Remember The Sleeping Bag???

Remember the sleeping bags that Mamie and Pops gave the girls? Well, for more than a week after Christmas, Joiner slept in hers for both nap and bedtime. The only problem is that these are real sleeping bags. These things are for hard core camping. Joiner would get inside and zip herself completely with the hood and everything. Of course, our house is 68 degrees, she has on clothes, so what would happen? A VERY sweaty kid. I mean, it looked like we put her out in the rain. She would have to change clothes after nap! Now, I am sure you are asking yourself why we let her do this. Well, I was trying to let her enjoy her new present and I was telling her not to zip it up. However, I would go in when it was time to wake up and find her like a mummy. Finally, she got uncomfortable one night and decided to save it for her next camping adventure!

Here is a picture I took one night after finding her zipped up. If you look close, you can see her wet hair (4 hours after her bath!)

Dineen Christmas

So I had to get this post out before January was over! The Dineen part of Christmas started about noon on Christmas when mom and dad came over. Dad and Andy started the rib roast they were cooking on the green egg. Bennett went down for a nap and the VERY happy girls got to skip their nap and hang out in their new sleeping bags downstairs and watch Toy Story 3 (that Santa brought) on the new Blu ray player that Mamie and Pops brought.

After nap the girls, me, Andy, mom, and Dad headed outside to play in the snow that was still coming. It quickly turned into a snowball fight with Andy taking no prisoners!

Mamie and Pops stayed inside with Bennett who was watching us!

We had a yummy dinner and then Mom and Dad headed over to Caga and Miriam's house for the night. Mamie and Pops left the next morning to try to beat the ice. Caga and Miriam headed home in a blizzard from Miriam's family in Va. Apparently Santa left things for Carly and Joiner at Gigi and Grumpa's house, so these dolls appeared before Caga and Miriam came over for dinner. These dolls eat food and drink water and then pee and poop! Just what we need around here; a baby that pees and poops!

Carly wanted to take a picture with Bennett and her new baby. I love his face. Doesn't it look like he is so confused as to why he is sitting next to this creepy baby?

Looking through my pictures of this celebration, I realized that I have almost none! I am so upset, but apparently pictures weren't on my radar. Here is a picture of the girls opening their presents. Caga and Miriam gave them vests and if you look hard, you can see they have them on!

Andy and the kids gave me a pair of UGGS for Christmas, and Gigi gave Bennett a pair of boots. Here are the two of us in our cool new footwear! I don't think he is going to be as excited about clothes as his sisters!

I am sorry Mom, Dad, Miriam, and Jarrett for not taking more pictures! I will do better next year. It was a fun night and a nice end to the Christmas celebrations!

Sometimes It Is Just All Too Much

Sometime between a pretty good morning nap and opening presents, it was all too much for Bennett who needed to pass out on Mamie's chest for 20 minutes or so. Leah jokes that our family (me excluded) are narcoleptic as the girls, Andy, and now Bennett just pass out anywhere. That is totally a combo of Evans genes and my mom. He still slept for several hours that afternoon!

Love the "smushie" face!

5 Months Old

See...I am doing better this week. Bennett has only been 5 months old for 6 days now.

Here is my sweet boy. He looks so proud to be sitting up. He does better each day and has all the determination to keep trying. Joiner drew the "5" freehand and we are so proud! "Hey Mom, just getting in some light reading."

So many of the pictures from this session are blurry because he is so BUSY! His attitude is still so chill, but his hands and especially his feet are always moving. I was feeding him last night on the sofa and I called Andy in to see his socks scattered on the floor and his feet busy kicking. SO much like daddy.

Flying away!

Huh?

"Back to my book. Got to get the names of these animals down."

The new toy up from the basement is the jumper and boy is it a fave! He wants to be in it all the time. When I try to put him on the mat or in the saucer, he clearly would rather be in the jumper. He is not a super giggly baby, but he laughs the entire time he is in the saucer. We don't have a lot of door moldings with all the paneling, so I have to put him in a bedroom doorway. But is doesn't matter to him if no one is around. I will be washing dishes and I can hear him talking to himself and laughing.

The "jumpy" crew. The nice bonus here is the girls will jump with him and then all 3 are exhausted:)

Just getting in some piano practice with Carly.

" Who's up?"

Bennett's up, that's who!

Yes, I let the girls keep their pink tree out just a little bit longer. I wish I could have out the big tree all year, too, but I can't. It was basically kindling when I took it down last week.

REALLY jumping now!

"Whew!"

"And I'm back!"

Yum, yum. I could eat him up. You can see from behind him that one or both of his sisters are never far away! Sweet girls.

Another great month, sweet boy. You are now in your medium Bum Genius All-In-One diapers, so you are getting so big. We love you!

Christmas

So I am finally getting to post Christmas morning pictures. Bennett woke up at 6:45am and I was in the living room feeding him and watching A Christmas Story. The girls are not allowed to get out of their beds until 7am, and I was waiting to hear their door open. Amazingly, it didn't open until about 7:15 or so. They sat with me while B finished and I realized that the movie is not really for kids! Santa leaves presents in our basement (we have a fire place down there) and so we waited until Mamie and Pops woke up and then went down to investigate.

First we took very flattering pictures of everyone! Daddy's turn

Discovering that Santa had come

Santa always covers the pile with a blanket. They are pointing at the blanket

What did Santa bring?

A dollhouse!

Stockings

Silly bands and other goodies

Playing with the new dollhouse. It is so cool. I think I enjoy it as much as they do.

Yes, Bennett had some presents too. Here is his first screwdriver.

Opening his new balls

After our annual treat of baked French toast, chicken sausage, and baked apples we opened our family Christmas present. This year Carly and Joiner could read the names and take the presents to the correct person.

The big present from Mamie and Pops were real sleeping bags

You can see from their faces how much they love clothes! As soon as we finished opening presents they changed into these dresses, leggings, and hairbands.

Here is sweet Bennett taking in all the action

Here is Pops with one of his gifts!

Mamie with one of hers

Carly and Joiner opening more presents

It was a fun Christmas morning, but there is more to come....