Pre-Christmas and Christmas Eve
We successfully made the drive to New York on Wednesday evening with only minor fussiness from Ben. He decided he was done sleeping upright in his carseat and wanted to make sure we knew about it with his screaming. Then, when we arrived at Gigi & Papa's house, he thought it was the morning and time to wake up. Either that, or he was scared of the new crib and surroundings we tried to set him down in. We got in around 12:30 and he was up until 2:30. We tried having him in the crib in the room next door for a while, but then he came into bed with us where he'd roll around, try to pick our noses, and suddenly sit up to have a conversation with us. Eventually, after lots of 'Good night, Ben. It's time to sleep now', he got the message and fell asleep. Thankfully, we all got a good night's rest after that and didn't wake up until 8 or 9.
We spent the morning with Gigi & Papa and went into Nana & Grumpa's house in the afternoon to work on wrapping all our presents.
Pointing to the magnet photo of 'Uncle Da-Bid'
If I had a dime for every toddler tantrum... I'd be a rich lady.
We stopped by Ben's cousins house to have some play time. There was a lot of snow in Carthage, and we had made sure to bring Ben's snow pants and boots! The cousins and Jake all went outside to play and Ben got to have his first sled ride (and fall from the sled). He didn't appreciate falling head-first into a snow bank, so I'm pretty sure Jake heard no end of the screaming from him. Eventually he got numb or decided to like it, because there was some giggling going on before they were finished.
After the fun in the snow, all 3 kids came inside for hot cocoa.
Jack, Julia, and Ben
How did he get so big? (He turned 6 on Jan 1) I remember when he was born!
Sissy's chocolate teeth
A little later we realized that Ben had peed so much that he'd wet entirely through his diaper and the sweatpants he was wearing. As I had left the bag with extra clothing at my parent's house, he got to wear some of cousin Julia's clothing. As Kathleen (SIL) was getting everything out, she kept apologizing 'This is the least girly stuff I have!' I just laughed. Doesn't he look adorable in a princess-style top and jeans with pink embroidery? Jake laughed a lot at the motto on the shirt: I *heart* kitty
Christmas Eve: We spent Christmas Eve with my parents, helping them get set up for dinner and then heading out for service at Jake's family church.
With Nana
Yup, that's my dad. We had lasagna for Christmas Eve dinner and Dad spent a long time painstakingly putting together the layers.
We headed to the Christmas Eve service, which was billed as a 'family' service with handbell choir, puppet theatre, and a couple short readings. Ben was entranced by the puppets. However, during the solemn prayer, with the entire church silent, I started to hear mumbling from my son. ".... da fire... Truck! ... Da Fire... TRUCK! ... DA FIRE TRUCK!!!" Jake and I had to stifle our laughter for the tail end of the prayer. Apparently we haven't spent enough time at church during Ben's life.
Immediately after the service, Ben made a beeline for the choir loft and to the organ. He climbed right up and started playing on the keys. Thankfully, everything was off, so it was just a fun toy for Ben. Still, it's a pretty neat trick considering Jake played organ for this church for YEARS and Ben had never been up in the choir loft before!
The Gigi wants a hard-copy of this picture. I want to figure out how to reduce the flushing on his cheeks before printing it out.
We went back to my parent's house where they were having a holiday dessert party until everyone left for the evening Mass. Ben went to sleep while Jake and I sat and talked with a few guests who had already been to their service (family friends from just down the street).
We spent the morning with Gigi & Papa and went into Nana & Grumpa's house in the afternoon to work on wrapping all our presents.
Pointing to the magnet photo of 'Uncle Da-Bid'
If I had a dime for every toddler tantrum... I'd be a rich lady.
We stopped by Ben's cousins house to have some play time. There was a lot of snow in Carthage, and we had made sure to bring Ben's snow pants and boots! The cousins and Jake all went outside to play and Ben got to have his first sled ride (and fall from the sled). He didn't appreciate falling head-first into a snow bank, so I'm pretty sure Jake heard no end of the screaming from him. Eventually he got numb or decided to like it, because there was some giggling going on before they were finished.
After the fun in the snow, all 3 kids came inside for hot cocoa.
Jack, Julia, and Ben
How did he get so big? (He turned 6 on Jan 1) I remember when he was born!
Sissy's chocolate teeth
A little later we realized that Ben had peed so much that he'd wet entirely through his diaper and the sweatpants he was wearing. As I had left the bag with extra clothing at my parent's house, he got to wear some of cousin Julia's clothing. As Kathleen (SIL) was getting everything out, she kept apologizing 'This is the least girly stuff I have!' I just laughed. Doesn't he look adorable in a princess-style top and jeans with pink embroidery? Jake laughed a lot at the motto on the shirt: I *heart* kitty
Christmas Eve: We spent Christmas Eve with my parents, helping them get set up for dinner and then heading out for service at Jake's family church.
With Nana
Yup, that's my dad. We had lasagna for Christmas Eve dinner and Dad spent a long time painstakingly putting together the layers.
We headed to the Christmas Eve service, which was billed as a 'family' service with handbell choir, puppet theatre, and a couple short readings. Ben was entranced by the puppets. However, during the solemn prayer, with the entire church silent, I started to hear mumbling from my son. ".... da fire... Truck! ... Da Fire... TRUCK! ... DA FIRE TRUCK!!!" Jake and I had to stifle our laughter for the tail end of the prayer. Apparently we haven't spent enough time at church during Ben's life.
Immediately after the service, Ben made a beeline for the choir loft and to the organ. He climbed right up and started playing on the keys. Thankfully, everything was off, so it was just a fun toy for Ben. Still, it's a pretty neat trick considering Jake played organ for this church for YEARS and Ben had never been up in the choir loft before!
The Gigi wants a hard-copy of this picture. I want to figure out how to reduce the flushing on his cheeks before printing it out.
We went back to my parent's house where they were having a holiday dessert party until everyone left for the evening Mass. Ben went to sleep while Jake and I sat and talked with a few guests who had already been to their service (family friends from just down the street).