Lilypie Sixth Birthday tickers

Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

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.
























Tuesday, December 23, 2008

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.





Sunday, December 21, 2008

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.












Saturday, December 20, 2008

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.