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Bennett is now 6 months old.  On Saturday we celebrated him turning 6 months old by starting solid food. 

 

He was so excited to be included at meal time.  He has been so interested the last month, whenever you are eating or drinking something while you hold him, he tries to grab it and pull it towards his mouth.

Jon is always so excited to be able to help feed the kids, and I am excited to let him help.

Ben was not a big fan of the cereal.  He was so much fun to watch, his little expressions were priceless.  Think he will be more excited when he gets to try new flavors. 

Saturday was the day of the SEC Championship.  In honor of that we all got dressed up in our Florida finest.

We made a trip to Sam's and we got to put both kids in the cart. It was so much fun!

Day two of eating food.  Ben seemed to like eating a little bit more today, but he had more fun chewing on the spoon.

I had a harder time getting his 6 month pictures, he kept chewing on his blanket.

Daddy finally got his attention so I could get a good picture.

We go to the doctor on Friday so we will have updated height and weight measurements.  Ben is sitting up now all by himself.  He can roll from his back to stomach, but not back.  He sleeps between 12 and 13 hours a night, I know, we are very lucky parents.  He is such a sweet baby.  We are really looking forward to sharing him with both our families over Christmas. 

We got out the Christmas decorations last week and we have all really enjoyed having them out.

Bennett looking so cute in his Santa hat.

Nana loving on Addie.

If you look closely you can see some of the snow we got last week.  None of it stuck, but it was neat to watch.

Addie sporting her cowboy boots.  We bought these before we knew we were moving to Texas, but now they are so appropriate.

Enjoying the Christmas tree and some Christmas music.

My finished kitchen curtains.  They are so cheery, I just love them.  Thanks Mom!

 

Yes, I did go Black Friday shopping this year.  I said that I wouldn't, but I can't resist Target.  My mom was a trooper and was in line with me at 4:45 AM.  We were in a line that went around the corner of the building, but we were in the first 500 people and we got the special gift of a reusable shopping bag.  I was super excited, my mom made fun of me.  We got all kinds of bargains, stopped for donuts on the way home and were back before any one else was up.  My mom rearmed herself with flyers and coupons and went back out into the craziness.  She got all kinds of good deals. 

The rest of us just hung around the house.  Addie is tormenting Nana and Nana is too sweet to stop her.  See my curtains?  I am going to take a picture of the whole thing now that it is done.  They look so neat, my mom is so talented.

Uncle Doug and Ben hanging out on Saturday.  Ben thought he was pretty funny.

Saturday afternoon all us girls, and Jon and Ben headed out to Old Town Spring.  It is a little historic area with lots of neat shops.  We had a great time walking around and shopping.

Addie played in the bubbles from a bubble machine.  She had so much fun popping bubbles.

Addie and Daddy got to go for a train ride and the best part was a whistle that the conductor gave her.  That was awesome, listening to a little chorus of whistles.  Addie 'lost' hers after a couple of days at home.  I'm not sure where I put it though, so she may find it again.

Laura and I got some new sunglasses.

Ben had had enough.  He is such a good little boy, but he is an armful.  Thankfully we were almost done.

Our last stop for the day was Santa.  Addie and I have been talking about Santa so that she wouldn't freak out like she did last year.  Ben did not know what to think of Santa at first.

Both kids did so well with Santa, I was so excited.  Last year was a real struggle with Addie so this is a huge imporvement.  Addie told Santa what she wanted for Christmas and then we walked out of Santa's little house.

And then the melt down started.  Addie thought she was going to get the presents from Santa right then.  She was tired so that didn't help the situation.  She was so upset.

The candy cane helped her calm down a little, and made a huge mess.  Then she fell asleep in her car seat so I had to clean the sticky mess off of her while she was sleeping.  He had worn her out enough that she slept through the whole thing.

Nannie and GeeGee, Laura and Doug all left on Sunday, but we got to keep Nana until Wednesday.  The kids are now spoiled rotten.  Bennett not only wants to be held, but he also wants your undivided attention.  Addie has started potty training, but we are still working on that.  We are really looking forward to Christmas in Florida this year.  Right now we are enjoying our SNOW here in Southeast Texas.  Who would have thought.  I hope you all have a great weekend!

I apologize now for the number of pictures I am going to post.  We had so much family together that we took a lot of pictures.

