More Christmas...and burning down the house

On Christmas morning, Anna and Emily bounded downstairs to where Ed and I were sleeping to see if Santa had paid them a second visit. It was, after all, shortly after 7AM. (Connor had awakened at 5:30, but my dad rocked him back to sleep so the two of them hung out until about 7:30 or so.) Santa had already dropped quite a load of loot at their house, but I guess he figured he could pony up a little more at Grandma's. Each of the grandchildren received a pre-assembled gingerbread house. Lucky for me, Connor decided he wasn't into frosting and candy, so I got to assemble his! After putting him down for his nap, Anna and Emily helped put the finishing touches on the house. Can you see how relaxed I look? I'm not sure if it's the Midwestern air or having my parents around - or sleeping so late! - but looking at this picture makes me feel younger than many of the photos taken in the past year.

In between opening more presents, Connor hung out with his little people. Ed was able to combine the little people and a toy where you push buttons to make characters pop up into quite a game, sending little people flying all over the place. I guess this is what happens when boys play with toys. My mom reports that in all the years of the girls playing with this toy, a spectacle like this was never created. All I can say is - watch out! I have a feeling Connor and Ed have many more tricks up their sleeves.



Although Ed appears to really like Connor and me in this photo, yesterday's actions bring this into question. I put Connor down for a nap, and decided I would nap with him. I heard Ed moving about in the kitchen, but didn't think much of it. He headed out to the grocery store, and then about a half hour later, Connor and I were greeted with the smoke detector going off. Turns out, Ed had put some chick peas on the stove and left - forgetting to turn them off. This caused them to catch on fire - which caused enough smoke to send the detector into action. Luckily, the fire was very small and contained to the pot. Imagine - smoke detector wailing, Connor initially crying but then sort of getting into the excitement, and me grabbing the pan with my sleeve wrapped around the handle a few times and putting it outside. (The same hand, by the way, that sent me to the ER with burns a few weeks ago!) As soon as Connor saw the pot, he started waiving his hand up and down saying "hot, hot". "Yes Connor, very hot. Please do not touch." I think Connor enjoyed the dousing with water that came next. No damage done - except a nap interrupted. I told Ed he'd have to be more clever about attempting to do us in the next time. Thankfully, our smoke detector had a battery in it. I can name at least a few times in the past year when this wasn't true - because it had gone off during some regular use of the oven (probably me burning cookies) and not been replaced right away. Guess we'll be very diligent about that now!



We celebrated my mom's birthday with a trip to an old train station that has a science center for kids and a few Christmas displays. Amazing us yet again, Connor took a spin on a train with my sister's children. I didn't think he would go for being separated from me, but he seemed to enjoy is moderately - even when I let him get out of my sight as he rounded the track behind the tree. The conductor kindly let me hang out right by the track so that I could snag Connor from the train if he found it unpleasant.

All in all, it's hard to keep up with those girls!