Cleaning Up after Christmas

We thought it would be a good day to take all of our Christmas decorations down {since it got up to 70 degrees here today!}. As you can see, Nick had plenty of help taking the lights off the Christmas tree and cleaning up all of the needles!

Merry Christmas, Y'all!

This picture pretty much sums up Carter's reaction this morning when he realized that there were gifts for him under {or around} the tree! It was disbelief mixed with excitement. It was delightful to witness!

It didn't take long before he was exploring the slide that Santa brought him. And he continued to slide down it all day long.

Carter also enjoyed opening and exploring all of his presents. He is definitely a slow gift-opener. He would open something, then want to fully explore it, open it, read it, etc. Then, maybe, he'd be interested in opening something else.

Carter was really into all of the books that he got and wanted to read them all day when he wasn't sliding or playing with toys.

Just a few more pictures of Carter enjoying our Christmas brunch and playing with Dad, his toys, and reading. And, yes, if you are thinking that these pictures are fabulous...it is because my wonderful husband gave me a new {very fancy} camera that I must learn how to use STAT that manages to compensate for the lack of skills of the photographer! I can't imagine what the pictures would look like if the photographer were good! :)

We had a wonderful Christmas, and it was such a treat to be in our home on Christmas for the first time in four years {although we very much missed spending time with our families in Alabama}. We were able to start some of our own Christmas traditions, and we look forward to building on them over the years to come.

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas with your family, as well!

No rest for the weary

Lilly closes for an end-of-year holiday from Christmas Day to New Year's Day, and most people {including me} take additional vacation to round out the time off to about two weeks. In the past, this has been a nice down-time for me...just to relax and recharge a bit. However, Carter is a BUSY little boy, and there are scarcely enough not counting the Christmas tree toys here to occupy his time and energy.

That said, today we along with, I swear, at least a third of the children in the greater Indianapolis area went to the Children's Museum. This was Carter's first trip to the museum and he LOVED it. They have a playscape for children under 5, and it was perfect. There were water tables, sand tables, slides, climbers, a kitchen, and a building area. He was in hog heaven. We stayed and played for two hours, at which point Carter's eyes started to glaze over and I witnessed the long, "I'm-ready-for-naptime" blinks.

We came home and both took naps!

Playing in the water table

The sand table

Playing in the garden

Riding the raft like a big boy

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

warning: this post is long, but picture-heavy to make up for the length!

...and we got to see him today at the annual Santa brunch at Highland. We braved the coldest day so far this winter {it was 9 degrees on our way there and 14 on our way home}, and we are so glad we did. We had such a great time with a wonderful group of our friends. Unfortunately for the waitstaff, we were {almost} all seated at the same LONG table, and it made for great conversation for the adults and lots of entertainment and additional sets of eyes for the wee ones.

While we were finishing our brunch, Carter found a couple of ways to entertain himself {and Grace, apparently} by putting on Lauren's candy cane hat. He was so proud of himself and was such a ham!

He also tried a candy cane for the first time...he loved the flavor, but when a piece broke off into his mouth, he promptly spit it out. It didn't take Carter long to find the Christmas trees at Highland. They didn't hang their ornaments twist-tie style, so he managed to escape with a few that I had to re-hang.

Clearly, there were some folks there doing balloon hats and figures, but there was also face painting and a magician. Carter went running from our table, so, of course, I followed. He was running to this group of children who had gathered to watch the magician.

He thought he was big stuff watching the magician with the "big kids." Carter was so excited to open his gift from Connor! Color Wonder books, markers, & finger paint! Perfect for Carter and Mom!!!! Thanks, Connor, D, & Pat!

Connor and Carter, somewhat reluctantly, posing for a picture for their moms.

For our trip to see the big guy, we had three lovely ladies offer to accompany Carter to make sure he wasn't scared since he is just a little guy. Here is his support group.

When we walked in, the girls were so sweet. Carter was immediately rooted to the floor, and the girls kept saying, "It's okay, Carter. It's Santa; he's nice." It was absolutely precious. Carter, however, was not to be swayed. He started to walk away, so I went and picked him up and we managed to give Santa a high five and score another candy cane.

Although, he didn't sit on Santa's lap {and I didn't push the issue}, I consider the visit a success. Carter didn't shed a single tear! :)

O' Christmas Tree

I am trying to see how many Christmas songs I can use as post titles during the month of December. Not really, but this one seemed awfully appropriate given Carter's love of the Christmas tree. He is really enchanted by it. Right after we put up the tree, Carter and I would come downstairs and smell the tree every morning, and I would say "mmmm." Now, he will walk over to it, lean towards it, and then he stands back up straight and says "mmmm." It is really precious!

Unfortunately, I think that the ornament hooks that I used this year, while holding strong for me, are beyond reuse. I twisted them like twist-ties around the tree branches to prevent a certain precious little boy from pulling ornaments off the tree. So far, it's working!

Chesnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

Well, maybe, not really, but that is sure what it sounded like tonight when Haley & James came over.

Pop, Pop, Pop. Pop, Pop, Pop. Pop, Pop, Pop.

They brought Carter an early Christmas present...the push ball popper that we all remember from growing up {along with a Christmas book that was quickly disregarded when he realized what this was}! Carter was in heaven! He was actually almost ready for bed, but he took the popper when Haley handed it to him, and began to walk circles around our house for the next 15 minutes! You can't tell it from the pictures, but he was loving it! All smiles--showing his dimples! I love it! Thank you, Haley & James!

Runners-up

Or, maybe not even runners-up...but definitely attempted Christmas Card pictures. I suppose someone should have told me, or, rather, I should have known that you can't get a 15 month old to pose for Christmas card pictures.

I had this great idea that, because he loves balls, letting him play with the {plastic} ball ornaments that I use to fill a vase would elicit a cute picture...it did, just not a picture worthy of gracing our Christmas card. As a result, you get to be the recipient of the discarded Christmas card pics.

And for my mom...

(She always made the three of us take pictures looking up at the Christmas tree when we were growing up!)

Winter Wonderland

This morning after Nick left for warmer weather and the SEC championship game we got about two inches of snow. Although it pained me greatly to get out in the cold, I thought Carter might want to explore it a little. He seemed rather into checking it out at first.

Then he realized it he could walk around and he took off. It was all I could do to keep him off of the street {which was also snow-covered}.

He decided to climb back up the stairs at the street end of our walkway, and when he put his mittens in the snow, he did NOT like the cold sensation. He kept holding them out to me as if to say, "Take the cold off, Mom!" It was too funny. So, we decided the exploring of snow was over. When we got inside, his mittens were soaked and his pants legs were wet, and he was not happy about it, so we quickly changed.

When it comes to cold and snow: my sentiments exactly.

Wordless Wednesday