Cale turns 4!!!!

Cale started celebrating his fourth birthday about a week before it actually began, and then he managed to turn the whole weekend into a celebration as well!

Started out Friday afternoon, when a package arrived for him in the mail....The mailman asked if he was Cale and if he was, well then, it was his lucky day, cuz he had a special package just for him!

What was in the package???!!!!

IRON MAN!!!

(from Gretch, Eric, Eli, and Syndney--they couldn't make it to Cale's big day)

Unfortunately for the Benson family, Cale seems to think the present came from both them AND the mailman!!!

We also told Cale he could choose dinner for Friday night, in honor of his BIG day....soooo, he wanted waffles 'like IHOP'. Well, I must say I was pretty impressed with my attempt at mastering the beloved IHOP waffle...

Did not disappoint!!!

(Cale's toppings included maple syrup, brown sugar, whipped cream, whipped cream, whipped cream, OH! and did I mention whipped cream???!!)

THE BIG DAY

Waiting patiently for everyone to arrive...it is only about 11am in this picture...By this time, I've already been dodging the "when can I open presents" question for 3 hours!!! I was waiting for everyone to arrive too, just so he would stop asking!!! (Next year party starts at 9am!!!) Cale showing us how old he is!

FINALLY!!!!

THE WAIT IS OVER!!!

Meanwhile, these two could care less about the present opening....Here, Keegyn is giving Mikayla a lesson on how to keep her socks on. Mikayla is NOT a sock/shoe lover at all!!! Keegyn, on the other hand, has about 12 pair of shoes already and she just loves to change them up throughout the course of the day!

We're all excited, watching Mikayla attempt to walk....Cale...he's on a mission for another present....

FOUND ONE!!!

BESTIES!!!

See what I mean about the shoes??? Showing Grandpa B her new shiny/clicky shoes...with just the slightest hint of a heel!

I must admit, she is my little diva!!! And I LOVE it!!!

Present opening completed....worked up an appetite...time to blow out those candles!!!!!

AND EAT ME SOME CAKE!!!!!!

Thank you to all who celebrated Cale's special day with us....Sorry you were sick and unable to make it Uncle D!

It finally warmed up enough to bring the kids outside to play a couple weeks ago...I was sooooooooooo excited to FINALLY get Keegyn outside and have her experience the snow. Well, she would have much rather experienced the snow from peeking out the window! She HATED it. HATED. Plus, it was really sunny out that day too and the reflection of the sun off the snow was so bright that she couldn't open her eyes either...so that made the "experience" so much more pleasant (and yes, I'm trying to be sarcastic!)Sadly enough, we got enough snow this winter to make our own personal sledding hill...right in our own front yard! When Jason stands on top of the snow mound by our front door, he actually stands taller than the garage....I kid you not! At any rate, it made for a great sledding hill!!!
....And there he goes.....

WIPEOUT!!!!!!

Still not impressed. Still can't open the eyes.

My drama queen, Keegyn. Look at the tear coming down her cheek...

Are my boys ready for spring or what???!!!!

Cale thought the heck with the snow...he was ready to start bringing out the bike. Although he did inform me that it's about time we buy him a better bike this summer becuz he's started to notice that the wheels just don't seem to work very well!!! Gotta hand it to him, cuz they really don't. They suck actually. They don't grip at all and if he slows down even the slightest he gets stuck in the middle of the sidewalk, with the wheels spinning and the legs pumping, but he's goin nowhere!!!

We must have watched him ride through this puddle more than 15 times...he loved seeing the water spin up behind him!

So for my little princess, she will prefer to hang out indoors and play dress up until it gets warmer and she doesn't have to play in the snow!

Our SIX Days of Christmas

DAY ONE

This year I was lucky enough to be able to take the whole week off prior to Christmas. We made the most out of every minute! Cale was on hyper mode for seven days straight. I thought he had energy before...but put Christmas into the mix and it was 10 times worse!

Here they are waiting in line to see Santa....we waited in line for an hour....both kids were actually pretty good, but it was tiring nonetheless to keep them occupied. When it all came down to it, Keegyn had a meltdown as soon as she touched down on Santa's lap, which almost set Cale off. So after quickly removing Keegyn from the equation, we finally got a NICE picture of Cale with Santa! Thank God, too, cuz after waiting in line that long, I was not leaving until someone sat with Santa!!!Keegyn was much happier when it was time for lunch...

So basically we got all dressed up in our Christmas attire to go eat at the food court of the Burnsville mall...whatever

Cale says this is the face he wishes he would have done in his Santa picture

DAY TWO

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa T. They headed off to Chicago for the holiday, so we celebrated a few days before. Of course, they both made out like bandits!

