Present Time!

We opened presents at Mike & Gigi's house on the afternoon of Christmas Day.  We had agreed that this year, the kids would be getting a day at The Magic Kingdom for Christmas, so we did not exchange gifts across families for the kids.  Each kid had a couple of presents to open from their parents and then the gifts from Mimi, as well.  Lydia loved the wrapping paper, and the boys were happy with and thankful for their gifts.  The adults had drawn names, and it was funny to see quite a few wall canvas prints appear for several different people.  I guess everyone had canvas on the brain this year.  

Christmas Eve & Christmas Morning

We arrived in town at dinner time on Christmas Eve.  Aunt Gigi's mother had prepared a huge Christmas meal for all of the Wagner's, and we all thoroughly enjoyed her feast.  After dinner, we heard from Uncle Mike that Santa Claus was scheduled to make a drive-by appearance in a fire truck, something he described as a perk of living in Melbourne Beach.  We all headed outside at the appointed time to see this exciting spectacle.  

To our surprise, Santa not only drove by, but stopped and got out of the fire truck, right on the corner of Uncle Mike's property.  And, to our complete amazement, he took a present out of his bag and said, "Is there a little boy named Caleb, here?"  At first, I was thinking that there must be some other Caleb in the group of neighbors gathered there, and that my Caleb was going to be so disappointed.  But I should have had more faith in Uncle Mike and Aunt Gigi :)  Santa (via Mike & Gigi), had brought gifts for each of the Wagner cousins and handed them all out by name (even to Lydia!).  I was very impressed, and the kids were elated.  "Santa" gave Caleb a Nerf gun and Ethan a Captain America shield that shoots discs.  I think it would be safe to say that these gifts were the hit of the season.  I'm sad that we didn't get any pictures, but we were completely taken off guard and didn't even have the camera outside.

Christmas morning (Sunday), we all got up early so we could get ourselves and the kids dressed up in the finery they wore in Aunt Wendi's wedding four months earlier.  Apparently, a picture of the seven grand kids in their wedding clothes never got taken then, so we did our best to recreate the moment for Mimi's photo op.  After church, the clan headed over to Aunt Traci's house for lunch.  Everybody split up for naps and the guys went to watch a movie.  Next thing on the agenda was presents at Uncle Mike & Aunt Gigi's house.

 Marcus, Caleb and Ethan outside Melbourne C of C

 

The best way to take a group picture of kids is in steps :)

 

 

 Maddie, Josh, Traci & Dallen McGough (Marcus's younger sister and her family)

Everyone hanging out at Aunt Traci's house after church.

 

Trip To Florida

We broke the trip from Alabama to Florida at a hotel in Georgia.  On the second day of driving, we stopped (as we have before) at the Castillo de San Marcos in Saint Augustine, Florida, only this time we actually paid the admission fee to go into the castle.  You can see a great deal of the castle from the external grounds, and we've stopped other times to let the kids stretch their legs on the huge grassy fields.  The decision to go inside this time was made over much laughter when Caleb politely asked, "Mommy, this year, can we please go inside the castle instead of just looking over the walls?"   The trip went extremely well, and Lydia only cried for about 15 minutes during the whole two days of driving.  We also broke out the head phones that came with our minivan, so Marcus and I were able to listen to a book on tape (Dave Ramsey) while the kids watched Disney movies with the head phones.  All-in-all, it was the best road trip we have ever had with kids on board.

No More Showers With Superman

For more than half of our time living in this house, we have used only one of our two bathrooms (at least the shower part).  Our master shower sprung a leak back in 2010, and after three estimates of over $4K to fix it, we decided we could be a one-bathroom family.  It really hasn't been that big of a deal most of the time to shower in the kids bathroom, but there are the little annoyances: walking between bathrooms to get towels, stepping around or cleaning up bath toys, having NO privacy (since little boys pay no attention to the closed door when nature calls).  It has been a challenge when we all come in from camping or swimming and everyone needs a bath/shower at once.  And, of course, there is Superman.  For many months, Ethan's favorite toy was this little plastic Superman that he toted with him everywhere, including the bath.  I can't tell you how many times my shower has been interrupted by stepping on Superman, fishing him out of the tub, or doing a Superman hand-off in the middle of my shower when Ethan suddenly realized where he'd left his favorite toy.

For the past few weeks, we have had a contractor at our house renovating both of our very dated bathrooms.  As of three days ago, we now have not one but two fully-functioning showers, as well as two beautiful, easy-to-clean bathrooms.  To say I'm excited is an understatement.  The bathrooms are GORGEOUS and I love them.  Ethan is just as excited as me: he loves the new counter tops, the additional sink in his bathroom ("his" sink), and, most of all, the built-in child seat on the toilet (an idea we got from Mimi's new toilets).  Caleb is just happy not to have to look for a contractor-free bathroom in order to use the toilet, but Ethan exclaimed over every shiny, new thing, right along with me.  Enjoy the pictures!

BEFORE, Master Bath 

(I never got a picture of the inside of the old shower, but it was those little white square tiles and had a low shower head and low ceiling.  Marcus had to bend over to get under the water.)

 

AFTER, Master Bath 

(Mirror still needs to be mounted, but other than that, it is finished :)

 

The contractor removed the shower ceiling and raised the shower head.

BEFORE, Kids' Bath

(The counter tops in both bathrooms were this strange surface of tile-ish leaf shapes embedded in concrete.  They were very hard to clean and never looked good, even when clean.)

 

 AFTER, Kids' Bath

 

 

Caleb's Tooth

We thought that the teeth-losing thing wouldn't get started until after Caleb's sixth birthday, but I noticed about a week ago that one of Caleb's bottom front teeth was loose.  It just kept getting looser until we were sitting in church yesterday morning.  Caleb was quietly eating Kix from a baggie while the rest of us were singing when I felt a tap on my leg.  I looked down at Caleb's outstretched hand, and, sure enough, there he was holding his tooth!  No blood, no whining...I'd say it went perfectly.

We told him that he could put his tooth under his pillow and see what the tooth fairy brings him.  He looked up skeptically and said with narrowed eyes, "Come on.  The tooth fairy isn't real!"  I responded with, "Well, you are right about that, but what is under your pillow tomorrow morning will be real."  He was very happy with the five $1 bills he found.  Marcus and I agreed he scored big since we both remember getting coins for our teeth.  

When Ethan saw the big gap in Caleb's mouth and the tooth in his hand, his face broke out in a HUGE smile and he said, "Caleb!  It's like you're EIGHT!"  I guess losing teeth seems to be a purely eight-year-old experience in Ethan's eyes.