Walgreens Santa

We went to Walgreen's today for our first visit with Santa of the 2011 season.  We saw him last year at Walgreen's and the kids loved it.  Not only do they get to see Santa but they also get to go to Daddy's work.  This year I was afraid that Sully would scream when he sat on Santa's lap but I was wrong.  Addison walked right to Santa and sat on his lap with Sully right behind her; however, Romie shocked us by declining to sit on his lap.  Instead, she held his hands and stood in front of him for pictures.  Addie told Santa that she wanted doll clothes for Christmas and Romie asked for horse toys.  Sully didn't want to be on Santa's lap long enough to talk but I am sure Santa already has it taken care of.  We are going to Christmas at the Zoo on Wednesday to see the lights and Santa again and I plan to snap more pictures since I left the pictures up to Walgreens.  Additionally, I took a some pictures of them by the tree since they were wearing their Christmas shirts.  I guess I could have done this for Christmas cards but there is always next year.

All Caught Up!

I think that I am all caught up since Thanksgiving now.  In the past few weeks we have four rounds of a stomach virus which wiped us all out.  Thank goodness Devin escaped it and we have all recovered.  Romie came home from school yesterday really fussy and decided to take a nap.  When she woke up she had a 102.9 fever and blisters in her throat.  I think I should try to stay positive but it seems when one gets something we share it with everyone else.  So here we go again in the cold and flu season at the Bennett house. Praying that we get over it all before Sully's birthday and Christmas.  I can't believe that Christmas is almost here and this year is almost over.  This year has flown by.  Our upcoming plans include visiting Santa, going to Christmas at the Zoo, and celebrating Sully's 2nd birthday all before Christmas.  Who knows what else we can get ourselves into in the mean time.  Busy busy.

Camera Fun with Addie

Like I had mentioned in my previous post Addie, her dolls, and I were playing with the camera and here are some pictures that we took for fun.  I can honestly say I didn't learn anything new about my camera during this but it was something fun for Addie and I to do without the little ones.  Pictures were taken by me but the poses are all provided by Addie.  That girl can pose.  You should see some of the ones I did not post. 

I love this one. She told me this is the I Love You pose.  I was impressed.

She is so proud of her kids.

She said she couldn't believe how big her baby was getting. Gee I wonder where she has heard that.

She was trying to decide who was getting their picture taken next. Her dolls had poses too.

My big girl Addie!

Addie Talk

I was playing with my camera the other day and Addie was helping me out.  As Addie has gotten older it has been so much fun sitting and talking with her just the two of us.  She is so animated and excited when she starts to talk about something that she is interested in.  While I was studying my camera she had her American Girl dolls out and started to tell me about how she would like to have a party for them.  These are pictures that I took of her while she was telling me all about her American Girl doll party.  If only I had video because her excitement was priceless.  She looks so grown up to me.

Our House Guest

We were watching a Christmas movie the other night when all of a sudden the doorbell rang.  It scared Addie to death and sent Romie running to the door to see who it was.  When we answered it no one was there but there was a package wrapped in Santa paper.  The girls immediately screamed OUR ELF!  On top of the package was a letter addressed to the kids from Santa.  Devin read the letter which stated that Santa was worried the kids might find themselves on the naughty list if they don't straighten up.  Santa sent this elf to keep an eye on them until Christmas arrives.  They tore into the package to find their elf and his book.  The girls came up with the name Snickerdoodle.  Addie is the most impressed by Snickerdoodle and wakes up early to find him in the house.  Romie is into it but quickly loses her excitement.  Then there is Sully who has no idea what is going on but he does like to help the girls look for Snickerdoodle.  Addie has daily conversations with Snickerdoodle and has been drawing him pictures.  It has been so exciting with Snickerdoodle in the house this year.  I am glad that he waited to come when the girls were old enough to have fun him. 

Addie really got into the elf theme for a couple of days. It has cooled off a little bit now but she loves Snickerdoodle.

His first day at the Bennett house.  The kids love looking for him everyday.

Adorable

Since it has gotten really chilly in the morning Romie was been wanting to wear her pink hat to school.  She wore it for the first time the other morning and she was tickled pink by it.  She was grinning from ear to ear and said "Oh my God I look adorable. I look like a doll."   Wow Romie.  Tell us how you really feel about yourself.  I guess we don't have to work on self esteem issues with Romie right now.  She did look pretty cute.

Gingerbread House

The girls made their gingerbread house the other day and I have to say they did a pretty good job.  No fighting or yelling was involved either!  It was also a nice treat that we had snow showers during so it made it feel a little more like the holidays.  The house is still standing today but is missing quite a few pieces of candy from the sugar tooth toddler. 

Princess Romie and the Non Fancy

Princesses love their brothers.

Who wouldn't want their picture taken with a princess.

Not fancy! Really? I am offended.

Romie woke up the other morning and wanted to be a princess.  So she  gathered her favorite "princess" items and this is what she ended up with.  Her comment to me was that she didn't have to try hard to look like a princess because she already was a princess.  I love the way that girl thinks.  Another conversation that Romie and Addie had the other day made me laugh.  We were watching a Disney movie when the castle came on in the beginning and Ro said she wished she lived in a castle.  And I said we weren't really princesses but we could pretend to be and pretend to live in a castle.  Addie piped in by saying Romie was the only one wanting to live in the castle because she was the only one that was fancy.  She said to Romie that she and I weren't fancy and wasn't sure why Romie was so fancy.  She determined it was because Romie had curly hair and we didn't.  I just love these girls. 

Oh Christmas Tree

The day after Thanksgiving we got all the Christmas decorations out before Devin headed into work so that the kids and I could get to work decorating.  The excitement lasted about half a day and we were over it.  Most of the decorations stayed in their storage boxes this year due to my very curious and messy almost 2 yr old and Mom and Dad's laziness.  Next year we will try a little harder.  The most important things are out and ready to go.  The kids and I put up the tree while Devin was at work so that we could decorate it on Saturday morning when he was home.  It was killing them to see it up with no lights on.  Here are some 2011 Christmas tree pictures that we snapped during decorating. 

Very important job.

Much prettier at night but here is the finshed product.

Sully found the moose couch.  Comfy.

Black Friday Attire

Romie got herself dressed for black Friday. Her usual leotard and tights but this time she went with black instead of the Romie pink. Looking good Ro!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year.  Our day started off with brunch at Tom and Jennifer's for Devin's side of the family.  The food was excellent and the kids were so excited to be there.  They even watched a little of the parade with Tom and saw Santa arrive in NYC.  This was the first year we had done this and I hope it is something that we can continue to do.  Our second stop of the day was in Shelbyville for the Theobald gathering.  We once again stuffed ourselves until we were miserable but it was well worth it at the time. We were also lucky to bring home some left overs for a couple meals.  It is always fun watching the little ones get together and play.  It is awesome that they are all so close and enjoy each other the way they do.  Ashley asked me if we could go down below the hill and get some pictures of them by the corn.  Unfortunately the corn was all gone but they thought it was cool going down there anyway.  Addie was still on high coyote alert after her last photo session down there.  The sad thing is I really didn't get any good Thanksgiving pictures.  I really need to get better about that.  But here are some that I did take.

Here are the guys after stuffing themselves. Sad looking bunch!

Can he get a Yee Haw!

Sully has been into wearing hats lately.  The latest hate that he enjoys wearing is a cowboy hat.  He looks so cute in his little cowboy hat.  Devin called him Sully Chesney the other day and pulled it down as low as it could go. Sully thought he was the man.  This is him putting it on first thing in the morning before he even changed out of his jammies.  What a stud!