from our family to yours…

May your days be Merry & Bright, and may God bless you in the upcoming new year!

White Christmas

Hello bloggy friends! It has been a while since I have felt like blogging, but here I am! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas. Unfortunately, I was extremely sick on Christmas and didn’t really enjoy it {as I was in bed most of the day}. The good thing is I am finally feeling better and ready to move on past the sickness! I have a lingering cough and a headache but I’m doing pretty good in comparison to how I had been doing!

Benjamin, on the other hand, had a fantastic Christmas and has been enjoying all of his toys that he has opened. We haven’t opened all the toys because we are going to be moving in a little over a week and don’t want to have to track down a million small pieces, but I am sure when we get to our new house he is going to have a lot of fun figuring out all his new toys.

I know that a lot of you had white Christmases just like we did! I don’t know about where you live, but in Atlanta there hadn’t been a white Christmas since 1882! And I can’t remember the last time it snowed as much as it did here! Of course, I didn’t go outside at all. I didn’t even take pictures of it {for that matter, I only took a few period during gift opening because I just felt too ill to move around… you know I’m sick when I’m too sick to hold up a camera and press a button}. Carl was able to take a few of Benjamin out in the snow…

Benjamin preferred the driveway to standing out in the fluffy, cold stuff. I don’t blame him. I’m not really a fan of snow either. So I’m glad I at least had an excuse to not go outside.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and I hope you were all surrounded by people you love! I look forward to the New Year, how about you?

From Our Hearts To Yours

Benjamin Meets Santa Claus

We did not plan on meeting Santa today. If I had thought of it beforehand, I would have made him wear something a lot cuter than his “TOUCHDOWN” sweatshirt. You know. Something more festive. Something…. Christmas-y. Good thing it was Red. Turns out it didn’t matter what the front of his shirt said because the pictures with the front of his shirt were awful.

Let me explain. In line, he was barely containable because he was so excited. He wanted to get down and he was practicing his smiles and everything (by the way, the smiles he practiced had him jutting out his lower jaw – so funny!). However, he wouldn't even LOOK at Santa and wanted nothing to do with him when we got to him. He absolutely did NOT want to sit in the chair with him. He leaned down and wanted to get down or fall out or just anything to get away. So Santa was good enough to get down on the floor with the candy canes(!) to see if Ben would be happier that way… well, not really. Pretty much every photo besides the one we chose was Benjamin attempting to get far away from Santa. There was one shot where both of them looked pretty frustrated with the situation,  ha! Should have gotten that one printed, right?!

Anyway. The picture:

No, this won’t be our holiday card, if we do send out photo cards (that is, if I get mine free). Sorry Santa, you’re just not making the cut! I’d rather have one with Benjamin smiling. But nice try, anyway. Maybe next year Benjamin will be happier to see the Jolly man in red.

At least he got a candy cane! The most shocking part was when I didn’t swoon at the price… although I sure did feel like it!

Ben's Biplane

December is almost over and we are home for good, for now. We have successfully tackled Benjamin's first Christmas, and then my brother's wedding, and nobody is missing tufts of hair. Is that amazing? To me, it is. It has felt like the longest week of my life, only second to Benjamin's first week of life where I was holed up in a hospital receiving blood and all that jazz. Benjamin slept on an air mattress with me (mostly) all week. I am still trying to figure out how someone can roll and crawl around in a bed and not wake up. I was awake.

Benjamin's first Christmas was so fun and exciting. He got a lot of gifts that he adores, which is so nice. Sometimes it is hard to find stuff that entertains him for a long while, and I think his grandparents (and great-grandparents, and even Great-Aunt and Uncle) hit the jackpot with great gifts! From a Cozy Coupe to books, to Fridge Farm, and so many other things - Benjamin is set!

The highlight of Christmas morning, I think, was coming downstairs to find a Benjamin-sized white airplane sitting by the tree.


It was a gift that everyone kept a secret from me and Carl both, and of course Benjamin. It was a pleasant surprise.

The best thing about it...

It was hand crafted by my dad...

Benjamin's Papaw.

Thank you dad, for such a memorable gift!!!



Speaking of memorable gifts... Benjamin has been practicing his walking ever since Christmas! What a gift!

Hope you all have been having safe holidays! More pics later, and of course some of the wedding!

Holidays and Fish

This is so late in coming but I really do hope you all have had a fantastic holiday season! We are still at my parents' house enjoying time here ... my brother's wedding is coming up in two days so we are all busy getting ready for that!

Christmas pictures are still on the camera so right now I am not able to share those with you, but we had a really wonderful time and Benjamin enjoyed his first Christmas. He enjoyed it so much that he took his first voluntary steps on Christmas day and earlier today he took at least fifteen consecutive steps. We have all been busy!

I have been meaning to share with you some pictures from our Vacation in Charleston, where we visited the Aquarium! So here they are! Enjoy!



Benjamin met a new friend and enjoyed hugging him:





He really liked this Rocking Snail..








Next up, the children's museum, and then Christmas - but excuse me if you don't hear from me until Wednesday!

Busted.

Benjamin unsuspectingly was playing upon his Christmas present, which I knowingly only paid $2 for - regularly a $20 toy, and yes, out of the unsuspecting Target store. Little did they know when I purchased a $4 prescription and gained a $10 giftcard, and then used a $5 off coupon for something that was marked down temporarily to $17, that I would get smart and actually redeem myself for the sock incident.

Can you tell I'm a little proud of myself? Although Hubby is the one who did the actual purchasing as Benjamin and I were sick that day.

Anyway. Would you believe that I just got waaaay off track?

I think Benjamin will like his toy.





Or, at least he is going to have fun with the box. I mean, look at them - they aren't even paying attention to that box of AVON books and whatever else is in it!



Oh ... um ...



Ok.



Sigh.



As if he had nothing to do with it ...



Yeah, I know you helped, Benjamin.



And I know you did it while wearing Daddy's shoe...



Busted.