Happy New Year!

Wow. 2009 is sooooo much better. I woke up this morning and suddenly I'm all healthier and super fit and all organized and I'm a way good mom. Crazy how it just happened overnight.

The Aftermath of Christmas

Ahhhh, Christmas. What an awesome season. This year was no exception. We ate way too much and got way too much. Good times.

This was our first Christmas in our new home. Believe it or not, we actually tried to go to Utah this year. It's been 7 years since we spent Christmas with family (last year being a semi-exception since Keith's mom was with us to help with our brand new baby Leah). But, thanks to some serious price gouging of the airlines (at least double the normal price), it wasn't happening. So instead we spent a really relaxing day at home. We certainly missed our family and the friends that became family over the years (giving a shout out to all my Philly peeps here). I've really been treasuring the Christmas cards this year. Since moving this summer, it's been especially sweet to know how many people have touched our lives. I'm getting all sappy here, but really, I am so grateful for all the amazing people that we have been lucky enough to know and love. Big hugs to all y'all. I'm all verklempt.

So anyway, Christmas. Christmas=fun.

We really tried to keep it real and focus at least a little bit on the birth of Jesus. So, of course that means dressing the kids up silly and making them act out the scriptures. Bennett was a shepherd. Leah, an angel. Keith, narrator and photographer. Me, annoying mom making everyone dress up. It didn't really go over that well.


I tried not to overemphasize Santa this year. I don't want the kids to have such big expectations of STUFF. I don't want Christmas to be a gimme-fest. But in the days leading up to Christmas, I realized what an AMAZING guy Santa is. If Bennett was acting up, all I had to do was say "Santa only brings toys to good kids" or "lump of coal" and he would shape up so fast. He was especially afraid of the lump of coal. Haha. Is that mean? Hey, whatever works. Obviously, Bennett was a pretty good kid. Look at this haul.


The train was a HUGE hit. It's a Polar Express set. Thanks to our friends Tony and Nancy, Bennett has been obsessed with the Polar Express since they took him to see it at the theater last year. As you can see, he could have cared less about the rest of the stuff under the tree. In fact, even after opening a new present, he would usually go back to playing with the train until we made him open something else.


Is it just me, or is this face saying, "where's my STUFF?"


Ok baby sister, here's something for you too.


What would Christmas morning be without the look of a war zone? This is what they must really be referring to when people wish you "peace" at Christmas. What we really should say is, "May your Christmas have joy, but may you also be able to clean up after it."


So everyone, I hope your Christmas was full of joy and that you have (or eventually will) be able to clean up after it. I'm still working on it....

The Reason for the Season

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

The Countdown

BAAAA! I'M SO EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!

Ok, settle down. I think that was just some more sugar pulsing through my veins from my last handful of cookies. Whew. It's like a drug.

But really, I can't wait for Christmas. The really nice UPS man just dropped off Bennett's Christmas present. This is the present that Bennett has been talking about and asking for from every Santa that we've happened upon this month. If I can't give Keith any stupid surprises for Christmas (still feeling a little bitter) at least I can make my 3 year olds brain explode with happiness. BAAAAAA!!!!!!!! 3 MORE DAYS!!

It's the sugar. I'm telling you.

Speaking of sugar......


Isn't this the cutest cookie making fun you've ever seen? Bennett LOVED helping Grandma make cookies while she was here last week.

Missing them already.

The grandparents, I mean. Not the cookies. But the cookies were pretty stinkin awesome.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Sorry.

Now, off to go work on that big ol' tin of caramel corn someone just gave us....

Happy Birthday Leah!

Was this seriously a year ago???

Wow. I can't believe how much a baby changes in a year. From that squishy, chunky, little/big infant to....

....this?

Just Wow. I love this girl. That was Leah's scrunchy face smile, by the way. She pulls it out sometimes to really turn on the charm. What a big girl she is getting to be. She's walking!!! Today she walked all the way across her bedroom. She walks more everyday. She also loves to ride on Bennett's bike. She stands next to it and whines until you put her on it and push her around. We get them hooked young around here. :)

So even though today is Leah's birthday, we actually already celebrated. Keith's parents were here over the weekend so we had a party on Monday so we could enjoy it with family.

Check out this cute cake.


What are you all doing? Can I eat that thing now?


Mmmmm. It's pretty tasty!


Oh yeah, it's still good.


YEEAAAHHH!


It's so good! When it hits your lips...it's just so good!


Seriously, you gotta try some of this!


Ok, that's enough. Get it off me. Now.


We let Bennett pick out a birthday present for Leah and this is what we ended up with.

He even dug it out of the tank at the store. I had planned a little twist to the gift though. I was going to let Bennett give her the fish that he picked out. Then I secretly had another fish that I was going to give Bennett as a gift from Leah so their fish could be friends. Well, let's just say there's no goldfish party going on at our house. Bennett didn't get his little surprise. Lesson learned--always buy two fish.

