Merry Christmas!

We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! Here are some photos from the past few days:

Christmas Eve at my sister Devona's house

Grandpa Jim and Benji

Grandma Lana and Benji. Benji passes out on my mom whenever she holds him. He looks like he is sliding off of her but he seemed quite comfy by the way he was snoozing!All of the kids together for a shot: my sister Devona's kids, my sister Angie's kids, and my brother-in-law Freddie's nieces and nephews.

The kids opening up their presents from Santa! Santa knocked on the garage door after they cracked open the pinata and said "ho, ho, ho!". He dropped off all of the toys in big bags on the front porch for all of the children. Santa was in a hurry and had to dash but most of the kids said they spotted him in the sky with his reindeer =).

The best puzzle ever according to Anna since she and Dora are together in it!

Christmas Day at my parents house. Ben had fun playing in a box while the kids opened their presents!

The day after Christmas back at my sister Devona's house. Maddie and Ben cruising around on a cool new toy Santa brought to their house.

Anna's turn! Notice, she has her party dress back on!

Santa, Santa, Santa!!!

Anna had a lot of fun last week at holiday parties. First, Anna and I went to a holiday party for UC Davis that had a Hawaiian theme (Ben was sick so Jason stayed home with him). Anna wore her pretty tropical dress full of bright flowers and sequins. Now she calls that dress her "party dress" and thinks if she puts it on she'll go back to that party ... how cute.

The biggest excitement of Anna's week was when Santa went to her school on Friday. This is the first year that she has been excited about Christmas and Santa. When we were standing in line to see him she peeked through to see him and the expression on her face was priceless! She was shy when it was her turn to sit on his lap but she's been talking about him ever since! Ben was intrigued by his beard I think =).


While I was working yesterday Mary took some great shots of Anna out in the rain. Ben was cozy taking a nap inside.

Benji's 9 Month Appointment

Today was Benji's 9 month well baby visit. When we arrived there was another little boy in the same outfit as Benjamin and his name was Benjamin as well =). Guess what Benjamin #2's sister's name is .... Hannah!

Benji is now 21 1/2 pounds and 28 1/2 inches. He remains in the 50th percentile and we consider him perfect =).

Nice legs!

I was able to get a great shot of the "Ben stare". Ben likes to look people straight in the eye and check them out =).

Anna wanted to pick out her clothes for the first time today. I decided that whatever she wanted to wear to preschool would be fine as long as it was safe =). She chose her hot pink Dora dress with grey sweatpants instead of tights, her rain slicker and Hello Kitty rain boots. It was actually raining today which was very helpful =). I tried taking a photo of her but she wouldn't stop running around so all of the shots came out blurry except for one but you can barely see her. Santa is making a stop at Anna's school on Friday so I'll make sure to get some shots of that!

Hello!

For the past few days Anna has been waking up at 5 or 5:30 AM! We've already watched Dora's Christmas, Diego's Christmas and now she's vacuuming the house with her pretend vacuum. I wish I had energy like she does!! Anna definitely seems more aware of Christmas this year. Jason took her for a walk yesterday evening and she was in awe of the Christmas lights. She also recognizes Santa now, from watching Dora and Diego in the wee hours of the morning I'm sure =).


Benji is pulling himself up all around the house and he is so proud! He crawls over to me, pulls himself up on my leg, lets go and gives me the proudest grin! He is fascinated with our washing machine. As soon as I started loading it yesterday he crawled over and got ready. He stood there for about 20 minutes watching the clothes while I made dinner. It's a great babysitter =).

My mom and I were surprised at how busy our little Etsy shop got over the past couple of weeks. We had no idea that traffic would pick up so fast during the holidays since this is our first year doing it. I don't have a lot in the shop right now because Anna and Ben have been keeping me on my toes but my mom sold a ton of children's aprons. She completely sold out of the fabric she bought which had to have been close to 30 yards! My ladybug clippies paired with one of her aprons were popular -- who would have known! I had no idea I'd enjoy crafty stuff so much but it really is fun =).

I think the aprons sold so well because of the terrific model =).

My latest project: doll diapers! These are super easy to make and they stay on the dolls unlike the ones you buy in the store with the sticky tabs.