And to All, a Good (Christmas) Night!

After a round of made from scratch cinnamon rolls for breakfast (my first ever!) Memaw, Pepaw, Uncle Ross and Aunt Ashley came over for dinner and yet another round of presents.

Aidan wasted no time showing off the Mighty Beans he got in his stocking to Pepaw:
Ava scored some adorable outfits for our New York trip (complete with accessories) from Memaw and Pepaw:
Aidan got this super cute shark hat and matching gloves (in addition to some clothes and toys) from Memaw and Pepaw:
Is it just me, or does she look like a young Rachel Berry in training?
And from Uncle Ross and Aunt Ashley, the kids got some puppets and a puppet theater:
And Air Swimmers. These are very large, very interesting blimp-like contraptions that can are remote controlled. Ava got the fish, and Aidan got the shark. However, we decided to hold off on assembling the shark because they are so stinkin' huge!

Merry Christmas (Morning) To All!

After a late night at Great Grandma's, the kids got up around 7:30 to see if they had officially made the "nice" list.

Ava kind of shocked us, because she picked her lock that morning!! We have the kids' locks turned around, for fear that they might escape (we've had a few friends who have had their littles get out of the house). Although we haven't locked for quite a while, we made sure to tell the kids their doors had to be locked so that they wouldn't wander out and see Santa in the act - because if they did, he wouldn't leave presents.

Long story longer, Sean had gotten up to take some Aleve and grab a stretch for his aching back, when he turned around to see Ava's smiling face. When I came out of the bedroom to get the kids up, Ava said, "I saw my American Girl Doll!" When I asked her how she saw it, she grabbed the barrette she used to pick the lock. Awesome - hope this isn't foreshadowing her teenage years!

One of the sweetest things that morning was how excited Ava was for Aidan, "Look Aidan! Santa got you the Landfill you wanted and he even got you a big boy bike - he knew you needed one!" And remember how Aidan had expressed his distaste for Santa? That morning he looked around and said, "I like Santa now! Next year I won't sit on him, but I'll tell him what I want."
Ava's "My American Girl" doll, complete with wavy brown hair with no bangs / a little bit of freckles / hazel eyes...just like she asked for. Man, that Santa sure has a great memory!
Sean and Aidan trying out the Light Sabres:
Every year, I get so much more joy in watching the kids open their presents, that I often forget that I have some to open too! I would so much rather just take in the looks on the kids faces than getting anything myself - always so satisfying!

Yes, I realize this is out of order...

...however, I had forgotten I had these pictures, and I figured if I didn't get anything Christmas-y out in a timely fashion, some of you might have been mad.

There is a local light display very close to our house that we like to take the kids to see a couple times each Christmas. The cars turn off their lights, we play Christmas music, and all of us "ooh" and "aah" at the pretty lights.

They have a couple sculptures that sit above a little pond that look as though they are playing hockey and/or ice skating:
One of everyone's favorites:

And definitely the kids' favorite:

Our Christmas Eve

As it has been customary the past several years, we headed to Sean's grandma's for Christmas Eve. Before we left, we got a nice surprise at the door of a flower arrangement that my Aunt Jan and Uncle John sent us:
The start of the action-packed evening began with some Scooby Doo dominoes with Memaw:
I love this shot. It's like he's saying, "Fine, I'll sit here. But just so you know, I'm totally thinking about doing something way more fun."
Pre-present opening:
Sweetness:
Each year, we bring one present for the kids to open on Christmas Eve - and it's always their Christmas jammies that we change them into before we get in the car to head home:


Aunt Ashley taught Aidan how to have a "thumb war". It looks like he is contemplating his next move:
It was right about this time when Aidan started to get over tired and a bit of a pain - a pain in Sean's back (he tweaked it trying to control this rebellious boy):
When we got home, the kids spread Reindeer Dust - made of oats for them to eat, and glitter to shine in the moonlight so that they could find our house:
Cute kiddos in cute jammies:
Once the kids were in bed, Santa and Mrs. Claus went right to work. Aidan got a big boy bike, Toy Story Imaginext Landfill, and a pimped-out Light Sabre from Santa, and Ava got her very first American Girl doll, brush, and Light Sabre from the big guy:
Santa also left lots of goodies in the stockings:
And once we were finished playing Santa and Mrs. Claus...
...we opened our presents from each other. Since we have been parents, we decided we wanted Christmas morning to be all about the kids, so we exchange gifts from one another on Christmas Eve night. We do open our presents from the kids Christmas morning. Sean got me some sunglasses, a running watch, some running clothes, and boots:
I got Sean a sweater, and his big gift...
...was his first half marathon's jersey, bib and medal. So proud of him! I had to be sneaky with the wrapping so it wouldn't be too obvious. I got one of those huge gift bags that you can fit a bike in, and stuffed it with comforters and sheets. He was very intrigued and curious as to what it was and was completely surprised and delighted:

Go Horse!

This year, Sean and I got to go to a Colts game. We bought the same season ticket seats from my mom's coworker like we did last year, and had a fantastic seat - it will be really hard to go to a game and it not be in those seats :) Although the Colts have had a pretty abysmal season, it was still really fun!

National Anthem:

Blue gettin' his groove on:
Birthday boy and me. I bought the tickets for Sean's birthday present, which was the day before the game:
Another reason we love sitting in these seats is that the season ticket holders are always so nice - this year, the couple next to us gave me some cute Colts face stickers:

They Should Call It..."Not So Easy" Bake Oven

Sunday morning we broke out the Easy Bake Oven. And remember in my previous post when I said I was transported back to my childhood when Ava unwrapped the gift? Clearly, I have selective memories, because I definitely don't remember it taking so long!

The first step is you have to let the oven warm up for 15 minutes (start counting)...Here's Ava mixin' up the batter while Aidan supervises:
Ava very cautiously sliding the cake into the oven, where it bakes for 12 minutes (for you non-math majors...that's 27 minutes so far):
Once the cake bakes, it cools in the cooling chamber for 10 minutes. A grand total of 37 minutes (more like 40 if you count the time it takes to get everything out) for such a teeny tiny pan of cake:
...that quite honestly is not very tasty (again, something I must have forgotten). However, this face says it all: she loved it, thought it was delicious, and was so excited to bake something all by herself:

Christmas With Gram and Dzia

This past Saturday my parents came down to celebrate Christmas (and Sean's birthday) with us. They came down and we had a light lunch of snacky foods, we opened presents, and then went out to dinner later that evening to celebrate Sean's birthday.

The kids really enjoyed the fire Sean built:
One of the kids' favorite gifts from Gram and Dzia were the super soft, super cuddly stuffed bears:
Oh, and the remote control car was a pretty big hit too:
Did I mention the stuffed bears?
This is one happy girl modeling her brand new Easy Bake Oven. When she opened it, I was immediately transported back to my childhood:
Cooper getting all up in Sean's grill. "What is it Daddy?" (said in a very low, slow doggy voice):
And as is customary, my parents always buy me a pair of pajamas to open from them on Christmas (along with some spending money too).
The kids were really sweet and played very nicely together with their new toys:
Our resident fire marshal making sure the fire burned safely:
And I think Cooper's reaction says it all - what a day! And so completely hard to believe Christmas is exactly one week away, and we'll be doing this all over again!