A pre-Christmas surprise

There are two times a year when I feel complete freedom--December and May post finals. When Marc finished on Wednesday morning, we felt like getting out with the boys and spending time together. We didn't do anything too exciting. We celebrated by going to dinner at Wood Ranch-- a super yummy steak house known for their tri-tip--which happens to be in the mall closest to us, so after dinner we decided to brave the mall in this crazy shopping time--a very stupid decision, but it turned out well for Carter, as you can see in the pictures. We don't frequent the Disney Store often, but in recent months Marc tends to see what they have, so we made it our last stop. Well, we found the second set of the Cars figures to make Carter's collection complete. He had received one car from the first set each week after Anderson was born to make the transition easier on him and he's been obsessed ever since. We tried to save it for Christmas morning, but I have a hard time waiting when I'm just too excited about a gift, so we gave it to him yesterday. He was thrilled and the look on his face was priceless. There is nothing that compares to seeing your kid's eyes light up with pure excitement. He's been busy ever since lining them all up. There's Doc, Chick, Guido, Sally, Mater, Fillmore, Tractor, Luigi (my favorite because in Carter language it comes out sounding a bit like the word weggie), Mater again--he already had one before we got the sets--Jeep, King, Ramone, and Lightening. Merry Christmas, Carter.