Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning, December 2008

Ian wrote his letter to Santa ("Santa, I Love You") and set Santa up with 5 chocolate chip cookies and some milk-Santa's favorite!. The boys had opened their new pajamas, with Ian saying, "That was just what I wanted!"
Connor was unhappy that he wasn't allowed to eat the cookies. ("I cookie?") and Ian insisted on wearing his spy sunglasses while preparing Santa's plate.

My mom ended up staying in the airport all night long on Christmas Eve and getting an early morning flight on Christmas Day.

Christmas morning came and the boys, tired from hanging out with the Wines on Christmas Eve, actually slept until almost 7:30am. Ian was the first up-I kept my camera by my bedside and was still too slow to get all of the excitement.

Santa brought Connor a Lightning McQueen tricycle ("Get out of my way-I'm Lightning McQueen!") which took Santa three tries to get just the right present for C, but he did a great job. Connor really enjoyed the tricycle and we even allowed him to ride it in the house because it was raining. Ian couldn't believe that they would get to ride the toy IN the house, since normally we don't allow bikes in the house. That was pretty cool for both of them.
Ian got his super secret agent Mobile Command Center, which was "what he had always dreamed of!" The boys were so delighted with their Santa gifts that they didn't open any other gifts until after my mom arrived that afternoon-which was nice for her to get to see them open presents like maniacs later in the day.

The boys also got soccer balls from Santa. Ian got several Lego sets, Connor got a lot of Lightning McQueen loot and some cool race tracks. They had a lot of fun and by the end of the night, Connor was pretty overwhelmed and crying a lot.


We got my mom a digital photo frame to include some of her favorite photos of the boys. She really enjoyed spending the week with us and made her famous scalloped potatoes for us, even though she was really tired!


Being the only girl in the house has its advantages. I got LOTS of girly presents from Ian, including a Hello Kitty puzzle, Hello Kitty lip gloss with sparkles and a Disney Princess coloring book. I also got awesome warm and fuzzy slippers from Tom which I LOVE. Of course, I had to put together my Hello Kitty puzzle!


We spent some time this week in California visiting Michael, Terri, Suzie and Jeff-had a lot of fun watching Wall-E on Michael's super cool TV, eating delicious food by Chef Jeff, getting mani/pedis with the girls and doing all kinds of video phone conferencing with Sheila and Chris. Ian got a super spy voice changer from Aunt Sooooz and Uncle Jeff, which was probably the biggest hit of the CA trip for him. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it lost battery power on the drive home. Connor decided to skip using verbs this weekend by saying "I up" and "I cookie" and "I chip" for everything.

Now, we are home for a day to relax-taking down the tree and we put up the new and improved TV that Michael sent home with us (thanks, Mike!). We might catch the movie "Bolt" with the boys and then tomorrow morning, I am heading to Austin to visit with my friends Hilary and Nora for a few days before going back to work.

The best Christmas present for me was getting the chance to visit with my mom, Michael, Jeff, Sooz, and my favorite, Terri and also just seeing how happy the boys were to visit with them too.

Our New Year was spent watching the NY countdown (ingenious idea thanks to Cindy, where I get all the smart ideas) dancing with the kids and giving them a bath. We also sat and tried to recall all of our past New Year's celebrations. This one didn't top the charts in excitement, but we are looking forward to a peaceful 2009 that hopefully brings positive change to our nation and world and brings us closer together as family and friends.