My Poor, Poor Benny Bear....

My Little Sweetie is super sick. He has a terrible cold and an ear infection. He hasn't been sleeping well or eating well. He has the runniest nose, a terrible cough and keeps throwing up.... His first New Year's Eve is definitely one we are glad he won't remember!

Needless to say, we are spending New Year's here at home.....

Our Christmas....

Cousins (Benjamin, Brayden and Hayleigh)

Of course, Ben was more excited about the boxes than their contents!

Ben is wearing his Pops' (my dad's) overalls and jacket from when he was a baby!

Still wearing Pops' overalls, and really excited about his new horse!

I finally put a shirt under them!!

We were putting together his new wagon, again he loved the box. We have been experiencing a major drooling session over the past week and a half, hence the soaked shirt!

Ben LOVES the wagon, Jake does not.

Look, Santa came....

Somehow we didn't get a family picture on Christmas, so this is as close as it gets for us!!

He also LOVES the firetruck ride-on Santa brought him!!!

More box excitement...

Still loves the wagon...

We had a really great Christmas this year! The Sunday before Christmas Jason's family (his parents, brother and his family, his grandfather, his grandma from Arizona, his aunt and cousin) all came over most of the day to celebrate and spend time together. We had a great time eating lots of food and opening great gifts. It was a good day. Benjamin had a good time playing with all the unwrapped boxes he got. We're still trying to get him to play with everything that came in the boxes!! :o)

My parents and their dog, Macie, arrived on Tuesday to spend most of the week with us. We had a really nice time. We just relaxed, ate way too much and opened even more gifts. Ben got a visit from Santa, I guess it's a good thing he didn't have to see him here at home to get his presents, because as you saw in previous posts, they don't really get along! We had a great visit that of course went by too quickly. They headed home on this past Saturday. It felt so empty here at the house without them that I just decided it was time to take all the Christmas decorations down. I guess I was Scrooge this year!!! lol

Thank you to everyone for all of our wonderful gifts! We are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Another Tooth...

I don't have a picture of it, but Ben got this third tooth yesterday. The funny thing is that it is on the bottom also. So now he has three bottom teeth and no top teeth! :o)

My Christmas Present....

I asked for one thing this year for Christmas.... unique family photos.....and I am so thrilled at how they turned out. The weather ended up being terrible the day we took them, but it was the only day we could do them. Despite the really white skies and 18 layers of clothing... I love the pictures. There are quite a few more photos, but these are a few of my favorites! We used Studio Bloom Photography (www.studiobloomphoto.com), Laura is amazing!! I highly recommend her to anyone... she takes amazing photos!! Her website has a link to her blog that she updates quite frequently.... Enjoy!

I don't care what list I'm on, get me out of here!

I took Ben to meet Santa today, let's just say the big man in the red suit is not his favorite person. We waited in line and he was so happy. He had all the mommies around me playing with him and smiling, etc. He even checked out Santa a couple times and seemed fine. When it came time to sit Ben in Santa's lap... dun, dun, dun.... tears just started streaming!! He screamed until I picked him up. I felt like a terrible mother. However, the minute we walked away from Santa, Ben was smiling again. (Side-note: Santa was very rude to me, guess he hadn't had his hot cocoa for the day or something, I was thinking I'd probably cry too!!)

I had to get the terribly over-priced pictures just for memories-sake. Apparently when I was a kid, I cried at Santa too. So my mom was entertained when I called to tell her that her grandson acted just like his Mommy. :o) (The picture is a scan, so it's terrible quality.)

Please Stand Up!

So I don't have pictures for this post, but thought I'd share the excitement with everyone. Ben "pulled up" tonight for the first time. He was right in front of us and we didn't even see it. He was sitting in the midst of all his toys while Jason and I were eating a late dinner. Jason and I started talking and the next thing I knew, Ben was standing up. He was holding on to the activity table with a big grin on his face. He was so proud. I can't believe it and I can't believe I missed it... right in front of my face!

SoI moved him over closer to me and he only wanted to stand so he was moving from activity table, to the couch, to my leg. At this rate, he'll be walking tomorrow! Geez... they grow too quickly!

O, Christmas Tree

I just wanted to share a little holiday cheer, especially to those who are far away from us that we don't get to share our holiday decor with!



Our family tree

Ben's little tree.... there's been some additions since the picture was taken, but you get the general idea!

Gaylord Ice

Ben, Jake and I went to visit my mom and dad for a few days. We had a really great time. Ben didn't enjoy the car ride there, but he had a much better trip on the way home. Mom, Ben and I went to the Gaylord Hotel to see the "Ice" exhibit. It was really, really neat. They keep the temperature at 9 degrees, so we had to wear very heavy coats provided by the exhibit OVER our coats. Ben wasn't very happy about being in his stroller so we had to put him inside our coats to keep him warm. He was absolutely memorized by the ice, snow, cold, lights, etc. It was really awesome. I hadn't been back to the Gaylord since Jason and I stayed on our wedding night, so it was neat to be back. I also took my bridal portraits there many moons ago, so we tried to revisit some of the places where those pictures were taken to take pictures with my Benjamin!


Ready to roll..

Ben and GranDonna on the ice bridge

The "gingerbread" ice house

Mommy and Ben

Coca-Cola Bears

Beautiful branches made of ice....








Our non-Christmas-ey Background




GranDonna, Ben, Momma

Baby Ben Pictures....

Here's a stroll down memory lane for you. I'm gathering pictures from everyone of Ben at the hospital, because obviously I was not able to capture everything from the hospital bed. My friend Angie was kind enough to send this pictures of Baby Ben. I cannot believe how small and squished he was. These were taken the morning after he was born. It seems like FOREVER ago.

Already disliked being swaddled

From the nursery window
(I never saw him in the nursery)

Probably two hours after he was born/On his was to the nursery for the first time

His sweet little wrinkled foot
(And you can see part of the date and the time he was born on the bracelet)

Evans Family Thanksgiving

Pawpaw (Jason's Grandfather) and Ben

Pawpaw and all his great-grandkids... the only one missing is one that is on the way
(Eric and Loren are expecting in June...just wanted to clear that up!!! :o) ).

The cousins and their Pawpaw

Great-grandkids

The entire crew


We had a great Thanksgiving, it was a big group but of course we had a ton of food. In usual fashion, we planned out Black Friday shopping, ate, played with kiddos and had a great time!!!

Buddy....

He's getting a new car seat this week.... he's almost too long for the carrier.
(Believe it or not, he's still not too heavy!)

He's such a ham....

The first time in his "big boy PJ's"

He's getting VERY mobile.... he's in the process of tackling my Santa decoration in this picture!

His very first toothbrush... I had just brushed them for the first time and he LOVED it, so he took over. Now we brush every night before bed and in the morning.... just to get him used to the routine.

We are really enjoying Ben... he's at such a fun age right now. I can't believe he's about to be 9 months old... seems unreal!

Promised Pictures....

My little organized pictures with the sign are getting much more challenging!!

He looks so different with his hair combed... it doesn't stay like this for very long... matter of fact, perfect strangers comment on my child's crazy hair....sigh!