Comparisons

Slow blog news means digging up old pictures.  The other day when Bennett was playing in the snow it reminded me of Nolan playing in the snow wearing the same hat.  I think when you put a hat on that head of blonde hair that Bennett is sporting these days it makes it a little easier to see some of their resemblance's.  These pictures are even covering up their major butt chins which is most definitely one of their shared traits!  I don't think they are total twins or anything, but there is no denying they are brothers that's for sure!

Status

Life is all about status, right?  Okay, maybe not but life for me is all about having a status better than my Sister-in-Law Stephanie.  Relax, it's a friendly(ish) competition.  So my focus for this endeavor currently is to make sure I am number one Aunt in our new niece Aubrey's eyes.  Sorry Aubrey, you're getting caught in the crossfire but it seems you can teach me a few things about status (number one grandchild and all) so I thought it be best if we just worked together!  That brings us to these pictures.  We went and visited sweet little Aubrey a few weeks ago, we brought her some headbands (because all little girls need a ton of headbands) and I snapped a few pictures.  Dear Stephanie thinks I'm going to annoy Aubrey here with my camera, but I assured her the opposite.  Little girls love getting their pictures taken…right? Right.  Aubrey was wide awake the ENTIRE time, content as can be, but awake.  I guess she just wanted us all to see those peepers good and clear.  So here is her modeling debut...

Keeps going and going and going

Christmas around here was like the Energizer Bunny, it just kept going and going and going.  With my parents in Kansas City now and my brother and his family in Springfield we decided to have a delayed Christmas this year so we could still get everyone together.  Christmas in January was the solution.  It worked out perfectly, well up until the point where we got stuck in Kansas City an extra night because of the snow/ice.  I can't say I was all that disappointed though, and I know my Mom wasn't!

So this brings us to "Christmas Morning".  Oh the ipad, what did people do without this wonderful gadget back in the day?  Kids love it and it gives parents those extra few minutes to accomplish tasks that otherwise would never be completed (like showering).  Nolan spent some quality time with the younger boys teaching Cy the ropes of this wonderful gadget.

Time for presents.  We of course started with stockings, that are actually "Santa Bags" in this family.  You'll see the bags are as big as Bennett and they were full to the brim.  Crazy…yes, Fun…absolutely. I mean what would we do without our yearly Rain Poncho? 

What would a holiday celebration be without some cookies to decorate?  It seems that Bennett here was the only kid with an extended attention span to dedicate to this activity.  Shocking right?  Nolan participated just long enough to make himself a cookie or two to eat, but Bennett he was in for the long haul.  His method was to cover the ENTIRE cookie with goodness.  He especially liked the coconut (he called it cheese) and he used a ton of it, which is totally disgusting quite frankly.  Nothing ruins a cookie like coconut shavings.

 Then it was on to making my Mom's dreams come true.  Grandma's have a thing with dressing all their Grandkids alike and taking their picture together.  I've seen it a lot, I anticipated this moment.  As you'll see we never got the "perfect" picture, but we did get a few pictures of our crazy bunch that tell a story.  A story of three goofy boys…that hate my camera :)  Merry Christmas Mom, I hope these make all your dreams come true...

The Christmas Miracle

I can't conclude my Christmas posts without mentioning the fact that on Christmas Day we got an extra special present this year…a new niece!  Yes of course, only Favorite Perfect Can Do No Wrong Uncle Eric would have a child that shares a birthday with Jesus Christ.  UN-FREAKING BELIEVABLE!  I mean not to mention she is the first girl grandchild in the family in 12 years (following 5 boys in a row).  This girl really knows how to solidfy her first place grandchild status.  Eric and Kelly also asked Chad to be Aubrey's Godfather (another plus on Aubrey's scorecard for those keeping score at home).  Chad was very honored, and I'm pumped because that means I get to buy girl stuff!  So Aubrey gets a "decent role model" and an excellent personal shopper (if I do say so myself).  Well played Eric and Kelly…well played.

We took a trip up to the hospital the day after Christmas to meet this precious little girl and she was just that…precious.  She is as sweet as they come and we are so excited to watch her grow and teach her all sorts of bad things awesome tricks!  Congratulations Eric and Kelly…you done good.

