christmas in connecticut 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! It feels like I just started buying presents and here we are at the end of the evening on Christmas Day...it just flies by way too fast. We had a really fun Christmas in Connecticut today. It was kind of funny because the adults were almost all awake before a single kid woke up...which you would think would mean we slept in but, no. Actually, I woke up at just after 7AM to find my sisters already awake and drinking coffee. I joined them and waited for the first kid to wake up...Oh! And when I woke up Santa had come!!! Auntie Rae said she thought she heard Santa's sleigh bells in the night!!! I guess she must have because Santa left ALOT of presents under our tree...

Ash was the first child to perk up and when he rounded the corner he was still a bit sleepy eyed but very happy to see that Santa had come!

Finally, everyone else began getting up and we settled in to open gifts...after the kids woke up Grandpa of course!!

Ready and waiting!! Aren't they cute!!!

First, we opened stockings...the boys each received a new Wii game among a variety of other things including candy, paint by number sets and other odds and ends that'll be fun to pick through over the next few days!

Next...presents!! Hurry up Grandpa!!

The boys tore through their presents one by one literally just tearing open the packaging, oohing and aahing for a moment and then setting the gift aside just in time for Grandpa to hand them another present. I don't think they even knew what all they had received until after everything was opened and they had the chance to go back through their piles!

I think it took longer to open all the toy packaging then it did to actually open presents but once everything was finally opened and most of the trash and boxes were picked up it was time to play!!!

We had purchased Jack, Karianne and Kevin's dog, a new chew toy for Christmas and so they brought him over to open his presents too! I was happy to see that Jack liked his gingerbread chewy but I was even more excited to see that Ashtyn is making great progress in his fear of dogs. He was nervous when we told him we were going to bring the dog in but after a few moments of observing Jack romp around the living room he got brave enough to walk around him, chase him a bit with the other kids and even pet him!!

Ash received a couple of new board games for Christmas and so first thing we opened them up and began playing! He beat me at Spongebob Operation...

This evening, Grandma made popcorn in the air popper and drenched it in butter for a snack while we watched movies on ABC Family! Now the kids are finally winding down and as soon as they fall asleep we are going to fulfill one last Wiles Family Christmas Tradition by watching the movie National Lampoons Christmas Vacation! I can't wait!

Oh! And just before bed Grandpa went one round with the grandkids...guess who won!? HA!!

I couldn't have dreamt up a better Christmas Eve or Christmas Day!! To be able to visit New York City, see the Rockettes with Ashtyn and my family, open gifts with my family and see the looks on my kids faces when they realized Santa had really come just made for the best Christmas yet!! I have only one complaint...we traveled all the way to Connecticut in the hopes of having a white Christmas and guess what???? It snowed over 12 inches in Oklahoma today!! What are the odds!?!? HA!!! Anyway...I hope your Christmas was as memorable and enjoyable as ours!!

a new york christmas eve

Christmas Eve 2009 would prove to be the best Christmas Eve I think I have ever had in my entire life! And what a cool Christmas Eve when you are only 3 or 5 years old!?!? The day started off with a very early start. We loaded up into the church bus and headed to the train station for a train ride to New York City!! The train station was really pretty and we were all excited to officially start Christmas!!
The train ride was fun, exciting and all of those things for about the first half of the ride but then the kids started wondering when we would be there! They were good...just anxious to get to town!

After lunch at a local deli, we made our first "tourist" stop at the M&M Store. I had been there before and we had taken the kids there a couple of years ago but this time was alot more fun! The boys were actually excited to pick something out to buy with their "own" money they had in their wallets and we were able to much more easily navigate the HUGE Christmas Eve crowds without a stroller and diaper bag! HA! We were able to sneak this photo by running into place, snapping the picture and running out before the next person nosed their way in for a photo op...

After the boys each chose an M&M themed souvineer (Ash chose a yo-yo and Maddox chose a pen) Brandon went to pay while we continued browsing the store and dancing and singing along to the Christmas music playing in the store!

