Christmas Day, 2008

Christmas Day at our house was GREAT! Santa came and left Ben lots of fun toys. Legos seemed to be the most popular thing at our house this Christmas. That is what we were busy doing all day long. Luckily Ben took his nap so our eyes could get a break from putting the Lego firestation, police station and service station together.

Ben has a HUGE sweet tooth, no matter what the other flavor that you mix in with the sugar. This was a lemon bar that he discovered that he liked--right before lunch.

Nana and Poppa joined us for lunch. Ben is almost getting too big to pick up!

Rudolph with your nose so bright...

It is Christmas Eve and we just put out the reindeer food for Rudolph and his buddies. Ben has had the jar of food sitting by the front door since he brought it home. We can't wait! The milk and cookies are next!

Christmas at Grandma's House

Today we went to Grandma's house in Phenix City, Alabama. Ben was very excited to see his cousins. Here is a picture of Mallory, Brandon, Grandma, Ben and Kayleigh. Ben is into Legos and luckily he was surprised with a few new sets which have already been put together compliments of his daddy.

PreK Christmas Fun!

This was our last week of school before the Christmas break. Ben had a busy schedule in his PreK classroom. On Monday they had Christmas Centers. This was the center that I helped at..we made Reindeer food. Ben is patiently waiting for the 'magic glitter' to put in his jar before he shakes it up.
On Thursday some special guests came to their class. Two of Santa's Elves came to visit and they brought Santa's dog with them. After 'Polar Express' was read to the class, the elves served hot chocolate and muffins. Earlier in the week, the class had made a special wish list for Santa. Ben's teacher sent the list home with the elves to give to Santa.

Finally, on Friday was the party. The kids had great snacks and some red fruit punch which Ben is proud to show off on is lips in the picture with Nanny.

Merry Christmas!!

I am so proud of our decorations this year..they are actually the same as last year! I wish I would have invented the huge suction cups for the windows and those white 3M hooks with the sticky back!

Gingerbread House for the Fourth Little Pig

This has been the best Christmas season. Ben has been into making all sorts of stuff. Today we made a Gingerbread House. From the start, Ben knew he was going to get to eat some candy. I wasn't so sure we would have enough candy for decorating it...but we did.

He started off by licking the icing off of the mixer.

I couldn't resist getting a picture with the 'evidence' on his face. This Gingerbread House will drive his daddy crazy...It will be in the trash on Dec. 26! We will enjoy it on the dining room table until then.

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer....

Check out this snazzy little reindeer that Ben and I made...We actually made 11 of them. We would have had 12, but Ben ate one of the candy canes yesterday.

Earth to Ben King

Ben has obsessions, some are short lived and some are not. He has always loved space and he got this idea from TV the other day. I will have to add aluminum foil to my shopping list!

Ben's Visit With Santa!

Today was our much anticipated trip to see Santa! Ben was such a good boy. He sat with Santa and told him many things that he would like for Christmas. As soon as I got the picture home, I compared it to the years past.

This is his first visit with Santa in 2004. He was 4 months old. We visited Santa in Metairie, where we used to live.

He didn't brave the Santa picture line again until 2006. When he was 1 he screamed and screamed. It was torture for him. This is his visit with Santa when he was 2. He still wasn't very sure, but at least there were no tears.

This is his 2007 picture when he was 3.

You know it is Christmas when.....

The wreath is hung!! Besides decorating the tree, my favorite part of our decorating tradition is to deck the porch with greenery and white lights! Ever since I was little, I knew that when I got big I wanted my front porch to look like this.

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving day has come and gone. The food was great. My dad carved the turkey and ham. Ben knew that we were going to decorate the tree today so that was next on the agenda! Here are some pics from our happy day!

Happy Birthday Cadillac

Today Cadillac is 6 years old!!!!

TGIF!

Today was the last day of school before the Thanksgiving holidays. Ben had PACTime in his class today. He made his own butter and dressed like a Pilgrim.

We had a death in the family last night. Our fish died. We had him for 2 1/2 years. His name was Fish. After school today Ben and I went to the pet store to get another fish. Ben was in charge of naming the fish (as you can tell, he named the last fish) and the new fish is named Glass. I have tried to get an explanation as to why he has an odd name. The only thing that Ben tells me is that he named him that because he didn't have a name.

Here he is....Glass. He will happily live on the desk in the kitchen. He was preceeded in death by Fish, Jared, Plaxico and Rudi. Michael and I have always had a beta fish.

Football Sunday!

The Saints are playing the Falcons today, so of course we have that game on TV. You don't know how excited I was to see what other two teams were playing later in the day..first the Colts and then the Giants. Ben has a jersey for each of those teams so at some point today he has put them on for me to take a picture. We love Peyton Manning. He posed in front of the Peyton Manning fathead with his Eli Manning jersey on.

