More of Bennett's Baloney

So, we were sitting at the breakfast table this morning eating pancakes watching the Polar Express when the part about the naughty child came on. Daddy asked if Bennett was being naughty. Bennett's response:

"No, I naughty yesterday."

At least he's honest!

Landon's Finally Walking!

For the past month or so, Landon has been taking a few steps here and there when he's in the mood. But tonight, he really took off! He was walking up and down the hallway and all over the kitchen. So, it's official--he's up and moving!

Hi ho, hi ho. It's off to school I go!

After the whole fiasco with my job last school year, I started questioning whether I ever wanted to teach again. Then, I interviewed for a Title I reading job and got really excited about the prospect of being a support person--not in charge of the whole class but teaching in small groups and helping out in a classroom setting. When I was turned down because I didn't have the certification, it got me thinking. So, I started looking into on-line programs but never made the jump. Then, one day, Ryan sent me an e-mail from an organization called Mindstreams. I got in contact with them, and one of the consultants found and on-line program from me out of Arizona. She also sent me a variety of grants and loan forgiveness programs for Title I teachers. That's when I made the decision--I'm going to get my reading license. I never would have considered becoming a reading specialist, but because of circumstances last year, it suddenly became a topic of interest for me. I begin class on Thursday and will be enrolled for 64 weeks. Hopefully, this will open up more opportunities for me this fall to get back in the classroom and get back to doing what I love!

Christmas Cookie Baking

For those of you who know me, know that I'm not much for baking cookies at Christmas time. I'm more than happy to eat them, though!! But I happened to be flipping through my parenting magazine and found these. They are made with peanut butter cookies (I made it easy and picked up pre-made dough :-) We rolled them into an oval shape. When they came out of the oven, we added eyes and a nose. The antlers were supposed to be chocolate covered pretzels (the mini ones) but Ryan brought home gigantic ones! So, we improvised and used pretzel sticks instead. As you can see, Bennett was trying to help me and he poked the eyes a little too hard! But he had a blast helping. He also enjoyed eating them!

Christmas Tree Decorating

Last weekend, he headed out to pick a Christmas tree. We brought it home and Landon seemed to think nothing of it. He was pretty interested in all the ornaments, though!

Bennett showing off his new fire truck ornament that he picked out at the Christmas tree shop.

Finding a good spot on the tree.

Bennett thought Landon would like a tractor ornament.

Daddy helps Landon put his new ornament on the tree.

This was the best I could do for getting a picture of both the boys in front of the tree. They were not feeling too cooperative that night!

The tree looked beautiful the first time around. And then Ryan came home from school one day to fine that the tree had tipped over! Thankfully, we only lost one ornament, but it was Bennett's baby's first Christmas ornament :-( So, we found ourselves decorating for a second time!

Bennett's Baloney

Right now, Bennett is on antibiotics for yet another ear infection. Every day, we give him his "white vitamin" as he calls it--a probiotic to help ward off illness. We have explained over and over that he can't take his white vitmin while he is taking his medicine because then the medicine won't work. (Did I also mention his is in the "why" stage????)

So, here was the conversation at breakfast with Daddy the other morning--after I had already explained multiple times that he can't have his white vitmin until all his medicine is gone. He thought he'd convince Dad instead.

Bennett: "I want my white vitamin."

Dad (trying to give it back): "Why?"

Bennett: "I want my white vitamin."

Daddy: "Why?"

Bennett: "Because mommy said no!"

We just busted out laughing!! Where does hie come up with some of these things!

The Polar Express

Last year, we contemplated taking Bennett on the Polar Express train ride. It is a train ride to a near-by city, the "north pole." The cost of the trip was quite a bit, and we decided to wait. But this year, with his obsession with trains, I wanted to capitalize on that love. Plus, he's young but he's at that age where he would believe in the magic of the trip. So, I purchased the tickets and we were so excited to go!

The night before the trip, though, Bennett came down with a case of the flu, which he graciously passed to me on Saturday. I was feeling pretty yucky but was determined to go. I was checking the train schedule all day and saw that it was running about 2 hours behind, most likely due to the snow fall. At 6:00, I got a call from the coordinator saying that the train was now 3 1/2 hours late and we were going to plan B--taking a bus. I was so disappointed as I have never been on a real train but also very disappointed that Bennett wouldn't get the experience that we had been talking about for weeks. But, thankfully, he also loves buses and thought that was the best thing ever!
We arrived at the depot and had som cookies and hot chocolate. The conductor of our "bus" sat nearby, but Bennett refused to have his picture taken with him.

We also received a copy of the book and Bennett checked out every picture as we waited for our bus to depart.

We finally arrived at the North Pole and headed into a heated tent to see Santa.

I was surprised but Bennett jumped up on Santa's lap, refused to tell him what he wanted for Christmas, but did allow him to sign his book.

He also received his own bell from the reindeer's harness.

He was too interested in his bell to take a picture with mom :-)

He rang the bell all the way back to the bus and most of the way home--until he fell asleep.

The trip wasn't all that I had expected for the cost and I was really sad we didn't get the full effect with the train ride, but Bennett seemed to have a great time, and that's all that counts! Since that day, he wants us to read the book every day and he is now obsessed with the movie! But that has been one of my favorite Christmas books and I'm glad to have passed that love on to my son.

