Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this week were really great with the kids. They have been home a lot more since they are on Winter Break which has been really nice. I have missed time spent with them without school and homework. We have gotten lots of much needed together time to do projects and snuggle.

On Christmas Eve we took both the boys to pick out gifts at the same store one at a time for each other. I took Rylan to pick something for Lee. It was so precious to see how excited Rylan was to find a Lego Motorcycle Mario for Lee and  big toad figurine he wanted to get both toys for Lee even though (he loves Mario). Lee was excited to find a full set of Mario Figurines for Rylan and a Frostini train (Rylan has been talking about wanting this ice cream train car for awhile). When we got home they took great care to pick out wrapping paper and bows to decorate each others presents. Also since Lee came back from his Mom's house on Christmas Eve that was our chance finally to pick out a Christmas Tree. To our delight and surprise Rite Aide was giving away trees on Christmas Eve. We got a tree that was normally being sold for 40.00 for free! The boys did a great job decorating everything. They hung ornaments everywhere on the door knobs and every handle they could find and put lights in their room. My parents came over and brought a warm already cooked meal of my Dad's delicious mashed potatoes, &  green bean, bacon mushroom and feta dish with yummy roasted chicken and pumpkin pie. My favorite part of the day was watching those boys give each other the gifts they picked out. I fought back some serious happy tears from watching their sweet interaction. I think the toys they picked for each other were their favorites of all their Christmas presents. They hugged and told each other how much they loved their gifts and that it was all they ever wanted and all kinds of other sweet things and shared with each other right away. I couldn't have dreamt of a better scenario for that gift exchange.

The kids were amazing on Christmas morning. They were having so much fun playing in their room in the morning (we could hear them on the baby monitor) that they waited for us to be the ones to tell them that we think Santa might have come before they ran downstairs to check.

This year I was so busy with work up until the day before Christmas Eve we did a lot of last minute shopping and wrapping. So their were no gifts except from Grandmas and Grandpas that were sent in the mail under the tree until Christmas Day. So when they came downstairs they were pretty shocked to see all that was there. We had very carefully planned out the number of the gifts to be fair and gave some gifts to them that were meant to be shared. So we had 3 piles to put gifts in after they opened them, Rylan's, Lee's and To Share. We were surprised to see that they decided to put many toys that had only their names on them in the share pile.We stayed in jammies most the day and the boys got to drink cocoa and watch a new movie that Lee got. Late afternoon Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Shad came over from Port Angeles and took us to a delicious dinner at Bucca di Beppo and they they came over to my parents for a little bit to visit. It was really a great day.

Today Rylan told me that the "Circus Science Center" (Pacific Science Center) did an assembly at school.

He also is showing me right now how awesome he is getting at "jack jumps" (jumping jacks)

Rylan found a nickel on the ground and instead of keeping for his piggy bank, he immediately offered to put it in Lee's piggy bank.

Lee called me his step mom the other day instead of Paige for the first time.

The boys have actually managed to make me look forward to scraping frost off my car windows in the morning! They get so excited about it. When I get to the windows right next to them, it is like scratching off winning lotto tickets when I get see their adorable delighted faces underneath!

Rylan just decided that everyone should play Tic Tac Toe on Tuesdays because all those words put together just make it sound like the right thing to do. And if people don't know how, he offered to give some lessons.

This happened the other day:
Rylan: "When I make words I put a line on the bottom of them so they have a place to stand."
Me: "That is very considerate of you, I bet your words appreciate it."

Last time Rylan rode the bus Lucy kissed him. Today he sat by a different girl. I asked what her name is and he said: "I don't know, but she is pretty!" Sigh...I don't know if I am ready for this!

Today at the grocery store, Lee picked up an orchid and gave it to me saying with a sweet little smile, "Paige, this is for you:)". Such a clever boy! It is the thought that counts, he didn't have to buy it for me to make me feel special! (I always accidentally kill orchid's anyway)

On all the papers at school last month where Rylan was supposed to write about what he is thankful for he wrote about me! I was sort of shocked that he would think of that. He is very sweet to me but I thought he would write about his toys or something! 

The boys are allowed to play 30 mins of video games if they are really good all day without any warnings. If they get a warning and don't get to play, they play on the fridge with the alphabet magnets. Somehow they have turned these magnets into video games. They can play that for hours with each other.