*Merry Christmas*

Chaos. Is the word for this Christmas. With a very excited 4 year old and a very mobile 8 month old, I think the word suits us well. It was a great Christmas. This was the first year that Henry really became excited about Christmas and Jayce, well he is just in the middle of everything.

Christmas Eve:

Making cookies for Santa...


Nanny's Great Grandkids...


Jayce loved the wrapping paper...


Daddy & Henry putting out the Reindeer food...


Christmas Day:

Jayce loves his new toy from Nanny


Jayce was ready to open presents or should I say chew on the presents!




I do believe Henry had a great Christmas...


Outlaw did not know what to think


Henry got some chapstick in his stocking, but instead of putting it on his lips, he outlined his lips.


A Sneak Peak of Blogs to Come...

Henry starts Karate 01.09.10: He is very excited as you can see below, he has learned his positions and he is working on his student creed so he can earn his white belt. We are hoping this will help Henry be more confident in his abilities. We will keep you posted.


A few more updates:
1. Henry has had a horrible cough for awhile now and every time I call the nurse at the dr. office, they suggest Mucinix, etc. For weeks this has not been working, so I finally decide to call the dr the next day. Next thing I know Henry is running a fever. Concerns rises and I make the appointment. By the time we see the dr later that afternoon, Henry's fever has reappeared and he is feeling bad, complaining that his chest hurts, etc. The dr comes in examines him and ask if his back or chest hurts. He tells her his chest and she informs me, that we are lucky, however, he has the start of pnemonia in his right lung. WHAT!?!?!? Do I need to take him to the hospital? That was the first thing that came to mind, she quickly assured me, that my timing was perfect and we can treat it with antibiotics. He is feeling fine, just the cough and fever he says, he even asked if he could have a cheeseburger for dinner while we were waiting on the dr (he is his father's son). I will keep you updated on Henry. Probably since before Thanksgiving, Henry and I both have been sick off and on. One gets well, the other gets sick and the circle continues. I am hoping this is the final loop. Keep us in your prays. It is time for us to be a 100% again.

2. John and I leave Friday for our 1st weekend getaway in 5 years. We are so excited and hope Henry's health improves so we can actually go.

3. On January 21st, John has to go back to the LASIK dr and have his right eye re-done. He has been having trouble with his right eye. He has been having trouble with it for about a month. I am hoping this will do the trick.

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year and we will continue keeping you updated on our crazy boy filled lives!! ;)

XOXO

Pre-Christmas Post!!

Happy Holidays!!!

I am feeling the Christmas spirit this year, last year was such a blur. I do believe I did not even send out Christmas cards. I don't know what it is with me and being pregnant, but both years I was pregnant, I zoned out that entire 9 months.

Henry is so excited about Christmas. He ask all sorts of questions about Santa, etc. My cousin sent me this cool site, if any of you with little ones want to create a personal message from Santa this is it. I cannot wait until I can show it to Henry!! It is like a video gram from Santa to your child. You upload his name, how he has been good, what he wants for Christmas, and more. Then it makes it into a video and puts all the information together. It is so neat.

http://portablenorthpole.tv

Okay - enough chatting, here is what we have been up to lately!

We had The Flanders Family Christmas 12/12
All the Great-Grandkids:


John and Henry attempted to make a Gingerbread House:

BUT, the roof caved in...

SO, I bought a pre-made one and the boys just decorated it!! It worked much better...




Cute Picture of Jayce:


Henry had Polar Express day at his school, they were able to go to school in their PJs, drink hot chocolate, and read the book!! I Love it!!


Saturday 12/19 was my Dad's birthday, we had a little get together for him, ate some chili, had some cake, visited with Nan & Pa, and then watched movies all day. It was a nice day and I believe Dad had a good time!








You gotta love trick candles!


