The SMELL of Christmas!

I just LOVE the smell of Christmas ... well Christmas trees to be exact! I'm so glad my "smeller" is working again! I was thrilled when I first smelled our tree!

Our tree this year is a little smaller than last year, but I love it just the same! The place we got our tree last year - wasn't there this year! We loved getting the tree together - Jonathan mostly just chased Benjamin around - and I picked out the one I liked! The guys at the tree lot tied it to the top of our car - and we headed home - tree atop!

Benjamin helped Jonathan get it in the stand AND helped get the net cut off (note Benjamin is using SAFETY scissors)! It was a "process" to decorate it - because we got it when I was so sick. I was so excited to decorate it once my energy was back! I love all of the memories that putting the ornaments on the tree brings. When I was growing up - I always said I'd have a tree with a "theme" - not one like my mom's tree with random ornaments. And what do you see - an "un-themed" tree ... with all the memories a tree can hold - and I LOVE IT! My mom gave me this little mouse ornament - that she made for one of her first Christmas's when my roommates and I needed ornaments for our tree! Now it is PERFECT for little hands to move ... wherever they so desire for it to be on any particular day/moment! Somethings that may have seemed so "dated" when you were growing up ... become TREASURES!

I LOVE my house being decorated - and having the stockings (or Santa's BOOTS, as Benjamin calls them) hung! I love the smell of Christmas cookies, treats and the sounds of Christmas songs! I love all of the traditions and talking SO much about our Savior and remember the story of his birth and life! I wish we could celebrate TWICE a year!

More Christmas to come...

Nephite Christmas!

Benjamin and I went to our ward Christmas party last weekend. Jonathan was busy studying for his boards! We had the choice to dress up like people in Jerusalem OR Zarahemla ... so we chose to be Nephites!

Benjamin is wearing a costume that I wore in 1st grade ... and I'm wearing one that I wore my Freshmen year of college! We had lots of fun ... and especially taking pictures when we got home!

Tiny little feets!

Tiny Little Foot:

We are thrilled to "announce" that over the last couple weeks ... I've started to feel tiny little feets kicking away inside my tummy! We are so excited for Benjamin to have a "BRUDER" and can't wait to meet our new little boy! We were able to see him ... and all of his little body today. My favorite are the little fingers and toes! He hid his face as LONG as possible, but finally showed us just before we headed out! We LOVE him already and can't wait to meet him! He should arrive sometime around MAY 3rd ... although we are hoping that maybe he'll wait a few days so that Jonathan can graduate on May 8th! We'll take him anytime he is good and ready!

Still Thankful!

I'm a little behind ... and still haven't uploaded all of the pictures from Thanksgiving! Other than being really sick for the past two weeks ... well sick for a week and a half ... and then getting better, we had a GREAT Thanksgiving! The upside to being sick on Thanksgiving is ... you don't eat as much! Thank goodness for antibiotics!! I will try and upload our family "group" picture... and the picture of me and my brothers/sisters!

Here are two pictures from our attempts to take family pictures on Thanksgiving Day... I'm not sure if I'll ever get these two boys of mine smiling at the same time in a picture ... for no good reason (taking family pictures)! We did have fun walking through the woods - and I LOVED climbing up to the hay-loft in my parents barn ... somewhere I haven't been in probably 10 years ... but spent so many summer days playing "house" in ... searching for newborn kittens, and having the time of a little girl's life!

Christmas pictures and MORE (wink ... wink ...) coming in the next few days ... I'd love to say TOMORROW ... but we will see!

Breaking the ICE!

Yesterday we decided to go and feed the ducks some old cereal that we've been saving for them. Although we couldn't get the ducks to come over, we had a great time playing in the leaves and seeing the ice and leaves floating on the pond until...

I gave Benjamin a stick to "break the ice" with. Somehow I failed to tell him he had to stay on the bank -and use the stick to break the ice ... boy did he break it - he ran RIGHT in to the pond! He quickly realized that unlike the leaves and ice that were floating on top of the water ... HE DID not float! We both "panicked" and I hurried to get him out of the water ... then I was worried that his toes were going to freeze off on the way back to the car -- poor kid! But all was well -- got him back to the car, socks off, shoes off, pants off - and drove the 2 minutes home and got new ones!

(wet pants!)

Just goes to show ... mom should have explained the joy of breaking the ice a little better!

"Little Boy" ...and your big cardboard box!

