Christmas Giftapalooza 2010

I have to say, the boys were pretty good this year and we didn't start opening gifts until about 7am! Colin got his MUCH coveted keyboard, definitely his favorite gift! He's just one step closer now to his ultimate goal: turning into Cousin David! Liam also got his "tetherball" that he asked Santa for, although he confided in me that he wanted the "real baseball one like Ryan's". I told him Santa was worried they would all end up with a concussion and got him the one for smaller kids instead. He also got some Mighty Beanz, the only other thing on his list, even though I have no idea why these things are so cool. All I see when I look at them is a wireless endoscopy camera. Which is pretty much what I think the outcome will be (minus the cool photo op) after his baby sister swallows one. But I digress... Eamon was THRILLED that he got not only the big yellow school bus he asked for, but also a whole fleet of diggers in his stocking!

Little Miss missed the entire of Christmas morning and slept until 10:45am when I finally woke her up to attend Round Two of opening at Grammy and Grampy's. The boys swooped her into the playroom long enough for THEM to open all of her gifts while she climbed up on Colin's keyboard and maniacally beat on the keys. She was the only kid who actually got DRESSED on Christmas, the others chose to stay in their elfin jammies. (Okay, I FORCED her to get dressed so she could wear those impossibly cute red-ruffle-bottomed snowflake tights with her Mrs. Claus dress). And then I promptly forgot to get any good pictures of her in that get up anyway!

A small collection of the most-used gifts of vacation week. Many MANY forts were built and rebuilt with the sticks and balls from CrazyForts which were AWESOME. Sadie's favorite gift was her grocery cart which she pushes around everywhere (usually loaded up with her brothers' trucks because vehicles are about all she cares to play with otherwise). It also provided enough of a bribe for us to GET HER TO WALK FINALLY! She has been taking a step here and there for a month but lacks the daredevil attitude her brothers had so she kept it at just one or two steps until we kept her grocery cart JUST out of reach and she walked halfway across the kitchen in her first attempt to get back to it!

I got a new griddle which we proceeded to use for EVERY meal for a week. I THOUGHT the Star Wars pancake molds would be enough to entice Colin to try a pancake (I know, a kid who hates pancakes? What's up with that?) but no... no go on that one (the rest of us liked them however!) Eamon got a new Leapster Explorer which EVERYONE loved (especially me because you can download most of the games and not have to carry/lose/break a bunch of cartridges for it. And most importantly, you can tailor the games to each of the kids and the skill level they are currently at which is WONDERFUL.) The big boys spent HOURS doing science projects from a set of cards Liam got... there they are with their toothpick/marshmallow towers. Eamon got a "build and break down" digger with its own drill which he found some creative uses for and we ALL were enthused about the BEST WOODEN BLOCKS I HAVE EVER SEEN. They come with all kinds of shapes and sizes we've never encountered before and produce some of the most creative architectural designs EVER. Plus, Sadie loves to spend hours taking them out of and returning them to the box they live in. All in all, a HUGE haul of great stuff we spent the week off playing with nonstop. (It wasn't until Sunday that the boys seemed to notice we still owned a TV and THAT sums it up better than anything I could come up with!)