Christmas Recap

Well Santa did indeed come. . . the boys were SO excited Christmas morning. Chris and I were actually up before them, and I pointed out that this would probably be the last year we were sitting around on the couch waiting for them to get up. It's so difficult for me to believe that next year at this time David will be almost five (?!), Henry will be almost 4, and Jack will already be almost a year old!!! Seriously, how is that possible?

The boys got LOTS of very nice gifts. Their approach to opening was as different as their personalities are! David went directly to the stocking, dumped it, and opened everything. He really didn't stop to play with anything, with the exception of some cars from the movie "Cars". (Yes, he's still obsessed with that movie.) Henry, on the other hand, went straight for the big guns -- the goodies under the tree. He kept grabbing boxes saying, "It has an H for Henry! I'm opening it." He still had stocking presents to open three days later! Henry is more of the I'll-open-this-and-play-for-a-while-before-moving-on opener. The favorite gift by far has been the Little Einsteins Pat Pat Rocket. (For those a bit removed from the Playhouse Disney scene, you can see it here! http://www.target.com/Little-Einstein-Pat-Rocket/dp/B000NVW07M/sr=1-1/qid=1198928562/ref=sr_1_1/601-5821251-0932114?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Apat%20pat%20rocket&page=1) The boys are SO into this show and the characters, and they've been playing with the thing non-stop since it was opened. It has created a bit of a dilemma however, since we only have one. David was saying every day for probably 6 weeks before Christmas, "I want Santa to bring me a big Mack." (This enormous Mack truck - again from Cars - play set.) Of course Santa came through and got it for him. Early. Then about 3 weeks before Christmas he started saying he wanted a Pat Pat Rocket. Well, the Pat Pat Rocket is a Target exclusive toy and had been very difficult to find. And had been purchased already for Henry. . . Are you feeling Santa's issue here? We ended up sticking with the original plan and giving David the Mack and Henry the Rocket. With minimal fighting, it's been a success. The Mack, at $40, has sat virtually untouched. It's really sort of a piece of crap, but how could Santa know?! Also a huge hit has been Thomas the Train felt colorforms (which I also love!), a Little Einsteins book, tracing workbooks, and their new clothes. OK, the clothes have been a hit with me.

Chris and I got some very nice gifts too. The one that nobody can put down was this puzzle from finditgames.com. If you have about 3 days to kill, get one. It's addictive. I got some money for Christmas which I used to buy a new sewing machine. My old one met an untimely death when I dropped it on the floor, and I was very, very excited to get a new one. I also got the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook "Deceptively Delicious" which is basically to trick your children (and husband?!) into eating more vegetables by adding veggie purees to recipes. I can't wait to start.

Christopher has been on vacation this week, which has been so nice and very helpful. We've not done anything very exciting -- lots of playing with Christmas stuff, the boys got their hair cut (finally!), we've done some after-Christmas shopping, and just hanging out. David and Henry are spending the night with my parents tonight, and Chris and I are planning to go to dinner and the movies. It will be the last time, I'm sure, we get to do anything alone before Jack's born. I hope I can stay awake the whole time!

I didn't take many pictures on Christmas -- I was so caught up in everything going on I forgot all about it! I'm hoping my dad got some others. Here are a couple I did take, and a shot of the boys with their new haircuts having a "horsey ride" on Chris. (Notice Henry's wearing underpants! He's doing really well with my half-assed potty training!)