Christmas Carnival

Every year, my dad's side of the family has a bog shindig on the 23rd.  I love it, because everyone knows it's always that day, and so far, it's never really interfered with any other parties or festivities.  All of us - aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. look forward to it all year long and it's always so much fun!

This year, my aunt, Tara, was in charge.  She decided to think out of the box a little.  Normally, we get together for a potluck dinner, have a program and a nativity pageant, and the young 'uns (who drew names) exchange gifts and the adults bring a $10 wrapped gift for a present game.  It's always really fun, but as of late, there are a TON of new "little people" around and busy parents chasing them.  The family is growing.

What she decided to do was such a BLAST!  We had a "Christmas Carnival" complete with rides, games, and even pizza and an ice cream bar. No one had to worry about presents or potlucks, or even keeping little people quiet.  It was so much fun and a night none of us wanted to end.  I'm glad Tara thought of such fun and creative ideas to keep our party FUN!

Here's how our night began (and ended, and we also did this in-between activities too.  All the little kids, ours included, kept trying - and succeeding some of the time -to sneak into the gym to play more during the rest of the festivities.):

This was even more fun than it looks!  We were seriously playing all night, and when we finally left, Wes and I both agreed that we needed to get a group of friends together and do this for a fun date night!  And boy oh boy the kids sure slept good after that!

After we played for awhile, we all got together and had yummy pizza, even yummier salad, and ice cream.  My boys were in hog heaven with all the ice cream, toppings, and soda.  They complained of tummy aches after we left, and they knew without us telling that it was because of all the"junk food".  But I'm sure they thought is was worth it!  I know I did when I was eating vanilla ice cream with raspberries.  :)  I thought the food was extremely smart.....who doesn't like pizza, salad, and ice cream?  Yum!

After dinner, we headed into another room and had a special surprise visitor:

I'm sure my cousin, Dan was surprised to learn there was a gift for him in Santa's bag.  And even more surprised when he learned he'd be sitting on his lap!

 Here's some of the little ones anxiously awaiting their turn on Santa's lap:

Here's our big boy, Kolton, even more excited than he's letting on:

He looks upset in this picture, but he really was excited, as you'll see in the video below.  He's so shy, and he often tries not to smile or appear excited. Hopefully he'll grow out of that someday, hopefully soon.

Here's a short clip of him telling me about what Santa brought:

I'm sure my cousin, Alisa, was about as surprised and delighted as Dan was to sit on Santa's lap.  But really, they both were such good sports.

 My darling nephew, Jayden.  He wasn't to sure about Santa, but he managed to avoid crying.

Jonah kept himself entertained with everyone's strewn wrapping paper....

Is my younger brother, Jesse, to big for Santa?  Not a chance!

Jonah didn't mind, as long as he could have something in his mouth.

 Micah was nervous at first, but warmed right up once he realized that Santa came bearing gifts! Poor guy patiently waited through every single child.....he was the very last one to receive a gift from the Big Guy. But, by the expression on his face, do you think it was worth the wait?

Sorry about the poor quality of all these pictures and videos.  They were taken from my phone.  I need to get a decent camera soon.....hint hint Wes.  ;)

This boy is about as obsessed with trains than anything I have ever seen! He carries them around in a Thomas backpack. He sleeps with them, eats with them, they ride in the car with us everywhere we go, and they wait for him right by the tub (of course I won't let him take them in....between wooden Thomas and battery-powered Geotrax, it's not a good idea.....but if anyone sees any bathtub-friendly trains anywhere, feel free to let me know.



My mom got my big boys and my youngest siblings all ready to sing everyone a song they learned in Joyschool....

As you can tell by the video, this little part of the program was pretty much spur of the moment.  But they had fun just the same.