Christmas with the Stewarts

Christmas Eve

She wouldn't show us the
band-aid without opening her mouth.

Big Sarah came over to visit on Christmas Eve. We intended to share gifts, frost cookies for Santa, eat pizza, and watch the Empire Strikes Back.  It'd been a few days since A & X had seen Big Sarah, so there was mandatory running around and playing. In the midst of the shenanigans, Ainsley fell and busted her lip. The only thing that would soothe the whining beast was a Princess band-aid and free reign of the camera.

Ainsley has recently discovered the joys of taking pictures. I'll probably toss together a blog post about it in the future. You can behold her handiwork here though. I love this picture she took of Xander.

This is the face Xander makes
at Ainsley.

We had so much fun, we barely had time to get the presents from Big Sarah and the Christmas Eve presents opened. Big Sarah got Xander a bunch of fun animal stuff and Weebles. Ainsley got Princess Princess Princess stuff, of course.

Once we got the cookies decorated, Ainsley picked one of each cookie to put out for Santa. At the time of setting out the cookies and milk, A was into a hardcore game of puppy.

Puppies panting over
Santa's cookies and milk.

Once the children got all nestled snug in their beds, we got to work finishing up Christmas fixings...and I put together the overnight French toast casserole. The tree and presents were so lovely I snapped a few pics.

Christmas Day

Ainsley and the Princess Collective

The Chrismas melee began later than I expected; apparently shenanigans with Big Sarah tuckered them out. A and X slept in until almost 9:00--well, A slept in, X quietly played in his crib. Ainsley was really excited about presents; Xander was indifferent. Santa presents were first. 

I got her to look at me by
saying, "Is Santa on my head?"

Since the ToysRUs Big Book came out, Ainsley has been asking anyone who will listen for the princesses and their castle. Santa found an awesome sale on the Princess Collective on Target's Black Friday sale (what? Santa can outsource!). Grandma Fitzgerald and Pawpaw provided the castle. As she was opening Santa's present, Ainsley was insanely cute. "OOH! Oh my gosh! I've always been wanting this!" We mete out freeing the princesses all day today. She got Ariel straight away (walking mermaid is her favorite). Then she would get princesses for good behavior, skyping with family and cleaning up her room to make space for the castle. 

Xander and the Busy Box

The Princess Collective has already had many adventures--most of them naked. They're hanging out in Noah's ark naked. They lay around naked. The Princess Collective is kinda slutty. It's currently sleeping in a bed next to Ainsley's crib. I had her tuck them in...and she had to hug and kiss each of them goodnight. It was adorable.

Xander was cagier and didn't tell Santa what he wanted. Luckily, Santa knows that Xander loves puzzles and brought him a busy box. He found the busy box pretty exciting once we got it opened. But really, he was more interested in the DVD of How to Train Your Dragon that Grandma McGhee got him. He's been big into dragons lately.

How to Train Your Dragon
is engaging.

His favorite thing, however, ended up being the light saber candy toy that came in Sean's stocking. He loved it. So, Momma's gonna hit Meijer's after Christmas sale to see if they have any left over. Doubtful, but I'll check. Of course, the moment that X showed interest in it, A had to confiscate it. Notice the look of despair on his face when she took it...and the joy of getting it back.

After presents, we ate the casserole...and it was DELICIOUS. We then did some Skyping with family and then came naps. I cooked a ham for dinner and we ate. But mostly, the kids just played with their toys, and Sean and I rested; I'm still in my pajamas (mission accomplished, Sarah!). It was difficult to make the decision to not travel on Christmas anymore. We do enjoy being with the family on the holidays, but after the wonderful Christmas we had, I know we made the right decision.

My view of Christmas morning...lovely.

Santa Party 2011!

Sitting with Faith while
Santa tells his story

This year, we went to the Santa party with great excitement. I've been talking to A for the past few weeks about Santa. She's been telling me was she was going to ask him to bring her. We were so excited to go hang out with him.

Xander listening to Santa

When we got to Karen's Ainsley latched onto Faith and pretty much stuck with her.  When Santa arrived, we got to hear the story of the stockings. Xander was excited about seeing Santa; I think it was the big, red suit. But he ended up getting pretty restless, so we let him crawl around. Santa pointed out that Ainsley was being a good big sister this year, that she was working on potty training, and that she loves the zoo.  He also knew that Xander loves to watch Sesame Street and is learning to talk. Ainsley was appropriately amazed that Santa knew so much...

