Christmas Day

Well, after lots of planning and activities, Christmas day was a lot of fun. I have a million pictures, so get comfortable.

On Christmas Eve we had a nice dinner of "meat with special sauce", potatoes and broccoli. I made special cupcakes for dessert and we left a snack for Santa and Rudolph:

Once the boys were in bed, we exchanged some gifts among the adults, knowing the morning would be all about the boys. We went to bed and let Santa get to work.

Simon was up at 6, which is actually a decent time for him and he was completely thrilled with what he woke up to:

The four of us opened our stockings right away:

And then when Aunt Karyn, Grandma and Papa got involved, Simon "helped" with theirs, too.

Then we moved onto the gifts under the tree. Here are some highlights:

Simon's construction worker costume:

The highly anticipated "turning-on cement mixer"

Nate's tumblers funhouse:

And his set of fun cars:

Simon's idol, Buzz Lightyear:

Nate's new sensory book:

Simon's Lego firehouse set:

Simon's Cars suitcase:

And Nate's new friend, Barney

And while all of the pictures are of the kids and their gifts, Matt and I had a great day too. Some highlights: I got a beautiful purse and awesome lunch"box", Matt got some clothes and a book he's really been wanting to read, and Karyn gave us some sorely needed tupperware that is one of my favorite things this year! (seriously!) The boys also got some great gifts in the mail from family in NJ and CA, thank you everyone for helping us make this day so much fun!

Here are a few more cute pictures:

Now for one last gasp of Christmas with Grandpa, who is coming out Friday!

Nate's Christmas gift to us

We have a walker!

Check out his early steps here:

25 Days of Christmas--Day 24

Well day 24 is, of course, Christmas Eve. Rather than a small hint for the drawer, I made a little nighttime scene to indicate "eve"...

We sprinkled our reindeer food on the lawn, left snacks out for Santa and Rudolph, and had a delicious dinner. We played games and ate homemade chocolate peppermint cupcakes.

and read The Night Before Christmas with the boys in new jammies.

We also get ready to say goodbye to Kenny the Elf until next year. Speaking of, here are a few of our favorites Kenny moments from the last two weeks.

More tomorrow about the big day!

25 Days of Christmas--Day 23

We're getting close! Today's drawer held more homemade candy...forgive the imperfections!

Today we welcomed Grandma and Papa to Seattle for Christmas, and had a nice day together. Here are a few quick pictures, more to come!

25 Days of Christmas--Day 22

The drawer:

A tiny little bowl of eggs...it's baking day! And we had help from our first visitor, Aunt Karyn! We made a bunch of butter cookies with different colors of dough and lots of different decorations. Simon had a great time, and helped pour (eat), mix (eat) and decorate (eat).

After all that work, it was cuddle time on the couch with Toy Story.

And then playtime with Nate!