Snow Day

Last week we had enough snow for the kids to play in. Ben took the day off work and we played in the snow most of the day. It was so much fun. Our lab, Riley, decided to wander off while we were building our snowman and we had to take a break and go find him. Silly dog, he headed to the street behind us and was playing with a bunch of kids.
The kids are all doing well. We've been really healthy this winter and I hope it stays that way. Sophie had her trip to Disney with Nana and Papa last month. She had a wonderful time! I'm so glad that the kids will have these memories with my parents. It is so special for them! We spent Valentines weekend in Va. Robin's little boy turned 2 on the 15th and we went for his party. It's amazing how fast the past two years have gone!
Ben is good. Work is slow so he's been home for dinner almost every night and home every weekend. It's nice having him around more! We head to Va to participate in the Shamrock 8k with Robin and her husband next weekend. Mom and Dad are keeping the kids. It'll be nice to have some time alone! I celebrated my 33rd birthday in Feb. Birthday's are not my favorite thing! Ben got me some beautiful flowers and took me out for a surprise dinner at The Melting Pot. We had a family party at my parents and birthday breakfast with friends. It was fun!

Christmas

Sorry it's taken me so long to update my blog. We've been busy and I've developed a facebook addiction. The holidays flew by like they always do. We loved decorating the new house. It was the first year that Ben has really gotten into the decorating. We headed to the mountains with my uncle Drew to cut down our tree. Ben got a speeding ticket on the way home. :) Mom and Dad came over to help decorate the tree. My very talented mom made bows for me to hang on the banisters.
We spent Christmas like we always do, here at home. Christmas eve we went to church with my family. Mom, Dad and Drew came over to help put out cookies for Santa and to give the kids their christmas jammies. My dad read the Night Before Christmas, just like he has every year of my life. That is my most special and favorite tradition.
Christmas morning we held the kids off until about 7:30. We sat down to open gifts and realized that there were tons of little black bugs crawling on all the gifts. Gross!! I had hidden a lot of the gifts in the garage in a moving box and we think that's where they came from. So, Ben sat under the tree and killed bugs off gifts before he handed them out. Not fun! The older kids got Nintendo DS's and Sophie got her "pink and blue" doll (Sleeping Beauty). We headed to my moms for a yummy dinner and to open more gifts. Every year we say that we're cutting back on gifts, but it has yet to happen.
Ben had the two weeks of Christmas and New Year's off from work. It was nice having him home for the kids programs and to spend time with us. We had a lot of fun having him around. We saw a lot of movies! We also took the older kids into Charlotte for the third year to go ice skating on an outdoor rink set up for the holidays. It was so much fun. JW can really skate, Lexie fell more than she skated.
For New Years, I headed to Va to spend time with Robin. Ben is so awesome and stayed home with the kids, who were sick. His parents came into town to help him out. I had a blast. Robin and I had some laid back time together. We saw movies, made cookies and ate junk food and went shopping. I got to spend time with an old friend from high school that I haven't seen in years. I enjoyed my time with him so much! It was a much needed vacation for me. Ben got to see what happens when you have sick kids at home. He did a great job managing medicine and taking them to the dr. What a great guy!

Makeup

No matter how crazy it makes Ben, he can't deny that our Lexie is growing up. She's such a sweet girl! I just don't know where the years have gone. I look at Sophie and it seems that Lexie should be the same age. Over Thanksgiving weekend I took Lexie to Clinique to buy her first makeup. When I was her age, my mom did the same with me and it's a memory that I wanted to share with my girls. We headed out alone and went to breakfast. It was nice to have uninterrupted time together to talk. At Clinique the salesgirl was so sweet to Lexie. She taught her all about the products to keep her skin clean. Then she taught her how to apply powder and blush. We also bought a pretty lip gloss. It was so much fun and Lexie felt very cool :). She looks very pretty! Of course, I had to talk Ben down when he found out about it. According to him, she should still be wearing a diaper.

Holidays

My new table and lamp from Sandy

Lexie's getting so big!

Our stockings

Ben's new 50 inch tv

JW being sweet to his sister

We had a busy, busy Thanksgiving! Ben's parents came into town Tuesday evening and stayed until Monday. Ben and his dad worked on installing speakers and all of the other electronic stuff that goes along with it. We are high tech now! They hit up the Thanksgiving sales and we have a new tv for the living room. After using bunny ears and watching dvd's in our bedroom for the past 3 weeks, it was nice to finally get the tv working again. My favorite part is the speakers they put up in the kitchen so I can listen to my ipod while I'm cooking or cleaning up. I love it! We all had dinner at my parents on Thurs. It was the only break that Ben and Randy had all weekend. Sandy and I did some shopping. Thanks for the new lamps Mom! We were able to head to the movies one night also.

We're starting to settle in to the new house slowly but surely! Now I just need to add some furniture. Ben is trying to get as much done as he can. He is heading to Dubai again in January for 6 weeks and wants to have as much done as he can before he leaves.

Lexie is in a Christmas play this weekend at school. This week they have a drama team at the school teaching the kids about makeup and setting up the stage. She has had a blast! She's playing a waitress. Can't wait to see how she does.

Moving Pics

Ben, getting frustrated with me

Dad

Judging the distance to the ground

Halloween and Moving Pics

Halloween-Lexie is Christine from Phantom of the Opera, JW is a ninja and Sophie is Snow White

Dad, the master painter

Sophie got a pumpkin stamp at a birthday party and stamped up her siblings

When Did I Get Old?

I've been playing on Facebook lately. I've found so many old friends that I haven't talked to in a long time. It's been great catching up with eveyone and seeing their families. 6th grade has been a transition year for Lexie. Boys, lockers, mean girls and peer pressure. We've talked about my time in 6th grade. I had my first boyfriend. We would hold hands, talk on the phone and send notes to each other. He gave me my first Valentine's gift, a box of chocolates. I still have the box in with all my school stuff and those love notes from Ben, that I will one day blackmail him with. I looked the old boyfriend up on Facebook and found him. Looking at his picture today, I realized that it's been 20 years since I saw him. 20 years! When did I get to the point that I could say "well, 20 years ago"? I see myself and Ben through the kids eyes and it makes me feel so old. I feel a girls weekend to VA coming up to remind me that I'm Heather, not just MOM. Robin????????