Todays likes and dislikes...

DISLIKES:


1. opening and closing the blinds every day (I know, how lazy am I)


2. emptying the dishwasher (don't mind loading it though)


3. cockroaches- dead of alive





LIKES:


1. doing school with Carter in my new office! I don't know if it's because my office is now in the playroom (thanks for the tip Jessie) or if it's because we got a treasure chest with gold coins in it to bribe him (thanks Aunt Laurie, you will never be forgotten) but Carter LOVES to do school now.


2. baseball- practice and games. And I love that we have friends on the team (yea Brad) and that after practice Joe and Mike will play ball with the boys (and girls) and pretend like they are still high school athletes (no disrespect intended :).


3. my sweet, sick, snuggly Ellie. I am sad that she has been sick, but I LOVE that she has been so snuggly these last few days. My kids aren't snugglers so I take what I can get.


4. I have to add how much I LOVE the CHILL IN THE AIR! Bless you Fall for finally getting here, I've missed you.

Date Night

Here is the typical Benson date night:

Dinner and a movie

Real original. So, I decided to mix it up a little bit and planned a super fun date for last night- we went to an art class! I know a lot of dudes would find that super lame but it is right up Joes alley. We were all supposed to be making a group of trees (which I did, though I changed the colors up to match Ellie's room) but Joe marches to the beat of his own drum and chose to do something completely different. The man has got natural artistic something, what he might lack in talent he makes up with lots of confidence! The teacher took a picture of Joes painting at the end so he's kind of on an ego trip right now. But honestly, it turned out awesome. We spent three hours on our masterpieces and had SO much fun. I highly recommend it and am sure we will be doing it again. And not just because Carter is a little sad I didn't make something for HIS room :(.

Song's We're Singing...

My kids get hung up on songs and we will listen to the same few over and over and over. Ellie and Carter each have favorite bedtime songs and car songs and "sing to me mommy" songs and I want to write it down so I don't forget. I am so grateful that my children appreciate and love music, that was very important to me because music is a big part of who I am and how I express myself.

**Carter's Bedtime Fave: I love to see the Temple (both verses, very important)
**Carter's Favorite Car song: Pop Fly by Justin Roberts
and This is the Day by Veggie Tales
**Carter's Go-To song if he's playing and lost in thought: Little Bitty by Alan Jackson (probably because we listen to it in the car so much, see below).

**Ellie's Bedtime Fave: Candle on the Water (from Pete's Dragon)
**Ellie's Favorite Car Song: Little Bitty by Alan Jackson
**Ellie's Go-To Song that drives me crazy: Mr. Turkey (Carter learned it at preschool)
also Running Down the Hill by Laurie Berkner Band

Unfortunately the only line from 'Little Bitty' that they seem to remember at will is "six pack of beer and a television set". Carter's preschool teachers probably think we're pretty redneck.

I have gotten so far behind on blogging our lives but I want to catch up- here's a brief accounting of the last few months:

My mom came to stay with us for 8 weeks- my clingy children took an instant liking to her. She made Ellie the sweetest quilt, including a little duck design from the quilt she made me 30 years ago when I was born!

My brother Bryon was out in Florida for work and made the 7 hour trek up here to see us (and my Mom) and it happened to be on his birthday! He introduced us to the all sorts culturally diverse foods (even went to an international food market which was amazing- it's like a playdate for kids and adults alike). Joe loves leiches now and Carter eats almost anything with chopsticks. Even lasagna.

My Grandpa (my Mom's Dad) came to see her while she was here. We haven't seen him as much as we would have liked to over the years and had lots of catching up to do! He was SO patient with Carter and let him cook EVERYTHING with him (seriously, three meals a day- we still miss him). He created a monster and Carter insists on cracking every egg and measuring out every ingredient when I cook. Good thing I don't cook much :).

Ellie's hair can be put in a pony tail! I know this doesn't seem like a big deal but it took us two years to get her hair to grow out and she looks so grown up now, it makes me a little teary.

It snowed a couple times. We took Carter and Ellie tubing and while Carter loved it, Ellie wouldn't stop crying. Apparently she is a little prissy about being cold. Then we had to practically carry Carter inside when we were done, our little asthmatic child was coughing so much he would throw up in the snow. But he still didn't want to stop. Go figure.

Carter said...

"Thanks for taking those Mom, I couldn't have done it without you." And he was so sweet and sincere. And all I had to do was take his dirty laundry and put it in the laundry basket. I know, I'm supermom :)!

Carter says the nicest things sometimes. And I love when I ignore the pile of laundry or filthy floors and take time to do something silly with him- he still talks about when we played with the pickle slices (no idea how that came about). I vow to let my hair down a little more this year!

Turkey Days

Not to toot my own horn or anything- but I cooked a turkey for the first time and it was delicious! I know, it shocked me too. I have a healthy disgust for raw poultry and so my friend came over to help me get through it. After a nice butter massage and herbal rub- the cooking part was a piece of cake.

Our friends the Garza's made it a fabulous day filled with food, football, food, black friday ads, music and dance performances, food- but no naps. Next year I want a nap :). Joe played in the ward turkey bowl and for the first time the kids and I made it out to support him. He threw a few touchdown passes and looked great- almost like high school again:).

Christmas Traditions...for beginners

By choice, we are staying home alone for Christmas this year. We will miss our families like crazy but we (i.e. Dawnelle) thought it would be a good idea to establish some traditions and make it a magical season without the stress of travel. I know we are only 2 days into "The Benson 25 Days of Christmas Extravaganza" but I just know that this is going to be the best Christmas season ever! So far the traditions we are establishing have either come from my childhood or from my head but Joe is going to throw some into the mix. He took it pretty hard when his 25 days of football idea was vetoed...:). So here's what we have so far:

1. Making paper snowflakes to hang in the windows. (I can tell we will probably be making these every day :).

2. Christmas Advent Tree (My sister Brittany made this for me with little decorations in the pockets and they get to take one out every day. As an extra twist we put a clue in each pocket as well so that they get to go on a little treasure hunt every night. Yesterday their clue led them to a treat and today they found little snowglobes. And a shout out to my friend Jessie for the great treasure hunt idea!).


3. Candy Cane Countdown to Christmas (they get to untie a candy every day)

4. Daily Christmas Devotional (we read a few scriptures provided by the primary and take turns picking a favorite Christmas song. I think Carter is confused, he keeps calling it family home evening).

5. Christmas Lights!!!! I LOVE driving around looking at Christmas lights and we have done it 2 times in the last 3 days. The kids love it too and even if there is only one strand of lights up we stop and ooooh and aaaaah. Usually there is hot chocolate involved. Sugar free :).

6. We are going to do the 12 days of Christmas and I am super excited!! My family did this growing up and I am itching to do it again!

7. Deliver cookies/candy and sing Christmas carols

Any suggestions? I love to hear what other people do during the Christmas season. I just discovered the other day that I have a Christmas music channel on my tv. Since I live either in my car or at home we are listening to these lovely carols all day. Even Ellie has memorized a few! Here is a sneak peek at my sweet Ellie's Christmas princess dress (note the matching pacifier and the car in her hand :). I love having a girl...

On an almost unrelated topic- I made the candy countdown when Carter was at preschool and Ellie was my helper. I don't know how many candy canes she ate but I think it would probably take 2 hands to count them all! Well, I later spotted one of the candy canes stuck to her pant leg and I had to snap a picture. Probably the reason it was so funny to me was because yesterday she got a sucker stuck on the exact same spot :)!