Ben's all clean!

Spiritually, that is. :-)

Yesterday was Ben's First Reconciliation. It was a nice service, and Father Jim talked to all of the kids about how Reconciliation is first and foremost a Sacrament of LOVE, which I thought was a beautiful way to put it.

Ben was really nervous. Of course, he also wanted to be first in line and he was. He came out and said "That wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be". :-)

We got some great pictures both in the sanctuary and out side. You'll see below that Ryan and Nathan were also there and couldn't help but want to jump into every picture Ben wanted me to take.


Here are the ones taken inside, before the ceremony. Check out his little tie - doesn't he look like such a little man?!

Then Ben wanted me to take some pictures outside near a fountain in the front

Love how Ben looks so resigned in this photo. It's like his face is saying, "go ahead and take the picture, Mom, so Nathan can just let me go and I can get one of just myself."

This is my favorite outside picture. Ryan just looks so pleased with himself that he walked around the back of the (dead) flower bed.



And, of course, my favorite picture of all - I snapped one of Ben actually completing the sacrament of Reconciliation. I'm sure this was a big no-no, but I couldn't help myself! I think at this point he is reading the Act of Contrition (they don't even have to memorize it anymore - see what happens when the nuns can no longer rap the back of your knuckles?)

Hope you all enjoyed the pics - First Communion is up at the end of April, so if you'd like to be here, let me know!

Ryan - The Next Big Thing in Nascar?

For Christmas, Ryan got a racing helmet and little wheel that talk to him. He likes to race around the house with it, and well... I'll let the video below speak for me...

I think shirtless might be a good look for him, no? Classy! I don't know if you can hear the helmet or Ryan, but he's saying "1, 2, Go!" and the helmet says something like "Start your engines"

I know, the video is insanely low quality, and the lighting is horrible, and on my computer I can't hear a thing, but I used my camera instead of the camcorder and that's the best I can do. :-) I may periodically put up videos here, if you all like that, so let me know if it's worth my effort. Theoretically, I could put stuff from the camcorder too, but that would involve multiple cables, and downloading to the computer, and quite frankly, that's just too much like work. :-P

My climbing monkeys

We went to Dick's Sporting Goods last week, where they have this HUMONGOUS rock wall. No, really, it's huge - three stories tall at least. Ben has been asking to go there for ages, and we finally decided it would be fun to do. I really didn't have many expectations from it - they are 6 and 8, for goodness sake!

Ben went first:
And he kept climbing...

and climbing...

and climbing...

and this is him ringing the bell at the tippy-top!

Holy Moly! I didn't expect Ben to to that at all. I mean, we all know he's a climber, but I didn't expect him to be able to do it on his VERY FIRST TRY!

So then it was Nathan's turn. He was pretty nervous about it, but he bravely went ahead:
Um, mom? I'm not too sure about this...Okay, a little further...and now I'm done!

Nathan actually did really well also - he made it much further than I thought he would. Nathan has always had an appreciation for the inherent danger in being up so high, so I didn't expect he would get very high. The fact that he made it over my head really surprised me!

I don't even want to know how high Ryan would have gotten if I'd have let him get on that wall!

I was really sick this New Years Eve, so we decided to stay home. We played games, watched movies, and ate food that was really bad for us (mmmmm... hot wings). I didn't get a lot of pictures of the whole night, but I got some just before midnight.

This one was taken around 11:55, and I asked Nathan "Are you going to make it, buddy?" He responded with a resounding "Yes!"

This is taken at 11:59:30 - we woke him up with 10 seconds to go 'til midnight, and then sent him right to bed. I think we were all asleep by 12:10am.

Karate graduation December 08

Karate graduation December 2008 - the pictures aren't all great, but you get the idea :-)

Of course, the first pic is the best of the bunch -

You can see Ben in the background of these -

and of course, we had to get one of Ryan running around!

Christmas Day

Christmas Morning!
With gifts under the tree......and loot in the stockings as well!Raylene and Papaw, their excitment just overwhelming us all - And so begins the frenzy...Raylene is pointing out to me that Lucy got hold of one of Ryan's stocking stuffers. Buh-bye Luke Skywalker, it was nice knowin' you!Raylene, Grammy & Papaw opening stockings:Manuel and Pancho doing the same...Hey look, I made it into a picture!Ben and Nathan got Pokemon cards from Grammy and Papaw, and were very excited by that!
Ryan's favorite, from NeeNee - Ryan's next favorite - his very own helmet!Complete with its own steering wheel, for virtual racing through the house - Yeah, I'm cute, so what?Cuddling on the couch following a frenzied morning of opening presents:Note the dead expression on Stephen's face... and check out Raylene's dubious expression over to the side. I call this picture "Christmas, hurrah?"

Christmas morning was fun! Thanks to everyone!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, with captions!Dinner, after Chrismas Eve mass

Ben and Lucy

yay! A clean kitchen! For now....

It's our family tradition to make and decorate Christmas cookies for us and Santa on Christmas Eve - here are a bunch of pics of the festivities:

Even Ryan got into the act...And now, the results!Manuel and his Christmas camel

And then, of course Raylene had to plus it up a bit:Somehow, Ben didn't get hit with the icing...

and Ryan missed it all because he was playing on the deck with Tio Pancho.

Our second big Christmas Eve tradition is to open one gift before going to bed. This year, the kids each got a gift for eachother and they decided to open those.

Ben got Nathan a Dalmation webkin:

And Nathan got Ben a Pokemon set of figurines

Ryan opened his gift from his teachers at school, but didn't get beyond the foam stickers on the outside. Mostly he just pulled those off and put them on his face.

Merry Christmas Eve!