Happy New Year!

We kicked off the New Year with a brunch at Leslie's (Daddy's co-worker) house.  Bennett loved playing a game with a couple of the other guests where they would look all over for Spencer, Leslie's cat.  Was he in the closet?  Nope.  In the shower?  Nope.  What about in the toilet?  Nope.  In the office?  Nope.  Under the bed?  Yay!  We found Spencer.  And repeat...


Down at the play farm, much like at the real OSV farm, the rooster was put in time out "for biting the chicks".  The back story to this?  We noticed at OSV that the rooster was in a cage.  We asked why and Farmer Dave told us that the rooster was in time out.  Apparently the rooster has been acting up, biting the farmers, etc.  So it's time for him to find a new home.  I guess that conversation/punishment resonated with Bennett.

This photo must have been from after his nap because his hair is super curly.

On Thursday it started snowing.  Just a dusting in the morning, but when Bennett looked out the window he announced that there was enough snow to go sledding.  After school we opened up Bennett's new fire station Duplos that he got from Grandma and Grandpa Tedford. He's had a blast playing with these, and was using the people to open the doors, spray the hoses, etc.  I've never seen him play with dolls/action figures in this way before, so that was neat to see.

By Friday the snow was much worse.  Mummy and Daddy still had to work so Bennett went to school but was one of two kids there.  The benefit of not many kids in?  He got to do whatever he wanted!  After dinner we baked cookies.  I had hoped to make this variety before Christmas but we ran out of time.  They were ok, but not my favorite.  One of those kinds that sounds better than they actually are.

Saturday was the first week of a new session of skating.  We definitely should have put Bennett in the next level!  He had passed pre-tot but since he still seemed pretty timid we had thought it might be best to have him stay at that level for another session.  Nope, he did awesome all on his own!  They tried to move him up to the next class right then, but he resisted.  Next week he doesn't get the choice.

Here you can see him in action.

After nape we went sledding at Jericho Hill and got to use the new toboggan.  We weren't sure how Bennett would do because he hadn't been a fan of this hill last year-- too much snow in his face, I think.  Since it used to be a ski hill, it's fairly steep.  No problems at all this time!  Bennett loved it and kept asking to go again.  And the snow in his eyes issue?  Well he solved that problem by covering his face with his hands.

Blurry video, but you get the gist.

When I asked Bennett about why his animals were all lined up I was told that they were in a parade.

Sunday we went to Sturbridge.  We're not sure if we will once again try to have weekly visits.  We kind of want to but also think that it's a little crazy.  But since we want to have the option of weekly visits, we needed to go.  Bennett really does love it there and gets excited when we mention that we are going, so I guess that means it's worth it to go, right?  It only becomes an issue when it's pouring rain or we're sick or something like that and I insist on us going so that we don't break our streak.  So far we haven't run into a situation like that (really cold and/or light rain doesn't keep us away) but I imagine we could have to make those decisions this year.

On this particular visit all Bennett wanted to do was go sledding behind the cooper shop.  I don't even remember us mentioning that we could do that, but he knew it was something we could do.  But first, it was time to help the farmers with seasonal work.  We were the only ones there so they decided that feeding corn husks to the cows would be a good task. 

It was awesome!  We started off just tossing the husks over the fence but quickly moved on to them eating out of our hands.  Really neat to feel them pulling the husks out of your hand.  This is another one of those occasions where we wonder if "normal" visitors would be given this opportunity or were we given this chance because they knew we were familiar with the cows and that we should look out for Lance and Henry's horns.  (Which admittedly I did kind of forget about in an effort to get husks to one of the girls being pushed out of the way.)

Finally we got to go sledding.  Bennett started off going down the hill with Daddy.

After that first run we decided that we should have him try on his own.  He loved it and did great.

But the best part?  He even pulled his own sled back up the hill!

Here's one of Bennett and Chris going down the hill together.

