I thought I ordered the large snow storm?!

My favorite picture of the season!

It was an absolute blizzard at my parents house on Christmas. There had to be at least 18 inches of snow on the ground when it finally stopped. You couldn't ask for anything more! The older kids made a snow fort and when it collapsed they decided to start sledding down the hill. Wilson sat by the front door and stared while his frantic parents tried to find all the cold weather gear necessary to feel okay about letting him go out. His dad is not a good example, he was out shoveling walks in shorts and rain boots! We were afraid Wil would not like sledding down the hill, but once again he surprised us. He didn't want to come in at all! Even after all the sledding he still played outside with his cousins! His cheeks were nice and rosy when he came in, but man was it fun!

What a Christmas!

Christmas 2008 was really awesome! Wilson actually kind of understood about Santa and we had fun truly spoiling him this year. Of course, he still liked all his cousins presents better than his own, but that's to be expected. We spent the night at Grandma's and no one slept really well (especially me) but it was a ton of fun. When Wil woke up Christmas morning I went in to get him and asked if he wanted to see what Santa brought him. Well, he thought I meant Santa was in the next room. He got really worried and said, "Mama, I don't want to see Santa!" It was really cute. The big hits were the kitchen that his Grandma and Grandpa got him, the kitchen pots and pans we got him, his fire engine, courtesy of Bennett, and his Lightning McQueen remote control car. Bennett totally got hosed, he got formula, a few little toys and rice cereal in his stocking. Good thing he won't remember anything, right? We are really grateful for my parents who put up with our craziness every year and take such good care of us, too. What a great Christmas and a great year, too!

Mmwah....Gotta Love Bennett

We just got back from Bennett's 4 month appointment! He is getting so big! He weighs 15 1/2 lbs. (50th percentile) is 25 3/4 inches long (60th percentile) and his head is in the 85th percentile! He is hitting all his milestones and is getting more and more fun everyday. He is just now starting to chuckle a little, but it's way harder to get him to laugh than it was to get Wil to laugh. He loves to squeal and scream, especially when he gets a reaction from us! When he's well fed and rested he will just stand up in your lap with wide eyes and grin like he knows something you don't (I am pretty sure it's true)! Wilson has started giving kisses more willingly and one night Ben got him to kiss Bennett's cheek. It's about as precious as it gets, don't you think? At night I will kiss Wil all over his face and he will just giggle and say, "I want more kisses, mommy!" He has an outstanding memory and remembers things from months ago. We were in the car and he announced that his cousins let him have a cow and that his cousin Emma dumped chocolate in a bowl and shared with him. It took me a few minutes to realize he was talking about things that happened at our Harding holiday party which was before Thanksgiving! Then the other night he told Ben that Virginia was really far away. Then he told Ben that Grandpa Mike and Kay lived there. Would someone please call mensa? My boys couldn't be any cuter or smarter (said the unbiased mom)!

Our First Online Christmas Card

Make a Smilebox greeting

I feel extremely lazy this year, but I just don't know where the time has gone! So, because Ben has refused to do family pictures and I can't seem to get my babies to smile in pictures anyway, we have opted to do our Christmas card online! So now, if you wonder where your card is, it's right here, so I haven't missed anyone! It's been a great and busy year and we are excited for the season and the New Year! I hope everyone has a great holiday too! BTW it's supposed to say a christmas card for you, not y. Lame.

A Big Week of Firsts

What a busy week of firsts we've had. Monday morning I was changing Wilson's sheets and I had Bennett on the floor for some tummy time. He was already starting to squawk so I knew I didn't have much time before I needed to pick him up. I managed to finish and turned around only to find Bennett looking straight up at me. I had to think for a minute to make sure I hadn't turned him over myself. Then I said, "Do it again, baby," and flipped him over again. Bennett just looked up at me like, "Do what, this?" and his giant cranium tilted back, he pushed off with his feet and he was on his back again. What a smart kid! Of course I have no photographic or video proof of this occurance because every time I turned on a camera or my phone to record it, he pretended not to know anything about this rolling over business. But, if any of you doubt, please contact my friend Rachel or my sister Heidi who have both witnessed it first hand!

The second first is Wilson actually volunteering to go and talk to Santa. We were at the Festival of Trees and his friend, Parker, was in line to talk to Santa. At first Wilson wanted nothing to do with the bearded stranger, but then I asked him if he wanted to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas and he gave an emphatic yes. The whole time we were in line I expected him to change his mind. Even as Santa invited him over, I was waiting for the meltdown, but it never came! He sat right on Santa's lap and when asked what he wanted for Christmas, he replied, "A candy cane!", which was perfect because that was what Santa was giving out to all his visitors and I think that was the main motivation for seeing the big man, but it was a cute moment.

