Christmas 2010

Everyone was up and ready by 7am to open presents! Of course Andrew was up hours before his siblings but that's to be expected. Here they are waiting to see what Santa delivered.

It was so fun watching all 3 open presents. Matthew was tearing into every present, his or not. This was a big difference from last year. Andrew was reading everyone's names and handing them out while opening his at the same time. Molly found one of Drew's gifts that she tried to open pretty much the whole 15 minutes of present opening. Santa brought Andrew a Lego Garage and a small UPS truck; he brought Matthew a concrete pumper and a mini excavator with jack hammer attachment; and he brought Molly a new book shelf and a wooden activity cube. He brought me an new computer! And Drew got an ipod touch and GPS system for his car. We were very fortunate this year!

Once the presents were opened Drew finished packing the car while I got the kids ready. It was pretty hard for them to leave their new toys but they were excited about our road trip too. We left our house about 10 and noticed that Starbucks was open!!!! What a wonderful Christmas gift! We grabbed coffee, got gas and hit the road. Of course about 20 minutes in Matthew and Andrew began asking if we were in Oklahoma. But they were really good. We stopped for lunch in Rolla and found out that not even McDonalds is open on Christmas Day! We had to stop at a gas station, get their last loaf of bread, peanut butter, and jelly. I think all poor Molly had was crackers and goldfish, thank God for milk. We arrived in Norman at Drew's parents at about 6:30 and luckily they had nuggets and lunch meat for dinner. Drew unpacked and got the kids beds set up while I fed them dinner. We set Matthew up in a room by himself since he takes forever to fall asleep and usually sleeps the latest. Molly and Andrew slept in the guest bedroom with me and Drew. As we expected the first night was a little rough getting everyone to sleep but I think everyone was down by 10!

Christmas Week

Christmas week was a little crazy. The boys were off school and Drew was working crazy hours in order to take a few days after Christmas off for our trip to Oklahoma. Luckily we got out of the house on Tuesday the 21st for Kiersten's 5th Birthday. We had to miss her friend party at Chuck E Cheese because Matthew, Molly and I were battling bad colds. Her family party was perfect. Pete and Jill ordered Dominos (Andrew's favorite thing on Earth) and the kids just played and played. Of course Matthew decided not to take a nap that day and was quite the pill but luckily no one seemed to care. Kiersten got some really fun gifts and was so cute when she opened each gift. Happy 5th Birthday K!

Christmas Eve we started getting snow about 7am. It was so exciting to know that we were going to have a white Christmas! We took Max to the place we were boarding him because they closed at noon. We were sad to leave him but knew it would make our trip to Oklahoma a lot easier. Plus he got to stay at the "Ritz" of pet hotels because we started calling too late and this was the only place available. (He got a scone every morning and yogurt every evening:))

After we dropped Max off we ran a few last minute errands and then went home to play in the snow a little bit. This was Molly's first time playing in the snow. She loved it and of course the boys did too.

We tried to get everyone down for naps early because we knew we were going to have to leave our house at 3:00 to get a seat at 4:30 mass. We made it to mass just in time to get a seat and we were so thankful. I've never seen so many people in one place! After mass we headed over to Grandma and Poppa's for their annual Christmas Eve Party. Christmas Eve is my favorite night, I love the anticipation! We had Drew's favorite, beef tenderloin as well as many other delicious foods. We were the first to leave but knew we had a busy/early Christmas Day ahead of us. The kids went to bed perfectly knowing the sooner they went to sleep the sooner Santa would arrive!

Drew and I spend the rest of the night packing and organizing so we would be prepared to hit the road as early as possible the next day.

Benoist Christmas

Sunday the 19th was a big day. Drew and I had to go to a Christmas party of one of his clients and then to my parent’s house for our family Christmas celebration. We had a babysitter for the kids while we went to the first party. Luckily the kids were sleeping when we left so we didn’t have to pry anyone off of us while we were leaving. Then we came home packed up the kids and presents and headed to Christmas at Grandma and Poppas.

This Christmas celebration was so much fun. All the cousins ripped through their presents in about 5 minutes and the adults worked as fast as they could to get all of the toys out of their packages so they could begin playing immediately. Molly was so overwhelmed that at one point she just laid on her back and started sucking her thumb. The rest of the time she was most comfortable in grandma’s arms. Andrew’s big gift from grandma and poppa was a remote control Lego train; Matthew’s big gifts were a big bob cat and digger; and Miss Molly got a bunch of clothes. Of course they had lots of other gifts sprinkled in there too. Sometimes grandma can out do Santa(but Santa's not complaining).Thanks for all the wonderful gifts grandma, poppa, Pete, Jill, John, and Christina.

