Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my holiday to host and this year was no exception. Well actually there was a huge exception....Jeremy's oldest brother and wife got to join us this year. Ben was very very excited to get a chance to play with his Aunt Vickie. The turkey was good this year thanks to Jeremy the turkey chef. It was great having more to dinner this year. Ben and I had fun making place cards using Ben's had as the turkey.

This year I am thankful for my family and friends. This year has flown by and cant believe Christmas is around the corner. I hope everyone had safe travels.

Sorry I couldnt get it to rotate

Santa Visit

This year Ben was so excited to see Santa he could not stand it. We went with his cousin Reagan to help her not cry. I cant believe he was there so early this year but whatever it works for us. Ben went right up to Santa sat on his lap and asked for a big red tractor trailer. I have no idea where he saw this truck however it is what he asked for. Sadly he will NOT be receiving this gift but he will be happy with what "Santa" brings him. His cousin did not cry with Santa but didnt talk to him either. They both were very cute.

Picture time

We have had a long week of lots of smiles. First Ben had his school pictures taken at school last week. Then this week I took him to get his 4 year old birthday photos and rounded the week off with visiting Santa. I will keep all of the photos a secret for now but look for your own copies of them in your christmas cards this year.

50 Free Shutterfly Holiday Cards

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… learn more: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Can't wait to design our holiday cards! They seriously have so many options that I love this year! I have spent so much time just going through their site. We are going to put up our tree soon and take our own pictures this year to save money. I have made some holiday cards already using pictures of Ben. I want to start doing this every year and make it a tradition. I think it will be kinda fun to come up with a new idea and a new card every year. My only problem will be selecting just one!
Card Stationary
Christmas Cards
Holiday Cards
 
And that is just a few of the wonderful things that they offer!

I absolutely LOVE shutterfly! I have done many scrapbooks for family and friends for gifts. LOVE IT! I will probably be ordering another one pretty soon. I think that they make adorable gifts! Check out the photo books that they offer here. Turnaround time was really good to. I had it in less then a week! Unbelievable. I know it will be a memento we treasure forever!

A sample of one of the books I have done is below of Halloween over the past few years. I hope everyone gets a chance to use Shutterfly even just to print photos. I order photos at least once a month if not more and love the quality of them. Enjoy!

Halloween

Click here to view this photo book larger

Halloween

This year was so fun going trick or treating. We went with friends to a different neighborhood as ours only has usually one or two houses to go to. Benjamin was Optimus Prime from the Transformers and he loved wearing the mask. Jeremy had to work all weekend but made it home literally just in time to join us for trick or treating.

Ben and his friend Brendon

 

Ben and Kailey

Ben and I went to the church to join in on Trunk or Treat. It was a ton of fun as each room had a fun game to play for a cute little prize. Ben thought it was so fun and kept dragging me from room to room as he won each game. Then we had a costume parade around the church before heading outside to trunk or treat. We were both tired after that night. 

On Halloween we went over to a friends house for a fun get together before heading out to get yummy treats. Ben held his friend Kailey's hand almost the entire night. We had to keep telling them to wait for us as they were running from house to house. The street we went on even had treats for the adults (tehe). Over all we had a great fun (yet cold) weekend. It was so fun watching Ben be a little boy and independent from us.

The scary witch that Jeremy thought was cool. (I thought it was real.)

Fall is here

Fall is my favorite time of the year. The leaves are pretty, it is nice out and there is many activities that only come once a year. This year was no exception. Ben and I attended a few of the festivals and enjoyed them more then the last year. There is one that is next to our house that is my favorite. There is a spooky hayride, baby goats to feed, a cow to milk and tons of fun slides and activities to join in. There is kettle corn to eat and music to listen. I think Ben's favorite part is the goats but this year he liked the slides as well. There is another farm that grows Christmas trees and also has a pumpkin patch where you can take a hayride out to the patch and pick your own pumpkin right off the vine. Here are a few pictures of our adventures at each of the festivals.

Air and Space Museum

We got a free sunday and decided to visit the Air and Space Museum at the Dulles airport. Ben is getting to the age now where we can go to those places and he will actually look at everything and like walking around. Plus this time was an added bonus that the Transformers 2 movie was filmed there and one of the characters Jetfire is on display there. Well actually they used one of the planes that was already there on display and turned him into a character. Ben thought it was so cool to see one of the transformers there. They also had a huge display of pictures of how they filmed the scene and accessories from the movie. Ben was in awe. We had fun walking around and looking at all the planes and other flying vehicles.

School Time

This has been an exciting week. Benjamin started Preschool at Dulles South Preschool. He has a teacher and teachers helper in his class along with 16 other kids. He has been very excited about going to school which is a huge relief. So far he loves his class and all his new friends. I cant wait to post of here all the new fun things Ben is going to learn and do with this new chapter of his life (and ours). 

 Ben meeting his teacher Miss Deb

 Ready to go after a day of school.

 Waiting for his name to be called to be released.

 So happy today is his first day of Preschool. Lets go mommy!

 I'm strapped in and got my backpack for school.

 In front of his school.

 In front of his classroom.

 In front his his cubbie hole that he shares with 2 other classes.

Green Thumb

 This year we are trying to grow our own vegetables, herbs and fruit. Since we are renting we dont want to build a garden to only dig it up later so we are doing container garden. I have started one strawberry plant, 3 different types of tomatoes plants, 1 orange and 1 red bell pepper plants, basil plant, parsley plant and then 1 zucchini squash plant. I figured I would start off with a few and see if I can actually grow things or kill them. We are doing organic and I am only using the soap stuff to help keep bugs away. They are growing so fast. They are on our front stoop and get tons of morning sun. I have already used the herbs and are awaiting my first piece of food. Wish me luck and if this works I will have to expand my list of plants.

Well after this years summer heat my veggies didnt do too well. I couldnt keep up with the watering and keeping them healthy. I will try again next year in a different location. I did get a few tomatoes but not enough to really do anything with. 

Nana and Pa visit

It has been over 7 months since my parents came from Indiana to visit us. I dont know who was more excited me or my son about their visit. Ben took to them right away and didnt have to warm up. He played and played with his Nana and Pa and really enjoyed their special time together.

4th of July

We just got back from our trip to the beach. Last minute we decided to go to the South Riding fireworks. We got there a little early and scoped out a great place to camp out. Found the perfect spot right in front of the platform for the fireworks. It was great and Ben loved watching the big fireworks. We watched them with our family Brian, Shelly and Reagan.

Summer is here

Summer mean busy for most people in the world. For us it just means more time to play outdoors and the sun is out later (and earlier). We have gotten out the baby pool and water table many times already and have used more sunscreen in the past month then the whole fall combined. We can not wait to hit up the waterpark and the pools that are in our neighborhood.