Fries are done: Levitating off the floor

This was Dante's Christmas message to our garbageman. We drew it and then sat in the driveway and waited for him to come by.

Carina walks out and says, "it says 'Carina is going to Kim's house." She now thinks that every word that begins with C is "Carina". Of course it is.

The kids were SOOOOO excited about Christmas this year. We couldn't even get a decent picture they were vibrating with so much excitement the whole time.

It started off with the Children's Cancer Center Holiday party. This year, we arrived late - and WOW - was it crowded. Most of the tables were packed and almost all the food was gone. Someone said there were about twice as many kids as last year. I ran into a former Bay Point student and he even played with the Dante and Carina while updating me on his health and school life.

Dante kept saying that he hoped Santa was going to bring him a "big Buzz Lightyear". Chris and I were worried...on the form that you fill out with ideas for gifts, I listed robots and such, and then as a fallback I wrote - "or anything Buzz Lightyear". We ended up being one the last people to come up and meet Santa, and as we walked back to the table with the presents, we didn't know what to expect....Dante opens it and finds a big Buzz Lightyear! I swear the kid was levitating he was so excited. Carina got a wooden bed and knitted blanket for her dolls, that she promptly found a home for and started putting everyone of her dolls to sleep in.

It's such a great party. We always get to see some nurses from the clinic and occasionally run into people we met at the hospital. The thing we like best is seeing so many healthy kids running around with big smiles on their faces.

The kids helped decorate the tree this year. Carina especially took pride in showing us daily which ones she hung on the tree, "Here's Dora, and the camel, and Tuga the sea turtle..." It was fun seeing them lay on the floor looking into the houses underneath the tree. (of course, said tree still needs to be taken down...we extend the holidays as long as possible in our house.)

By 8:30 the kids were off to let visions of sugarplums dance in their heads...

In the morning, Dante came into our bed and just hung out for awhile, then he calmly said, "Was Santa here? Did he bring presents?" I think this might be the last year for such a mellow start.

Not much could match Buzz, but a new bike helped. He was so excited he didn't even take off his PJ shirt! Carina got a new souped up version of Dante's old tricycle - Chris painted it pink and purple, and put her name on it - it looks super cool.

Carina was determined to be stylish - regardless of how hot it was that day; wearing her new hat almost all day.

We had a relaxing dinner at mom's with Granny Mil and the rest of our gang. The kids were great and especially excited when Daddy's pumpkin pie came out after dinner! Even through exhaustion, they didn't go to sleep that night until almost 11!

The next day, Aunt Melissa and the cousins arrived. Lots of new playmates and fun to be had. The kids were super excited to have a chance to play with everyone and didn't want them to go.