Christmas: Boys Will Be Boys

We spent the week of Christmas with Jeff's family and we had a hoot hollerin' time. I took over 300 pictures while we were down there, so I felt the need to separate my pictures into activities the boys did versus activities the girls did. We'll start with a cute boy happy to be on his way to grandma and grandpa's house:

Followed by three boys happy to be smushed on a couch ooing and aahhing over electronic devices.

The younger boys also enjoyed their electronics. Dirk and Caleb played the electric piano while Eli watched Tyler and Austen play the Wii. 

We did activities every day and this activity was making a holiday sticker scene.

One day the boys went down to help Ben C.'s dad move everything out of his garage. They were all able to dig through the old tools and knick knacks to see if anything struck their fancy. Meanwhile, the wives were  home worrying about what sort of machinery we'd have to find a place for in our houses. Jeff proudly walked in holding an Eli-sized chair up in the air as his prize. I was impressed with his find.

David and Mary received some meat to turn into jerky from one of their neighbors. Bryan and Jeff made sure the jerky was made immediately so they could munch on it all week.

Poker night is pretty serious in the Excell home.

Grandpa Excell has a way with his grandkids. Eli chose him over me every time.

One night we went around to look at Christmas lights. That was the night after we had to go buy an emergency binky at 2:30 in the morning. Eli does not acclimate well to sleeping in new places we have recently discovered.

Here's a riddle for you: How do you look at Christmas lights with 18 people in three different cars and still make it feel like you're all together? Walkie talkies. You know, I expected the boys to be pretty good at the walkie talkie lingo seeing as their Dad is a retired police officer who taught them a thing or two about the coded language. But those boys were cracking me up as they updated each other on our "missions" and "targets" throughout our tour of the town.

Another fun activity: Snow day!

Um. Hello cute baby bundled up in snow gear for the first time this year. I will take many pictures of you.

Well did you really expect us to just play in the snow when the boys had the means to make a sleigh roller coaster ride for the kids?

Another one of Eli with Grandpa Excell. They're just too cute together.

Dirk fell asleep at 6:00 one night. Too bad for him it was the night Santa made a visit. After several nights of Eli waking up at the mere sound of a doorknob turning, I was jealous to see Dirk couldn't be woken. Tana tried with all her might to get him to open his eyes for his sit on Santa's lap, but instead Dirk just snuggled up to Santa and fell into a deeper sleep.

Eli. Not so much. He was shaking in terror for a good 10 minutes after his Santa encounter.

On Christmas Eve the cousins did their gift exchange. The boys went crazy for this tool set Grandma and Grandpa gave Dirk.

The Excell boys continued their Christmas Eve tradition of playing a video game all (day and) night. This year was Diablo.

Jeff found Bubble Tape in his stocking Christmas morning and took a big bite out of it. I have always kind of wanted to do that, but I instead lived vicariously through him and enjoyed my Bubble Tape in smaller portions.

Jeff and Bryan both got new headphones from their sweet wives for Christmas. You know you're a nerd when...

I spent the morning after Christmas with four little boys at a bounce house in St. George. This is what Eli looks like right after he hits a small child. Eli had to go to bed suddenly Christmas Eve after several timeouts for hitting Axton every time he passed him. Every time Eli was in timeout he said, "Hit baby. Ha ha ha."

We were hoping a little sleep would help him lose his urge to smack babies and he'd be back to his sweet self Christmas morning. No. He had three timeouts in the time it took us to unwrap presents. And he should have had a few more at the bounce house.

The boys were in heaven with their electronics, secret language, four-wheeled toys, sleep, tools and fists. Stay tuned for how the girls kept busy...