Christmas!

This year we had my parents and my brother and sister in law over for Christmas dinner, but first, Eddie woke up nice and early to see what Santa brought him!

{life is good shirt and cute cute cute santa slippers!}

{excited to see the goods!}

{checking out the note Santa left and the cookie he took a bite out of...}

{eating the rest of Santa's cookie. hehe...i figured it was Christmas morning and it was ok}

{the boys opening thier joint gift from Santa}

{phew....eddie's goods}

{playing with his hockey goal}

{daddy teaching eddie....sigh...so cute}

{my little love bug!}

{how Christmas dinner was basically spent....Eddie playing with toys, everyone else chatting and eating}

{eddie's favorite gift by far was his net (and his matchbox car eating Garbage truck from Grandma and Grandpa Turza). This is how I found Eddie yesterday...not only does he carry it around and demand people to play (pway hockey! now! stand up! come in the kitchen!) but apparently it is also the perfect place to take a rest.}

{hubby says this will be the story we will tell when he is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame...how he loved hockey so much he would sleep in his net...lol}

Christmas Eve

We had a beautiful Christmas Eve with the hubby's family. Aunt Maryanne always has the most beautiful holiday decorations....I always feel very honored to be able to spend time with my wonderful in laws and Hubby's entire extended family :)

{the little monkeys....leah, shelby and eddie...snackin}

{shelby is the cutest!!}

{hehe}

{shelby and eddie on the piano....later in the night shelbs sat at that piano and played, sang and totally performed for all of us. It was one of hte funniest thing I have ever seen! she was rocking out to her audience}

{and then the kids were surprised by SANTA!!!}

{eddie was the first to jump up on Santa and get his present...lol}

{hipster Santa}

{shelby and leah investigating santa}

{is this picture not the cutest thing ever??? sigh. i am so lucky to have married into this family!}

{baby ellie with santa}

{my handsome boys...love, love, love}

Happy Holidays!

Treats

Along with the wrapping and the cleaning and the toddler wraggling and the fighting of this terrible cold that has me beyond tired 24/7, I am baking some cute little treats for Christmas Eve. Peppermint snowballs, rice krispys (that you can paint!) that I have yet to do, and these cute little gingerbread pops...

{things i learned yesterday....i'm not a great gingerbread man decorator. but i still think they're cute!}

{see the one ready to throw the snowball? or the one with the fuzzy boots? lol}

And even if I'm not the best decorator? Little fingers seem to love 'em.....

Breakfast with Santa

{fun with food part 1}

{fun with food part 2}

{fun with food part 3}

{as a side note, eddie HATED the cotton candy. i put some in his mouth and he tried to take it out, but it was (obviously) gone and he was sooooo confused}

{cute!}

{thanks nanna and bapa for taking us to the club for brunch!!}

peek - a - boo

{it's an eddie monster!!}

{i promise a real post soon, but Christmas is totally kicking my ass this year}

Going in for extra presents....

Eddie obviously thinks that sucking up to Santa will get him some extra presents this year.

{side note.....this picture totally melts my heart. love this boy!}

Hybernate

Oh, hello again little blog. I'm so sorry that I've once again let you fall to the side. I'd love to say that you're continuously getting pushed back by the mound of shit presents and ribbons and overall joy that is Christmas, but that isn't the truth.

The truth is that while I have lots of great pictures to post, my camera battery is dead and I just haven't plugged it in. And yes, the effort needed to complete that task is so, so miniscule.....but the other half of the truth is that laying on the couch under my holiday blanket infront of the fireplace is so much more enjoyable than walking across the chilly hardwood floors to plug in the camera. And sure, socks may cure that whole chilly hardwood floor thing, but I hate socks. Really, really hate them.

So instead, I'll snuggle up with my cup of hot cocoa and enjoy hybernating. I'll find you again, little blog. I promise!

Eddie loves Santa!!!!!

Big news!! Unlike last year (when Eddie wouldn't go within 5 feet of Santa, and would usually end up crying and running away from Santa) this year's experience with the big guy was PERFECT!!!

We went to my park district's Santa event, which I believe is one of the best around. Seriously! Why is it the best? Well, the other places don't have Santa arrive from the North Pole via his......

......helicopter!!!!! best.thing.ever!!!!

{all of the kids waiting for his landing}

{check him out! please, tell me how awesome this is}

{santa and his elf climb out very carefully. we don't want any christmas nightmares here, folks}

{santa waves to all of his adoring fans}

{and while all the rest of the kids swarm santa, eddie watched the helicopter}

{eddie and little elf madeline. back in the day, i babysat for madeline.....i find it depressing that she is grown up. sigh.}

{as part of our santa prep for this year, we practiced what eddie would say to santa (hi santa! nice to meet you. my name is eddie. i've been nice....most of the time. i want (insert sucker, cheese, neigh (horse) or roller skates here) and yes, he would say all of that!) and we told him that he can sit on his lap or just stand next to him. i figured this would be a good test....to see what his reaction would be when Santa walked by. And he was excited! He even went up and gave him a little hug. Yay!!}

{so we knew that when Eddie had his turn to go see Santa he would do well. Look at that little face! Complete awe at Santa Claus!}

{omg. i die of cuteness}

{and lo and behold...Santa gave Eddie a sucker candy cane! eddie was a happy little man}

Our morning with Santa ended with some crafts, some snacks and a little story time. I love, love, love my park district's Santa event! It is so perfect, runs so smoothly and everyone has a great time. I'm so happy that I get to enjoy it with Eddie instead of working it :)

Baby its cold outside

Bundled up, ready to play in the snow, we walk out into the cold.

I'm on a mission to get some outdoor decorations up. Eddie is on a mission to do what he does best....dig up the snow, put it in the dump truck, dump it out. Apparently playing in the winter calls for the same games as summer :)

We were both doing well, until...well....I'm not quite sure what happened. I think the mister probably got too cold, but didn't want to go inside, and when I was done with the decorations on his house, he was in a full out meltdown. I told him if he could stand next to his house and say "cheese" we would go inside and get hot chocolate. As you can see, the tantrum (about going inside) is still going strong, but he is following the rest of the instructions and saying "cheese" while crying!

And so, in the light of the christmas tree, Eddie has his first taste of hot chocolate.

It was love.

Pure, insane toddler love.

Until the time came when the cup was *almost* empty. Then it was pure, insane toddler tantrum that his beloved hot chocolate was almost gone.