Good Bye 2009 . . . Hello 2010

Randon cute pictures

We had a great December, but I'm grateful for the hussle and bussle of the season to be over. Luella has been changing so much that I wanted to put some cute pictures of her and how big she is getting. Samantha loves Luella so much. She does this cute thing where she kisses the top of her own hand and then puts that part of her hand on Luella. It is her cute way of giving Lu a kiss! She always asks for me to put Lu in bed with her, and even wants her to sleep with her. She ensures me that she will be really careful and take good care of her. They will be such good friends and buddies as they get older.

Bye Bye BeBe

So Mason woke up one morning and told me he wanted to trade in BeBe (binki). This is something that we had mentioned to him a while ago, but he got pretty upset so we dropped the idea. When he asked me about it, I asked him if he really wanted to trade his BeBe for a toy. He said yes. Then I told him that his BeBe would be gone forever, and I asked him if that was ok. He said yes. So we went and picked up my sister Jessica, and headed over to Walmart. The deal is that he can buy any toy he wants and payment for the toy is his BeBe. So we went and looked around and he saw a Spiderman on a 4 wheeler, and that is what he wanted.(he is really into spiderman and superman right now). So we headed up to the front and on the way up he saw a can of pringles. So he picked one up. We got up to the register and he kept telling me that he needed to get his BeBe out of his pocket, and right when he did, he put it right on the counter. It was the cutest thing ever. He handed his BeBe to the cashier and picked up his sack with his spiderman and pringles. He looked so grownup walking out of the store with his sack of goodies.
I thought he would have a hard time with it at night, but he didn't. And the one time he asked for it I just told him that he has spiderman now and he looked at me and smiled and said"ok".

Funny enough Samantha and Mason were playing in my roon and Sam found a binki under my bed. Mason was pretty happy about it, but he sucked on it for a bit and then I got ahold of it and put it away and there hasn't been any trouble.

Quick visit from Aunt Jessica

My sister Jessica came to visit, which my kids love. She is always playing with them and running around, which is something I need to be better at. But she came to for a quick visit, and while she was here the kids wanted to run the "marathon" with her. (that means they run in a circle around the wall in our basement) So they were running and having fun and Samantha ran and jumped on the couch and right as she turned around Mason ran and jumped right where she was. He jumped and his head hit her high cheek bone right under her eye. Right at that momnent that he hit her face it was like a blood vessel popped under her eye and it just instantly turned blue. Samantha was pretty devastated. And right after that Jessica had to leave. It was kindof a running joke. And now instead of running the marathon, Sam says they need to walk the marathon so noone gets hurt. Thanks for coming to visit J. My kids really do always love it!!!!

Monkey See Monkey Do

Do I really need to go into detail?! The pictures pretty much say it all. They love their Dad so much and want to do everything he does that they both asked for a pair of sunglasses and wore them while we were in the car. It was pretty darn cute!!!

Candy Houses

One of our favorite things to do in December is go to my parents ward christmas party. My dad is in charge of it and if that doesn't explain it . . . it is always just a blast. My kids love doing to candy houses at the party. This year our ward party ended up on the same day, so we thought we better forgo my parents and go to ours. But of course we went and got a house, some frosting and some candies so we could construct one ourselves. It was a great Sunday activity. Samantha's was such a girl house, very well thought out and neat. It looked really cute. Mason's was complete opposite. He put everything he could on there, pretzels were poking out of every way, but it was still cute. They loved looking at them on our counter, but more importantly they loved getting them down and sitting at the table and eating them. That lasted a couple weeks and then it was just down to the frosting, so I chucked them. Until next year I guess.

December 16th, Whitney turns 26!!!!!

December is already a crazy month, and to add to the chaos our anniversary is on the 13th and my birthday is on the 16th. Our anniversary hit on a Sunday this year. It was our 6 year anniversary, I cannot believe it. The time has just flown by. But my parents were sweet enough to invite us over for dinner and dessert. So we hung out with them, and had a great night!!!

