Christmas with Zennie

On Christmas Eve Eve we went to Mike and Bernie's house for a meal, presents, fort building, and general holiday merriment.

Dave's parents sent their grandkids' gifts down with Dave so we loaded up the van like Santa to deliver the presents. Our very own elf helped us with the packages.They had cooked up a feast of pasta, chicken adobo, beet salad and lots more. For dessert I brought a chocolatey peanut butter cheesecake (the crust was brownie). Not liking traditional cheesecake much, I thought it was pretty dang tasty, if not way too rich. Eddie surprised us and sat throughout nearly the entire meal--something he's not known for doing at home, but which we are working very hard on--I think because Cousin Zennie is such a good eater. She sits throughout the entire meal, eating all her food instead of playing with it. Not that Eddie is a "bad" or picky eater. He just prefers to graze all day instead of eat a whole meal.

Bernie picked up a bunch of appliance boxes from Home Depot so the kiddos could make a fort in their living room. It was a genius idea because we got to color and decorate the insides and outsides. Michael event tossed a bunch of paper inside for them to throw around--it was quite a hit!After that we went outside to play with Zennie's handled trike and wagon. Uncle Michael plays really intensely and Eddie LOVED it.

Later we opened presents and Bernie read some books to the kiddos before we headed back home. Eddie was going on no nap that day and we knew he'd crash into sleep or a meltdown any moment. Of course he fell asleep minutes before we pulled into our driveway so he and Dave finished napping in the van while I went inside. And as is the case with all short naps, he was SUPER DUPER cranky afterward. On Christmas Eve we met up with Bernie and Zennie at the Sacramento Zoo, which was open for a free half day. It was super crowded and parking was a bit hairy, but I'm glad we went. Eddie had never been to the zoo before (gasp!) and he seemed to like it. My favorite--as always--were the anteaters. I can't tell what Eddie's favorite animal was since he was a little overwhelmed by all the people and his cousin. Maybe the orangutans, though. We stared at those for a good long while until Dave pulled us away so we could find Bernie.

As usual, we couldn't get a good picture of Eddie or us as a family because of Eddie's camera aversion. Here's the best we got, sun glare and all:Thanks to "burst mode" on our camera, which we just figured out how to use after two years, we were able to get *some* pictures of Eddie and Zennie with them both looking at the camera (one or two out of about 50 taken about a second apart). Of course, the only time Eddie cooperates for pictures is when he doesn't see the camera or he's snacking so there's food or a hand in his mouth. Ah, toddlerhood. This was also a nap-free day since we were at the zoo until 1pm. He was tired, but not cranky so we pushed our luck and stopped at Ace Hardware when we got back to Davis. Our chicken waterers are both broken (plastic + UV rays for 2 years make them leak apparently) so we had to buy a new one. This time we spent more money on a nice galvanized metal one that isn't gravity fed so we shouldn't have issues with it. We were all getting hungry by that point so we got to Thai food downtown at a new restaurant we'd not been to before. Unlike other Thai places in town, this one was more quiet and subdued than others (or maybe it was like that because it was filled with adults instead of college students near the holiday?). Eddie surprised us and did fairly well at keeping his voice down and not making too big of a mess with his food. I love that my child love tom ka gai soup as much as I do.Dave and Eddie settled in to watch a Robots the movie when we got back home while I made some pasta dough. About 15 minutes into the movie I got a text message from Dave (yes, he was in the next room) saying I should come in and look at Eddie. He was passed OUT. It was adorable seeing him snuggled up on his Dadda with his brother right next to him. Oh man, Dave was in heaven holding Eddie during the movie. Happy holidays everyone! I'll post about Christmas morning later on.