Christmas Afternoon

Once the boys woke from their afternoon naps, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's to spend some time with the family. We got there just in time for me to turn right around and head out to the airport to pick up Brrrian, Jules, Kenner and Kameron. We ate a great dinner, then sat around and opened more Christmas gifts. The kids ran around playing with each other while we all kicked back and relaxed a bit. Of course I'm the only one who has to work tomorrow, so we headed out before it got too late.

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Christmas Morning

Last night, Connor was beside himself with anticipation to see what Santa would bring him. He usually wakes up around 6:30, so I was dreading Christmas morning, thinking he would be bugging us to get up even before the sunrise since he was so excited. I was pleasantly surprised that he let us sleep in until 7:30. That was better than any other gift he could have possibly given us. He patiently waited for us to get Riley changed, but then had to be the "leader" as we trodded downstairs. He went flying into the family room, anxious to see what Santa had left behind. Ignoring the big boy bicycle entirely, he began expressing his disappointment that Santa had not brought a "life saver" (a/k/a light saber). We quickly pointed out that not only had Santa brought one, but it was leaning against another fabulous gift for him. Again, ignoring the bicycle, he jumped around excitedly with the light saber in hand. Then he remembered the other thing he had asked for . . . a Spiderman toothbrush. We suggested he look in his stocking, and there it was, along with a Batman toothbrush. Once he had confirmed that Santa had, in fact, brought the specific items he had requested, he acknowledged the super-duper cool Spiderman bicycle, complete with training wheels and a helmet. He then turned to Riley's gifts and became enthralled with the ball popper Santa brought Riley. We eventually moved into the front room, where a seemingly endless amount of gifts were piled under and around the Christmas tree.

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It was much later in the morning by the time we had unwrapped all the gifts. We had even had an intermission so we could eat breakfast. (Riley didn't care there were so many gifts to open. He wanted to eat!) Connor decided to check out his new bicycle a bit more, and even tested out his helmet. Then he informed us that although he was very tired, he needed to watch Kung Fu Panda before taking a nap. Since it was Christmas, that's exactly what he did.

Christmas Eve

Growing up, my family had quite a few family traditions for Christmas. One of the many was for each of us to open one gift on Christmas Eve. On more than one occasion, I remember my gift being new pajamas. As exciting as that gift is for an almost 4 year old (and even more so for an 8 month old), the boys each got a new pair of jammies to wear for Christmas morning. Connor willingly helped Riley open his box first - a pair of jammies with monkeys holding candy canes for our Little Monkey. Riley then entertained himself with the wrappings while Connor moved on to his own gift - two pairs of Spiderman jammies. He actually had a hard time deciding which pair to wear.

Big Boy

It seems like Riley was just doing the army crawl. Now he's crawling everywhere, and he's fast! Out of the blue, he's also now standing. He uses his newfound skills to get into trouble whenever he can. I don't remember Connor getting into as much stuff as Riley does. It's almost scary to think he may be walking in another month or two.

Christmas Festivities

Although we spent most of the day yesterday baking with Aunt Tin and Dre, we saved what I consider the best for last. Peanut Butter Blossoms. Connor invited Rita and her mom to come over this morning to help bake some cookies. Rita and Connor took turns adding each ingredient to the bowl, and even took turns turning on the mixer. Jennifer and I rolled the balls, but Connor and Rita rolled them in the sugar. While the first batch was baking, the kids unwrapped the Hershey kisses. As usual (for Connor at least), for each kiss that went into the bowl, another went into their mouths.

The kids decided when they were done and moved out of the kitchen, leaving Jennifer and me to finish the rest of the cookies. Once we were done, the kids did a gift exchange. Rita even had a gift for Riley. Connor was kind enough to help him open it. Connor's gift happened to be wrapped in an empty diaper box. When he unwrapped it, he looked at it and said, "Is there another present for me?" We explained to him that he needed to open the box, that there weren't really diapers in the box. Inside, he scored BIG TIME. He had been driving me bonkers every time we stepped foot in WalMart to buy a Spiderman trash can. Lo and behold, he found one in the box from Rita. He also got new sheets for his bed. He wanted to make his bed right away, so I had to explain to him that I needed to wash them before he used them.

















When they were done opening their gifts, they thanked each other profusely and gave each other a big, huge hug. It was adorable. They continued to run around and play a bit more. Before long though, it became apparent that it was time for naps. We said our goodbyes, ate a quick bite of lunch, then tucked Connor in for his afternoon nap. While he was sleeping, I ran his new sheets through the wash. He was ecstatic when he woke up to find them folded at the foot of his bed, and said he can't wait to sleep with them tonight. Maybe he'll actually stay in bed when I tuck him in tonight!

Preparations

Growing up, Christmas was always a time for lots of baked goodies around to munch on. Grandma and Aunt Tin have always done a lot of the baking. We decided to get in on some of the action this year. We invited Aunt Tin, Dre and Lexi to come over and make goodies with us. Connor soon became a pro at dipping pretzels in caramel and chocolate, then adding the sprinkles. While we were all busy in the kitchen, Riley and Lexi played in the family room. Something as simple as that really brought in the Christmas spirit.

