Merry Christmas!

We wish all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Santa and Benny

Benny was excited to see Santa this year. He liked all the lights and Christmas tree decorations. He did really well until the photographer tried to tickle him to get him to smile. Benny went from smiling to crying in less than a second. The pictures say it all.

Benny Pictures

Here are some pictures I took of Benny the last few days.

He still likes to play peek-a-boo with the curtains. Here he is checking out our Christmas Tree. He has been very good with it. I am quite surprised.

Here he is kissing his reindeer stocking. He did this all on his own. I did not ask him to do it.

We now have a portable gate at the end of the stairs. Benny likes to climb up on the first step and yell for you if you have been upstairs too long.

Benny in the snow!

Benny is having a lot of fun playing in the snow and we sure have a lot of it for him to play with. We have about 5 to 6 inches of snow out there and according to the weather report, we may get more. I sure hope we have a white Christmas.

Here is a video of Benny in the snow. Enjoy!

Snow in the Mountains

Here are some pictures we took going to and from Leavenworth and while we were in Leavenworth. Enjoy! (p.s. the last picture has the moon above one of the mountains. I took that early in the morning.)

Leavenworth Washington

Brad, Benny and I went to Leavenworth, WA. It is a Bavarian style town east of the Cascade Mountains. We went there specifically for their Christmas Light Festival. It was quite a sight to see. The weather was quite cold. I don't think it got out of the teens and dropped below zero at night. Benny seemed to like it. He got to try out his snow suit. We got there just in time to see the Light Festival on Sunday and then spent Monday walking the shops. Tuesday we had to head back home.

Here is Benny looking out our hotel room window. He liked to look at all of the lights.

There was quite a crowd for the Lighting Festival. It was neat. They lit up the trees one by one as we sang "Silent Night". Then we all counted down from ten and the rest of downtown lit up.

Some of the entertainment before the lights came on included these alpine horn players.


Benny didn't know what to think about Santa, but he did like the candy cane Santa gave him.

Benny was also lucky to see Rudolph as well.

Zoo Lights

Benny enjoyed looking at the LED lights. The lights were very bright and colorful.


This was a beautiful peacock that lit up. If you have ever been to the Zoo in Tacoma, you would know of the beautiful peacocks that walk around the park.


Here is a display depicting Mount Rainier and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The red and white lights represent the cars that travel on the bridge every day.

The Thursday after Thanksgiving we took Benny to see the Zoolights at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, WA. It was the first time we ever went there in the five years we have been living on the West Coast. Most if not all the lights were LED. They were so bright and colorful. Benny had fun running around. We spent about 2 hours there and are looking forward to going back next year.

Thanksgiving 2008

Benny and Grandpa looking at Uncle Tim's chickens.

Hansome Benny ready for church. He did better this time. He didn't fall asleep during the sermon.

Daddy taking Benny for a ride in one of Grandpa's wagons. Last time Benny was more interested in pushing the wagon. This time I think he liked riding in it.


Here is Benny chasing one of Grandma and Grandpa's cats.

Brad was able to get the week after Thanksgiving off this year so we decided to go back to visit my family in Illinois. It was very cold there, and it only rained about one day. Benny had fun running around outside chasing the cats. Grandpa had put away his big tractor for the year, but Benny helped him drive his little tractor. We had a great meal at my sister and brother-in-law's house the Friday after Thanksgiving. We even went and saw Christmas lights. We squeezed in a short trip to Kentucky to see my Aunt Connie and Uncle Tim as well as my cousins and their significant others. It was nice to spend time with family and let Benny get to know his relatives.

Major Update!

As my mom told me last night, I have not updated this in awhile. I have a good excuse. Too much has been going on. Since the last update, we have visited family over Thanksgiving, seen the Zoolights at the Point Defiance Zoo, dealt with a lot (and I mean a lot) of snow and cold weather, spent a few days in Leavenworth, WA and went and had pictures taken with Santa. Oh yeah, and somehow fit Christmas shopping in there.

One thing I do want to mention is Benny's new thing. He likes to tickle people. He will come up to us and put his hand on us and say "tickle tickle". It is so cute. I have a video of it and I will upload it tomorrow.

We are expecting anywhere from 6 to 8 inches of snow tonight (Sat) into tomorrow (Sun) so I will not be going anywhere. My goal for tomorrow is to upload a ton of stuff I want to share from all the fun listed above.

