New Year's Eve 2011

We had a great time on New Year's Eve this year.  We never have anything to do and it is usually a big let down if we do.  This year was different!  Erin planned Amelie's first birthday party on December 31st.  She had it at 4 and continued until dark so we could do fireworks to bring in the new year.  Erin thought of everything...she had champagne glasses, confetti, silly string, and tiaras!  It was a ton of fun and I am already looking forward to next year!

Happy 1st birthday, Amelie!

The bubble wands were a hit.

Sweet little one with silly string all over his face!

Happy 2012 from the Lewis family.

Mason and Bennett had fun blowing the horns.

The Dicharry fam!  Love this one!

mommy + baby + champagne= fun New Year's Eve 2011!

Maddie and Mason were the brave ones with the fireworks.  All the other kids were scared.  

We ended our night by coming home before 8 pm, bathing the kids, and climbing in Bennett's bed for the flashlight book.  We were all asleep by 9:30!  I read a quote somewhere yesterday that said: 

“Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.” - Bill Vaughan

Henry tries oatmeal!

Henry got to try oatmeal for the first time today! I thought he looked so big in the chair with a bib on.  He did a great job taking in a little bit of food.  He didn't really act like he liked it but I bet he will when I add some fruit!  I looked back to see what it was like when Bennett had food for the first time and it was like a trip down memory lane!  Do my boys look alike to you???

Thank you for the cute bib, Aunt Rebecca!

Cute brothers

yay!  Food!

Ick!  

Christmas Day 2011 (Henry's First Christmas!)

We had a fantabulous Christmas this year.  We were surrounded by family from both sides and it was a ton of fun.  Santa was good to both boys this year.  Bennett received a Power Wheels Jeep (something my brother and I always hoped for on Christmas morning) and a race car track.  Henry received a busy ball popper and 2 fun toys.  Neil's parents woke up with us on Christmas morning which was a first for all of us.  I think they really enjoyed getting to see Bennett with his Santa presents.  All of my pictures are out of order and I don't have the energy to rearrange them so here goes nothing!

No Christmas jammers b/c we had a wet boy when he woke up Christmas morning. He loved his Jeep!

Bennett grabbing the stockings for himself and Henry (these are the stockings from Nana's house)

Our family of 4 in front of the tree

Let's go outside for a ride, Daddy!

Matt and Rebecca joined us on the afternoon of Christmas

Taking it for a spin...it was a little drizzly so we couldn't stay outside long

Helping Grandad

Nana and sweet Henry

What's out there?

Grandad loved his apron!  

nothing like pjs, dress shoes, and a jacket for Christmas morning!

Here are some of the cookies that Santa received but didn't eat

I love my new outfit, Aunt Becky!

Henry and his family on his first Christmas.  We used the self-timer about 15 times to get this!

Waiting for little boys to wake up!

Bennett showing Henry his new toys

Andrew took Bennett down the street so he could ride his Jeep

I used the "sports" setting on my camera to capture these blurry ones...I thought he was going to be moving so much that I would need it!

Love!

Bennett loves his bulldozer from Aunt Becky!

All of us ready for a picture!

Thanks to Tana for the cute Santa diaper!  Love those chubby legs.

Stockings are fun!  Bennett loves this grabber and all his Spiderman stuff

My side of the family minus Neil and Bennett

Neil and me

Lewis family

Loving the Jeep and ready to take it for a spin!

The birthday cake for Jesus that Bennett and I made.  I found it on Pinterest and it was so easy.  You can see an opening on the back of the cake that is NOT supposed to be there.  Beck ate the pack of KitKat that I bought specifically for this cake!

Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve was a ton of fun this year.  We had a really lazy day like so lazy that I took a 2 1/2 nap! It was lovely.  We really just hung out and waited for everyone to come over to get the Christmas Eve party started. Neil and Bennett made a yummy dip, we heated up the gumbo and bread, and set the tables.  Everyone arrived for dinner around 6 and we ate Richard's delicious gumbo for dinner.

What a big helper!

We couldn't leave Henry out of the action! Sweet boys...all 3 of them.

One of my favorite parts of the evening was the cookie decorating.  We had a batch of done sugar cookies and a batch of OVER done ones.  A neighbor stopped in and I totally forgot about the cookies in the oven!  I was so excited that everyone got in on the fun of decorating.  Some people were getting really competitive with their cookies..we have some great decorators in this family.

Neil was really into the decorating

Bennett covered 3 entire cookies with icing.  Like literally squirted it out until the cookie was completely covered. Those were Santa's favorite cookies for sure!

Richard was proud of his!

"Skrinkles!"

Andrew and Michael were really into the decorating.  Nana helped Bennett with his.

Another fun part of the evening was when Carolyn's kids and grandbaby stopped by.  We finally got to meet Reid, Carolyn's new grandson! He is a little cutie and is 1 week older than Henry. Of course, we had to get the babies together for a picture...

Henry and Reid

Bennett, Henry, and Reid

Sweet babies.  

This is a picture of all the adults trying to get the babies to cooperate and smile for the camera!

If you look in the background you can see Bennett sneaking into the gifts!  Little stinker!

Carolyn/Reid and Pops/Henry

Grandad with Henry.  We have a picture just like this of Richard and Bennett.  He can always get them to laugh like this!

We opened up gifts with my side of the family after Bennett and Henry had their baths.  It was a lot of fun and really chaotic!  Everyone was so generous and we all received way too much!

Bennett got a new pair of "fast shoes" from Gammy!

Love these old pjs Shep let us borrow

He was a big helper with the gifts

Andrew was so sweet to hold Henry for us

Pops, Nana, and Gammy loved their home made pottery from Bennett and Henry.  Nana even requested  some coasters like my dad's for her birthday.

What is this??  Curious George DVD!  yay!

Nana and Henry

Pops and Henry

Gammy loved her "Gammy Bag"  with all the goodies in it.  It was Rebecca's idea for me to get Nana and Gammy each a bag.  I had it monogrammed with "Gammy Bag" for her.  I put a few odds and ends in there so they are prepared on the go with the boys. 

After all the gifts were opened, Bennett tossed the reindeer food out for the reindeer.  He yelled down the street "SANTA! REINDEER! SANTA!"  He was ready!