Christmas day!

We had so much fun having Christmas with just the kids. They actually slept in till about 8:30. Siena was excited once she started opening the gifts and wanted to open and play with each one so it took a long time to get through all the gifts. It was great though she was so entertained that Dave and I got to open all our gifts in peace. She came down and we had a new train set all set up. She was very specific in the one gift she wanted. A freddie train with pink wrapping paper and a red bow. I don't really know where she got the idea of the pink wrapping paper and bow but oh well. So it was sitting in the middle of the track just like she ordered. Ben loved getting into all the wrapping and he stole quite a few candies and got them in his mouth before we realized what he was doing. His most important gifts were his spunky dog that Siena gave him so he will stop stealing hers and his guitar hero drum sticks so he will stop stealing them from us. He gets so excited when he sees his drumsticks and surprisingly knows just what to do with them. Siena loved all her gifts and has played with all of them multiple times.She got board games this year and has really liked them even though she won't play by the rules...we are learning. We love the little people and we got a school bus and a circus. She also loves the candy and we hope that it will be gone soon. Dave splurged and got all the gifts that he wanted. Mostly buying them for himself he's so hard to shop for. I had a great Christmas too and am so sad that it is over. We had a great Christmas we are so spoiled!

 

More trains!

We can't get enough of trains in this house. For FHE we drove around town and looked at Christmas lights. We found this awesome house that has lots of displays and a real train that you can ride. So cool. Siena went on it twice not even minding that is was like 10 degrees out. It was freezing... Ben and Dave stayed in the car. Then today we went back to the Botanical gardens and saw the train display again and we went to union station and saw the tree and trains there and it wasn't nearly as impressive. We then went to toys r us and got her trains for Christmas. It's still nice we can go shopping with her for her own toys and she won't remember them.

Ben walking!

I finally caught it on tape he is actually walking a lot now.

Merry Christmas!

We are so excited to go to Hershey PA after Christmas and have fun with Dave's family. Here is a quick photo and fun list of things we did this year. (for people that I couldn't get Christmas cards out to...sorry)This is as much for my journal sake as anything else.

Ben came Feb 25th of course mom was very anxious and wanted to get him out before leap year and before Siena's birthday.
Siena had her train birthday a couple days later. She LOVES trains. we made a train out of cardboard boxes and had lots of people over. The cake was amazing!
Nana and papa visited. Nana visited for the birth of Ben and then they both came out for Bens baby blessing.
We had lots of family for Bens blessing. Grandma and grandpa, Tricia and her family, Steve and Nana and Papa.
Hershey park for Memorial day with friends.
Fun in the summertime with fun at d.c. sites, the zoo and the beach in Maryland.
Down to North Carolina beach to a house for a week with friends. Siena loved it and would live at the beach. Ben didn't like it so much and ate a lot of sand.
Mom braved an airplane ride with two kids to UT and the kids had a great time playing with cousins and visiting farms. They loved seeing papa sing and the temple and going trick o treating. They were peter pan and tinkerbell.
Many trips to grandma and grandpas house in PA. We loved the duck pond and hershey chocolate factory with free chocolate! We even visited and climbed all over Gettysburg.
We visited PA again for Thanksgiving and enjoyed playing in the basement with our cousins.
Good happy times!

Ben has started walking the past few days and Siena continues to talk a lot and make her wants known.

Merry Christmas and happy new year!

A day in D.C.

We decided that we were going to go in to D.C. and see all the fun Christmas things. It was so much fun. We started out at the Botanical Gardens. So pretty. I have never been there but it was beautiful. They had a whole room of trains that Siena would stay in all day if we let her. She loved it. It really was amazing. They had all the sites of D.C. there too made out of the plants. I can't say enough about it, it was beautiful. Then we went over to the native american museum and had some lunch. Ben decided to impress everyone and took his first steps there!!!!!!!YEAH FOR BEN! He took 4 steps and of course I can't seem to get it on camera. I am still trying. Marcy is my witness that he walked and then he took a couple steps for Dave this morning. He is amazing! So we decided that the kids were doing well so we kept going with the D.C. sites. We went to the newly re opened American History Museum. It was wonderful. Honestly most of the exhibits I remember were still there and still the same but I guess it looks nicer and they have a wonderful exploration play place. Siena and Jacob and Ben loved it. We stayed there until it got dark so we could go to the white house decorations so it was about 2 hours playing. It's all about inventions and how people came up with their ideas it's fun. We walked from the mall to the white house and saw the White house christmas tree. It wasn't as great as I thought it would be. It just had white lights but it is huge. They have smaller christmas trees all around it from the other 50 states. Siena's favorite things were the huge bonfire that they had and the nativity scene. We tried to go and visit santa clause and she started screaming. I felt like the boy on the movie christmas story when they go see santa and the little boy starts kicking and screaming when they want to send him down the slide. It was kind of sad. It was a fun and an exhausting day.

