Christmas Day 2009

Christmas was a fun filled day for our family. It was nice that everyone was old enough to really enjoy it. They were so cute when opening their gifts, as you can see by Ben and Johnny's expressions. Everything they opened they were so excited about getting. The last picture is of Natalie with some of her gifts telling Johnny "Hay, that's mine, it's for girls" while pointing at him playing with something of hers. Can't you just hear her saying that.

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful, but busy Christmas Eve. The kids and I made salt dough Christmas ornaments and sugar cookies for Santa. The ornaments were so much fun to make and I think they enjoyed doing that more than the cookies. We ended the day by having a little family home evening where we read "Mortimer's Christmas Manger" (we have read this every year for the past three years) and then a little discussion about the true reason for Christmas. Then it was bath time and off to bed. Johnny and Natalie had no trouble falling asleep, but poor Ben. It was a long night for him. He was so excited for Santa to come!

Natalie's Christmas Apron

I decided to make Natalie a Christmas apron that she can wear each year when we make Christmas goodies. I made it a little big for her, hopefully she can use it for several years. We are going to put it away with the Christmas decorations, so that it becomes a special Christmas apron. I found the cutest fabric back for it back in October, but it didn't get made until the week of Christmas. Life just gets too busy sometimes. In fact, I bought the pattern for it a couple of days before I made it. Hobby Lobby had their patterns on sale for $1.99. I had Johnny and Natalie with me and hurried to find any pattern for an apron. I found one and bought it only to realize later when I was looking at it in the carpool lane to pick up Ben that it was a pattern for apron Christmas ornaments. So, I just made up the pattern. I think that it turned out pretty cute for not having a pattern and I hope that Natalie likes it.

Mighty Mustang Once Again

Ben was named the Mighty Mustang at school the week before Christmas break. We are so proud of him!! He was happy that he received it when he did. He says that he is the Mighty Mustang until he goes back to school on January 4th and they name a new one. Therefore, he gets to be the Mighty Mustang for three weeks, not just one like everyone else.

Just Some Fun Pics

Some fun pictures at The Dallas Zoo.


Johnny and Natalie on top of one of Johnny's famous ships.


"SUPER BEN, to the rescue!!"

Santa

The week of Thanksgiving I took the kids to see Santa while Thomas was a work. I decided to put them in their Christmas outfits and was really hoping to get a good picture. I think that the picture turned out pretty nice, except we just couldn't get Natalie to smile. When we got in the car I asked her why she wouldn't smile, she replied "I tried Mommy, I tried". Guess you can't argue with that. Santa can be a little intimidating.

Ben's Career Day

Ben's school on Friday, Oct. 30th, had a Career Day. All the kids were to dress up as what they would like to be when they grow up. All week I kept asking Ben what he wanted to be and he kept telling me that all he wants to be is a Dad when he grows up. It is very cute, but kinda hard to dress up as for Career Day. Finally, on Thursday afternoon he said that he wanted to be a Military Man. I called Melissa and she was gracious enough to let him borrow one of their flight suits. Boy was he proud of himself. He really enjoyed wearing it. Thomas met him for lunch and said that Ben was walking around pretending to be shooting planes down with his guns. Not sure if I like that, but I am glad that he had a great day!

Happy Halloween 2009

Our little diva after I put lip gloss on her. She was very happy with the way she looked.




Darth Vader (AKA Joey) and ObiWan (AKA Ben) battling before trick-or-treating.


Johnny pretending to be a snowman. I am not sure what that means, all I know is that he asked me to take his picture being a snowman.




Johnny came up to me when we were almost done trick-or-treating and said "MOM, my feet are hot, they're hot, hot, hot!!" He had to sit in the stroller for a while and let them cool down.

August 24, 2009 The First Day of 1st Grade

Ben before the first day of school.



Natalie was watching him all morning. I think she was processing the fact that he was going to be going back to school.


Ben at his desk. He got to pick where he sat, so he sat next to his buddy Brandon. They were in kindergarten together and never got to be at the same table. As we were leaving, the tears began to flow. But they weren't from Ben or me ... they were from Natalie. She just started balling and saying my Ben, my Ben. It was so sad and so sweet all at the same time. I wasn't expecting her to react that way. She still tells everyone all day "Ben is at school!" she also asks me "Are we going to get Ben now?" She sure loves her big brother. Johnny, on the other hand was not in the least bit affected by Ben going back to school. I guess that isn't totally true, he has been in such a great mood lately - he is king of the castle once again!

Charging Up

I bought the boys some glow in the dark underwear a few weeks ago. Of course they were really excited about putting them on. They put them on and went into the bathroom to see them glow, and as you would expect straight out of the package, they didn't. I told them that they needed to charge up in the light to glow. Both of them ran to the window. I asked them what they were doing and was told "We're charging up, Mom!"

Painting Our Room

I finally got up the energy to paint our bedroom. The kids enjoyed watching their shows on our bed, and watching me, while I started painting.





It didn't take long for Ben to get tired of watching me, Johnny to fall asleep, and Natalie to want to start helping me. I gave Natalie a roller and she "helped" me paint the walls. She was very proud of herself. She even got on my bed and painted Johnny, who was asleep. He didn't seem to mind.


Natalie, the next day. She wanted her picture taken next to her "pretty wall".



Natalie on our bed watching her shows after all the work was done.

Saturday Fun

We ventured out to North Park Mall for the opening of their Lego Store. They had a Lego build of Yoda, Ben and Johnny had fun building bricks for it. Natalie and I just went shopping. We were prepared after doing the Lego build at Stonbriar's store opening.





They had an R2D2 at the Mall. Just some cute pics of the boys with it. They were pretty excited to see him!






One of the stores had these Super Hero statues in it. Darth Vader was also there. Johnny was too scared to take his picture with him. Thomas said that he freaked out when he saw him (check out his facial expression in the picture of him with Batman, that's when he saw him) and his hands even got all sweaty. He really didn't like being around him. The last picture is him hiding behind the stroller while I took Thomas and Ben's picture.