Utensils

I recently bought some new utensils for Benny. These are not plastic, but metal like real utensils. He trys his best, but still likes to eat with his fingers. It is funny to watch because the spoon or fork is always in his right hand and he picks up food with his left hand. He has always done it this way. He actually ate that whole bowl of pasta and just a few bites of the veggies. He washed it all down with a cup of milk.

How many pacifiers does one boy need?

If the little boy is Benny, then the answer is three. I am glad he doesn't know about pockets or else who knows how many he would carry.

Not so good news!

Well, this was supposed to be an announcement of wonderful news. As of last week, I was pregnant with our second child. I have been spotting since Monday. I had a doctor's appointment today. An ultrasound was done and the baby should have been 9 weeks but only measured at 6 weeks. It just wasn't developing. My doctor had me go get a whole work up done. I had to give about 9 vials of blood. That was fun (ha ha). We won't know the results for about a couple of weeks. The doctor said we can try again for another baby after the first of the year. I am really depressed but I know that this is all part of God's plan and I have put my faith in Him.

Go Eagles!

On Sunday, November 2nd, Brad and I (minus Benny) went to see the Seattle Seahawks take on the Philadelphia Eagles at Quest Stadium in Seattle. We went with some friends who had season tickets. They were sitting pretty close to the field. We however do not have season tickets, so we were up in the peanut gallery. You would not believe the number of steps we had to climb. Anyway, the game was pretty good. Especially because the Eagles won, 26 to 7.

Here is a picture taken late in the game. We went down to meet up with our friends so this is their perspective of the game. Here is a picture taken about half way up to our seats.

This is a picture from where our seats were. They really weren't too bad, just didn't like the climb.

Halloween 2008

Benny had a great time trick or treating. Daddy had to work, so it was only me and Benny going around the neighborhood. Benny liked knocking on the doors. Just about every house we went to, he wanted to go inside. As you can see, he was dressed as a little lion. I was very proud of him, because he kept that hat on the whole time we were out trick or treating.

Once we were done, he liked helping me pass out candy. He got so excited anytime anyone rang the doorbell.

Boo-Boo

Here are some pictures of Benny's boo-boo. The staff at the museum were great. They got us an ice pack for Benny. He did really well with it. We just had to make sure he didn't puncture it. He only cried for a few minutes and was fine the rest of the day.

Children's Museum of Seattle

On Thursday we took Benny to the Children's Museum in downtown Seattle. He had a great time, up until he got hurt. We could have spent the whole day there and we look forward to bringing him next year when he will be big enough to do more things.

This was part of an exhibit having to do with Mr. Potatoe Head. In this section, Mr. Potatoe Head was an astronaut. Benny liked playing with the knobs and switches. This is where he got his boo-boo. He was trying to get down off the step and slipped and hit his mouth and split his lip. (More pictures of that later.)

There was a section devoted to only kids 3 and under. Benny really enjoyed playing at this water table.

Another part of the museum brought books to life. Here Benny liked playing with the buttons. The story was about Frog and Toad and a missing button. You had to follow the clues to find the right button. Benny didn't understand. He just liked pushing the buttons to see what would happen.

Another section of the museum was called Cog City. Here kids could do different things with ping pong balls. This is a picture of Benny putting a ball through these tubes.

We had a lot of fun that day. Benny did really well overall. I know this would be a great place to take Grandpa and Grandma or Aunts and Uncles.

Benny's Wish List

The holidays are just around the corner. With that in mind, I have added and edited Benny's wish list. Feel free to go there to see what he hope to get Benny for Christmas.

Scary Wednesday

One of my greatest fears was realized. I slipped coming down the stairs while I was holding Benny. It happened Wednesday morning. Luckily, Benny is okay. He wasn't phased by it at all. I only slipped down 4 or 5 steps and managed to scoot my way to the bottom. I ended up spraining my right ankle. Brad and Benny took me to the doctor and the doctor told me to keep it elevated and iced. They gave me a neat brace to wear for when I have to walk. If it didn't feel better by today, I was supposed to get an x-ray. It is feeling much better, but I still need to use the brace. I have been out of work for the last 3 days and I am ready to get back to it. I am so thankful that Benny didn't get hurt and I am doing fine.

More Benny Pictures

Brad took this picture of Benny napping. He is a stomach sleeper just like his daddy. Here is Bubble Boy. Benny is have much more fun in the bathtub these days because I have been adding bubble bath to his bath. He likes to try to eat the bubbles. What a nice bubble beard.
Party on Benny!
Here is Benny at dinner time. Look how big he is in that highchair. This was taken today. He likes to play with wheels. If he is not climbing on it, he is turning it over to get at the wheels.