wordless wednesday.

Merry Merry to All!

~outside of Trinity church on Xmas eve.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! This was the first year in a long time that I really didn't want the day to end. What a magical day. On Christmas Eve, we took Kaden to church for the first time ever. He was not a huge fan, but did enjoy the glow sticks that the little ones got, while the adults had candles for Silent Night. It was a great way to start the festivities! We then went home, and made sure to check for Santa the whole way, laid out some cookies for him (cake balls too!) and carrots for the reindeer, and then off to bed he went. The fact that the cookies and milk were gone completely boggled his mind, and he brought it up several times throughout Xmas day. Never mind the gifts....he was mystified with the cookies! And to me, that truly symbolizes what it's all about anyway...the Magic.



~daddy and kaden looking for santa and his reindeer.


~leaving cookies out for santa. He especially wanted to leave one of the reindeer cookies he made with Mamaw.

~and cracking up because he wanted to eat the cookie as an afterthought.


~santa came!


~playing peekaboo xmas morning.


~love this expression.


~highly engrossed in the book "don't bite your friends".




~mama wants to borrow these. thanks Uncle Tobe!


~daddy always had a scavenger hunt for one gift, so he made sure that santa did the same for kaden...here was the first note in the tree.

and this is in the middle of it....


and next year we will most likely make sure everything is PUT together before opening...poor lil man!


Mamaw and Papaw came over later in the afternoon for steaks, and we truly had a wonderful evening!


~slamdunk!

~teehee.



~reading a new favorite with daddy just before bed.

*magical morning*

This Xmas morning was full of magical moments for us, but the most magical moment was seeing this little boy's face when he noticed the cookies that we left for a certain bearded man were in fact, eaten.

Nice.

Kaden has caught on to one of daddy's most loved words.

pre christmas.

This weekend we had a *dress rehearsal* for christmas for the little man, and celebrated with Mamaw and Papaw, Uncle bri and Aunt Suz, and all of the Sextons! Since Brian and Suzanne are going to be in Washington for the holidays, we celebrated a wee bit early. It was a wonderful day and definitely felt like a true holiday for me. Since my mom has passed, it's been difficult to feel the spirit of the holidays over the past decade or so...but thanks to a certain little fellow, the magical feeling has returned times 1000! Kaden was ecstatic and overjoyed over all of his gifts....he opened each and every thoughtful gift with wide eyes and was so sweet to everyone, giving them each a big hug and saying thank you (sometimes to the wrong person, but hey...who doesn't need an extra hug).




~father and son matching shirts...how cute are they?






~The Sextons!


~Uncle Larry and Aunt Gloria


~singin christmas carols with aunt suz.


~cozy.


~Suz and the snuggliest pup on the planet.


~why did I never know Elefun existed? This SO would have been my favorite toy as a child!

Papaw and Mamaw got kaden his very own train table....what a happy little boy!




~kaden immediately hopped on his train table and fell in love at first sight.






~and to all a good night...


~he of course helped out a BUNCH with putting his new kitchen together with caleb and David.


~and played a tune with his favorite buddy Jack.

~and as much as I didn't want to post this because I thought my bootie looked strange, I know someone who has the sweetest lil bootie I have ever seen. He's "helpin mama", his new favorite thing to do....especially when water is involved.

Santa.

~kaden completely frozen by fear.


~flashback to last year's classic "who the hell is THIS guy"?

There is something about the idea of going to see santa that I'm just not sure how to feel about. On the way to meet Santa, Chad and i talked about creepy the whole thing is that it's perfectly fine to set your precious little one on some creepy old man's lap. The main purpose being to capture the moment on film. I understand as they get older, there is so much more for them to be excited about with santa. This year, I just have been so excited to share with him all of the magical aspects of xmas, that I felt like santa had to come as part of the package deal.

We took him to see the santa at Bass pro shops. They have a crazy winter wonderland set up there, and word on the street was that this particular santa was the cream of the crop. Not sure about all of that, but I definitely think half of denver was there to say hello to the bearded fellow!

I was pretty sure kaden was going to be scared to death of the man, so at the last minute before we went up, I bribed him with popcorn. I am amazed at how well this bribery thing works for a two year old!


~mama stayed very close by in case a meltdown ensued.




~annnnnnd back to being a happy boy!


~he fell so in love with this train cap.




~checking out the fishies


~watchin the big boys have a "snowball fight"


~adding this to the list for santa!