Twas the Night Before Christmas...

I know you'll find this hard to believe, but I took LOTS and LOTS of pictures this Christmas. I'm too embarrassed to tell you how many I actually took. And, to be fair, Mike snapped a literal BOAT LOAD of pictures of me and the boys baking cookies. He put me to shame!

Anyway, with all of that said, I've decided to break up the blog entries into two - a Christmas Eve entry and a Christmas Day entry.

So, here's a snippet of the Arning Bros Christmas Eve festivities. We had a great day baking cookies and preparing for Santa. Then, Mike, Oma and I enjoyed an evening of appetizers, wine and movie watching. What a fun Christmas Eve!

Hope yours was just as merry!

This is our elf, Scout. He left a note for the boys on his last day in town.

Charlie was so eager to help me make cookies. He did a great job!

Isn't he cute?

Awww...

First we had to roll the dough...

Chase had fun, too!

Suffice it to say, we made a bit of a mess.

This was my decorating station BEFORE the boys got their hands on it. 

Let the decorating begin! This was Chase's first cookie. He did an awesome job!

You see that Charlie has his fingers in his mouth, right? You'll see this as a common theme throughout...

He's so focused! Isn't he doing great?

Charlie was very good using the gels to draw on the cookies.

See? Fingers in the mouth.
(Still better than hands down the pants.)

And, now we're adding a little flare to our cookie decorating. Emeril's got nothin' on Chase!

I think we did more licking of the fingers than we did decorating of the cookies.

He's VERY excited about this work of art in particular.

Really, Charlie? Is there a photo where you DON'T have your fingers in your mouth?

When in doubt, just dump all of the sprinkles on the countertop.

Now we're showing off our mad spatula skills...

Oh, boy.

"Ober dere! Ober dere!"

Charlie, I think you missed a finger.

Ah, it's finally time to EAT the cookies!
Save some for Santa!

"Man, that was fun!"

The boys spent many a days staring at all of the ornaments on the tree.
Aren't they sweet?

Time to leave cookies and milk for Santa!

"No, Chase! Don't take Santa's cookies!"

Remember last year's picture where Charlie was hugging on Chase?
We tried to recreate that picture this year.
(Charlie seems a little too eager.)

Oh, man! The double hug! With the underwear poking out of the pants!
(If only we could see their cute faces...)

Here, I'm reading the final Christmas book of the year.
(In case I haven't told you yet, I wrapped 25 Christmas books and put them under the boys' Christmas tree.
Each night, we opened a different book and read it before bedtime.
I'm definitely repeating that again next year. It was lots of fun!)

Christmas Eve bath time!

Let 'em splash, let 'em splash, let 'em splash!

"Is Santa on his way?"

Matching Christmas pajamas. SUPER CUTE!

Our annual "Twas the Night Before Christmas" reading!

See you in the morning!

A Day at the Museum

To most folks, a day spent at the museum most likely means a trip to the art museum, nature museum or perhaps Discovery Place, but to the Arning Bros., the best museum of all is the NASCAR Hall of Fame. What other museum gives you the chance to sit inside a race car, wave a checkered flag, change a tire or walk through a transporter? Those other "museums" pale in comparison... at least to Charlie and Chase.

On Thursday - Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve - Mike and I took the boys to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. They both had a blast! Charlie loved checking out all of the race cars and looking at the die casts. (He didn't understand why they were all encased in glass, though. He wanted to play with them!) Chase LOVED using the air gun to change a tire and pushing any knob or button he could get his hands on.

While we had a good time, I am looking forward to when the boys are a little older and understand more about racing. Then they will really appreciate the NASCAR Hall of Fame. At this point, we spend most of our time keeping Chase from climbing under ropes and onto the displays and explaining to Charlie why he can't just wonder off aimlessly.

Ah, the joys of toddlerhood.

Chase gets his first "ride" in a race car - and so does Llama Llama.

Tandem driving... BRILLIANT!

I took this picture because I love how Chase carried Llama Llama everywhere he went.

No. 14 car? Yeah, whatever. We've seen that before.

Charlie and Dada racing each other.

Isn't he sweet?

Anyone out there need a tire changer for their race team? 

Holding the air gun upside down decreases friction, thereby allowing the bolts to come off quicker.
GENIUS!

Doesn't it look like he's reading the instructions?

He's very focused, quite driven.

Charlie, getting some help with his pants. (Hey, at least his hands weren't down them!)
I finally bought the boy a belt, by the way.

"Hello? Charlie's Race Shop. How may I help you?"

"No. We are not accepting applications for a tire changer at this time."

Now it's Charlie's turn to try his hand at pit crew work.
First, the jack man...

Next, tire changer.

Charlie thinks he's reading about The King... as in CARS. Not Richard Petty.
(Sorry, Mr. Petty.)

Oh, what fun we had at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Until next time!