Work from Home!

We love Daddy's job! He gets to work from home at once a week most weeks! Clara some times forgets that Daddy is WORKING!! She needs a good snuggle when she first wakes up!

The best part of January

Over the past few months we have become good friends with Jonathan Borden, really he is part of the family now, we adore him! And the best part of the month for us has been that Jonathon was BAPTIZED!! He has been an active part of the ward for a while now and to see him so happy and now carrying the Holy Ghost fulltime is soooo amazing! He is such a great example of a man for Ben and the youth of the ward, he has been helping with scouting and I dont think he will be out of that ANY time soon! I know he is looking forward to holding the priesthood, and we cant wait for him to either! Anyway, I only got one picture, and actually Aaron took it for me, but I wanted to make sure this was in our little blog history here. We love this guy!!

He was baptized on January 21 and confirmed on January 22. Matt performed the baptism and Aaron performed the confirmation.

Two Beds are better than one.....

Oh wait that is supposed to be Heads are better than one.  Apparently Ben and Clara suscribe to the two heads in one bed idea!  I found them like this the other night when I went to tuck them in one last time before laying down!!

That is clara face down hanging off the edge of the bed! I nearly had a heart attack when I went to ben's bed first and he wasnt in it! then I saw where he was and had to get the camera! I love these two!

Good Friends and Good Fun!!

A couple of weeks ago our friends Andrea and Allen's little girl Ansley had her third birthday party and we got to join them to celebrate! It was SO much fun! She had a cowgirl theme and so Marty brought one of his horses and one pony up for the kids to have rides. Ben and Clara loved both! It was a little cold that day so they are hilariously bundled up!

 This picture looks bad, but she did ride! and liked it too!

Ben was even brave enough to ride the big horse! How about them apples! Thanks Maxwells for sharing Ansley's special day with us! We love you all!

Post Christmas Silliness!

In the days immediately following Christmas there was a lot of fun! And thankfully some resting too! Matt worked a TON of hours during the holidays and was wiped out! He wanted to be with us as much as he could, so he slept on the couch while the kids played or ate or whatever. The kids felt the need to add blankets to him periodically. It was sweet!

Christmas 2011

 So these two little guys sadly didn't live long enough to receive names.  Santa may step up from $.25 fish to the $1 ones next time.  :)

 Stocking opening to start the party, keep in mind this is post church, prenap. There was a whole party with Christmas Dinner and presents waiting for us in Friendship. We are sooo loved!

 Sorry for the see food, she was super excited about the next thing she pulled from her stocking, it happened to be after she had shoved in a cookie! What could it be you ask......

 Brand spanking new pacies!!! Oh the joy!!

 They each got new Books of Mormon. Contrary to what these pictures indicate, they were very excited and we have to alternate who's book we use at scripture time each day!

 They each got new for fun reading books too. I love that they love to read!

 Sissy thanking Bubba for the gift he gave her! See the Hello Kitty Doll in her hand? Yup, He got a kiss for that choice!!

 She got a hug for the squishy Dino!! They did some great shopping for each other this year!

 Sissy tried on her new raincoat and then refused to take it off! She loves it! (thanks Nana and Papaw!)

 Ben has been asking for church shoes for a couple months now, sound odd I know for a 4 year old, but he noticed that Daddy and Unkin and Uncle Billy and Uncle Brandon and Uncle Mark and... Well all the men he adores all where special "fancy" shoes to church! So he needs some too, he loves them! (thanks Nana and Papaw!)

 Of all the things they got it is hard to know if the toys have gotten more use or the new Galoshes!! They LOVE their boots! I think it is super funny! I love them too because I now send them outside to play on days that are a little wet when before I didn't! Santa Rocks!

 Oh the tie!! This too was another coveted item on Ben's Christmas wish list! The second he saw it he had to test it out! and every week he has been so stoked cause he "can do it himself" Grammy and Muggs NAILED IT!!!

 Well, Clara isn't to tricky. She loves pretties! This dress has FUR and RHINESTONES!!! Again Grammy and Muggs NAILED IT!!

 Okay, so there is a cute story with this sweater.  Ben's buddy Logan had a sweater vest similar to this last year for Christmas and Ben Just thought it was the coolest thing ever! I was surprised when he opened this he jumped up and down and said, "It's like that one guys from church, you know my friend he has a train shirt too!" HA HA HA Hilarious, and sooo happy!

 It was all she could so to wait so patiently while daddy got Baby Princess out of the box! The Texas Parkers are on the wave length! She hauls this doll EVERY WHERE!!

 She helped open all the rest of the presents and then went to Friendship with us for the rest of the day!

 Oh Man! Ben did not know that you could have trains and pirate boats together and he just about peed himself, literally! He had to make a dash to the potty he was sooo excited! He loves Thomas. He keeps asking me when he gets to take it back to Texas to play with James and Wyatt! :)

 Yup those are the double pistol fingers, that is how awesome the train/boat toy is!

 By the end of the night present opening requires a little daddy help! So cute!

 First person in the new stroller? Yup. Baby Princess!!!
Clara's big present, some how not pictured was two Cabbage Patch dolls, hence the stroller, she received two of mine from when I was her age.  For those of you in the know, she now is the momma to Harry and Lynette!

 Okay, Ben loves floor puzzles, I didn't get any shots of him doing them, well not til a couple days later but this is what it will look like done!

 His big present.  Ben is musical. Shock I know! He has been beating rhythms on every surface of the house!! We decided it was time for a drum.  We went with a mellow sounding bongo. It is SOOOOOO preferable to the random hard surfaces!! :) So now in addition to learning to play the violin he is learning to play drums! It is pretty cool, I 'm just saying.

Hers. Birthday and Christmas. Some body loves this baby, WAIT ..... A LOT of somebodies love this baby!!

 His. I think those same bodies that love Sissy Jeanne love Bubba just as much!!

Two very spoiled, very happy, very THANKFUL little kids!! Merry Christmas!!!