Christmas, Part II

So we're all getting ready to go to Sioux Falls for New Years (Christmas). There's a lot to be done. Ella and I have been baking cookies and bars like never before. She likes to help me put the ingredients in the bowl. She wants to stir, but has a hard time. Maybe next year.

I think I've about finished all the baking though. I had to make two batches of certain things because we all ate the first batches. Can I just say that this is the worst time to try and lose the baby weight, nearly impossible! But I haven't put any on, just slower in coming off.

Sammy's been having a really good time playing on his play mat. He's even getting his legs into it now. I think it will only be a matter of time before his feet end up in his mouth! :) He was playing quite a bit before bedtime tonight. I just had to take a picture. Check out the cute thighs!!

He even seems to be close to rolling over. He can really crane his neck and body around, he just needs to learn how to swing that leg around and he'd have it. Usually though babies tend to roll from stomach to back first, but I think Sam might actually do the other first. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Look out Sioux Falls, here we come!!! :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Merry Christmas from the Swanson family!! We started off yesterday going to church at 3, then we headed to Nana and Papa's. The kids all had a good time playing and opening presents. As usual the packaging was a big hit! :) Ella got a tea set, some food for her kitchen, a star pin (sparklies!), many ornaments. Sammy got some cars (Ella is trying to claim those as hers too!), and many ornaments also.

We made it home in time to get to bed before Santa came (10:00). Luckily everyone slept in until 8:30. Sammy slept the latest and we had to get him up. Such a good sleeper!! Santa brought Ella many cars, some Playdoh, books, paints. We also got her a sled and some snow shoes. Sammy got the Ocean Wonders Aquarium for his crib, some Link a doo's and a few other toys.

Here's the tree before and after at our house! We hope you all have a great Christmas!

Samuel's Outfit

I didn't have any close-ups of Sammy in his baptismal outfit, so I took some and here they are. It's a good thing the baptism was this weekend because the outfit wasn't going to fit much longer with how big he's getting!

Samuel's Baptism

Today was Samuel's baptism. It was a very nice service despite the cold, windy weather outside. Sammy slept through most of the service and was so very good!

Morning Frost and Cuddly Bunnies

So this morning it was really foggy and they said we had "freezing fog". That was a new term to me, but the trees and everything were covered in frost and I took a few pictures from my front step.





















Sammy has been kinda cuddling his blanket when he's down for naps so I thought I'd give him his bunny to see if maybe he'd rather cuddle that. Needless to say he really liked his bunny.














I thought we could bring it with when we went to run our errands this morning. Ella decided to bring hers also. So I got a picture of each of them with their bunnies.

Another Old Video

I've been having so much fun looking through these old videos. Just reminds me what we have to look forward to with Sammy.

Old Video

I thought I would post an old video. This was when Ella was just learning to walk. I would guess 10 1/2 - 11 months old. I'm going to dig out my old camera to take some of Sammy. I wish my good camera took videos too.

**Note: Listen for Papa in the background.

I fixed the dishwasher!!!

So I told Zan to take out the dishwasher and just look to see if everything looks hooked up right and take a look see. I figured it couldn't hurt...so he does just that. Hooked it back up and tried it, nothing. Well I guess it was worth a shot. Meanwhile, I decided to just look out on the Internet for any ideas. I'm reading and everything I see talks about a switch under the sink. I don't know if we have one or not, so I went to look. There is one and it isn't switched on. Zan said he saw it, but thought it was for the garbage disposal. We turned it on and the dishwasher now works!! Now we will always look for switches!!

Now if we can only get the refrigerator to work properly. It doesn't cool/freeze as well as it should. The ice cream is soft and the milk isn't as cold as it should be. I've turned it to as cold as it will go. We pulled it out and I vacuumed behind it, we'll see if that helps. If not you can bet I'll be out on the Internet looking for other easy solutions.

Well since I didn't have a picture of the switch, I'll just put up another cute one...














This is just a cute picture of Sammy after his bath. He likes his towel. He likes to show off his muscles too! :)














This is "tummy time". Ella likes to join in. Sammy's getting pretty good too. Today he lifted his head up all the way and was smiling at me. He also put his knees under himself a bit. He'll be rolling over before long.

I went to lunch with the girls today and had a good time. The malls were just packed though and it was hard to find a parking space. Zan said that I couldn't go out much anymore. I guess Sam was giving him a hard time. I find that hard to believe because he's always such a good boy for me. I think he just likes his mommy!

Oh, and Sammy was such a good boy and slept for 9 1/2 hours straight last night! He's been sleeping for 6,7 or 8 hours, but wow this is the best yet. He does wiggle himself down to the bottom of the crib too. He's even swaddled tight!! My little wiggle worm.

The things kids pick up on...

So Ella likes taking the ornaments off the tree. I'm finding them all over. Well she took some small ones off and decided that it belonged on her car. I guess she learned something when she went with daddy to get the Christmas tree.

Our New Blog

I've found a new home for our blog. The other one just wasn't cutting it for me. I think this one will be a little more friendly. The other one was giving me trouble uploading photos and I just don't need that. So to start this one off I will put up my online Christmas photo.

I'll be adding more later....enjoy!