"Let's Open it!"

Christmas Eve at Bubba and Grampy's

(with both sets of grandparents - so lucky!)

Getting tired waiting for Santa...

These pics don't even come close to capturing the fun and chaos of new gifts everywhere! Ben loved opening all of his Christmas presents and after each one he would say "LET'S OPEN IT!" He was so, so, so excited! This year Ben got lots of games (Memory, Chutes & Ladders and Hi-Ho Cherry-0), a digital camera, sled, sleeping bag, Little Einstein's Rocket, tools and workbench, new Thomas trains (fire station and railroad crossing), Batman bat cave - and of course Spiderman - just like he asked from Santa! It was a great year and fun Christmas!

School Photo Day-

Here is Ben's first school picture with his Mommy's Day Out Class. The first time he saw the photo he said "my family!" I have no idea how those teachers got all those kids to sit still long enough to click the pic! Aren't they cute?!

Here comes Santa!

I've been waiting all year to post these photos (pardon the bad scanning)! They were taken 30 years apart - Joe and Ben sitting on Santa's lap! Since their birthdays are so close they are about the same age in these pics. 

Ben asked Santa for Spiderman when he sat on his lap - who knows what Joe wanted - maybe the same thing...

I wasn't sure if Ben was going to sit with Santa or not, but he went right up and sat down brave as could be. Santa was very nice to Ben and even sang the Spiderman theme song for him.

Pre-Thanksgiving Celebration

We had a great time with our favorite Illinois/Kentucky/West Virginia cousins. We got to see Aleena's new house (hopefully Ben didn't destroy it too much...) and had a delicious homemade meal. We love you guys!

Air Hockey

We met up with Ben's buddy Connor on Friday night at a place with games, bounce houses and a jungle gym. Ben had his first experience playing pool and air hockey - fun stuff!

I like to do drawerings!

Today Ben was coloring on his dry-erase board and we asked him if he could draw a face. This is what he came up with. It's his first drawing of something you can truly identify - we were so proud! He went on to draw Mommy, Daddy and Ben, it was so cool! 

Aunt Holly's Birthday!

We had a great time in Columbia for Aunt Holly's birthday. Ben loved seeing his cousins and was totally engrossed in all of their toys. He tried so hard to keep up with the big boys he wouldn't settle down for a nap... that night at dinner he was so EXHAUSTED all he wanted to do was sleep on the floor of the restaurant (yuk!). Ben fell asleep the moment we put him in the car to head back to their house.

AJ was so cute and fun - he liked picking out lots of stories to read together. He was great sharing his toys with Ben and always wanted to know where Ben was. Charlie is such a nice big kid so sweet and caring towards the little guys! Uncle Joe loved playing Wii with Charlie and looks forward to the day Ben can play video games!