Monday, December 30, 2013

A Very Merry Christmas!

Christmas was so much fun this year especially now that the boys are older and Bennett really gets it.  I feel like Jeremy and I did so much work leading up to the big day then it was over so fast, but all the work was so worth it!

We also talked a lot more about the fact that we celebrate Christmas because it is Jesus' birthday.  Bennett was excited it was Jesus' birthday and wanted to know how old he was going to be.  I told him he was really old, and Bennett said "so he is going to be 9?"  I didn't know how to respond to that.  I guess to a 4 year old 9 seems old!

We started off our Christmas activities with baking cookies for Santa.  You can't leave Santa high and dry so Bennett and I worked hard on making him some really yummy treats!

Silly boy messing around with our cookie cutters!

Decorating our cookies

Walker wants those cookies in his belly!

Testing them out to make sure they are acceptable for Santa :)

Christmas Eve we headed up to Jeremy's parents house to celebrate Christmas with them.  The boys had so much fun opening gifts and playing with Carder.

Helping Gigi decorate cookies

My sweet Walker

Walker was SO excited to get this chair!  He always tried to take over Bennett's chair at home so it was time for him to get his own.

Bennett and Carder got bean bag chairs

They quickly turned into launching pads!

Opening more gifts

Cousins :)

Once we got home we had to get ready for Santa!  Bennett picked out cookies for Santa and put out reindeer food in our yard.  We got them to bed and got to work to get everything ready for Christmas morning.  Celebrating Christmas with kids is so much fun!  I was so excited after we set everything out for them on Christmas Eve and couldn't wait for them to wake up to see the look on their faces!  Bennett woke up around 6:40 and was so excited he said he couldn't go back to sleep, so our morning started early!

Picking out the perfect cookies for Santa

Putting out the reindeer food

SANTA CAME!!!!

The boys ran over to their toys as soon as they came downstairs

Bennett was so excited to see his blue bike from Santa

Seeing that Santa ate the cookies and drank his milk.  Santa also left the boys a little note!

So excited!!

Tearing into his gifts!

After we opened gifts we ate breakfast and let the boys play.  We let Walker take a nap and once he woke up we headed over to Lyndsay and Dallon's to celebrate Christmas with them, my dad, my uncle, Sloan and Mikki.

Ella and Bennett getting ready to open more gifts

Sweet Ryan

Walker's toy from my dad.  All of the kids loved this toy!

The boys playing!

It was a great few days celebrating Christmas with family.  As soon as Christmas is over I feel the need to organize and purge toys to make room for the new toys and take down all of the decorations.  I love the house being decorated but as soon as Christmas is over I want it gone!  We are now recovering from all of the excitement and craziness and getting ready to celebrate New Years.  We are planning a very low key night for New Years Eve and New Years Day we have friends coming over.  Looking forward to a great 2014!



Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Christmas Activities!

Last week we took the boys to see Santa.  This Santa is the Santa we took Bennett to see when he was 1 and 2 years old.  Last year we see didn't get to see this Santa and I was disappointed, so we made a point to make sure we saw this Santa again!  They let you set an appointment which is awesome because you do not wait in line for an hour and they also video your kids time with Santa if you want them to.  I love looking back at our old videos so it is really nice to have.

Bennett has been beyond excited to see Santa and had his list ready!  He assured us he wasn't going to cry, which would be a first.  I was pretty certain Walker would lose it.  He is going through major separation anxiety from me right now.  We got there and we were one of the first appointments of the day so Santa walked by us while we were waiting and he came up to Bennett to say Hi and asked for a high five.  Bennett didn't hesitate to give him a high five, so I thought we were good to go!

We get up to sit on his lap and Walker started to cry a little and all of a sudden Bennett starts screaming "I want Mommy!!!".   I was surprised he got so upset but I think it freaked him out that Walker cried and so many people were watching and yelling for them to look at the camera.  The camera guy asked me to sit closer so the boys could look at me and still be facing the direction of the camera.  As soon as Santa pulled out their wish lists Bennett calmed down.  I guess he realized he needed to make sure Santa knew exactly what he wanted this year.  Walker ended up doing great and loved the little prop Elmo toy the camera guy had.  Walker was dying laughing every time he shook Elmo.  We finally got a non crying picture this year!!!!!  Walker has the biggest smile on his face and Bennett has a tiny smirk.  At least they aren't screaming for once!

This is just one I got with my phone not the actual picture we ended up with.  Santa was going over their lists ;)

Yesterday Bennett's class had their Christmas party at school.  I am the room mom this year so it was a lot of work coordinating everything and it made me realize I never want to be room mom again! Honestly I never wanted to be the room mom, but I was the last one to show up to Open House and the teachers asked me if I would mind signing up since no one else did.  Let me just say I will be first in line at Open House from now on to get first dibs on those sign up sheets!  I don't know how teachers deal with all of the parents, it can certainly test your patience!

Luckily the party went great and the kids and teachers had a great time.  That is really all that matters!  

Making his candy cane craft

Cutie!

