The New Year's Here!!

We usually go to Bennett's for New Year's Eve. This year I kinda planned to go there for dinner then come home and put kids to bed and spend a quiet night with Dave. Thank heaven for Dave's training and a 600 mg Motrin which got rid of my killer headache so that I could enjoy the evening. We ended up staying at Mom and Dad's until after midnight because the whole family was having so much fun. Just some of the highlights:

*Spending the night with family and close friends- Joey and Gayle and the Thompsons who we haven't seen much outside of church lately came over too
*Seeing the Thompson kids and our chillies having a great time together
*Coop flirting with Niah and getting DENIED- she already has those feminine wiles at 2
*Watching Toby and Milo run through the house together and play superheroes- they are best buds forever
*Wondering what had posessed my son when he started licking Milo's head and belly laughing every time
*Joey's delicious smoked meat- buffalo, ribs and beef and Gayle's roast turkey
*Tons of other good food and sweets- which we ate way too much of but it's a holiday so big whoop!
*Seeing how many different ways Coop could climb up to the counter to get the peanut M&M's and cookies- the kid has a sweet tooth already at 20 months old- crap!
*Playing Uno Attack right next to my husband and NOT fighting or getting really upset with each other- the guy is the luckiest ever when it comes to winning/playing games.
*Listening to all the kids giggle and holler at the funny parts of the Cars movie
*Seeing Toby snoring on the floor amidst the craziness and Coop laying on Milo's lap
*Holding sweet 4 month-old Afton- she kept me warm and loves to snuggle
*Watching Afton grin and giggle while Dave was rubbing her spine and adjusting her
*Beating my hubby's team at Catchphrase! I never seem to do that until now- Ha! Ha! Me, Joey and Dad against Dave, Scott and Sami anytime!
*Watching Gramma Grace snuggle Coop on the couch and realizing how much he looks like her and Dave
*Seeing Jess with Alix and Jaime all snuggled in a row watching movies until midnight.
*Coop stayed up until 12:30 AM! I wasn't sure he would last but he did. Toby was out by 10:30 and Jess had a nap so she was going strong all night.
*Listening to the little kids bang pots and shake noise makers and cow bells on the front porch at midnight- Coop was dangerous with his wooden spoon and pot


It was such a fun night I wonder why we don't get together like that more often. I'm thankful for this holiday time that we did spend together. What a fun way to ring in the New Year! Welcome 2007!

Christmas spirit

With the Christmas season winding down I look back at all the little things I stressed over and realize they were trivial to what should really matter. With Dave traveling, studying for numerous tests and graduating from school all in December, we didn't think about Christmas shopping until 2 weeks before Christmas which was kinda nice. Considering Dave just graduated and he doesn't have a job yet, shopping for both sides of the family without breaking the (very small) bank was tough. I like Mom Grace's idea that we just spend our money each year on going somewhere as a family, like renting a cabin in the mountains, instead of buying so much.

I tried to plan more activities to celebrate Christ's birth instead of focusing on gifts. We did have a great time on family outings. Next year I will plan a service project so we can give the kids a bigger picture of what Christmas is all about. I want the kids to remember each Christmas for what we DID for others instead of what presents they got that year.

On that note, our sweet Jessie got to stay up with Dad late a few nights before Christmas to wrap presents. Dad helped her wrap all her gifts to the family. Then they wrapped several in a row for Toby from Mom and Dad. Jessie started to cry and blurted out through her tears that she wanted to give Toby more than the one gift she had picked out. J felt bad that she only had one gift for Toby while we had several. She melted my heart right there and I realized how much little Jess loves her brother. We worked it out so that she gave Toby one of the gifts we had for him and I thanked Heavenly Father for such a thoughtful, loving little girl. I hope she keeps that Christmas spirit with her forever.

Merry Christmas to all!

Love the Bennett family!

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with friends and family. It was a whirlwind weekend getting ready to host Christmas Eve dinner at our home, but well worth it. There's nothing better than forgetting about work & responsibilities for a few days to play with the chillies, lounge with family and enjoy good food.

My side of the family came over for dinner and some present fun on Christmas Eve. That meant we had 8 adults plus our 3 chillies in our tiny apartment. We put a big table in the living room and dusted off the nice china for a buffet feast. Tom BBQ'd the turkey (so delicious!), and we ate broccoli salad, fresh rolls, broiled potatoes and sweet potatoes. So many carbs so little time! ;)We opened gifts and enjoyed watching the kids bounce off the walls with delight. They were so excited and so sweet to everyone, including each other! J and TJ even got to see Simon (Dan & Lauren's dog) and play fetch with him in the front yard.

The chillies woke up way too early Christmas morning- 7:30 AM- even after staying up later than usual. It was awesome to watch them get as excited to see other family members open gifts from them as they were opening their own gifts. Dave's family came over in the afternoon to exchange gifts and spend a little time together. We did it right this year! :) Everyone came to our house instead of trecking the chillies all over town. They were so well behaved because of it too. The only place we went was to Great Gram's house for dinner on Christmas night.