Visiting Santa

Each year The Children's Hospital holds a private fundraiser event the first part of December. Remarkably, Santa Claus makes a special visit to see all the kids that come to the event. Rita's mom happens to have connections, and was thoughtful enough to invite us along this year. Since it was first thing in the morning, Daddy came straight from work and met us there. Unfortunately, on his way into the parking garage, one of the tires on the car went flat. He was in the process of changing it when we pulled in. He was adamant that he didn't need any help, so we went ahead and joined Rita and her mom inside. At this event, you have the option of seeing Santa first or eating breakfast first. Wanting to avoid standing in line for too long, we headed for Santa right away. It went smoothly until I sat Riley down on Santa's lap. I later learned the best way to introduce a baby to Santa is to back them in, so they keep eye contact with you instead of focusing in on Santa. Not knowing this great tidbit of info beforehand, the inevitable happened. Riley screamed and screamed and screamed. I thought maybe having Connor sit down next to him would help. It didn't.








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After picking out a stuffed animal for each boy, we left Santa behind while his hearing was still intact and headed to the breakfast buffet. It was about this time that Daddy finally made it in. He was a little disappointed he didn't get to see the kids on Santa's lap. He asked Connor what he asked for Christmas, and Connor nearly broke into tears when he realized he forgot to tell Santa what he wanted. Surprisingly, there wasn't a long wait to see Santa, so I told him I would take him in again. One of the hostesses of the event saw us standing in line, and knowing how it went the first time around, told me they would retake the pictures of the kids for no charge since Riley had been such a stinker. Her daughter happened to be standing in line ahead of us, and shared the info about backing him onto Santa's lap. It worked like a charm the second time around. But it wasn't long before Riley realized that if I was standing across from him, it wasn't my lap he was sitting on. He twisted his body around to see who it was, but didn't seem to mind this time. Connor, on the other hand, looked like he was being tortured. I made sure Connor remembered to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas this time. Santa said, "Yep, a Spiderman toothbrush" as he pretended to shoot a web from his hand. I have no idea where Connor got the idea to ask for a toothbrush for Christmas, but I'm not complaining. Once we were done with Santa a second time, we headed back to our table.
We sat around, nibbling on more goodies while we waited for the raffle to start. Connor and Rita entertained themselves as usual. We were able to interrupt their antics long enough to take a few pictures of the two of them together. It was just too cute when we asked them to give hugs, meaning to each other. But they took it literally and hugged themselves. They got it figured out though and gave each other a big, huge hug. Santa made another appearance and began the raffle. Rita ended up winning a prize in the raffle. Connor was pretty disappointed he didn't win anything, but soon forgot all about it. The party ended with all the kids up by the stage with Santa, singing some Christmas carols. All in all, we had a great time. It definitely beat standing in line at the mall, waiting to see Santa!

Trimming the Tree

As I've done in past years, I frantically tried to get the tree up while Connor was down for his afternoon nap. It's a fun surprise for him when he wakes up and gets to help decorate the tree. Leave it to Riley to throw a wrench in my plans though. He woke up from his nap early, and wasn't about to go back to sleep. He was being very vocal, and I was afraid he might wake up Connor. I brought him downstairs and let him "help" me get some of the decorations out. He got ahold of Daddy's Barry Bonds ornament and ended up biting his foot off. (I'm telling you, he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth.) When I told Daddy, he said Barry got what he deserved. Well then. I hit gold when I found some Christmas stuffed animals, one of which is a dancing/singing dog. Riley loved it and was entertained long enough for me to finish putting up the tree.

Time Well Spent

Unfortunately, Rea hadn't been feeling well on Thanksgiving and wasn't able to join us for dinner. After we had the family pictures taken, we ate dinner at a great mexican restaurant, then headed over to Rea's to spend some time with her. She was feeling much better than the day before. I took the opportunity to get a "generation" picture of Rea, Nanny, Julie, and Abbey. Riley had us in stitches when he first attempted to eat Rea's walker, then gave "kisses" to Nanny. His kisses consist of him opening his mouth as wide as he can, then sucking on your cheek or chin, whichever happens to make contact with his mouth first. As messy as it is, it's very sweet. The highlight for Connor, and very probably Rea as well, was when Rea gave Connor a ride down the hallway on her walker. Although we missed having her with us on Thanksgiving, this extra time with her was extra special.

Picture Perfect

The last time we had family pictures taken with Daddy's family was three years ago, when Connor was just 6 months old. With the addition of Riley to the family, it was the perfect time to update the family picture. Not only had Connor changed drastically, but so had Caleb and Abbey. I can't believe how much they've all changed in three years!

Another First

Since Riley is such a big eater, we were all pretty excited to see how he would handle his first Thanksgiving. As of now, the only food he has refused to eat is green beans. However, even with that said, he'll eat them if they're mixed in with something else. When it was time to sit down and eat, we handed over one of the turkey legs to Riley. He stared at it briefly, gnawed on it a bit, moving from one end to the other, then set it down and moved on to Nanny's yummy sweet potatoes. He loved those. I think he ended up with 3 helpings. Before he was done, he had relegated the turkey leg to the floor. We all ate until we were stuffed, then lazed around in tryptophanic bliss. That night, most of us played a rousing game of Chicken Foot (dominos). Much to his delight, Connor even got in on the action and helped Nanny play. I think he was surprised he didn't have to beg or plead. Of course he had no idea how to play, but he felt pretty special being able to play with the grown ups.

As for me, I realized not long ago that we don't have very many pictures of our get togethers. Therefore, I insisted on taking candid pictures while everyone else played the game. We made it an early night since we(the girls) were getting up before the crack of dawn for our big shopping day.