It's funny... when I was blogging every day, I often found myself a bit stressed because "there was nothing to write about." But when I slack off and don't blog for 22 days, I find myself stressed out because I have so many things I want to write about and I don't think I have enough time. There has to be some happy medium here. I'm blogging tonight because Dave is watching football (Why, oh, why? Has anyone ever heard of TUESDAY night football?) and the kids were both in bed by 8:15. I came in to see Dave and in my whiniest voice, I asked, "How much longer is this football game going to last?" and he said, "Aren't you going to go blog right now?" So here I am. Because, actually, I do want to blog right now.
This was my first Christmas with my children and I wanted it to be special. It was. I took last week off from work and even though it was crazy with our accounting month closing on Thursday and there were lots of things I needed to do... I didn't work at all. Okay, I worked for about 10 minutes on Wednesday- but that was it. I spent the whole week with my family, and it was fantastic!
On Monday, my dad came to visit me from Tucson and we had a really lovely time together. He stayed overnight with us through Tuesday and it was the longest extended period of time he'd spent with the V's. He enjoyed it thoroughly, but they really wore him out. He took a nap on Monday afternoon and went to bed at 8:00 that night! I asked him if that was his normal bedtime and he said, "Oh, no- I usually stay up until midnight or so."
On Wednesday, we drove up to Williams, AZ to experience the Polar Express train ride. We prepped for this event by watching the movie on Tuesday night as a family. Well, Daddy, Tino and I watched it. Victoria wandered around the room commenting on all the Christmas decorations and picking up each present from under the tree and asking if it was hers. I had identified all the presents by putting stickers on them to represent each person. Valentino's gifts were tagged with Sponge Bob stickers and Victoria's with Hello Kitty. So Victoria would pick up the presents and ask, "My kitty? Meow."
The Polar Express train ride was really fun. We went with a group of friends and it was so fun to see the kids excitement over the hot chocolate and cookies, the thrill of riding a train, and of course, receiving a present from Santa himself.
After we got off the train, we stayed overnight at the hotel at the train depot. The kids watched part of the Polar Express movie again that night.
And next, as if the Universe were asking itself, "How can I make Tara's life more perfect than it already is?" a blanket of snow fell during the night, covering the ground with about a foot of beautiful white, fluffy, soft, snowball-packing perfect snow.
This was definitely Victoria's first experience with snow, per her abuelo. She didn't much care for it, and wanted to be carried for most of the day. Fortunately, her Daddy was happy to oblige.
We built a goofy-looking snowman and obtained a carrot from the restaurant for his nose. Later, after we'd left the hotel, Tino became alarmed and told me, "Mommy, I left my snowman at the train station."
On Thursday, we checked out of the hotel in Williams and went to Bearizona- a new wildlife park where visitors drive through and observe bear, bison, and wolves from their car. It was fantastic! Wildlife was within arms reach, if we had rolled down the window, which was against the rules (so of course we didn't do it.) I think this photo came out pretty well for being taken through a wet car window.
After our little Bearizona adventure, we took the kids sledding. Victoria wanted nothing to do with it, but Tino was completely fearless. After a few practice tandem runs with his Daddy, he was completely happy to sled down the hill by himself, over and over again. He was quite good at it too!
On Friday, my mom and sister came up to spend the weekend with us. On Christmas Eve, Victoria spent her first night in her "big girl bed." We just made this spur of the moment decision about a week ago that maybe she would sleep better if she didn't feel like she was in a cage. I'll let you know how it goes after about a month- so far, so good. Four nights and only one midnight awakening. She was really happy and proud of her new bed.
At long last, Christmas arrived, and the present opening extravaganza began.
I've always enjoyed Christmas as an adult, but there is something different about watching little kids experience it for the first time (my first time, not theirs.) One friend told me that it's not really important what you get the kids, as long as they have a lot of things to unwrap. That couldn't be more true. Among the favorite gifts they received were these toothbrushes my mom bought at the dollar store!
They have a little Spiderman head to protect the toothbrush bristles. The Spiderman head has a suction cup on the back, so both toothbrushes are now affixed to their bathroom mirror and the kids ask to brush their teeth several times a day. Who knew that Christmas coud have such a positive impact on dental hygiene?
I took a lot of photos like this next one. Dave would say, "Oh, let's get a picture of them with the toy they were given by (insert out of town relative name here)" and I'd hold up my camera and say, "Honey, show Mommy your (insert toy name here)" and this is what I would end up with:
The V's have really had a wonderful time playing with their new gifts. Here is what Santa gave them.
Best line ever! "I left my snowman" and I am so jealous about the Polar express... there is nothing around here like that!
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