Family Christmas Photo 2008

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Photo Shoot...Part I

More to come later...

Random Pictures

I'm trying to make up for a poorly blogged November! Here are a few random pictures from the past few days - starting with our sleeping princess. You just can't keep her awake past 8:00pm...but don't get me wrong - no complaints from us! She is almost ready to go up to bed for the night - just needs a "dream feed".

Chad and Matthew snuggling while watching Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas...this is a nightly ritual :-)

Anna likes wiggling and talking to the tiger while playing on her play mat.

Smiling Sissy Anna :-)

The Mom and Matthew Bake-Off!

Today Matthew and I decided to make muffins. Here we are getting started, and yes, that is a just add water (and chocolate chips!) banana muffin mix. Not really homemade, but in this house it counts! Matthew is having a little chocolate milk before getting started.

He was the official dumper! This was a job he really enjoyed!

Matthew was pretty keen to stir too.

Watching the muffins rise was a great distraction.

The final result was a hit! Matthew loved them...especially picking out the chocolate chips!

Here they are...bet they last a day in this house!

Anna Cheers for the Pens!

This has been a weekend of firsts for Anna - this afternoon she watched her first Pens game with Mom. Or at least she hung on for the 1st period...then nap time called. Too bad the Pens couldn't pull off the win!

Visit With Santa

Today we took the kids for a visit with Santa. Though Matthew was as stiff as a board, he still managed to tell Santa that he wanted Thomas and Percy for Christmas. Sissy was a star as usual, sitting happily with Santa :-)

Sissy's First Swim!

Although the title of this entry is Sissy's first swim most of the pics are of Matthew, who hasn't been swimming since the summer. Both kids had a fabulous time! Here is Matthew getting ready to go down the slide...

...the launch...

...fewff...glad Dad was there for the catch!

Here is Matthew with future sweetheart Rebecca. Matthew seems quite taken...Rebecca isn't quite as sure :-)
Finally - here is Sissy Anna! She had a great time swimming - never cried a tear and stayed in the pool for about 40 minutes having fun! Her swim suit looked a bit complicated to get on, so we opted for just trunks. Maybe next time I'll put it on at home first :-)

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We spent Halloween in Middleton this year at Mom and Dad's. Chad was unfortunately away in Colorado early in the evening Friday (got in late Friday night), so we dressed the kids up in their costumes Tuesday night before he left. They are alligators/dinosaurs and Chad and I are greasy parents who hadn't showered for 3 days :-)

Halloween night saw Matthew treat or treating to a few houses and then a much anticipated trip to the Fire Hall for a fire truck ride. He went around twice and then was very excited to meet Sparky - who he originally thought was Wages the Dog from the Wiggles. He had a great time and didn't hesitate a bit to go over to Sparky. It was a nice change from the shyness of trick or treating. All in all, we had a great time :-)

New York City!

Chad had some work in New York City on Tuesday. As neither of us had ever been to NYC before we decided to take the opportunity for a get-a-way without the kids. We were gone for 5 nights, which was the longest I had ever been away from Matthew and the first night away from Anna. By the 5th night I was pretty anxious to get back to the kids, but we had a fabulous time and look forward to visiting the city again! We stayed at Hotel Pennsylvania (above), which was a great location, but the rooms could use a renovation. Oh well, it's not like you spend much time in hotel rooms anyways!

We did lots of stuff in a short time: 2 shows, walked Central Park, did an NBC Studio tour, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, bus tour, boat tour, saw Ground Zero, and a little shopping and good eating :-) Highlights are below

On our first night we ran into Elmo - I had to take a pic to show Matthew.

Chad in Times Square

Our first night we saw the Little Mermaid - it was awesome! The singing, costumes, and the set were amazing. A must see for any Disney fans!

Me at the disney store - how I escaped without making a purchase is beyond me!

Times Square Saturday night - very happening place!

After seeing the Little Mermaid we went around to all the theatres to see which show we could see for the least amount of money. This was challenging because many theatres do not have Sunday or Monday night shows. Anyways, we lucked in with Phantom of the Opera and even though we were at the back of the theatre, we really enjoyed the show.

Chad in Central Park eating a pretzel - very New York!

At Ripley's...Chad standing next to the tallest man ever...he looks pretty short :-)

Us at Times Square again

You can't go to NYC and not see the Statue of Liberty. We cruised by it on our boat tour - very impressive!

NYC from the water

On Monday afternoon we went on a tour of the NBC Studios. We saw the news studio, SNL set, and Conan O'Brien set. It was pretty neat.

Thanksgiving at the Tobique

It was so nice to spend this Thanksgiving at the Tobique after missing last year! Mom and Dad even made their first trip to the Tobique. So we had a really packed van with 4 adults, 2 carseats, 3 dogs, and luggage!

We had a really great time - lots of good food, fun times with family, and lots of laughs - especially while playing Family Fued.

Here is Matthew having a quick cat nap on the very long drive to the Tobique...Riley decided to snuggle!

Here is Matthew with his cousins - he had such fun playing hide and seek with them!

Sean and Cathy were specially requested by Matthew one night to read stories and do "tub time". I think a fun time was had by all :_)

Smith family photo - Thanksgiving 2008

Anna with Mom, Nana, and Grammie

Matthew with Dad and his two Grampies.

The Princess and the Goon!

Though Anna has been smiling lately, I can't seem to catch it on camera - she looks rather serious in most pictures. But she was still very beautiful in red yesterday :-)

Matthew thinks it's great to get Riley to lick his neck!

This pic makes his already big head look enormous.

Here is the goon sporting his alligator coat in the new jogger stroller, courtesy of the Blackwater Designs gang! Thanks guys - Matthew had a blast :-)