And a Partridge in a Pear Tree!

Another perfect Christmas!  I wouldn't have changed a single thing.  The kids woke up around 8ish.  They were thrilled with all the things Santa put in their stockings.  The sweet rolls hadn't overflowed their pans in the night, and they baked up deliciously so that we could have our traditional breakfast before the Opening of the Presents.  (Katie doesn't even really like cinnamon rolls, but she's been reminding me all month that I needed to make them for this morning's breakfast.  'Cause that's how we do it!  She's mine all right.)
(Ed took the picture above.  He never remembers to put up the flash, but I thought the picture captured the excitement of the stockings nicely!)

Santa brought a screaming monkey for each of them. Plus a thunder can thingie for Travis (for sound effects for his movies!).  With luck, Ed and I will have many peaceful Christmas mornings once the children are grown.  I'm enjoying the noise while we have it.

Katie got a new game for her DS which Travis was eager to give her tips on.

A Three Musketeers Barbie from Auntie Diane.  When this one takes off her ballgown, she has Wonderwoman shorts and go go boots underneath.  Amazing!  Katie named her "Jane."

These are so good!

A look of intense concentration as he aims the screaming monkey down the hall...

and it hurtles through the air, screaming bloody murder!  This sort of thing is why we are missing so many crystals on our chandelier.

Ed, with his new trucky bank.

Katie with her new Build-a-Bear (the pink one).  Mary, the beary.

Ed in his new jacket!

Katie loves her new sweatshirt!  She never did change out of her nightie, but she wore the sweatshirt over it, so that is kind of like getting dressed, isn't it?

My college roommate, Darcy, and her husband gave the children these wonderful remote-control jousting knights!  What a hit!

They smash together and go flying off their horses, while their lances go hurtling off in another direction.  Most satisfactory!

History comes to life, right in our kitchen!

Harry is the only one who isn't so crazy about them...

Rush Hour is my new toy, but Travis and Katie each had to prove they could trounce me.  And they can.  What a great game, though!

I even had time to read one of my new books and nibble macadamias.  Life is good!

Travis got Mario Kart.  Ed has been wanting a race car game for ages, and the kids finally wanted one so I couldn't pass it up!

And this is one of my very favorites -- the Brock Magiscope.  I got the package from Rainbow Resources with the extra lens, so it has 50X magnification.  Boy, is it sharp & clear!  I got some prepared slides to go with it from American Science & Surplus , and we had a great time looking at the fruit fly, plant louse, honey bee leg, hair of hare, etc.!  I'm not sure I'll be able to wait until Katie's birthday to get the 10X eyepiece so we can see things at 100X magnification!  Travis got so excited about looking at the prepared slides that he cut off a chunk of his hair to look at.  Ed has once again hidden the scissors.

It was a good, good day!  And to top it all off, dinner was delicious!  A wonderful, perfect Christmas.

And these pictures are from earlier in the week.  Travis went to the orthodontist on Wednesday and I broke out the magnetic poetry words I'd gotten from American Science and Surplus ($1 -- how could I resist?) to take her mind off missing her big brother.

Don't you love it when you build the perfect line of poetry?

"the frog is scarey at Halloween!" 

You can stick them on the fridge, and they glow in the dark!  Travis thought she got the better part of the deal.