Christmas Day...LOOOOONNNNGGG POST!!!!

We had such a fun Christmas at the Derek Solo homefront. It really was so wonderful to have kids old enough to know what is going on. More so Matix than Marley, but a blast for both of them. After our Christmas Party at Karlee and B’s house, we came home, and did MY FAVORITE part of Christmas Eve…put out cookies and milk for Santa Clause. We didn’t have much of a selection since all the good Christmas cookies had been eaten by Mrs. Clause already, so settled for See’s candy, brownies, and milk. Hey Santa’s doesn’t like junk food too much around this house anyway, so it worked. I’m so sad I didn’t take a picture. It was so cute; Matix helped me write a letter to Santa too. After the letter and setting out the cookies and milk, we sprinkled reindeer food out back for Santa’s reindeer to eat (compliments of Brooke, thanks chica!!). After singing some Christmas songs and getting Matix to bed, Mom stayed up 'til 3:30am wrapping away!!! Talk about procrastination. I enlisted the help of Santa, but he was “too tired” and fell asleep on our basement floor watching me wrap. Men, what do ya do????

The best part of Christmas was waking up our babies and watching their excitement as they ran in the living room to see a room full of gifts around the lit Christmas tree. At our house, Santa leaves one gift for each of us and fills our stockings. We all must have been really good this year, Matix got a cool remote control car (which Mars liked more than he did, I think), Marley got a baby stroller which she LOVED, Daddy got…hmmm…I have the worst memory and cannot remember what he got!!! How bad is that?? Mommy got….drum roll…….A BLOWDRYER!!!!! That’s what happens when you help Santa. The good stuff was all wrapped for me to be surprised. Derek got me some really awesome running shoes, an iPod nano, and some cool running accessories since I have had a major running addiction lately.

So Matix REALLY wanted a train set for Christmas. That is ALL he could talk about day and night, every time we saw Santa at the mall he would ask for this. Dilemma being that he already has not one, but TWO train sets!!!! What the heck?!?!?!?! SOOOOOO, Santa was really smart this year (actually Mrs. Clause, against Santa’s will) and set up one of his trains upstairs next to the tree! He was seriously ecstatic about the “new” train he could hardly stand himself. Ahh, kids….I know, I know, mean Mrs. Clause…tricking little boys like that, but I’m sure all you moms will agree that 3 is WAY too many train sets!!! And I am NOT going to throw away one or two just so Santa can go buy another. Problem solved with a little creativity!!

Oh, I hate these pics…I seriously look like death. Remember, 3:30 AM!!!! Oh, and the PJ’s…every year my mom buys us girls matching jammies and the kids matching ones as well. Sadly, I missed out on the girl’s jammie pic since we didn’t spend Christmas Eve with them, but look forward to next years!!!
Yes, this is the "new" train...:)


What a cute ragamuffin, huh?? One of her best discoveries of this Christmas season was how to eat a candy cane. I had them hanging on our tree, so she would book it to the tree when I wasn't looking, she'd grab a candy cane, break off the top, and suck away!! Smart little thing.
Being an only girl in my family, I am NOT so much a girly girl, despite how I may seem. Needless to say, I have a really hard time figuring out my daughter...what she's thinking, what to dress her in, how to do her hair, and what to get her for Christmas. Matix was so easy!!! Afterall, boy stuff is all I knew. So, I settled on these princess cars for Mar Mar. She loves em!!


Matix loved this little Pirates camera. Also, the white bottle is a huge gallon of bubble bath. When he opened them, he said "Oh!! Santa brought me some milk!! Thats funny!!" I was laughing:).My favorite outfit!!!!



After having our own little Christmas at home, we headed over to Pa and Noey’s house, where Santa had mad a second, even BIGGER unload of gifts! The kids struck gold there!! They got just about everything a kid could ever want, including all the clothes I could ever want for them! Their favorite gifts were their new quads that Santa left. Marley got a little Dora quad even!! So cute.

Matix makes me laugh. Yes, he does have his helmet on backwards and he knows it. He loves to wear his hats backwards, and thinks it's equally as cool to wear your helmets backwards as well. Whateva...
She gives the best kisses ever!!
My lil Cindy Lou Who
Attacking Daddy!!
Slowly chipping away at the massive pile...
I have to laugh at how long it takes kids to open presents. They think they have to open and play with EVERY single gift as they open them.
My Papa and Jude
Matix finally got some REAL air drums!!!
Time to put everyone to work...
Marley's favorite present was her jewelry overload from Noey. SHE LOVED IT!!!! I can definitely say that she is 100% girl. She was so dang funny. After she opened and tried on each and every piece of jewelry (which had to be at least 50 pieces), she started rolling around in the jewelry lying on the floor! We were dying laughing. She is a nut.

She saw Pa's hands there and started using them as jewelry hangers.
After partying with Pa and Noey, we packed up and headed to Bounce-U where the festivities continued!!! Derek's family had a small friend/family Christmas party there to cap off the evening. It was, as always tons of fun.