Bedtime Stories

Lofton and Landon love for me to tell them stories at night, and especially, Mario stories. Each story ends with me saying, "To be continued..." They love it, but truth be told, there is only so much I can think of for Mario, Luigi, Lofton, and Landon to do. Yeah, the boys are characters in the stories, and they've done it all; they've gone to Mario World and rescued Peach; they've gone to the North Pole to see that Bowser is on the naughty list. We started these adventures in June while in Destin. It is about time for me to end the stories and think of a new story line. But, it is hard for me to do because the boys love it and get so excited each night, and the other night, they even wanted Levi to join in the bedtime story fun.

Sleepover

Both boys love to have someone spend the night, and of course, Lofton loves to go stay with other boys, but Landon is too young to go. So, we like to have sleepovers at our house so he can join the fun. This last sleepover with our friend Justin was the first one in which Landon slept upstairs with the boys and didn't come down to his bed. Before we know it, he'll be ready to go to someone's house.

Snow Much Fun

Since school resumed after Christmas break, Lofton has only been back 3 days! He has had this entire week off (Mon.-Wed.) due to a couple of inches of snow. Crazy, but we'll take it. I love having him home. We've enjoyed these snow days; in fact, we've had 3 others since winter began. The boys had Micah over to play one day; they played in the snow for awhile, and then on Tuesday, I took the boys out for 2 hours, which is an all time record for me. I have never liked the cold, but when I bundle up in Phillip's hunting gear it isn't so bad. We sledded at the park for over an hour, but of course, we cheated a little by getting in the car and warming up before going back for more. After all the snow fun, we of course came in for hot chocolate every time and to sit on the heater.

Stomach Bug

Landon woke up last Sunday morning with the stomach bug and a few hours later Lofton got sick, too. Luckily, it was short lived and within 24 hours they were better. Though they hated being sick, the boys enjoyed lounging around and playing video games and watching tv. Unfortunately, Levi got sick the next day, but his too was short lived.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Well, Lofton, Levi, and Mimi Mimi got up bright and early to a white Christmas at 6:00 am, which is the time we told Lofton he could get up. (I wonder how long he sat in his room looking at the clock and waiting for it to say 6:00?!) Phillip, Pop Pop, and I crawled out of bed shortly after. Lofton patiently waited on Landon; we let him open a few of the gifts from Mimi and Pop Pop while he waited. Finally, at 7:30 I let him wake Landon up. I heard him go in their room and tell Landon that Santa had been here. They ran in and started opening right away. Santa brought lots of great stuff. Some of their favorites are Mario and Luigi remote control cars, a guitar, Mario vs. Donkey kong DS game, Bowser and Waluigi toys. Are you seeing a theme here? They got lots of Mario and Luigi stuff for Christmas including Mario blankets and Mario vs. Bowser DS game from Nana, and Mario sheets and snuggies from Mimi and Pop Pop. Oh, and I got some of my faves- a Michael Jackson ornament that plays "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" and the Michael Jackson Wii game!

After the gift opening, we sat down to our traditional cinnammon roll and chocolate milk Christmas breakfast and then just relaxed and played with all of our loot. It was so nice just hanging out all together; I didn't even touch any of the mess! (In fact, we are still swimming in some of it)

At 3:30 we went to Aunt He He and Chad's for round 2. The boys had a blast playing with Hayden, Jared, and Abbey. It was nice spending time and sitting down to yet another great meal all together. The boys got more great stuff including coon skin hats, a hunting Wii game, Mario Smash Brothers, remote control truck, and Spy Gear. Christmas came and went so quickly this year and wore the boys out; they fell asleep on the way home.

Twas The Night Before Christmas

I love Christmas Eve, but somehow it went by really quickly this year. However, we squeezed in our traditions- cookie making, reindeer dust, opening a few gifts, reading Twas the Night Before Christmas, and a terrific Christmas Eve meal. Mimi and Pop Pop came and brought lots of presents, and we somehow held the boys off from opening them all. And, Phillip and I gave the boys a gift from us; Landon was quite pleased with his Star Wars Pjs, and Lofton was less than thrilled, but they did love the Super Mario figures pack.

I wasn't sure I was going to get the cookies for Santa made but the boys convinced me to do it. I wish we would've recorded the ordeal. Lofton and Landon got a little crazy with the flour, and when I informed them that Santa might not want to eat them, Landon said, "Oh, he's fat; he'll eat them!" Landon too ate one, and Landon snuck a drink of Santa's milk.

When we opened the door to go outside to put out the reindeer dust, we were shocked to see that it was snowing. Then we came in to track Santa online and when I told the boys he was close, they ran to the bedroom and jumped in bed. Wish we had a good excuse like that every night!