Cale loves his sea creatures

And Keegyn loved her little school bus to go along with her Little People Home and Airplane. Now she has her own little town!

Meet the Imperial Walker that is almost as big as Cale! Jason is thrilled that Cale has taken an interest in Star Wars cuz Jason loved Star Wars as a kid. I think he also likes the fact that it cuts down on the amount of time he has to play 'tigers" or "bears" or whatever animal Cale wants to be at any particular moment. (I will agree with Jason on that one, cuz I truly hate playing "animals" too...especially when we have to be warthogs!)

...and then the crane, which IS actually bigger than Cale!...

He's waiting for all the snow to melt so that he can bring it outside and "haul some sand"

DAY THREE

Cale was such a little helper with all the baking. He really got into making the Christmas cookies and believe it or not, rolling the dough was actually his favorite part of it all.

Our first ever attempt at making a gingerbread house. I hate to say it, but it was a bit disappointing...although maybe Cale and I had WAY too big of expectations. We both were soooooooo excited to decorate the gingerbread house, talked about it for a couple weeks before Christmas even came....and the dang thing was falling apart as quick as we were putting more candies on it! We couldn't work fast enough! We had more fun laughing at the huge mess it was making and the fact that every 10 minutes Cale would walk by it and come tell me how many more pieces of candy had fallen off. We had to take a picture of it as soon as we were done though, just so we could prove to Jason that we actually did it!

DAY FOUR

Keegyn was really into the spirit of Christmas this year too! We spent all of day 4 sitting around the house in our pjs, watching Christmas movies, playing games, and eating snacks!

It really was a GREAT day!

DAY FIVE

CHRISTMAS EVE

While Jason got ready for the evening festivities, the kids and I decided to take some self portraits. Why? Basically so I could prove that I was actually around!!!!

Playing with the manger

Christmas was special this year....we had so many little ones running around. Besides Cale and Keegyn, little Mikayla was celebrating her first Christmas, and my cousin BJ's little boy, Brayden, was also there to celebrate...they flew in from Arizona. We all had so much fun watching them all play together and run around. Christmas is so much more fun when you can watch the excitement of the little ones!

Cale has always been a big fan of his cousin, Mikayla. He can't get enough of her, even though at times, I'm sure she's had her fill of him!

Keegyn spent a great portion of the night climbing up and down these stairs. I got bored of that real quick!

Oh NO!!! Brayden broke rule #1...but he quickly learned that NOONE TOUCHES KEEGYN'S BLANKY AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!!!

(Look at Keegyn in the background watching as Brayden makes off with it)

Patiently waiting for Santa

HO HO HO!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

HERE COMES SANTA!!!

(or is that Uncle D???)

Cale asked if he could be Santa's helper and pass out the presents to everyone...funny that Cale didn't recognize his Uncle D. We thought for sure his eyes would give it away....or maybe Cale was just too interested in the presents to give a hoot!

That big one was for Cale himself

Our second NICE picture with Santa!!!!

Keegyn couldn't have cared less about Santa...she just wanted to open her present.

All the little ones

Cale and Uncle Brad....for some reason Cale has really taken a liking to Brad as well. I think he's just growing up and just likes "hanging with the guys."

Grandma B and her little man

DAY SIX

CHRISTMAS MORNING!

What a busy morning opening presents with these two! Santa was might generous with my little ones this year! Cale said it must have been because Stuart (the little Elf on the Shelf at daycare) must have told Santa how good they both were. Good ole' Stuart!!!

Keegyn's CD player....I get 80s flashbacks when she plays with it cuz she carries it around like a boom box...hilarious!

oops...this picture got in here twice...sorry!

Cale could hardly contain himself with the presents...it was like watching a pinball! Poor Jason in the background is still trying to figure out how to get Cale's first present out of the box and Cale is already tearing into his fourth one!

Keegyn just started playing with some of Cale's presents because he was opening his at such rapid speed, we couldn't get to hers fast enough.

....FINALLY....

Cale's punching bag man...one of my favorite gifts for him this year. Not too pleased that this present was broken two days later after finding he was hitting the bop bag with his Star Wars light sabers (instead of the bop bag gloves) and poked about 4 different holes it the head that were irreparable.

You live, you learn.

I'm finally over it.

Play and Sing Potsy!

I'm hoping this toy will be well used when I'm in the kitchen trying to make dinner...she can make her own!

Space Shuttle

(the one toy that he remembered to tell Santa he wanted)

Another "must have" this year...Aqua Sand. Why I even bothered getting differnt colors, I don't know, since he combined them all and after which it was completely impossible to separate them out.

Again...you live, you learn.

MERRY CHRISTMAS