My Little 12th Man

Thanksgiving 2009

OK I was a little proud of myself this year for Thanksgiving because I made the Turkey for the first time. I was very intimidated to take on the big bird, but thankfully it turned out just perfectly. It looked beautiful and it tasted pretty good too if I do say so myself!

Mom, Brandi and Jordan came in from Waco for the big day and we had a really fun and relaxing time of cooking together, eating together, and of course watching college football together!

We sat down to a fancy table setting, well fancy for us anyway! Everyone took turns telling everyone else what they were thankful for. It was a really special day.

This is the aftermath of all the dishes after my favorite sister Aunt Bran did them. We love you Aunt Bran! And not just because you always do the dishes- it sure helps though!

Ben's New Favorite Thing To Do

Of all things Ben has a new found hobby of sweeping and mopping. Maybe he is trying to be just like his good ole Mom!
This whole thing started a couple of months ago when he found Ava's play broom in the pantry. He fell in love with that thing at first sight.

He carried it around with him all over the house like it was his new best friend!

Then I guess the new wore off of the broom and he moved on to bigger and better things. He found the Swiffer mop and it was all over.

Every single time I leave the door to the pantry open he makes a mad rush for the Swiffer.

He gets so excited and walks back and forth over the floor with it mopping away. It is really so cute to watch. He gets very excited to help me out with the house work. I don't know how it happened, but I hope it sticks!

Mary Poppins

Miss Ava has become quite the theater-goer in recent months. Her Gram and Grandpa have taken the kids to the Hobby theater downtown to see Mary Poppins and since then the Sound of Music. She just absolutely loves it.

Notice her t-shirt in these pictures. This is her before we left for school posing with her program. She was so excited to show all of her friends. According to Ava, her favorite parts are the singing and the dancing. I think it is just wonderful for her to get to be able to do these types of things with her time. What an experience!

Halloween

This Halloween we had an Alice in Wonderland & a cute little monkey. They were both adorable! We all enjoyed a visit to the pumpkin patch and an evening of trick or treating in our neighborhood. Here are several pics of the little munchkins...Enjoy!

Ben's First Birthday

Can you believe it had been over a year?? I can't! We celebrated Ben's first birthday on October 18th, 2009. That was the day after his real birthday of the 17th. You see Ben's Aunt Amy got married on the 17th at the Bay house so we decided to celebrate the morning after with our closest friends and family.

Ben had a farm themed party with a beautiful cake his favorite GiGi made especially for him.

All the kiddos had a fun time, but sometimes the birthday boy didn't know what to do with all the attention!

He dug into his own special cake. He was timid at first, but eventually he got good and messy. We had a really memorable morning celebrating Ben's first year. I can't believe how fast it went!

Do You Know the Muffin Man?

Now that Ben is a big boy, he wants to eat like one. That means that he no longer wants us to cut his food into small pieces for him to eat. He wants to take small bites and then shove as much of whatever he is eating into his mouth as he can. Honestly, it is really cute to watch him try to figure this whole eating thing out, but it also makes me crazy! I have to watch him like a hawk to make sure he doesn't choke.

This is a perfect shot of that shoving thing I was talking about...and of course he was choking not long after that.

At the end of the day, he is pretty happy with himself! And Mommy is learning to let go and let him learn some things the hard way. Next up... the spoon!!