Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, Chad Skyped with his families in Pennsylvania and New York. It was snowing in both of those places, so we were glad to be in sunny North Carolina, even if it's been a little chilly here lately.

 I need everyone to know that we did not pick out those socks for him to wear with that outfit. But get used to them- he doesn't like to be without socks right now, so he wore them to bed and then kept them on for Christmas morning.

His very own vacuum! 

Truck #2 (Sorry, Uncle Mike, Chad was crazy-eyed in the picture with Truck #1, so I'm not showing it. But he still loves it! As does Andy, who played with it after Chad went to bed.)

 Truck #3!

See the belt from Cool Aunt Steph? He's worn it every day since he got it. :)

This was our Christmas Eve dinner: Lobster Risotto with Herbed Oil, made by Andy. :) Turns out Chad loves lobster. Very fitting, since that's what Andy and I were both eating when we first met each other about a hundred years ago.

And can you believe this meal was made by the same guy who spent his entire bachelor life without even owning a pot?

Red Velvet cookies for Santa, and an apple for the reindeer. And the same socks continue to not match his outfit. 

We don't have a fireplace, but if you leave your tree lights on overnight, then Santa knows to sneak in the back door and follow the lights to the stockings. 

Chad was awake and ready to go at 6:00 Christmas morning. To be fair, the twins have woken me up at 3:00 pretty much every day for the past two weeks, so I really couldn't complain. In fact, I was hoping he would wake up even earlier so we could get the party started. I'd run out of new reading material on my iPad, and there's not much good on TV at 3:00, so it was getting a little boring waiting for him.

Santa left a trail of candy canes on the stairs.

Following the Candy Cane Trail. Sounds like the name of a Candy Crush Saga level. Maybe it is and I just haven't gotten there yet.

Still wearing the socks, and it's very obvious that these jammies are getting too small for him. Retiring his Lightning McQueen jammies is going to be a tough sell though. 

A book from the Bauers!

A turtle from the Talehos!

 

A Lightning McQueen backpack! 

When your kid's Christmas requests include a backpack, a belt and leaf blower, it is not hard to make him happy.

Santa even remembered the cats.

Yes, they now make board games based on apps. We also have the Angry Birds game.

The note on the greatest present ever...

It was only in the 30s, so we waited until the afternoon to try the blower out. The ground was wet, so we couldn't drag the extension cord out into the woods and really stir up some leaves, but Chad cleared our patio off a little. Here's a video I took before I ran back inside where it was warm.

Afterwards we all watched the Polar Express together. Chad was captivated. There was one part that I think scared him a little, but he was so absorbed that he didn't even finish his hot chocolate.

For dinner we made Mexican Fondue. It was supposed to be followed by Peanut Butter Fondue for dessert, but we were all too tired and too full to make that. Maybe this weekend.

This was my present from # and Epic. I need to find out what the hospital's policy is on hard liquor in the recovery room, because all I want to drink when they come out is shots of mixed Bailey's and Butterscotch Schnapps. If you haven't tried this before, your taste buds are seriously missing out. It was a staple in my diet senior year in college. With Chad I craved Toasted Almonds (amaretto, Kahlua and cream).

And on Boxing Day, the twins gave me a second gift!

I know you probably can't tell what that is, but it's a shot of their heads right next to each other! Yup, Epic finally flipped head down!! Hooray! Once again, they both kept their faces hidden so no cute 3D pics. :( We're just going to have to assume they're cute. Their estimated weights are now 4 pounds 2 oz and 4 pounds 1 oz. (That's over 8 pounds of baby, for those of you who aren't good at math.) I'm so over this being pregnant thing, but I want them to be at least 5 pounds each when they show up, so keep cooking babies!