Christmas Morning

Is there really anything I need to say by way of narration here?

"I think I heard Santa!"

Surprisingly, the boys slept well while Santa made his visit on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, at around 6am, though Aidan came racing into our room and climbed into bed, whispering as loudly as he could "I think I heard Santa!"

What he didn't realize was that Aunt Laura and Uncle Ross were creeping into the house around that time so they could deliver a few gifts and be there for the morning festivities. He must have heard them creeping around downstairs...

So he buried himself in the covers and said to me "We'd better stay here in bed until he's gone!"
So, blissfully, we got an extra 20 minutes or so of sleep that morning... and a really happy memory of Aidan and Bryce (who snoozed through this whole incident and had to be roused by hand before he started bouncing on the bed and urging us to go downstairs) making their way down the stairs to peek and see what Santa brought them.

Can Santa have a beer?

On Christmas Eve, Aidan (Bryce fell asleep on the way home from Gramma and Grampa's) oats for the reindeer.. and cookies for Santa.. and milk... but no beer?

Making of a football hotdog

We spent Christmas eve at Gramma and Grampa's.. and Aidan and I threw his new football in the backyard for a little while.
Aidan enjoyed 'running for a touchdown'..

...and Mama coached him on his celebration technique.

Look at the sign...

Plenty of Christmas updates are forthcoming..
but I had to write a note about this while it's fresh in my mind.

Yesterday, all four of us were in the van, driving back from an afternoon visit to a nearby park, and Bryce was completely sacked out in his car seat. Mama and I figured out that we should stop by the grocery to grab a couple of things for supper that night and decided that Aidan and I would run into the store while Mama stayed in the car with Bryce.

Aidan picked up on this and started lobbying for an alternative plan:

Aidan: Why don't Mom and Aidan go in the store while Daddy waits in the car with Bryce?

Mama explained that Daddy should go, but Aidan wasn't buying it... until finally, he resorted to the authority of an invisible sign:

Aidan: Mom, look at the sign in front of you.

Mama: What sign?

Aidan: The sign in front of you. It says Mom will go with Aidan into the store and Daddy will stay in the car with Bryce. It's an invisible sign, Mom, but I can read it for you.

Lots of Christmas baking!

And speaking of Zucchini bread and assorted goodies, there's been lots of Christmas baking going on around here...





Thank goodness Bryce was willing to pitch in and help clean up afterward!

Anatomy of a crime

Bryce and Aidan got hold of the digital camera this afternoon and
started snapping pictures around the house..
At some point, Bryce decided he was interested in the left-over
zucchini bread on the kitchen counter..

Well, I think the photographic evidence speaks for itself..

Christmases Past

A few blasts from Christmases past...

2001
2002
2003
2004
2005

Big Brothers are pretty cool..

Aidan came to Bryce's class to visit during their Christmas party this morning..

You better not pout...

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Well, Santa made a special visit to Bryce's school and with Aidan already on Christmas break, both boys were able to visit with him...
Aidan hopped right into his lap and started yakking at him about life on the North Pole.. but Bryce wasn't so sure he wanted to get up close and personal with the man in the big beard..

Christmas packages

Packages have been arriving steadily for the boys... and excitement builds with each ring of the doorbell around here...

Today, two packages arrived from Aunt Eileen..

Bryce... not singing..

A few still pictures from Bryce's Christmas program this morning..

Bryce sings all your Christmas favorites...

... or perhaps not.



Watch here as, despite all the best efforts of the YMCA pre-school to stage this Christmas Choral presentation, complete with nominal choir director (that's the woman in the red sweater who motions to the children in a vain attempt to give structure to the event), Bryce and his surly gang of 2-year old non-conformists steadfastly refuse to sing! And so order gradually slips from the Y Staff's grasp...

See if you can catch the moment when Bryce spots his Mom and asks "where's Aunt Patty?"

Aidan sings Rudolph!

Sorry for the shaky-cam-- it was the best I could do, considering we were at full-zoom from the back of the gym, and Bryce was yanking my arm, wanting to see the camera (you can hear him in the background asking questions)...

Aidan's Christmas performance

As promised-- though a little late-- some pictures from the 'Fine Arts Performance' at St. Ed's. Aidan got up on stage with the rest of his classmates and sang some Christmas carols-- and yes, he actually sang!

Can you pick him out of the crowd?

Bryce saw Santa Claus!

Oh Christmas Tree..

Aidan and Bryce helping to decorate the tree ...and another shot of the new tree...

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

We did some serious Christmas decorating last week.. and the boys got into the spirit helping us to put ornaments on the tree (and then they went down to Gramma and Grampa's this weekend and helped decorate their tree as well!)...

Apologies...

...for the brief hiatus.
Daddy has been away to Los Angeles for the Notre Dame-USC game ...


..though as you may be able to tell from this second picture, the good people at USC didn't give us the greatest of seats.

Our football players

Email from Mama this morning:

The boys were just in the playroom with that nerf football, and Aidan
yelled, "I'm Brady Quinn! Catch, Bryce!" So I said, "Does that make
Bryce Jeff Samarzdija?" And Aidan yelled back, "NO, Mom, he's Darius
Walker. That's my player!"

"Swift Bear"

It's the week of Thanksgiving, of course, so the boys are each getting to celebrate the holiday in different ways in their respective classrooms. Bryce really took the cake today, though, when he came home dressed as "Swift Bear"... and it only took him about 5 minutes to figure out how to open up his little shaker to find out that there were beans inside...

Charlie!

Today, Aidan got to go to school dressed as his favorite character from a children's book..
He chose to go dressed as Charlie from the Charlie and Lola books.
Here he is with his friend Andrew-- who apparently is a fan of the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy books (I'm actually not sure who Andrew was dressed was)...

"I want to be a Daddy"

The subject of occupations came up this week-- a conversation that I, frankly, think is long overdue-- and Aidan made no bones about his intentions:

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a Daddy."

But what do you want to be for work?

"I won't ever go to work"

No?

"No. I'll just get to stay home and do whatever I want to do."

Bryce then interjected an idea for himself:

"I'm going to be a necklace."

Oh Olivia!

Friends from Paducah, Dudley and Gail, came for a visit today with their kids, Olivia and Connor. The kids had a great time playing all afternoon.. in fact, they hardly stopped playing long enough for me to snap this picture of them!

Afternoon in the Park with James (and Jake) (and Aidan) (and Bryce)

Good friends Miki and Tom and their little boy James visited this weekend and we also had Aidan's friend Jake as an overnight guest on Saturday..

So what better way to spend the afternoon than to run around a playground for an hour or two..

James has really grown up so much since the boys saw him last November and we had a great time visiting with Miki and Tom, amidst all the kid-chaos! We will have to make another trip to Knoxville sometime in the near future to see them again soon!