Trygg Christmas and a Rockin' New Year

We traveled home from Virginia under clear skies. We were tired, but so glad we made the trip even if it had to be short.



Erik and Jeanie flew here Christmas Eve night, though they barely escaped the bad weather. They left Oklahoma in a blizzard, missed their connection because of all the time it took to de-ice the plane, but thankfully got a later flight, one of the few that left DFW that day. A toddler and a flight delay. Big fun for them.



Luke woke up Christmas morning to find all that Santa left. I can't really decide how to do Christmas. In the past we've displayed unwrapped gifts under the tree. That's how Santa delivered the goods to me when I was a child. But I thought I'd try wrapping things this year. He did love the unwrapping. And I think it was a little less overwhelming seeing one thing at a time.





MarioKart racetrack. For some reason the box said, "MarioKart DS" and Luke thought it was an actual DS. That might be why he looks so delighted in the picture. (Luke just came by while I was typing and said, "That says DS. Are you saying I want that?")




Uno Flash. Too hard for him, but if I would really work with him on it I think he'd get it. He needs to learn regular UNO first before being timed for his turn. But he was sure he wanted this after seeing the commericals.




Press Your Luck for the Wii. Fun game. Same cheesy graphics as the original game show. Luke loves it. He obviously needs help answering the questions.

I think I might be doing something wrong with the Santa thing. We've talked about Santa and read Polar Express. But he's kind of not buying it. Several times he's referred to his Santa stash as "those things you got me at Target." But he was not with me for any Christmas shopping.
I digress . . .

After a little playtime (apparently I neglected to upload those photos) we headed to Mimi and Papa's for more present opening fun.




Santa left stockings for the little kids at Mimi's. Maggie was SO pleased with her princess dishes.


Hooded towels are the best.



All the Tryggs and those married to or offspring of a Trygg. Our wardrobe selection was completely unplanned.



After a yummy Christmas dinner, some serious Wii play began. My hot-natured boy shed his socks and sweater within moments of arriving. I was lucky he agreed to wear the sweater for a photo.

Luke is pretty much unstoppable at Wii Sport Resort Swordplay. It's all in the flick of his wrist I think. Sometimes he beat Erik while not looking at the screen.


Erik really tried to beat Luke. But Luke is unstoppable. Maggie seems to enjoy it.

And then Luke turned on some music and he and Maggie led us in the some dancing. No one was allowed to not participate. This is "10 in the bed and the little one said 'Roll over!'"

We had a great few days of playing Wii, a little shopping, trying to take the kids to a movie but it was sold out (but they had a blast at McDonald's play land).

Then on their way from Virginia to Arkansas, Maddie and her family stopped by and spent the night with us. Luke loved having some serious playtime with all of them, particularly his very favorite person Maddie.

Luke shows off Haley's new hat.

And then just 4 days after Christmas I entered by mid 30's. I stretched the early 30's out as long as I could, but I think 34 is definitely mid.

A little help with the candle. Awesome cupcake from Naticakes. I highly recommend them.

Maggie and her Pretty Princess cupcakes. This girl is so into her princesses. She knows all of them and talks about them all the time. She is so incredibly verbal. It really just boggles my mind. During a snack one day she looked at her sippy cup and said, "Hi Cinderella. Hi Snow White. Hi Sleeping Beauty. I like your dress Cinderella. I like your dress Snow White. I like your dress Sleeping Beauty." She's not yet 2. Amazing. AMAZING! And she understands everything. I was in awe.

After Erik and family headed back to Oklahoma, we enjoyed a quiet couple of days just the three of us. It's been great to have so much time together over the past weeks. I'm so thankful Lamar now has more time off at the holidays than in years past. I'll really miss our time together as we resume our normal schedules this week.

New Year's Day we enjoyed the evening with friends. We'd been trying to get together before Christmas, but schedules get crazier every year and we just couldn't find a day. We finally settled on New Year's.

And Luke discovered Rock Band . . .

And he's asked for Rock Bank about 100 times since then. He wanted me to buy it for him on our trip to the mall for shoes today. Or get him a DS. He asked for both at least 100 times. I was so frustrated at the end of our trip and Lamar goes, "Don't get mad at me for saying this, but I think this is typical." Seriously? And do all almost 5 year olds beg for things that cost over $100? Lucky for him he does have a birthday soon. I just have to decide which of his extravagant gift ideas is appropriate for a 5 year old.

All the friends gathering for our second annual group photo. Luke gets almost as excited as I do about group shots using the timer. Thankfully I had a tripod this year.

In other news, the game show phase continues. On New Year's Eve we had a exciting night out to dinner at Moe's at 5:00 p.m. Luke pretended he was "Johnny Hurley" (aka John O'Hurley) and Lamar and I were feuding families. My first question was "Name something you eat with." Fork was the #1 answer.

On the way to church today I was a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He asked me, "Name something you do. A)pizza B)grumpy old troll C)a bridge D)play Wii. I correctly answered D. Later he asked me, "Name something you do. A)red B)blue C)yellow D)green. I stated the question didn't make any sense as they were all colors. Luke replied, "What is your final answer!!!!!!?????" I said, "Uh, A." That was correct. I won $19,000.

Happy New Year!