EDITED TO ADD A FEW OF GRAMMA JEAN’S PICTURES! BE SURE TO LOOK THROUGH THE POST AGAIN!

Since there were SOOOO many presents under the tree before Santa even got here, we decided to let the kids open some. Owen was SUPER excited and Katie quickly got into the spirit—she is actually really quite good at opening presents!

Let’s just say once the first present was opened, it was pretty much chaos. I had planned to take videos for Tom…but once things got started, it was all I could do to keep snapping pics. I feel bad because I missed a really great opening by Owen (details later) but between two kids opening presents at the same time, each of them wanting to play with each other’s things (and not their own), mini tantrums from both when they didn’t get their way, Owen just wanting to blow through all his presents without actually taking even five seconds to look at what he just opened…I was glad I got some pictures.

Katie loves opening clothes…because of course she wants to put them on right away. It might be pants on her arms or a PJ top on her legs, but she doesn’t care.

Gramma Jean bought the kids a sandwich-making kit and both had a blast with it. Owen made GJ a lovely peanut butter and ketchup sandwich! I think they played with it for 10-15 minutes before wanting to open more presents!

Then Owen opened the cash register from Grannie and Papa…and he was EXCITED!

And of course Katie LOVED it, too, because it made noise! And she figured out how to get the drawer open in about three seconds.

Helping Owen open his next present.

Katie co-opting Owen’s gift. She got one of her own shortly thereafter. 🙂

Playing in the cash register box!

And then Owen grabbed (what I knew was) the Doc McStuffins kit. I had wanted to record it because I knew he would be super exited about it. But before I could tell him to wait a minute, he was ripping it open.

And of course Katie recognized what it was and was immediately interested, too!

He was SO damn cute. As he was opening it, he says “OH…MY…HEAVENS! This is my most favorite thing ever!” or something very close to that. (Of course I was sure I would remember it, but of course I didn’t.) He just went on and on about how great it was while I was opening it and taking everything out. And the doll! It talks! (I hadn’t realized that.) So that was exciting. And Katie wanted everything and Owen didn’t want her to touch any of it. (He eventually relented.)

Giving Grauntie Marge a check-up!

Posing with his new doctor’s bag.

My favorite picture of the night!

Katie opening the hand-me-down Elmo. She loves Elmo, so I couldn’t wait for her to see him. She did like him, but the batteries were mostly shot so he wasn’t very exciting at first. A quick change and he was back up to speed…then I realized he had a broken arm. But she loved watching him and carrying him around.

Owen playing with Katie’s school bus. Funny story. I actually got it for Owen A LONG time ago and put it in his closet and forgot about it. Then he didn’t really need it so I thought I’d save it for Katie but left it in his closet. Fast forward to about four days ago when I happened to have his closet open and he said “Mom! I want that school bus!” So on the spot I decided it would be for Katie, and explained how we give gifts to people we love and that we know they’d like, so why don’t we give this to Katie? He accepted that, so then we wrapped it together—our first wrapping attempt. It didn’t go too badly, though I apparently didn’t stress enough that we keep gifts SECRET because he told Katie it was a school bus when she saw it under the tree. 🙂

Opening a big squishy package from Grannie and Papa!

He had no idea what it was, other than he was excited it was Sparty. So I reminded him that he liked to curl up/hide in the pillowcases that Grannie had made him, so she had told him she was going to make him an Owen-sized bag! Oh my, yes, he remembered, then he was SUPER EXCITED!

Someone else liked it, too!

Owen wanted us all to fit in the sack but we didn’t quite fit so just the kids were in it! (This is the only family picture we ended up getting!)

Someone wasn’t happy that we told her she couldn’t play with Owen’s Doc McStuffins doll. She was also TIRED as it was past her bedtime.

A cookie alphabet matching/spelling game from Grandma Marsha!

Serious Katie opening a present. You can tell she’s concentrating because her tongue is out.

Not a great pic, but I left it in so you can see how long her bangs are! This is why she wears pig tails all the time (but tonight was bath night).

Minion PJs from Gramma Jean!

And of course Katie co-opted them to put on!

A Christmas flap book from Grandma Marsha!

Magformers from Grandma Marsha!

A thank you hug!

Finally! Bedtime milk with Gramma…wearing a tote bag of Grauntie Marge’s!

Both kids went to bed about 30-45 minutes later than normal, and both were TIRED even though neither claimed to be. But it was super fun and I’m glad we did it. The kids loved most everything and I did a pretty good job shopping for the grandparents! There are still more pre-Santa presents to open, but that will come tomorrow…