One of the best parts about my job (in addition to teaching the minds of our future, of course!) is that I get lots of time off for the holidays! I especially cherished this Christmas break, as it was Benton's first Christmas and Matt had the same amount of time off as I did. It started on a sad note though - I came home on Friday afternoon to a sick little boy...fever and two ear infections! I spent the first weekend of break holding and cuddling with my little man (darn! :)), and he was soon feeling better. Then the break really started! We did lots of shopping, lots of laughing, and spent lots of time with family. Christmas was wonderful - by far the best one yet - and we couldn't have felt more blessed. Benton started crawling over this two week period...and I mean crawling! He only "army-crawled" for a few days, then suddenly he was into everything. He can pull up on almost anything and I can't imagine that it will be much longer before we have a little walker on our hands.
Benton with the tree in his room :)
With Gramps
With Aunt Lala
With Pop on Christmas Eve
Opening gifts (and eating tissue paper) at Pop's
Christmas Eve at Gigi and Grandpa's
Meeting George for the first time!
Playing with Gigi and George on Christmas Eve
With Nana on Christmas Eve
Walking with his new Red Flyer Wagon!! Loving it :)
Benton with all of his loot from Santa - so excited!!
With Papa on Christmas Day
With Rosie on Christmas Day
With Mama Marilyn and Grandpa on Christmas Day
Christmas-ed out!
And...we almost had a white Christmas! Thankfully, it held off until the day after, since we have so much running around that we do on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Our family is thankful for snow anytime! :)
Snow day! Our family on December 26th
We kept right on celebrating after Christmas! In addition to other family meals and gatherings, Benton and I had a lunch date with my best friends from grade school. Kym had recently returned from her 2 year Peace Corps volunteer work in Ghana and we all met up for an afternoon of fun. Benton and baby Riley were sleepy during picture time. :)
Gigi and Grandpa with their boys :)
Lunch with the girls!
Meeting "Aunt" Kymbe for the first time!
And for New Year's, we went over to Jenny and Christian's house, where we ate oysters, filet sandwiches, and blackened quail over cheese grits - ahhh the perks of having a chef for a brother-in-law! Deelish! :) Benton and Tyler both were awake for New Year's Eve...wild boys! (btw...Benton is in his Gamecock pjs...and was a little embarassed of them later on in the night - maybe next year!) Thanks to Mike Enloe for these fantastic pictures!!
B and Daddy - my two loves :)
Family
Happy New Year!
Hanging out with Tyler!
We had a wonderful break!!
Isn't this the cutest? We had the best break with our bundle of joy! :)
Oh I just LOVE these pictures!!! And HOW has it been a YEAR since you went to the hospital?! WOW. What a special prize you got for all of your hard work ;). Miss you guys!
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