Jayce and his new toy basket


Oh and one more picture. I was feeling down the other day, it is so easy to lose yourself once life gets going, work, husband, kiddos. I am just trying to re-figure out who Mandy is, because she has been pushed to the side for awhile now. So, my old spontaneous self came through last Friday and I figured I have had the same hairstyle for at least 10 years now, no bangs, long and straight. I changed it up a bit and I am loving it. :)

So, I asked for bangs, and some layers, and add a nice pair of blingy earrings. Voila, I am on the path to finding Mandy again!! We will see how it turns out...


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
XOXO

November/December

As promised, I finally found the time to update the Bente Blog. Yay!! So much has been going on that my mind is racing to condense it into a blog post. Henry is still enjoying school, he always comes home with a new song, a new concept, or a new word he can spell. His school is so good about doing fun activities with them. For example for Thanksgiving, they had a feast and they were able to see a real, live turkey. Henry thought that was the best. Next week they are having a Polar Express day, they get to dress up in their PJ's, watch the movie, and drink hot chocolate. Jayce is a little ham. He is sitting up and crawling, let me re-phrase ham to tank. He gets focused on something and nothing is going to stop him at getting it. We had to move his crib down, my mom walked in found Jayce hanging over the crib. He loves his veggies now, loves his big bro, and is fascinated with the dog. Now, I will let the plethora of pictures do the talking!!

November:
We went to Shane's b-day party, Henry took longer to warm-up than usual, but he had fun and Jayce enjoyed playing with Shelby.




Thanksgiving Break:
As we do every year, we made the trip down to John's parent's house for Thanksgiving. This was Jayce's first roadie and let me tell you, it was not a very pleasant drive. On the way down, our 5 hour trip turned out to be 7 hours and once we got there Jayce missed his crib and he was up pretty much every 2-3 hours. With that aside, it was still a wonderful trip and we spent quality time with John's family. Henry adores his cousins and I adore my sis-in-law, so I am very glad we made the trip, even though Jayce will have to be a bit older before we attempt it again. On the way home, he cried for an hour and half straight. John's mom had a photographer come out to the house and take family pictures, they looked like they turned out great and I cannot wait to get mine, so I can share with everyone. Thanks mom and dad for a wonderful visit and everything you did for us!!

Henry was able to write a letter to Santa and mail it, he took it soooo seriously.




Thanksgiving Day:

Mmmmm, pumpkin!



Grandma Bente told Henry to go through the newspaper and write his name on the things he would like for Christmas, that was a task he focused on!

The Cousins:

Jayce had his first pickle (what a mess!)






Before we left, we were able to go and visit John's childhood friend who has 3 very sweet boys. They love Henry. Henry saw the 3 boys get out of their Tahoe and he was automatically intimidated. They were so good about making him feel welcomed and before you know it we had four boys creating chaos in their house and on in tears when it was time to go.


Jayce excited about his new trick!


Moving on to December:
We were able to see snow, how fun, I was at school at the time and it just reminds you that they want to be adults, but really they still are kids. I have windows in my classroom, so the day was pretty much a waste, because you could see the snow, so we ended up playing in the snow, students were going up to the windows and caroling, it was so funny.

This picture is from one of the mornings when it was icy.


My Great friend Brittany was married last weekend. Me, John,and Henry had so much funny being a part of this event and it turned out just gorgeous and I am so happy for Bri and Ty.












Jayce dressed for the cold weather:




Okay, I will stop for now!! Hope everyone is well and having a wonderful Holiday Season, we love ya!!
XOXO

I promise...

I promise by the end of the week, I will have updated pictures on what we have been up to. I can say, these last few weeks have been chaotic!! Started out with me not feeling well and then Henry came into our room that morning running fever as well. Then I became even sicker. We were heading on a trip south (picutres will follow), so we were trying to clean, decorate, etc. Boxes are still in my kitchen from that. When we get home from our trip, I get sick again, ugh, still getting over that. I still need to decorate, we had a wedding to par-take in, and I met up with some friends from high school. No regrets, just majorally busy and I am hoping this week will be a bit slower, at least so I can get my house back together FINALLY!!! Then we are off to the Flander's Family Christmas this weekend. Hurry up Christmas break!! I will post later this week, I Promise...