Merry Christmas, everyone!!  We had a wonderful day, starting bright and early this morning with gifts at Mark's Mom's house.  Zack was ecstatic about his Hot Wheels Trick Track from Santa Claus and his Transformers.  He (rather, Mark, Mike and I) spent most of the day transforming them back and forth.  Xander was thrilled to get a Clipo table from Santa and a ride-on John Deere tractor.  The best part for him, though, was opening the presents.  He loved helping everyone else open theirs, too.  Mark was pretty excited about getting a Garmin heart rate monitor with GPS.  I had also gotten him a second storage cabinet for our porch, and, rather than waste an entire roll or more of wrapping paper on the box, I made a lego replica of it, complete with tools inside.  Mark's brother Mike got a Wii, which we used to get a bit of a muscle workout, bowling, boxing and playing tennis and baseball.  My big gift was a new digital camera--it's small and it's PINK!!!  Mark also got me a new George Foreman grill with removable plates--no more washing the grill on the side of the sink!  I made a picture frame for my sister Eileen with pictures of us at my first Christmas, my wedding shower, and at Thanksgiving.  I used Printshop, and it said "Having a sister is like having a best friend for life."  When she opened it, she cried!  Even though we hated each other growing up, becoming parents and settling down has brought us really close.

We were so blessed that we were able to spend time both with Mark's family and mine.  I missed having a big, chaotic, noisy dinner with my family, but the time we got over there was lots of fun.  We also were saddened by not having Mom and Mark's dad with us.  Even though this was our fifth Christmas without Mom, it's just not the same.  We used to spend Christmas Eve to sometimes decorate the Christmas tree and make eggnog.  Mom would pull out way too many ornaments, Dad would fuss with the lights and the glass bead garlands, and I would put ornaments up until I didn't want to see another ornament.  We would smile about the ten star ornaments and glass ball ornaments with our names on them.  And when Mom made eggnog, it would inevitably come up to the very top of the bowl but not overflow, but then we had to figure out how to get the bowl into the refrigerator.  I guess I just need to hold on to those memories and do my best to pass them on to my boys and impress upon them the importance of having a big, wonderful family.  It certainly made for some interesting stories for me to tell!!

(I'm not at home right now, but I will upload lots of pictures once we get back home.) 

Old Stomping Grounds

When Eileen called me Monday morning and said she was coming to Raleigh, I definitely wanted to get all the boys together. So we were trying to think about what to do outside, since it was such a nice temperature for a December day. We decided on Brentwood Park, which is right down the road from the house we grew up in. While we were there, we talked about several memories that we had from the park, different injuries we had, too. The boys played on the playground that I used to take my neighbor's son to in high school. Eileen and I realized how much the youngest four grandchildren, ages 4, 3, 2, and 1, all kind of look alike. It was lots of fun!!

Eileen and I (in a not-so-good self portrait)

Christopher, Zack, Damien and Xander

Christopher pushing big brother Damien on the swing

AAHHHHHH!!!!

Me and Xander (it was a windy day!!)

Zack, Damien and Christopher eating their picnic lunch (in December)

Trimming the Tree

There's nothing like welcoming the holidays like putting on some sing-along Christmas music and decorating the Christmas tree--while dinner is cooking and an hour before Zack goes to tae-kwon-do (we're doing a two-week trial right now). Zack was very eager about putting up ornaments, even the breakable ones, bringing Mommy much nervousness. Xander was still not so sure about this tree being inside our house. Every time one of the branches touched him, he would cringe and back away. It finally got done the next day, and now we have a decorated tree!!

Xander spinning his keepsake ornament: a big bear and a little bear reading a book together. He loves to climb in our laps with a good book!

Zack's Superman ornament, since he's been all about superheroes this year

He tried to help!


Our Christmas tree--now that I look at it in a picture, it kind of has a weird shape!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

We went to Chili's for Mark's birthday dinner, we haven't been out to dinner like that for a long time. The boys were good--Xander was flirting with a little girl behind him--considering they didn't take good naps that day. After dinner we came home to have cake and ice cream. An uneventful birthday but fun, too.

What Xander had done with the cake about 10 seconds after I gave it to him.

Emotional Drain

I didn't think I would use this as a sounding board, so please forgive for doing just that. Tonight was a busy night at Kohl's. I was working in the jewelry department, and it was the busiest I have seen it over there. There were three women, a mother and her twin daughters (who must have been at least 35 or so), that were in the store for about 3 hours!! They shopped for several pieces of jewelry, so I spent a good bit of time helping them. Just about the whole time they were they, the two daughters were fussing and arguing with they mother. As I was ringing them up, I was saddened by the whole thing, and I decided to say something to them. I told the mother, "They're taking you for granted. I don't have a mother to argue with anymore." She thanked me for realizing that, and wished they would, too.





The holidays are the hardest time for me. I miss my mom so much!! I do wish that she was here to see my boys and critique my parenting as I saw her do my sisters. I wish my boys could know what a wonderful person Mom was and how many lives she touched with her generous love. I know that holidays are stressful for all of us sometimes, but please be sure to show your love to those around you. Enjoy every blessed second you have with that person, and let them know how much you love them. You never know if this Christmas will be your last with them.

Mom and I on her last Christmas with us

Tap Dancing

As Mark was setting up Gramma's Christmas village, we had all the wooden platform pieces layed out on the floor. Xander climbed up and stood on one of the pieces, and looked at us as if he were on a stage. So I said, "Are you going to tap dance for us, Xander?" He got a big grin, and did his little walk in place/stomp his feet/dancing thing for us. We laughed so hard, and of course we clapped for him, so of course he kept doing it. Then he was tap dancing on the bubble wrap and popping all the bubbles! I can't believe how much he can understand!!

