Cabela's Christmas Party

 Note the foam piece in Phillip's ear! He is always stuffing things into his ears and nose

We started Thursday bright and early when Ella came to stay with us for four days and three nights. The boys stayed with us Thursday night then went to the Gull's home for the rest of the weekend. I am so very proud of the girls for not fighting and trying ever so diligently to be nice. Thursday evening we went to a fun Christmas party with Justin's coworkers. We brought along the Haley kids for extra fun and kicks. Morley was not so keen on the whole Christmas scene...he was almost a scrooge at the tender age of 12. He was glued to his iPod until bed. Everett was the one who elicited some emotion from ole Morley. Morley crooned and played with little Everett for quite a while. Back the the party. We walked in to find tables filled with different crafts. Amelia and Ella LOVED decorating paper ornaments made from special paper (scratch off the black to reveal rainbow colors). The boys made foam gingerbread houses, ornaments, and foam snowmen. Santa came in shortly after the party started. The top photo shows Amelia's reaction while he passed by.

There was a light dinner with plenty of cookies. Phillip is quite the John Lance. What I mean by that is our family has funny stories about John helping himself at church functions with his own plates and food. At the church party Phillip was infatuated with the food table. He hid under the table stealing carrots and dipping it into the dishes about 20 times; stealing food off plates parents laid down to help a child; and piling his plate with yummy delectables (actually he filled about 10 plates). I caught him under the table nicking some poor kid's cake right off his plate. He is so fast! Well, he loved the Cabela's food table. This time I knew what to expect so successfully thwarted him by giving him a plate full of food at the beginning. Silly kid.

After crafts the kids got in line to visit with Santa. Phillip learned how to say "ho, ho, ho" with a raspy voice. Hilarious. Morley was to grown up to join us. Wink. The kids each got a fun gift from Santa after visiting with him. Phillip was not so sure about sitting on Santa's lap. He lasted about 30 seconds. Ella was brave this year and sat on Santa's lap. The kids loved their gifts. Everett got a doggy blanket, Phillip got a deer pillow bigger than his torso, Amelia/Ella got dollies and butterfly watches, Brayden a nerf gun, Drew a snowball maker and snowman kit, and Morley a large chess game. Phillip about made everyone pee their pants as he loved and tackled his deer pillow. He dragged that thing around all evening. By the time he went to bed it was in desperate need of a wash.

The kids got settled in for sleep. Amelia and Ella only talked about 5 minutes before they fell asleep. The boys had a difficult night due to my negligence. I forgot to turn off the baby monitor. Unfortunately, Everett had a hard night. He was up crying off and on from 9:30 to midnight. After that I spent a couple hours in the van with a crying baby. His little teeth are trying to come in and so his nose was all stuffy. Usually I just go in the basement but the boys were all down there. He fell asleep around 3:30 am and woke up the boys at 6:30 with more crying. Sorry kids! I felt so bad sending them to school with a crappy night's sleep.