Carolina Christmas at the Speedway

We took a trip to the Charlotte Motor Speedway Monday night to catch the Carolina Christmas light show...we went last year and the kids loved it.

This year, it was a little harder to get to because of the kids' surgeries and such...we weren't that good at spending any time away from the house...but we didn't want to miss it.  So, even though Santa has come and gone at our house, we piled into the swagger wagon and headed out before they closed (Dec 31st- you still have a couple days to get there!)

Even though the boys loved the live Bethlehem village, the Christmas trees, Santa's workshop, making s'mores outside at the fire pits, and visiting Santa last year, we just couldn't swing all of that this year, BUT we did drive around the track and ooh-ed and ahhh-ed at the light displays.

Admittedly, some of the oohs and ahhs were because Bryan was driving as high up on the banks of the racetrack as he was allowed to.  Gavin kept saying, "Daddy!  The car is falling over!"  Dude- those things are steep.

We stopped at the entrance to watch the billboard, because a little elf told me that our Ian was featured on one of the advertisements up there...but we didn't see him.  Wondering if they took that photo down because it featured Ian with Santa and it was after Christmas?  I don't know.  But you can still see him here on the website (just wait patiently as the top header flips through the different slides to see him).  Isn't he the cutest?!

Next year we will definitely plan a time to go when we can take advantage of all the great Christmas-y fun off of the track (because they really do have a most excellent Santa there).

In which Gavin ignores the concept of personal space.

More Christmas Maddness

More Christmas photo dump:

I gotta hit up the sales tomorrow to find more LED lights.  I love them on the house:

 'Twas the night before Christmas, and the house was all clean...:

 Ian woke us up at 2:15am, and said, "Mommy?  Santa already came!  Is it time to get up yet?"  I told him no, it was the middle of the night...please go back to bed.  Ten minutes later he came in again, asking if it was time to get up.  I told him no, that he could wake us up at 7.  He came in our room again at 5am, saying that he couldn't find his watch and didn't know what time it was, and could he PLEASE go downstairs and just LOOK in his stocking and FEEL the present that Santa left for him?  He came back in, quite sure that the present contained the skateboard that he wanted, and that there was Chapstick in his stocking.  He spent the next 2 hours tossing and turning in our bed with us, until finally we let him get up and wake the rest of the house up :)

 I love this.  Zeke in his own chair, with his own stocking, in his own new Christmas pajamas, in his OWN home, with his OWN family on Christmas morning.

 Gavin had a very monkey Christmas.  And he also got Chapstick in his stocking.

 Hahaha! :)

 Chase:  Dudes.  I will look at my stocking as soon as I finish my milk here, k?

 Gavin has a Barrel of Monkeys, of course!  Zeke:  What else is in this thing??

 Four boys :)  Imagine, last Christmas Bryan and I were just making the decision to adopt Zeke...and here he is today.

 This is the role Ian's been waiting for all his life:

 Yes, if you are wondering, that is Grandma Maddex's coffee cake we are eating.  Uh-huh.

 Taking a break from Christmas for a little leaf and rock throwing.

 Guy wanted a "monkey present" from Santa.  He got this sweatshirt.  Love it :)

 Yep, I married my dad.

 Ian is so freaking cute on his new skateboard from Santa.

 And now that the Razor scooter is free, Gavin is taking it up.

 Walking off some of the coffee cake:

 I can't even caption this one:

 After a very very busy day, filled with food and sweets, presents, playtime, movies, and family...the boys just couldn't go to bed.  This is how I found Gavin an hour after I read him a story and tucked him in:

 And this is how I found the twins (sitting next to the door in their room):

 And Bryan and Ian camped on the couch with their new games:

Merry Christmas, everyone!  Hope everyone's holiday was as good as ours was :)

Christmas Morning Pics on Google Plus

You can peek at our morning here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/106001070168373370293/albums/5690145742589441825

Surgery Updates

I realized in the pre-Christmas flurry, I forgot to post an update on the boys' surgeries.

They are both doing very very well :)

Zeke is sore, but is healing well.  We're still trying to get him to slow down a little (for example, do NOT climb on to the back of the couch and straddle it like you are riding a horse, and then crash down onto the cushions a bazillion times-- even if your brothers are doing it and it looks like loads of fun).  He hasn't had any pain meds for 2 days now and isn't complaining, so we know he must be feeling better.

Both Zeke and Chase went in for ear tubes on Friday morning.  I took them at 5am for 7:30 and 8am appointments with the ENT.  They were super helpful, and I was able to juggle both of them in and out of surgery.  It was especially helpful to have a friend of mine from the boys' PTA at Waxhaw as our nurse.

Zeke's right ear was especially nasty, the doctor said.  I'm sure that he will feel some relief in the next week with the tubes inserted.  Chase's ears were all gunked up with wax- I still can't figure out a way to clean them in regular life- he has such tiny ear canals, it's hard to get in there.  Even the ear wax kits don't help a lot- anyone have any great suggestions for that?  Gross.

Now all I have to do is remember to put drops in their ears for 3 days...and wrestle Chase while doing so.

With all of that nonsense done, hopefully we can get out and have some fun next week for our last week of vacation.  My Gym is open for free-play days all week, so I'll probably take everyone over there a couple times.  And with this gorgeous weather, maybe we'll hit up the park outside, too.

Thanks for all your thoughts, everyone!  This has been a crazy week.

Silent night

And to all a good night!

Child labor

I hardly have to do any of the baking now, I gave such able helpers!



PS- why are all my phone pictures turning out so crappy?

How to keep 4 boys busy on vacation:

Make slime.

