Time To Open the Christmas Presents

The Lehman 5 arrived right around 6 a.m. Saturday morning (12/31/05).... Bruce was already out the door and on the job by 4:30 a.m. .... I had gotten up right along with him in anticipation of our morning visitors... We both were very much looking forward to having yet another special Christmas memory to add to our others... Here we have Chandler and Chase eargerly watching out the window for Grampa Bruce and Aunt Alyson.... On their arrival, Chandler and Chase were excited to see they had more presents under our Christmas tree and were anxious to open them .... Unfortunately for them... the plan was that they had to wait until Grampa Bruce got home from work and Aunt Alyson to arrive .....(which we were anticipating to be right around 12 or 1 that same afternoon) As time drew closer to their arrival... the boys grew more and more anxious .... Chase even managed to grab a present out from beneath the tree at one point and started to open it before he was discovered.... and believe it or not... it was his present ....

What a great welcome Grampa got too.... Lots of hugs from Chandler and Chase....... (I wonder if knowing they would soon be able to open their presents had anything to do with their greeting??)....
Once Aunt Alyson arrived (shortly behind Grampa) it was time to open their presents... and the boys wasted no time letting us know .....Grampa Bruce got the honors of handing out the gifts as he made the mistake of sitting closests to the tree..... Chase is showing Grampa Bruce his new hammer that also came with a screwdriver... now they can help Dad out around the house.....

Oooooh.... look at the big present for Charlie.... wonder what it can be?? He got a big car that made car noises.... unfortunately, I forgot to include that picture.....

And here's Chandler with an army truck.... Chandler loves anything related to the army....and cars... Uncle Jay took us out to Fort Drum during their last visit (August 05) and Mom and Dad bought him this really neat camouflage back pack for school..... he couldn't wait to get back to the house where he loaded it up with so much stuff he could hardly stand up with it on.... but you couldn't get him to unload it or put it down either.....

And what kid doesn't appreciate anything video related.... We found this neat game that hooks up to the TV.... which we did and they had lots of fun playing the different games on it.... Not sure if Chase really knew what he was doing... but it didn't matter to him... he thought he did....

Another great gift for Gramma Merredith... Tasha had this really neat calendar made for me .... each month has a different picture of Chandler, Chase, and Charlie.... What a wonderful gift and what fun I'll have each new month checking to see whose picture will be next... Thanks Matt & Tasha for such a great gift... One I'm sure to enjoy all year through.....

While waiting for Grampa Bruce to get home, Chandler and Gramma Merredith spent some time on the computer together looking at old pictures and downloading new ones..... Chandler came up with the great idea we should print out a picture for "Dad"for a Christmas present from him.... So I took some pictures of the three boys together, which of course Chase wasn't all that thrilled about, but were finally able to pick out one we liked best, and I found a nice frame for it, which isn't hard to do around this house... I dug out the Christmas wrapping paper and some bows, and Chandler handled the gift wrapping part.... He did a real fine job of it too....
Then of course we had to make a card for both Dad and Mom.... Chandler got big hugs and kisses from both for their special gifts from him...
Aunt Alyson got Chandler some kind of army scubba diver guy with all kinds of accesories... Right up Chandler's alley.....
Aunt Alyson and Ben helped him open it up.... They have those things so tightly put together you need all kinds of special equiptment of your own just to open them.... Not to mention a lot of patience.... Thankfully, that job didn't fall to me....
But finally they got it open and Chandler got to check it all out.... He was very pleased with all the good stuff he found inside...

Here's our little man, Chase, with his big red truck.... He loved that the doors would come off, which kept him busy taking them off and trying to get them back on... Every once and a while he'd ask someone to help him......

And here's Charlie checking out one of Chase's toys... a drill.... I can see all the fun they'll have with that one.... Who knows what kind of projects they'll find to do around the house with all their new tools on hand..... Right Dad!? Bruce and Matt relaxing on the couch.... Would have turned out better if Bruce's eyes were more on the camera instead of the game on TV..... HELLO!!!

Tasha was telling us all about how you could find out not only how many kids you will have by holding a pencil over your wrist, as well as whether or not it'll be a boy or girl... So of course we had to all give it a try..... With 3 boys, Tasha would love to have a little girl... but what guarantee does she have?.... thus the pencil theory..... It does hold out hope for her.....
Aunt Alyson is in no hurry to start a family yet, she's working full time and going to college part time with at least a couple more years of schooling ahead of her.... but, what the heck... she's willing to check it out just the same so she'll know what she has to look forward to when the time does come.... I think it said she'd have 2 boys and maybe one girl?? She's hoping when the time comes, her first child will be a girl.... (So am I)

After a wonderful day spent opening gifts, munching on snacks, visiting and catching up, and watching the kids play with their new toys.... bedtime had finally arrived (for the little ones anyway)...Here we have Charlie getting a little sink "tubber" before his bedtime....
And Chandler and Chase getting snuggled into the neat bed Gramma Merredith had all made and ready for them... We weren't sure how well they'd sleep together in the same bed... but it turns out they handled it pretty well....

What a wonderful three days we had with the Lehman 5.... But all too soon it was time for them to pack up and move on to their next destination further north to visit with more family and friends there.... We had a wonderful time guys... thanks for making us a part of your 2005 Christmas....