Opening King Titan

Sam loves his robot from Santa. He calls it Galactica, or rather galakita.

Stockings!

The stockings were a hit, but Sam wanted to get right to opening presents. Awyn went from stocking to stocking stealing the candy canes, apples, oranges, and chocolate. She took any toy or non-food item out of her stocking and collected the goodies. She preferred this to opening presents, although she did eventually open all of hers. I think she just figured out that I wouldn't let Sam open her presents, and she decided they could wait.

First Present

Sam and Awyn had toothbrush holders next to their stockings. Sam wouldn't sit still for breakfast without his new Thomas thing - and he knew it was his, as well as that the Curious George version was for Awyn. He also insisted on getting "monkey" for Awyn. Note the eggnog mustache.

Breakfast before Presents

Eric's parents had a tradition of eating breakfast before the kids were allowed at the presents. We are continuing this Christmas morning torture. The key is to make the cinnamon rolls the night before, and set a timer on the coffee pot. Well, actually we were drinking egg nog lattes, yum. I've altered the 'traditional' rolls a bit - I think Joyce actually uses candied cherries, and they go in and on the rolls, along with nuts. I'm not a fan of boy rolls, or fruit inside my rolls, so instead I make regular cinnamon rolls, chop up some maraschino cherries and sprinkle them on top, and then I make the icing with the juice. I don't think I got the plastic on them tight enough the night before, because these were a little tough and chewy.

Ready for Santa

Rolling dem bones

Awyn really likes dice. She wouldn't share with Sam, even though he was really trying to convince her to share.

OK, that's it, the traps are coming out...

This means war. Another mouse just scurried into this room and crawled all over the bookshelves. I'm getting out ALL of the traps and baiting them. I don't care if I have to cart out a dozen mouse bodies or how cute they look, I'm tired of cleaning up mouse poop! Besides, they chew on the wiring. I just wish those traps weren't such an ugly death. I truly hate seeing the poor mouse the next morning. Of course, I think I could handle it if it means no more mice. I'm feeling very vindictive right now. Here mousy mousy mousy. Anyone remember the old TV mini-series V? I keep thinking of the alien digging through the dumpster looking for a mouse to eat. I do confess that I throw the trap, the mouse, and the paper I've placed the trap on away in a plastic bag because I refuse to actually touch the mouse. At least they aren't roaches. I react in a very stereotypically cliche way to roaches. I think mice are cute. Roaches are disgusting. I need Eric to deal with roaches.

Ready to relax

After a hard afternoon of partying, these guys settled in for a movie and a nap. I don't think they lasted more than 15 minutes into Robots. Of course, the drugs helped. Did I mention they both have colds? Now I need to go find a new bottle of baby pseudophed. Any parent, heck any adult with a cold, knows what I mean. That re-formulated junk is exactly that, junk, and it doesn't work at all. Darn druggies making it hard for the rest of us to get the good stuff! I can't even ask my pharmacist to mail it to me anymore, he can't do it. Nope, I have to drive about 150 miles to a store that actually carries it and see if they have it behind the counter, and they don't necessarily, so I have to drive another 100 miles to the bigger city, and shop around to find a store that has it in their pharmacy. And then I have to purchase it right there, seperately from my other purchases, with an ID. Good gravy, there isn't enough pseudophedrine in a bottle of baby pseudophed to light up a hamster. And new Nyquil? yeah, it's an even bigger joke. I can barely gag the stuff down in the first place, and then it doesn't work. Seriously, it takes me about half an hour to chug a tablespoon of that nasty stuff down. I'm shuddering just typing about drinking it. icky icky icky. I sure hope I don't get the kids' colds.

Sleepy girl

Awyn's ready to relax after the party. She's tired and both kids have colds.

Eat Cake and Ice Cream

 
It was a chilly day for a birthday party, but I think all the kids enjoyed it. Awyn loved eating ice cream with her fingers. brrrrr. She also ate cake. Sam just ate the frosting and the ice cream, and I got to finish his cake. 

Happy Birthday Luis!

 
Sam really admired the Thomas cake. 

 
I think Itaei looks beautiful in her pink furry coat. She's almost exactly one year younger than Awyn, and is nearly as big - they weigh about the same, and Itaei fits Awyn's clothes almost before Awyn's outgrown them. That's coming to an end as Awyn seems to be going through constant growth spurts lately, and she's suddenly moved from 9-12 month clothes to 18-24 or 2T, which is only a little big on her. Anyway, this little girl is one of the most adorable babies I've ever seen, with her kissable cheeks, large brown eyes, and a very full head of curly black hair. 

Pinata!

 
Sam really liked the Thomas pinata at Luis's birthday party. 

OFF OFF!!

  

Get this Dress OFF

 
Awyn didn't want to wear this beautiful dress to the birthday party. She would have matched the birthday boy who was wearing a tuxedo. Oh well, it was probably too cold and she would have had to wear a coat over it the entire time. Maybe she'll wear it for Christmas. Thank you Keri, Willow, and Hilary. (I love hand-me-downs! Awyn is so lucky to have fashionable cousins.) 

Story Hour/Craft Day

 
Mondays are designated Story Hour Day, and the kids usually play with puzzles, do a craft, and read books. This is aimed at the pre-school crowd to help get them ready for preschool next year, although it's open to the kids a year behind that too. It's nice to get out to something organized, and we're really trying to work with Sam so he can understand sitting still for a story (he loves books and stories, but he wants to sit in my lap or right next to me, not share a book with a half-dozen other children.) and he enjoys the crafts. He will usually do the entire craft mostly by himself. 

 
One thing Sam is working on is free-form puzzles. He's great at the wooden block puzzles, and he seemed to enjoy this particular puzzle. Bernadette showed up how to find the colors and turn the pieces around until the colors matched, as well as looking for outside pieces. I'm not sure how much of this he picked up, but he did really well on this puzzle with only a little help. 

Pacifier Girl

 
Awyn is still very addicted to her pacifier. We've started putting them away in a drawer like we did with Sam. Awyn likes to open the drawer and get the entire tray of pacifiers to play with. We'd really like to wean her off of her plug. Notice the curly hair - this is typical after-bath head. When clean, it curls up into little ringlets. 

Playing at the Party