Bundled Up!

someone is ready for the cold!

Jingle Bells

Merry Christmas from Benjamin!

Merry Christmas 2013!!

What a fun Christmas we've been having! Julia and Benjamin were super excited for the holiday this year and their enthusiasm is definitely contagious! 

The excitement began before Thanksgiving during our Florida trip. Julia and I spied Santa at the mall there and she needed to have a chat with him and get her picture taken. She went right up to and had a long conversation about how she wanted cars, pom-poms, and a firetruck (this stayed fairly consistent throughout the next month) and took this adorable picture.

Then the week before Christmas we made another visit to see Santa because Benjamin had not yet seen him. He wasn't as sure about talking to Santa but did sit and have his picture taken and only needed a reassuring hand hold from me. 

We spent Christmas Eve at Grandpa Rick and Gramma Lesley's house. It was an evening of anticipation with Grandpa Rick and Julia carefully tracking Santa's every move via NORAD's website. After the traditional readings of Santa Mouse and The Night Before Christmas we headed home for bed. Even though both kids seemed pretty wired they were asleep quickly so Santa could come.

Riding the carousel when we went to visit Santa

All dressed up!

the annual reading of The Night Before Christmas

Christmas morning dawned bright and early with Julia jumping on our bed at 4:45am! We did wait until 5:15 (when Benj woke up) to go downstairs. She already knew that Santa had come because he left two packages upstairs -- a book for each of them. Poems to Know by Heart for Julia and The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh for Benjamine. 

And what to our wondering eyes did we spy downstairs? 

… cookie bits leftover from Santa's snack

… a racetrack for hot wheels

… filled stockings

… presents!

It was a big year for motor vehicles in our house, among the presents received were a huge firetruck, a large jeep with trailer, hot wheels, and a couple of other race cars. Julia also received a real guitar and Benjamin loved his new shopping cart. Santa also remembered to bring some new pom-poms for Julia.

Firetruck!

Benj's ball pit from Auntie Merrill

Christmas morning was spent playing and visiting with Grandpa Rick, Gramma Les, Great-Grandpa Carl, and Great-Grandma Beverly. Then after a good nap for Benjamin we headed to the Geary's for Christmas dinner and antipasto.

The following day we had another Christmas celebration with Grandma Laurie, Grandpa Boo, Auntie Lyndsay, Derrick, Auntie Merrill, and Alex. 

teeter-tottering

On Friday, the kids were definitely a little disappointed that Christmas was over but I think they have enough to occupy them for quite awhile! And as a nice surprise, Andrew took the day off and in the afternoon we all went bowling!

Heard Around Our House

Benjamin: "eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fiveteen…"
Me: "fifteen"
Benjamin: "thirteen, fourteen, fiveteen"
Me:"fifteen"
Benjamin: "NO, NO, NO FIVEteen"
Me: silence

time - 4:55am
place - my bed, Julia has just woken up (she slept with me for half the night when Andrew was away)
Me: asleep
Julia: "Mom, Mom"
Me: "what?"
Julia: "where do the crocodiles live?"
Me: "not here"
Julia: "but they live in Florida?"
Me: "yes" (it was way too early to get into a discussion of alligators vs crocodiles -- I do know that alligators are what mostly live in FL)
Julia: "Where do they live in FL?"
Me: "in the swamp"
Julia: "where are the swamps?"
Me: "all over, there are lots of swamps in Florida"
Julia: "lots of swamps?"
Me: "yes, in fact, there's a huge swamp called the Everglades… we'll have to read about it"
Julia: "Ohhh, there must be 191 crocodiles there"
Me: "yes, go back to sleep"
Julia: silence
(Note: I really do wonder what she dreams about when she wakes me up with conversations like this one!)

Heard Around our House - Christmas Edition

Benjamin: Chris-tree! Chris-tree!
                 Chris-lights! Chris-lights!
(he seems to think the "mas" in Christmas is unnecessary!)

Julia: "Is Santa Claus coming tonight?"
(this is asked every day, usually right after she has gotten the treats out of the advent calendar and been told how many days until Christmas Eve! Someone is very excited this year!!)

Benjamin: jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells
(apparently his favorite chris-carol)

Julia: "I miss Daddy" (Andrew was away for a couple of days this week)
Me: "Me too but he's coming home tonight after you're asleep. He'll be here in the morning."
Julia: "So, if we don't go to sleep then he won't come home?!?"
(I think there's been a few too many Santa conversations around here!)

and as a special treat here's Julia and Alex performing Santa Claus is Coming to Town at Grandma Les and Grandpa Rick's chris-party last weekend:

Swim Progress

Julia has been making great strides (or should it be strokes??) in her swimming progress lately. I took these videos over the last couple of weeks.

Julia the Builder

Julia attended her first Build and Grow session at Lowe's this month where she built a holiday train. She had a fantastic time using a real hammer and creating her own special train engine!

I think there will plenty more of these workshops in our future!