Christmas 2008

Ok, we left our camera in Minnesota and just got it back. So I have a good reason for just now posting Christmas pics. We started our celebrations in Louisiana, came back to Arlington for a few days and then headed to my brother's house in Minnesota. Here are the pics from our Christmas adventures.

Christmas Eve in Louisiana

Setting out cookies for Santa

Christmas Morning-Look what Santa brought

Owen very quickly took advantage of his free reign on candy. You'd think he has had more "Christmas morning" experiences.

Louisiana Tech played in the Independence Bowl this year. Since this is the first time in many many years that Tech has made it to a bowl game, Ryan was very eager to participate in all of the festivities. This is a pep rally that they held in the Shreveport Convention Center.

Owen is learning how to bark like a bulldog!

Ryan went to the bowl game with his dad and sister.

The winning scoreboard

Ryan's pledge to his alma mater. Tech will always be "first" in his heart.

After spending 5 days in LA, we headed home for a few days before we were off again. While we were home, we had our own little Christmas. This picture captures only part of the excitment Owen exuded from opening presents that evening.

Owen is relishing in all of his new treasures.

After a quick stop at home, we headed to Minneapolis to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. Ben and Katie had a lot of fun things planned for the week, including making omlets in a bag.

Owen lounging in his Spiderman chair from Grandpa.

Sitting in Uncle Benner's lap with his new Cubs blanket that Grandma made for him.

Eating our "Fun"dou dinner

Owen is bundled up and ready to brave the cold. The weather in MN that week was in the teens, so we couldn't stay out for long, but we sure had a blast playing in the snow!!!"Oh, that white stuff is cold!"

Owen loved sledding down the hill in front of Uncle Benner's house.

How cute is he in his snowpants!

One evening we took a walk on a frozen creek that is decorated with tons of Christmas lights and opened to the public for ice skating and strolling. It was a gorgeous evening!

More "extreme" sledding!

Someone needs to tell this little Texas boy that you can't play at the park 365 days a year in all parts of the world.

Tacky Christmas Sweater

Ryan's office is crazy. This year they decided to all wear tacky christmas sweaters to their Christmas luncheon. It's just wrong that these sweaters were ever even made. Watch out Ryan, this picture may come back to haunt you.

Owen's First Haircut

In the midst of all of the Christmas activities I decided that it was finally time for Owen's first haircut. For those of you who have seen him lately, you know that it was actually time for his first haircut awhile ago, but I just couldn't bring myself to cut off all of his blond curls. So I compromised with a trim. He still has the shaggy blond curls, but they are no longer hanging under his collar and in his eyes. And now his curls are actually curlier than ever.

Sharing Christmas Festivities

This year Ryan and I were very intentional about sharing Christmas with our international friends. Since Christmas really is all about Jesus, then I can't think of a better way to celebrate than sharing Jesus with our friends who don't know him. God has blessed us with some really great friends this year.

We took our Turkish friend, Deniz, with us to drive through Interlochen (a fancy neighborhood who is known for their lights) and look at Christmas lights. We ate Christmas cookies and drank hot cocoa as we drove. It happended to be 75 degrees that evening (how wrong is that!), so Owen loved hanging out the window of the car pointing at all of the inflatables.

We invited our Chinese friends Kevin, Lynn and Irene over for dinner one night and we decorated Christmas cookies.

We also took them with us to the Christmas Family Night at our church. Owen and Irene had a blast!

Owen loved the Christmas characters from a distance bus was terrified when he got too close to Rudolph. In the picture, Ryan is cracking up because Owen just yelled out "NOOOOOOO" for everyone to hear.

Full of Christmas Spirit

Our weekend was packed full of Christmas activities and I am officially in the Christmas Spirit!

Friday Owen and I baked Christmas cookies.

Saturday morning we went to a tree farm to cut down our family Christmas tree. How Griswald of us :)

When we got home, we decorated the tree and house. Here's a picture of Owen setting up his nativity and hugging Baby Jesus. How sweet is that!

Saturday evening we went downtown to the Arlington Christmas parade. Our church did a concert in our new outdoor pavillion. It was a beautiful evening and Owen loved the music and lights!

We started our own little Advent tradition with Owen this year (thanks Moores). Each night we light candles, read from the Christmas story and put stickers on our Advent calendar.

Today was a special day. We got to light the Advent Candles as a family this morning in our worship service at church. This afternoon we decorated Christmas cookies. As you can see we were more busy eating than decorating. We ended the day with the Christmas concert.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our weekend as much as we did living it. And I hope you are now in the Christmas Spirit! We are!!!

Thanksgiving in Iowa

We went to Iowa for Thanksgiving. We had a great week seeing family and friends. Here are the pics.

My parents invited their Taiwanese friend, Vivian, over for Thanksgiving dinner. She and Owen became good friends.

Owen and Grandma readingDecorating the tree

We did Christmas early with Great-Grandpa since we won't see him during Christmas this year. The pictures below are of Owen opening "The Mouse". When you open this little box, a mouse jumps out at you. It has been a part of the Schmidt Family Christmas for more than 5 generations.

We spent lots of time playing outside in my parents yard. Grandpa had raked huge piles of leaves for Owen to play in. Here is a picture of Owen feeding corn to the deer with Grandma.

Swinging with Aunt Katie

Playing football with Daddy

Owen reading to Great-Grandpa