Christmas Morning

Finally it was Christmas Morning, the kids and I have been excited about this day for months.  When Nolan came downstairs he went into the hearth room and then came running into our room to announce "Santa ate ALL the cookies".  Not…Santa brought a ton of presents! or I got new hockey sticks! Just "Santa ate ALL the cookies".  It's the little things that amuse sweet Nolan like the fact that Santa could eat three whole cookies!  Anyway, we went upstairs to get Mr. B and then headed down to see what magic had transpired while we slept.

Santa was good to the boys this year, they must have been extra good!  Nolan's big present was an arcade style Basketball Game and Bennett's big present was a train table.  Both were crowd pleasers, that Santa really does know his audience!

When Bennett walked down he went straight to the train table and said "Ahhhhh, Thomas".  To be honest the presents could have stopped there because he was not interested in opening anything after seeing this...

I again attempted a picture of the boys together in their jammies.  All I can say is they are both in fact in the picture, that's about as successful as I was going to be on this particular morning.  Too many toys to play with to mess with silly pictures!

Remember when I said Bennett didn't want to open any more of his presents after he got the trains?  That was no lie.  After we ate breakfast Nolan went over and helped him finish opening all of his presents that lay neglected under the tree.  If only Santa could give him a train table every year!

Then it was time to play, play play…

Bennett finally took some time to sit down and read a book instead of playing trains.  The item on his head is the inside of a hard hat that Chad gave the boys to play with.  Bennett likes to sport just the inside sometimes, personally I think he looks like Hannibal Lecter when he wears it which makes it especially creepy but adorable nonetheless.  

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always spent over at Chad's parents house.  We do presents, eat a lot of food and usually play a game or two to round out the night.  This year we escaped any puking kids which is usually a tradition for this fun family event (Wyatt puked the next day mind you, but Christmas Eve we were clear!).  

Before we started presents, being the mean Aunt/Mom that I am, I made the kids take a group picture.  They were obviously thrilled, but minus Bennett's full mouth of food it didn't end up too shabby…

Then it was time for the main event, there were presents, toys and paper everywhere!

I can't lie, I think Rylie is giving this sassy look to someone who just dissed One Direction.  One Direction is Rylie's big obsession right now, much like my obsession was New Kids On The Block at her age.  I absolutely love her obsession and encourage it every chance I get, makes me ALMOST want a teenage girl…ALMOST.

Here is Bennett "sleeping" with Uncle Bill.  They were laying on the couch pretending to sleep with little snoring noises and all.  Secretly I think Bennett is Uncle Bill's favorite and I know Bennett really likes him…or at least bugging him.  

From here we went home and really did go to bed.  Nolan left some cookies and milk on the ottoman and scooted off to bed so that the Big Jolly guy could stop by and leave him and his brother some presents!

Santa Visit 2013

We made our annual trip to see Santa Claus this year and it was so non-eventful.  Every year we have had at least one screaming/mad child and this year…nothing.  Is it wrong that I was a little disappointed?  Chad went early and stood in line at Bass Pro and I brought the boys up just in time to walk straight up to see Santa (genius I know).  Both of the boys literally marched right up there like it was nothing.  So super disappointing.  I knew the day would come that we would get a "nice" picture, but I didn't think it would be so soon!  

Bennett got a little alone time with Santa.  Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas, Bennett's response simply...presents.  Well, that was one request that I was very confident Santa would be able to deliver!

Nolan asked Santa for two things: a Ninja Turtle Lego set and a Monster Truck Lego Set.  After he got done talking to Santa Nolan immediately went over to the table and wrote a list that included about 5 additional items that he decided he needed to mail to the big guy as well.  I guess when he sat back and thought about it for a minute he indeed wanted more than two presents this year...smart kid.

I'm not that terrible

So I did make my children stand out in the freezing cold to get the Christmas Card picture, but I did also go back inside and spend 30 minutes getting them all bundled up to actually go play in the snow too.  See I'm not that terrible…right?  Much to our surprise Bennett actually loved the snow this year, in fact he came in kicking and screaming because he wanted to stay out so bad (he's a joy that one).  Nolan liked the snow, but was ready to ditch it for some new legos he scored for smiling for his picture (don't judge me, I see you judging me).  Needless to say our trip outside was rather short lived, but we did have a tiny visitor from down the street join us in all of her purple glory…