The Aquarium (warning- lots of pictures)

Paul Jr. had his night today. He has decided the past few years, that instead of getting every presents, he would take us all somewhere and this year he decided on the Georgia Aquarium. We had never been before and were very excited about the visit. We weren't disappointed.

(Notice Paul's face? It's clean again!!)

Benjamin watching the jellofish, as Sam called them.

A jellofish

I think this is my favorite picture of the day. He loved these jellofish. In fact, before he went to bed he reminded me that he loved the jellofish and the otters.

Benjamin loved watching all the fish swimming by.

The Beluga whale exhibit. They were so graceful swimming through the water.

And very big!

A whale slide. Sam got to the top and would not come down. He was very upset, so Paul stuck his head in the slide to see what was the matter. Sam thought that the plastic things hanging down in front were real teeth and he was afraid the whale would bite him when he slid down.

Paul enjoyed showing Ben the fish.

The touch pool. Notice I am not touching anything??

Cute little boys.

He was so good all day, hardly ever complaining. He couldn't keep his eyes open any longer at this point.

Look at the size of that grouper!

A whale shark.

How cute is he???

After the aquarium, Paul Jr. took us for lunch at the Varsity, an Atlanta classic!

He was still smiling on the way home, after going all day with very little sleep. What a champ!

Thanks Paul for a wonderful time!

A Big Surprise

Paul surprised us all by getting the kids a new puppy tonight!  It's his Christmas gift to the family this year.  "Bella" is part bassett hound/part beagle and a cutie.  We picked her up tonight, then came home and surprised the kids.  Ellie was so surprised that when she opened the box top that she screamed.  Bella's feet have hardly touched the floor tonight as she has been passed around over and over. Trigger has adjusted well, so far and Benjamin is intrigued by her.  She kissed Ben several times on the face and played with Sam.  When we asked Sam what we should name her, he said we should call her the girl Bullet. (Bullet was our dog we had to put down a few months ago).  After much debate, we agreed on the name Bella (after consideration to "Bagel" and "Nova"- Paul Jr.'s contribution!).   Everyone is very excited tonight.  Let's hope they stay excited as the real work starts tomorrow as she needs to be house trained!

Christmas Cutie

Christmas Card Outakes

We took our annual Christmas card photo this morning and let's just say we're glad to be done with that for a year. I'm just glad you can't see (or hear) what was going on in between the photos! Here's some "outtakes" from the 117 pictures we took this morning.

See a pattern here???

Poppy helped up by snapping the pictures. He did a pretty good job (not counting the picture with all the heads cut off!)

Sam was letting out a little excess energy!

Ben sat up and smiled in many pictures like a little man.

Sam did great too!

Anna's Night

Tonight we started our annual traditon the Night of the Giver. (If you don't know what I'm referring to, look back in my archives to last December). Anna started us off this year. She gave Sam and Ben a gift of several books and then she gave the rest of us games: Racko- a family favorite

Sharp Shooters

Yahtzee- another family favorite (right Grandma!!)

Cadoo

And then we played games for a few hours and ate snacks, which Anna provided. (well, the kids ate snacks. Paul and I refrained as we are back to making good food choices. )

Our new Advent tradition we started tonight. Jotham's Journey. (Thanks Kelly) It is a story that is read a little each night to help keep our minds on the real reason for the season. Tonight was the first night we read it and we were pleasantly surprised with the interesting story.

Even Sam listened well.

For a while. Then he got to looking at another book.

His dad trimmed his hair and I think it makes him look so much older. My little Sam is growing up much too fast.

Silly, silly Benjamin

Benjamin was making the sillest faces tonight and had us all laughing. He is a bit of a ham (wonder where he got that from...hmmm) and the more we laughed, the more he made the faces. In some of these pics you can see his new top front tooth. 1 in, 3 more to go!

Monday

I got up late this morning. Benjamin kept me up late last night (it was after 2 by the time he was asleep) and then he was up again at 6. He is cutting 4 teeth and they are giving him a terrible time. He is cranky because he is not sleeping well and I am cranky because I am not sleeping well. Cranky baby plus cranky mom does not a happy house make! Add to that the beginnings of a cold for me- headache, sore throat and an overall feeling of blahness and that pretty much sums up our day.

Here's hoping tomorrow is a better day.