Yes, we are still alive. Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. We made it safely down to Grandma's in Florida and are having a great Christmas vacation. The past few days we spent at Disney. I will update everything when we return back home in the New Year.

Florida for Christmas

Beep, beep! Here we go again. Got all packed up and loaded the car with our luggage and presents to start our journey down south where we are spending Christmas with family. Of course, no car trip is complete without making lots of stops along the way. One such stop was near Santee, South Carolina where Tyler spotted a stray cat close to where we parked the car. It was only a tiny and oh so cute!!! We shared our turkey and cheese sandwich with her. Unfortunately we couldn't stay too long because we still have a long drive ahead of us. I took a photo using my iPhone, but I need to figure out how to upload it on here first.

Special Delivery

Santa's elves delivered a few presents from Nanny to Tyler last night. This morning we found them underneath the Christmas tree. Besides some beautiful clothes, Nanny gave Tyler some windup toys, jitter bugs, and workbooks. Tyler also received a cool computer program for designing his very own mazes. He tested it out this afternoon and did a great job. A big thank you to Nanny for everything. Look how adorable he looks in the housecoat you sent him. :)

From Tyler's Gymnastics Instructor

Seasons Greetings from The Smith Family

Click here to view our video we made especially for you.

Class Christmas Party and Dad Comes Home!!!

It was a day full of excitement for Tyler and I, not only did Tyler have his very first kindergarten class party, but also Daddy came home to us after being gone away on the ship for two weeks. The class party started out with a few crafts to make, including this nifty candy cane ornament for the tree. Then it was time to feast with lots of goodies. We were in charge of bringing the chicken nuggets. It was nice seeing all the children from his class and meeting some of the parents. Below is Tyler and his friend, Colin. Colin asked if he could have his picture taken with Tyler. Colin is one of Tyler's classmates and he used to live in the same building as us. After the party, we could leave early. When we arrived home, Daddy was home waiting for us. It was a super awesome day!!! :)

Oh, Christmas Tree

Tyler had asked if we could get our own Christmas tree, but because we will be in Florida this year for Christmas we weren't planning on getting one. However, Steve felt bad about Tyler not getting his wish, so he told me to go take Tyler and pick a tree and some ornaments out. Of course, Tyler picked out a white tree which ended up turning out to be very pretty, especially with the sparkly decorations we bought for it. I didn't tell Steve yet that we bought and decorated the tree yet. We're saving it for a surprise. He comes home tomorrow from the ship!!! :)

Holiday Concert-Jingle Bells

Click Below to see Part 2 of Tyler and the Santa Hat

http://youtu.be/0eiVnMYQIxQ

Tyler and the Santa Hat - Part 1

Tyler's Big Moment

Holidays Around the World

After the PTA meeting tonight at Tyler's school, the afternoon kindergarten students performed the 'Holidays Around the World' concert. The children have been practicing everyday for several weeks. There are 6 classes in the afternoon kindergarten, approximately 120 students. Tyler was given a very special job of holding up the letter 'H' during the Holiday Alphabet song. He did an excellent job. His teacher and I are very proud of him. In total there were 8 songs performed.

The show was very entertaining. Tyler gave some of us quite a laugh. We noticed his Santa hat was a little too big on him and during the concert it started to come down over his eyes. Soon he decided to pull it all the way down over his face. After that he took it completely off and rolled it up in a ball. However, that only last a few minutes because he needed his hands for the actions, so he put the hat under his arm. When that didn't work, he tried to stuff it in his shirt like a tie. The lady beside me, a teachering assistant, laughed so hard. She later said she wished her husband would have came to see it because he too would have had a good laugh. LOL Tyler is such a ham. He cracks me up. Don't worry I got some video which I will be posting, so stay tuned.

Sleepwear for 3 Years

As Tyler was getting ready for bed tonight, I was thinking how he has been wearing this one particular set of pajamas for awhile now. Looking back through the archives on our blog, proved that indeed he has been wearing these particular jammies since he was 2 years old!!! I remember buying them really big because they didn't have his size, but thought I could get a couple years out of them by rolling up the legs. Three years later and they still fit; I would say we definitely got my money's worth. See the "then and now" photos below.

