More Christmas and SNOW!

We continued to have a lot of Christmas fun!  The kids were thrilled that Grandma and Grandpa Carroll came over Christmas Eve so that they could watch the kids open their presents Christmas morning.  I must say, Santa did a great job!  The kids loved all of their presents and we had to stop and get each one out of the box (sometimes easier said than done!) before proceeding to open another.  Then Blaine got Grandpa to help him build a big train track with his new track pieces and engines.  Ava even had a remote controlled "Molly" engine that she loves.  It is fun to see the kids enjoy playing trains together.  Blaine also got more trucks and tractors to fill his tool shed, semis, animals and other things that a little boy loves.  Ava had to take her new Lalaloopsy doll and Doodle Puppy with her to Grandma and Grandpa Woods' house Christmas afternoon.

 And then lots more presents from Grandma and Grandpa Woods!  Here, Ava watches Bella open one of her gifts.

 And I think that Grandpa Woods enjoys having a little boy to buy toy tractors for as much as John does!  Grandpa also enjoys playing with them just like John does.  I have often even observed John still playing tractors long after Blaine has left him:)

 John and I both had today off of work, thankfully, as we spent most of the day putting away and organizing Christmas gifts.  This project ended up with some major bedroom rearranging in the kids' rooms even.  We brought my old desk up from the basement for Ava so that we could move her little art desk to Blaine's room to accommodate his growing collection of drawing and coloring supplies.  Ava loves it that she has a big girl desk now!

And after the promise of a big blizzard today, Ava woke up this morning eager to go "Ranger sledding."  However, she was greatly disappointed to see that there was no snow on the ground this morning.  But it did start snowing around 9:30 and she couldn't wait until there was enough to go sledding.  We never really did get enough for good sledding, but we had to try it out anyway since both kids were overly eager to go out in the new snow.  After donning the snow pants, boots, coats, hats, scarves and gloves, we all headed outside.  They had a good time having Daddy pull them behind the Ranger.  But Blaine decided that he had enough after getting all the snow in his face.  He didn't seem to be enjoying it as much, so he wanted to ride up front with Daddy instead.  Ava just kept wanting to go faster and faster then when riding by herself - even loving it when she dumped off.

 After a while of solo riding, she got me to ride with her.  It has been a LONG time since I have been sledding, but it was actually quite fun:).  The ground was a bit rough since there wasn't all that much snow and I kept getting snow up my pant legs, but fun nonetheless to go sledding with my daughter.  Then I got out and she convinced Daddy to get in with her while I drove!  And Allie chased the sled and romped in the snow then entire time - she was one pooped out pup when we were done!

 Blaine decided that he enjoyed just playing in the snow even more than sledding.  We also got out a new snow marker that they used to color and draw in the snow - lots of fun.  After a fun time in the snow, we all enjoyed some hot chocolate when we came inside.  Soooo glad that we both had the day off with no other plans than to spend time with the kids.  That doesn't happen often and it is really nice.  May be hard to go back to work tomorrow though...