Christmas 2015 (finally!!!!!!!!)

I only felt it necessary to complete my Christmas 2015 posts the last day of January.

So here you go.  Lots of pictures and so much fun over the course of the few days leading up to Christmas!!!!

Casey and Aunt Lulu are the fun ones - they brought over these {premade, just have to assemble} gingerbread houses and went through the pain fun of putting them together with our kids.  Pretty much Charlie ate all the extras while Maddie tried to eat everything.

They turned out pretty darn well and Charlie was so sad when we had to toss them after Christmas was more than over!

I did make some cute teacher treats.  Thanks to Target for the adorable wrapping in the $1 section!  Just throw in some Target gift cards and homemade treats - and call it a win (who doesn't like Target!?)

The kids and I even tried to make presents for our neighbors.  We made the treats (on the left) and even wrapped them up super cute (thanks again, Target).  Alas, we never delivered them to our neighbors.  Ha.  I sent them all a picture telling them they *might* get them at our girls night the second week of January, but they were tossed and gone when I got back from London (I don't blame him), so it's just the thought that counts, right?!?!

And thank goodness - to top off my list, the morning of Christmas Eve while all still in our jammies, we went up to Bass Pro (nothing like last minute, eh?!) to see what the line was like for Santa!  Guess what?  Only 45 minutes - so that was just enough time for me to grab a fast pass thing and went jetted back home, I got the kids dressed (I'm still in pajamas, duh) and snapped a picture with Jolly Old St. Nick.  Charlie loved the race car track and Maddie posed everywhere. Typical.

No kid is smiling.  no kid is crying.  I'll call it a wash.

Christmas Eve, we went to church at 3PM and then all headed back to our house to meet some more family members for our annual Christmas Eve seafood fest.  There was SO.MUCH.FOOD.

Great-Granddaddy Bill, Papa Roger and the grandkids

Obsessed with Casey

Shrimp, Salmon, green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes {not pictured: salad & red lobster biscuits!}

And best of all a table full of people.  So much fun!

Attempt at a family picture of just the Carter family.

Then some attempts at the Bruns/Carter/Future Burden clan!

OMG my sister's dessert. Heavenly!

Baths for the kids, matching PJs...and the cutest hugs I have ever seen.

Melt my heart.  After we wrote Santa his letter and left him and his reindeer some goodies, it was time for bed!

After the kids were in bed - mom had an epic meltdown.  Like epic.  But seriously, it was borderline ridiculous and of course, Jimmy handled my craziness like a champ.  Per usual.  He sent me to bed too.

Christmas morning and everyone was SOOOO excited.  Maddie loved her doll high chair.  So much she sat in it.  And tried to lay in the matching crib - that she then broke.  I guess it's not made for 28lb dolls.  Someone tell an 18 month old that.

Present time!! 

These kids were totally spoiled with the big present from Lulu, Casey, Nana and Papa - a CAR!

And then dad opened his present...an XBox 1!  Man, Nana is nice!

And of course - everyone LOVED the Fuf that I got Jimmy (a giant bean bag).  And also the surprise amazing blankets that my aunt made Charlie and Maddie - she's the best!

Mom even got a fun present - love these!  And need them so bad!

We played a little during the day, it was our turn to bake Baby Jesus' birthday cake, then it was time for naps!  (FOR ALL!)

We headed to the Carter's house for a final Christmas celebration!  Will got the Pie in the Face game and it was soooo fun!  Even Maddie participated (Charlie was too nervous!)

...we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus...

And ended the long day with a night full of wrestling with our cousin...

It was an amazing Christmas 2015!  We had so much fun (and why is it so exhausting as a parent too!?!?) and Charlie is already talking about Christmas next year.  ha ha!

Iowa Christmas fun

And what is Christmas without a road trip to visit family thrown in there??

Normally, we make the 6 hour trip to Storm Lake, IA (like we did last year), but this year my grandma moved a little further away to Estherville, IA to be in the same town as my uncle - so that made the drive a bit longer.  Instead of making the long drive up there Saturday morning and then turning around and heading back home on Sunday morning - we all met in Des Moines instead and it was so great - only 3 hours for everyone (except my dad because he drove up there and then drove my grandma all the way to Des Moines and then went all the way back before coming home to KC!).  

The car ride was a perfect length - for all of us!  I got all our Christmas cards addressed and stamps and then we watched Inside Out (which was sooo good!).

Of course - we didn't forget the beer!!

We stayed in a hotel that had only been open about 2 weeks and it was SOOOOO nice!  We all got 2 bedroom suites, which was great because each kid had a bedroom and we could shut the door and hang out after they went to bed.  Plus we had plenty of space to hang out and chat together!

And the best part?!?!?!?  A swimming POOL!  

When it's so cold outside in the middle of December - nothing better than a pool!

The area we stayed in was called Jordan Creek and it's amazing and all so new!  There was a mall right next to our hotel with a Scheel's.  So to kill some time before dinner, we walked around Scheels.  Which was...interesting...to say the least.  Ha.  Our kids were a little nuts.  Charlie lost his mind and wanted some toy that he saw...so we got to drag him out of the store.  Such is life!

Posing with the animals!

Playing some games together!

And then we were all sitting around talking after we ate dinner - so what do you think these two kiddos did?  Wrestle of course - they are seriously just crazy together!

If you cannot tell - Maddie knows how to hold her own with her big brother!

And FINALLY - time for gifts.  The kids were so excited!  Charlie got an awesome Cars 2 book with all these mini cars (which he loved!) and Maddie got some fun books!

After presents - it was time for bed and then an early wake up call from these two.  We went to the free hotel breakfast super early (in our PJs) and then of course, hit up the pool.  Then we went to visit Great Grandma, Great Uncle Denny and Aunt Sandy again before we headed back to Kansas City.

It was a great trip - except we left Michelangelo in the hotel room!!!  I didn't realize it until I was putting Charlie to bed on Sunday night - I freaked out and called the hotel first thing the next morning.  They said the housekeeper wasn't there yet, but they would call us back.  My dad was actually driving through Des Moines...so if they found it he was going to go pick it up and thankfully they found it and he picked up it up!  My dad was sent us a picture of the build a bear turtle riding along with him - the best Papa!!!

We had a great time with our Bruns side of the family and can't wait to see them all again soon :)