Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, December 22nd - Sunday, December 28th, 2008)

Photo Recap...

Photo Recap (Monday, December 22nd - Sunday, December 28th, 2008)

Alexander took this last shot of Daddy... he's getting pretty good with a camera!

Weekly Glance...

Weekly Glance (Monday, December 22nd - Sunday, December 28th, 2008)

• Short, but good week at school
• Visited Ms Debbie & the Toddler room - did a practice drop-off on Tuesday
• Still loves watching his Elmo dvd
• Fell on the bed on Wednesday morning and bumped his head on Daddy's nightstand while Mommy was trying to get him dressed - thankfully no cut or blood
• Lots of Christmas Activities - Christmas Eve, Christmas Morning, Christmas Day, Edaville Railroad & Spaulding Christmas (I'll do separate posts for each)
• Went to bed late, 4 nights in a row (bedtime was about 9pm each night) but thankfully did wake up later than usual
• Was PARANOID of my uncle's dog on Christmas day - couldn't be in the same general area of the dog or he would freak out
• Slept in Grammie & Grampie's room and he slept VERY well - stayed in his crib until the wee morning hours
• Fought naptime both Friday & Saturday due to all the fun activities around but we finally got some napping in
• Skipped a haircut due to napping & other activities
• Hung out at home, in PJs, all day on Sunday - watched football, played with our new toys

Spaulding Christmas...

Every year, my Dad's family gets together the Saturday after Christmas for our annual Spaulding Family Christmas. We do gifts for the kids and then a Yankee Swap for the adults - fun to be had by all...

This year, Alexander had a ball playing with the kids. He was napping during presents so when he woke up he had present-time all to himself. Kaileen was nice enough to help him open his presents.

We left around 8:15pm and we fully expected Alexander to be asleep within minutes but he stayed up for the entire ride home. Probably because of the late nap but completely unexpected. When we got home, we did the entire bedtime routine before he was asleep.

Edaville RailRoad...

It's not Christmas without a stop at Edaville Railroad! That's how it was for my childhood and we're starting the same tradition with Alexander. It's even better that he loves trains! Edaville Railroad is a place that has a train that goes around so you can look at all the different lighted displays. They also have a few rides for young kids as well as a little museum about trains. Santa is also there through the month of December, but since we went after Christmas Santa was home resting after a long night.

We went Friday thinking that the crowds would be less packed, and when we got there it was pretty quiet. But as it got darker, the crowds filled in. We walked around a bit as we made our way over to the train. He enjoyed looking at the little houses and seeing the displays. We got on the train for our ride!



At first, Alexander didn't seem to understand that there would be lights outside but as we went around, he wanted to look outside! However, he didn't want Daddy to sit next to him so poor Daddy had to sit on the floor.

Then Alexander went on the Carosel and loved having Daddy & Grampie wave & yell his name everytime we went around. He would wave from his horse!

It was getting cold and Alexander was starting to get cranky so we knew we wouldn't make it for the fireworks, so we headed home. First trip to Edaville - fun!

Christmas Day...

After opening the goodies Santa left at our house, we packed the sleigh, I mean car, and headed over to Grammie & Grampie's house. We were going to open presents and then go to Gary & Sharon's for Christmas dinner.

Alexander wanted to stay in his Christmas jammies, so we thought it was only appropriate so he could open more presents. And more presents there were...Santa must have had an extra bag of goodies for Alexander that he forgot, so instead he left them at Grammie & Grampie's. Again, Alexander took his particular time opening presents. Every piece of paper had its place. He got some great stuff - a lawnmower like Daddy's, a talking Elmo, a barrel of monkeys, and I think his favorite gift - an Elmo couch that turns into a small bed. After that, we got dressed in our Christmas outfit and headed to Gary & Sharon's. This was going to be a low-key afternoon. Besides the dog-situation, it was a nice afternoon. We had dinner, Alexander napped, then he woke up in time to eat before presents. The kids opened their gifts, Alexander got a set of Tonka Trucks from Gary & Sharon, then we had some dessert before it was time to head home.

We were staying the night over Grammie & Grampie's because we had plans to go to Edaville Railroad the next day which is near their house...makes no sense to go home and come back. So Alexander went to bed around 9pm and slept in Grammie & Grampie's room all night. He woke around 6:30am, but laid down with Grammie and fell back to sleep til a bit before 8am!

Wish that would happen on the weekends at home... but overall, it was a very nice Christmas.

Santa's Goodies...

This is what Santa brought down from the North Pole...

Christmas Eve:

Alexander had a ball opening up his gifts, but he was so excited just to see the box of Thomas the Train. He didn't even know what it was, but he was over the moon! He was very meticilous with his unwrapping of presents. One piece of wrapping paper at a time, and it all had to go in a very specific spot. He would stop opening if the paper did not go where he wanted it to. The process of opening presents could have gone a lot longer if Daddy didn't step in to help.

Christmas Morning: