Christmas and New Years 2014

Christmas was so much fun this year.  I love seeing how excited Bennett and Walker get, so it makes everything that much better for Jeremy and I watching their excitement!

Bennett and I made some reindeer food and cookies for Santa.  Santa told us when we saw him that he wanted us to leave him chocolate chip cookies so that he what he got!

Making reindeer food

Christmas Eve we always spend with Jeremy's family.  This year we did brunch which was great so we headed up early to go see everyone. 

Excited to be at Gigi and Papa Daddy's house!!

Ready to celebrate Christmas

Gigi with her grandkids

Now with Papa Daddy too!

Silly boy

Opening gifts!

Here is the boy's big gift from Gigi and Papa Daddy!

They were so excited!

Enjoying some sweets

After we got home we grabbed dinner and then we got ready for Santa!  We put out food for the reindeer and Santa's cookies and milk.

Putting out food for the reindeer

Picking out the best cookies for Santa!

Santa CAME!!!!!!

The boys were up early!  We got up around 6 to get breakfast in the oven and make everything just right.  By 6:30 the boys were up and ready to go!

Checking out what Santa left

Santa left the boys a note. Bennett loved that and was excited to see he ate his cookies!

Tearing into their gifts

So exciting!

The boys love Paw Patrol so they got a good bit of those toys!

Bennett helped Walker open his gifts

Patty even got a few things from Santa!

Later in the day we headed over to my sister's house to do another round of Christmas and eat dinner.  All the kids love seeing each other and checking out the new toys they all got.

Walker's gift from my dad was bigger then he was!

More and more gifts!  These boys are spoiled!

Ella with her new cowboy boots

Ryan and his light saber or as he calls it his light saver :)

4 hungry kiddos!

I love this picture.  Ella got a big Barbie doll that you can do her hair.  Ryan was playing with Ella's hair with the Barbie toys while they all laid around chatting.  These kids love each other!

Precious boys

Love these 4!

These 2 are such a mess together.  They act more like brother and sister then cousins!

It was such a great Christmas Eve and Christmas and we are so lucky we can see both sides of our family and spend quality time with everyone.

After Christmas Bennett and Walker got sick again.  Bennett just had a fever for one day, but Walker was down and out for the week up until New Years.  We didn't have any big New Years plans but this made us really be home bound, so we enjoyed a quiet night at home and Jeremy and I didn't even make it to midnight.  When you have sick kids keeping you up at night you need sleep!

I have to say 2014 was an interesting year to say the least.  I really thought 2014 would be a fairly uneventful year, but that all changed very quickly.  I am thankful my kids are too young to really understand anything bad was going on around them, so that was a huge blessing.  Nothing makes my mama bear side come out more when someone does something to hurt my kids.  In my eyes kids are off limits!  I have learned a lot about people and how selfish they can be.  Thankfully God has protected all of us and my dad especially.  It is true what they say that the truth always prevails and everyone around us has seen the truth and what was really going on.  My dad is also the happiest I have seen him in a long time.  I told Jeremy the other day I almost forgot what it was like to see him happy and it is so nice to see him that way again.  I am glad he isn't stressed and unhappy anymore.  He deserves it more then anybody!

Here is to 2015 being much less eventful!  It will definitely be a big year for us since Bennett starts Kindergarten and Walker will be in preschool.  Jeremy and I also will celebrate our 10th anniversary and are trying to plan some time away so we can celebrate.  I am really looking forward to all this year has to bring!

Christmas Activities!

The month of December was a busy one but I guess it is to be expected, especially since we also have Bennett's birthday in the mix too.  We still try to do a few fun things with the boys during all the craziness.

One of the first things we did was bake.  I always like to bake and decorate cookies with Bennett.  We did this while Walker napped.  I think next year we will let him in on the fun.  He would have just slung icing and sprinkles everywhere so I decided to keep my sanity and let him sleep through this activity!

Bennett was excited and ready to decorate!