Casey's Christmas Party

For the second night in a row, we had a Christmas party to attend. This time it was Casey's Christmas party. Last year we had the privilege of being invited and left already looking forward to the next year's party. Tina does an awesome job coordinating everything; we always tell her that she should consider a career in party planning. Anyway, this year's party was just as fun, if not better.




The children started out by decorating some Christmas ornaments for the tree. Tyler decorated a couple of trees, a snowman, and a Santa Claus. Then it was time to feast. And I mean "feast". Tina invited a lot of people and we all brought something to contribute to dinner. The food was soo good. After stuffing our faces, we chatted for a bit and got updated on each others' lives since the last time we were together.

Then all of a sudden, appeared out of nowhere, it seemed, Santa arrived in Tina's house. It was definitely Tyler's lucky weekend. Santa came with a stack full of gifts for the children. After he passed all the presents out, he then counted to 3 for the kids to open their gifts. Tyler received an army truck and tank set. He said he always wanted one. Before Santa left, we all took turns taking several photos with Santa. It was a great night full of lots of terrific memories. And again, it left us excitedly awaiting for next year's party. 

Brady and Kyle's Christmas Party

We were delighted to be invited to Wendy's Christmas party. We had a ton of fun with lots of neat Christmas crafts to make, lots of yummy food to eat, and even a surprise visit from a very special guest.

While waiting for some other friends to arrive, the boys had a super awesome time playing together. It had almost been a month since our last play date, so there was some much needed fun to be had. The boys decided to get dressed up and parade around the house for us. I love this photo!!! Super cute!!!

Not long after our other friends arrived, there was some jingle bells at the door. Low and behold, it was the big guy of the season, Santa Claus!!! Wow, Santa came to Brady and Kyle's house for a very special visit with everyone. After the initial shock settled in, the kids each took their turn telling Santa of their wish list. When it was Tyler's turn, Tyler reminded Santa that he already told him what he wanted in the letter he sent. LOL I guess Santa was so busy that he didn't get to check his mail. Before long, Santa had to get back to the North Pole. When the kids were saying goodbye to him at the door, they were asking where his reindeer were. Santa said he had to leave them home tonight and instead had to drive to Brady and Kyle's. Then the boys wanted to know what kind of car he drove.LOL A big thank you to Wendy and Jason for inviting us. We had too much fun!!!

Tyler Says the Sweetest Things

This place sure is lonely without Dad here.

We mailed Tyler's letter to Santa today in the Macy's mailbox before school.

New Arrival

Last night, Tyler asked if he could use a flashlight to check out something in his mouth. Upon asking him what it was he opened his mouth for me and it was then I saw that there was a molar coming in. We suspected a few weeks ago that this may be happening because he had been in pain and the gum was quite swollen in that area. Tyler is quite excited about the new tooth, but he still asks when he is going to lose his first tooth so that the Tooth Fairy can come visit. I'm sure it won't be too long in the future.
Steve Update: Steve left for a couple weeks to do some workups to get the ship ready for their long deployment in the spring. Tyler and I miss him so much already. He had a little sea sick when he first got on the ship. He'll be quite busy getting used to being on the ship again and getting his team ready.

Underway Again

Steve is due to go on another deployment in the spring for 7 months. This time he is assigned to the USS Enterprise, which is currently celebrating its' 50th birthday and is due to retire when it comes back from this deployment. To help prepare for the departure, the ship and Steve included, will be getting underway for couple weeks very soon. Today Steve had to bring some items on board and we got to see the ship for the first time. This is Steve's first time on an aircraft carrier and he'll be in charge of 4 people. On another interesting note, Enterprise Rent A Car is named after this ship. Cool, eh?

Tyler's Letter to Santa

Today Tyler wrote his letter to Santa. Here it is:

Winnie Goes to School

Tyler brought a very special friend with him to school. It was "Bring Your Bear/Stuffed Animal Day" in Tyler's class today. Of course, Tyler picked Winnie to join him. The kids talked about their stuffed friends and then did a bear poem. All this week they learned about Corduroy the Bear and used adjectives to help form complete sentences.

Build It

We're always looking for different websites Tyler can go on to play games. Yesterday, I found one that he can't get enough of. This one has several games where you can build different things such as snowmen, houses, and even pizza; however Tyler's absolute favorite is the 'Build your own car'. He has built some niffy looking vehicles including this one below. After he was finished he explained what each gadget was for on the truck. Maybe he'll be an engineer someday.