Merry Christmas 2012...

Thanks for the Mater book Auntie Tissa!

William opens his Mace Windu Lightsaber while Grandma gives a play by play to Aunt Molly...

Charlie peels back the wrap and finds new WOW toys inside!

He then insisted it be opened immediately so he could hold the little people...

Santa arrived overnight...

Charlie was the first one up and was thrilled with the kitty chair, but most of all, the kitty`s nose!

It`s such a cozy chair!

What else is in there?

Snuggled up with his new kitty and chair...

Santa left a slide whistle for Mommy and the boys have been loving it! Charlie figured it out immediately...

And apparently the other end of the slide blows bubbles!

Will woke up and came downstairs and he and Charlie spent lots of time counting all the different characters included in the Batman set...

William was very efficient in emptying his stocking...

Will got these finger lights and has been scanning everyone ever since, I`m not sure what he is searching us for, but so far we have all been clear!

Watch Out!

Will enjoyed his chocolate buttons from Aunt Molly before breakfast...

Charlie and Will were playing happily all morning, it was great! 

Christmas Eve was nice and calm for the most part.  We were able to Skype with Molly and Richard and we loved seeing them open their gifts 3,000 miles away.  It made it seem much less lonely, since we were all dreading our first Christmas without Molly.  We decided to open presents before eating this year and once Charlie got up we started in on about 2 hours of present opening.  (We take turns opening)  The boys got so many great things, and it's always interesting to see what really thrills them.  Will got lots of Star Wars stuff this year and Charlie got lots of variety, but was naturally mostly interested in William's new things.  We all got lots of goodies, and I got a cast iron dutch oven and a waffle iron which I was very happy about.  I can now braise all the roasts I want!  We headed to bed around 9 and then I woke up wide awake on Christmas morning dying for the kids to wake up so they could see the Santa gifts and the stockings.  Charlie woke up first and so we got some time to just enjoy seeing his reaction, and then Will came down and he was thrilled and it was so fun to see his reaction.  We had a big, yummy breakfast and then spent the morning just enjoying all our goodies until we had to get ready to go to our friends house.  At Karen's the kids got more presents and played with all the kids and the new puppy that Karen just got.  It was a great day, and we were all very blessed.  It is our last Christmas in this house and in Maryland so we are looking forward to what the next Christmas will be like...I can guarantee it will be white!

Christmas Trains...

It's a Christmas Miracle!  Both boys are looking at me and smiling!

They had lots of these little fairy nooks to peek in..

The view on the inside...

Charlie was thrilled every time the train came out of the tunnel!

The Smithsonian Castle model..

Woodland Fairy...

Will participating in a sit in, all alone...

OooRah Roosevelt!

Charlie was captivated by all the seagulls, and then we made the mistake of feeding them.  Alfred Hitchcock had nothing on these birds!

Charlie refused to leave the TRex, he was thrilled by the teeth!

Will has a seat on the femur of the Brachiosaurus!

Charlie just couldn't stop staring!

Gingerbread House...

Will worked hard this year and stuck with the activity all the way till the end!

Charlie kept eating our candy so the only solution seemed to be to stick him in high chair with a lollipop at 8 am. 

The finished product!

Ellipse 2012...

The National Tree 2012...

Will waiting to cross Independence Ave...

A bad picture of the boys technically, but this is probably the only time I have had them both smiling at me near each other, EVER!

Checking out the trains that run around the tree...

Will and Santa.  Charlie wasn't interested in sitting on the lap.

After Santa, we headed over to the Sculpture Garden for Will to try ice skating...

I sat out with a charming little companion,  we ended up watching Octonauts on my phone while waiting for Daddy and Will to finish. 

Will was a brave little skater.  He didn't leave the wall of course, but I was proud of him for trying! Jason did great for not having skated in more than a decade!

I feel very lucky at times like this to live so close to the Nation's Capital.  I love seeing the White House, and the tree and look over and see the Washington Monument right there!  The mall is such a nice wide open space for kids and I just love looking up and seeing the Capitol all lit up at night.  I always feel just a little bit prouder to be an American when I am down there.... As for the Santa visit, Jason and I both knew Charlie wasn't going to sit, so that was fine.  Will decided though that he was going to ask Santa for his phone number and talk to him about a variety of other things.  I reminded him that he needed to tell him what he wanted for Christmas and to tell him that he had been a good boy.  Instead, William got up there and told Santa all about the naughty little boy in his class who is very mean.  Then he was upset when he had to leave and give the next kid a turn.  I told William that he shouldn't have wasted the time ratting out the other kid, but I reassured him that Santa would know what he wanted.  He didn't seem very sure about that.  We walked up to the Nativity and he started talking to these two women standing there and they asked me about seeing Santa and I told them it was free, etc. and William said " I am William and can you tell him that I want toys that are fighting?"  They laughed and I explained that he had run out of time.  They assured him that they would pass on the message.  He seemed to relax after that.  We walked over the National Gallery's Sculpture Garden Ice Rink and Will and Daddy went skating.  Will was pretty good at walking on skates and considering that this was his first time on ice skates, I was very impressed.  He and Daddy  made it two laps around, which took about an hour and then we went home.  It was a nice evening out and one I will never forget after all that Santa craziness!

Winter Wonderland...

Yes, those are my children, sighting GUNS...

And my baby is overjoyed!

The boys were clearly having a BALL!

William loves these things...

He's good to go!

Charlie was still on his learner's permit so needed a back seat driver...

Charlie was totally into the carousel this time...He threw a huge fit when it was time to get off!

These bears had a button the kids could push to make a horrible buzzing noise.  I wanted to find the person who made that and punch them...

Will went up on the Fun Slide all by himself!  He waited in line and followed the directions of the man at the top.  I felt like finally, all my hard work may be sinking in!



Lancaster PA has an amusement park that is made for children less than 10 years old.  It has been around for 50 years and now I see why.  It was perfect for that demographic.  Not too big, stroller friendly,  none of the rides were too scary, and almost all of them Charlie could go on too! It was great.  They open part of it in December for Christmas and have it all lit up at night with tons of lights and lots of cute characters.  It was a 2 and 1/2 hour drive, but in the end it was worth it.  The kids had a great time, though Charlie was so overstimulated and tired by the end he was delirious.  I would make the trip again next year for sure!