Merry Christmas!

Are you ready for this year's Christmas photo montage? Ready or not, here it comes. 

Malia got a play kitchen from Santa but was completely underwhelmed until Kev started building it. Then he could barely keep her (and Matthew) off of it long enough to finish putting it together. 

She was pretty thrilled to have her own flashlight though.

And she loooooooved the baby doll stroller that Matthew picked out for her. You can see that she has Baby, a flashlight and a new cup from her kitchen in the stroller which tells you where her priorities lie.

Which reminds me that I should tell you about going Christmas shopping with Matthew. In the past he has gone to the dollar store and just picked out whatever crazy things he could see. It was a challenge to get him to think of things that his family members would like instead of just what he liked. This year was totally different. When I asked him what he wanted to get for everyone, he informed me that he wanted to get Daniel some Doctor Who stuff, something music or Spiderman for Nathan, some "new technology for work" for Kev and another baby doll for Malia. I was pretty stunned because he had clearly thought things out and actually wanted to give gifts that people would love.

With that in mind, I took him to Mediaplay f.y.e. to choose presents for his brothers and Kev. He made his selections very carefully and wisely and when we got back out to the car he slapped his forehead and said, "I forgot to pay for the presents!" Then he pulled out his duct tape wallet and proceeded to show me the $26 he had inside. I had not idea he had even brought his wallet with him and I was impressed. I assured him that he could pay for Malia's present.

When we got to Wal-mart, it took him about 2 seconds to spot the baby doll stroller and decide that Malia would love it. He asked me how much it was and when I told him it was $10 his face fell. Ten bucks is a lot to a 6 year old who has $26 to his name. But he wanted so much to choose the perfect presents and he had put so much thought into the whole thing that I made him a deal: I would pay half. That perked him right up and he happily paid his portion at the checkout stand.

The whole thing made me cry a little bit. What a great kid he is turning out to be.

Speaking of that great kid, let's move along to Matthew.

He got two Ironman wrist repulsors...

...the Ironman 3 blu-ray...

...an Ironman helmet (I had to look hard and buy used for this one) that he has been wanting forever...

...and a totally rockin' Ironman hoodie. He also got Ironman Uno. Guess there's kind of a theme to his gifts this year...

 

Nathan got Spiderman Uno...

...and a kindle. He is thrilled beyond all belief. He told me that when he first glimpsed his little pile of gifts (it was pretty tiny compared to the other stacks) he thought for sure that he was going to be disappointed but he wasn't disappointed at all!

Daniel got big boy Lego (recommended for ages 16+)...

 

...and a model that he has been looking at all year. He also got Star Trek Uno. I had no idea there were so many different versions of Uno.

 

As for me, last month I got an early Christmas/birthday present when Kev bought me a new sewing machine. He also got me a new ipod for Christmas. He spoils me just a little bit...

 

Now Santa is napping and Kev and I wish we were, but things around here have been hopping all day long. Matthew has been doing a fabulous "golf ball in a tile bathroom" imitation for about a week and Nathan has been hyped up for nearly that long. With all that anticipation finally coming to fruition, hopefully they will sleep really well tonight.