We took a break to say "hi" to Noni and Papa back in Oklahoma! Wish you were here!

It was finally time for the highlight of New York City!! The girls (plus Ashtyn) had tickets to see the Radio City Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall while the men (plus Maddox & Elia) were headed to do some shopping and entertain the little ones!! We stopped for a photo op with these oversized Christmas lights before parting ways in front of the theater!

The anticipation was growing inside me (literally!!) as we approached Radio City Music Hall and I knew that I was about to see THE REAL Rockettes in THE REAL Radio City Music Hall!!!

I knew the inside of the theater would be nice but I couldn't have imagined how ornate and beautiful it really was! The lobby was all dark red and velvet with a huge chandelier hanging in the center! I only wish my pictures could do the "real thing" justice...

When we went downstairs for a potty break and to get popcorn Ashtyn took a picture next to this oversized toy soldier nutcracker! His mouth actually worked and Ash kept opening and closing it while I took this photo...he said he was making the soldier smile!!

As we entered the theater we were in awe! It's so pretty and so BIG! We settled in and got ready for the show of a lifetime!!

Parts of the show were in 3D and so as we entered the theater an usher handed us our 3D glasses!! Ash didn't think he wanted to wear them at first but once we got settled in our seats he changed his mind...OH! and we purchased our souvineers before the show!! Ash chose a toy soldier globe that when you push its button the insides spin and light up. He let me get one for brother too! And I bought myself a Rockettes coffee mug!

We were told before the show that we weren't allowed to video tape or take pictures, but just before the final song of the show we began to see camera flashes going off all over the crowd, so...what's a girl to do but get out her own camera!? I snapped a few pictures hoping not to get caught!!

Ashtyn really enjoyed the show! When a song got a bit too long he would ask when it would be over but as soon as something new started his interest would perk back up. At one point, during a song where about 30 Santas were dancing at once I looked over to see Ashtyn holding his souvineer in hand and dancing around in his seat! I think he was shaking the entire row but I just couldn't make him stop! He was having so much fun! Also, on the Santa dance Ash literally thought that every single dancer was the real Santa!! As more and more Santas began to appear Ash leaned over and said "Is that magic??" It was sweet to see the show through the innocent eyes of a five year old...

The Rockette show was more then I could have imagined!! I wish I had snuck a few more pictures throughout the entire performance, but take my word for it...if you are EVER in New York City at Christmastime this is a must see for sure!! After the Rockettes Show we met back up with the men and kids and embarked on one of the craziest adventures a person can take on Christmas Eve...we went to Macy's. Dum Dum Dum (doomlike!). Macy's was CRAZY to say the absolute least! All we were there for was to drop the kids letters to Santa into the big red Believe Mailbox but that proved not to be such a simple task. When we first entered the store (or should I say pushed our way into the store) a Macy's worker told us that the mailbox was on the 8th floor. So...(sigh)...we stood in line for the elevator (which came along with pushing, shoving and angry customers) and finally got to the 8th floor only to find out that the mailbox had been moved to the 1st floor. Ugh. Luckily, we didn't go ALL THE WAY back down to the first floor before confirming this information and after we asked another employee where the Mailbox was he told us the 7th floor...so we took the escalator down one level to check there before going all the way back to the 1st floor. SIGH!! Fortunately, the mailbox WAS on the 7th floor and we snuck our way up to the back of the mailbox and dropped our letters in. It took us about 30 minutes to find the mailbox and 30 seconds (tops) to drop in our letters but the kids were excited to know that Santa would know what they wanted come Christmas morning!!

We had been waiting for it to get dark outside so we could go visit the Rockefellar Christmas Tree and Ice Skating Rink. When we finished at Macy's we began the walk to Rockefeller Center. It was freezing out and Ashtyn was so tired that at one point, on the busy New York sidewalk, he literally collapsed and just sat down in the middle of the sidewalk whining and refusing to move any further. It was sad that he was so tired but we had to keep moving. When we made it to the tree the journey had been well worth it! It's hard to explain in words how tall the Rockefeller Christmas Tree is and how many lights MUST be strung onto it!!

We had hoped to ice skate in Rockefeller Center as part of our Christmas Eve experience but when we arrived at the rink the line to ice skate was literally hours long. Not only would it have been a long cold wait, but the kids had had enough fun for one day and were ready to head back home and fall asleep for Santa. It sure was quite the sight, though, to be right there in Rockefeller Center watching the ice skaters twirl around under the lights of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree!! It was crazy busy and packed with people but it did make you feel the spirit of Christmas to be right in the middle of it all!!

On our ride home, Ashtyn fell asleep and so when we arrived back at Grandpa and Grandma's house Maddox and Elia helped carry the plate of cookies for Santa to the fireplace. Ashtyn wasn't in the mood to help...

Aunt Rae and Elia had seen on a cartoon that Santa prefers chocolate milk with his cookies and so this year Santa got 2 glasses!!

We were finally ready to go to bed and await Santa's sleigh!!

Our New York City trip may have been a bit tiring (we did cram alot into one day!!) but it couldn't have been better! Now, not only, are we ready to see what Santa brings but us grown-ups are also ready for a calm and relaxing Christmas Day where we will probably stay in our pajamas and watch movies!! Lovely!!

christmas eve eve

Since on Christmas Eve we will be visiting New York City we had to use today to prep for Christmas morning!! So, first on the agenda was baking and decorating cookies for Santa! Maddox and Elia helped me set up the frosting, get out the sprinkles and bake the sugar cookies...

While Ashtyn showed off his "ribbon dancing" skills!!

While we waited for the cookies to cool the kids wrote their letters to Santa! We will take them with us tomorrow to New York City and drop them in the Santa Mailbox at Macy's! Here is what the boys wrote in their letters:

Dear Santa

I want Ultra Magnus, Imaginext Boat, Dragon Bakugan

Ashtyn

Dear Santa,

I want for Christmas a dual lightsaber. What I want next is a mickey mouse guitar, more star wars stuff, a sword and that's it! I want alot of stuff!

Maddox

Ashtyn wrote parts of his letter himself and then signed his own name...so serious...

Finally, the cookies were cool and we were set to decorate! Hope Santa is hungry!

Tomorrow, like I said, we will be traveling to New York City for a FULL day of fun! We plan to leave for the train by 7:30AM and then arrive in New York City by about 11:00AM!! Then it's off to the races with a Rockettes Show, ice skating in Rockefellar Center and a visit to Times Square! You can't really ask for a better Christmas Eve!!

get this party started!

This morning, we had a lazy and slow morning for our first morning at Grandpa and Grandma's! Uncle Casey, Aunt Rae and Elia are staying at Uncle Kevin and Aunt Kiki's house and we are staying here with the Grandparents! Since Grandma still had to work today, Grandpa went and got the boys donuts and then we just hung out until everyone else showed up at lunch time. Grandpa did have one small (but really cool) surprise for the boys, though...necklaces made out of snake teeth and snake vertebrae!! Maddox is modeling his "bracelet" (as he calls it!) here...

Then we headed to the basement to play with the jeep! Ash and Maddox have way too much fun on this thing! Ashtyn is, of course, a very cautious and careful driver making sure to take his turns slowly enough not to run into anything but still fast enough to be fun. Maddox, on the other hand, drives like a maniac with the pedal to the metal! He never lets off the gas even for a moment and he keeps the wheel turned all the way to the right! So, he often runs into things and instead of stopping he just plows through whatever he has hit until it gets out of his way...

Unfortunately, this afternoon, while I was out with my sisters Brandon called and said that Maddox wasn't feeling good. :( When I got back to the house we found out that Maddox was running a fever and had a scratchy throat and stuffy nose. Uh Oh! We knew we had to give him some medicine but Maddox wasn't so sure he wanted to take anything. He sat on the edge of the bed for a good 20 minutes sobbing because he didn't want to take his medicine. Brandon and I tried to "force" him to take it and finally just resorted to bribing! Grandpa told Maddox that if he took his medicine he could see Grandpa's "real sword"!!! Well this changed the entire atmosphere of the medicine taking saga. Maddox was very excited not only to see Grandpa's REAL sword but when Grandpa offered to let Maddox hold it, he exclaimed "Sure!" This evening, Maddox asked Grandpa "what store he got his sword at...???" Too cute.

