These kids had an awesome evening building things in the shop with Wade.
(Kaitlyn built a stage and Ben built tables)
These kids had an awesome evening building things in the shop with Wade.
(Kaitlyn built a stage and Ben built tables)
Family Game Night.
(Left, Right, Oink – Game created by Ben)
Ski lessons!
We had a two hour delay this morning due to the snow yesterday. I don’t even have all four kids together in the kitchen on weekend mornings. For it to happen today was definitely a rarity!
First snow day of the year!
These two were determined to make their blocks reach the ceiling. It took quite a bit of work to make the tower stable enough, but they did manage it.
Old school games never go out of style.
Ben spent the evening telling me all about each rock in his rock collection.
Ben was so proud of his snack distributing snack machine that he built. He’s hoping it can help me cook dinner.
Ski lessons. As Ben likes to tell everyone – he can stop just fine, but turning he hasn’t quite figured out how to do smoothly.
Today was a lazy day for everyone. The best might be when I walked in to find Ben napping with Wade.
Granny played and endless amount of games the last few days.
Sunday lineup
Candlepin bowling
Ben and Pop – coloring in Ben’s new book.
Granny and Pop are here and the kids couldn’t wait to open presents!
I heard reading coming from the living room. I snuck in and was so happy to see Kaitlyn reading her new book to Ben.
Very heated game of CandyLand!
Christmas!
Cookies for Santa.
The only hard part of basket presents today was waiting till everyone was awake. There is a large gap between Ben/Kaitlyn’s awake time and Alex’s.
Basket presents are providing a great opportunity to get most everybody in a picture together.
Tonight we went for our traditional Christmas Light viewing and ended with donuts and hot chocolate. (Alex chose to stay home.)
The other kids couldn’t wait till Ben got home from school so Ben got undivided attention when he opened his basket present.
Basket presents.
Basket presents start today! Let the countdown to Christmas begin.
Sunday lineup.
Breakfast with Santa.
In an unusual twist, I had two boys home with me today. Teague had watering eyes that he couldn’t see out of. Ben woke up at 4 am with a sore throat and was awake for an hour or so before falling back to sleep. He didn’t wake up again till almost 10. He felt fine by the time he woke up, but I’d already called the school to tell them he wasn’t coming in today.
Last ski lesson of December – today he rode the magic carpet.
Family game night – Mario Kart!
Ben got a robot-building kit at his birthday party. He and Wade have been making robots daily!
Don’t let that cute grin fool you. He was supposed to be upstairs picking out a book for bedtime.
Sunday lineup.
It’s birthday party day for this guy!
Everyone had dinner at a different time tonight. Teague was the last one to eat and wanted to watch TV while he finished his dinner. My only rule is no eating in the living room so Teague got as close as possible. The funniest part came when Ben decided he wanted to join Teague and have a second dinner.
Gingerbread house building.
Ben wanted to finish his “homework.” He is the cutest.
Ben got new sheets and new pillow for the holidays. He was pretty excited to show them off.
These boys are all excited about video games, high scores, and new characters.
“Grafton Celebrates The Holidays” – Ben loves the train!
Wade and I decided to go on a date tonight so we scrounged a quick dinner for these three before we headed out.
I made an old recipe that none of my kids remember – Chicken lettuce wraps. In particular, Ben loved them. By the time I started paying attention he had had over 10. When I got to 13 and made a comment, Alex decided to try to compete (obviously feeling outdone by his little brother) and started shoving them in his mouth without taking bites. These two ate every bite of food on the table. Ben totaled out at 15 lettuce wraps… Alex came in second but made an impressive second place.
Family Mario Kart night.
Ben wanted his picture taken as he acted like a walrus. He was so proud.
Ben decided to use some of his saved money to buy “Bubbles” the stuffed goldfish at Goldfish Swim School.
Tonight we decorated our tree.
The last 6 hours always feel eternal.
A quick goodbye to Gram before we get on the road.
Stockings came early in Collierville.