Ho Ho Hello There!

Santa has come and gone, and the kids and Tim have had the entire week off (the kids don't go back to school until the 7th.) It's been a good one, but unbelievably busy! I feel like we've hardly been home, other than Christmas morning when Santa came to visit. The kids were both pleased with their gifts - Adam wanted a bey blades set, and Ellie wanted a Hatchimal. Santa delivered both... unfortunately did not realize that a Hatchimal is much like the Furby's of yore, the horrible chatting robot. Thankfully, it has an off switch.

You know what does not have an off switch? A kid with a magic 8 ball. They each received one from Gigi and were DELIGHTED. The best part is that they understand that they have to ask a yes or no question, but they love to ask questions about the past, not the future. And then their method of asking is to shout into their question into the magic 8 ball, turn it over to read the answer, delightedly shout the answer, and then turn to me and shout the question they asked and the answer they received, as though I wasn't in the room with them. The other hilarious part was Adam's malapropisms in trying to read the responses. His rudimentary reading skills caused him to say an unprintable word in front of his grandparents, and we all had to correct him while trying to keep a straight face. He also said one response was "most lick-ly."

Speaking of licking, this is the best picture of the family we got at Don's birthday party.

I'm pretty sure he's just sticking his tongue out, and not actually touching Santa, but I could be wrong. The kid is a nut. Ellie is showing off the stuffed Hedwig she received from the big man.

They had a great time with their cousins this week - both their Parmodesen cousins (who are not really their cousins) and their Smith cousins (who are actually their second cousins.) Christmas at Mimi's house was a mad house of almost fifty people but thankfully the weather cleared so people could sit outside. Adam suckered many of the older cousins into playing bey blades with him until he crashed on the couch for a bit, and after everyone left I fell asleep for a solid hour. It's not just small children who can't go as hard as they used to!

They really are a fun age this year - very into all of the Santa magic and delighted with all of their toys, while also being able to stay up late and hang out with friends to that we're not rushing around to take a nap or get a crying baby home for bed. We've had dinner with friends four different nights, at various houses, and it's awesome that they mostly disappear and come back when they're hungry or need a fight broken up. They also had a sleep over at Gigi's house and then the following afternoon we all went to see Mary Poppins Returns. I LOVED the movie - I thought all of the actors were great, and I thought it was wonderful as its own movie, with a few nice call backs to the classic Mary Poppins. During one song both Gigi and I were crying and Ellie, who was seated between us, looked at us and told us that we were both crybabies. TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE.