Christmas!

So this year for Christmas, we had a full house because Evan and Jen came up as well as Mom and Byron! We had a lot of fun together, playing games, watching movies into all hours of the morning...so when Christmas morning arrived bright and early, the adults were a little on the tired side, but we still had fun! First, we had the Benbow Christmas at our house.


We had to pull Charlotta out of bed, so she was a little out of it at first.

Getting the stockings down!

Byron and his dog, Duncan!

Helping Brennen open his stocking!

A stocking favorite-the lottery tickets! This year, I got some tickets that were a little confusing and a lot of work and hardly anybody won. Next year, I will go simple!

All Brennen wanted to do was eat his candy. He did not care very much about opening the presents. He just kept roaming around looking for any dropped candy to eat!

Lotta loved the packaging!

James in his new swim sweats!

Papa reads Brennen his new book, "It's Christmas, David (Dabid according to Brenne)!"

Kellen was convinced that Santa was bringing him trains--it was a good thing that Santa was on the ball this year! He was very happy with his new train set.

Skylar gets the Yuck Book!

Evan and Jen opening their presents!

Mormor was very surprised at her Tiffany bracelet!

Skylar with all of her loot from the first Christmas!

I got a beautiful pair of earrings from JT for Christmas! I am wearing them here.

Then we headed over to Marilyn and Jim's house for the Dean family Christmas!
Grandma Dean enjoying a lot of time with the babies!

Pass the baby to grandma!

The kids waiting patiently (ha ha) for their second round of present opening!

Grandpa and Charlotta

Ross and Brenne were having a lot of fun together!

Skylar gets the present that she wanted most of all-a pink camera!

Again, Brennen just hid out and tried to eat as much candy as possible.

Katie, Matt and cousin Jackie!

I love this picture of Charlotta!

Brennen looking for candy in his stocking!

Skylar using her new camera.

Moms and Babes!

Cousins-two weeks apart in age! What a bunch of cuties!

Every year, we do a gag gift for each other and this year, we got the Shake Weight! If you have ever seen the commercial, you would know why this is funny!

Skylar and James play with the Lego set that JT spent about 3 hours putting together!


See shutterfly for all the pictures!

http://thedeanslife.shutterfly.com/

Making Christmas Cookies!

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without loads of cookies! Everyone gets to help out.

Skylar's Christmas program!

Skylar had her Christmas program at school and she was a very enthusiastic singer!

Smiling for the camera before the program starts.

Singing hard:)

Kellen actually participates!

I'm not sure if you remember from past posts, but last year, Kellen refused to have anything to do with his preschool performances. So, I was very excited to see him actually singing and getting involved this year!

He was really into this song, "We wish you a Merry Christmas!"

Kellen and his best friend Gavin (not sure why they are both squinting?).

My Christmas Snow Baby!

Grandma came over after school to play some games with the kids!

Happy Birthday to our "cousin" Annie and Aunt Katie!

An American shout out to Annie in Sweden! We hope you had a wonderful day!


It's also Aunt Katie's birthday! We hope she had a wonderful day as well!

Kellen adores his sister!

Kellen (4 1/2) is finally getting out of his terrible two's. This past month, he has been a really sweet little boy and has turned a corner. I think a lot of it has to do with his little "Printzcess." He just adores his little sister and has put her up on a pedastal.


A pretty little "Printzcess!"

Peanut Butter is Amazing!

I turn my super-sonic mommy hearing off for two minutes and THIS...

is what I get!

Apparently, Brennen woke up from his nap and instead of coming out of his room like he normally does, he decided to "wash" his hair with Resinol (diaper ointment-thicker than Desitin). I did not hear him tinkering around, but when he came out, I was shocked. So, I threw him in the tub and tried all of the tricks-shampoo, dawn dish soap, lava soap, citrus orange. Nothing would work! I had no idea what I was going to do to get this out. So, I ran to the internet and typed in "how to get Desitin out of hair." All the tricks I had already tried. I was about to navigate away, when a final post caught my eye. Peanut Butter. I thought, NO WAY will that work! But, as I had nothing to lose, I tried it and it was so AMAZING. It instantly bonded with the stuff and washed right out of his hair with shampoo. I am still in shock at how well it worked! It was also a nice tasty treat for Brennen after we had got everything out of his hair (a clean bite, not a dirty bite)! Anyway, for Desitin in the hair, the answer is peanut butter!

PAPA'S HOME!

It was a bit of a rough week for the kids because mama was sick and really very cranky. The boys were so excited to have JT home, they would not leave his side (notice Brennen's nice clean fresh locks?)! It was so sweet to see them all piled together!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit!

The traditions are so important to the kids! They keep telling me, "You gotta to this, just like last year!"