Jungle Jims

While the Swenson family was sick, and before Craig ended up getting sick, we decided to get out of the house. We met up with Craig's younger brother Alan, his wife Sarah, and their little girl Elise (who is about a month and half older than Lucas). They get along pretty well together and it is fun to watch them interact.
We went to Jungle Jim's, which is a place where they had a bunch of kiddie rides. It was pretty fun, and there was not a whole a lot people so Lucas and Elise were able to ride whatever rides they wanted numerous times! Lucas did not like the ride that went around and around really fast, the first time he looked apprehensive and the second time he cried. Lucas is cautious, when trying new things. He is pretty apprehensive, might wine a little bit, and you can tell from the look on his face that he is trying to figure it out and understand what is going on. Once he figures it out and decided he likes it he really enjoys it! He loved the swings! We had lots of fun! Were glad Sarah, Alan, and Elise came with us!






It was pretty entertaining to watch Craig and his brother try to fit into the little rides. Though I have a suspicion they enjoy it!

Quarantine

Lucas ended up spreading his little disease among the Swenson clan. Within twenty-four hours everyone was sick except for Craig and I. Lucas was still recovering, and it took him awhile to do so. The next day Craig came down with the illness, however Lucas was feeling better. I decided that I was not going to be next!!! It was pretty crazy! However, everyone survived!

How we started the New Year!

Our New Year started with us ending up the morning of January 1st in the E.R., again. Second time within a week. On New Years Eve Lucas fell down the stairs all the way down to the bottom (~13 steps). He cried a little, but appeared to be okay, until 3 a.m the next morning, when Craig found him laying in his throw-up. I woke up to Lucas throwing up several times in the bathroom. It was pretty sad, poor little guy, he would throw-up and then just look at us unsure of what just happened. We wondered if he had a concussion from the fall. Later that morning he appeared to be okay and he didn't seem to be throwing up. Craig called Lucas' nurse who said they recommend taking the child in if the have thrown-up twice with a 24 hour period after the fall. We decided if he threw-up again we would take him in. We didn't really want to go to the E.R. (especially on January 1st and be surrounded by people who partied a little too hard the night before). Lucas was drinking his mid-morning milk, and sure enough he threw it all up, and then wanted more. So we went headed to the E.R. In talking with my mom, she suggested taking him to Primary Children's Hospital (this was an excellent idea!). We didn't have to wait long till we were seen, and the personnel was wonderful. During the visit, we discovered Lucas had diarrhea, which lead us to the possible conclusion that he was sick. We were right, and it was just pure coincidence that he happened to get the stomach flu the same night he fell down the stairs. What a relief for us.

First E.R visit!

Craig and I had a little get away while we were home visiting family, and had babysitters. Lucas decided to have a little adventure of his own, a trip to the E.R. after he ate some of Grandma's meds. We are still not sure if he actually ate the pill or not, but it was missing and he had another pill hanging out of his mouth. He was taken to the E.R. under direction of poison control, where they didn't do much, which is probably why it is a good thing that he ended up being okay! This was the FIRST trip to the E.R.!

"Craig, those are not your shorts!"

While we were home visiting the family we thought we would take full advantage of having family around and let them do some babysitting! They were so willing and it was really nice to have a break and do some fun things just Craig and I. Craig and I left Lucas with the grandparents for a night. We were able to do a session in the temple, have dinner out, and spent the rest of the evening hanging out. The hotel we were staying at had a pool and spa, we did not bring our swimsuits with us, after all it was December, and swimsuits are not something you usually pack in December. I borrowed a swimsuit from my cute teenage sister, so my swimsuit was really cute and fashionable. This task was a little more difficult for Craig, he is after all 6ft 7, and it is difficult to find him a swimsuit in general let alone to borrow a swimsuit. We found one however. (Thank you wonderful person, you know who you are!) However, I had to take a picture of Craig in the shorts because they just looked funny on him and knowing who's they were just made it all that more humorous! Thank you family we love you and appreciate all you do for us!

Bath Tub!

While we were visiting with Craig's family, Lucas kept climbing into the bath tub. When he went missing this is usually where we would find him. We finally had to make sure the bathroom door was always closed!

Christmas in a nutshell!

Since I am writing this in March, I am just going to summarize Christmas! We visited the families for Christmas, another long trip across the country, but well worth the effort! We were able to leave earlier and Craig stayed longer than he did last year. We had the Weir annual Christmas party, several other family get togethers, and Lucas was able to spend lots of time with his cousins! He enjoyed unwrapping his presents and made out like a bandit. Christmas was fun and we enjoyed being with our families!

I do have to tell one story. For Christmas we bought Grandmas Nean a bag of Peanut M&M's. We had Lucas give them to Grandma. Several minutes later, Lucas found the bag of M&M's ripped a hole in them, they spilled all over the floor, and as were trying to quickly pick them up, Lucas was quickly shoving handfuls of M&M's in his mouth! Yummy!

Plenty of room to grow!

This has been one of Lucas' favorite things to do! Try on my shoes, he is not quite coordinated enough to try on daddy's shoes, but I am sure that won't keep him from trying!

The Polar Express!

