Back at it...

I will go back and fill in the gaps at some point... 

We went to  the annual AAO (American Association of Orthodontics) conference this year as a family because, when we found out it would be in Hawaii 3 years ago, we knew it would be something fun to do to celebrate Aaron graduating from school.

We were worried about bringing the kids and unsure of how they would do with the 5 hour time change and traveling, but they totally surprised us and they were wonderful! They are great kids after all! :)

Hawaii definitely didn't disappoint.

I am pretty sure this was taken at Hanuama Bay. It was so gorgeous, like a computer screen saver... it was surreal being there.  We were on a half day tour so we didn't get to stay for long- just a few minutes to see the view.

Luke was our brave little guy and took some sweet photo ops... Aubrie on the other hand opted to stay on the bus with Grammie for a stop  or twobecause she didn't want to get too close to the water.

A delicious shaved ice we got at one of the stops, with delicious strawberry ice cream on the bottom.

My handsome boys lounging around back at the hotel. We didn't go a day without a nap due to the 5 hour time change!

A warm, sunny Christmas.

Dallas Christmas:

 Saturday morning we woke up to presents under the tree and a fun playhouse set up with filled stockings inside... Aubrie and Luke were so excited... The opening began right away...

They were super excited about all of their dollar store toys and some other fun black friday deals that we found for them! They had so much fun playing all day while we packed for our flight to Vegas that night.

We had high hopes that this little man would sleep on the flight, hence the jammies, but he literally fell asleep 20 minutes before we landed. We definitely jinxed ourselves... no jammies for him next time!

Aubrie was a huge helper the entire flight.  She read, watched some movies on the laptop and slept. Thank goodness since her little bro didn't give us much of a break! :)
























Vegas trip/Christmas:
Grammie and Uncle Aaron came to pick us up at the airport when we got to Las Vegas. The kids were exhausted, but excited to see everyone.
I did a pretty horrible job documenting our trip... quite a few of these photos were taken on our phones... so they are all random...

 Playing at Nana and Papa's house w/ Cousin Braylee was lots of fun!

On the rooftop investigating the broken air conditioning unit.

Luke freaked out when Aaron was coming down off of the roof- he was scared for his daddy or something... here Aaron is consoling him and he is doing much much better.

 Can you guess what they are doing in these pictures?

Yep! Cicadas (spelling?!) GROSS.

Here is the one (and only) piece of documentation that I was around for the festivities.   :)
Papa took us on a super fun hayride around the neighborhood to see all the beautiful Christmas lights.  We all had a blast! It was such a fun night.

 This is what they do...

We spent Christmas Eve at Grammie's home playing Apples to Apples and chowing down on delicious pizza and treats.  We put out reindeer food on the lawn, cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeers and went to bed.

We woke up to find stocking filled and a mountain of presents under and all around the tree. Spoiled much?!! Christmas morning at Grammie's (I assure you there are more pictures, but nobody would appreciate me posting them... let's just say it was a little too early in the morning for primping!)

 Such a fun play-doh set!

 A lawnmower!

 A fur coat!

 Love these two! Playing heart and soul.

 Playing with the new toys!

Then off to Nana and Papa's house we went... and we were all spoiled again...

 Balls! Luke couldn't have been happier! :)

Princesses! Jackpot!
We had lots of fun opening gifts and then we headed off to church.  It was nice having church on Christmas to be reminded of why we celebrate. We came back to the Swapp's and played and played and had a delicious dinner! Christmas was so awesome this year.  We are always grateful to be able to have our families in one city (okay 2 cities that a very nearby), so that we can celebrate with both! It is such a huge blessing. It was a great Christmas. More photos of the trip to come in a future post.... hopefully not too far in the future...

It's been a month!

I guess I should start back at Christmas- the thought seems overwhelming... I will eventually get back to the present time.

Here goes... oh and this photo to the left was taken just before Valentines Day by a crappy photographer at Target- yep it was pretty horrible. That's what you get when you have no real income. Photos from a target- (not really trained)- photographer. I know that sounds mean, but you should see the others- I am surprised I actually ended up buying any of them. Luke's hair is pretty much buzzed now so he looks much different- but that's a story for another post! :)
Aubrie's School Christmas Party

Mrs. Russell

Mrs. Fish

One of the mom's almost always does face painting and it's always a hit with Aubrie.  She got a snowman painted on her cheek at the Christmas party.  They ate holly berry corn flake treats (rice krispie treats) and had hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows.  They made snow globes and decorated picture frames and played games and we read stories.  It was a great party!

The Boy

I constantly look at this Lukie boy and ask myself, "When did you get so big?!" He weighs only about 4 lbs. less(26 lbs) than his sister who is 2 years older than him!!

This picture was about a month and a half after his 1st birthday.

He is such a better eater when he can sit at the kids table.
He is no longer a fan of his high chair.
When it comes to eating, he must have whatever it is that Aubrie picks out to eat.  If she wants a banana, he wants a whole banana... if we cut it he usually goes ballistic.
He is the sweetest little  guy, but when something isn't going his way he has quite the little temper.
He still uses a binky, just to fall asleep.
Still a size 4 diaper.

He is saying words... his first... ball... followed by balloon (sounds like baaa-ooon), bubble, baby (beh beh), more (mow), dog (doc), ruff ruff, stuck (tuck), no, yeah, sock (lock), sucker (luck), dada, and mama (on occasions).

He is also awesome at nodding and shaking his head.  He does it with a full range of motion and so enthusiastically! I think he is just loving to be able to communicate in a way that we can understand.

11.30.11

He is a bit mischievous at times... when he is not wanting to be cuddled or held.
He loves his mamma that's for sure, but he is a daddy's boy to the core.  When daddy leaves he cries and stands by the door and he runs over the moment he hears Aaron get home.  He loves his daddy to pieces... we all do! :)

We like to play while big sister is at school. This particular day it was paint made from flour, water and food coloring... it pretty much was way more on him than the paper but it was a lot of fun!

Luke is so much fun! 

He is also starting to want to help around the house.  For instance, every morning Aubrie likes a cup of milk and he always runs with me into the kitchen to get it, waits for it to warm in the microwave and then brings it over to her.  It is really sweet. He also like to help clean (wiping furniture down with baby wipes).
I have much more to add, but I am falling asleep as I type, because the cuteness that he is wore me out today! I will come back and add on soon. Enjoy the pictures.

Christmas tree

The tree went up the day after Thanksgiving.

We ate T-giving leftovers and some yummy treats.

We sang songs and listened to music.

The girl got to put the star up.

The holidays really are 'something else' with kiddos around.





Magic.