Merry Christmas to our Kids!

***This is the post that we'll appreciate next year, when we realize how much our kids have grown and when we remember the toys they loved at these ages.  Nothing too profound here, mostly just pictures, but feel free to peek in and enjoy the night we gave gifts to our kids, before we left for Christmas in Iowa!***

The stash waiting for one cute little girl and one handsome little boy.

We decided to do gifts at home with the kids so that we wouldn't have to bring them all to Iowa.  They don't really have any idea about Christmas traditions yet or when most families open presents so it was fun to just surprise them one night after their baths and let them enjoy the things we picked out for them.  They were quite thrilled to wander into the living room and find some piles waiting for each of them :)

Green gifts for Carty...

...and red gifts for Ava.

Once she realized these were for her and we weren't going to stop her from opening them, she took all of 2 seconds to dig right in!

She chose her first gift well...

...a new baby Stella!  She had a baby Stella already that she loves, so we now refer to this doll as "big girl Stella" because she has longer hair :) I thought she'd like her but it was so cute to see how excited she was about it!  She kept telling us, "This is great!"  "She's so cute!!"

Carty watched Ava tear into one gift then decided he could do that too.

A new truck, part 1 of another gift to come...

And a new "finding" book for Ava!

Carter got his first pair of Nike's  :)

And Ava got some cute boots, which she thought were pretty cool too.

Ava has a leapfrog Violet dog that Carter loves, so we got him Scout!  In true Christmas form, after he opened this one, we quickly realized it was defective.  Lots of fun.  Thankfully Daddy made a quick trip to the store to exchange it for a new one. 

This lion was a last minute purchase when I felt guilty and thought Carter's pile was a little smaller than Ava's :) But it must have been a good choice because it drew the first smile from him!

A floor puzzle for Carter to race his cars on...which of course Ava decided she LOVED and couldn't live without :)

Ava got the CUTEST little sweater with her name monogrammed on it from Aunt Katy...

...and an alphabet "alphie" from her Aunt Shaye!

(Which she loved so much she tucked in bed that night, ha ha!)

Gotta love when your presents are as tall as you are!

Our first "real" boy toy!

So in awe of the awesome presents their parents gave???

Mostly just excited to start playing, I think!

The Stella doll was a big hit for Miss Ava, I think her favorite of the night...

And the last minute lion won Carter's heart :)

Christmas is never about presents or how much money you do or do not spend, but I think delighting your kids with gifts is one of the joys of parenting.  Every year it makes me think of the verse about the Father delighting to give good gifts to His children (Matt. 7:11) too.  It was a fun little night for all of us!