we love t.v.

In the mornings Siena usually watches Thomas and Friends. Today I finally got her to watch something else. We watched baby Einstein which we haven't watched in forever. Ben loved it. He was fixed on it the whole time. I guess he had lost interest in Thomas and Friends after the 100th time watching it. So now we know how to quiet Ben down. It was funny he even got startled when one of the puppets jumped. Then we were coming home today and listening to the radio and a toys r us comercial came on and Siena says "Mom it's toys r us" and I asked her how she knew that and she said "because it sounds like the one on t.v.!" I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

 

christmas tree!

We got up our christmas tree last week. It was fun to go and pick one out. We waited a couple of days to decorate it and Siena got a little excited and decided to decorate it herself with her toys. So far we haven't lost any of the ornaments. Ben pulls them off the tree of course but no casualties yet.

babysitting group

We have been so lucky to have good friends here. We are in a babysitting swap where we get to go out 2 times a month and then we watch 2 other kids one night per month. It has been so nice especially now in December where Dave and I can go out and go Christmas shopping. It's great we have never paid for a babysitter. Here are the cute kids one night. They usually end up running around our house in circles and that wears them out pretty good.

Music class

We love our music class that we attend every monday morning. It has been so much fun. It is a bunch of mothers organized by a lady in our ward. It is the best $10 I have ever spent. Siena loves it and walks around the house singing the songs all day. Ben even gets really into the tapping sticks and shakers. So I finally got pictures.

a great surprise!

So I always think what a great surprise if Dave just came home one day and had dinner or some surprise..I love surprises! Especially on a really yucky weather day or a long day with the kids. Well the other day he surprised me with tickets to a concert and he had arranged all the babysitting. I was so excited! We went to the concert last night. It was wonderful. I like the concert hall you sat down and had dinner and then you had the concert. It was so nice to be out with my husband. The kids loved the babysitter and also had a good time and it was nice and quiet when we finally got home so it was wonderful! THANK YOU DAVE YOU ARE THE BEST HUSBAND! I had a great time! We saw Eric Hutchinson and he was funny and played great music.

fun on a rainy day

I am still deciding if naps are good for Siena. She either takes one and won't fall asleep till 10ish or she doesn't take one and she falls asleep at 8. If I put her up in her room during naptime she will fall asleep so if I don't want her to take a nap I have to keep her downstairs and entertained so I don't get any rest time (which is much needed). So some days we are really cranky. Today it was wonderful, Aubrey had a coupon for chuck e cheese and we went and she LOVED it. I thought it was still going to be too big for her. She spent her 25 tokens quickly, mostly on the merry go round. She was very proud of her sucker that she got from her tokens. Aubrey and I even got to sit at a table and talk while the girls ran around. IT was amazing we had the whole place to ourselves at one point. She hated the characters that sang on the stage. We actually lasted for 3 hours, way longer than I thought she would. Then we had no time for nap so it was a nice day. We got in the car this morning and she said restaurant? with cheese and the mouse! we will go back soon I am sure.

on the move!

Ben is quite the mover. He crawls really fast now and crawls on his hands and feet with his butt up in the air. We brought out the push toy to help him walk and he loves it. I was cooking and Dave said he walked all the way across the room! He finally is starting to realize he can move when he stands up. He has started to walk around all the furniture too. So smart.

Fun does come in a box

what fun a new carseat box can bring.

 

To Grandma and Grandpas house we go!

We had a great Thanksgiving with Daves side of the family. It was good food, good family and a relaxing time. Siena loved playing with her cousins and grandparents and LOVED the gingerbread house that she is still talking about and still wanting to eat. Thanks for the good time.