Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!!

Our Christmas began much earlier than I ever thought a day could even start! Ryan came bursting into our room at 5:30 announcing Christmas had come. We held him off for a while, and then we were downstairs half yawning - half squealing with delight. While the kids checked to see if Candy Cane had truly returned to the North Pole, and peeked outside to be sure the reindeer had eaten their snack of celery with peanut butter, which thank goodness they did, Claire climbed onto the table to help herself to the few remaining crumbs on Santa's cookie plate! She wasn't sure what was going on, but it involved cookies so she was happy to go along with it.

She spotted her gift right away... a little bouncy pony sitting in the middle of the room and she hopped right on it. This is where she stayed for most of the morning, and ever since. She loves jumping around on this thing!

Ryan got exactly what he wanted from Santa -a guitar. He was jamming on it a little, and is excited to take lessons, but the gifts from Mommy and Daddy were really awesome, things he didn't even realize he wanted! A Redskins football uniform and a Didj handheld game system that he can't seem to keep his hands off of... I think we've lost him for good! Another favorite gift was the Leap Frog Learning Globe from Grandma and Grandpa. We had such a great time with this all day! And now I know where Kazakhstan, Tonga, and the Federated States of Micronesia are, 3 places I had never even heard of before Christmas.

Rockin' Ryan!

The population of Greece is 11,262,000... I think we've got a "The human head weighs 8 pounds" kind of kid on our hands here! Was this sweatshirt not exciting enough for ya?

Katie also got exactly what she was hoping for...which I was a bit worried about since she just yesterday decided there was a specific Webkinz pet in mind, and it had to be the polar bear! Good thing Santa brought the right one! She was interested to see if he could fit a real piano down the chimney or if he would just bring a keyboard instead... he took the easy route and just brought a keyboard! She is so funny on Christmas, Ryan always is overcome with excitement and joy when he sees his gifts and Katie is just like, "yeah, of course he brought me that, I told him the other day at the mall what to get me, what else would he have brought?" It is a super cool keyboard, the keys light up so you know just what notes to play for 100 songs. We've all had so much fun with it all day.

Katie with "Icy" the polar bear, our newest Webkin friend.

Mommy and Daddy pulled through for Katie too with gifts she loves including a beautiful sparkly pink gown which she immediately put on and will wear with pride on every "Pink Day" (a day on which everyone in the family MUST wear something pink), a jewelry box, and the coolest little wooden doll with little bits of fabric and ribbon to design into beautiful clothes. She loves this toy and has announced a new career as a dress designer.

Ryan and Katie were most excited to open the gifts they had bought for each other, with their own allowance money. A lot of thought went into choosing just the perfect gift, and they really know each other well and the gifts were perfect. Ryan bought a little beauty parlor for pets with nail polish, blow dryer, perfume and brushes and a little pet carrier. She's already making a list of which pets need to be styled and who has the first appointment. Katie picked out the game Battleship for Ryan, because there is a similar game on the Webkinz site that he enjoys playing and she was absolutely right, he does love this game and they had to play a quick round before moving on to opening the next gift.

What in the heck am I supposed to do with this thing??
Claire got a set of nail polish in her stocking... she loves to have her toenails polished and will show everyone her fancy feet. You only have to dip the brush once to cover all 10 tiny toes, and now the only problem is that she won't keep any socks or shoes on!