Getting ready for Santa!

After spending Christmas Eve at Heath's mom and dad's the kids were exhausted! Brody fell asleep on the way home! I would have taken him straight to bed because he already had his PJs on, but we had a few things to do!
We said goodbye to the elf! He went back to the north pole for the year...thankful for that! He was running out of places to sit!

Then we set out milk, cookies, carrots and an apple for Santa and the reindeer. The apple was Brody's idea. He thought Santa might like it. Such a thoughtful kid.

After everything was set, we went upstairs to read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and we put the kids to bed. Then, it was time to play Santa! Once we were sure they were asleep, we pulled everything up from the basement. We decided to keep Santa simple and he only brought 2 larger gifts for each kid. We figured since Brody is now remembering things better, it's time to set a precedent. We found this really cool inflatable Lightning McQueen for the Wii that he just had to have. We waited until Christmas Eve to even pull it out of the box. Heath started blowing it up and got the first 2 smaller sections inflated. Then he moved onto the body of the car. He started with the foot pump they provided. It didn't seem to be getting him anywhere, so we called Julie and Billy and borrowed their electric pump. It wasn't working well because it wouldn't hold the charge and the connection wasn't meant for that type of inflatable. Then Heath remembered that he had a mini air compressor that my mom got him. It had the right connection and everything, but it didn't seem to be working either. So we resorted to blowing it up with our own mouths. He got started and as soon as he started to feel light headed, I took over. I started blowing and realized that I felt my air on my hand...THE THING HAD A HOLE THE SIZE OF A QUARTER IN ONE OF THE SEEMS! It was a total nightmare! So we patched it up with the patches they provided, tried to add some electrical tape, and got it as good as we were going to get. It was leaking air, so we figured we'd get up before the kids to blow it up. Santa left a note letting Brody know that silly Rudolph poked it with his antlers and popped it when Santa was pulling it out of his sleigh! He assured him that Walmart would take it back for him and we could get a new one. Well, it turns out that it was a hot item this year, and NO STORES had any left in stock! I ended up finding one on ebay and paying $15 more than I paid originally. The elves are delivering it on Friday or Saturday. What we should have done is put it away and never set it out...Hindsight is always 20/20, isn't it?

The deflating car with a note from Santa!

Santa's note...

The patch job.

Madelyn's loot! The Cabbage Patch kid was from Heath's mom and dad, but she fit perfectly in the stroller, so we set her up!

Brody's 'Cars go round'

Ok...2 more posts and then I'll be caught up! Stay tuned for Christmas morning!