Ianism- Snitch

Last night Snitch had to be cut free from the ropes that the Lego guys captured him with (long story), and there was a pair of big heavy scissors left on the ground.

Bryan asked Ian if he thought Snitch used the big heavy scissors himself.

Ian: no, I think he just asked a big strong Lego guy to do it for him.

Let The Holidays Begin! Plus BONUS funny random comments by strangers...

Today was my last day of work before a 2 week break.  I love my job, but can I get a WOOT WOOT!

We made it through 2 1/2 months of a new family, a new job, and no time to breathe through the transitions.

*sigh*

We celebrated with a trip to see Santa at the mall.  I think we may have overwhelmed him.  His comment was, "Are they all yours?"  I'm getting used to that one.  I hear it a lot now.  The boys were kind of hilarious with their Santa visit.  Guy was ALL pumped up, but when Santa put him on his knee, he had a CLASSIC deer-in-the-headlights look- I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head.  Ian and Zeke stood close and went in for the high five, but that was all they trusted the big SC with.  I asked Ian later if he thought that was the real Santa or a helper, and he said, "That was the real one.  I got a good, close look at him."  Chase nonchalantly walked by, and continued on to dive into the cotton snow on the other side of Santa's chair.  He came back for the goodbyes and the candy canes, though.

I'm totally looking forward to some time with the kids- I have some cookies and some crafts, some science experiments for my little Mr. Wizard, and some new therapy stuff to try (hello oral motor therapy and sensory brushing techniques that I should have started 5 months ago).

Oh, and you know, the surgeries that begin tomorrow at 10am (Zeke) and then again on Friday at 8am (Chase and Zeke-ears).  Second fun comment: the OR scheduler asked me if Zeke and Chase were twins, but just born on different days.  Um, no.  I was not in labor for 5 days. Hope they both recover quickly and have time to enjoy the break with the rest of us :/  


Runner up funny comment: the receptionist who keeps calling to remind me of upcoming ENT appointments keeps calling Zeke, "Zeekey".  Come on, lady!  It's vowel-consonant-vowel!  The silent e makes the first vowel say it's name!  Classic phonics, people!

Family of 6 Photos :)

And a post for Gavin

...who had to learn the lesson about pee-peeing before you get in bed tonight.

Every single dang night I take him to the bathroom, he pees, we put him in a diaper for overnight, get him into his jammies, read stories, and then tuck him into bed.

And then 10 seconds after I turn out the lights and shut the door, he starts crying because he "has to go pee-PEEEEEE!"

So then I give in, and get him out of bed, and we take his jammies off, and his diaper, and he gets 6 more minutes of bedtime-free day before he has to go to bed again.

Tonight, though, I made him do one last potty stop after story and before lights out.  I told him lots of times that this was his last potty stop of the day, and that he would not be getting out of bed to go pee-pee.  He agreed.

And then I kissed him goodnight, turned off the light, and closed the door.

Ten seconds later he started yelling that he needed to go pee-PEEEEEEE!!!

Nope.  Sorry dude.

I did the Super Nanny thing, and let him be irate for a few minutes, then went in and firmly told him that he already went pee-pee, and we were done with that for the night.  Then I told him there was no crying at bedtime.

Every time I say that, I think of Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own.

Anyway.  He went to sleep.  And that is that.

Chasey Chasey Smartie Facey

So, the other day, Ms. Santana sends a note home that says Chase can receptively ID all the letters of the alphabet.  Seriously?

I mean, not that we haven't tried.  He just hates that stuff.  He has zero attention span for any of that "learning nonsense".

But yesterday, he got really into that V-tech bike game, you know, the one that you pedal and you pick up certain letters of the alphabet on a course on the TV?  Yeah, not only did he pedal the bike, but he called out the letters correctly as he rode.

I'm not even joking here, people.

And since then, when we read stories at night, Bryan and I have been asking the kids to point to random letters on the pages.  He gets them right, a LOT.  The best one is when he identifies the letter R, because he sounds like a pirate.  "What's that, Chasey?"  "Arrrrrrrrrr!"

Have I mentioned how much I love his preschool teachers?  Like LOVE them, love them.

Ian, Just Because

Kelsey sent me this photo she took of Ian last month.

He totally melts my heart.

End of the Year Insurance Spending Spree

I'd love for it all to be about eggnog and Christmas lights right now...but reality is kind of slapping us in the face this year, and we're all about the end of year "get everything taken care of because you've met your deductible" spending.

I've had to leave work early so many afternoons to get glasses, exams, therapy consults, IEP meetings, and pre-operative visits (not to mention the pink-eye fake out that Chase pulled on me last week) done that my principal asked me today how many more times I was planning on leaving at 1:30.  Um, no more- I hope.  I'm not sure what else we can fit in.  It's not that I'm trying to miss work, I'm just trying to miss as little of it as possible while still getting everything taken care of before it costs me a million dollars in January.

Chase and Zeke are getting more than LeapFrog learning toys this year.  They are also going to be getting their very own sets of ear tubes!!  This should cut down on the ear infections (2 since we've been home, I think...?) and luckily for us, they've been able to keep their adenoids from getting too inflamed, and they aren't causing problems, so they will NOT be getting surgery for adenoids along with the tubes.

Zeke will also be getting some exploratory surgery down there.  Seems there is an undescended part (No!  I can't type it out on my blog!) and we're going to go ahead and get that found and pulled down where it is supposed to be so that he doesn't end up with a hernia situation.

Do you think if we put shiny bows and jingle bells all over that they will forgive us for these Christmas gifts?

Bye-EEEE. I'n goin' to work...!

Guy told me that he was going to work this evening.  This is apparently his uniform:

Not long after, Zeke also decided to go to work, as well:

Obviously, they work in different departments.