Catching Up

Parker wanted the best seat in the house to watch Chad open his gifts. Note that all pictures of me from Christmas morning have been banned from publication. Believe me, I'm doing you a favor.

The boys show off some of their gifts

Brandon receives a magna-doodle from "Santa". Parker also got one so that I can work my little brother once again in a future magna-doodle draw-off. 

At what age will the boys notice that Santa wraps his gifts in the exact same wrapping paper as mommy and daddy use?

Brandon delivers our filled stockings to us on Christmas morning. Not sure what Santa was trying to say, as Chad had deodorant and q-tips in his. 

I feel refreshed this morning. Chad took the boys into the city, and I had about 5 hours by myself. Not that I went too crazy or anything. About a million potential things to do went through my head, ranging from laying on the couch all morning and reading to trying to find some bargains at the after Christmas sales. All were rejected in favor of... drumroll please... cleaning the house! Whohoo! You can't say that I don't know how to have a good time. But, it really needed to be done AND I got to listen to my music, very loud, in peace while I cleaned. So, not so bad. Then, as a treat to myself, I ran to the store and picked up some fresh basil leaves so that I could make pasta with pesto for lunch. I LOVE pesto - I put it right up there with falafel as one of my great loves that I rarely get to eat (Chad is allergic to the pine nuts in it). So, that was absolutely delicious and a treat for myself. And the rest of the time I spent reading the news online and relaxing. What a nice morning. And the boys had a blast with their Daddy, riding three different train lines, visiting two different parks, and going out for Thai food for lunch. 

My big surprise for Chad for Christmas was that I arranged an evening out for us... breaking our usual big 3 rule, which is that we usually only pony up for a babysitter for our anniversary and our birthdays. But, our neighbor/babysitter was back in town for the holidays, and I couldn't let such an opportunity slip by us. So, Saturday night Chad and I went out for a lovely dinner at a Italian restaurant that we had never tried before and was not kid-friendly (there's nothing worse than going out on a date with your husband and being seated in a restaurant beside a family with small kids... even if they are perfectly behaved, I just want to be in a child-free universe for 2 hours). The restaurant was really yummy, and we had salads and entrees and shared a dessert, which made for a much more leisurely meal than our usual. Plus, we got dressed up, which made it seem even more special. I even busted out my tall boots with the high heels that I have no idea how I used to make it through a day at work in because 2.5 hours in them on Saturday night, and I couldn't wait to pull them off when I got home. They looked good though, and isn't that what counts? Oh, no, it isn't. Anyway, the whole night was wonderful, wonderful and a pretty cool Christmas gift if I do say so myself. 

We got a really mild day yesterday - one of those days that helps keep you sane in the long New England winters. It was the upper 50's, although cloudy and windy. Still, it was warm enough for us to spend the day outside at the zoo. We  hadn't been in a bit more than two months, so we were all excited to go. It was so nice to be outside and have a picnic lunch and all that good stuff. And probably even more exciting for me was that I got to ride my bike outside for the first time in about 5 weeks. It was pretty messy because all the melting snow has left the roads very gritty and wet, but it was still awesome. 

Although Chad is technically on vacation, he needs to get some work done this week, so I've made plans for tomorrow morning so that he can work in peace. I'm not looking forward to his going to the office on Friday though. It's going to be very busy for him when he starts back, which means we'll go from having him all to ourselves for two weeks to barely seeing him, at least on weekdays. And no more vacations in site! Well, it's been a good run...