I love our library! The children's department is wonderful, they have story time, and fun activities going on all of the time! At Christmas time they do the Polar Express activity. You have to register for this, and spots usually fill up really fast. They had story time first and read the Polar Express, Lucas sat still for this for about five minutes before he was up and moving around (oh well). At the end of the story they handed out a little pouch with a bell and a token to use at Santa's Workshop! We then took a ride on the trolley around the block and ended up just down the street from the library at "Santa's Workshop." Things did not go well with Santa, Lucas did not enjoy this part at all, though he really enjoy Santa's workshop where they had a bunch of nice toys. Everyone could pick a toy and pay with your token. Lucas wandered around for several minutes, he would pick something up, and a few minutes later find something else that caught his eye! In the end he ended up getting some bounce balls! (Not a surprise.) The really challenge was deciding what kind of ball he wanted because that is what he was interested in was all of the different balls!

Talking on the phone!

I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day, and Lucas decided that it was his turn to have conversation with grandma!

Christmas Cookies!

This seems like the best season to make and decorate cookies! Every year I think, "I am not going to go through the hassle of decorating cookies this year, I just don't have time". But I end up doing it every year, because it is a fun time to decorate cookies. And who doesn't like cookies! However, I was not about to decorate a bunch of cookies by myself, that would have been very tedious and boring, decorating cookies is so much fun when your doing it with friends!

Ginger Bread Houses!

This has become one of our new yearly traditions. We go over to our friends house put together a gingerbread house and decorate them! Craig is usually the one does the putting together, I decorate, and Lucas eats the candy....a lot of candy! It is a lot of fun. Our friend Spencer spent most of the time unwrapping the candy, while our kids kept eating it. It was quite awhile before he realized he was not getting anywhere with unwrapping the candy! I think our house looked pretty good and festive. I look forward to next year when Lucas can help decorate.

Thanksgiving!

On our way home from the Thanksgiving parade, we stopped at Cracker Barrel and had their special Thanksgiving meal! I thought it was pretty yummy. It was nice not to have to cook a really big meal, and then have only three people eat it. Later that evening, at home, we had our friends over for pie, we had eight different kinds of pies, to split between the four of us and three small kids! Plenty of pie! It was a very unique but memorable Thanksgiving!

The Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade!

If you are re-reading that title to making sure you read it right, you did. After much convincing and debating we went to The Thanksgiving parade. Despite some of you (you know who you are) thinking we were crazy (and granted we probably were a little crazy), we went! We thought if you can't spend Thanksgiving with your family, why not spend it with five million of your closest friends! After getting the 411 on the parade, parking, where to stand, drive and such, we developed a plan and did it! So here is the nitty gritty on how we survived the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We headed to New York the day before the parade and stayed the night in a hotel outside of New York City. We then were up, ready, and driving into New York a little after 5 am. We parked several blocks away from the parade route and walked from there. We found a front row spot on the corner of 66th Street and Central Park West. We hunkered down to wait for about 3 - 3 1/2 hours till the parade started. At first Lucas was able to wander around, but as it got closer to parade time more and more people gathered around us. By the time the parade started I felt a sardine packed in a can! From the beginning, Lucas was a concern; would he enjoy the parade? could we keep him entertained for several hours in a small confined spot? He exceeded all my expectations, and did really great! He was entertained by all the people and everything that was going on! He also did some of the entertaining himself: the police that were around got a kick out of him. They came over a couple of times, to talk to him, and at one point one of them put his hat on Lucas and said 'here, have your parents take a picture'! We did and it is one of the cutest pictures we have! Lucas did have one problem. Several minutes before the parade was to start Lucas decided to fill his drawers, and fill them he did!!! We were packed in and not going anywhere!!! So when we had to change Lucas' pants, he bared all, literally, in front of New York City and the police. It was hassle. We had to take of his snow suit and change him, plus I was trying to hurry because I didn't want him to get cold.

If I had to say one bad thing about our experience I would say it was the cold, but it could have been worse considering it was the end of November. On the plus side it wasn't snowing or raining. Next time, not that we will ever do it again, I would haul a blanket in, it would have been worth the effort.

The parade lasted about an 1-1 1/2 and it was really neat, the floats were put together really well, the bands were very entertaining, and the balloons! Let me tell you about the balloons: watching them on television doesn't even come close to actually seeing them. They are huge, massive, and it pretty cool to see! Lucas really seemed to enjoy the parade, though at times he was more interested in the handfuls of confetti that the people threw at us as they passed. And when I say handfuls, I am not overstating how much confetti came our way, we were covered in confetti. It is March and I am still finding confetti from the parade! All in all things went well and I left feeling like it was worth it!

Making Pies and Traditions!

For those of you who know me know that I am all about traditions, especially traditions that revolve around food! As such, Lucas and I had to make pies for Thanksgiving. I remember when I was growing up my Grandma Dot made the best homemade pies, crust and all! If we happened to be around when she was making one of her pies, she would take the extra pieces of crust sprinkle them with cinnamon and sugar and bake them. These extra treats were very yummy! While making my pies this Thanksgiving I had some left over pie dough, so in remembrance of my Grandma, her yummy pies, and a childhood memory, I made Lucas some cinnamon sugar pie crust treats! He loved them and so did Craig!