Christmas fun

Last weekend Brandon's dad came in town so we had some Christmas fun! We went to the Belton Train Station for the Santa train. It would have been really fun (a 45 minute ride with Santa, cookies, and hot chocolate), but the train engine was having problems so we sat on an unmoving train for an hour while they still did the little program. We got back to the car and Bella goes, "I'm sorry mama." I asked her for what? Bella said, "I'm sorry the train broke." It was so sweet and sad at the same time. Since we were out we decided to go ahead to crown center. We ate at Fritz's and then stood in line to play in Santa's playland. We didn't sit on Santa's lap, but the kids had a blast playing. While Brandon and Bob held our place in line I took Bella to the candy store where she picked out a sucker and then we went and looked at the Gingerbread village. She loved watching the miniature trains travel around the gingerbread village as she ate her sucker! Both kids had a blast in the playland, Benjamin couldn't get enough of the little slides and the craolya house. The silly mirrors played tricks on him and he kept running into them, haha it was pretty funny as he tried to figure them out!

Thanksgiving Day is a special day...

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my Aunt Carol's house this year is Marshall, MO. My mom's side of the family gathered there. I have 6 younger cousins that are all boys who love playing and helping Bella and Benjamin. The food was amazing as usual, and it was good to spend time with everyone!

Benjamin and Bella loved the leap frog globe that Aunt Jenni brought!

Benjamin loves his Great Grandpa Sachse! He always goes to him immediately!

This year Benjamin was initiated into the men's cave to watch football on Thanksgiving day! He seemed to enjoy it!

Bella and Sophie enjoying their Thanksgiving lunch... it was a challenge as always to get them to sit and eat.

Dessert always helps though!

This was the best family picture we could get. Photoshop anyone?

Aunt Jenni was a life saver playing and making Bella laugh all afternoon!

Bella's top 10 things she is thankful for this year included:
1)Mommy
2)Daddy
3)Baby (Benjamin)
4)Sophie and Porter
5)Adria
6)Gigi and Papa
7) Sammy
8) Luke
9) Bryce
10) Grandpa Bob

She was so sweet when I asked her this and she just rattled off just about everyone she knows!

Brandon's 31st Birthday

November is full of birthdays for our family! We started with Benjamin and his Aunt Christie's on the 6th, then Grandpa Bob's on the 17th, and now Brandon's on the 18th! We had a fun afternoon date at the movies. I think that's the first time we've ever seen a movie in the afternoon! Then he got his free hair cut at Sports Clips, we had our small group over and ate chili, and then he opened a few presents and enjoyed his favorite... cookie cake! Bella was more excited I think to stay up past bedtime, get to help daddy open presents, blow out candles, and eat cake! Benjamin missed the fun but then woke up around ten to have some snuggle time on the couch with us for a few minutes and then we were all sleeping like babies... finally!

Bella's first service project

Now that Bella is old enough to understand helping others, I really wanted to take some opportunities to involve Bella with that this holiday season. Last week we put together a box for Operation Christmas Child. Bella helped pick out all the toys and items to put in the box for a little girl her same age. Then we brought it up to the church and prayed for the child that would receive it, and placed it under the tree. She was so sweet about the whole thing and I think she caught on. She did try to take another box as we were leaving though haha.

Benjamin's Cowboy Party

I had so much fun planning Benjamin's party. I got a lot of great ideas from other blogs I've seen and enjoyed putting my own twist on things. He was sleeping when his guests starting arriving so he was a little shy at first!

When the kids came in I had a sign that said "Git Yer Gear" and they got to put on a hat, badge, and handkerchief. Then they headed downstairs for games like Hay Hunt, Pony rides, and coloring. The Hay Hunt was a big hit as the kids searched in the hay pile to find cowboy treasures. Some of the kids were even putting hay in the baggies to take home! They loved it all!




They we headed back upstairs to have a delicious lunch of chili (made by Brandon), chicken noodle soup (made by Gigi), corn bread, jalapeano poppers, trail mix, beef jerky, hot chocolate, sweet tea, root beer, and my favorite for the kids root beer flavored milk! For dessert we had cake balls, s'more cupcakes, and an adorable cake made by a friend.













We had several WANTED posters of Benjamin hanging up. Those were so much fun to create!

As a "Thank You" to all of our guests I made Cowboy Cookies in a jar to hand out.

A big THANKS Y'ALL goes out to Gigi and Papa for letting us have the party at their house! They cleaned and cooked tirelessly! Thank you to Valerie who captured the party so amazingly (over 400 pics to choose from) and Uncle Kev, Brandon, and Lea for helping with set up and tear down!

The Big #1

November 6th, Benjamin turned one! I know most people think that a one year old doesn't know what's going on, but Benjamin sure looked like he knew he was getting spoiled and loving it! We started the day with a breakfast of cinnamon rolls, eggs, and sausage. Benjamin got candle in his and loved blowing on it. He blows on most foods that I cut up for him on his tray, it's so cute! I guess he's seen me do that only like a million times! We opened presents and played the rest of the day away with Grandpa Bob.

Benjamin is so close to walking now. He pulls himself up on anything to stand and is so proud of himself! He cruises along the sides of things and can pull himself up and over things. He crawls up the stairs and has learned to turn around and slide down the stairs on his tummy. He's graduated from the army crawl to knee crawling, but when he wants to get away fast he goes back to the army crawl! He's off the bottle except for right before bed. He loves his sippy cup and drinking whole milk! Our checkbook likes that too after he was on formula for a couple of months. Benjamin loves giving hugs, high fives, kisses, and hugs. He's our snuggler! Actually, this month he's started a new habit of wanting to be rocked before he lays down. I know according to some books that could be a bad habit, but Bella never liked to snuggle so I'm eating this up! He loves snuggling! He also loves when daddy gets home and immediately needs to be held by him and played with! It's adorable! He's working on teeth number 7 and 8! He started teething and it hasn't slowed down! We went to the doctor today and he looked great! He weighed 18 pounds 11 ounces which is still the 5th percentile, and was 29 1/4 inches long which is the 25th percentile. Looks like we're going to have a little fast guy! He had to get two shots, a swab taken, and a finger poke to get blood today. He was NOT a happy camper! Between him and Bella's breakdowns I was sweating and felt like I had just had a workout! I was so glad to get out of there! I love our new doctor here in Olathe though! It's nice to be so close to our pediatrician now just in case.

We're looking forward to celebrating Benjamin's first year on Saturday with our family and friends!