On Saturday Nannie, GeeGee, Aunt Laura, and Uncle Doug all drove from Florida to spend the week with us.  The kids were so excited to see everyone.

Ben really enjoyed all of the attention, but he still felt like he was missing out on all the eating everyone was doing.  We haven't started him on food yet, but he is getting some practice with the spoon.

The big surprise of the week was that Nana was able to fly from Maine to spend the week with us.  Laura, Jon and I were the only ones that knew she was coming.  I took my mom with me to pick her up, she thought we were on our way to Walmart, but we just kept driving, she finally figured it out when we passed a sign for the airport.  Nana hadn't seen Addie since last summer, she hadn't seen Jon in over 2 years, and she had never met Ben before so it was a really special trip.

My Aunt Wendy, Uncle Joe, and Mikey were able to drive down from Dallas for a couple of days.

Addie loves Mikey so much.  She was by his side the whole week.  He is such a sweet guy, he let her play on his computer and was so patient with her. 

My sister is such a hard core swimmer she got up early a couple of days that she was here so she could go practice with a local swim team.  She had to ice down her shoulders after practice.  She will kill me for putting this picture up, but what are sisters for?

My parents brought their dog Mondi, he is such a cool dog.  He had fun playing with the kids too.

Addie and Nana working on a project.  If you notice the 'curtains' in this picture, they are really just a piece of material that we put over a tension rod when we first moved into our house.  My mom had found fabric for the window, but I hadn't gotten around to making the curtains.  My mom took it as her mission to get the curtains done. 

Ben loved sitting with Nana. 

On Tuesday night Jon and I were able to go on our first real date since Ben was born.  We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and it was amazing.  It is by far our favorite splurge restaurant.  We have now been to the San Antonio, Detsin, and Houston locations.  Houston is our favorite so far, so that works out nicely.

GeeGee took Addie to the Build A Bear Factory.  Addie got a big turkey with a Dallas Cowboys Shirt, and Ben got this little turkey.  He thought it tasted pretty good.

Ben sporting his Dallas Cowboys shirt on Turkey Day.  GeeGee is a big Cowboys fan, and the Dolphins weren't playing so Daddy said it was okay.

This year Laura made the crescent rolls all by herself.  It is a recipe that has been handed down a couple of generations and it just wouldn't be a holiday meal with out them.  She did a great job, they looked beautiful and they were soooooo yummy.

Aunt Wendy and her delicious mashed potatoes.

Nana making the gravy.  Before my mom new that Nana was coming she kept talking about how Nana makes the best gravy.  It was so hard for me to keep the secret.

Mom scooping out the stuffing. 

Addie was HUNGRY, we didn't eat until 1:30, so Addie was in her chair asking for food.

My brother Chris and his wife Rene got into town Thursday morning.   Rene jumped right in helping get things ready for the big meal.

We had only used our dining room table a couple of times, but we really got to break it in on Thursday.  We had 13 people eating, Ben slept right through everything.

The other side of the room.

Everyone loading their plates up.

  Getting ready to do some serious eating.  It was a wonderful meal, with lots of great people.

Our family tradition is that the women cook and put all the food away and then the guys come and wash all the dishes.  I think it is a wonderful tradition, my dad is the one that started this tradition.  Here is an action shot of my dad and my brother, Chris, jumping right in.  The kitchen is a little small so it was hard for all of the guys to help at the same time.

Jon was helping the guys keep an eye on the score.  He did help clean up, I just thought this shot was great.

Mikey holding Ben, too cute!

The turkey hit Mikey pretty hard.  He fell asleep on the floor, and was there for a couple of hours.  It is funny because the last Thanksgiving we all spent together Mikey ended up asleep on the floor too.  It is becoming a pretty funny family tradition.

That night the guys all decided to play some poker.  Here is Addie helping daddy.

Doug was having fun, not doing very well, but having some fun.  He did end up coming back and almost won the whole thing.

While the boys were playing poker us girls played a card game called Dutch Blitz.  It is a really fun, fast-paced game that Jon and I learned from friends in Oklahoma.  We had so much fun that we forgot to get any pictures. 

Nana, Bennett, and Nannie.  We didn't even plan this, really, I didn't plan it. 

On Friday we still had everyone together so we decided to take some pictures.  Here is our little family.

Chris and Rene.

Daddy adn Ben. I love Ben's little feet in this picture.

