Christmas Morning

Well, after dreading it for 24 days, Christmas finally arrived - and it was marvelous.  The boys had so much fun opening presents and everyone got what they wanted (sort of - more on that later!). 

The children have been sleeping in really late (7:45-8, sometimes even as late as 8:30) so I wasn't too worried about being woken up at the crack of dawn. Jack actually came in our room around 7:20 and climbed into bed with us. Even after we said it was Christmas and we thought perhaps Santa had brought some gifts he didn't make a move. Finally I got up to make coffee and snapped this photo before the impending chaos took over. 

Jack came into the kitchen and noticed that his stocking was not only stuffed, but it was lying on the hearth - too heavy for the stocking holder to keep it hung neatly by the fire. He wanted to dig into it right away but I made him wait for Ryan and Dad.

The mini gifts sorted and explored, it was time to hit the big time. While we had been placing some family gifts under the tree for a few days before Christmas, the bulk arrived overnight in Santa's sleigh.

One of the things I dislike about Christmas is the waste generated as wrapping paper, bows, tissue paper, etc (and the cost of procuring all that in the first place) so I have tried to find creative ways to wrap gifts in reusable containers and wrap. Both the silver box and the stack of red boxes with gold lids below originally came to my office filled with cookies and holiday snacks - once the treats were consumed I brought them home and found gifts to fit them perfectly.

While I did reuse some tissue paper leftover from previous years, last Christmas I bought pieces of Christmas-themed fabric and have used them in lieu of tissue.  Here Ryan is opening the first gift in a series of Playmobil Farm pieces that I scored on eBay. The set is retired and hard to find complete, so I cobbled together 99.9% of it from various online sources. Without its original packaging, I was able to pack different items in little boxes and extend the gift-unwrapping frenzy even longer.

Jack had asked Santa for a doorknob, so Santa brought him a doorknob. I think he was confused by the plastic packaging, but when we asked him if Santa brought him the right thing, he said, no, he wanted a GREEN doorknob.

A last-minute run to our neighborhood thrift store two days ago yielded a wooden marble run set for $3 - in the original packaging and with all the pieces!

And now begins the "open one present, dump out the contents, then move on to the next present" segment of Christmas morning. Ryan opened the centerpiece to the farm set - the barn. The only piece I haven't been able to find is a tiny plastic slider that goes over the rope, allowing the farmer to pull the bucket up to the hayloft.

The stack of red boxes contained a LARGE assortment of SMALL barnyard accessories - geese, chickens and ducks, squirrels, birds and mice, pumpkins and sunflowers, piglets, horses and the farmer and his family.

Then Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Sarah arrived to resupply the (not-even-barely) diminished stack of presents. I put breakfast in the oven and we got ready for Round 2...

  ...but not before arranging the farm and its accessories (note the tractor by Ryan's hand!) properly.

Jack received a fold out airport playmat - as Sam has traveled this year he's brought home diecast airplanes, so I thought the boys would enjoy having a place to stage them (add a palm tree and it's Hawaii!).

Jack also asked Santa for a candy-cane Jack in the Box, which as far as the Internet could tell me, does not actually exist. Aunt Sarah had the great idea to get a regular Jack in the Box and add a candy cane to it, so I did.

 More proof that the best toys don't require batteries!

Grandpa gave the boys each a metal car - Ryan got a white Lamborghini and Jack a yellow Alfa Romeo.

 Grandma gave Jack a lift the flap book about planes to further fuel his aviation obsession...

...while Ryan got a collection of Berenstain Bear stories (I love how my little bookworms had to just plop down right in the middle of everything to "read" their books!).

Chutes and Ladders and Hi Ho Cherry-o mercifully came wrapped in plastic - otherwise we would have lost many a mini plastic cherry in the shuffle. 

 Grandma gave the boys cozy hats - a penguin for Ryan and a panda for Jack.

Grandma Janet sent the boys overalls - Ryan tossed his aside saying "Ohhh, I thought it was gonna be a toy!" but Jack was pretty excited about his.

Ryan was really delighted by the next gift from Grandma Janet - a Tonka steel grader for him and a bulldozer for Jack. They immediately started plowing through piles of wrapping paper and bows!

Ryan has been really interested in Sam's guitar and started telling us in September that he was going to ask Santa for an electric-acoustic guitar and amplifier. Sam has a hard time keeping track of guitar picks (particularly when they're borrowed by mini-musicians), so when I spotted the Pick Punch on Amazon, I had to get it for both of them. You use old credit cards and gift cards to punch out guitar picks, so our supply should last a little longer now!

Jack got a pair of child-size drum sticks for the drum set we've had for over a year now (the children were playing it with old wooden spoons, which worked great but were starting to break apart!).

Another book, another full stop of the festivities for story time from Grandma.

Jack's final present was a Duplo construction set, but he didn't pay much attention to it because Ryan was opening his last present at the same time.

 While he ultimately didn't ask Santa for a guitar, Grandma and Grandpa had already found one for him.

 He was not disappointed by it, that's for sure!

 And knew just what to do with it!

Finally we ate breakfast and cleaned up all the wrapping and packaging. The boys wanted to take their new Tonka vehicles outside, so they got dressed and headed out for a good half hour or so.

 Yes, this is the strawberry patch they're tromping through, not the rest of the garden which is just bare dirt...

Grandma and Grandpa and Sarah packed up their loot and headed home to rest before returning later for Christmas dinner - which will be covered in another post.

Visit with Santa

Grandma and Grandpa took the boys for their second annual Breakfast with Santa at Bass Pro Shop outing today.  We made the mistake of telling Ryan that Sam and I were going to get the Christmas tree while they were visiting with Santa; he threw a most epic tantrum insisting he didn't want to go. Nothing we could say or do would change his mind, but Grandma showed up and whispered a few magical words and he was off and running.

