All that anticipation and the day finally arrived. We got up at our normal time and moseyed down to check out what Santa left around 7:30am. We sort of thought Paul might show a bit more excitement about the Nintendo DS that he has been wanting for such a long time.....I know he was thrilled but he certainly didn't show it much. Lillie was pretty excited once she figured out what Santa brought her! It was an electronic Christmas for sure.....
Here is video of all of the excitement....
I do think the smile says a lot - he even got the cool Mario edition.
Best.parents.ever.
On to the stockings - here is daddy showing Paul the season passes for Adventureland. It's going to be a super fun summer!
Knuckle lights. Check!
A fun throwback stocking stuffer - see how long you can keep the ball afloat. He's not too bad...
Such a good little present opener!
And while she is good, she is the SLOWEST unwrapper ever.
Zach sent some Rock 'Em Sock 'Em robots! Super cool.....
Beautiful doll from Kingston. Not sure if the batteries might need to mysteriously disappear - one can only listen to It's a Small World so many times you know!
Dream come true - Ninjago encyclopedia!
A few DS games from mom and dad brought some more smiles.
After the gift opening, it was time for a BIG breakfast....and to celebrate the real reason for the day.
Paul picked the birthday cake flavor...strawberry this year.
Waffles with fruit and whipped cream plus bacon = GOOD STUFF.
And then a little singing - first take was a little sad for Lillie and second take was a bit better. Take #1! Poor little random cryer.
Take #2 - a little better. But do NOT make eye contact Lillie.
And then it was time to eat cake at breakfast....what a treat!
And then it was time to stay in our jammies all day long and play, play, play. Lillie loved playing with her new Rapunzel doll (thanks Zach). She also loved her new diaper bag and spent time changing Rapunzel's diaper. She is such a little mother.
Gotta brush her hair.....
Robot battles.....
Ah the joys of Lego sets....Mimi picked a wonderful 380 piece Batman set. This is the final page - step 50 of the third section which means there was likely about 150 damn steps. I took me about 90 minutes to get it all done and Paul was of little help as he was distracted by all of the other toys laying around.
Check out all of the bags and pieces!
The finished product....hallelujah!
Gotta love the princess outfit over the striped jammies.
Ladies having some fun!
And nearing the end of the evening, the kids were so nicely sharing Lillie's new tablet. Love these happy moments and smiling kids.
What a wonderful day we had. Kids make Christmas so much more magical and meaningful.
Exciting stuff...Christmas Eve arrived and it was a frigid day but we didn't let that stop us from having fun. We got nicely dressed for Mass....and then Paul got to watch some Power Rangers in a chair where he couldn't get dirty!
I admit that I snapped a few pics in church before Mass started. Good thing we got there at 3:20 for a 4:00 Mass time.....that church was hopping! Lillie did really well with that hour and forty minutes but Paul not so much. We made it through but it was touch and go for a while!
Back home for a yummy dinner, some videos from Santa (love that PNP website!) and then getting stuff ready for Santa and his reindeer. Lots of fun this year with the reindeer carrots. Who knew carrots could be so much fun?!?!
Special reindeer food - oatmeal with sprinkles.
Cookies for Santa.....
Can I tell you how much I love these children?
Surprisingly everyone went to sleep pretty quickly. Jason and I wrapped up the preparations and watched A Christmas Story. A good day.
Doesn't it figure that in the days leading up to Christmas our little ladybug would get sick. Thankfully it was a quick one but man she felt bad. The upside is that she was especially cuddly......
I decided to spend a few days baking - here is the pathetic little lady watching me.
On the other hand, Paul was feeling fine and loving the chocolate that we melted to dip the coconut macaroons.
We had a lot of fun spending all sorts of time together. By the time Christmas Eve arrived, Lillie was feeling better and we were all ready for the big day!
Today was finally the day that we made the attempt to see Santa. Last year the little ladybug wasn't so thrilled with the big red guy so it was really a question mark whether she would get within 10 feet of him. Yeah, we were one of "those families" that went to see Santa on a Saturday afternoon. It was nuts! We waited in line for about 45 minutes but the kids did really great. They do a nice job decorating and this is our favorite Santa in town.
And then it was finally our turn. Jason helped get Lillie situated and she didn't freak out at all! HOORAY!
Here's the official picture we paid for....so hard to get both kids looking cute in the same picture so this year it is Lillie's turn. Paul was smiling like a champ in the first few but Lillie wasn't paying any attention to the camera. So this is the best one they got.
And here are the candids that I took.
After their visit with Santa was over, it was time to right the holiday train. Paul was a big kid and bought the 2 tickets all by himself.
And of course he chose the train engine to ride in....both kids had a great time riding the train.
Found this weird reindeer man sitting on a bench. HA!
We hit up the Barnes and Noble for some new books and then headed to Mandarin Grill to see Miss Jade and eat some yummy food. Lots of yummy miso soup and lo mein noodles with their chopsticks.
After dinner we drove through the Jolly Holiday Lights. The kids enjoyed the oohing and aahing over the light displays. They got to snuggle under their favorite blankets in their car seats. Needless to say, everyone was pooped when we finally got home. We all had such a wonderful day.
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