Santa delivered, as did our Brandstaetter side of the family, and the Christmas tree was packed full of gifts for our little ones! Most of these pictures are blurry and out of focus, much how Erik and I feel on little sleep and with coffee barely coursing through our veins. But, they do a great job capturing our Christmas morning experience with our 2 crazy boys :)

Will helped Stella open her gifts, too. Some toothbrushes and a Kong toy for starters.

Hmmm, I wonder what this little box is...

It's a rainbow bowtie!!!

Hello, John John!

Look it's a (toy) cell phone!

And more bowties

John's favorite gift was still the fireman hat from the night before.

And they both got some cool pinwheels.

Fireman Will is reading his book about birds from Uncle Kurt.

Mommy is showing John how to use his new lamb clock (a smaller version of Will's bunny clock that we use to let him know when it's ok to come out of his room in the morning)

Mommy showing John his new cereal from Nana & Papa (one of many goodies wrapped up inside of their new teddy bear carry on suitcases!)

New racecars! Will is behind there somewhere.

Mommy opening her special gifts from the boys. Erik took them shopping at Walmart to pick stuff out for me. I scored an R2D2 pillow and a hamburger pillow!

Some warm and cozy Mickey Mouse jammy pants and a new crockpot,

A Santa coffee mug,

And some new kitchen tools! Boy, I am one lucky mommy :)

I also took the boys shopping for Erik. Bear helped him open his new mini paddle drums, 

His camouflage slippers, and his Darth Vader t-shirt.

We also made him a family photo wall calendar for at work and a 2016 "Year in Photos" memory book.

Uncle Kurt sent some awesome goodies. Paw patrol lunch box and wall stickers, a play tunnel  and some bug catching stuff (just to name a few). John got distracted during gift opening and went to play in the tunnel in the sunroom!

Erik got a new Metallica record from his Secret Santa in the Brandstaetter family (shhhh, it was Kari!)

Will & John got some more play food for their kitchen from the Colliers.

Bear was very excited to go for a ride in his new suitcase carrier!

John got distracted by food and had to take a quick pre-breakfast snack break. Daddy is a genius and rigged up this cereal eating tray for he living room. It is Christmas morning, after all, so it's ok to break the rules about messy food in the living room.

Once Will realized what was happening he was quick to get in on the fun.

The new suitcases can be pulled around or worn as backpacks. They are a pretty big hit with these 2 boys!

John dragged his tunnel in all the way from the sunroom so that he could sit in it and watch TV.

While the boys let their cereal settle, I got to work making their actual Christmas breakfast. Santa pancakes with bacon arms, chocolate chip faces and buttons and a strawberry nose and hat!

The boys played with all of their new toys and took some much needed naps before we got dressed and headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner. This was a low key evening as Tim & Tricia and the girls weren't able to join us. 

The boys opened a few gifts while we were there (but Grandma was saving the rest for our family Christmas on New Year's Day).

John getting help opening his Star Wars race cars from Grandma

Will bought gifts for Grandma & Grandpa at school. He got Grandma a very beautiful pair of gloves with green & gold balls on the fingers.

Grandpa received a basketball ornament, which he promptly found a place for on their Christmas tree!

Will & John made homemade ornaments for each family too. Pat really liked his reindeer from John and his snowman from Will!

Our attempts at family picture time were mildly difficult...

My parents and Pat, Amy, Riley and Mara cooperated for their pictures :)

John is always snacking at my parent's house. Christmas is no exception. He found my dad's cashews and batted his beautiful eyelashes at Grandpa to talk him into sharing some.

Will was very upset when it was time for his jammies. He and Erik compromised and left his collared shirt on so that he could wear his bowtie to bed. He was very happy and wanted a picture with Murphy and his silly reindeer antlers.

John John and Grandma snuggle time is the best.

Time for a couple of pictures with Grandma and Grandpa before heading home to get these tired little boys to bed!

Will slept in his new Paw Patrol pop up bed tent from Uncle Kurt inside his new sleeping bag from Santa. He was pretty excited about it!

The next morning... notice the bowtie? :)

We had a really wonderful Christmas morning with our little family of 4, followed by a nice dinner at my parent's house. It was a great Christmas and the boys loved everything that came under the Christmas tree. Thanks to everyone, near and far, for making this a special day for our family.