Merry Christmas Every One

We celebrated Christmas morning at Sam's parents' house, and of course Jack stayed in his Christmas PJs (the size 24M ones, remember?)

My sister sent some play food kits handed down from my niece - this is a KFC-branded backpack with plastic chicken, corn, and mashed potatoes. Jack loves corn-on-the-cob, so seriously we could have stopped unwrapping gifts right there.

Ryan thought the corn needed to be cooked a little longer on the IKEA kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa.

Aunt Sarah gifted the coordinating IKEA pots and pans, utensils, and baking tools.

The KFC backpack

Don't distract me - I don't want my bechamel to break...

My mom sewed aprons, hot pads, oven mitts and embroidered dish towels to complete the kitchen setup - absolutely adorable!

Ryan discovered that the foam spacer in a gift card tin makes the perfect scrubby for cleaning up around the kitchen.

We took a break from opening presents (the boys were getting obviously overwhelmed) and enjoyed Bloody Marys and Emeril's Christmas Morning Breakfast Bake, which was yummy.

Back to our previously scheduled gift-unwrapping... a melting snowman, clothes, and three more play food sets - McDonald's, Pizza Hut and DQ.

By the time we got to our stockings, Jack appeared to be a little shell-shocked...

We left Grandma and Grandpa's house to go take naps. While the boys slept, I challenged Sam to dismantle the reclining loveseat that the previous owners had left in the basement. It was a comfortable couch, but the cats had used it as their private scratching post and we needed to make room for MORE TOYS.

Meanwhile, I worked my OCD magic to set up the kitchen and all the new accessories with the food and play appliances that we already had on hand.

When Ryan woke up I went to take a shower, and in less than 5 minutes the contents my tidy kitchen was strewn from one end of the family room to the other... ah, the joy of boys!

Santa Train!

We went out to the Colorado Railroad Museum to meet Santa and to ride the historic steam train (that Sam helped restore) around the property. We went early, and boy was I glad - we were fifth in line to meet Santa (which Ryan handled with a certain amount of laissez-faire and I didn't even bother to take Jack out of the backpack carrier) and walked right onto the train. When we disembarked, the line for both the train and Santa wrapped around the depot!

Just give me the candy cane already, old man...

The garden railway with the steam train in the background

Will Hace, goofball extraordinaire!

Aw, what a cute family...

Bass Pro Shop

Today we headed out to Bass Pro Shop, mainly because we were bored but also because Sam heard there would be trains - TRAINS, YO. We hadn't been there since just after Christmas 2008, so Ryan didn't really remember all the different amusements that make up the Land of the Bass.

ATVS!

ATVS with snow treads! (Who is that big boy?!)

There was only one train, and it was a little disappointing. Ryan was more interested in watching the guy staple the strings of lights to the frame. (Oh yeah, that's Santa in the little house back there - the line was out the door and Ryan showed zero interest in meeting him)

Slot cars and light bulbs and toddler-sized chairs, OH MY.

Fake fireplaces and mirrors with knobs - WILL THE FUN NEVER STOP?!

Here's where the day took a Seussian turn... One Hat, Two Hat, New Hat, New Hat

After we squeezed every last ounce of fun out of BPS, we walked over to Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time - I mean, Toby Keith's I Love This Bar.

We had gone to the TKILTB in Vegas when I was pregnant with Ryan, and while it wasn't the best meal we had in Sin City, it was still good (even while we were sober). This one, I have to say, could not be described similarly. Perhaps we should have ordered the Signature Item instead of a burger and a Cobb salad...

The one redeeming grace was the dance floor, stage, and buck-hunting video game (with real fake shotguns!), and both boys were content to wander through the sparsely populated restaurant while waiting for our food. After Ryan finished his meal he wanted to wander more, so we headed over to the stage where a guy was dismantling the drum kit. He invited Ryan up on stage to get a closer look which thrilled my little rock star to no end.

Of course, by leaving the table I missed my chance to order dessert:

Happy Penguin Party Ryan!

We celebrated Ryan's third birthday today in high style (though after realizing that our house cannot hold an infinite number of guests, I had to dial back the invite list and only include our 2- and 3-year old friends). He's been a fan of Happy Feet for a while, so I decided to make it a penguin-themed party.

My big idea was to make little penguin costumes for the kids - little black felt hoods with wings attached, and a strand of orange beads around the neck. I asked everyone to dress their kids in white shirts and black pants to create the full look, and I anticipated gathering all the birdies together for a group photo.

Unfortunately, it is the nature of 3 year olds to resist their parents' best intentions, so we couldn't actually get any of the "big" kids to wear it. Aunt Jane managed to wrestle Jack into it for about 20 seconds, but it doesn't have the same effect with the overalls.

Of course, without the costumes, it looked like a group of tiny waiters running around our house - I kept waiting for one of them to come take my drink order...

Eli and David

I had also printed out fish on colorful paper and planned to have the kids go "fishing" (like an Easter egg hunt), but they all found ample toys to entertain themselves.

Eli

Will

I baked individual chocolate-zucchini cakes with blue cream cheese frosting - I think Ryan was most excited about the gummy sharks.

l to r Aunt Jane; Turner, Annie and Brian Jensen; James and Andrew Zwyer; Jillian and Ava McGovern; Eli and Kristine Saperstein

Kyla Brown

The Jensens (baby Trace loves him some Negra Modelo)

Another vote for the gummy sharks!

More photos, including adventures in gift opening, here.