Back at home, Bennett decided that his oxen needed to pull sleds.  (He had seen Lance and Henry's sled, used to haul logs and such.)  Bennett found the sleds and I obliged by making a pipe cleaner yoke and hooking up the team.

And that pretty much sums up our week.  Feels so long ago now, since it took me almost a whole other week to finish this post.

Wrapping up 2013

Not too much happened in the days between Christmas and New Year's so this post will be pretty light on photos.

On Thursday Bennett went back to school and I went back to work.  Chris started the job of rebuilding the farm buildings out of wood rather than cardboard.  I got a call at some point during the day that Bennett was complaining that his ear hurt and that he was out of sorts.  He's commented off and on for a few months that his ear hurts .  Normally after one complaint he's fine for days/weeks until the next complaint.  But on Thursday he complained multiple times.  I was able to get an appointment for him.  The doctor removed some built up wax and saw that there was fluid in his ear but it wasn't infected yet.  He said we would know within the next 24 hours if it were to get infected.  Luckily after removing the wax and a dose of Tylenol at home he was fine.


Friday Bennett was back to his old self again!

Saturday we had skating and then had to hurry home for one more Christmas celebration.  Uncle Andrew, Aunt Gentry, Grandpa, and his friend Susan were coming over.  Grandpa brought a turkey which we served with various leftovers.  However, Bennett wasn't eating well and was likely tired from a busy morning so he made the choice to go upstairs for nap rather than finish eating.  This meant that we had to open presents without him.  Of course he woke up from his nap just as everyone was leaving and then he opened his presents- some puzzles, a hat, and for the family, a toboggan!  Can't wait to be able to use that.




Bennett continues to play with his farm (which is good since we put so much time into it and it takes up a lot of space) but some some reason he likes to pile all the animals together so that they can "sleep".

On Sunday we rounded out the year with a final trip to Sturbridge.  This brings our count for the year to 40 visits.  We'll have to see what we decide to do next year.  A winter activity for them is to dip candles, so Bennett go a chance to give it a try.  Other than that, it was a pretty quiet day at the Village.  We got to see Doc and Blue working (and misbehaving quite a bit) as they pulled a cart from one end of the village to another but otherwise not too much to report.

Monday was a pretty normal day back at school/work and on Tuesday Bennett was picked up early as it was New Year's Eve.  Nothing special going on for us.  Bennett went to bed as normal and Chris and I stayed up watching Harry Potter.

And that pretty much wraps up 2013!

The remainder of Advent and Christmas Festivities

On Monday when I picked Bennett up from school they proudly showed me that he had written his name.  For the lower one, the teacher wrote his name first and then had him trace it in multiple colors.  And then he wrote his name on top.  Yay!

When we got home I didn't have anything special for Advent because I goofed and let him watch the planned movie over the weekend.  (A Curious George Christmas movie.)  For dinner I made pancakes including one that looked like Frosty the No-man pancake, as Bennett calls them since he doesn't pronounce the S.

Tuesday was Christmas Eve.  Bennett went to school in the morning so that we could have time for wrapping presents, last minute shopping, and scrambling to finish his big gift.  More on that later.  I picked him up after lunch and we came home for nap.  Of course it took him a while to fall asleep.

After nap (which we had to wake him from) we put on spiffy clothes and then headed off to pick up Nana and Auntie Hanna before heading to church.  After church we went back to their house for dinner and presents. 

Bennett started to play with bowls, measuring cups, etc and Nana gave him an apron to wear while he "cooked".

Lighting a candle with Nana.

Opening presents.

