Christmas is here!

Wow! We had a busy Christmas this year. Lots of places to go and many family members to see! It started with Ben's parents celebration on Christmas Eve in the afternoon, then the Ford side of the family Christmas Eve night. We got home and planned to have my brother, Jeremy and Mom stay over at our house to wake up Christmas morning with us. That was fun a but late night. I didn't get to bed until around 2am! My brother, as usual, keeps us up laughing at the most stupid things. Christmas morning came and the 5 of us had a yummy breakfast and then opened gifts. Jack actually enjoyed opening gifts this year! He would get all smiley and say, "whoah!" when he got a present. It was very cute. He had the most presents under the tree this year! :). Then Christmas night we went over to the Walker side at my Grandma's house and it was a mad house over there. Around 35 people in all celebrating Christmas in one house!

Above all, I can say that God has blessed us greatly this year with keeping us healthy, sustaining us and reminding us what Christmas is really about! JESUS! We thank him and praise God for his birth!


Kate and Derek at Ben's parents in their annual "Ugly Christmas Sweaters"
Me, Jack and "Santa"

Gift opening at Ford celebration, Christmas Eve

Uncle Jeremy and Jack, Christmas morning

Mom opening her gift from us, a nice set of dishes!

Texas!

The weekend before Christmas we flew to Houston, TX to visit my Dad, Step-Mom Barb, lil bro Blake, and sis Kayla. My dad flew us down there for Christmas so we could celebrate with them as they would not be coming to MN this year. It was Jack's first trip on an airplane, so we weren't exactly sure how the trip down would go, but it went just fine as the ride was only about 2 1/2 hours long. The whole 4 days we were there was jam packed. We took lots of rides on the motorcycles as the weather was in the 70's, ate lots of yummy food (mexican! and my favorite, King Crab Leg night :)), relaxed in the hot tub and enjoyed a fun-filled weekend spent with family!

The fam

Jack and his Harley trike from Grandpa and Grandma

Dad and Blake reading Jack a new story

Ben and I on the motorcycle, getting ready to go to Galveston

Dad and I in Galveston on Sea Wall Avenue

Jack and Grandpa in the hot tub

The Wild Game!

On Tuesday, December 15th, Ben and I got invited to go to the Wild Hockey game with Ben's sister, Kate and her boyfriend, Derek. We had such a blast! We started out the evening going to our favorite St. Paul italian restaurant, Cosettas! It was so yummy! Then we met them at the game. We had such awesome seats! Only one row away from the glass and adjacent to the goalie. It was an awesome game and the Wild won and we just had a good o'l time spent with Kate and Derek! Thanks guys!

All Bundled Up!

It started snowing during the day on Tuesday, December 8th and continued on into the night. Many schools in southern MN shut down and I closed down the daycare as all my kids parents thought it was a good idea to not travel and stay home on Wednesday. As Ben went out to shovel on Tuesday night, I got Jack all bundled up and put him outside to play in the snow. We got about 5-7 inches that night and it was so beautiful out. I just love it when it snows in MN, but I hate driving in it! I guess I am in the perfect profession as people come to me!
Anyway, Jack had a great time playing in the snow for the most part, but since he could hardly walk in his snow suit, he fell a few times face first into the snow, which he didn't like one bit. Here's a pic of Jack in his snow suit. Pretty sure this is the last time he will wear it as it was already too short on him the other night! :)

Jack's New Tooth Brush

Since Jack's teeth are just starting to bloom in his mouth everwhere, I thought it was time to get him a "Big Boy Tooth Brush". I figured he needed a little coaxing, so I bought a Thomas the Train toothbrush with music. So every time he brushes his teeth the music comes on. Now that brushing is a morning and nightly occurance, Jack hears the music and he comes running into the bathroom all excited to brush. : ) Let's just say I'm glad I spent the extra couple dollars to get a brush with music. I find myself humming the toon during the day, but I secretly like it!