Ben's 5th Birthday

Ben's LEGO party!

Cake decorating set from one of our missionary friends. He LOVED it.

Audio books of all the Chronicles of Narnia.
We are just two chapters away from having read all the books, one chapter a night!

Why he loves this so much I do not know. But he has been asking for this bag forever.

Optimus Prime from Rescue Bots. Parents score!

School desks from Mama D and Aunt Candice. LOVE!

The Party.

Lego pizza, fruit cup and apple juice. Yum.

The cake.

Ben was very proud of the cake he decorated with his new tools.

Waiting on the porch for more friends to arrive.

The gang's all here.

Opening gifts from friends. These two buddies could not be more different!

5 candles.

Blow...

Serving up cake.

We took the party outside.

Aunt Candice and Mama D were here, but I didn't get many pics. They LOVED eating the pie she made for Ryan.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

The boys got to open one gift before bed on Christmas Eve.

  Their very own cameras from Grammy and Papa. 

 Cheese!

 Night Night

 The loot Santa left!

 Ben told the Santa at Home Depot that he wanted "super hero action figures." He also told Ryan that he knew that wasn't the real Santa, but Santa's friend. Weeks later he told me, "Mom, if Santa doesn't bring me super hero action figures will you and Dad just buy them for me?" This boy knows how to cover his bases! This morning, he said, "That guys must have really been Santa's friend because he told Santa what I wanted!"

 The never played with their train table so we gave our train accessories to a train-loving friend and our table became a lego table!

 A little lego building by Santa's helpers.

Sorry for the horrible quality, but you get the idea.

 The morning!

 Their first comic books.

 Foam soap! A Carter family favorite.

 Digging in the stocking.

 Lego table fun!

 

 Happy boy.

 Opening presents.

 Don't tell him that Melty Beads are in the girly section. This boys loves all artsy things!

 Ben went to great lengths to be able to see what Nate was opening.

 Action figure Bible and audio CD.

 Big present.

 Legos galore.

 Ben's computer was loaded with new books to read.

 Explaining to mommy the four rocks that they specially picked for my gift.

 Daddy wrote the notes they dictated. Love it!
And he threw in a gift card to my favorite, locally-owned chocolatier. I'm craving their lattes already.

 Nate got a Dusty Crophopper computer.

 Lego mania!
Here's hoping the little pieces end up in their storage boxes and not under my feet.

First Snow

Woohoo! We got about four inches of snow last night. I quickly grabbed the boys' new snow shovels from the Christmas present stash and they were thrilled. They have been begging for snow shovels - silly boys. We managed to hold off the fun until after church and a quick lunch and then the fun was on!

It iced all day yesterday and started snowing in the late afternoon/evening.

 By morning, we had this! Ryan was off to shovel for church.

 Nate helping Daddy.

 Our friend, Ethan, helped shovel our drive and sidewalk with Ben.

 Good friends make for quicker and more enjoyable work.

 After church - time for snowball fights.

 Clearing a path.

 See Nate? He cleared his own path.

 Trying to find a way to sled. No luck. Better invest in something this year.