I'll Be Home For Christmas!

So we finally made it home for Christmas! After a week of being unaware of whether Daniel was actually going to be writing his exams (he got 2/6 written... yuck) we left for the Great White North known as Canada.

We got up at 5 on Friday morning and made it out of the house by 6. The worst roads were just outside of Portland due to no plows. We made great time until just after Coure D'Alene, Idaho when our speedometer went nuts, our cruise control quit and we couldn't go any higher than 3 gear. We drove crazy slow to Missoula, Montana and got a hotel for the night. Thank you Motel 6 for being cheap! The local Dodge dealership got us in first thing on Saturday morning for a lot cheaper than it could have turned out to be. The sensor on our transmission went so it just had to be replaced. We were back on the road by 9:30 and we made it to my parents house that afternoon.

We are so grateful to be with our family for Christmas and that our van should behave itself from now on. Daniel is up in Banff tonight with his Dad and brothers for a ski trip tomorrow. He should be having fun. All four of them haven't been able to go together in quite a few years so this should be great for them.

Benson was pretty good on the trip. He has taken to using the full capacity of his lungs though. that made for 'fun' times in the car. He has been doing really well sleeping in the double bed here at my parents. He doesn't have to even get off the bed when he is playing around before actually falling asleep.

I hope everybody has a very Merry Christmas! All those that are traveling I hope you have good weather and a less eventful trip than ours. We love you and will be on again sometime after Christmas!

Snow Day?

So this morning woke up to this outside. No big deal! I remember that we were asked to give talks in church but had forgot until Bens was eating breakfast. Daniel was in bed still and I yelled up to him in a panic. We were told to use any topic so Daniel said we could use one of our 2 talks from the summer. I calmed down until I remembered our printer doesn't work.


The phone rang and my visiting teacher told me that Church was canceled! What a relief! So we had a nice relaxing day at home playing games and had some friends over for dinner. These are pictures that I took just after we got the call about church. There is more snow on the ground now but still a lot less than is on the ground back home! Daniel's exams for tomorrow has been postponed until the first Friday of next semester. Hopefully the school will be open on Tuesday!


Here are a couple pictures of Bens enjoying a Costco chocolate muffin. I love his blacked out teeth!

So this was the most excited we got Benson to look while sitting on Santa's lap. The pictures didn't quite capture the "And I am sitting on his lap because?..." look quite but this explains enough!

It's been a while!

Well going back almost a month ago we did celebrate Daniels Birthday! We had friends over for cake and we talked all night. It was great!


We got some Chinese food a while ago and Benson liked it a lot!


His favorite is Sweet'n'Sour Chicken but he was enjoying his fortune cookie in this picture.


Bens has taken a liking to wearing our shoes. This is the first time he started to walk around with them though.


Bens wanted to wear some socks but he had sleepers on so I put on his dog slippers and put the socks on the dogs ears. It seemed to please him. He walked around kicking his feet up... it was pretty cute!


Benson has started to put his sunglasses on himself. Yay! He puts them on top of his head crooked!


Here is our Christmas tree ($30 at Big Lots... pre-lit). Benson helped me decorate it. Now he knows he can touch the tree if he uses one finger. Unfortunately he uses his finger to jab violently at the ornaments!

Bens has gotten attached to his hat recently. When he wakes up in the morning or after a nap he goes a puts it on.

This is his other hat. I found him walking around in the kitchen wearing this as a hat. So creative!


Between all his mischief he is an absolute angel while he sleeps! We woke him up so he could go to the babysitters while we went out.


He didn't want to wake up. Poor guy cried for about 20 minutes.


Showing off all of his muscles!


Daniel and I went to a Christmas Gala his school put on on Saturday. There was great food and music and dancing. We took the classic 'going to Prom' picture at home first.


We try and get Benson to have a nap before Church every week sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. He was playing in his room and just zonked right out!


I love it when he sleeps with his bum in the air. You know that he is really tired then!

Not too much else is going on. We are counting down to Christmas! Daniel started his last week of classes today and has his exams all next week. Then we are off to the Great White North for 2 weeks! Yeah! Have a great week. I may add some videos later so keep on your toes!

Videos!

So here are some recent videos you can enjoy! Sorry some of them are sideways!

Birthday Week

This is the week in the year that Daniel and I have our Birthdays. My birthday was last week and Daniel's is this coming week. It is nice having our birthdays so close together. My family has always had quite a few birthdays in November so Daniel fits right in with us. We have some friends here at school that also have birthdays in November... or right before, so there is a lot of cake being eaten here!


Benson was really nice a bought me a present when we were at Wal-Mart on Thursday...


It was a Bing Crosby Christmas album that came with the movie Holiday Inn and this Santa hat he modeled for me.


This is my birthday cake that was just awesome!! Thanks Bethany and Julie. They didn't want me to have to make a cake on my birthday so they volunteered!


I was able to blow out all my candles so no boyfriends this year!! I think Daniel was relieved by that!

Well Daniel really spoiled me this year. We always have breakfast in bed for birthdays so I ate breakfast at 7 before he went to school and he gave me my presents. My mom gave me a new watch (Thank-you!!). Daniel and I bought bath sheets a few weeks ago as a shared birthday present that we have been using ... why not? Daniel also got me a metal water bottle from the school and last but certainly not least!... Tickets for Wicked! Yay! It is coming to Portland in March and he got tickets for it.

Friday night we went out for dinner at a place called McMenamins. It is really neat. They take old buildings a restore them for the restaurant and have different attractions at them. This one had a theater so we watched Mamma Mia while we ate. It was really neat!


