Santa vs. The Tooth Fairy

I am a little sad as this Christmas season comes to a close thinking that my kids aren't so little anymore. We still have two believers in this house, but I'm afraid by next year, it will only be one. That doesn't mean the excitement is gone (between the three kids, we had at least one of them in our room every hour on the hour and finally resorted to Benadryl--horrible, I know!), but it just means I feel like they are getting so old.

It started with Kinley losing her first tooth on Wednesday night (after getting five shots that morning at her well-child check-up in which we found out she is now in the 90th percentile for height for her age), and then her second tooth came out on Christmas night. She looks so different with those two bottom teeth gone and she sounds hilarious. Good thing the Tooth Fairy didn't forget about her amidst all the excitement. She was really worried that she wouldn't come since Santa had been there the night before and because she had just lost a tooth two days before. It didn't help that Kaiya and Kinley have been sleeping in Kaiya's room almost every night up on her loft bed. The poor tooth fairy and her helper (Bennett) had a heck of time finding her tooth, which was lodged under her pillow up against the wall in her sister's loft bed. The Tooth Fairy is much too old to climb. When I suggested that Kinley just put the tooth under her own pillow, Kaiya reminded her that the Tooth Fairy travels by flying, so being up on the loft bed is really no big deal.

We really had an enjoyable couple days. We enjoyed a get-together with friends, saw our traditional Christmas Eve movie, had a nice dinner with my family, and let the kids open some new jammies that night. Christmas Day started at 7 a.m. and didn't wind down until about 5 p.m. My mom and I were even able to sneak in our annual run on the icy pavement.

One nice thing about the kids getting older was being able to eat some breakfast between Santa gifts and wrapped presents. We were so slow this year that my family showed up before we were done! The kids really enjoyed buying for other people this year and there was genuine appreciation for everything. Love seeing the joy in their eyes! It has been so fun watching them play all day bouncing from one activity to the next. Santa is one smart dude!!

All dressed up

Loving having Uncle Bennett home!

Christmas Eve jammies

iPod land!

A dollhouse as big as she is

Her own balance beam

So proud to have bought this for her sister

A BB gun that surprised mom as much as Cooper

Taking it all in

Getting a gift explanation--looks important

Uncle B's "munchkin"

The year of the atrocious Snuggie

Being Papa the Trooper

Official ORU fan club member now

Sporting our upcoming marathon and 1/2 marathon personalized t-shirts