Next was Wilson's first real, professional haircut. Pretty sad considering the kid's almost two-and-a-half! He really needed it, though. They tried everything to get him to sit still, Little Einsteins, bubbles, a sucker, the hair stylist even gave him her comb, but he wasn't having any of it. He screamed and cried and even tried to run the stylist through with her own comb (I'm proud to say that Wilson was the first to try that one!). In the end he calmed down and looked very handsome and quite a little bit older with his new do. Thanks to my mom who came with me for moral and physical support in case it went really badly!

Wilson also had his first experience drawing on the walls with markers! He was supposed to be playing in his playroom when he came to the bottom of the stairs to show me his orange hands. He was very disturbed at the mess on his hands. I asked what he was doing to get orange hands and he very candidly told me he'd been coloring on the walls. Well, it was more funny than anything and it was my fault for leaving the marker out in the first place. For penance he had to help me scrub the walls, which he gladly did. That made it even harder to be mad at him.

Bennett and Wilson also ended up in the tub together for the first time that night. I had it in my head that that moment would come a lot further down the line, but Wilson was really good with Bennett in the tub and even shared his Mickey tub toys! Finally, since Wilson was a seasoned veteran with haircuts, Ben decided to let Wilson GIVE his first haircut! So, if Ben's hair is a little crooked, try not to be critical because his barber is 2 1/2 years old!

A Tent for Bennett

I thought it was finally time to get out some baby toys for Bennett. I put up our aqaurium gym and Wilson immediately wanted in on the action. He told me he wanted to make a tent for Bennett. He got his blanket and threw it over the top of the toy. That's picture #2. Wilson soon realized how cool his tent was and wanted to play in it too. He climbed through the tunnel and came out the other end right next to Bennett (who was really lucky not to be squashed in the whole process). Bennett actually thought it was pretty cool to have his big brother play with him in his "tent". They played like that for about 15 minutes. It makes me excited for future camping trips with the whole family! It was too cute not to share!

Bennett's Big Day

Sunday was Bennett's blessing day. We were starting to wonder if it was ever going to come because it took us so long to figure out when we wanted to do it! It was perfect though and we had almost all of our family and a lot of good friends there to celebrate. Wilson didn't get any pictures in his blessing outfit, so I was determined to get plenty of Bennett. We had our little photo shoot before Wil got up and Bennett was so good! Bennett slept through the entire sacrament and did really well being passed around all afternoon. Ben's blessing was beautiful and I am so grateful for him and his priesthood. We are so blessed to have Bennett in our family and we are glad we got to share him with all of you. Thanks for everyone's help to make the day so amazing!

Baby Salon

Last night after Wilson went to bed, Bennett went to Mom's baby salon. We started with a nice warm bath, complete with a head scrub. Then, we had a manicure and full body baby massage, followed by a slimming burrito wrap. All the while Bennett was dishing the baby dirt and telling me all kinds of fun stories. I couldn't believe how "talkative" he was and just had to share the video. He went on like this for about 5 minutes!

You can tell it's Jazz season when.....

After Wilson's bath I decided to play hairstylist and see if his hair would actually, well, style. Using lotion as the only product, I came up with this do I liked the best. I think my subconscious was thinking about something else. Hmm...do you think we are excited for the Jazz season? GO JAZZ!

Sleepy Ghosts and Charlie Brown

Parker came over to trick or treat with us. We got off to a rocky start, but eventually we got the hang of it.

What a cute little sleepy ghost!



After fighting a kicking and writhing Wilson in the middle of the Costco floor to even try on a Halloween costume, I didn't really have high hopes for treat-or-treating. Wilson really surprised me though. He was very excited to go out and almost lasted as long as mom and dad did. It was really fun to go out and see all the neighborhood kids dressed up. It may be naive to think this, but our neighborhood just feels so safe and friendly. Bennett did well too, with the help of a little catnapping in the baby carrier. Halloween made an impression though, today Wilson wanted to take his play doh snakes out trick-or-treating! Now, how do you explain to a 2 year old that it only works one night a year?

Halloween Bash 2008

Wow, what a party! Our guest list this year included several ghosts, witches, Aniken Skywalker, an evil sorcerer, Spiderman Venom, a cowboy, a princess, a red ranger, Santa Claus, Charlie Brown and even an evil conservative! We had a ton of fun playing games, mummy wrapping each other and eating pizza. Most dared to touch the monkey brains for a prize and all wanted to get tangled in the giant spider web! This is an awesome tradition and I'm glad that we got to have it at our house this year! Wilson got way too excited and had way too much sugar, but I guess that's what Halloween is for, right?