Anyways, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEAH!!!!

Conversations

Bennett: "So mom, how's your day?"

Me: "It's great, buddy. How's yours?"

Bennett: "My day is boring."

Me: "Boring? Why is it boring?"

Bennett: "Because. I need to drive a rocket."

Holidays!!!

I freaking love the holidays.

Kicking it all off was a pretty sweet Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to have my parents come visit for the week. We haven't had Thanksgiving with family for a really long time. 8 years? Well, I guess I can count Rob and Laura joining our feast last year. But that's sorta cancelled out by the year that he lived in our house and didn't even have Thanksgiving with us. Something about getting engaged or being all in love or something? I don't remember all the details. But anyways, I'm totally off on that one....

So Thanksgiving. With Family! How fun! I think my parents were actually so relieved when they left because we took them on some stunningly beautiful hikes nearly every day. I think their old bones were aching. You gotta make room for that turkey somehow, right?

And the turkey. Let's just talk about the turkey. Some might say I've lost my mind. Keith thinks I'm a hippie. I found myself a free-range, organic heritage turkey. You see, regular old grocery store turkeys are pumped so full of hormones to get them all big and fat in the shortest time possible that they are genetically messed up. They get so breast heavy that if they lived any longer than Thanksgiving, their legs would actually collapse. The poor things can't even walk. They have also been engineered so that they can't even reproduce. Every turkey in the store is made out of a test tube. It's all a science project. You see, if those turkeys could mate, they would waste precious energy trying to flirt with other turkeys. Instead, without that instinct, they can sit around all fat and lazy and just get bigger and bigger. Until their legs collapse.

So, call me a hippie. I found a farm nearby that raises organic turkeys. I'm trying to save the world, folks. One thanksgiving dinner at a time. And it was yuuummmy.

So now we have Christmas to look forward to. Yahoo! We just bought a big huge Christmas tree this morning. Almost 10 feet tall. We've got big ceilings so we gotta take advantage! It's all smelling of fresh pine, the music is playing, I even have bread baking right now. I'm trying to keep my eyes above eye level though. I'm only looking at the top 5 feet of the tree and only at the mantle of the fireplace with the pretty lights and Christmas stuff. Otherwise, this perfect scene would be spoiled by the pine needles all over the floor, the food pile under the Leah's chair, the mess I left from making the bread, the toys and bikes (yes, that would be 2 bikes) laying around, and the dirty dishes screaming to be washed. And I would also notice the one and only present under the tree. That would be the present that Keith retrieved from the mailbox today. That would be Keith's present, actually. The one and only present that I had planned to buy him. One that I knew he wanted really bad and I told him there was no way. And now he knows exactly what it is.

So much for surprises. Bah humbug.

There's only one cure for this funk. I gotta go chug some egg nog.

Thankful

My sister is so flippin cool.

Here's just one reason why.....

First steps!

Leah is getting brave! She took a couple of little steps to Keith yesterday.

And folks, let the record also show that she did it while holding a pickle.

Mustard-stache

This is what Bennett looked like this morning. After breakfast.

Mustard toast.

Strangely, it's not an uncommon food choice around here either.

Leah's new tricks

Leah will be 11 months old in a few days. I can't believe how time has flown! We adore this girl so much.


She is so happy and cuddly and is learning all kinds of new tricks. She waves bye-bye and says dada and nana (banana) and no-no (making it hard for me to be mad about whatever she is getting into). I'm not really convinced that she says mama, although she has said it before. She's way more reliable with dada so I'll give the props to Keith for being the favorite. She really is a daddy's girl.

Her teeth popped in during the last couple of weeks. Just in the last month she went from being toothless to having her two bottom teeth and one on top. Her other top one is peeking out so she'll have four teeth really soon! That's a record for our kids--Bennett didn't have a single sign of a tooth until after his first birthday.

You can kinda see her top tooth here.

You can see her bottom teeth here if the picture is real big. I can't catch her teeth on camera! Every single time I try, I miss it by a split second. Stupid digital camera. But teeth or no teeth, isn't she cute anyway??


She can also climb the stairs. (Not my favorite trick.) Just a few days ago, I was busy in the kitchen. When I finished whatever I was doing, I realized Leah wasn't around anymore. It hadn't been but a couple of minutes. I looked around and called for her and then noticed her all the way upstairs playing on the landing. I had only caught her playing on the stairs once or twice before and she was never into climbing them. Until now! She caught on pretty fast.


She also took her first fall down the stairs yesterday. I ran downstairs just to flip on a light and the next thing I hear is that dreaded tumble and the cry. She crawls so darn fast, I didn't even know she would be close to following me! Luckily, no hurts, only a little scare for her.

She is also standing all the time by herself. No steps quite yet. It's coming though. Soon.


She and Bennett get along so well. They just love on each other all the time. When Leah wakes up from her nap, Bennett usually says "Oh hi Leah! I missed you!"



