Insight Bowl

Iowa State vs. Minnesota

Thursday, December 31, 2009

5:00 p.m. CST
Sun Devil Stadium; Tempe, Arizona

Christmas

Old man winter made another ugly appearance leading up to Christmas... Lots of rain and ice and then a fresh coat of snow on top.  Our Christmas Eve church service was cancelled so we decided to go to Grandma & Grandpa's church and have dinner at our house instead of trekking to the farm.  We enjoyed having Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Brian at our house.  After opening one gift each, they headed home and we headed to bed to wait for Santa Claus.

Santa found Lucas and the first thing Lucas noticed was the cookie crumbs! 

The first gift Lucas opened from mommy and daddy was an Iowa State shirt.  He tore off his pajama shirt so he could wear the new shirt.  "On, pleeeeze."  ... with the striped pajama bottoms. 

And then, more unwrapping fun.

Brent and I both received wonderful presents, too.  The best part was neither of us had a clue what we were about to open; unexpected gifts are the best kind.   

After opening our gifts, we decided the weather had cooperated enough to make the three hour drive to celebrate with my family.  So we loaded up and hit the road. 

Ho ho ho haircut

The Saturday before Christmas Lucas was getting his usual haircut from Jennie.  He sits in the big chair and his eyes get so big when the chair elevates.  He is usually entertained by squirting her water bottle all over!  Jennie asked Lucas if Santa was going to come.  I'm about to reply that I don't really think Lucas even knows who Santa is... we didn't go visit him and haven't really even been talking about him at home.  But Lucas beat me to it when he robustly responds, "Ho, ho, ho!"  I guess Lucas does know who Santa Claus is!  I think that means we will be visiting him in 2010. 

Christmas at Four Mounds

I hope Lucas doesn't start thinking there will be gifts everytime we go on a long drive!

We got to meet the newest family member, Jet.  Lucas helped open Jet's very first doll.

Lucas got to play with Uncle Briden (Brian)...

and Uncle Bad (Brad)...

and Aunt Chelle (Michelle).  Lucas was very excited to see her boots. 

Vintage Christmas

Growing up, we had plenty of fun Christmas memories.  On Christmas Eve, we always went to the children's service at church and then to my grandparent's house for presents.  I presume we ate there, as well, but I really have no recollection of food.  Just presents.  Hey, I was a kid!!  As we got older we went to midnight mass.  The church was only lit by candles and we sang Christmas hymns/carols until the service was ready to start.  If you didn't get there early, you might end up standing, or having your family split apart to find enough seats.  Christmas morning we woke up to find Santa had come!  Santa never wrote our names on our gifts, but somehow, my mom always knew who each gift was for. 

Brent is lucky, I was only able to find a couple of pictures from his very first Christmas. 

Baby Jeez

Each night before bed we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Mickey Mouse and Stop, Train, Stop (Thomas the Train). Sometimes we get wild and crazy and pick new books. For Christmas, we’ve added What is Christmas? Lucas loves to pick the order we read the books and we always end with What is Christmas?

The first page (from a child’s perspective) asks what is Christmas and why is December 25th a special date. When those questions are asked out loud, Lucas responds “Baby Jeez.” I’ll repeat with a questioning tone, “Baby Jesus?” and he’ll say, “Uh-huh.”

After a multitude of questions asking if Christmas is about twinkling lights, candy canes, cookies and so on, we get to the important part. Lucas is quick to point and announce Baby Jeez, his mom and dad and all of Baby Jeez’s animals.

So don't forget about Baby Jeez. Merry Christmas!

Party time

Lucas had so much fun (and way too many presents) at his birthday party. 

I thought I would relieve his shirt of the mess, but he was very neat.  Do you see the napkin in his left hand?

I am really proud of the birthday cake I made him, so you have to look at another picture of it. 

Before bed, Papa helped him make a fort with one of his gifts.  Lucas loves building things. 

We hope two is a great year!

Birthday boy

This precious baby boy turns TWO today.

 

How did that happen so fast?

                                      

Birthday party pictures to come...

Snow day

Since Tuesday, we've received about 10" of snow.  Tuesday night and all day Wednesday we had blizzard-like winds.  Schools were cancelled and many offices (including mine) were closed.  That meant we got a snow day!  We slept in, Brent made breakfast, we made Christmas cookies, watched a movie - it was a great day. 

From our patio door:

The snow fence in this picture is four feet high.  The evergreen tree is about six feet. 

The local artist created new work while I made cookies. 

It took lots of concentration.

Then, after vigorous scrubbing of little hands, I let him help.  He was very excited.

 

Brent started getting cabine fever late in the day and decided it was time to move snow.  There was a very sad little boy that wanted to help.  This was as close as he got to helping:

Hopefully, the sun will shine and warm the temperature to playing in the snow weather.  Stay warm!