X-mas Love

 Here's our brief Holiday Recap:

We drove down to Darien right after school got out on Thursday, Dec. 22nd.  Cal and her Dad had spent the morning skiing and then John came home to miraculously fit 10 pounds of "stuff" into our proverbial 5 pound car...... boxes of gifts, luggage, eating seat, pack-n-play, stroller, dog...... somehow he did it.  Because that apple doesn't fall far from his father's tree!

Friday morning we boarded the 9:04 train to Grand Central Station.  Cal was fired up from the get go:

And these country bumpkins were very much in awe of the lights and action:

 

 After a stroll up the Rockefeller Center and a glimpse of the skaters and tree (before it got too crowded).  We headed to FAO Shwartz, where we told Cal she could pick out one "item" for her birthday.  For the first 20 minutes that we were at the store, she was dead set on a $9.99 panda.  Even when someone showed her a furrier, softer, or bigger animal, she didn't budge........ but then we went upstairs and she saw the dolls.  Ever since Tammy, our daycare provider started watching a new 3 month old baby named Callah, Cal has been pretty into dolls.  John wasn't too keen on the idea, but once you tell a kid they can have whatever they want (under $25), you kind of have to stick to it.  So, Cal chose Tess, a sort of non-descript plastic doll.

Next we headed downtown to have lunch at Bryant Park.  Within minutes of getting there, both kids were asleep.

But, Cal did wake up so she could ride a carousel with her grandma:

And the lunch that Bumpa treated us to was delicious:

We got home on Friday afternoon, just as cousin Will and Aunt Jenn and Rob were pulling into the grandparents house.  The cousins had a blast jumping on the trampoline, sharing snacks, and putting cookies and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer:

Christmas morning was crazy. The whole thing was pretty surreal and overwhelming for all.  Makes me wonder how the heck we got caught up in this whole present madness.  

We got out for a playground adventure with our friends Tim, Sophia, Beckett and Iris who were visiting family the next town over:

The day after X-mas we headed north to visit the other grandparents.  Nana and Grandpa were kind enough to watch the kids so we could visit with Lynn and Mark.  Mark was recently diagnosed with Leukemia and had started chemotherapy.  Because of the need to stay as healthy as possible, it didn't make sense to expose him to our kids petri dish of ailments.  Mark seemed great.  Keeping his spirits up and in awe of all the outpourings of support.

Somehow, Nana and Grandpa were able to get our "No Nap Nelly" to take a nap (we were 0 for 3 during our visit with the other grandparents) and the kids were fired up to continue the gift insanity:

We feel so fortunate to have such amazing family.  The kids are so well loved and adorned with toys and clothes and fun.  Below is Cal playing with the dollhouse that Bumpa built for Aunt Nif, wearing a crown that her thoughtful Aunt Paula gave her:

And Hazen, hooting it up with his new blocks: