2009 was a memorable year for the Smith family, and we'd like to share a few of the year's highlights via this weblog post, which we put up each year in place of including a paper letter with our Christmas cards.
January was the first anniversary of Michael's joining his new law firm, and he reports it's been hectic but he enjoys running his own office and has had a great time working on cases, as well as keeping up his speaking at seminars and work on his legal weblog, www.EDTexweblog.com. January also marked a big addition in the back yard at home, as we broke ground on a long-awaited addition to the back yard! 
More on that later.
February saw Grayson win first in his Webelos den in Pinewood Derby with his Star Trek car. (Didn't do quite so well in district, but was a good sport about it - well, almost). February was also when Michael and Grayson spent the night at Camp Pirtle at Dad 'n Lad, where they had a great time doing the activities together, 
but were surprised by freezing temperatures, 
thus earning Grayson the coveted "Polar Bear" patch. (He calls it his "Freeze Your Butt Off" patch and wears it proudly on the front pocket of his uniform shirt).
In March we took the boys skiing at Jackson Hole during spring break. The boys took to skiing like ducks to water -it was amazing watching them flying down the slope just jabbering away. 
April included a trip to Austin with the Marshall Chamber of Commerce where Jamie, Michael and Grayson met with our local legislators and Grayson got to serve as a House messenger. 
Our state rep Bryan Hughes took him around the House chamber and he had his picture taken with Mr. Bryan and Texas House Speaker Joe Straus. (He also learned that a navy blazer and khakis do go together - until he saw the rest of the messengers dressed the same way he swore that they didn't since he's so used to seeing his dad in a suit). 
May was a red-letter month, with the premiere of Star Trek. Michael and the boys went to see it together four times - including a road trip to Mesquite when it came out in Imax on a guys-only weekend.
June saw 
Collin and Parker graduate from kindergarten, which was a wonderful, uh, memory. The warm weather in the summer meant lots of time in the new pool, which we enjoyed a lot. 
We also enjoyed the annual Kleypas family reunion at Fort Parker in Mexia, where we all get to see our cousins and catch up. June ended with another family trip to Dallas, this time to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Dallas Summer Musicals. The musical was okay, but the 
souvenir stand was fabulous, Michael said! We are starting to get pretty good at staying in hotel rooms, although it does sometimes take a bit of firmness on the part of Mom & Dad to get three boys in one bed to settle down and go to sleep.
August meant Camp Fern for the boys - Grayson's third year and Collin & Parker's first, but they had a great time. Mom and Dad celebrated our first two weeks off of being parents with a week-long trip to Paris 
where we slept late, went sightseeing with Rick Steves podcasts, and had a very relaxing week seeing about a bazillion museums and historical sites together. My favorite? Marie Antoinette's gardens at Versailles. Jamie's? The Venus de Milo at the Louvre 
- because it had the only really cold air in all of Paris coming out of the floor vent next to it!
August also meant the 
first day of the school for the boys, with Grayson starting fifth grade and Collin and Parker starting first grade (separate classes, which has worked great - they both started the year with straight A's in their first six weeks, which made Mom & Dad very proud!).
August and September also meant our first trips to the new 
Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, where the boys got to see both the first game in the new stadium (preseason versus the Titans) and the inaugural regular season game. We have really enjoyed our trips up to see the games this fall, which have turned into little one and two-day family vcations. (The boys are even getting better at sharing a bed reasonably quietly - have not had the police called since last December). We saw the Frontiers of Flight museum next to Love Field on one trip, 
which was memorable for me because of the Apollo 7 command module, but the boys were a lot more excited to see the local Star Trek fan club's table - where they met real Klingon women!
October brought a big new development when we bought the former 
Hub Shoe Shore in downtown Marshall to remodel into new ofices for Michael's law firm. The shoe store dates back to 1897, so there's a lot of history in the building, but we're looking forward to having the renovation done in the spring - you can see before and present pictures in the link to the left. The boys are helping out a lot with the demolition, as you can tell.
Later in October, Jamie and I went on an Aegean cruise, 
starting with several days in Athens and ending up in Istanbul, with several ports in between. Lots of great ruins
great food, and chances to shop for rugs (sometimes in combination), which is sort of our idea of a good time.
November meant a new tradition for Thanksgiving, 
with dinner in Arlington before heading to the stadium for the Cowboys game, where our boys eked out another win over the Raiders four days after beating the Redskins. We also made a sign in our hotel room, which was a lot of fun! 
We took a stadium tour on Friday, then went to Six Flags for the evening, then it was back to the stadium for the Baylor v. Tech game Saturday night (Jamie and Grayson cheered on the Bears while Michael, Collin and Parker shopped at Half Price Books and Barnes and Noble for five hours - seriously). We were tired headed home that night, but had a great time.
So it's been a wonderful year for the Smiths. We hope it's been a great one for your family as well!