I'm a teeny bit jealous that we haven't gone with them to see the interaction, but at the same time I'm glad we didn't have preschoolers underfoot while we wrestled a 6 foot Nordmann pine into the tree stand (someone needs to invent an iPhone app to tell you if your tree is perfectly vertical).

Fortunately, the boys are old enough to tell us about the experience now, and Bill snapped some photos. Ryan brought the iPod so he could take pictures too, though I haven't seen how those turned out.

Here's Ryan, asking Santa for a Lego farm.  Hmmm... I've been spending weeks on eBay, buying the various parts and pieces of the now-retired Playmobil farm.  He loves the Playmobil apple harvest set we bought with his birthday money, so hopefully the difference will not be a big deal (because I am not ready to go full-Lego just yet!).

Jack is probably pointing at one of the giant taxidermied fish lining the walls at Islamorada Fish Company, the restaurant at Bass Pro Shop where the breakfast is hosted. Or he's describing the arc of the eight tiny reindeer soaring through the night sky on Christmas Eve. Got me!

Jack apparently asked Santa for a doorknob. WTH, child? This is, of course, the same little boy who asked the balloon man at the Pumpkin Festival for a crescent moon, so I don't know why I was surprised. He also asked for a candy cane Jack in the Box - which as far as I can tell, does not exist. You'll have to wait for the Christmas blog post to see what I (er, SANTA) came up with.

Chatterbug Ryan - talking politics, perhaps? Discussing the Broncos' post-season chances? Or querying Santa about the physics of tiny reindeer pulling a sleigh loaded with gifts?  He's most likely recounting to Santa the entire plot of Santa Bear, a lovely (if long) Berenstain Bear book the boys have been requesting at bedtime since, oh, July or so.

I'll give this Santa props for the real beard and the mellow environs - every time we've seen a mall Santa, my boys turn up their noses, as apparently the BPS Santa is the only one capable of hearing their Christmas wish lists. 

Meanwhile, Sam and I stalked and seized our prey, field dressing it and hoisting it to the roof of the car to bear home proudly. 

The boys were excited to see it (Ryan forgot all about his earlier tantrum) but then Jack took a crazy long nap and we didn't get to decorate it until the next day, which was certainly an experience!

Happy Birthday (5.3) Ryan!

I simply cannot believe that Ryan is 5 - seriously, where has the time gone? He is turning into the most amazing little man and I am so proud to be his Mom.

This year we had three birthday parties to celebrate his big day - the week before in Missouri with my family, on his actual birthday (12/5) at our house with Grandma and Grandpa Fleming and Aunt Sarah, and a party today with a few little friends.

After last year's zoo extravaganza, I had a hard time coming up with a new place to host the party (because I will gladly pay for someone else to set up and clean up!) until I remembered that the Denver Firefighters Museum hosts birthday parties. We'd never been there before but the last few months both Ryan and Jack have been obsessed with firemen, so I figured it would be a popular spot.

The museum is located in Denver's original fire station (built in 1909), meaning there are some pretty significant historical items there. I was pretty worried about reining in the 5-and-under group, but the museum was actually set out pretty well.

We started upstairs with educational displays and activities and a party area. My little destructos were more interested in redecorating the safety house than planning a safe escape...

Friends in attendance included David and Andrew, Sebastian and Oscar, Katherine and Anna, Ava Grace and soon-to-be big brother Atlas. He just adores Ryan and Jack and they always look forward to seeing him.

The museum doesn't offer food service and the only time slot available was noon-2, so I put together an easily transportable, kid-friendly lunch menu - chicken salad sandwiches on mini croissants, PB&J, Cuties, carrot sticks, and my favorite party idea to date - a make-your-own-trail-mix bar.

There were a variety of nuts, raisin, craisins and other dried fruit, coconut flakes, honey-roasted sesame sticks, and Ryan's favorite, "hummingbird eggs" (AKA chocolate covered sunflower seeds). I put out paper cupcake liners and everyone was able to pick the pieces they liked the best.

Ryan requested an applesauce cake, so I found this recipe with the most divine cinnamon cream cheese frosting. He was really excited when I stuck 5 candles in one little cupcake (hey, a firefighter museum has to be the safest place to set a fire, right?).

Once we finished eating (and wiped off sticky fingers!), museum volunteer Bernadette lined all the kids up to go downstairs where other exhibits and the kid-sized costumes are housed (Atlas got a head start while the other kids were eating).

Remember the "significant historical items"? Yeah, Ryan's hanging off a piece of the NYC World Trade Center... (and not listening to directions, unlike Anna and Ava Grace).

Because he was the birthday boy, Ryan got to dress up as the Fire Chief and help Bernadette demonstrate some important fire safety lessons.

The most important - and easily accessible to sugar-amped preschoolers - lesson was Stop, Drop, and Roll. Anna, Ava and David volunteered to show off their rolling skills.

The kids were then free to explore the rest of the museum. They were not interested in the vintage horse-drawn fire wagons or the historical fire moments in Denver history, but the did love the costumes, the fire pole, and other make-believe elements.

Andrew, in particular, was really excited to "drive" the fire truck. Clear the road - clang clang clang!

The museum even had respirator masks for the kids to wear - I really didn't expect either of my boys to put one on, but not only did Jack put one on (he's grouchy here because he doesn't want me to take his picture)...

...and photobomb my selfie with Ava... [Luke, I am your father!]

but he wore the full costume around for a good half hour!

Finally it was time for everyone to head home for naps. Atlas gives the best hugs!

Everyone had a great time (well, maybe not Grandma and Grandpa who volunteered to pack up all the food and tidy up the party space) and Ryan said it was a good party, so my work here is done... until next year, of course!

View all photos of the day's fun here.