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?