The best part of having our first Christmas a week before the actual Christmas was having the kids entertained for the week they were off school.

Christmas Festivities

December 10, we got all the Benoist cousins together at John and Christina’s house to take some Christmas pictures for Grandma and Poppa. Jill found some really cute pjs that we put their names on and the pictures turned out really cute. It was very entertaining trying to get everyone to sit, look, and smile at the same time. The pictures of that process are hysterical but we actually got a couple of good ones too. Then that night we had Drew’s company Christmas party. My mom and dad graciously watched the kids at our house, spent the night, AND gave us a night at the Chase hotel! What a wonderful treat! The Christmas party was at the St. Louis Zoo and really well done. After the party we headed back to the hotel for a drink with some of Drew’s co-workers. We were able to sleep in and take our time getting home the next morning. It was wonderful! Thanks mom and dad.

Sunday was an exciting day. While we were at mass we discovered that Santa was making a special visit afterwards. I was so excited I wasn't going to have to get all the kids out and about at some other time. AND even better than that, since it was our first snow and SO cold, all 3 kids were dressed in nice sweaters for their unexpected Santa pictures!

The boys’ last day of school was Wednesday, the 15^th. Andrew’s class put on a little play of the story of Christmas. Andrew had the VERY special role of Joseph. Matthew’s party started at the same time so my dad and brother went to Matthew’s room while Drew and I watched Joseph. It was such a cute play and Joseph was amazing! Then we went over to Matthew’s room and watched his class sing a few Christmas songs. It was really funny because Matthew just stood there like a deer in headlights.

Before School, trying to get all 3 in a picture:)

Here comes Mary and Joseph

There's no room at the inn

Jesus is born!

The whole crew

That night we got an ice storm which turned out to be a mess. Drew and I went out and had a new babysitter with the kids. (Side note: Poor Matthew did not take that news well. He was beside himself when we left). By the time we got home the roads were terrible so Drew drove our babysitter’s car home while I followed him in order to get him home. Luckily everyone made it home safe and sound. The boys were supposed to have the day off on Thursday but even if they didn't every school was closed.

Advent and Doctors Visits

Monday, November 29, Molly and I got to go to Andrew’s classroom and help him make an advent wreath. We made it out of green play doh and pink and purple birthday candles.

Tuesday Molly was acting clingy after nap and as I went to kiss her, her head seemed warm. I took her temp and sure enough she had a temperature. Then as I was changing her diaper I noticed a rash covering her entire belly and back. THEN I noticed the spot where she broke out in a hive from her immunization was really red and irritated. My initial reaction was that this was the delayed reaction to her immunizations that they warn you about. When I called the pediatrician on Wednesday they said all of her symptoms were normal except for the irritation at the spot of the shot. I took her in and all of the doctors were baffled. I was disappointed that our pediatrician wasn’t in on this day but we did get an opinion from each doctor that was in. They pretty much came to three different opinions but were all baffled. I didn’t like leaving the pediatrician not knowing what was wrong with Molly but since she was in good spirits I was more comfortable.

By the time Thursday rolled around Molly STILL had the rash, the reaction on her leg, and a fever. I was supposed to leave for Chicago Friday afternoon for a little girls trip with my friend Allsion. I decided I would take Molly back in on Friday morning so I would feel comfortable leaving or know that it would be better for me to stay home. When Friday morning rolled around Andrew woke up complaining of a sore throat again. I looked and noticed it looked pretty bad. SO I took Andrew and Molly to see Dr. Bob. It turns out that Andrew had strep AGAIN (the antibiotic probably didn’t work the first time) and he said it looked like Molly had strep too because she had puss on her throat. He did a strep test on her and it was negative. Dr. Bob said it was most likely a virus and the reaction on her leg is probably from the vaccination and to keep an eye on it. He said I was cleared to have a weekend away!

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a perfect Thanksgiving. It was very laid back and delicious. First, we watched the Macy’s Day parade. The boys got into it because Drew and I created a bingo game to go along with it. Then after naps grandma and poppa brought the feast to our house! The food was amazing AND I didn’t have to lift a finger! Thanks mom and dad. After dinner the boys had a great time goofing off with poppa and watching Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving with grandma.

Friday, we had McLaughlin game night. We were supposed to get together with the whole Benoist family but too many people were under the weather. Andrew really got into the games, Matthew enjoyed the M&M prizes, and Molly enjoyed crawling on the boards and taking all the pieces.

The rest of the weekend we spent getting into the Christmas spirit. Drew hung our outside lights. This year he went all out and Drew made a star out of wood and covered it in lights to put on the side of our house. It turned out great. We also decorated the tree and got out all of our festive Christmas items.