A Very Merry Christmas

Poppy, Ne, and Uncle Markie all came up here for Christmas. Jason was still in bed on Saturday but felt much better Christmas morning. Nicholas loved his motorized John Deer Tractor. He has been riding it everywhere for days now. He opened his presents slowly, a couple at a time, played with them, and then came back for more. At one point, he was ripping them open and tossing them at Jason if he didn't see a truck inside. When we asked him who brought something he replied, "Uncle Markie." This lasted for quite some time until he finally understood that not everything under the tree came from Uncle Markie. This year he woke up at 7:20, his usual time, I wonder what time we will be up next year!

Where will Santa Leave Nicholas' Toys?

Poor Nicholas is so confused. Jason hurt his eyes yesterday using some kind of welding or drilling machine. So he woke up last night at 2:30 and couldn't see a thing. It took me about an hour to convince him to call his dad and go to the hospital. Around 5:30 Jason called to say that he still couldn't see, his dad had to get to work, so he was going to take a nap there. I went to pick him up around 7:30 and his friend Ed was able to get him into see a specialist right away. Luckily, Jason can see now but there are burns on the cornea of his left eye. The right eye is burned, too, but not as badly. Anyway, we are not sure where we are going to be spending Christmas. My parents and Markie are all ready to haul everything here. From the way Jason looks we will most likely have to re-route Santa's reindeer and have him bring the loot here. Never a dull moment.

Spongebob's House

Today we exchanged gifts with Nicholas' best buddy Sebastien. We gave Bash trucks, because he loves to play with them at our house. Bash gave Nicholas dinosaurs because he likes to play with them at Bash's house. Dinos weren't the only great gift, though. Bash gave Nicholas a huge replica of Spongebob's house, the pineapple. It is so big that both Nicholas and Bash fit inside! I don't know if I will ever get Nicholas to come out of the pineapple under the sea . . .

The Talking Deer Head

Our friends, Chris and Deonne, bought Nicholas a huge deer head that talks, sings, and moves. There is even a microphone that you can use to make the deer speak. When he and Jason opened it I thought Nicholas was only playing with it because Jason thought it was so cool. So before we went to bed, I asked Jason to put it away in his office so it wasn't taking up so much space in the living room. Well, doesn't it just figure that as soon as Nicholas woke up, he wanted to know where his deer head was. We have been listening to that thing for three days now.

The Christmas Party Streaker

Yes, you read that correctly. The Christmas Party Streaker is now officially Nicholas' new nickname. As people were leaving our home and I was handing out candy to the kids and candles to the moms, my friend Kristyn came up behind me and started whispering. Her whisper was to tell me that Nicholas had taken off his shoes, socks, and shirt. I assured that this was not a big deal and I would check on him in a minute. Well, a few minutes went by because I was saying good-bye to more guests when Kristyn appeared again. This time she was not whispering but before she could finish Nicholas came running into the room stark naked! Then he tried to bolt out the door with the couple who was leaving. I grabbed him and tried to carry him back inside but the naked guy was pretty wiggly. So Kristyn took him and finally got a diaper on him. He kept his diaper on until everyone was gone except for our neighbors, Toni and Brian. As we cleaned up, I looked over and there Nicholas was sitting on the couch in the living room, staring at the Christmas tree, peacefully eating a piece of chocolate - naked!

The Playgroup Christmas Party

Today was our playgroup Christmas Party. The morning started at about 1:30 for us when Nicholas woke up crying about bugs and spiders. He did not go back to sleep until about 5:00. After two hours of rest, we were getting ready to go when Kristyn called. She had thrown out her back again and needed help setting up for the cookie decorating. We rushed over and helped get everything set up. One of the other kids, John, brought his John Deere tractor which was a magnet for Sebastien, James, and Nicholas. We tried getting the boys to take turns but there were lots of tears from the two who were left watching. After about 3o minutes, we took the kids inside to decorate cookies and exchange presents. Nicholas was hysterical because he wanted the tractor. Kim put the tractor away while we were inside. Nicholas cried for what seemed like ever until one of the moms brought him frosting. Then he calmed down and we went in the laundry room to look at the snakes. We stayed in there eating frosting and watching the snake slither about for a long time. When the other kids were done decorating, we did the present exchange. Then we all headed back outside for more fun on the bikes. Merry Christmas everyone!

SpongeBob SquarePants

We took a little trip to Universal Studios this past Sunday. We thought it would be fun to go somewhere decorated for Christmas. The first thing we did was ride the Jimmy Neutron ride and there was a little part with our favorite SpongeBob. When we exited the ride we saw none other than SpongeBob SquarePants standing right in front of us! Nicholas went right over to him and had his picture taken with him. He even talked to him and touched him. I think it was the greatest moment in his life so far! He was really excited. Why couldn't he have done that with Santa?

A Fun Weekend

Nicholas and I went to visit Ne and Poppy this past weekend. Jason went hunting in Texas so we took a little vacation ourselves. Nicholas and I went to Home Depot with Poppy on Saturday. Poppy must have magical powers because Nicholas never behaves that well for me in any store! On Monday, we went to the beach with Ne. It was such a beautiful day. Nicholas was afraid of the jellyfish that had washed up onto the shore. He helped us collect shells and sand in a bucket. I think Ne would have preferred just the shells but Nicholas had his own plan. Thanks for a great weekend Ne and Poppy!