Presents

Here is THE garbage truck--all Benjamin asked for for Christmas this year.

New outfit, and new Rudolph

Another truck, yes, you're right--there may have been a theme!

For the first time ever, we didn't travel after Christmas and didn't have any visitors. While it was nice and relaxing, we did miss our family!

Gingerbread Lighthouse

We got this gingerbread lighthouse as a gift for Christmas. It kept us occupied for awhile during the snowstorm.

Snow Fun!

We didn't get a ton of snow from the blizzard, but enough to play in!

Helping Dad shovel

Paul wasn't very excited about the snow, but it was very cold and windy! Benjamin, however, loved it. We had a great time sledding!

Check out this tower!

Paul is ready for Minute to Win It!

Remind me again, why did the boys just get a bunch of toys for Christmas?!

Christmas Dance

"Away in the Manger" like you've never seen it.

Paul Henry

Not a very clear picture, but this is Paul hugging Benjamin, and Benjamin kindly put up with it for several hugs. Paul is such a cuddly boy, always giving out hugs!

We're thinking about making Paul wear this helmet all of the time!

Paul is 15 months old now--actually he'll be 16 months next week already! He weighs in at 21 lb, 13 oz (20%) and is 31 inches long (50%). He is so full of energy! Jonathan wishes we had a padded room to keep him safe. Paul is constantly climbing things, and trying to jump off them. He's adding more words to his vocab daily. So far, he says Mama, Dada (He's been saying "Mama" for Jonathan lately, too. He loves that!) ball, bat, golf club, ni-night, cracker, drink, cup, I do (meaning, "I want"), meow, woof, neigh, up-y, shoes, cookie, car, truck, tree, bye-bye, hi, bath, book. There's more, but that's all I can think of right now. The boy knows what he wants, and throws a huge fit when he doesn't get it or doesn't get it in a timely manner. He understands so, so much. It's amazing how quickly they soak things in--little sponges! Paul is always eager to "help" with the dishes, laundry, sweeping, vacuuming. Of course, it usually results in double the work... He's at such a fun age, but, in a word--exhausting! We love our little boy!

Jonathan's new 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI

Here are a couple of pictures of the "Red Jet." Benjamin shed a few tears when they came and towed away the "Red Rocket," but he likes dad's new car. Everything should be great as long as Jonathan remembers to put diesel fuel in it instead of gasoline. Visitors from Florida should now be less leery about visiting in the winter with the Jet's heated seats!

Christmas tree saga

Sunday afternoon, we set out to find the perfect Christmas tree. Jonathan was ready to prep the living room before we left, but then we forgot we had to throw out our tree stand last year. There was a slow leak in it. And, we hadn't found a new one yet. We decided to just put the tree in a bucket of water and buy the stand the next day. So, away we went...

Found it! Let's cut it down!

The boys fell asleep on the way home, so we decided to drop off the tree and search for a tree stand. We drove to Home Depot, picked one up, and came home to set up the tree. (This is an hour drive, round trip, for those of you who don't know.) After much finagling, we finally had the tree set up, or so we thought! We could not get the tree to stand up! We realized that part of the tree stand had snapped--isn't plastic wonderful?! By this time, it was too late to try and get another tree stand, but we had already taken the netting off the tree and all of the branches were opened up. What to do?

Lean the tree against the wall, in the bucket of water, with the couch to protect it from curious on-lookers.

Smiles once again!

The next day, Jonathan went to the local hardware store and found a different tree stand. We had a fun time decorating it. Benjamin loved helping this year! Paul hasn't really messed with the tree too much, besides taking the occasional ornament off the tree. We have a beautiful tree that seems secure in a stand!

Don't worry--Baby Jesus is safe!

Shepherd Boy

We had our children's Christmas program at church this morning. Here's our little shepherd boy. He did a good job, despite his wardrobe difficulties with his hood. While trying to fix his hood, his cane got stuck in it. He was very subtle about it, though, so I don't think anyone noticed.

