December Daily 10

Busiest day we've had in a long time.

Tonight was the last night for swim lessons for this session, so I made the same gifts for Miss Shelby as I did for Miss Tori. We filled one of them with Swedish fish and the other with Hershey's Kisses. She was very surprised and appreciative.

The other boy in their class wasn't there tonight, so Aiden and Reid had all the fun. Playing red light, green light:

Floating on the big fish:

Aiden's back float:

Reid's back float:

Their favorite part- going down the slide at the end of lessons:

They both passed Tiny Tunas this time and can move onto Gold Fish. After swimming, we drove over to the Chatfield Botanic Gardens' Trail of Lights for our neighborhood's designated night.

Yummy cookies:

An old lantern like the ones my Grandpa Starrs used to collect:

Aiden was ready to step right up and talk to Santa:

A tad shy once he was in the big guy's lap:

However, he quickly warmed up:

And told Santa he wants a "crashy truck" which he spotted at Kohl's when we were looking for snow pants. (Hot Wheels Crashing Big Rig)

Reid decided he did not want to talk to Santa this year, but I think he secretly enjoyed seeing him from a safe distance:

After I took my pictures of Aiden, Reid wanted me to hold him. I quickly scooted over by Santa to make sure we still had a photo of Aiden and Reid together with Santa. In this picture you can see Reid looking at Santa's hat. He was actually sneaking in a quick touch of Santa's hat. I pretended not to notice so Reid wouldn't get upset.

Then Santa encouraged Grandma to get into a picture:

 
And then we made a quick trade of cameras and Eric was able to get into a picture. We managed to get one shot with Reid facing forward and the rest of us smiling so I count that as a huge victory.

Back outside to enjoy the lights:

Trying out the 3D glasses which turned the lights into patterns (snowflakes, reindeer, ornaments, gingerbread men).

Cold, but not the coldest weather we've had at the Trail of Lights.

Remember this one from December, 2010 when the boys were almost 8 months old? Meeting Santa for the first time. I think this will be one of my all-time favorite pictures for a long time.

After Trail of Lights we grabbed a quick supper and then I headed off to book club. I really enjoy book club and feel so lucky to be able to participate in it. All in all, it was a good way to spend my dad's birthday. How 'bout them Broncos, Dad? Love you and miss you.