J-Bird (6) wrote the cutest letter to "Satu" about wanting a gold hoola-hoop and wishing him a "mairy Christmas." Santa wrote her a letter back saying Hoopy the hoola-hoop elf was sick and couldn't make any hoola-hoops this year (because according to the kid at Toys'R'Us they are a summer thing). Santa knew that J wanted a kitty but that Mom and Dad were allergic to the real thing so he brought her an electronic kitty Giga-pet. She loves that thing. We get hourly reports that Kiki's health is at 93% and that she loves baths, being pet, etc.

TJ (3) helped retell the story of Jesus' birth on Christmas Eve which was a nice surprise. He really does listen at church and home when he's wiggling around and playing. Ben 10 and dinosaurs are his thing this year. Grandpa Dave gave him the Ben 10 watch which "changes him" into 10 different monsters. He hasn't let that thing out of his sight since yesterday. If one needs to locate TJ you just follow the annoying beep-beep beep-beep of his watch. It's fairly amusing to hear some of the names of these monsters fly outta TJ's mouth. Stinkfly, Wildmutt Heatblast, Diamondhead, GhostFreak and Ripjaws come rolling off his tongue like butter. I just shake my head and blame Daddy for getting him hooked.

Coop (20 months) is too young still to get what is really going on. There came a point yesterday when he didn't care to open another wrapped box and was content to play with one of two toys- his Little People farm or cars.

It has also been confirmed this year that Mom and Dad like shopping for toys way too much. Fisher Price made a killing on us this year!

What an awesome Christmas season! We are so blessed with a healthy family, close extended family, and the knowledge that Jesus Christ lives and is our personal Savior.

sleep deprived.............

Our entire family has been keeping late hours the last week. The chillies are starting to look like zombies complete with major bags under the eyes. On Sunday we were at a Christmas concert until after 9. Monday was dinner at the parents and walking around Cripps Court (a local neighborhood that decorates like crazy!) then back to parentals for pie and quick baths/jammies for the chillies so they could fall asleep in the car and go straight to bed. *whew*

Since Dave is done with school (Yeah! Still lovin' it!) little J is the only one who needs to get off to school. We are having a hard time waking up to get her there on time. Mornings lately consist of jumping out of bed, throwing clothes on J and stuffing breakfast down her while I make a lunch. We race through the brushing hair and teeth bit then dash out the door to get her there 2 minutes after the bell rings but still enough time where she doesn't get a big red"T" for tardy. She keeps track of those things you know.

To keep this busy time in perspective......

Those of you who know me know that I dislike Martha Stewart, a lot. Sure, I've been known to browse through one of her magazines but I can't stand her television show or watching her in person. These letters to Martha from Erma Bombeck and vice versa are hilarious. Great example of the sickeningly sweet, too-perfect Miss Martha.

Erma Bombeck's Christmas letter to Martha Stewart:
Dear Martha,

I'm writing this on the back of an old shopping list, pay no attention to the coffee and jelly stains.

I'm 20 minutes late getting my daughter up for school, packing a lunch with one hand, on the phone with the dog pound, seems old Ruff needs bailing out, again.

Burnt my arm on the curling iron when I was trying to make those cute curly fries, how DO they do that?

Still can't find the scissors to cut out some snowflakes, tried using an old disposable razor ... trashed the tablecloth. Tried that cranberry thing, frozen cranberries mushed up after I defrosted them in the microwave.

Oh, and don't use Fruity Pebbles as a substitute in that Rice Krispie snowball recipe, unless you happen to like a disgusting shade that resembles puke!

The smoke alarm is going off, talk to ya later.

Love, Erma


Martha Stewart's Christmas letter to Erma Bombeck:
Hi Erma,

This perfectly delightful note is being sent on paper I made myself to tell you what I have been up to.

Since it snowed last night, I got up early and made a sled with old barn wood and a glue gun. I hand painted it in gold leaf, got out my loom, and made a blanket in peaches and mauves. Then to make the sled complete, I made a white horse to pull it, from DNA that I had just sitting around in my craft room.

By then, it was time to start making the place mats and napkins for my 20 breakfast guests. I'm serving the old standard Stewart twelve- course breakfast, but I'll let you in on a little secret: I didn't have time to make the tables and chairs this morning, so I used the ones I had on hand.

Before I moved the table into the dining room, I decided to add just a touch of the holidays. So I repainted the room in pinks and stenciled gold stars on the ceiling. Then, while the homemade bread was rising, I took antique candle molds and made the dishes (exactly the same shade of pink) to use for breakfast. These were made from Hungarian clay, which you can get at almost any Hungarian craft store.

Well, I must run. I need to finish the buttonholes on the dress I'm wearing for breakfast. I'll get out the sled and drive this note to the post office as soon as the glue dries on the envelope I'll be making. Hope my breakfast guests don't stay too long, I have 40,000 cranberries to string with bay leaves before my speaking engagement at noon. It's a good thing.

Love, Martha Stewart

P.S. When I made the ribbon for this typewriter, I used 1/8-inch gold gauze. I soaked the gauze in a mixture of white grapes and blackberries, which I grew, picked, and crushed last week just for fun.




Yeah Erma. I know that life well. If Miss Martha had more than one kid I gaurantee her "good things" would be more like getting everyone in the house dressed with socks AND shoes on before 8 AM- or making it through one day without pee, puke or poop ending up on bedding and/or clothing. That's my idea of a good day. :)