Thanksgiving Visitors

We had several visitors for Thanksgiving. Rachel and Bella came for a little over a week, and Mom and Dad came for just the Thanksgiving weekend. We all had a good time, and the boys and Bella really seemed to hit it off!

Bath time fun!

Such a cutie! Isabella turned 10 months old and got her first tooth while she was at our house. She was also encouraged to say the word "uh-oh" quite frequently.

Our little climber--Paul loves to climb on anything and everything!

...or "Little Turkey" as his shirt says.

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids

Our trolley adventure. We read about a trolley ride you could take and view Christmas decorations. A couple hours later, after being stuck on the trolley with many small children while the driver set up numerous decorations, we had an interesting story to tell. Ask us for more details sometime--we certainly had some laughs, and won't soon forget the evening!

Time for a parade!

Don't believe those innocent smiles for a minute!

Am I big enough for school yet?

Play time

I will occasionally find the boys playing "together" like this. Today it allowed me to make lunch in peace!

Deer vs. Car

Not sure there was a winner, but here are the results.

First snow

We woke up yesterday to a dusting of snow--enough to make everything white. I was excited to see the boys' reaction. Benjamin kept asking, "Why?" about 20 times. I think his main issue was that it was snowing and it wasn't winter yet. He finally resolved it by saying we could pretend it was winter, and that's why it had snowed. Paul looked out the window, and kept repeating, "Uh oh, uh oh!" I think a lot of other people were thinking the same thing! Jonathan was excited, because he was planning to rake on his day off. The snow gave him a pretty good excuse not to!

Finger nail polish?

But you never thought you'd see the day--Jonathan's son with finger nail polish. To make it even better, Jonathan was also wearing finger nail polish. Didn't get that picture.

So, Jonathan attended an LWML retreat as pastoral delegate. He had closing worship. As part of the presentation Friday, the speaker had all of the attendees--most of them women--paint one of their fingernails a very bold color. They were not to remove the polish until they told someone the Good News of Jesus. So, Jonathan thought this would make a good children's message. He did the same thing on Sunday morning. (I think most of the boys refused to have their nails painted.) The sweetest part of the story--a bit later in the service, we were in the back of church, trying to be less disruptive. Benjamin leans over to Paul, and says, "Paul, have you heard the Good News of Jesus? Have you? Have you heard it, Paul?" Priceless!

Trunk or Treat

Our town has a "trunk or treat" on the green. It was a zoo, but Benjamin had fun. Last year, he didn't quite have the hang of it. But this year, he zeroed in on the people with the bowls of candy. He went right up to them and told them, "Trick or treat" and "Thank you." About two-thirds of the way around, he asked us if we could be done. His bucket was getting heavy, and he was tired of fighting the crowds. Now he's very excited to try out all of his new candy for his desserts--his favorite part of any meal!

Livin the dream

Dad couldn't be more proud!

Getting ready for Halloween

Finished product first. (Can you believe all of that drool? Three molars almost in, one to go!)

Paul loved getting messy!

Benjamin didn't want to touch it. Here he is drawing on the pumpkin with marker.

"ROAR!" In dinosaur, that means, "Thanks so much for making my costume, Grandma! I love it!"

Drinking buddies

Preschool Theology

Last night, the family was on the way to the store, when the conversation turned to the topic of Jesus.

Benjamin: "In a few weeks, we'll get to see Jesus."

Jonathan: "Oh, really. Do you think Jesus is coming back then?"

Benjamin: "Coming back from where?"

Jonathan: "Well, Jesus lives in heaven."

Benjamin: "No, actually Jesus lives in two towns."

Becky: "Do you mean He's with us, and in heaven?"

Benjamin: "Yes. You're exactly right."

Leaf raking

Benjamin wants to rake whenever we go outside now. He is such a slave driver! Jonathan's hoping he won't have to rake at all this fall.

Maybe this is why he likes the raking.

But, he does actually help, too.

It must be fall...

Raking...

And football!

Note the kitchen towel hanging out of his pants. "To dry off my sweat!" He was the quarterback, of course!