The Yarbrough 5: What A Day!

'Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

We got the festivities underway last night by braving the shops on a hunt for new rodents for our sweet dog, Romo. We think every dog in Frisco got something this year because the ENTIRE aisle of dog toys at Target was empty! (I overhead a women walking out of the aisle say, "The locusts picked it clean!") We had success at PetsMart: a duck and a pony with a long tail (not exactly rodents, but as long as he can whip them around he's a happy dog!) Funny: Jas was testing out the "whip-ability" of the duck, got a little carried away and straight up smacked some cute little high school girl with it! I'm sure she thought we were nuts.

We came home and kiddos decorated their Santa Cookies. Miss O forgot what holiday we were celebrating!

(Just kidding: What can I say? The girls loves pink!) We set them out and made a little bag of carrots for the reindeer.

We also sprinkled the Reindeer food outside. I use the term "sprinkled" lightly, seeing as how Luke dumped the entire bag in a huge pile right outside the door, so we had to scoop it off the ground to sprinkle it around the backyard! God forbid the reindeer not see our sparkly lawn and go to another house!

And God forbid Romo not have to eat EVERYTHING that falls on the ground- thank goodness glitter is non-toxic! (I hope.)

Poor Mr. Bubs had a panic attack at bedtime. I don't know if it was too much excitement for one day, or if the thought of some guy coming in our house while we sleep was freaking him out. He was so hysterical that I actually let him sleep upstairs on our chaise- and even then he didn't fall asleep until almost 10pm! Jas and I finished wrapping a few last minute gifts, and then I did my annual covert Operation: Dispose of Santa Evidence. I am SO paranoid that Olivia will find the Santa wrapping paper I used, or the bolt of leftover ribbon- we even try to disguise our handwriting on the Santa gift cards- that I go to (ridiculously) extreme measures to get rid of everything that should not be in the house since it came from the North Pole. But its worth it, as long as I can keep her young and a believer, I'll do what I have to! We finally got to bed around midnight- the same time Miss O SWEARS she heard jingle bells....hhhmmmm....

The kids woke up around 7 and they opened their stocking while Jas made the coffee and I threw some cinnamon rolls in the oven. I figured all the gift unwrapping would be done in about 16 to 20 minutes, so the timing would be perfect! Its Jas' job in our house to pass out the presents, and of course, O got over zealous and gave Luke one right off the bat. It just so happened to be his Thomas the Tank Engine movie. The ONLY thing he has consistently said he wanted for Christmas. So he opened it and was d.o.n.e. He didn't want to open ONE MORE THING!!! We were practically throwing gifts at him and he was like, "Yea, yea, put on Thomas now, pleeeeeeeeeeeeease!"

Great. But Olivia on the other hand was rocking and rolling and genuinely LOVED everything she got which made us so happy.

The Easy Bake Oven from Santa was the biggest hit -of guilt to my Mommy Heart! I feel terrible that she felt she needed a little fake oven that cooks with a light bulb to get to experience the joys of baking! ('DING!'- Hear that? Those are my premade Pillsbury cinnamon rolls all done in the oven. wink ) So! From about 7:20 to 11:30am every toy, art supply, game, dinosaur or dress up item was opened, kid-tested and approved. YEA!!!

Since we were all symptom-free for 48 hours, we decided we were safe to enter into the real world again. We had a great lunch at my grandmother's house and ALL the Boxes (+2) were there! So FABULOUS! Afterwards we headed over to Jon and Jen's and gave them and Mr. B their gifts. We came home, had dinner and now everyone (and almost me) are in the bed, wiped out! "Merry Christmas To All! And To All A Goodnight!"

Here are some of my favorite pictures from The Yarbrough 5 Christmas 2008:

(And please excuse our ghetto-fabulous jammies this year: I am sick of doing laundry and also couldn't get out to get cute Christmas ones this year....Next year, my friends, next year...)

The First Look At The Loot: