Christmas in Los Angeles

Ahhh...it was nice to see palm trees for Christmas! We had a truly wonderful trip back home to California to see all of my family. It was a last minute decision, but we're glad we decided to go! Nana hadn't seen Ben since he was 2 months old, so it was great to have her see him again. My family is really big into the dice game, Farkle... so...we played that and Five Crowns. My cousin Brooke and I and my Aunt had a blast making Lefse (A Norweigan bread we make and have been making for generations). The food was yummy and we laughed a lot. Ben was decorated like a Christmas tree by my Uncle Jerry - that was too funny. My mom's younger sister, Jae and I had a riot getting lost on our way (only 9 miles) to Trader Joes!! And then we couldn't get away from it! La Palma.....soooo......(ok, that's an inside joke that only her and I get!). Needless to say, the next time I go anywhere with her, I'm bringing my camelback with lots of water! It felt like that movie National Lampoons European Vacation.....Look kids, there's Big Ben.....Ah..there's Big Ben again! Look...Big Ben! On the 27th, we opened up goofy gifts and they were all too entertaining. The funniest was Jae with her "magic wand" granting people wishes.....brriiinnng.....or maybe it was when we all put on our heart-shaped sunglasses (or reindeer antlers). I don't know, it's a toss up. The day we left, we took Ben to the Discovery Science Museum in Santa Ana and then to the Rainforest Cafe next to Disneyland -- he really loved seeing the elephant and gorillas come to life! And then it was back to.....snow and ice. Need I say more??

The Mills Family being goofballs! Max's butt is hiding Mario!

Aunt Jackie, Me, Ben and Aunt Jae at Sunset Beach
Walking on Sunset Beach
Me, Aunt Jae, Nana, and cousin Brooke playing Farkle Jae, playing Five Crowns Jenny - Five Crowns Brooke and Auntie playing Five Crowns
Ben's introduction to Farkle (with the bouncy dice)
Me and Nana
Ben and Annie playing the saxophone and trumpet!
At Sunset Beach
Ben sitting just like cousin Russell
Hey, that slinky is pretty cool! Hey, I look like a Christmas tree! This is fun! Brooke, Jackie, and Jenny getting started with the Lefse
My cousin making those delicious cookies!!
Me and Auntie having fun reading Llama, Llama Red Pajama
Uncle Jerry letting me "ride" Max
Me and my cousins (Brooke and Kim) setting the table
Brooke and Kim goofing around
Ben and cousin Nick laughing
Ben on Uncle Jerry's motorcyle - he LOVED IT!

Uh, oh....

1...2...3

We've been doing our numbers with Ben lately along with colors and shapes. We started out counting to 10 and the other night I thought I'd see if Ben would count to 10 by himself. So I asked him, "Ben can you count to 10 by yourself?" I really wasn't expecting it, but he did it!! I told Mario and thought he probably wouldn't do a repeat performance, but he did it again! So he was able to hear it too. Anyway, exciting things around the Kuhn household! Can't believe tomorrow is 2009!!! Where did the year go?? HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! May it be healthy, prosperous, and peaceful!

Gingerbread Houses

Kristen, Lorena, Brandy, Lindsay, me, and Avery, attempting to make a gingerbread house!

The two houses - mine's missing its roof and kept falling apart!

We decided to do gingerbread houses yesterday. We had some of Ben's friend's over (and their parents too). So Avery, Jameson, and Lorena joined us in the fun. And boy, was it fun....we spent half the time trying to "glue" my house together, which had many broken pieces to begin with!! We laughed so hard - it was great fun. Brandy's and Lorena's turned out so good - if it were a competition, I'd lose for SURE! Then we sat around and ate some candy and talked for a while. At the end, Lorena taught Ben how to do a cartwheel. He followed her around like a shadow....one because she had candy and two because she was so grown up and cool. We had a game of hide-n-seek at the very end that even I got in on!! When it was our turn (Lorena, Ben and me) to hide, we picked a really good spot - our upstairs shower. And when she couldn't find us, she brought Mario in to help and they found us. But it was so much fun because the three of us were just sitting in the tub waiting and laughing!!! Ben loved all the excitement.

Flashback Friday

This was taken (May 2006) at the Reagan Museum in Simi Valley, California. It has spectacular views - it was amazing!

Ben, the Model

COLD.....Snap!!

Well, we've had our first real cold snap. It has been as low as negative (-22)!! Let me tell you, it ALWAYS shocks us!!!! I don't think we'll EVER get used to this stuff. So we have been bundling up, cranking up our pellet stove and trying to stay warm. It's supposed to stay like this for a bit, but we really can't wait until we get above zero!

