Christmas

Santa was aware of the economy this year, and did most of his shopping on Craigslist. When Santa shops at Craigslist, he gets much more than is necessary for the same price. Austin's big Santa gift was a train table complete with a "Thomas the tank Engine" track and two dozen engines. Here is some photographic evidence of our Christmas.

Santa preparing to set up track in his new Wii pajamas!

Here it is... ready for one little Austin.

The big Thomas is a storage container that is holding another 12 engines.

Austin loved it!

He gravitated toward Thomas and Percy right away, but later enjoyed Toby as well. He even started singing Toby's song from the sing-along dvd.

Santa also came up with way too many toy cars. Austin wasn't even interested in unwrapping anything.... so many things to play with.

Austin got 72 cars for Christmas, most are pictured here. This is in addition to the couple dozen he already had. CRAZY SANTA!

All that playing makes a boy pretty tired by the end of the day

Christmas Videos

Here are our Christmas videos. The first one is quite long, but it is of Austin walking in to see Santa's gift for the first time. Too bad we don't have sound, he repeated the word "Thomas" over and over. Very cute!

Our videos may not be that exciting, but we had one happy kid who played with his trains all day long. Good job Santa.

Snow Day

The last day of school before Christmas break was a snow day for every kid in the city. I also happened to have the day off, so Jana and the kids came over and spent most of the day with us. We played hard and baked lots of goodies. I am pretty sure I gained 5 pounds in one day eating Jana's peanut butter cookie dough.

Kaleb was relaxing.

Kaden was playing with the Wii

Kassie was entertaining Austin (bless her)

Cute Kesa (who is 13 now!) gave us some good music to listen to

Jana baked! Here's the finished product, chocolate covered Ritz (highly recommended), peanut butter cookies (fabulous dough) and the potatoes were about to be mashed for dinner

Mark came over after work and did some research online.

The happy couple (who lives in this house?)

Finally daddy came home and my boys had a rest together.

Snow days can even tire out a kitty

Or two...

The Christmas Tree

It is a Ludshuk Family Tradition to go to the tree farm and find ourselves a fresh Christmas tree. We have been going to Santa's Woods outside of Blair the past 3 or 4 years. They take you on a hay rack ride, a sleigh ride, and then give you hot chocolate when you're all done! They also have real reindeer and Santa.

It was a little cold, but not nearly as cold as last year.

Here's the beautiful horses that drew our sleigh. Despite Austin's expression, he really did like the horses.

Here is Santa's "throne". Unfortunately, Austin was afraid of Santa, so he got mommy instead. This is a rare smiling picture for our boy.

Austin loved running around while mommy checked how tall the trees were. Daddy was on Austin patrol.

Here's my boys warming up over some lunch in the loft of the barn! We love this tradition!

Finished product! Big thanks to Mama and Papa for their assistance in decorating the tree!

Thanksgiving Renovations

I have despised the curtains in our kitchen from day one. They are old-ladyish. So, finally, the time came to replace them.

Well, what started out as a curtain change, turned into a major project.

Ugly! Before

We ended up painting the window trim, the wall, and replacing the curtains. It turned into a long weekend project, but we are thrilled with the results!

After:

You can see our "black Friday" early Christmas present. It will eventually be hanging on the wall where the clock is.

Oh the difference a few coats of paint can make!

Sorry about the bad lighting, that is a roman shade.

Halloween

We are a family of little devils. Austin did not enjoy wearing his cape or his horns, but he loved running around the parking lot at the "Trunk or Treat"

Taking a rest from the running

Happy little devil

We won the contest for best costume for adults. Doesn't Jim look great?

Hmmmm... these costumes are not so great

Jim did take Austin Trick or Treating. I guess he did really well. He said "thank you" when he received the candy, and seemed to have a good time.

Vala's Pumpkin Patch

Austin and I were lucky enough to be able to go to the Pumpkin patch twice this year. The first trip was with Jana, Mark and their kids, and Papa.

Kaden, Kesa, Kaleb, Kassie, & Austin (one of these names is not like the others, one of these names just isn't the same)

Can you see Kaleb?

Kesa and Kassie got into trouble

The tractor ride! Austin enjoyed it quite a bit.

Wow!

Swinging on the tire swing.... this didn't last long.

Couple of flannel wearing guys

Austin was chosen as a pig leader, thanks to Jana's frantic waving

Good lookin' family, better lookin' if Kesa would smile

Any tips on how to get a toddler to pose for the camera?

Austin is quite the pumpkin sitter. He loved to climb in the piles of pumpkins

He was quite upset when pumpkin climbing time was over