As Christmas is just around the corner ... we are getting more and more boxes in the mail! One of Benjamin's current favorite books is:

This short story with wonderful illustrations is about a little boy ... and his adventures - and so many of them with his BIG CARDBOARD BOX! So as the boxes come in ... I try and save the ones I need for wrapping gifts ... but I often let Benjamin have them to play in - and he LOVES it... as you will see for yourself!

Kids Shoes!

So ... I've been LOOKING and LOOKING to find Benjamin some Sunday shoes ... that will go with kakki pants OR some of his John-John type outfits ... and I FINALLY found some! They have cute boy and girl shoes ... I don't exactly like ANY of the clothes on the website, but they do have cute shoes! Here's the link if anyone's interested: http://kitsel.com/index.html

They came today and they FIT -- he loves them because they "squeak" although we will have to take the squeakers out before church!!

Here are his SHOES!

Latest and GREATEST free-bies!

So ... Jonathan and I love getting "free" things...

some we have to do a little work for but not a LOT!

Here's our latest and greatest...

** $30 for doing the Nielsen TV Survey -- if an 888 or 800 # from Florida calls... answer it! This year it was just a week survey - but they send you CASH at the beginning of the survey!
(Last year we did a month long survey and got $150 ... just in time for Christmas!!)

** Order and Shipping FREE from Snapfish! I stayed up until 11:45 getting some pictures edited... 30 free prints for being a "good customer" a free 8X10 that I've been wanting of Benjamin and FREE shipping on the whole order!

Quantity Item Total
13 4x6 print(s) $1.17
17 4x5.3 trueDigital print(s) $1.53
1 8x10 print(s) $2.99
31 glossy finish $0.00
30 Customer Service Credit for 4x6(s) $-2.70
1 free 8x10" print credits $-2.99
cost of prints: $2.46
SHIPALLFREE: -$2.46
Subtotal: $0.00
Shipping & Handling:standard: $0.00
Prints Order Total: $0.00

** 10% off some shoes I ordered for Benjamin online ... PLUS no sales tax

**30% off Gap/Old Navy ... I think all in all a few friends and family and I ordered $600 or $700 in clothing ... so the net savings was about $200!! And the 30% off was even on SALE stuff!

** We currently have (Jonathan and I) two $100 airline credit vouchers ... where can we go... those were from our trip to Boston ... where we ended up driving back from Charlotte and getting the rental car paid for, $130 credited back to our credit card for the flight ... AND ... the two $100 vouchers... all I can say is Jonathan LOVES customer service!

** Lastly... this week I get 20% off on Kroger items for being a Kroger employee... thank goodness for a GREAT job!

Probably a lot of work for a few bucks here and there ... but all of the pennies add up to dollars ... did I mention that I was able to get gas for a TOTAL of $25.00 yesterday! That was NONE of my doing ... except the 20 cents off per gallon that we get at Kroger for buying groceries there!

Sorry no pictures... I'll try and post a couple ... soon!

Incline Railroad!

Train Is A' Comin'!

Yesterday ... instead of watching football ALL Day ... I BEGGED Jonathan to take us somewhere fun in Chattanooga before and afternoon/evening of football! I was originally hoping for a hike - but we decided to go to Lookout Mountain and try out the Incline Railroad -- it was a LOT of fun - especially since Jonathan and Benjamin love trains!

The train ride was nice and slow (just one car) ... and went down the steep moutain. I was a little nervous at first about the speed ... but after we got going and I realized how SLOW the ride was going to be, things were GREAT! The leaves were AMAZING as the train passed the hardwood trees and being up so high and seeing all of Chattanooga was spectacular! We had a blast being together as a family!

Here's a cute shot of Mary and Benjamin looking out the window just before we left for our outing...

Trick-or-TREAT!

Halloween .... 2008!

Benjamin had a HAPPY Halloween ALL Day! He got to dress up (as the mailman ... which was the costume he picked out!) for preschool - where they got a HUGE bag full of candy! He was thrilled! They got to have a pizza party as well that day with pizza, cheetos, ice cream and juice boxes -- my kind of party!

I picked him up from school a little early ... so we could head up to North Georgia. He was AWESOME in the car - and we didn't even have to stop... a HUGE bonus was the Atlanta traffic was not bad at all!

Benjamin got to trick-or-treat with lots of his cousins ... and got just enough candy for him!

We ended the night at a wonderful Ringgold High School football game ... it was perfect football weather - where you needed a coat and mittens for Benjamin and just someone warm to cuddle up next to! Ringgold won by a landslide ... Benjamin was THRILLED to be at the game for the first 3 and 1/2 quarters ... and yelled, "Go TIGERS" as much and as often as he could!

ps ... sorry for the bad coloring on some of the pictures... I don't have my PhotoShop!