We pulled the Peyton Manning jersey out of the pile of clothes that are too small. He got this one when he was 1 and the Colts were in the playoffs in 2006. They lost the next playoff game. Luckily we got our Superbowl win in January 2007!

We happened to be in New Orleans when the Reggie Bush jerseys went on sale 2 years ago. This is the first year that it hasn't looked like a dress on him.

Sleeping Angel

Look at him! Ben NEVER falls asleep on the sofa. It is Friday evening, about an hour before his regular bedtime of 7:30 and he is out!! That is what a week of PreK can do to you. Thanks Mrs. Brown!!

Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.
jerry garcia

Proud Mom and Dad!!

This is a note that Ben brought home from school today. It was from his teacher saying what a good leader he is in class. She also said that he knows the rules and follows them well. We are so proud of him!!!

Yummy Chicken Tacos

I found this recipe on a blog and it sounded good to me....We made it tonight and Michael gave it 2 thumbs up!! For the record---he is VERY picky!!! I just copied the recipe from the blog...but I cheated. I put the chicken on high and cut the time in half. I followed the rest of the directions just like they are posted.

Lime Chicken Tacos
1 1/2lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup chunky salsa
12 flour tortillas (6 in) warmed
Sour Cream, shredded cheddar cheese, and lettuce (optional).
Place chicken in 3 quart slow cooker. Combine lime juice and chili powder; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until chicken is tender.
Remove chicken; cool slightly. Shred and return to slow cooker. Stir in corn and salsa. Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve tortillas with sour cream, cheese, and lettuce, if desired.

Yee Haw!!

This is Ben in his costume on Thursday night. We went to the fall festival at the church. I realized that there wasn't a great shot of the boots in the other post. The boots will now be retired. If I don't...do you know how many black marks will be on my wood floor?? Those boots may have cured him of ever wanting to be a cowboy. I never should have bought boots at K-Mart!

Happy Halloween!

We had a great time trick-or-treating in our neighborhood tonight. It was nice and bright outside when we began. Ben thought that he had to eat the candy as fast as he got it. His bag stayed pretty empty for a while. As the night progressed, we hit more and more houses and his tummy couldn't keep up. I kept telling myself...it is only once a year, it is only once a year!!

As the night wore on and the darker it got, the boys opted for a ride in the wagon!! Easton was a giraffe.

This is what the wagon looked like at the end of the night. I also found some empty candy wrappers in his bag!! Tummy Ache!!

I discovered a way to get a lot of candy....tell a Georgia Fan 'War Eagle' BEFORE they give your kid candy. They will load them up with sugar in hopes that they never go to bed that night.

Look at what my crafty neighbor made!

Creepy!!

This was the art du jour at our house tonight! There were a total of 6 spiders. Since it was Ben and his daddy's job to hang them up, these made it to the kitchen. The other 3 are randomly spread throughout the house. They sorta go with the theme that I keep all year long....cobwebs. Maybe I can just leave these lovely critters out all year and the cobwebs won't be as obvious.

Cute Craft

Look at these cute decorations that Ben and I made this afternoon when he came home from school. They were super easy. I had a string of Christmas lights under them, but Mr. Safety, Jr. thought it may be a fire hazard. He is only 4, but so much like his daddy. We decided to save the lights for the tree and let our new friends rest on a bed of pine straw.

Pumpkin Carving

Today we carved pumpkins. This is my 'pirate' pumpkin.

Michael carved this scary one. He did a pretty good job!

Happy Birthday Poncho!!

Saturday is Poncho's birthday!! We love you!!

How much do you throw away??

I used to laugh at my friend Amy for walking out of work with the boxes that the Capri Sun juice pouches come in. Then I noticed a plastic bag hanging on a hook in her class with scrap paper in it. Don't get me wrong, we recycled cans, paper and plastic in New Orleans because we had the blue bin to put by the street with our trash can every week. Well, Amy was actually taking this stuff home and putting it with her household recycling and bringing it to the recycling place. That seemed like a lot of work for me, so I just gave her my stuff from my class so she could bring it too. I know that Amy is a smart girl so I decided to try it. Let me just tell you. We have one of those big, rolling trash cans that is so big a riding lawnmower could fit in. I started with everything--milk jugs, milk cartons, newspaper, plastic bottles, cans, cereal boxes. We were averaging a bag of trash from the kitchen can everyday, sometimes more. That is at least seven bags a week. Now, we only have about three bags of garbage in our can at the end of the week. Oh no, it didn't all just disappear. Now, it is all in my garage. (Thanks Amy) Now, about every other week, Ben and I load up the plastic containers that are set up to keep everything separated into the car and go to the recyclers. I have to admit, I look forward to going to the recyclers. I feel like I am doing something for the Earth. If you don't recycle already, START!! (or you can bring your stuff to Amy and she will recycle it for you)

By the way, the picture is of the recycling that I accumulated in one day in our house. After I took the picture, I added an olive jar. It adds up very fast!!