So on my birthday, after Ben got off a half day of work, my mom and sister tended the kids while we went and saw a movie (the blind side) which was awesome. It is just the greatest treat to go to a movie, or just go out without our kids. Thanks Grandma B and Jessica. Then we rushed to pick up the kids and took Sam and Mason over to Honey's house while we went out to dinner. Ben was surprising me with where we were going but, as we were driving along Wasatch I knew there was only one place we could be going. La Cai (not even quite sure how to spell it). As we pulled in I turned to Ben and said we are taking a baby to La Cai with us. She was pretty good and the food was good and the atmosphere was amazing. I just love Ben and how great he is to plan a fun birthday. He knows how much I struggle with my birthday. It's not the getting older, I love that part, it's just the time and season that it falls. It's no fun to be forgotten on your birthday. But my husband always makes it a special day. I love him so much.

Then to top it off when we got home, he pulled out my present. He had gone out shopping and gotten me a kitchen aid. So I guess now he is expecting cookies, alot. I love you Ben!!!!!

Breakfast With Santa (doesn't he look awfully familiar)

Honey and the other Aunts arranged a fun Breakfast with Santa!!!
Samantha and Mason were so excited for days. When Santa got there Samantha hid under a table until he left, Mason actually sat on his lap. I thought he would be too scared, but he did it, and even Lu sat on his lap. They loved it. Thanks for the fun morning Honey!!!

Samantha's Preschool Christmas Program

Newcastle Preschool put on quite a cute little Christmas Program. I was excited to see it becuase I had heard Sam singing all of the songs all month long. We went to the Old Draper Theater, and Grandma B, Honey, McKay (also known as Mac Daddy), Jessica, Mason and Dad oh and Baby Girl (Luella) came to watch. She picked out her cute black and red outfit, and was so excited to go. I loved watching her sind and watching her wave at us during the program. I just love watching Samantha grow up, she is turning into quite the little girl.

Christmas Adam with the Rich's (if you don't know what that is look on Anna's blog)

We spent the day before Christmas Eve with Ben's family. We have a tasty dinner, then we got the kids all dressed up in their nativity costumes. Sam was Mary, Corbin was Joseph and Mason was the shepherd. Corbin said he was Joseph and so Mason said he was "Joses" So Mason was Joses the Shepherd.
After the nativity the kids put on their Santa hats and Jim read a Christmas story. That is one of the Rich's traditions. Jim reads a christmas story every Christmas Eve (or Adam).

Christmas Eve at The Ballstaedt's

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents and did all of our traditional traditions. We had a yummy dinner (my brother Taylor had deep fried a turkey), then we watched the movies "the gift". We have watched it every year for as long as Ican remember. We did the nativity and then ended with the Gift Ball, also a tradition that we have done forever. It was so fun to be with everyone and just hang out. I love all of the traditions that we have done since I was a little girl, and it is fun to start to share them with the grandkids.

Christmas Day 2009

We spent the morning at the Ballstaedt's having omelets and hanging out. It is the best part of christmas for me, my dad makes the best omelets!!! Then we headed over to the Rich's for lunch and opened presents and played. Then of course we weren't done, we headed over to my sister Jessica's to have chinese and play games. The only thing Ben said on the way home is "we are not going 3 places next year" I thought it was fun though, I love seeing everyone.

Christmas Morning at the Rich's

The kids woke up around 7:30 and so we all went out to see if Santa had made it to our house. We were pleasantly surprised to see lots of fun presents under our tree. Sam and Mason were so excited. They got some fun things. . . . .helmets, kites, sleeping bags, Mason got a train, Sam got dress ups. It was so cute to see them play with their toys, but even cuter to watch Mason take all of his "things" down the hall to his room. He must have made about 3 or 4 trips to his room. Christmas is all worth the hussle and bussle to see your kids faces on Christmas Day.

Grandpa Ballstaedt came over while I was doing hair and helped out with the kids. I found them all sitting watching High School Musical (mason's favorite movie these days) It was way too cute, all of them just glued. We love it when Grandpa comes over.

Samantha and Mason are always wanting Luella to lay with them. Here they are laying on my bed watching TV. (I still have to remind Sam that she is too small to pick up Lu and carry and move her around)