Catching up with Friends & Family

This last weekend Ben and I went to Bakersfield to visit friends and family, while daddy stayed home and cleaned out the garage. Ben played with his Denapole cousins (Vinny, Jacob & Sammy): We visited my good friend Amy, her husband Roddy and their beautiful 4-month old daughter Abigail. We also got to meet Cade, my college friend Jenny's son who is 2 days older than Ben. Cade's vocabulary is advanced for his age - I think they look so much alike! (Forgive the shaky video...just learning to use my new mini camcorder)

And most importantly, Ben spent some quality time with Grandma Cindy:

Our Little Drummer Boy

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Ben Loves Doing Shots.......

This is the 4th installment of the "Ben Loves" series and I just have to preface this by saying that no children were harmed during the process of taking pictures. Me and Ana and Ben spent Christmas Eve last night at Grandma Sharon and Papa Joe's house. We love going over there because their house is always warm and inviting and they consider Ben their grandson. Our friends Renate and Josef and their son Tristan, who is the same age as Ben (they are like brothers) were there also. We had an awesome dinner of filet mignon, pasta, wedding soup just to name a few of the tasty foods that were there. Well, the men every so often toasted Christmas and downed shots of Aftershock, the very tasty cinnamon liquer. Unbeknownst to me, Ben had been observing us. Well, after about the 3rd time Ben said the word "shots" and pointed to the extra shot glass on the counter. I gave it to him and filled it up with his cranberry juice. We did a toast to Christmas and downed them. Ben thought it was so fun and he had a blast. Grandma Sharon and Papa Joe went way overboard with the gifts. Ben and Tristan had so much fun opening and playing with their presents. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to everyone.

Ben Loves Christmas Lights

When I was a boy growing up, my Mom used to decorate the whole house at Christmas time and my dad used to hang the lights on the house outside. From what I hear, when I was really young I used to sit and stare at the Christmas tree for hours. I remember when I got older I used to love when my parents used to pile me and my brother and sisters in the car and go look at christmas lights. When we lived in Omaha there were some freezing cold nights that they used to take us out in just so we could see lights so now I appreciate it even more. I always told myself that when I got a house of my own I was gonna hang lights and decorate our house just like my parent's did. I am determined to also pass down to my kids my love for Christmas and all that the season is about. Well, it seems that Ben is off to a good start. He loves seeing Christmas lights. His favorite thing is seeing snowmen. Grandma Sharon collects snowmen and has literally hundreds of snowman related decorations in her house and Ben has picked up on that. Every night the past week me and Ana would pack Ben into the truck and we would go to a different section of town and look at Christmas lights. There would be moments of silence interupted from the backseat with shouts of "Wowwwwww"! from Ben. Then it would be quiet and all of a sudden we would hear this little voice say, "Snowman"......but he would say "No man" instead. He would see all of the snowmen and point them out before we would see them. Now if we could just get him to not be afraid of Santa........

Need we say more?

Ben LOVES Trains

Ben just loves trains. I guess most boys probably do but Ben REALLY loves them. It doesn't matter if they are big trains or small trains. Real trains or toy trains, Ben loves them all. I bought a Lionel electric train a couple weeks ago and we set it up under the Christmas tree and the first thing Ben says when we walk in the door is "Choo choo". We have to sit down and watch the train go around the track. He also loves Thomas the Train, the children's tv show. He watches that every day and hopefully Santa will be bringing him some stuff. Ben also likes to go to the Simi Town Center and ride the little train that they have there. I had a couple days off after Thanksgiving and I took him there and we must have ridden that train about 5 times in a row. Yep, Ben loves trains.

What a Difference a Year Makes!

Last weekend Ben went to Ana's 2nd birthday party. This was the two of them in 2007...as innocent as can be in their walkers.


This is the two of them last weekend. We asked Ana to kiss Ben and this is what we got. Kathie and Chad, where on earth did little Ana learn to kiss like this? :)