We needed to run to Costco and on the way there I decided to check the movie schedule to see if anything kid-friendly was playing that we could surprise the kids with. And yep! Starting in 10 minutes was Penguins of Madagascar which both kids love (they watch the cartoon at home)!
They were thrilled!
And then afterwards we hit Costco…and since it was lunchtime…got pizza in the cafe!
Working hard…
Ta da! An ornament!
Tom and I need practice melting the beads together…it sounds easy but isn’t. We pressed too hard and sealed the center circles which you’re not supposed to do. 🙂
He didn’t get them out until almost lunch!
The Mixel he asked Santa for!
Surprisingly he wanted to open the beads first instead of Legos!
There was unmatching wrapping paper under the tree so the kids were curious… Thank you Aunt Beth and Uncle Jim! Both were a huge hit! As Owen was opening his he saw it was a Magic School Bus item right away and commented that “MAGIC SCHOOL BUS IS SOOOO AWESOME!” Tom and I were both like Huh? What? How does he know what that is? (We still don’t know.)
Santa wasn’t going to get the cats anything because Charlie is the only one that eats treats and neither one really play with toys…but they had stockings hanging so I had to put something in them…so I got a bag of mice at the dollar store. Katie had to give the mice to Charlie right away—and Charlie actually played with it!
Throughout the day, Katie would randomly bring the mice to Charlie but of course Charlie was done. 🙂
The kids slept in until after 6:30 (normal).
He loved his new shoes—they have FLAMES on them! A size 3 if you can believe it!
Digging into her bag!
A Pirate Lego game!
The Frozen headband had to go on right away!
TUTU PANTS!
She got a Yoda ornament and put it right on the tree. She also got a fragile Princess Sofia ornament and of course wanted to play with that one!
She got her own old iPhone so there are no screaming fights about sharing Owen’s.
Owen was SUPER EXCITED about getting this dollar store skateboard! He had mentioned a skateboard a few times I didn’t pay any attention because I had already bought all his stuff—but I saw it at the dollar store Christmas Eve when I went to pick up a few stocking stuffers so had to get it.
From walking in to the last stocking present opened, it was just under 30 minutes! Phew!
Their first set of matching PJs! Both kids LOVED them—they were both dancing and prancing around.
Now with Santa hats!
Then the playing!
“Where’s Katie?!”
“Here I am!”
Santa emailed the kids! 🙂
I was laying on the bean bag next to Katie and not really paying attention… This is what I found when I got up. 🙂
Gramma Jean got Katie a Disney sticker book and she had zero interest in it when she opened it. However, today she got it out on her own and I saw her doing this: taking out a sticker, slapping it on her chest, taking another sticker, slapping it on her chest… There was a huge stack there!
She slept in the ballerina outfit and didn’t want to take it off, so I added tights and a long-sleeved shirt…and she added the backpack (another gift from Gramma Jean) first thing!
Katie wasn’t too excited when she opened the real ballerina outfit from Gramma Jean because there was too much other stuff going on…but when things calmed down a bit, she had to wear it!
Tonight was presents with Gramma Jean and Grandpa David!
The kids loved everything, but Katie really loved her Olaf hat and tea set (they’re having a tea party in the picture) and Owen picked the Magformers as his favorite! We ALL loved Owen’s MSU PJs and he was thrilled with his Lego Movie PJs, too!
Picking out our first cleaner shrimp, hermit crab, and Astrea snail!
Looking at the birdies.
Katie: He’s tweeting!
From 12/19 but I forgot I had the pictures on my real camera!
Katie: I’m a princess!
Owen: And I’m a prince! Let’s marry!
And then he leaned over and kissed her and held her hand. 🙂 To his credit, he did say he was her brother so they couldn’t really get married. 🙂
As you saw earlier today, Owen’s tooth has been dangling precariously—and it has been for days. We’ve bribed him with cash and treats to pull it out—and he’s refused.
But just now, a few minutes after Tom had put him to bed, we heard footsteps running down the hall and Tom guessed he’d finally got the tooth out. Yep! He excitedly showed us it came out!
He told us he wanted to keep it; we said he could but he wouldn’t get any money from the tooth fairy. He said he’d give it to her tomorrow night. We said that was fine and sent him back to bed. A few minutes later he was back again to tell us he had lots of money and wanted to keep his tooth. What an awesome kid. 🙂
Temporary because it only lasted about 18 seconds. 🙂
He did about three scoops and he was done. 🙂
He said we had to put out five cookies because that’s what we did last year. I asked if he was sure. He went over and pointed to the picture (on the calendar) of Christmas Eve (which is the picture of him with Santa’s cookies last year) and yep, five cookies. 🙂 I should know not to doubt his memory.
Today we opened presents from Grauntie Marge!
They got to see Katie dance around with her dolly in their new matching outfits (I didn’t get a picture of it because they were watching live and I can’t take pictures at the same time!).
And Katie loved her new Frozen sheets!
And Owen LOVED his Robot Turtles game. We watched some videos online about how to play, then we played, and after we put it away he kept running around the house playing a full-sized version. 🙂
Owen was invited to a birthday party of the twins in his class (the same family that gave Katie her black ballerina outfit a ways back). It was at a bouncy place that had glow-in-the-dark lights. Tom took him because (long story short) I was told Katie couldn’t participate. Tom said when he got there, Owen turned super shy…but quickly got into it and had a BLAST.
And here’s Owen racing up the slide! I made sure he wore a neon shirt so he’d really stand out! And action video!
Here’s the group:
And some of the boys from his class (Xander, Colton, and Manuel).
And then after the party, they stopped at Wendy’s for dinner!
Katie loves her ballerina that she just got from Grammy and Papa.
I was waking her up gently since it was time to get up from her nap. When the flashes from the camera didn’t rouse her, I gently rubbed her arm. With her eyes still closed she grabbed her dolly and then rolled over. 🙂
It’s at times like this that I love technology!
Luckily we were in the room at the time so we knew she was under there…but she has hidden there on her own and caused us some panic. Now we know where to look first. 🙂
