Christmas 2009

Well, I'm finally trying to catch up with my blog. Since the beginning of the year, Wyatt was sick, then Lila, then Wyatt again. Hopefully we are done now for awhile! Anyway, for Christmas we drove to Alabama to spend the week at my parents' house. My sister went with us, so we had 3 adults, 2 kids and 3 dogs in the van. Fun times :) Before we left, we celebrated our own little family Christmas.

Traditional picture in front of the tree.

Wyatt wasn't that interested in opening gifts - something that I am SURE will change by next year!

Lila got a dollhouse for Christmas from us... can you tell she is excited?

When we got to my parents' house, Lila got to help decorate the tree (they waited because they knew that she had so much fun decorating our tree).

This lovely ornament I made when I was Lila's age (3 and 1/2).

My nephew, Heath, really enjoyed building with the blocks.

Lila and Heath

Everyone doing Ring-Around-the-Rosie. Wyatt (behind Lila) thought it was a lot of fun!

Another traditional picture in front of the tree: Heath, Lila, Wyatt and Jim.

The weather was pretty nice while we were there, so one day we walked over to a nearby neighbor to look at his goats. This was taken in the driveway before we left.

Wyatt had a bouncy ride, which he enjoyed.

Heath with his dad, my brother Duey.

Wyatt and Ben.

Wyatt and Lila playing the piano with Aunt Janina.

Lila and Wyatt with Grandma in their Christmas finery.

Grandma and Grandpa Brandt with Lila and Wyatt

Grandma and Grandpa Brandt with Jim and Heath

Grandpa reading Wyatt and Lila a book.

Our car ride from Texas to Alabama took about 12 hours with stops. The kids did really well. On the car ride home though is when Wyatt first got sick - vomiting in the car and then later he had a blowout at McDonalds. Both times Ben was the one to clean him up, so I just want to say what an incredible man I've got. Yes, he was the unlucky one who happened to be sitting in the backseat when it happened and didn't realize what he had when he volunteered to change Wyatt's diaper, but still - no complaining at all. And there were a couple men who came out of the restroom making faces so I know it wasn't pretty. It is certainly one trip we won't be forgetting anytime soon. :)

Anniversary Dinner

Today was our 9 year anniversary. We decided to go out to eat to celebrate and bring the kids along, rather than hire a sitter. They were both very good during dinner and provided some entertainment too. For instance...

Our waiter came to our table and asked us what we'd like to drink. He said, "I've got tea, lemonade,-".

Before he could finish, Lila said, "Oh, I'd like some lemonade, sir. My mommy taught me to call men "sir" and I call girls... I call them... I call them... I can't remember what I call them." (Probably why she's called me "sir" a few times!) We were all chuckling at her explanation though. Guess now we need to work a little harder on not interrupting :)

The past nine years have been wonderful - can't wait to see what comes next!

Thanksgiving 2009

So once again, I am a little behind in updating my blog. The last couple months have been busy! :) We were lucky enough to have Ben's parents and his brother's family come down here for Thanksgiving! It was a quick visit but we really enjoyed having them here! My sister was also able to come over for Thanksgiving Day. Everyone brought something for the meal. For dessert, I made a pumpkin pie and these really cute turkey cupcakes.

I also got out the good china. Lila helped me make place cards for the table.

The weather was pretty nice so we walked down to the park in the afternoon.

David enjoyed playing with the wood chips on the ground.

Wyatt thought getting swung around by Daddy was pretty fun!

And everyone liked climbing the big rock, even Uncle Brian!

Aunt Janina helped Wyatt go down the slide.

Wyatt and Aunt Janina (who he now calls "Nina"... he calls ME that sometimes too!)

On the walk home, Rachel and Lila caught a ride. This picture cracks me up because it shows the difference in the girls - Rachel with her arms up & no fear and Lila squeezing Ben's head as tight as she can!

The next day was nice too so we played some in the yard. The girls could really get the glider going high.

What can I say? If it's there, we must taste it.

This Year's Ornament

When Ben and I got married, I decided that each year I would make a Christmas ornament, something to symbolize a significant event that year. The first year was an ornament with our wedding date on it. We have a doggy ornament for the year we got Maggie and Kelsey. I made an ornament for each year the kids were born. A pair of sandals for the year we went to South Padre with college friends. Anyway, I really didn't know what to do for this year. Ben went to Guatemala but the rest of us didn't. I deliberated for awhile but then Ben came up with the idea to do an ornament that looked like a camera. This year we got a DSLR camera which I have loved using. We also had our family picture taken, so it seemed like a camera was a good idea. Now I just had to figure out how to make it! I went to Hobby Lobby and found this musical button for 40 cents (did I mention I made this AFTER Christmas!) That became the lens. When you push on it, it plays "White Christmas" (which is appropriate since this year Ben watched one of my favorite Christmas movies - White Christmas - for the first time). I used a paper-mache box for the body ($1, Hobby Lobby). Everything else (paint, buttons, ribbon) I had already.

For the back, I printed out a picture taken this year of Lila and Wyatt. Hey, it's a digital camera, right? :)

I love looking at these ornaments each year on the tree. It has become a fun Christmas tradition for us.

*Note: I did NOT take these pictures with my DSLR. I used the camera on my phone b/c it was faster :)

Fall, Fun and Family

For the Halloween weekend, we drove up to Wichita to visit the Amey family and had a great time playing with cousins, playing in piles of leaves and trick-or-treating! The boys are still a little young to actually play together, but the girls have lots of fun!

Pam and David

Wyatt with Mommy

One of their favorite activities to do at Grandma and Grandpa's house is to spin in the office chair. You can tell by Lila's hair that they reach some pretty good speeds!

Kaelyn and Lila about to take a turn together

Hang on tight!

Now it's time for Kaelyn and Britton to spin.

Fun times.

Kaelyn and Britton helped make sure Wyatt didn't go too far on the stairs. (He LOVED climbing the stairs!)

We spent at little time at a nearby park, then we went home and piled up the leaves for jumping.

Britton - almost 6 years old!

Kaelyn - almost 4 years old!

Lila, 3 years and 3 months

Rachel, 3 and 1/2 years

Stuffing leaves into a pumpkin-face bag

Wyatt didn't think much of the leaves. He preferred to be held by Grandpa.

That night we went over to Brian and Pam's house for supper and trick-or-treating. While we were waiting for supper, the girls decorated plastic bottles with stickers for pumpkin bowling.

Wyatt found a sit-n-spin toy.

When it got dark, we went trick-or-treating to just a few houses. Britton dressed as a bride, Lila was a mermaid and Kaelyn was Babar the Elephant. Ben and Wyatt dressed up too - and handed out candy at the door.

David was a lion and Rachel was Cinderella.

It was Lila's first time to go trick-or-treating. This was her expression the whole time! I'm not sure she knew what to think. When we got back home, she finally said "trick or treat!" to Ben (she didn't say anything at the other houses).

After trick-or-treating the girls played with some play-doh.

Time to say goodbye.

Halloween 2009

The Jolly Green Giant (Ben), his helper Sprout (Wyatt), the Chicken of the Sea mermaid (Lila) and the Sunmaid Raisin lady (Colette). I put an image of each food mascot below our photos. A huge thank-you to Ben's Mom for her help in making our costumes - we would not have looked half as good without your help!!