The one thing she doesn't have a lot of is hair. If we hadn't cut Bennett's hair by 11 months, it would have probably been dragging on the floor! Oh well, we still think she's adorable!

The economy...

...is in the DUMPS right now.

But I paid $1.89 for gas today. Is that the bright side?

Yup. He's a country boy.

I was just in Lexington picking up Keith's bike from the shop. We finally fixed it from the beat down it took in Iceland. Because it was so hammered, I had to go a "real" bike shop that could fix his bent frame. I ended up taking it to a shop in downtown Lexington, an hour away. The shop is right in the middle of town in the college neighborhood. Kinda hip and cute with older buildings and corner cafes.

Just as I was getting ready to leave the bike shop with Keith's good-as-new bike, I couldn't find Bennett. He had been riding one of the kids bikes around the store and he was supposed to be putting it back. But suddenly he was nowhere to be found. The bike guy was helping me take the bike out to the car as I pushed Leah in the stroller. Bike guy and I both looked around and I called his name. Suddenly, Bennett caught my eye. He was outside on the sidewalk. Pulling up his pants. With a big wet streak running down the cement. My face turned completely red. The bike guy was standing next to me and saw the same thing I did. Bennett had just peed all over his sidewalk only two steps out the front door.

ME: "Ha ha....I'm so sorry....I can't believe he just did that.....Oh my goodness....I'm so sorry.....we live kinda out in the country, ya know.....and I'm so sorry....I guess the world is his toilet.......ha ha....I'm so sorry....."

BIKE GUY: "Oh! Wow. Well. I guess his dad taught him that!"

My face grows redder and redder as Bennett continues pulling up his pants. Bennett, on the other hand, is cool as a cucumber. It's just another potty break for him.

The bike guy continues to my truck and puts the bike in the back for me. What do you say after that? I just wanted to crawl into a hole. Good thing the bike shop is an hour away. I don't really want to go back for a while. At least until they forget my beet red face.

As I was locking the bike up in the truck bed, a car pulls into the parking spot behind me. A lady jumps out of the car and I grab Bennett's hand to help him into his car seat.

"Hey, I saw your son relieving himself in front of the store. He really slowed traffic down for a minute there!"

"Oh great....{red face returns}....haha....You saw that too?....{more nervous/embarrassed laughter}......"

Thanks for that. I'll be leaving now. Who needs the city anyway?

A potty? Why bother when you have a forest?

Welcome to our toilet. Manners optional.

Shannon

Ok, let's be honest. My sister is the COOLEST!

She came out to visit me last week. Man oh man, I miss her already. I twisted her arm for a couple of months and finally convinced her to come. Her awesome hubby (thanks Dave!) watched her 4 kids for 5 days while I got to hang with her. SO. MUCH. FUN.

Every time I hang out with Shannon, I end up inspired. She just has a hip-ness about her. First of all, she's just way cuter than me to begin with. But she also has way better style. Always has. When we were in junior high, she was the one that clued me in that jeans really should go below the top of your socks. She was the one that told me I looked really bad in hot pink. She was the one that didn't spend all her money to buy a matching wardrobe with a friend (what was I thinking?). When we saw each other this summer, I end up chopping off my hair, buying heels(!), and a whole new collection of cute skirts.

Shannon is also super talented. She's an amazing photographer. For evidence, go here.

Strange thing when you have a photographer around. I hardly pulled out my camera at all during the whole visit. How dumb. We went on a gorgeous hike, a beautiful train ride through the mountains and the fall colors, to an apple orchard, we baked yummy stuff, went out on the lake, and more. All picture worthy. All I ended up capturing was this:



At least she took pictures of our weekend! Check out a couple of them here.

I told you she was the coolest. Love ya sis. I can't wait for your next visit!! :)

Halloween

Halloween is so much fun with little kids. Dressing them up is so hilarious. Here's how we ended up last night.





Ok, please don't notice that I totally recycled Bennett's costume from last year. I'm such a lame mom. But honestly, I tried to find him a new costume. I really did. I went to a couple of stores but I just hate cheap plastic things. And I'm really not into superheros either so I couldn't bring myself to buy him something so lame. Pickins were slim this year!!! So, please don't notice that the sleeves on the zebra barely go past his elbows. It's ok, right?


I took the kids to Keith's office to drop off some treats for his staff. I had to recycle an old costume of Bennett's (again!! How lazy am I??) but for Leah this time. Funny that this fit her at 10 months with little room to spare. Bennett was 16 months when he wore this. I will point out that I MADE this costume with my own bare hands. I at least get a couple of points for that don't I??




Bennett had a party at his preschool. Hilarious. We had a hayride, a pumpkin patch, games, and tons of treats and junk food. Just what every 3-year old needs. :)




Finally, the ladies in my neighborhood get together every Friday night for a "cocktail party". We talk and drink and eat and laugh way into the night. Good times. This is just a couple of us last night...


Happy Halloween!