Finally, tonight we had the extended family over for pizza and games! The kids all played together while everyone else got the chance to visit. After the crowd had thinned Grandma let the kids each open one present. The boys received their very own (and very first) shaving kits! They are only pretend shaving kits of course but the boys were excited to test them out! Take a look...

Tomorrow is a FULL day of more Christmas fun! Hope to see you then!

over the river and through the woods

Yesterday morning, we got up early, loaded up the van and headed to Ponca City to pick up Uncle Casey, Aunt Rae and Elia so that we could FINALLY make our way to Connecticut for Christmas! Before our trip we "decked out" the van in its very own Christmas "outfit"...can you see it!?!? The mini van looks like rudolph!

After we picked up the Johnson clan we headed to get gas and some lunch for the road but in the meantime we let the kids further decorate the van with some Christmas themed window clings! No, they didn't make it the entire trip (most of them ended up in wads on the floor) but it was fun to do and cute to look at for awhile anyway!

It didn't take long before the "road" got the best of all of us. The kids were all suited up with their headphones watching movies while us grown ups took turns driving and either helping the kids or trying to sneak in a quick snooze when it wasn't our driving shift. We entertained ourselves with Christmas music on the radio, Christmas trivia cards and the most important traveling hobby...SNACKING!!!

It was very exciting, after driving all night Sunday night, to wake up to snow Monday morning! When we made our first stop before dawn Monday morning we were in Ohio and not only was there snow on the ground but the snow was still falling!! How beautiful...and exciting!!

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! As we drove through Pennsylvania we were very excited to see that we would be driving close to Scranton! If you don't know, there is a show on TV called "The Office" and it is set in the town of Scranton, PA. It is a very funny sitcom that mine and Rae's friends all love! How cool to drive right past this town! We really wanted to stop and take a picture with the actual "Welcome to Scranton" sign but by the time we passed Scranton we were getting so close to Grandpa and Grandma's house that we just couldn't veer off our course...maybe next time...

(BIG sigh of relief!) Now we are at Grandpa and Grandma's house in Connecticut, the boys are already snoozing in their new sleeping bags and Brandon and I are about to go to bed ourselves! We made really really good time on our drive. The total miles was supposed to take us about 25 hours and we drove the entire trip in around 28 hours! The kids did awesome and only began to get restless about 30 minutes to an hour outside of town! We couldn't have asked for better! I can't wait to share our next week's memories! Keep checking back!!!!

ready or not...

Hey Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Kiki and Uncle Kevin!! Mom and Dad have packed our bags, loaded up the mini van and set out our clothes for an early rise tomorrow morning!! We are SO excited to begin our drive to your house tomorrow!! Mommy let us try on our snow boots today and when mom talked to Grandma she said it was about to start snowing AND Grandpa said he knows where there's a really big hill so we can go sledding!! YIPEEEEE!! You better get ready for us cause HERE WE COME!!!!!!!

magic christmas

Tonight was the District Office (Brandon's work) Christmas Party!! It was held at a hotel in Oklahoma City and was alot of fun! We ate a buffet of yummy food (and dessert of course!) and then enjoyed a magic show! Ashtyn REALLY enjoyed the magic show! The magician not only did magic but was also really funny which all the kids found very entertaining! Then it was time for the big moment...what all the kids had been waiting for! It was present time! Each year Brandon's work purchases all the employees' children a very generous gift. This year the boys each received a new imaginext playset. Ashtyn's is a dragon castle theme and Maddox's is a gorilla jungle theme! They were both overly excited and we just HAD to open the toys right then and there and begin playing! To end the evening us grown-ups played dirty santa. Brandon walked away with a set of hot sauces and I received a journaling bible! It was a really fun night!