Christmas Countdown

Monday this advent calendar from Nana arrived. We are marking the days until Christmas. His hair looks a little wild because he had just gotten up from his nap.

Tonight we got in the holiday spirit by watching The Polar Express and snacking on popcorn. Ben had never had popcorn before. He really liked the "corns." He didn't care as much for the commercials. He's only ever watched PBS and Disney Channel, which have their own commercials but between programs. He just couldn't understand those long breaks during the train movie.

Ben with three of his favorite things: Cat, chocolate milk, and Ernie.

Saturday at the Camp

John, Jim, and Mr. Elder went to the camp after dinner Thursday. Ben and I joined them Friday evening. Ben had never spent the night at the camp before. He had fun riding the four-wheeler.

Coloring with Grandaddy.

Sliding down the back of the couch. He would stand up, then somehow let his legs slide out from under him. He thought this was so much fun and did it over and over.

Cousins

Ben, MV, and Janey played near each other rather than with each other.

This was so funny. Mary Varner took one end of the jump rope, handed Ben the other, and then they stood in front of Janey as if they expected her to jump. She can't even crawl.

Right after this Janey grabbed hold of Ben's ear and he couldn't get down fast enough.

This is just one of many attempts to take a decent pic of the three of us. Ben's determination not to be in the group pic is a foreshowing of what was to happen the next day when we took him, MV and Janey to have their pic taken together. We arrived first and I had some indiviual pics taken of Ben for Christmas. He did great, smiling, and doing whatever the photographer asked of him. Next MV and Janey had their pic taken together. Finally, we were to seat them all together on a child-sized couch. Ben refused to sit. He locked his legs and wouldn't bend. After several minutes of trying to convince him to sit (or even stand) beside Janey and MV, we gave up. Last year these pictures made me crazy. This year I had lower expectations and wasn't bothered by the fact that we didn't actually get the picture that we went to have taken.

Thanksgiving Travels

We drove to Jackson after lunch to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Elders. Ben wanted to wear his glasses like Mama and Daddy. He fell asleep about two seconds after I took this picture and slept in his sunglasses the whole trip.

Why go to the camp?

Thursday morning we looked out the window and saw this fawn in our backyard. It saw us but didn't run away.

It would have been hard not to see Ben in his bright red Mickey Mouse pajamas.

Eventually, its mama came and got it. You could practically see her telling it, "You do not go in peoples' yards. Get out of here." And then they ran away.

Techie Elf

I know it's not quite Thanksgiving, but we're already starting to think about Christmas. Cara bought Ben this Santa Claus hat. I bought him the Fisher Price nativity that plays Away in a Manger. We've listened to Away in a Manger about a jillion times in two days.

Not-So-Hot Chocolate

This morning I had a cup of hot chocolate. Ben, of course, wanted some. When I got near the end of the cup and it had gotten very cool, I let him have it.