It bloomed

Thanks Sue, it was like opening your gift all over again.

One last pic before it all comes down...

Christmas Day

Sleepy eyes find full stockings

Ben's loves his gift from Uncle Char & Aunt Melissa... I think more than anything we gave him... well maybe the peppermint stick...hmmm it was close.

New tradition we started this year... baked french toast with homemade raspberry sauce.
Easy Recipe

We don't typically buy soda (or 'pop' if you are a yankee like my hubby :) So, for a treat we bought the Christmas vintage glass bottles of coke - one for each of us. Maybe the birth of a new tradition.

After finding the huge peppermint stick in his stocking, it was hard to get Benjamin interested in opening other presents. Here are his new Crocs... I guess candy is more fun than shoes.

One of Ali's favorites

Another fun toy from Uncle Charlie & Aunt Mel

The Week of Christmas

Matching Jammies

Dan reading the Curious George book that the kids got for their Christmas Eve gift.

Me reading the same book (different story).

Opening Christmas Eve gift. A & B love books. Ali would probably sit for hours if we would read to her that long. Even Ben is starting to go pull books off the shelf and bring them to us to read read read. Maybe he is just copying Ali, but he sits for most of the story.

Christmas Eve gingerbread house building at Grammy & Pap's.

The mastermind behind the pink gingerbread house.

Bens favorite toy at Grammy's.

Out to lunch with Dan...enjoying a day off.

Zaxby's kids meal toys!

It was the Saturday AFTER Christmas....

And we went to the beach again.

This week we decided to stay for sunset... sorry these are in reverse order...

This pic was of a terrible moment just seconds away. I was trying to take a photo of Dan swinging Ali into the waves (I should have been watching Benjamin) but I had to throw the camera down because (as you can see) Ben was running into the surf so fast that he fell forward in a somersault just as that wave right behind Dan was hitting where he was - flipping him sideways. Needless to say, he got a mouthful of sand and saltwater and proceeded to let the whole beach know how much he didn't like it. He's a tough little bugger though because upon catching his breath he was right back out there.

This is the pic I was 'trying' to get...

Dan adjusted our shade as the sun started to set.

Ali called this her beach cave.

Dan and Ali braving the deep blue sea. It was actually warmer today than last week.

My buddy making some sand castle soup.

It was the Saturday before Christmas...

And we went to the beach....

I believe the lifeguard said Gulf temp was 66 with air temp around 81.

Curiosity... we hadn't been to the beach in a while, so I think this was all 'new' to Ben. Like most boys (kids) I know- they like getting messy. So he enjoyed hiself all day.

These spray bottles are what my kids use as water guns. I have nothing against them using toy guns, but they prefer these. Everytime I iron clothes, they beg me to chase them with my spray bottle... so we got a couple for them to play with outside. It works great at the beach too. Holds more water than a water gun and has a great range.

I bought two of these garden shovels on clearance for $3 at Walmart. They work so much better than plastic shovels traditionally used at the beach. As long as we can keep up with them, they'll be money well spent.

This is Ali chasing the sea gulls with the water gun spray bottle. One flew down and took half her sandwich right out of her hand while we were eating lunch. So she was protecting us while we ate.

This is Benjamin relaxing in a custom beach chair Dan made for me.


And the classic picture of a day well spent!