Christmas 2012

We finally succeeded in attending a Christmas Eve Service at our church! We just had to attend it 2 days before Christmas (Sunday), in the morning :)  Here is Mae all ready to go:

  Opening up a couple gifts Christmas Eve:

Grandma made the kids their own 'letters' books filled with pictures of them and all our extended family. The kids loved them!!

 

 Christmas Morning opening stockings:

 Ben wasn't so sure about the socks above but he definitely loved the sklyanders!!

Skylanders were his only request for Christmas and he almost didn't get them as he kept calling them battlemodes and we had no idea what they were! Once we discovered what he was talking about it was getting too close to Christmas and all the deals were done and there was no way I was paying full price when I had seen how cheap I could purchase them :) He was told to prepare himself as he wasn't going to be getting them but he refused to believe us. Luckily for him - a week before I found the game at 50% off.

Mae found Christmas a little stressful. She enjoyed her gifts but after opening a couple she didn't want to touch anymore and just wanted to play with her baby - and steal her brothers stuff :)

 Mae LOVED her gift from her brother. He gave her 1 of his pet shop toys he used to treasure.

December 2012

Mae is no longer allowed to feed herself yogurt, which does disappoint Maully:

The color around her mouth is the result of her eating her new bathtub crayons.

 

 

When we grew up Saturday mornings equaled cartoons. For our kids they want to play our electronics :)

 

Playdate over the holidays:

 

 Christmas baking time! Mae didn't last too long as once she realized she could eat what we were 'painting' she had to be removed before she ate all our cookies.

November 2012

Kids helping me go through the fliers for black friday shopping. Benjamin was having a wonderful time circling his wish list.

Mae being Mae.

October 2012

Yes there are more pictures of Mae than Benjamin in this post. That is not because we are showing favorites - it is because Benjamin is constantly refusing to have his picture taken!

 

Benjamin loves his puzzles! When we were in California for the summer, we would wake up to find him already in the kitchen 1/2 way done 1 of the 100 piece puzzles we brought for him.

 

The above is for crazy hair day at Awanas. I have discovered the perfect way to dye his hair is to mix koolaid in gel, then place into his hair. He is loving going to Awanas this year. And i can't get over all the memory verses he easily crams into that head of his - for sunday school and awanas!

 

 

 

 

A classic shot of our potty training days:

 

That is 1 of my PJ shirts Mae has put herself into below. I am constantly finding her wanting to put on my clothing.

 Notice the toothbrush below - similar to our August post. Mae still gets into the bathroom to steal toothbrushes to chew on (or eat the toothpaste).

Yup, our girl is quite styling.

We really have an amazing dog. She never ever snaps at our children - and they put her through a lot. Mae just adores sitting on her (and often bouncing as sitting). Maully will grunt, and yelp with the bouncing so we know to come running and get Mae off her, and that is it. Now that Benjamin is older she is even starting to listen to his commands for doing her tricks.

  

Yes our kids are wearing the exact same outfit as last year for Halloween. Mae it was not by choice :) Benjamin has a ton of dressup outfits but it's the pirate he constantly wants for halloween!

 

October 2012 - Fall Break

For Benjamin's fall break we headed to California for a few days. We left Mae back with Grandma and we spent 2 full days at the beach! Benjamin was either in the water with Sam (too cold for me!) or buried in the sand. We also met up with a new friend of his from Kindergarten so spent 1 of the days playing with him.

October 2012 - Pumpkin Patch

Mae wasn't so sure about the animals in the petting area. We had to hold her to get her to pet any of them. And she refused to get on the pony for the horseback ride. However she was very excited to jump around 

and go crazy in the bounce house!

 

 

  

Cooling down after a morning in the sun and heat: