The kids awoke on Christmas morning to all kinds of toys and fun from Santa Claus. Landon's big gift was an electric scooter and Emerson's was a Leap Pad. The minute she saw it she called it "my very own iphone". She thinks she's hot stuff now and boy does she love it. She figured out how to work it immediately and plays it all the time. Landon likes it too. Landon practiced on his scooter in the house and it kind of scared him as it does go pretty fast. Jason enjoyed it more than Landon did. He tested it out first for Landon. I think as he gets older he will be more comfortable riding on it. Guess it looks easier than what it really is. Landon's favorite gifts were all of his new books...he spent at least 10 minutes going through each one and yelling out all of the titles with excitement. Love that he still enjoys books so much! He's been a book lover since he was a little baby. The kids spent the rest of the morning playing with every single gift while we painstakingly opened up every single lovely fun plastic package. Next year I'm going to request that Santa unpackage all of the gifts and have them ready to go! :) We also opened gifts from each other. Jason bought both of the kids silver rings from James Avery. Emerson's has hearts on it and Landon's has the signs of Faith and Hope. Let's see how long they last before getting lost, oh wait, they lasted until after lunch time (story coming in a minute).
After getting dressed we headed over to Uncle Marion's house for lunch and family time with Jason's mom's side of the family. The kids had fun playing again with their cousins as well as with their 2nd cousins, aunts, uncles, and Busha. They actually sat and watched some of the movie Christmas Story before chowing down on lunch and then heading outside to play for the rest of the afternoon in the very windy weather. They opened up some presents and played with them. Barrett got a football so the kids went in the backyard full of leaves to toss the football. After a few tosses I noticed that Landon was throwing with his left arm and not his right arm. I told him to throw with his correct arm and just a few minutes later I saw him kneeling on the ground whining and crying. I figured it was his usual complaints, but quickly realized that he lost his James Avery ring as he switched arms and threw with his right hand the ring went flying off with the football. Oh no! He was so distraught and Jason wasn't happy either. So, cue all 20+ family members and 3 rakes and we were all searching for his ring on our hands and knees in the big yard full of leaves. I really didn't think we would find it as it could of gone anywhere when he threw the football. Good ole' Uncle Harry offered up a $10 reward for whoever could find it. And, within about 15 minutes sweet Aunt Julie found it. She yelled out, "I found it!!!" right there sitting on the grass in a part of the yard that we were searching. We were all over the place looking for it and even got Uncle Marion's leaves raked and bagged for him. I am SO glad we found it and Julie is $10 richer! I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture as it was absolutely hilarious but we were all so focused on finding the ring. Whew, disaster averted! But, it sure made for a good memory. After the ring searching fun the kids continued playing and Emerson enjoyed her princess Memory game that kept her occupied for 30 minutes. Landon and Emerson also had fun petting the chickens. I held one for them and they enjoyed petting it until I put it back in the pen as its heart felt like it was about to beat out of its chest. My kids and animals! Emerson in particular is afraid of not a single animal. It was a nice time with family and the kids always thoroughly enjoy themselves. Since everybody's life is so busy and hectic this is our one time to all get together and catch up. When we left Uncle Marion's we headed to my parents house to celebrate our Christmas.
