent $1 on each of them and came home with $8 is change. Ha! Nolan spent just about all his money and bought Heath a mini basketball hoop with a plastic ball. And he got Brooks a magnetic dart game. They are both hanging in their closet now and they LOVE them! This exchange was one of the simplest and sweetest moments of our morning. 

I told Mark not to get me anything for Christmas this year because we were spending money to get my Grandma's rings redone and that was all I wanted. But of course, he didn't listen and got me presents from the boys. That was very sweet- they each got me something: sweats, perfume, and a new pillow. 

And I got a very thoughtful gift from my Bestie as well. 

A jewelery dish for my pretty closet, some cozy socks, 

and this adorable magnet. I love that I look at it on my fridge everyday and think of her. 

The Sloothaaks also sent a fun gift for the boys...

Kinetic Sand! 

They've been wanting some for a long time! Jill and I didn't even talk about this, so it was a super fun surprise! 

Next up…presents from Uncle T. & Auntie Laura. 

A Dinosaur Discovery Egg! 

A Star Wars t-shirt...

and a fun new ball that bounces on water! Can't wait to try that out at the pool this summer. 

Heath got Legos, 

a Star Wars t-shirt, 

and a Dinosaur egg too! 

And Nolan got the same...

Checking out his new "birthday cake" Lego Set! 

Even though we told my family to NOT buy Christmas presents this year, we were supposed to spend  money on memories in Disney instead of spending money on Christmas gifts, but they ALL did NOT listen to me and got the boys something. 

We are so grateful to have so many people who love our kiddos so much! Thanks for helping make Christmas that much more special for the boys. 

The boys and I got Mark some gifts too, but apparently I didn't take any photos: new black dress shoes, new slippers, a 2016 photo calendar, and a light weight black jacket. 

And then the boys gave us the presents that they made for us at school. I always love these. 

Nolan made a book of poetry...

This was my favorite poem! Hilarious! 

Heath made this card and thumbprint ornament...

And Brooks made the smaller mosaic candle holder. He wanted to put it right next to the one that Heath had made when he was in 3 year old preschool. They had the same teachers. 

Santa present time! Nolan got a new bat bag for baseball this summer. 

And Heath got a Jurassic World video game! He was SOOOOOO excited for this! 

And then I realized…we forgot to play the PICKLE game! So while the boys went the the bathroom, I sneakily hid the pickle and when they came back, we played! 

Heath was so happy to have won this time, since Nolan won when we played at Auntie's. Brooks  preferred to watch a little and play with his new gun. 

After opening all our presents, we Skyped Grandma & Grandpa. Mallory and Bob were there too. We all opened up our stockings from my Mom & Dad! It was fun to be able to spend some time with them on Christmas…even if it was on the computer! 

Mark got this in his Johnson stocking! Very fitting for him! 

Trying out his new clothes! He got Peyton Manning socks, new shorts from the Syers' fam, and his new hoodie from his brothers! This was his very fancy Christmas outfit for the day! Mark coined it- a cozy Christmas and even told his family to all wear sweats to our house later in the day. 

Showing off all their fun new gear! Love these boys! 

We spent the day playing and checking out our new presents. I got the tables ready for dinner and prepared the lasagnas. 

Mark's fam all came over around 4. We had delicious appetizers, drinks, and an Italian feast for dinner! 

The kids played with every toy imaginable and spent a lot of time in the basement. We are so thankful for this space where the kids can go crazy! 

Uncle Brad & Auntie Jayne have a Hollywood hook up and were able to get The Good Dinosaur on DVD already. So after dinner, the kids all watched the movie!  

And we played Naughty or Nice Beanboozled! Brady ate a Baby Wipes jelly bean! 

We also played the Pickle Game! 

It was a hard round! 

But Brad came out victorious! 

 Then Wes, Mark, and Jayne made up their own version of Pie in the Face! It was quite hilarious to watch! 

And this is how we found the kids at the end of the night! The sign of a great day! They were all wiped out and cuddling together in our bed. 

Ahhhh, Christmas. You were good to us once again this year.