Christmas 2009 (Part 1)

This year we got an amazing surprise...SNOW on Christmas! It started snowing before noon Christmas Eve, and continued until about 8:00 that night. It made a mess out of the roads, but it was beautiful. Mimi and Papa came over, and we braved the elements to go a little over a mile to dinner (a trip with took about 15 minutes). We originally planned to go look at Christmas lights after dinner, but needless to say that part of the evening was canceled. All and all we accumulated about 3-4 inches of snow. It was a surprise that I don't expect to see again. Christmas morning Lukas enjoyed opening presents from Santa and Mommy and Daddy. Gift wrapping and tissue paper went flying this year as Lukas tore into his gifts. After the excitement of opening presents had died down, we made breakfast and got ready to receive Mimi, Papa, 'Aunt' Nilde, and 'Uncle' Ed for Christmas dinner. For dinner we gathered together a spread of food that was simply delicious. After dinner we opened presents again, and we all came away with some great stuff.



Catching snowflakes on his tongue.



Christmas tree and snow in the same picture! I don't expect to see this again anytime soon.





Santa brought Lightening McQueen.









Playing in the snow after breakfast. It was beautiful and cold!





Taking a bath to warm up after playing in the snow.



Opening the gifts that Mimi and Papa brought.



Mimi and 'Aunt' Nilde



'Uncle' Ed, Daddy, and Papa



Mimi and Papa got Lukas a castle that he can decorate and play inside.

Christmas Cookies

The Swayne family tackled Christmas cookie making and decorating this past Saturday (12-19-09). The cookies did get made, however this is a project I only want to tackle once a year until Lukas is older.

After cutting them out, Lukas then decorated with red, green, and colored ball sprinkles. I would have taken a picture of this process, but I was too busy trying to contain the sprinkles to the cookies (and not the floor). Glad I have a whole year to think of ways to make this process go smoother.

This past week...

The week started off great! Last Saturday we set up our Christmas tree and various other Christmas things. Lukas helped (of course) with all of it.

setting up his Nativity set

helping Daddy set up the tree

putting Santa gel clings on the window (and fixing them over and over)

putting Frosty gel clings on the window (and fixing them as much if not more than the Santa ones)

Tuesday (12-15-09) Lukas and I had to leave school early because he was having asthma trouble. Tuesday night Lukas was put (for the 3rd time in 4 months) on oral steroids to get him out of his breathing slump. This began (again) the cycle of Lukas being hyper (literally bouncing off the walls) and extremely moody. By Thursday he actually told his teachers he was unable to sit still. I will readily admit that I HATE steroids. I wish we hadn't needed them to get him back to "normal". Today (Friday) I had to come up with enough stuff to keep the hyper/moody 2 and half year old busy. The morning started off with both of us in tears within the first hour, but thankfully got better.

coloring and stickering

reading

dot painting

playing

painting again

Snow and Santa

Wednesday (12-2-09) we got SNOW! It was such a beautiful surprise to wake up to, and enjoy for a while before Lukas went to school. While Lukas was watching the snow fall, he asked, "Where's Santa?" If he truly thinks the two go together, he's up for a rude awakening here in Texas.

I got a few good shots, but most of them didn't come out very well.

Saturday (12-5-09) we went with friends to Bass Pro Shop to take part in the free activities, and to see Santa. Thanks to my good friend Rachel we got some pictures, since I completely forgot my camera. Lukas was very excited to see Santa until it was our turn. However, this year went better than last year. After Santa bribed Lukas with a candy cane to let go of me, he sat on his lap and talked a bit.

Kaleb, Lukas, and Chase riding ATVs.

Kaleb, Lukas, and Chase in line to see Santa.

Ok, so they stood for a picture, got bored, and found the remote control cars.

Lukas telling Santa he wants to play with the train.

At least this year he wasn't screaming to get away from Santa. Maybe next year he'll even smile for the camera.

Thanksgiving 2009

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving Lukas got sick (again...last year he had RSV). This years illness turned out to be strep throat. Unfortunately the 103 degree fever he spiked Wednesday prevented us from going to Eric's family Thanksgiving dinner. Thankfully Lukas was fever-free (although not cranky-free), and we were able to attend my family Thanksgiving dinner.

Here's the few pictures we got:

What a yummy feast?!

Playing games on Aunt Ashley's phone.

Lukas is telling Grandma Smith how to play the games on Aunt Ashley's phone.

Walking through the leaves to the park.

He really likes the park! This is also his "ta-da" pose.

Mommy and Lukas

Mema and Lukas....look at those happy faces!

4 generations of Smiths...Mommy, Lukas, Grandad, and Grandma Smith (L to R).

Halloween 2009

This year Lukas decided (and yes I do mean decided) to dress up as Thomas the Train. We went to Party City and he picked out his costume, and was so excited to wear it on Halloween. VRCC's fall festival was on October 25 this year. Lukas enjoyed fishing for candy, the duck pond, bouncing, basketball, face painting, car rides, and much more. We also got to go to WCCC's fall festival, which was on October 31. There he enjoyed bouncing, nerf guns, basketball, bean bag toss, face painting, golf, bowling, and much more. All in all, it was a great Halloween season.

The costume:

VRCC pictures:

WCCC pictures:

Painting Pumpkins 10-29-09