Benson's new favorite thing to do is putting Hot Wheels down his shirt. I think it started by us putting them up his sleeves at church to keep him busy. In this picture I think there are about 10 or 15 cars down there. What a funny kid.

On Sunday night Benson was crying in bed so I went in to check on him and found blood drooling out of his mouth. The poor kiddo must have bumped his chin on his beds side board and chomped through his tongue. He is doing better now but is dealing with a swollen tongue and nasty looking sore on it. He really is a trooper.

That is all that is happening here. Friday is Daniel's birthday so look for a blog/pictures shortly after that! Have a great week!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween one and all! We had a fun Halloween. Benson still doesn't understand it but loves to eat the candy.


I was trying to get a good picture of Benson in his costume but he wasn't cooperating!


There was a carnival at the school that we went to. Benson had fun playing in the gym and dancing to the music. I will post a video of it next time. Here he was sitting on the stage waiting for the costume judging to be done.


He wasn't doing so well at sitting still so I sat with him. We tried to have some blood on him but he kept trying to wipe it off. It lasted through the drool for the night though.


Sitting by Bethany and Chandler during the costume judging. Benson wasn't so impressed anymore. Chandler was such a cutie!


Benson made friends with PB & J. Mike took him on the Astro Jump and wanted to hang out with him the rest of the night. Just after this he took quite the liking to Julie as well.

I took Benson to a couple of houses but he was pretty tired and hungry. We had some friends over for dinner and pumpkin carving. We had stew in little pumpkins for dinner with orange juice with black licorice straws.

Then we had some more people over for games. All in all it was a pretty good night. We had fun with our little vampire and look forward to the Halloweens to come. Have a great weekend!

It's a wild Zoo out there!

Yesterday we went to the zoo. We had a lot of fun there. Some of the other wives here in our complex were going and invited us.

It was a little cold so we layered up and put on our tuque and mittens.


We saw fish swimming right beside us!


We got to pet the goat. Bens tried to feed him but the goat wasn't very interested.


Bens and I stood by the bears to see how we measure up... I think it was kind of a close one but the bear won!


After we looked at the frogs we played on the frog sculpture. Benson had a lot of fun until he tripped and fell on the dirt.


After lunch we we played on the hippo sculpture...

and the camel sculpture.

Benson did really well at the zoo. We also visited the Polar Bears, Sea Lions, Otters, Ducks, and many more animals. This was Benson's first trip to the zoo. On the way home he fell asleep but went right back to sleep when I put him down for his nap. Yay!

Stay posted for more pictures from Halloween. We are going to a carnival at Daniel's school and will probably carve our pumpkin with another family. Have a great day!

Nursery Time!

So Benson got sick last Sunday and was a sad little man. I went upstairs to throw away his diaper and I came downstairs and found him crying and laying on the floor like this... Poor kiddo!


As soon as he saw a flash he perked up and looked at me. How could he resist a camera? It took a few days but he got over his fever and is back to normal. He is still sleeping in his 'big boy' bed. We had a little bit of a rough patch while he was sick but sleeps there all the time now.


Saturday night I got sick of Bens' hair and got out the clippers. This is his 7th hair cut! He is just growing up so fast!


On Sunday we dressed Bens' for church and just loved his outfit and had to share it with all of you! It was kinda difficult to get a nice picture though!


It was Happy 1/2 Birthday Benson on Sunday as well. We can officially put Benson in Nursery now! Yay! I totally put him in for the last hour last week and they said that he will probably need somebody to stay with him next time. Well I think he was clingy because he was getting sick so this may only last a week before we are completely free to enjoy our meetings!


He really is the light of my life... How could I not lot a face like that?! This picture really shows how small our 'yard' is. We have a sidewalk with about 1 1/2 feet to the fence. Other than that we love our place!


This morning Benson was in a fairly good mood and was having fun on our computer chair.


I was dangling a cord that he wanted to play with by the camera so he would look at it. If only he stay still long enough to get a picture!


He looks like he has a secret to share but won't share it... If I find out what it is I will pass it along!

This week we went to a couple of parks and played. Some of the other Mom's in our complex want to take the kids to a playground once a week just to get out of the house. It was nice to go with them. We went to a park that is at a preschool so everything was low and Benson sized!

The next day we went to the community center and payed a dollar to go into the gym where they have a whole bunch of toys, balls, Little Tike cars, a tramoline... pretty much any toy Benson would enjoy. It was great. Benson found a big red wagon that had seats in it. I pulled him around for about 10 minutes in it. He was in little boy heaven!

Have a great day and have a Happy Halloween if I don't get on before then!!

Our Big Boy!

Hello all!

Benson is becoming such a big boy! A couple of nights ago we tried Benson in a 'big boy' bed. He lasted about 10 minutes, the second night he lasted 2 hours. We heard a thump and Daniel went to check on him. He was standing on the ground by the end of his bed. Daniel picked him up and Bens just started feeling his face. When he realized it was Daddy he snuggled in. Daniel put him in his bed and he stuck his hand up with a sock in it. Daniel took the sock and Bens fell right back asleep. So last night Benson made it all night! Yay! I went into his room this morning and he was still in his bed happy and having fun.

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks. We got "Boo-ed" last night. We were given some chocolate cover cake suckers... they are so good! If anybody knows how to make them please send me the recipe!! Anyways, enjoy the pictures!


Bens was only happy when he was upside down in the picture!




Bens has taken to putting is food in his hair.