Ben's First Sentence

Ok, so we're first time parents and this sort of stuff excites us! What can we say? Ben loves "Max and Ruby" on the channel Noggin. The other day, we were out to eat at Maple Garden and we told him he couldn't watch "Max" right now because he was "sleeping" - he then said "hees seeeping too" (he's sleeping too, I suppose). And he loves looking at the skunk in one of his books and saying "kunk, it kinks" - I'll translate...."skunk, it stinks". We thought this was hilarious!! Mario taught him the difference between soccer ball, basketball, and football. So he calls them "occer ball" "baketball" and he gets football pretty good. He's now into saying "C'mon" and he'll sing Fa la la la la with us. So cute! It's truly amazing how fast and how much they learn!!!

Movie Night

So we had one of our first movie and popcorn nights! As you can see, Ben loved it! He is into popcorn just as much as his daddy is!! And....he just HAD to have that Santa hat on while watching the movie!

Christmas Tree 2008

Our tree

Finishing up the lights

Ben helping me get more ornaments out
Putting a bell on the tree
Helping put the star on the tree

Hey, look, a pinecone!
I just LOVE this puppy!!

So we went to the Fair grounds and picked up our Christmas tree this past Saturday. Part of the proceeds goes to help children in some way, which we liked! They had a black lab there and Ben just loved him and kept following him around saying "puppy". Ben helped us decorate the tree once we brought it home. And now he won't leave the ornaments alone!! He keeps saying "onments"!! Can't quite get the "r" or the "a" in there.

Ben's 1st Time Ice Skating!!

Me, Ben and Karen
Ben giving his best cheeseburger grin - he was loving it!

Our friends, Karen and Zach asked if we'd like to go ice skating one night. Mario was working, so I braved that one by myself. As you can see, I had a lot of help from Karen, so that was nice. Ben loved it and kept saying "skate, skate". At one point near the end, he said "done" and we went to get off the ice, he started crying and kept saying "skate". So...I took him back on the ice. After about 5 minutes on the ice, he pulled off his gloves and hat and threw them on the ice and said (very sure this time), "DONE!" So all in all, we were there about an hour and 1/2. We're sorry daddy missed it, but we had fun.

Christmas Shopping?

So Ben was so fascinated with this catalog and all the neat toys in it....he looked like he was Christmas shopping for himself!!

New Stuff

Ben is growing so fast - it seems even more so lately for some reason. He's talking a lot and is soaking up EVERYTHING! Some of his newest words are: Mess, heavy, wet, cooking, making, bite, pickles, spoon(poon), thumb, pumpkin (punkin), pull, push, climb, help, please, flower, rice, climb, gone, done, again, fix it (sounds like fic it, while he hammers on something needing "fixing") and flip flop (it comes out flop op!). We got him some fake food and he loves to use my pans and pretend he's cooking. He loves to climb onto anything - the couch is his favorite. He is a big helper around the house lately. He loves to help with laundry (hallelujah!), dusting, and vaccuming. More than anything, he LOVES playing with daddy. He gets so excited when Mario comes home every night. He is also becoming a little sneaky too! The other day, he was being a bit naughty, so I put him in a little time-out. Well, he was crying and going on and on (and that was fine by me), but then he said so desperately "huuugggg" - so needless to say, I gave in on that one! He's still really into his books and loves us to read to him. We just recently went to Missoula, Montana to get some pictures taken and most of them turned out great. Take a look at cracklephotographyblog.com (go to the slideshow and then click on the arrow beneath the frame and that will give you the option of browse view gallery, which is what you want).

Trick-or-Treating

The monkey (Ben) and the cowboy (Jameson) putting letters on the fridge!
The cowboy and monkey decided to ride togetherThere's a hobo in every bunch!
Are you going to give me candy or what?!

umm, what did I get? I just want to be sure this is sweet enough for the bee that I am! Heading back, the little monkey decided to jump on daddy's back!

We got all the kids together for Halloween and did some trick-or-treating on base. We had a little dinner beforehand and some social time before we went out. The kids got the hang of it all after just a few houses. When there's candy involved, they learn fast! It was a lot of fun seeing all the little ones in their costumes and the weird stares they gave each other as they were trying to figure it all out.

Well, it's a record!!

It has been extremely warm here in Great Falls the past few days (well, for November anyway!) It was about 70 both yesterday and today. We're not complaining! Ben and I went to the park yesterday with Brandy and Anna and had such a great time. It was nice to get out and enjoy the nice warm weather while it lasts. Until next time.....

Motorcyle Fun

Ben absolutely LOVED this motorcyle!!

We went to a friend's kids' birthday parties last night (the two have birthdays 6 days apart) and this is the picture that Sharlyn got of Ben playing on the motorcyle that was VERY popular with the kids. Love it!

Swim Lessons

Me and Ben
Ready, Set, Go!

Doing "row, row, your boat"

Ben UNDER WATER!!!!

Some slide fun at the end of class

Ben sitting on the stairs with his "dot"

We've been taking swim lessons since May of this year and finally got some pictures of it all. Ben is doing really good and is impressing me. Just recently, he got to swim under water from the instructor to me. It was a little scary, but we got through it! And the best part is that he actually liked it. Hurray!