When we got home Bennett put out milk and cookies for Santa and then got changed into his new Christmas PJs.  While visions of sugarplums danced in his head, the elves were hard at work scrambling to get Bennett's big present (a recreation OSV barnyard) finished presentable.  Last week Chris knew that everything wasn't going to get done in time so he decided to just focus on the walls and fences.  We lucked out and one of his co-workers offered to paint the walls for us.  Woo hoo!  So Tuesday morning/afternoon Chris worked to get the fences finished and painted.  Around lunch time he asked me, what do you think about having buildings temporarily made out of cardboard?  At last, a step in the process that I could work on!  So I spent Bennett's naptime working on barns and after he went to sleep we were up to about 1am working on gluing fences into place and crafting cardboard buildings.  It actually helped the process a bit because we could think through some of the construction process, decide which beams could be eliminated from the design, what needs to be changed for the final product, etc.

Monday night progress

And the end result?  Bennett loved it!  He'd received a few animals for his birthday so we had those set up at the farm-- pigs in their pen, the oxen in their pen, Summer (the calf) in her pen, and the horses out in the yard since they technically don't even go with the farm. 

The farm on Christmas morning

MERRY CHRISTMAS!  Bennett woke around his normal time, 7:00.  He let us lounge in bed for a little while and then we went downstairs.  Here's what he saw when he came down the stairs:

His reaction as he saw Doc and Blue.

And even better, here's his reaction in video format!

Shortly after we came downstairs Grandpa came over to join us for breakfast and watching Bennett open presents.  We started with stockings. Bennett got a couple of cows (dubbed them Lance/Henry) and a sheep and immediately went and put them in the farm.

Next we connected with Grandma and Grandpa Tedford via Skype so that they could watch Bennett open all of his presents.  There were LOTS of presents!  When wrapping we realized that tags on Bennett's presents were pointless as almost all of them were for him.  Plus they were the ones in the Cars wrapping paper. 

One of Bennett's presents was a bin with more animals, all of which had to immediately be put on the farm.  He now has:

• A team of oxen (He got these for his birthday.  We intended them to be Lance and Henry but he named them Doc and Blue.
• A pair of horses, Jim and Pete (birthday gift)
• 2 pigs (birthday gift)
• Summer, the calf (birthday gift)
• 4 cows.  These were intended to be Bonnie, Button, Betsy, and Rainy.  He named two of them Lance and Henry (the oxen).  The other two he named Bonnie and Button.
• 2 chickens, a rooster, a group of chicks
• 1 ram, 2 sheep, 4 assorted lambs

Currently 3 of the cows at OSV are pregnant.  I'm not sure what happens when they give birth.  Do we need to get more calves?  Does Summer graduate to being a full-size cow?  Also, one of the pigs is going to be butchered in a few weeks and the other pig will be going to another farm.  Will Bennett want to remove his pigs until they get new ones?

One thing that was interesting to see was how he immediately put the cows into the milking stalls in the barn even though he's never seen the milking stalls in use (we always left for nap before milking time).  How did he know that's where they were supposed to go.

Cows in the milking stalls. 
Chickens sleeping in their coop. 
Horses in the storage area. 
Mater driving down the middle.

All of the animals in their appropriate pens

Other gifts included PJs, books, puzzles, baking items for his play kitchen, a hand knit sandwich (bread, lettuce, Swiss cheese, tomatoes, egg slices), toy cars (Lightning McQueen and Mater), pattern blocks, a Curious George ornament, Duplos....  They boy definitely had a good Christmas!

The animals are "sleeping" so he covered them with "blankets".

Modeling his new dinosaur hat.  (It's a red present.)

After presents it was almost time for lunch and nap.  Shortly after he woke up, Mimi, Uncle Andrew, and Aunt Gentry came over for more celebrating.

After not wanting to wear his crown, he finally put it on and then wore two more as bracelets.

And that pretty much wrapped up the day.  Shortly after everyone left it was time for Bennett to go to bed.  Chris and I did some dishes and then relaxed for a little while.  One more celebration to go on Saturday!

Advent, week 3

 Quite a busy week for us!  I'll be happy when things quiet down a bit.  Wish I had some time to just sit at home and relax.  I did take Christmas Eve off, but I think the morning will be willed with last minute errands and wrapping presents and then Bennett will be home in the afternoon.

