A New Zoo Baby and Zoo Pals

We went to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Sarah. We wanted to see the Zoo Pals that Aunt Sarah got the boys for Christmas. Ben is a Zoo Pal for Baru, the giant Australian salt water crocodile and Nick is a Zoo Pal for the ring tail lemur. We didn't get to see the lemurs because the Gibbon monkeys were on exhibit instead, including the new born baby! The baby was born in November, so he or she was about a month or two old here. And the orangutans where their usual silly selves, sleeping on top of the glass inside. 

Balyeat Christmas Time

(So now that I am a month behind again, we'll get back to this)

The Sunday after Christmas, was Christmas again! This time on the Balyeat side. Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Sarah put on their warm pants and made the journey north. We had fun opening presents in the morning. The boys really liked the awesome umbrellas Aunt Sarah got them. Nick's is a pirate and Ben's is a dragon/knight. Of course, as expected, they quickly became sparing weapons,

 And then we had the full Balyeat Christmas experience - Cousins Maddie and Grant came over for a bit to play. The boys had fun showing them their lego hoards and cool coloring stuff they had received for Christmas.

Plasma Car Time!

After chasing each other around my kitchen for two days, it was finally nice enough for some outside use of the Plasma cars. Nick LOVES it! His rocking is the perfect training for the plasma car. He can get going on it. Ben had races with our neighbor, who also has one. I foresee drunken mommy races in the dark around the circle come summer time... 

The Addition of ~2000 Legos Into Our House

So, we had the addition of nearly 3,000 Lego's over the course of December. Ben (with minimal help) had the truck, speedboat, trailer and entire arctic base assembled by 10:30 Christmas morning. 

The Four Giant Boxes

Four VERY large boxes arrived on Christmas eve. And this time, I had nothing to do with them! Since we weren't able to make it to Connecticut this year for Christmas, Connecticut was shipped to us, though we still missed seeing everyone! The boys were very blessed to receive gifts from Great Grandma, Auntie Gwen, Uncle Jay and the Pierce family! 

A microscope! Can he use it to find the darn minuscule Lego pieces?? He can use it to read the Lego logo on the tiniest of tiny pieces, though. 

Mmmm - warm, comfy clothes!

A marble run!! It was the first thing he wanted to play with. 

A pretty awesome art set

I may have been slightly more excited about these at first, but now that the boys can take OJ and milk to school, they are loving them as well!

Art supplies and spin art

And what was in the giant boxes???

Plasma Cars!!! Awesome! (and a little bit relieved) 

It took me 3 tries to get this thing built to the instructions. And who ultimately destroyed it? Adam. 

Thank you for all the wonderful gifts!! Sorry we could be there in person to celebrate with you this year!

Yay for Christmas Morning!

All set and ready for the morning!

I set up my tripod so I could get at least some pictures while still participating and paying attention while the boy's opened presents. Santa brought the boys new camp chairs, LeapBands, puzzles, a book on how to draw little animals, and an obscene amount of Lego's. 

Nick's suitcase of Lego's (starting the count at 1,000)

The most anticipated Arctic Base set (Lego count: 1,700)

Lego ice skating ring, camper RV and boat/truck (Lego count: 2,360 plus the 218 from the Advent calendar)

While the boys were on a Lego high, Eva and Elaina were opening their presents from Santa, too. Eva got a new twirly dress! It is perfect for the new Cinderella movie coming out in March! I had a twirly dress that was required attire when watching Dirty Dancing. I understand the twirly dress code required for certain movies.

Even girls with twirly dresses need warm tooties. 

Merry Christmas!

2014 Christmas card

Only one head swap required for this year's family photo!