HO! HO! Horribly behind.

I gotcha, the excuses are getting old.  I am likely officially the last blogger to blog about Christmas, but hey, we were so busy having a great break I just couldn't get it all together any sooner!  

MP2 is getting to be more and more fun every single day.  I think I may say this every time I post, but we still have not reached the apex of cute and fun.  I am sure that all of you who had children long before me are chuckling and shaking your heads at my continued wonderment over my child when you all knew all along this is how it feels.

So, back to Christmas...Nana and Papa arrived a few days before the big one.  We took MP2 to Barnes & Noble where there is a train table set up that he could play on for hours at a time.  We had a hunch that Santa was going to have a train table out for MP2 on Christmas morning - by way of Connecticut - and wanted Nana and Papa to see how excited he would be about it.  He can spend upwards of an hour playing independently at this table.  It's fantastic.

Also, a far cry from last Christmas (though the snow last year was fun and beautiful), we were able to play outside every day!

 Knowing I had plenty of cooking coming up, we decided to go out for Mexican food the day before Christmas Eve...no bib, no problem. I think MP2 looks a bit like an outlaw bandit here.  An outlaw bandit who takes after his mom in his love of rice, beans and queso!

Riley almost caught Santa!  He left MP2 the great train set and kitchen (by way of Tennessee), and MP and I learned how fun it is to be a parent on Christmas Eve, just knowing how happy MP2 was going to be the next morning.

After a minor meltdown (perhaps video to come one of these days) at the foot of the stairs when MP tried to send him into the living room rather than the playroom - where he wanted to go - MP2 discovered, and ran full speed over to, the new train set.  He probably played with it for 3 hours total on Christmas!  It was a hit.

The kitchen was also a welcome addition to his toys!  He "cooks" stuff for us nearly every day, usually while I am making dinner.

 Playing with Papa.

 Reading what may be one of my all time favorite children's books - Good Dog, Carl.  MP2 really got into opening gifts.  He loved tearing the paper off of the packages, and helped each of us with our gifts as well.

 Out for a walk after nap

 Toddler meltdown since we were not walking where MP2 wanted us to go.  Poor guy.  Always being told what to do, can't tell us what he wants (with words, at least), and then we wonder why he has these little meltdowns.  Lucky for us, they seem to be few and far between at this point...or maybe not few, but definitely short.

 Nana and Papa headed back to Nashville the morning after Christmas, and we were sad to see them go.  It was the best Christmas yet, and I have a feeling they are only going to get better from here.