Snow Day!

We got 3 or 4 inches of snow the other night, and it has just been bitterly cold! Meredith was nice enough to come over to play in the snow with Bennett so I didn't have to go out.  They had a lot of fun, but it got pretty windy, and Bennett didn't like the snow blowing into her face (can't say I blame her!).  Below you can find a picture of the two of them before they went out, and a little video of them enjoying the snow day.  

Christmas, Part 4

You thought, three parts of Christmas is plenty, right? Nope! It keeps going! December 30 through this morning, Brandon's parents came to visit and celebrate Christmas with us.  While they were here, Brandon and Wayne left for a little over 24 hours to go up to Chicago for the Gonzaga/Illinois basketball game.  While they were gone, Lorie and I got to do some shopping and we went to see It's Complicated.  Bennett had so much fun playing with both Nana and Papa! In fact, she wouldn't really let Brandon or me do anything for her while they were here.  Nana or Papa had to do it! They slept down in the basement, and as soon as Bennett woke up in the morning, she ran right downstairs to wake up Papa so he could play with her! We had a great time and opened even more gifts! Bennett just played and played with her new Little People castle from Nana and Papa and all of its accessories from Aunt Erin and Uncle Jake.  She truly LOVES it! Also, Wayne was able to accomplish some big projects around our house that I'm so excited about! He fixed my dryer which wasn't drying properly, he repaired a broken pocket door going into our kitchen that was hanging crooked, and the one I was most excited about, was that he drilled a hole through our floor and connected our ice maker on our freezer!! After having the feature for years, it finally actually makes ice! HOORAY!!  They left this morning, so now it is time to finally take down the Christmas decorations and start really thinking about this baby coming in just a few weeks! It's hard to believe that he will be considered "full term" this Saturday, and he could come at any time! 

Bennett and Nana playing with her new castle

Bennett loves Nana!

Snuggling on the couch with Papa

Not the greatest picture, but Bennett and Papa even braved the extreme cold to go play outside and jump in leaves for a little while!

Christmas, Part 3

The 26th was a break from Christmas festivities.  However, that night I had my 10 year high school reunion.  I was so excited that Courtney and Stephanie were in town for it! We went out to dinner with a few friends first, and then Brandon and Tim were exempt from attending the reunion, and they got to hang out and catch up at J Buck's while the rest of us went to the reunion.  It was fun to see some people that I truly hadn't seen in 10 years! I was disappointed, though, because again our little camera was acting up and saying the battery was dead even though I had charged it all day.  I did manage to get 1 picture at dinner before it stopped working.  I'll have to get some more from Courtney and Stephanie.  

Courtney, Mary Anne, Julie, Stephanie and me at dinner before the reunion

On the 27th, we headed up to Aunt Leola and Jim's house for the Reed Christmas celebration.  We really had a great time seeing everyone. Aunt Leola came up with a fun game for us all to play, we had a delicious feast, then we all opened presents and then enjoyed some laughs during the White Elephant gift exchange.

Bennett and GUS having a "heart-to-heart"

Cousin Sam had Bennett's name, and he gave her some great farm-themed gifts.  The Legos were a big hit!!

Great Uncle Tom gave Bennett an adorable rocking chair and giant bear to go with it! Thanks!!

Bennett and I enjoyed reading one of her new books

Brandon and Josh with their new shirts showing some "hostility" toward each other. (Don't worry, Gonzaga ended up winning the battle!) 

Uncle Jeff seemed to like his new "grill master" apron from us.

Brandon and Bennett both enjoyed a little "quiet time" after the present opening was finished.  

Christmas, part 2

I forgot to mention that we woke up to it snowing on Christmas morning, which was really fun! We only got about an inch, but it was beautiful and much better than the rain we had on Christmas Eve, and it was very beautiful.  After we finished opening gifts at home, we went over to my Mom and Dad's house to celebrate with them.  Meredith made some delicious coffee cake, and we went to town opening some more presents!

Bennett really loved her baby boy doll and had to bring it with her to show everyone!

We really made Pa work to get into his gift...new mats for his Jeep!

Merry Christmas, Aunt Murph!

Thanks for the fun presents, Grandma Joje!

Later in the afternoon on Christmas Day, the Rulls all came over to Mom and Dad's to celebrate Christmas.  

Ann, Grace and Bennett watched while Brandon worked on building Bennett's new Playmobile castle

Everyone enjoyed reminiscing while looking through the Shutterfly book that mom made for Grandma...  

We did get Bennett to nap in her "big girl bed" at Grandma's house (AKA my old bed!).  After her nap, she enjoyed reading a Christmas story with Great-Grandma Rull...

Christmas, part 1

Bennett finally opened her last present yesterday.  My decorations are still all up, but I'm going to work on those today.  Christmas is officially over.  I'm going to try to go back and recap Christmas in a few different entries.  So here goes! 

Christmas Eve: We went to Mass and had our traditional dinner at Algonquin with the Tessiers, Auffenbergs and McCuskers.  Bennett decided not to nap that day, so we were really worried about her making it through dinner.  We decided to take an extra-long drive to Church, and she ended up falling asleep in the car, and slept through the first 40 minutes of Mass, which rejuvenated her quite nicely and she was a very good girl all night.  Our camera battery died at Algonquin, so I will have to get Christmas Eve pics from Grandma Joje, but here is a picture of Bennett in the car on the way to dinner in her cute hat and coat...

Christmas morning: First we woke up and Santa had come to our house! After we opened stockings, Bennett immediately saw her new nursery center which was a big hit! It was a little difficult to get her interested in opening her other gifts because she was so enthralled with it.  Eventually she got going and loved it all.  Santa was good to her this year!

Bennett and her new "baby boy" doll

Putting the baby to bed in her new nursery center. 

tearing into some more gifts...

Merry Christmas, Daddy! Thanks for the fun water bottle!

Trying on some of her new princess costumes...here's Ariel!

...and Snow White!

Open A Gift With Bennett

Cookie Party!

Last night, my brave friend Kimen had Bennett and all of her buddies and families over for a cookie party! The kids had so much fun decorating cookies and playing together! Each of our families continue to grow, so what used to be 6 kids Bennett's age has now turned into 6 two-and-a-half year olds, 4 babies under the age of 8 months, and 2 more babies on the way!   Here are some pictures from our fun night last night!

Bennett painting on her frosting...

Now adding some sprinkles...

YUM! These are good!!

We seriously tried to get all of Bennett's buddies in a picture together...that was pretty much impossible! But here are a couple of funny attempts...

Wait...where's Will?

There he is! This is everyone! (except for 3 of the babies and forget trying to get everyone to look at the camera!!) haha