Christmas Eve

I love this picture.  Just Jack lounging around waiting to put his pants on.

This just about sums up Cameron's attitude about the evening.

It's the best picture I could get.

And toys make it all better.  You can't see it in this picture, but he is wearing his flashlight headband to shoot hoops.

Mommy and Jack

Jack was ready for bed watching Toy Story 2 and Cameron just needed to hug it out.

Story time with Daddy

Christmas Eve...a true test of my patience.  Brian was in bed sick so I took it upon myself to bring the boys to church with the rest of my family.  My first mistake of the evening.  We arrived early to get a seat, but my behind never touched the cushion on the chair thanks to those two little ones.  I was in the presence of the Lord, but never in the house of the Lord.  Does that still count?  There were several "twice-a-years" standing in the entrance of the door so if it counted for them, counts for me, right?  Cameron ran up and down the sidewalk for an hour and a half, and I had to carry 30 pounds of Jack some of the time.  I must have hit three miles by the end of mass.  In boots.  Second mistake.  It was by no means cold outside, and Cameron and I worked up a sweat.  Deodorant?  Maybe?  Third mistake.

At my mom's they were able to run wild with the cousins, and it was the basketball goal that could not be assembled fast enough.  Jack occupied himself by trying to destroy ornaments and the cousins' presents.  No sense in having them touch his.  Smart boy.  

Let's just face it though...it's not a holiday unless someone ends up naked and crying on the toilet.  So I mentioned the half a tub of play doh Cameron ate.  Well play doh hardens and let's just say that makes for a task when it comes to pooping.  An enema later, and I have a child that can sleep but is scarred for life.  We'll just pack the Play-Doh away.

Christmas Cookies

Cameron tried to eat the dough.  Surprised?  I was more surprised by the fact that he prefers eating play doh.

A proud moment. 

Jack's turn to eat the cookie dough.  The bag said it made 3 dozen.  We made 14 cookies.

I didn't let him eat the dough so I gave him the rolling pin to chew on instead.

Cameron licking the dough.  My apologies if you actually ate any of our cookies as they had already been sampled.  Consider it taste testing.

Making Christmas cookies was interesting.  Both kids participated even if it was just by patting, licking and eating the dough.  It was an attempt.  Neither one ate a ton of dough, which surprised me because both of them will sit down with a tub of Play Doh and just chow down.  We've had to stop playing Play Doh because of that very reason.  When asked how much is too much Play Doh to consume the doctor's response was, "Well most kids take one bite and that's it because it tastes awful."  "How 'bout a half a tub, doc?  That too much?"  Geez.  What a pain in the ass that was.  No really.  Come back to my Christmas day post.  

Anyway, Cameron sat there with me for about 20 minutes, which is a huge accomplishment considering his attention span.  He took a good sized chunk of dough then went "cook" with it in his play kitchen.  ***Note for the future:  Keep track of all dough you lend out.  Two days later Jack is playing in the play kitchen and just going to town chewing on something.  You guessed it.  There's the cookie dough from two days ago sitting in the oven waiting to be cooked.

A little help, please

Christmas at Mumsie's house

Christmas at Mumsie's house and Jack with Tequilla (the dog)

I need another set of hands, eyes or both.  During the day I am outnumbered, and they are winning.  I don't often cook, and when I do it taste like crap.  Well I decided to give it a go since my New Year's Resolution is to attempt to cook.  (I use the term "cook" very loosely since it involved me opening a can of peas and warming a box of potatoes in the microwave.  That counts as far as I'm concerned.)  

As the four o'clock hour neared, I scanned the house.  Oreos, fruit loops and powder doughnuts (hey, I didn't say a damn thing about nutrition) are crumbled and mashed in my rugs.  Every DVD we own has been licked and frisbee'd across the room.  Buzz, Woody and Lightning McQueen are trapped underneath the rubble of the Jack-a-nado that left the bodies of Little People scattered about, some of them still trapped in cars.  Then there are the children.  Cameron has nothing on except his underwear and his boots.  Jack has more oreos on his face than in his stomach.  Brian arrives in one hour.  Hmmm...I better get started on the food.  I made no such cleaning resolution.

I find the pots, wipe the dust off, and throw a piece of meat in there.  So far so good.  Then the deafening sound of my red and green polka dot chip and dip servewear shattering into a million pieces overshadows the sizzle of the ground chuck in the pot.  After gently relocating Jack into the living room, I vacuum up the pieces.  Was the thing supposed to disintegrate after the New Year?  There were so many pieces.  

In walks the oldest whose speech is not always understood.  "Mama, it pop."  Huh?  One glance.  Oh hell.  He is holding an opened tube of toothpaste that he managed to take the cap off and squirt the contents all over himself.  Walking into the living room, his brother is also painted blue with toothpaste as well as my red area rug.  I remembered to turn the stove off before taking my blue man group into the tub.