Thanksgiving 2012

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Oklahoma!  Rachel and Paul moved there this summer and we've been excited to visit them (with them living so close - 11hrs)!  Well it was supposed to be only 11 hrs, made in one day but with terrible traffic in Austin (we will never live there, I hate it because of the traffic), we ended up stopping in Plano, TX for the night and making the rest of the trip the next day.  But when we finally arrived we were so happy to be there!!  The Bills came over and being with family made it all worth it!!

Oh how I love being with my sisters (and sisters-in-law)!!  And these are just two of the seven (18 counting in-laws) that I have!  I wish it could have been all of them but I'll take what I can.  We had so much fun cooking, talking and laughing together!

 Cooking all morning!

 

Making pies, one of the best parts!

 Little kids table.  I should have taken an after picture, it was a disaster!

 Benson playing outside with Isaac and Oscar.  Lately Bens is obsessed with Isaac.  All day long he asks to play with him or go to his house.  Before thanksgiving it had been 6 months since he'd seen him.

 Everyone dancing to "we're all in this together" so funny!

 He's getting so big!

 Benson just loves playing with Adalaide!

 Just after we got there they were taking us on a tour of their house and where we'd be sleeping and Benson and Adalaide jumped in so we put the babies in and decided that would be sleeping arrangements every night :)  Benson is 4 months younger than Adalaide and David is 1 month younger than Lucy.  We love cousins!

Lucy and David loved playing together!

We loved our visit and can't wait for them to come down and visit us!!!

Other Fall Activities

We've had a pretty fun fall.  No we don't get the gorgeous changing of tree color but we have great warm weather and it's just now getting into the 60's.

Benson loves going to the duck pond near by.

 While waiting for Daddy at work.  Lucy looks a bit concerned (and she should).

 A rare rain storm, he wanted to go jump so bad.

A church here in town opens up their gym every Thursday with bunch of toys, Benson loves it!

 Another church had a fall festival.  He loved the horses and kept wanted to slide down the biggest slide they had, as you can see in the next picture I took him and he loved it.

 Our family on the train

Lucy - 4 Months

We are loving our little Lucy!  She gets cuter every day!  Here are her 4 month stats:
-11.5 lbs
-23 in long
-15.5 in head
She's in the 8th-ish percentile.  The dr. said that she's not digressing on the chart, but barely progressing :)  But she's healthy and has reached all the 4 month mile stones.
She...
-loves to sleep (I think this will be a common theme throughout her life)
-hates tummy time
-can roll from her tummy to her back
-grabs stuff in front of her
-can stand up when being held
-loves to watch Benson
-loves the bumbo
-loves to suck on her hands and blanket/burp cloth
-we've had a couple really deep belly laughs and lots of little giggles
-loves to be bounced on an exercise ball when eating or being put to sleep (Benson loved that too)
-loves to talk/yell at us

We can't imagine our lives without her and we are grateful for everyday she's ours!

Happy Halloween

It just gets more and more fun as Benson gets older!  The holidays are just so magical with children.  Benson was the dog Bingo. (Yes he was a dog last year but he was Toto, totally different.)  And someone gave us a lamb costume so Lucy was the cutest lamb around!  We don't have a picture but I was Mary (get it, Mary had a little lamb) and Anthony was a farmer (There was a farmer, had a dog  and BING-O was his name O).  In the days leading up to Halloween I taught Bens to smile and say "Trick-or-Treat" and then "Thank you." I wish I had gotten it on video.  We had a ward party with a trunk or treat on the Friday before Halloween. Benson loved getting all the candy and of course wanted to eat each piece as it was put in his basket.  On Halloween we went to a story time at Barnes and Noble were he got to wear his costume and then we took him trick-or-treating around our neighborhood.  After the people would drop a piece of candy in this basket he'd point to another piece and say "I need that one".  It was a bit embarrassing (thank goodness he's only two and not 10). He loved it and now after each meal asks for a trick-or-treat.

October FHE

We got some pumpkins from Anthony's work party and since then have not heard the end of Benson wanting to carve them.  (He even says hello and goodbye to them each time he sees them.) So the activity for FHE tonight was carving them. 

Benson all ready to start carving

 Lucy was also very excited about the pumpkins

 Just starting...

 Benson not sure if he wanted to get all slimy but enjoyed it in the end

 Loving the cut out of the hammer

 Dads' mad carving skills

 The finished products: a hammer and saw and a smiley face (yes I have mad carving and totally original idea skills too)

Family Fun

Anthony's work had a Family Fun Day a couple weekends ago.  It was a lot of fun!  They had bounce houses, yummy food, a photo booth, free flu shoots :), a fire engine and truck, and a little pumpkin patch.  It was also fun to meet some of the people he works with, to put faces to names. Thanks Celanese for a fun day!

 Benson loved pushing the horn

 Lucy just hung out in the stroller

 The photo both had some fun props: Benson and Dad

 Mom and Lucy

And now we know where Benson got his hair from

Birthday Festivities

We had such a fun time celebrating Benson's birthday all week long!  From the birthday sign on Monday to the family go-carting on Friday, I think it was his best birthday ever!

His BIG Cookie for a cake

 Picking out "Winnie" the Penguin at Build a Bear

 He LOVES to jump!

 Birthday Cookie

 Opening presents

 Go-Carting with Dad

 Go-Carting with Mom

 He requested Pizza for his birthday dinner

Happy Birthday Benson!