Saturday: These first few pictures were taken Christmas Eve--all I have to say about it is that it was a good thing I opened these little toys up and took a look at how much there was to put together before you could play with them. It took me over two hours to assemble Erin's house and Aidan's fire station. NOTE TO SELF: Never ever ever purchase anything with this many small, loose parts again for anyone under the age of 30.
I showed up over at Dylan and Kelly's at noon, bringing gifts and a cheesy potato casserole to share. The children showed me all of their nice toys and gifts. They were so sweet and excited to show me everything. And then we opened the gifts I brought. We began with Callaghan, who was very pleased with his new books, as well as his little cars and trucks.
This picture (below) is totally out of order--but shows the presents wrapped and ready under my tree at home.
Everyone wanted to help Cal open his box ...
Dylan was in control of the chaos ... keeping back any toddlers who might want to be TOO helpful.
Cal was already past his naptime, so he was very sleepy and quiet.
I picked a number between 1 and 10 (#8), and Brendan guessed it right on the nose; so he was next to open his gifts from me. I don't think we actually photographed what was inside! There was an aerospace origami kit, an art kit with how to draw fantasy creatures, a solo game of a compact marble run, and a really super nice book about natural disasters--complete with a huge poster and lots of interactive stuff. Look how grown up Brendan looks in this picture! He is 9-3/4 now (he loves this fact, due to Harry Potter) ...
Erin was attempting to tell me about her little earrings in the picture below. She really REALLY wanted to open her box. So we decided to let the two little kids open theirs simultaneously.
Aidan was very pleased that HIS box was HUGE!
They played with their stuff for awhile--but I was right about the tiny pieces (duh!). Aidan actually enjoyed playing with the doll house better than the fire station. What I really should have purchased--seriously--was the entire series of Elephant and Piggie books, along with the Pigeon books too! Sigh.
Here is Aidan photo-bombing me ...
We ate a yummy meal of ham, green beans (superb, Kelly!) and cheesy potato casserole. For dessert, Kelly had ordered (locally) something called "cake pops" and they were not only amazingly decorated, but they were DE-LICIOUS--I'm not kidding. I could not have these in my house--I would eat every single one of them. The children enjoyed them too and had more than 1. I restrained myself to just one, but it was difficult!
Here is Brendan looking through his Natural Disaster book. It's spiral bound, which is always a huge plus, and very well illustrated and notated.
And look! Brendan got a new bike. Yes!
This was the box Aidan had been waiting to open and assemble. He has been asking for a LEGO train for more than two years now--for each birthday and Christmas. He is nearly FIVE, and he is an excellent LEGO builder (as is Brendan)--so his folks purchased the Harry Potter train set for this little munchkin. He was determined to build it entirely by himself. The box said it was for ages 8-14 ... but everyone was quite confident of Aidan's abilities. He proved himself too.
On a sad note, Shane was sick today and decided to stay at his place so that he would not infect anyone. But he was very kind to ask Dylan to some and retrieve the gifts he had chosen for the children. Dylan brought him a nice dinner (that Kelly packed), along with my card/gift, and then returned with these nicely wrapped and extremely thoughtful gifts for the kiddos. They were SO pleased.
Look at Aidan's anticipation ...
Since Aidan refused all help in opening his box, Dylan aided Brendan opening up his gift. Inside was a very much wanted gift of cards--but I didn't get a close look at it--I think they have something to do with a video game that Brendan plays. Anyway--he was super pleased to see them. Also in Brendan's box was two movies--one of them is one that I am familiar with a love--E.T. and I forget what the other one was.
Aidan was not disappointed in what his Uncle Shane had chosen for him--more LEGOS! Yes! He was so happy about more sets to build.
Look at his happy little face!
And dear Erin received a very pretty doll--she gave it nice hugs and held it close to her--as well as a princess tent! Kelly helped to assemble it in her room. It's perfect for Erin!
Callaghan was down for his nap, so I wasn't able to see what was inside his package from Shane--but it was undoubtedly something nice. Shane is very good at picking out gifts for these guys.
Here is Dylan looking through two of the books I ordered for him (from his Amazon wish list) that arrived on time for Christmas. I am waiting for another one to come this week.
Aidan was told that if the table was completely CLEAR, he could begin assembling his LEGO train. Here he is waiting for Dylan to supervise the project. There was a 25+ page booklet with step-by-step instructions. I had a stomach ache just looking at it.
Here is Princess Erin's tent. I LOVE it.
Look at her! Isn't she something?
What a sweetie you are, Erin!
I left Dylan's at about 3:00 and headed over to Jesse's with some goodies to share with he and Kaity. They had already opened presents from me a week ago. Kaity told me all about her morning of unwrapping presents. She was smiling from ear to ear.
Emma and I ate our Christmas dinner by about 6pm. Chicken enchiladas. I love this recipe. It has never failed to turn out and it is especially yummy. We ate too much junk afterwards, but ... it was Christmas!
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