I forgot we went to a classic Milwaukee tradition that we plan to do every year. The M&I bank sets up this enormous Christmas scene with all of these antique Steiff stuffed animals. We went on a Saturday morning. Weird I know, going into a lobby of a bank on a Saturday for an utterly fantastic Christmas display. But, it was really spectacular and one of those things that the kids will look forward too and remember in a few years.
Santa's Workshop
Look at the detail in this lion.
Seriously, from what I can tell these stuffed animals are priceless and just beautiful.
So impressed with Eloise that she got so close to these animals, especially the ones that moved.
Oh dear. Eloise fell in.
I was brushing all the "snow" off of her when a security guard came over and examined the indent, brushed it off a bit and then started to scan the room for the culprit. Really? I'm standing right in front of you with 3 toddlers, one of whom is covered in white glitter. What an excellent security guard for a bank. On to the rest of the holiday festivities. On Christmas Eve day the presents started. My mom had an entire car full. No joke. Therefore, we had to start opening during the day.
Yeah! Art supplies and coloring books. With 3 kids, it is amazing how fast we go through a pack of construction paper.
And coloring books. I think Eloise colored on every page of her new Pooh coloring book in a few hours and it was done. Good thing Mimi had a whole car load of presents.
We spent Christmas Eve at my sister's house but as we were getting the kids dressed, Addy had a meltdown. I have no idea what about but this is where she wanted to sit because she was so mad. Ohhh you sure showed me. I'll just get my camera because it is funny.
In the corner of the dining room there was a children's photo op set up. Rocking chairs and teddy bears. We of course couldn't get all the kids together but they all posed individually.
I don't know what is going on here but look at the expression on these two. Think they are both dramatic. Umm, sense the sarcasm?
Also learned a valuable lesson about reading the "skill level ranking" on the side of toys. The skill level of this transformer is in the "make Daddy sweat and don't even give it to Mom." category. But boy oh boy did he like it.
This was the big present for the kids- Thomas the Train which we wanted to have set up when they came downstairs in the morning. I took us plus my brother with an engineering degree to set up all the sets of tracks on a round table.
What happened to our tree?? Santa came!
And he brought Thomas! He should have brought a hair brush and some detangler for Eloise. She's not a restless sleeper at all.
Every time I would ask Addy what she wanted she would say, "Umm, baby dolls." If I asked her what she wanted from Santa? From Daddy? From Mimi? She would say, "Baby dolls." Now if I ask her how she wants her room decorated she says, "Baby dolls." She got her wish- for Christmas that is. Still trying to figure out how to decorate a room in a baby doll theme.
All of the kids got their first BARBIE including Beckett. Ken has changed a lot since my Barbie days when the Ken doll was missing a leg and really a girl with a haircut.
Here are the kids opening their presents from our friends Clarke and Lisa in TX.
I've been scanning the pictures if I can see who opened what because Beckett is just adamant that the reindeer plate is HIS and no girl germs.
Guess he got a pretty good look at what he opened. I'm just going to assume he is right and let him have the reindeer plate.
At one point Addy was just grabbing presents and opening whatever she could as fast as she could. We just let her but it was a bit of a struggle to wrestle away this little sparkly thing from her. Like mother like daughter. She likes the shine.
This is from the day after Christmas and this is pretty much what Beckett has looked like ever since. Obsessed with Thomas. And Percy. And "towing" things.
Can I just say that Beckett and Eloise are obsessed with Thomas the Train and T Rex. The kids have been in bed (I use that term loosely these days) for 2 hours and I can hear Eloise saying, "I T Rex, I T Rex" and I'm guessing she is stomping around her room pretending to be a T Rex. Someone was a total genius when they came up with the show Dinosaur Train. Trains and T Rex? Pure genius.
So what is on board for us in the next few days. Let's see...
-Still struggling with the kids at bed time. It's a really hard way to end a day.
-Baby dolls, baby dolls, baby dolls.
-I seriously need a makeover/spa day. When your boss says it is time to get a eye brow wax you know that you have taken the term "letting yourself go" to a whole new level. It's rather impressive if I do say so myself.
-Just to clarify, I do not like cleaning. I like a clean house. Since we bought a house without the self cleaning floors, I have to clean. A lot. I don't like it.
-It is 2 hours and 15 minutes after I put the kids to bed and Addy is yelling for noodles. That's my cue to go to bed.
Look at this girl. Loves the panties. The other day Bambi brought her and Beckett some panties and at one point she had on 7 pairs.
Hopefully that love of panties will continue this weekend as the plan at this point it to potty train Eloise and get some reminders in for Addy as well- who happens to have regressed and refuses to wear panties- only Pull-ups.
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