The Snow Has Arrived!

And it just keeps coming--on Saturday we must have gotten close to 15 more inches!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, it was Grandma and Grandpa R's turn for Thanksgiving.

It was a very mellow and low-key holiday this year. We went over for dinner at 11:30 and headed home by about 3:30. Not surprising, Bennett and Landon ate next to nothing of their big dinner. But Bennett had fun playing the harmonica he found in the toy basket and Landon munched on Cheerios for dessert. Bennett helped Grandma cut and serve the pie. Both great-grandpas were there and so was Aunt Kristin and Mike. Aunt Kelly and Jake spent the holiday in D.C. with their aunt. We enjoyed the wonderful meal, great conversation, and the family time.

Landon's First Haircut!

With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, we decided Landon was getting a little fluffy with his hair. So, before the holiday arrived we gave him his first haircut!

He didn't seem to mind the clippers, although, like always, he had a hard time sitting still.

Handsome, huh??

Tragedy Strikes Our House

Since 2006, our house has dealt with the illness of our furnace. Every winter it stops working and starts again. It generally requires 5 trips by the heating guys before it would run again. But, tragically, this morning someone came and was unable to revive it. So, on Monday, this member of our family (a very frustrating and annoying one at that!) will be replaced and upgraded. It is sad, but our furnace has lived a good life. Maybe now, we can all sleep through the night and not be awakened by cold toes and frozen fingers. Rest in peace--especially all weekend since we will no longer give us heat.

Toy Story Trance

Since Daddy picked up Toy Story 3 on Tuesday, this has been the scene at our house.

Aren't they cute, though??

Bennett's Baloney

Last night, after Ryan came home from hunting, he was playing with Bennett and growled at him like a dinosaur (he seems to love dinosaurs these days--especially Rex from Toy Story). All of a sudden, Bennett puts his hand up by Ryan's face and says "no, we're not doing that right now!" And the way he said it so matter of factly made Ryan and I just bust out laughing!

Happy Halloween!

WELCOME TO OUR JUNGLE!

For this years costumes, we decided on a safari theme--Bennett was a tiger and Landon was a giraffe. Since I have a major distaste for the holiday, I picked these easy costumes up at Old Navy--they're warm and very little effort! As you can see, Bennett was letting that lower lip hang out--although he did let us put a little football paint on his nose. (Later, he let Jake, and only Jake, put on some whiskers :-)

First stop--Aunt Kelly's. The night before the boys had mixed up some cupcakes. So, it was time to frost, decorate, and enjoy!

Stop two--Grandma and Grandpa T's. Landon was very interested in what the holiday was all about. Thanks so much for the nice gift bags!

Bennett was helping Grandma T pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters, although he needed a little coaching on the appropriate number of candy bars to give to each one! (It is not necessary to give each one 4 candies :-)

Stop three--Grandma and Grandpa R's. Thanks for all the yummy treats!

Stop four--Great grandpa R. It was a quick stop as the boys were reaching their limit, but it was nice to spend even a few minutes with great-grandpa! Thanks for the candy and the apples! Bennett ate his entire apple in the car.

We arrived home around 7:00 (we left around 2:30--whew!). As Landon and I worked on supper, Ryan took Bennett in the wagon to visit a few neighbors. He was starting to get the hang of saying "trick or treat" and both boys seemed to enjoy wearing their costumes and visiting family.

As for Ryan and I, we did some early Halloween celebrations. The Friday before, we accepted (me, excitedly, and Ryan fearfully!!) Kelly and Jakes invitation to head to a haunted nature walk after enjoying dinner together. We had some good laughs, but it certainly wasn't the scare we were hoping for (I'm sure Ryan was relieved!) So, we headed to our downtown area to visit a haunted building--we enjoyed that and then spent the rest of the evening gawking, gasping, and gapping at the costumes being sported by the local college students. My favorite--Cleopatra. The worst by far--Ms. Panda Bear. The boys spent the night with grandma and grandpa and Ryan and I enjoyed some adult time with family. We all had a blast!!

Pumpkin Carving

Unlike last year when Bennett refused to take part in any way, shape, or form to help carve our pumpkins, he got his hands dirty and helped scoop out the goo. Landon wasn't very interested in what was happening but came over for a quick peek. In the end, mom and dad did most of the work, but the end result was fun! Ryan had found a pattern kit for Winnie the Pooh characters. Bennett selected Eyore and Pooh for our patterns this year. Even though it was a lot of work, we enjoyed our finished products.

Family Photos 2010

One beautiful Sunday afternoon, we decided to get dressed up in our Wisconsin gear, called Kelly, and drove to a nearby marsh area to take our family photos (to be used for our Christmas cards--I wanted them taken before all the leaves disappeared--but yes, I have made, printed and stuffed all my Christmas cards already!!!!).

Kelly scoped out a few really good spots and we got to work!

One of my favorites! If you look closely, you can see the fishing bobber in the tree.

Our sweet boys and best buds!

Despite this being Kelly's first effort with her newly acquired "fancy" camera, I think she did an awesome job! We appreciated all the time she spent with us that day and all the time she spent editing the photos!! It was a fun afternoon and she captures some wonderful family moments!

Thanks, Kelly!