The guys.

We don't all get together very often, but when we do we have a good time.

Here is everyone.  We had a lot to be thankful for this year, and it was great to get to spend it with so much family.

  I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving.

 

We sure do miss Daddy, getting two kids and myself ready for church and out the door turned out to be harder than I expected this morning.  We were only about 30 minutes late for Sunday School, but we made it. 

Addie picked this dress out of her closet this morning.  Once she had it on she started twirling and said it was her Cinderella dress, and her Cinderella shoes, and her Cinderella sweater.  She was so excited.  I love that she loves clothes as much as I do.

This evening Addie and I worked away at some of the leftover birthday cake.  Addie really likes chocolate frosting.

Bennett was in a great mood this evening.  He loves his bouncer, he was going crazy tonight.  I think  I am going to have my hands full once he starts crawling.  He is such a happy little man, he just makes me smile.

I have had a wonderful birthday.  I have made some really great friends since we have moved to Texas.  Today a couple of them came over to keep me company.  We made bows for our little girls and had some much needed girl talk.  One of them brought me this adorable cake.  Addie was enamored with this cake as soon as she saw it.  She was so excited to have Belle. 

When it was finally time to cut into the cake Addie did not understand.  I pulled the plastic Belle off the top and started cutting the skirt so we could enjoy the yummy cake.  Addie looked at me horrified and started yelling "No don't cut it".  She was really upset, until she tasted the frosting, and then it was okay that I cut Belle's skirt.  She has been carrying around the half a Belle all evening.  

  I feel so loved by everyone today.  Even though Jon was not able to be here, again, I still had a great day.  Thank you to all of you who thought of me today, it really meant a lot.

So my Gamecocks are playing the Florida Gators today.  Since Jon is out of town I took the opportunity to dress everyone is Carolina colors.  Go Gamecocks!

Jon had to leave tonight to go on a business trip.  He feels so bad having to miss my birthday, again, but at least he will only be gone for a week.

Addie has started to understand the idea of birthdays thanks to Dora and birthday parties for friends.  She really thought that I needed to have a cake with candles and balloons.  I thought I was going to have to back a cake for myself tomorrow just for Addie's sake.  Jon came through for us tonight though.  When the kids woke up he had all of this waiting for me. 

He and Addie sang me Happy Birthday and then Addie helped me blow out my candles.  Jon had to leave after this, but Addie and I are getting ready to enjoy some yummy cake with a strawberry.  I am such a lucky girl.

Can you believe our little guy is 5 months old?

I know this post is a couple days late, but we had a crazy fun weekend. 

Bennett is now 5 months old and he is still the sweetest baby I have ever been around.  He is a good eater, a great sleeper and the happiest little man.  It is so sweet to watch him interact with his sister.  He lights up when he sees her.  When Addie wakes up in the morning the first thing she wants to do is go see her brother.  Bennett is right around 19 pounds now and in 6-12 month clothes, but not for too much longer.  He had on pants the other day and we were out and about before I realized how tight they were on him.  He had to go around with his pants unbuttoned.

We feel so blessed to have this little man in our lives.

Addie loves her little brother so much.

We really enjoyed celebrating Veteran's Day this year, together.  Last year Jon was still in Iraq and the year before that Veteran's Day was less than 2 weeks before Jon deployed, always an emotional time.  It feels good to be together, but it reminds us of all of our friends who are still living the Army life.  We are so thankful for those that continue to serve even with the sacrifices their family's must make. 

Now we are gearing up for Thanksgiving, we are so excited to have a full house coming! 

My handsome men on their way to church.  We celebrated Veteran's Day at our church on Sunday so they had everyone where patriotic colors.  We had a great speaker, retired General Jerry Boykin.  It was a great day at church.

We were lucky enough to get to see some friends from Colorado this week.  They are on their way to a new assignment with the Army and were in the area visiting family.  It is always so much fun to see old friends.

Addie and Micah are only a couple of months apart and Jedidiah and Bennett are only one month apart.  It was so fun to see the older kids playing together.  We got to know each other at an Army picnic when Addie was a month old and Micah wasn't even born yet.  The evening was over too soon, but it was fun while it lasted.

Baby Jedidiah, such a cutie.

Addie decided to plant one on Micah.  She grabbed his little cheeks and gave him a great big kiss.  I think we are going to have our hands full in the coming years.