Meeting Santa!!

Every year after the Knightdale Christmas Parade, they have Cookies with Santa at the library. This year was the first year that we were with Xander meeting Santa Claus (last year, he met him at day care). When it was our turn, Zack climbed right up on his lap. I put Xander on Santa's other knee, and Xander just looked up at him. He didn't scream, just wasn't too sure about this man with a big red suit and a long white beard. We were able to get one REALLY good picture (except that Xander's not smiling) before the camera battery died. Don't my boys look handsome!?

Gramma's House and Gingerbread Train

Zack loves trucks and trains, but the one thing he loves the most is Gramma. He loves going to Gramma's house, talking to her on the phone and doing fun stuff with her. Gramma loves Christmas, so to combine all of these, she found a kit for a gingerbread train. This was the first time Zack had made a gingerbread anything. He was so excited, and he did a really good job of not eating all the candy before we put it on the train. We put the cookies together, and when it was time to decorate, he wanted it to look just like the one on the box. It didn't quite look that perfect, but we were pretty pleased with how it turned out, and Zack had lots of fun making it!!

Here's the box before we started.

Carefully putting cookie pieces together to make the train.

Peek-a-boo!!

Look how giddy he is about his gingerbread train!!

Taking a break to put up some snowflakes

He was very particular about decorating and using as much of the candy as possible.

After Xander woke up from his nap, he got to help, too. He put on two gumballs and a little piece of candy on the side. He just wanted to eat it, though.

Zack and Gramma with the finished product-- TADAA!!!

He asked about a million times after we finished it "When are we going to eat it?" He finally got to have a cookie piece right before bedtime. He took little nibbles, and it took him nearly 20 minutes to finish his cookie!

Xander enjoyed his cookie wheel at lunch the next day. There was green icing all over his face and hands, and on the table, where he spread it all over.

Old Friends and New Tasks

On Saturday, Mark and Xander and I (Zack was with Gramma) visited with a few old friends that went to high school with me. I was so excited to meet my friend Susan's new baby girl, Alison Margaret. And Susan was excited to finally meet Xander, too. It's always great to visit with people you haven't seen in a while, and what's funny is that it's like we just saw them yesterday. Even though we've grown up and changed so much, our friendship remains the same. Thanks Heidi and Matt for having the fun get-together (even if we could only stay for a little while)!!

Heidi and Xander--she was trying to clean him up after giving him an oreo.

Susan and Alison

Susan and Xander--meeting for the first time since Xander was in Mommy's belly

Mark decided all on his own to help Zack write a letter to Santa. He got about three things written down, then got frustrated, mostly because Zack was losing interest. Xander also wanted to write/draw/play with stickers.

"Dear Santa, I been really good. Please can I have a race car, helmet, Go Diego Go Dinosaur Resc..."

Zack was asked to put his jeans in his drawer, but he said that all of his shorts were all mixed up. He decided to dump them all out and fold them neatly--all by himself!! Mommy was very proud that he took on such a task alone.

Xander is our little mess maker. It must be amazing to learn so many new things. Xander loves to dump out containers of toys, then move on to the next one. Here he has dumped out the trains and the tool box. The next day, he dumped out an entire tub of legos in the same small space. Now we just have to work on cleaning up when he's done playing!

Daddy and the boys snuggling on the couch`

Remembering Grandad

David Michael Swan

12/28/44-12/1/07

We love you and miss you very much!!

Grandad with 7-week-old Zachary

Looking at the train stickers he got in his Easter basket

Four generations of Swan men: Grandpa Swan, Mike, Xander,

Grandad, Mark, Zack

The Swan Family in September 2008: Grandma and Grandpa Swan, Mom, Mike, Dad, Xander, Christine, Mark, Zack

Monkey and Me

We got a free book recently in a Cheerios box called Monkey and Me. It has a little rhythm to it, kind of sing-songy. It goes "Monkey and me, monkey and me, monkey and me, we went to see, we went to see some...penguins" (and other animals). As I was reading it this morning, Xander was saying "da, da, daaa, da, da, daaa, da, da, daaa," going along with the rhythm in the book. I guess we have another blossoming reader in our family!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The most important thing about Thanksgiving for Zack was making our turkey cookies. Mark started the turkey right at noon, and it only took about 2-1/2 hours to cook. So dinner was actually ready early!!! We had Dad and Cathy, Michael, Kay and Tim, Mo and Jenn, Kevin, Danny, Eileen, Elizabeth, Alannah, Alyssa, Damien and Christopher, Gramma, and the four of us. It was a crowded house, and very loud, but we all had good conversations and a great time visiting. We were thinking about those who couldn't be with their families for Thanksgiving, like Ken and Jessianne. We had to include the famous (or infamous) couch pictures of various groups (families and grandchildren). We had a very great (and disaster-free) Thanksgiving, and we hope that all of you did, too!!

Here's our turkey cookie!!

Xander enjoyed it...a little too much?

The boys were sampling our turkey cookies


Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade



Mommy's little laundry helper




Playing with Grandpa's face





This was Dad's suspicious face when Danny tried to give him a mimosa!!

Xander, Christopher, Damien, Zack (the four youngest grandchildren, not counting the great-granddaughter)

Christopher, Elizabeth, Alyssa, Xander, Alannah, Jenn, Damien, Tim, Zack

Happy Thanksgiving from the Swans!!