Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Over the river and through the woods...

...to Grandmother's (and Grandfather's) house we go (went)!  The day after Christmas the boys and I got up, packed up the car, and headed six and half hours north to my parent's house in Iowa.  I must say that considering it was just me with a five year old and a two year old strapped in the back seat and only one gas/food break that we all survived fairly well!  Thank God for creating someone smart enough to invent the portable DVD player!  We made it to Iowa in record time, pulling in around quarter to four. 

The boys were so excited to see their grandparents and their Aunt Dannielle (Aunt Dango in kid speak).  But once that initial excitement wore off, Logan was ready to open presents!  We were able to hold him off until after I had some time to rest (and recharge my camera battery, of course) and everyone ate dinner.  But then, it was a flurry of wrapping paper and gifts!

My mom really likes to do "stockings," but she gave up the actual stocking a long time ago and went to gift bags.  Gift bags full of chocolate and little toys!  For Logan it was monster trucks and for Gavin it was action figures (or "guys" as he calls them).



Then it was on to presents!  Somehow, Logan managed to nab the best present (meaning the one he really, really wanted and was just sure Grandma and Grandpa would get him) first. 



While Grandpa was enlisted to immediately remove T-Rex from his box, Gavin got the chance to open his first present...a present so good it kept him occupied for a good long time!



While Gavin played "pirate ship," Logan moved on to the next present.  And the next one.  And the next one.





Aunt Dannielle hit the mark with the Captain America costume and shield.  The appearance of those two gifts even briefly lured Gavin away from the pirate ship!  Logan spent the rest of the evening opening presents as Captain America...and Gavin went back to playing pirate ship.


While Logan got a look at his new interactive dinosaur board, Gavin decided to abandon the pirate ship and get back in on the present action by opening a gift from Aunt Danniell:  a talking dinosaur character from the cartoon Dinosaur Train!



Logan was at again with another present from Grandma and Grandpa:  action figures from the movie Avengers!  He was surprisingly unexcited at this point which should have been my first clue that something was wrong...(the boy loves all things Avengers after all).



In between helping Logan open up some of his new action figures, I was able to snap a coule of shots of Gavin ripping into his next gift from Aunt Dannielle.



Aunt Dannielle hit another home run with this cash register...and she paid the price!  Gavin made her play with him over and over again!  And once again he was out of the opening presents action for awhile!


While Gavin played, a quickly tiring Logan finished opening up his presents from Grandma and Grandpa with very little zeal...at this point I was starting to get worried about my normally very enthusiastic child.




And this is where we had to take a pause in present opening.  Logan started saying that his head hurt really badly and his forehead felt very warm.  He willingly laid down on the couch while Mom and I headed to Walmart for children's Tylenol.  When we got back I found Logan like this...despite all the exciting new gifts he had just opened.


I did wake him up and make him take the Tylenol.  Then he laid back down, choosing to watch Gavin finish opening presents rather than getting down on the floor and helping him like he normally would have - poor kid didn't feel well at all!

Gavin on the other hand had finally tired of the cash register - for now - and was ready to see what else was in those pretty wrapped boxes piled high just for him!



The Captain Hook ship (companion to the big pirate ship, of course) kept him busy for a few minutes, and then it was back to the pile!



After opening his new Tag books, he made sure to go over and check on Logan.  Such a sweet brother!


But the presents weren't done yet, and he quickly returned to the pile to continue the fun!  There were Ninja Turtles (and a couple of "bad guys"), the game Perfection, and a Playmobile truck that he insisted Grandpa put together right away.








And with that, the boys were done opening the very last of their Christmas presents!  Gavin spent the rest of the evening playing with his new toys while Logan did more of this:


As the evening continued on though, Logan started to feel better and was up and moving around again - even playing a little with Gavin and everyone else!  We stayed up way too late (hey - 9 p.m. is very late for my boys...and me!).  Despite all the excitement, I was able to get too very tired boys tucked into bed and sleeping soundly so that they would be ready for three more fun-filled days with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Dannielle!



Gift #138 - safe travels through snowy landscape
Gift #139 - hugs and greetings from family not seen in awhile
Gift #140 - tylenol for a sick child
Gift #141 - the concern of one brother for another
Gift #142 - opening gifts in front of a warm fireplace

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