harstad happenings: Month in Review (aka photo overload)

Yes, I will freely admit to being a little behind on updating the blog. What can I say? It's December. So, here is a nice long post of mainly photos. And yes, I will probably lag behind again come January. I didn't say it was my New Year's resolution!

This month started with Joel's kid's Christmas party at work. We came late, and still, it felt too long. Jonah brought a list for both Santa, as well as the balloon man. Lucky guy.
Ben, well, he just waddled around, snacked, and made cheesy faces.

Thankfully there was a photographer there to capture "the moment" since our mall Santa photos are less than stellar.

Jonah finished up school mid December and brought home a Dinorama. It's still under debate as to how much assistance he had making the dinosaurs, but he has admitted that his teacher made the grass for him.

And so, Christmas holiday time had begun. There was no shortage of playing and Ben soon realized that he was indeed, getting too big to ride in the little toy bin. But he is still so tiny!

And of course, no shortage of snacks and eating. The boy is getting his eye teeth, and therefore, food is a frustrating thing for all of us. He eats so little, so often.

Just a cute picture of him and his duck.

And a cute picture of him and his Daddy. That's right, Daddy now puts B-Bear to bed and I think they are enjoying their boy time.

As Christmas approached, Jonah and Daddy made the annual gingerbread house. This year, we bought a prebuilt house. Good idea? Yes, yes it was.

Why he insisted on a photo of him and Daddy together with their house, yet refused to smile? I don't know. So Joel scowled with him. If you can't beat them, join them!

Christmas tree decorations were also required. Every year, I have Jonah paint one. The progression isn't really noticeable, but that's okay. This year Benett joined in the fun.

We also got a nice dump of snow this month. For days, we couldn't park on the street and even leaving the street was a bit of a feat. Case in point. Grandpa H getting stuck in the snow pile. Thank goodness for shovels!

Didn't seem to phase Benett at all.

Jonah on the other hand, is happy to help shovel. His father, on the other hand, isn't so sure how much help he actually is, so they stick to shoveling the deck.

Jonah and I made a plan for a date this month. A movie was on the agenda, so we pulled out some old 3D glasses for Benett.

Yes, we had the pleasure of choosing between Tangled and Yogi Bear. The kid was adamant that we see Yogi. Guess how long he lasted? Thirty minutes. I managed to get him to stay another 15, but eve that was a task. He doesn't often watch movies, so anything longer than 30 minutes can be too much for him. Eh, whatever. That's 45 minutes of my life I am glad I didn't lose.

We've been making lots of visits to the chiropractor this month and that means lots of toys from the treasure chest. Jonah's latest choice is sticky hands. And the victim? His baby brother!

Jonah also decided one day to be just like his brother. Hmm, not too sure about the way this looks!

A few days before Christmas, we ventured off to the mall to see Santa. The wait was long since most kids were clearly in a rush to get in their last minute requests, and Ben was just as patient as the others.

Once we got home, Jonah had to wrap his brothers gift, a Thomas tub toy.

He even wrote on it for him. So sweet.

Christmas Eve finally arrived and before heading off to dinner, Jonah sprinkled his "reindeer food" (oatmeal with glitter) on the sidewalk so Santa could find us that night.

Once that was taken care of, we were off. Benett and Great Grandma finally met. I think she likes him. ;)

Cousin Declan was there too and was charming as usual. Look at those eyes!

Of course, Jonah was fully immersed in his new trains that afternoon. I think he got 10 of them!

Night time quickly approached, so festive jammies were put on and the cameras were out. This is the best I got, and of course none of them are looking forward.