Bennett's decorating approach is to put as many sprinkles in one spot as you can.

Not the prettiest but they taste good and that is all that matters!

Enjoying his cookie!

One night we put the boys in their PJs and made hot chocolate so we could go look at Christmas lights.

Ready to go!

He needed sunglasses to look at the lights :)

Having fun!

The last week of school for Bennett he had a Christmas program.  It was really cute and after the program they had fun activities for all of the kids to enjoy.  It was a fun night.

Bennett kept making goofy faces and I asked him to just give me a normal smile, this is what I got!

Silly boys!

Walker did great during the program thanks to cookies and Pop Pop!

Singing with his class

Bennett teachers and most of his class after the performance

With his buddies!

The boys and their teachers

So proud of my boy!

 They had a train ride set up in the parking lot and they were dying to ride this!

All in all we had a great time leading up to Christmas and kept busy.  Bennett unfortunately got sick and missed his last day of school and the class Christmas party, then Walker got sick with a stomach bug.  Luckily they were both healthy before Christmas came around!

Bennett turns 5!

I still cannot believe Bennett is 5.  He is a kid now and it makes me a bit sad, but I also love this stage we are moving into with him.  Bennett is so smart, sometimes it is crazy how smart he is!  He can read now and I mean read books not just a sight word here and there.  There are times he is reading and I think to myself well he won't be able to read this or that and 9 times out of 10 he proves me wrong.  He will read books to Walker before bed.  It is amazing to see him learn and grow.  His Pre-K teacher said he will have no problems in Kindergarten when he starts in the fall.

Bennett has also come out of his shell.  I had a parent/teacher conference with his teacher and I mentioned something about him being shy and she was shocked that he was ever a shy kid.  He has really blossomed and I love that he is growing in his confidence and becoming more assertive. 

He is a great big brother and he and Walker have become best friends.  Don't get me wrong they fight like crazy but they love each other so much and it is so wonderful to watch.  Bennett is so thoughtful and just the sweetest thing.  I love watching him grow up!  

We spent a few days celebrating his birthday.  I wanted to keep it simple but ended up dragging it out over a few days!  Bennett's birthday was on a Monday so on his actual birthday we had the boys from his class and another friend from school over after school for a birthday celebration with his friends.  Before that we had a family party on Saturday.  That Friday we also did a separate celebration with my dad because he was going out of town for a really fun trip so we celebrated with him before he headed out of town.

Opening his scooter from Pop Pop!  He was so excited to get this but his initial reaction was funny because he put this on his list to Santa and he wanted to make sure it was ok that he got it before Christmas.  We assured him we told Santa that Pop Pop got the scooter!

Brothers hanging out before the family party started

Singing Happy Birthday

With our birthday boy!

Opening gifts

Walker wanted to make sure Bennett's new helmet worked!

The morning of his actual birthday!  Of course we had to have his favorite donuts for breakfast.

Opening our gifts to him

Celebrating at school

Dancing after their treat.  Notice Walker is right smack in the middle of the big kids.  He thinks he is part of their class :)

Having so much fun!

Playing outside with some of his friends after school

Ready to sing Happy Birthday for the 4th and final time!

He has the sweetest group of friends

Walker and Caroline.  Caroline is the little sister to one of Bennett's friends that we play with all the time.  Walker is in love with Caroline and talks about her a lot!  He was happy she came to the party too!

Ended the big day at Five Guys per Bennett's request.  This is his favorite place to eat!

It was a great few days we were able to spend celebrating Bennett.  He was so happy he got to see family and have his friends over.  He was really excited to finally turn 5, he has been talking about turning 5 since his fourth birthday so in his mind it was about time.  I take him later this week for his 5 year check up so we will see how much he has grown when I take him in.  

I just can't say enough about Bennett and the person he is growing up to be.  He makes us so proud and I am lucky I get to be his mom.  I still can't believe he is 5 and will start Kindergarten this year!  Time sure does fly!