Here come the tractors!

On our way out of town, we stopped by the John Deere dealership to let Ben and Anna see the real live tractors.  Ben has been obsessed with his tractor book, so we wanted to show him the real deal.  Note his serious face when he's sitting on the big tractor...although it could be because the sun was bright.

And a final parting shot until we post again...Ben woke up from nap like this one day.  Time for a haircut!

Playtime

Anna and Ben took advantage of the playground next door to Gran and Pop's house.

At one point during our visit we were finishing breakfast and Anna and Ben were being unusually content and quiet...this is how we found Ben when we checked on them.  He found a piece of Dove chocolate in daddy's stocking.  He's not very good at covering up the evidence.

Twas the night before Christmas

Our first "night before Christmas toy assembly" picture...I'm sure there will be many more like this in years to come.

Modeling Christmas pjs and eating a cheerio snack

Our stockings and toy display - train for Ben and a baby doll and strollers for Anna 

Anna actually liked wearing her headlamp and dad thought it was super cool that the kids have them now!

Sometimes it's more fun to sit on the box than open the present.  Also note that Anna has spent some time this winter in boys pjs because we got a lot from our friend Mac...she doesn't seem to mind!

The cozy coupe was the hit of Christmas day!  Good job Nana and Pop!!

Christmas in Clarksdale

We visited Gran and Pop for Christmas in Clarksdale, MS this year.  Here are Anna and Ben when we first arrived in their cute grey and pink outfits from Grammie...they rarely coordinate on clothes but I think it's so cute when they do!

We got dressed up for a Christmas eve service and then got a special treat of hearing Pop and Jon play guitar for the Christmas day service.  Here's our pretty girl in her Christmas dress - from cousin Kate of course!

This is a fun series of pics showing their interaction and some funny expressions!  It's especially cute to watch them interact at this age.

December 2011 - catching up!

Well I'm a little behind on blogging so this will be a big catchup from Christmas.  Anna and Ben were big helpers this year with Christmas decorations, although we opted for an out of reach 4 ft tree rather than our usual real tree.  This is Ben helping with the ornament project...

We enjoyed eating Christmas cookies

And wearing Christmas pjs.  This is one of A&B's favorite pastimes - listening to music at the computer with daddy.

In December my Aunt Basye was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal church, and we all went out for a brunch to celebrate.  Of course Basye is holding Ben - she plays favorites. 

26.2

Run Pop run!  Yea Pop!  The whole family packed up and went to Memphis last weekend to cheer on Bill as he ran his first marathon.  And for a great cause too - he raised money to support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  Jon and I have only completed half marathons, never a whole, so we give him props for sure!

This is the pre-race pajama party with Anna and Ben practicing their cheering

The start line

We caught up with Bill around mile 15 to cheer him on...

Anna and Ben had fun playing in the dirt and leaves

Then we ate lunch and went to the finish to meet up with Pop and cheer him on in the final stretch.  While waiting for him, we saw a banana, and it was necessary to take a picture.

Here's Pop rounding the corner at the finish line

The guy on the left tried to give him a high 5 but Bill was too focused to see and totally left him hanging ...too funny

Congratulating our Pop after the race.  Then we went back to Clarksdale for a short trip to see some friends at church Sunday and watch UGA's amazing first half and then sad loss to LSU (sniffle sniffle)

Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Atlanta with family and definitely packed a lot into our long weekend trip!  Anna and Ben's favorite activity at Grandmommy and Papa's house - climbing the stairs.  We often had to make a barricade because they are not so good at going down!

Anna having special time with Papa

This is everyone except our hostess with the mostest my mom, and we're also missing Uncle Ralph.

We were able to see two of Caroline's basketball games that so conveniently were in Atlanta!  Anna and Ben had fun crawling around on the court after the game.  Go Panthers!!  Doesn't Ben look cool in his jersey Aunt Caroline bought for game days?

This is back at home, but a cute picture of our Anna bear 

Our latest trick - playing peek-a-boo.  Here's Anna hiding while Ben plays in the storage bins for Christmas decorations.

Peekaboo - here I am!!  Except Anna says "ta".  We think she's trying to say peekaboo but not too sure!