The Sadlers: Merry Christmas!

Hope that everyone enjoyed the last week. We have certainly enjoyed ours. Christmas is so much fun with little kids. We went to Waco last weekend to see Matt's family. Grayson rode down with Bobo and Pops so we just had Matalley. On the way down, Matalley watched a baby einstein video and clapped at the end as if to say, "yay, that was good."

It's different with just one...we forget so quickly. Our meal was lots quieter, not as much entertainment in the car, etc. It was good to see Grayson again. He was soooo excited to open presents. And not just excited for his own gifts, he couldn't wait to help everyone else and see what they received. Here he is opening up Pops' gift.

Matalley preferred Grayson's gifts over her own and vice verse. She also took her first step in Groesbeck!! She only did it once and only one step. She will stand completely on her own and dance or look at things but refuses to take any steps unless she is holding on to something. I tricked her by making her reach for my hands to take the one step and boy was she mad at me. She hasn't fallen for it again.

Christmas Eve we went to our church's family service and Grayson played the part of a lamb. He was so interested in the manger scene but explained to me at the end that it wasn't really Baby Jesus, just a doll. The theme of the service was that a Baby changed everything so later that night when Matt was reading the nativity story to Grayson, Grayson pointed to Jesus and said, "He changed everything."

Grayson was really excited for Santa...took him FOREVER to go to sleep. He made sure to leave the reindeer some oats. He was really concerned about the reindeer early that day too when we visited Santa. We got to the mall while Santa was on a milk and cookie break so waited about 40 minutes for his return. Thankfully, they had the old Rudolph movie playing and we were able to watch that and be about 6th in line. Santa was scheduled to arrive at 2 and at 1:59 Grayson told me he had to go potty. Really??? So, we raced to the bathroom and raced back, barely making it in time. I was so proud of both kids...no tears. Grayson was a little timid at first but sat down next to Santa just fine. He told Santa what he wanted but was really inquisitive about where the reindeer were located. I explained that we needed to go and he said, "but wait, Matalley didn't tell Santa what she wanted." So sweet. I'm glad we were able to see Santa. We tried to see the Santa at Northpark in Dallas and the wait was 10 hours (I'm not exaggerating...that's what they told us). He did get to hear Santa tell a story and then he bit Matalley on the hand just for kicks. I told him that because he did that, we weren't going to see Santa (is that considered cruel?). This is him listening to the story...the room was packed with kids.

Anyway, Christmas morning was even more exciting because every gift was so appreciated. He even got excited over socks. He rode his scooter all over the house and enjoyed Bobo, Pops, Tia, and Mimi.

I forgot to mention that while opening one of Bobo's presents, he was crushed to find the gift inside the animal cracker cookie box was not animal crackers. Thankfully, JoBetsy had a package of animal crackers for him to enjoy.

Matalley's favorite spot these days is beneath my feet. She pulls herself up on my legs and just stands. She even hangs on when I'm walking. She also has very tender feelings. If you tell her no, her feelings get hurt and she starts crying. Oh, it breaks my heart. So different from Grayson who could care less. I think it will be worse for Grayson because that means the comments that do hurt him will be so much harsher. People trying to push his buttons will push it too far. I dread the thought of other people hurting their feelings.