Christmas 2010

We had so much fun celebrating our third Christmas holiday season with Ben. We tried not to go overboard with presents since he got so many new toys for his birthday. We ended up buying a ton of new winter clothes since he's outgrown the 18 months sizes. He is almost 27 months old, but is just now fitting into the 24 months size clothing. He loves to ride the tricycles at Aunt Joycie's house, so he asked Santa for one of his own. He was so excited to see it sitting under the tree Christmas morning. We also got an art easel with plenty of art supplies to go along with it. He has really enjoyed that gift, too. We've just been having so much fun playing with his new things.

We've been able to spend a lot of time with the grandparents over the break. It has been so nice. I love getting to sleep in and stay in our jammies as long as we want. I am not looking forward to work on Monday, ha ha!

I've posted a ton of pictures from the past two weeks. Enjoy! Can you believe we're about to ring in a new year?!

Making cookies for Santa...sugar cookies with vanilla frosting and red sprinkles. We taste-tested a few to make sure they were good! :-)

I let Ben pour the sprinkles :-)

Hooray! Santa visited our house!

Such a cute face!

Trying out his new tricycle from Santa!

Ben and Momma opening stocking gifts.

He was so cute opening presents. He didn't care about the actual presents, but thought the packaging was cool. He would unwrap a present and say, "oh, it's a brand new box!" At one point, he had a pile of the tissue paper. He was absolutely precious.

Jeremy and I got matching snuggies! These things are so warm!

Family picture at Grandma & Grandpa Byrd's.

Ben showing us his new silly face. I'm not sure where he picked this up :-)

Dinner at Chili's.

Ben and Momma Christmas day at the Byrd's.

Riding the carousel. He looks so good in red.

Another carousel shot...

and another.

My sleeping angel. I snuck in and got a picture during nap time.

Ben and Daddy drawing on the new art easel.

He loves his new tricycle.

My lego giraffe. I've been having fun with Ben's new legos.

Christmas Eve at Aunt Darla's.

Holiday Fun!

I can't believe we are 12 days into December already! We have been very busy baking, decorating, parading, and visiting Santa. All of these activities have really put me in the holiday spirit. Ben is so much fun this year. He visited Santa yesterday at his workshop in Lakeland. We went to Lakeside Village where they have a huge Christmas tree that plays music at the top of every hour. We had fun watching the lights and listening to Mannheim Steamroller. Ben was so good during his visit with Santa. There wasn't a line when we walked in and Santa was on a break. One of the workers asked us for Ben's name and ran back to give it to Santa. When Santa walked in he called Ben's name like he already knew him. It was really neat. He gave Ben a gold coin and let him pick out a present from his huge velvet bag of toys. We got a lot of good pictures, but this was our favorite:

We made chocolate-peanut butter-oatmeal drop cookies this morning. It's a no-bake cookie so really easy to make. Ben said they're his favorite :-) My Memaw Gaffney makes these during the holidays. They are so good!

Ben eating some of the cookies after his nap today :-)

Thank goodness for portable dvd players. Ben watched Dora on the way home from Lakeland last night.

Sitting on the bench @ Lakeside Village enjoying the Christmas lights and caroling.

reading The Very Hungry Catepillar @ Books-A-Million

Ben loved these over-sized blocks at Santa's Workshop!

He would not take his eyes off the tree for a picture. He just played with my hair instead :-)

Ben and Grandpa

Ben had cabin fever so we bundled him up and played outside.

My little reindeer...Ben helped Grandma and Grandpa decorate their tree.

Ben likes to count his crayons. He'll count them in English and Spanish. (gotta love Dora!)

I was trying to take a picture before we left for dinner @ Chili's. He looks so good in blue.

I think he was saying, "wo ho ho" in this picture :-)

CHEEEEESE!

Potty training is going much better now that he has his own potty chair. This one plays music when he goes tee tee and don't you just love the toilet paper holder? :-)

Ben and Momma at the Frostproof Christmas Parade