Decorating his cookie

Bennett's last day of school is tomorrow until next year and Jeremy is off all of next week.  I am really looking forward to things slowing down a bit.  Jeremy and I actually finished all of our shopping and wrapping already!  My dad watched the boys for us all day on Saturday so we could finish our shopping.  I am so glad everything is done and now we can just relax and do more fun things like bake and countdown to the big day!


Monday, December 9, 2013

Bennett is 4!!!

Yesterday Bennett turned 4!  This birthday made me a little emotional.  Now that Bennett is 4 I feel like he is a kid and we are out of the toddler phase with him.  Just seems strange that he is a little kid, I don't know why but just seems crazy!  I feel like the last 4 years have flown by with him and he is growing up so fast.

Bennett has been so excited about his upcoming birthday.  For the last 2 months he has brought it up almost every single day so once the day was here he was beyond excited!  On Friday I went up to his school to bring in a treat and let him celebrate with his class.  He was so excited to have me in his class and he got to be the leader for the day and pick out certain activities for the class.  He loved being able to do that!  It was so fun seeing him interact with his friends at school.  He does have a little "girlfriend" in his class and from what I am told by the teacher she is pretty attached to Bennett and demanding :)  She told Bennett while they were playing that he needed to hug her before he left.  His response was "Good Grief!!!".  It sure is hard being a ladies man :) It was a fun start to his birthday celebration!

Dancing with his friends at school.  This is the activity he picked after they had their treat.

For his party all he asked for was a bouncy house for our backyard.  I don't love having parties at our house but I figured the kids would be outside playing and they would have a great time so why not.  Well the weather had a different idea and it has been raining pretty much every single day for the past week.  I sadly had to cancel the bouncy house the day before his party because of the weather.  When I told Bennett  he just said "that's ok!".  He was a lot less disappointed then I thought he would be.

We had a Spiderman theme and just let the kids run around and play.  It turned out to be a great party regardless of the weather.  I think if you give kids pizza, cake and some toys they are happy no matter what!

Excited and ready for his party!

Some of the kids playing in our garage

Having lunch


Walker was a mess all day and only wanted me.  This was his reaction when anyone tried to hold him! He would scream "Mama"!  He is teething and getting over a cold so he was pitiful.

Singing Happy Birthday!

Bennett and Ryan

Me and J with our sweet 4 year old!

This was about the only time this little guy smiled and of course it was for a cupcake

Opening gifts


Worn out from the big party!

On Bennett's actual birthday yesterday we started out our morning with donuts.  Then he opened up gifts from us.


Opening gifts

Birthday donut!

Having fun with his new toy

After breakfast I took Bennett to see Frozen.  He was really excited to go to the movies.  The movie was really cute and it was fun having some one on one time with him.

Ready for the movie!

After the movie Jeremy took him to Target so he could pick out some toys and spend some birthday money he got as a gift.

For dinner he wanted to eat Mexican so we went out to one of our favorite places.

Excited about cheese dip!  Boy after my own heart :)

It was a great weekend celebrating our sweet boy.  I am blown away by the little boy Bennett is growing up to be.  He is so smart, funny and loving.  He will tell me several times a day that he loves me and misses me, melt my heart!  He has come out of his shell so much the past few months and that has been a huge change for him.  It just shows how much he is growing up.  We just love him more then words can say and are so proud that he is our son!  Happy 4th Bennett!





Monday, December 2, 2013

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

I love the holidays and all the preparations so much!  We went on Saturday to pick out our Christmas tree.  We met my dad, my Uncle, Lyndsay, Dallon, Ryan and Ella so it was a big group of us.  We went to the same tree farm we have been going to for the past few years.  We all picked out our trees then we took the big kids on a tractor ride around the farm.  My dad took Walker over to the petting zoo while we rode the tractor. After the tractor ride the kids roasted marshmallows around the fire.  It was a very cold but fun day.

These 3 were very excited to see each other!

Cute boys!

Jeremy and Walker ready to find our tree

Trees!!!  We don't cut our own down.  The kind of tree I like is pre cut but they have tons to choose from.

Ready for the tractor ride

Bundled up and ready to go

Walker got pulled around the petting zoo with my dad while we rode the tractor.  Think he is comfortable!?

Waiting to roast marshmallows

After we picked out our trees we all went out to lunch.  Then it was time to go home and decorate which is one of my favorite things to do!  

Excited about our tree

and amazed :)

Bennett loved helping me decorate the tree while listening to Christmas music and drinking hot chocolate.

Walker taking a look at the tree after he woke up from his nap.  So far only one ornament has been broken!

Our tree!  I love it!

Later that night we went out to dinner and then met up with my sister, Dallon, Ryan and Ella again.  We wanted to see the tree lighting and Santa.  It was supposed to start at 6 and when we were walking up at 5:45 they were counting down to the lighting of the tree and 1 minute later Santa came and went.  It was pretty anti climatic and disappointing since in years past Santa sang songs and hung around for a while.  Oh well the kids still had fun!

The tree

Here comes Santa...

and there he goes!

We walked over to an even better and bigger tree close by and these sweeties held hands while we walked!

Love these 3!

This little guy hung out in his stroller the whole time!

It was a very busy day but such a fun one.  Christmas is a lot more fun with kids and Bennett is so excited about everything!