Ben's Very FIRST School Play!

This Christmas, Ben had his first of many school performance :) It was the Christmas program for preschool, and even though they're only two, his age group got to participate!

As with all "firsts", we didn't know what he'd think about being up on stage in front of crowd, but he didn't bat an eye!! Well, OK, actually, when he saw Mark come close to take pictures, Ms. Nita (his teacher) said he got a little whiney for Daddy, but she reminded him of their song they needed to sing in order to go back to the classroom to get some candy. That apparently did the trick ASAP, ha!!!

Singing songs, doing the sign language...

 Having fun!!  I was SO PROUD (and SO relieved he wasn't scared!)

 Lots of kids...the two year olds came on stage with the entire rest of the preschool at the end of the performace for their part.  You can see his teacher Ms. Nita keeping everyone going...I don't know how she does it!

 Ughhh....getting boring.  How much longer do we have to sing before I get that candy??

 Boredom = picking at the hairbow in front of you.  Apparently the candy trick didn't work for the little girl next to Ben!  He didn't even notice her the whole time, LOL!

Here's a little 1-minute video of the performance :) (Remember these videos won't work from the email; you must click through and actually go to the blog webpage!)

Here's another 2-minute clip that's pretty funny...Ben has a hard time keeping his hands to himself, and the nose-picker beside him (from the first video) becomes a screaming banshee!!

Lastly, all the children worked on some very special art for the school fundraiser that Mommy and Daddy could purchase (tee hee!)....here's Ben's ~ worth every penny!!!

Santa Baby!!

Last week, Anna got to meet Santa! Of course, big brother Ben was there to show her the ropes :) We really weren't sure how Ben would act now that he's old enough to have a real opinion about sitting on a strange-looking stranger's lap! I had a feeling he'd do OK, though, given we had the following exchange earlier this month when we waved at the mall Santa as we passed by:

Me: Ben, that man you waved at is named Santa Claus. He brings you presents!! We're going to come back when Daddy's with us and sit on his lap and tell him what you want for Christmas.

Ben: **blank stare**

Me: You know, presents, like a puzzle, or books, or a school bus toy...

Ben: (leans forward in the stroller) "GET ME TO HIM!!"

Bahahahahaha!!!! How funny!! School buses are his favorite thing to see and talk about right now, so I knew that would be enticing!

So, we sat Anna on Santa's lap first in case Ben freaked out, we'd at least have a good picture of her. Here she is ~ Anna's first Christmas!

Ben did great, though, and seemed to have fun talking to Santa. Of course, he's been asked a million times, "What do you want Santa to bring you?" and he has consistently said the following:

1. a present (always the first response)
2. a pink present
3. elephant
4. tiger
5. a vitamin
6. alligator

We'll see how Santa does with that list ;)

And here they are together...so sweet!

Well, it's Christmas Eve and gifts are assembled and wrapped, and Santa's come to see us! Time for Mama and Daddy to (finally) go to bed and rest up for the big day tomorrow...I can't wait to see Ben's face in the morning since this year, he really "gets" the Santa thing! Merry Christmas and Good night!

Anna ~ 3 Months

Our sweet little girl is three months old!!  She is really becoming so much more "person"-like...smiling at us, even laughing sometimes :)  She loves Mommy's ponytail when it bops around as I'm looking down while changing her diaper or clothes and just beams when I talk to her, even waking up from naps with huge grins!!

Anna has moved into size 3 Month clothes and is still in size 1 diapers.  At night, she usually goes to bed around 9 or 9:30 and wakes up once during the night around 3-ish.  Then it's up around 7 or 7:30 to start the day....but not for long, because she always wants to nap again around 8:30.  A handful of times, she has slept all night (well, at least until 5 or 6:00), but as of now, that's the exception and not the rule.  Maybe soon, though!! 

Everywhere I go, everyone says what a SWEET baby she is...and it's really true.  She's very content and hardly ever cries unless she's super hungry or tired.  And then, just picking her up and holding her (and a paci, of course!) will comfort her. 


Anna's listening to big brother Ben read her a story.



By this time in Ben's life, his eyes had started to show little flecks of brown and green that went on to increase until his eyes were completely hazel.  Anna's are still quite blue, though, and are actually a bit lighter blue close to her pupil than they were at birth.  Maybe she'll keep those gorgeous blue eyes she got from her daddy!!  







November 2011

Well, I'm a little behind on posting here lately, but we had a fun November and I wanted to post some pictures.  Ben is still doing GREAT at school!!  He adores his teacher Ms. Nita and runs into her class every time...so excited to be there!!  I am so thankful he has a teacher that loves and cares for him so much :)  Here's his very first "school picture"....I know he's got many more to go in the coming years, but it's going to be hard to top this one!  I think they did a wonderful job, but of course, Mommy might be a little biased ;)

We attended our annual family reunion "Sumner/Caldwell" football weekend...it was Anna's first one!  It was so cold, Anna, Ben, and Mommy stayed in the car for the picnic part.  Thank goodness both kiddos were asleep.  Then we went to the mall and strolled around while the older boys went to the game.  It was great seeing family and everyone just loved meeting little Anna.



Go Heels!

  Anna and Mommy both had colds this month.  Again.  Poor little baby has already had two in her life and she had started sleeping through the night a little, but then reverted back to her newborn ways waking up every few hours because she couldn't breathe.  I even heard her sneeze herself awake once!

 Ohhhhh, the leaves.  And more leaves.  Ben has had a great time this fall thanks to the leaves.  Mark has not, ha ha!!  He was so tired of blowing leaves by the time it was all done, I thought we might lose a tree or two!

 Ben went to school to eat lunch for Chandler's birthday this year (at Chandler's request, too)!  All the kids just go crazy over Ben and think he's so cute and fun.  They want him to say their name or sit beside him and things like that, so Ben loves it, too.

 Anna....starting to hold her head up a little!!!

Last but not least, we had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving.  We ate at Grandmamma and Grandaddy's house this year.  Ben wore his turkey headband from school, and we made place cards in the form of pilgrims and Indians (oh, and a turkey!) for everyone.  It was hard to decide who was the biggest turkey in the family (ha!) but in the end, the honor went to Uncle Tom.  After all, his name is "Tom"!!

Anna's Swanky Photoshoot

I finally got the images from Anna's newborn session from the photographer, so here, three months later, are some of her at just four days old...it seems like just yesterday!  Swanky5Studios took the pictures, and I just love ALL of them :)