Lounging on Santa

When it was Ainsley's turn to sit on Santa's lap, she was very willing to get onto Santa's lap. I didn't hear her tell Santa what she wanted or hear what she said at all. I was too busy trying to snap a picture. She was being quite hilarious, lounging on Santa like he was her grandpa.

*side note* Later when I asked her what she'd told Santa, she said, "Nothing. I didn't talk to him." When I asked her why, she said, "I had candy." (Mrs. Claus always gives the kids candy.) So, we've decided to write him a letter.

Desperately trying to
escape Santa

Xander was less amenable to hanging out with Santa. It was all I could do to get Xander into Santa's lap and snap the picture before he was on the run again. I should be happy though that he didn't scream his fool head off...

My favorite part of the visit with Santa is that I got to do it with friends in the comfort of Karen's house rather than the company of strangers in the mall.

Faith, Harper, and Ainsley
chill with Santa and Mrs. Claus

Thanksgiving Lessons Learned

Deeeeelicious.

So, this year, we spent Thankgiving quietly, just the four of us.  I DVRed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and cooked way too much food for two adults and two toddlers.

Last night, I made deviled eggs and cupcakes. I don't like pumpkin pie all that much, so I decided to make something I'd enjoy more. I've been teaching myself how to decorate cookies and cupcakes over the past few years. I experimented with icing dye this time. These are also the Fundamiddle cupcakes Sean bought. I ate one last night and they're ridiculously good. 

So, this is what I/we learned this Thanksgiving:

Food

• Slow-cooked green beans taste even better if they're slowly cooked in chicken broth, bacon, and onion, instead of water, bacon, and onion.
• Substituting Greek yogurt for sour cream in green bean casserole is acceptable.
• The best method for making simple mashed potatoes is from Yahoo Shine. I say method, not recipe. 
• It's a lot easier to cook a turkey properly if you actually know where the inner thigh of the turkey is.

Entertainment

• The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is still fun to watch; Ainsley particularly enjoyed the musical numbers, Dora's Christmas float, and, of course, Santa.
• The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade announcers are ridiculous self-involved chimps. If I could have reached through my TV and punched Laura Lee Bell in the face, I would have.
• Nickelback ruins everything.
• That Ice Age Christmas special is ridiculously cute.
• Taking a nap from 4:30 to 6:45 is RAD.
• Cleaning the living room is much more fun if it's in preparation for putting up a Christmas tree! 

I barely had time to
grab my phone
for this picture.

We have much to be thankful for this year...and every year really. What I enjoyed most about this year was just being with the Stewarts. I didn't do any work. I didn't have to run any errands (somehow miraculously, we had all the groceries we needed for dinner). I just had a nice day with Sean and the kids.

The kids ended their evening with cupcakes. Xander, true to form, smashed his into his maw in 4.5 seconds.

Ainsley was more delicate...and really hyped up on the Santa sightings. So, I took advantage and got this bit of video.

While Daddy's Away

Last weekend Sean went out of town for a theatre reunion thing.  I was going to post while he was gone, but then I got paranoid that I was home alone with the kids and thought that posting that to the world wasn't wise--regardless of my privacy settings and GIANT dogs. So, what did we do while Daddy was away?

Day One

Transfixed.

Well first, I had to make some cookie dough for The Cooking Challenge holiday cookies to take to  the Santa party (details below).  Then we decided to watch Christmas shows and eat pizza for dinner.  We started with How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Ainsley was enchanted by the Grinch.  She did, however, make a stern face at him...she didn't like that he was taking things and breaking things.  She kept saying, "*gasp* OH NO!" when he was bad.  It was cute.

Self-portrait.

The kids and I spent some quality time watching the Year Without a Santa Claus and Charlie Brown.  The three of us sat in my recliner and played.  It was fun. Grandma Parker and Aunt Sarah came over after Ainsley had gone to bed.  We hung out with Xander,who woke up to spend some quality time smiling at everyone.






After Grandma and Aunt Sarah left, I baked some sugar cookies.  In between batches, I played on Facebook and drank a big ole glass of wine.  I hadn't had wine in quite some time, and it was awesome.  I decided to capture the moment--the wineglass (courtesy of Ms. Candace Moore as a wedding gift) and the Christmas tree made me all misty.

Turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

Day Two

Saturday brought the Santa Party!  Each year, Karen and Faith throw a party for Christmas.  Sometimes, if he's not too busy, Santa and Mrs. Claus come to visit.

The party is always an excellent mix of good friends, excited children, awesome food, and some wine.


Mr. X enjoyed hanging around with everyone, but Grandma and Aunt Sarah were the best baby hogs!  We got to hang out and eat lots of cookies and cheese and deliciousness.

After a while, we got lucky and Santa and Mrs. Claus showed up!  The kids were very exited.  Ainsley stuck with Faith mostly.  At first, she was nervous around Santa...but then she became more adventurous.  As he was telling his his Christmas story (this year it was the story of the Elf on the Shelf--kinda creepy), she became more inquisitive and wanted to get closer to him.



When it was Ainsley's turn to sit on Santa's lap, she wasn't really interested in talking to him, but she did want to touch his beard and was very interested in what he had to say.  As the other kids took their turns on Santa's lap, Ainsley kept trying to go back to him.  Mrs. Claus gave her candy after she spoke to Santa, but Ainsley didn't really seem to care.  So, she tried to give it to Santa.  He thought it was cute.  I was so proud!

Santa let all the kids sit on his lap.  He also let families take their pictures with him.  While others got their pictures taken, Ainsley decided to go hang out with Mrs. Claus.  She was quite smitten with the Clauses.  Xander spent most of the time in my lap.  He went to Santa quite willingly and didn't mind being in Santa's lap, but wasn't really interested.


Day Three

On Sunday, Mark and Deb came over to bring Ainsley and Xander their Christmas present: an awesome new wagon.  Ainsley was a bit nervous at first.  So, I suggested she put her Christmas toys into the wagon.  Once that started, she was totally into it.  Now, almost two weeks later, those toys remain in that wagon.  She gets really peeved if we try to take them out.



Once she got used to the wagon, Mark took her out in it.  It was entirely too windy and cold to take Xander out, so we stood on the porch while Deb took pictures.  As previously posted, Ainsley loves snow.  However, we discovered that day that she loves snow that's already fallen.  Mark said she wasn't too keen on the snow falling on her face.  If you look closely to the picture at the right, though, you'll see she smiling.

This is the patented Mark "What's going on" move.

Xander enjoyed hanging out in his chair.  He showed Mark and Deb what a big boy he is--walking and grabbing things and nomming on them.

Ainsley played coy and posed for pictures.  I believe this was when she decided to show Mark and Deb her "stars."  This is a handy dandy little toy my mom bought for Ainsley--it projects stars on her ceiling (yellow, green, or blue--she always chooses blue) and plays music.  She LOVES LOVES LOVES this toy.

After a vigorous day of walking around in his walker, Mr. Xander pooped out and took a wee nap on Deb.  He's a non-discriminatory cuddler--though he did take to Deb pretty quickly.





Miss Ainsley spent a good portion of Mark and Deb's visit sneaking cookies.  She started working on a pretty impressive sugar high, but after Mark and Deb left I put her down for a much protested nap.

While Ainsley napped, I started wrapping some Christmas presents to put under the tree.  Once Ainsley woke up, she started to help.  She particularly enjoyed picking out which paper to use to wrap the presents. She also picked out the tags.  When I wrapped presents for her (that had already been boxed, of course), I'd tell her to pick out a tag.  Then I'd say, "To: Ainsley, From: Momma and Daddy" as I'd write on the tag.  When the present was for her, she'd say, "FOR MEEEEEEEEEE?!?!" with a great glimmer in her eye and joy in her voice.

Once the presents were wrapped, it was Ainsley's job to put the presents under the tree.  She was very serious about her job.  Also, notice the penguin wrapping paper.  I made a point to congratulate the me who bought that paper on December 26, 2009, on clearance for the foresight to know how much Ainsley would love penguins this year.




As I bring this baby to a close, I wanted to show this hilarious picture of Xander looking at Ainsley's food.  It was after taking this picture that I decided it was time to move Mr. X up the food chain from formula and rice cereal to level one foods.  This week, he's eating squash--and LOVING IT.