Monday's Advent activity was to watch Frosty the Snowman.  I don't think Bennett was very intersted.

On Tuesday we opened this magic growing Christmas Tree that was supposed to grow to 6x its size.  (May take up to 72 hours.)  It's now been over 6 days and it has barely grown at all.

Tuesday night we got lots of snow, so when we got home from work/school on Wednesday Bennett got to help shovel the snow.  I stayed inside where it was nice and warm and took horrible photos through the window.  :)

On Wednesday Bennett also got to make Santa's beard out of cotton balls.

Thursday we brought Brit to the vet.  She's been loosing a lot of weight and isn't eating.  (She now weighs only 5 lbs.)  The vet took some x-rays.  She's constipated and likely either has irritable bowel or a tumor, but without further testing he can't say which.  We switched her to some different food which she hungrily ate the first day and has now grown less interested in, and also gave us a laxative to give to her twice a day.

As a somewhat related question, how do you decide how much testing to do for a pet who is 13 years old?  We can't spend too much more on testing and treatment.   I don't think she's in pain, but we also know she isn't healthy. 

When we got home Bennett watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

On Friday Bennett got to color one of those $1 craft packs that comes with a little coloring book, some crayons, and stickers.  I think after about one minute he had lost interest in it.

Saturday was a busy day.

 And not the best video, but it does show Bennett standing up and marching on his own.  He had been doing a lot more marching just before this, but of course I was late getting the camera ready.

After skating we went to the mall for the official photo with Santa.  It was definitely a popular day for visiting Santa and we ended up having to wait in line for about an hour.  Luckily everyone seemed to be in good spirits about it.

And here's a collage of the past years.  I love that it's the same Santa/backdrop in all of the pictures.

And as if our Saturday wasn't busy enough, we had friends over in the afternoon for the annual graham cracker house decorating.  It was a smaller group than usual this year as a few friends couldn't make it and others got sick en route and had to cancel.

Sunday morning we ran some errands doing some grocery shopping, etc.  The afternoon was full of baking.  I made 3 batches of fudge and Bennett made some cookies with Daddy.  Then later I made some Chewy Noels.  Another batch of Chewy Noels and another batch of cookies are still planned.

And that wraps up our week!  I hope this week will be a bit more quiet, but we will see.  The elves are busy in our house trying to get some gifts finished up.

Happy Holidays!

In case we ran out of cards before getting to you (sorry, more than 75 cards was out of the budget) here's our card from this year.

Here's the note that we included with the cards:

You may be wondering why we chose to feature oxen on our holiday card this year. The reason is simple. Doc and Blue (Doc’s horns go down, Blue’s horns go up) are one of the two teams of oxen at Old Sturbridge Village, an 1830s recreation village. OSV was an important part of our lives in 2013 as, to date, we visited 39 times this year (there may be another visit post-Christmas). 25 of those times were consecutive weekly visits. On our many visits we’ve watched the animals grow (plus we’ve learned the names of all of the animals that have names), helped plow a field, swept out a bake oven, made tin biscuit (cookie) cutters, pet chickens, sheep, and the calf, been photographed for the local paper, harvested ice on the mill pond (Mr. Chris even has a cameo in one of OSV’s promotional videos), eaten lots of cookies, watched musical performances (and particularly enjoyed fifes), took many wagon, stagecoach, and river boat rides, learned the names of many of the interpreters, learned why the animals on this card are technically steers and not oxen (they aren’t called oxen until they are fully trained and these are still learning), helped cut and stack wood, picked and sorted potatoes, toured the root cellar, watched a Naturalization Ceremony, learned how to command a team of oxen to turn slightly left vs. a sharp left (“haw to me” vs. just saying “haw”), watched demonstrations at the sawmill, gristmill, and carding mill, watched a Revolutionary War reenactment, toured the costume storage building, cooked a period meal using period methods, watched blacksmith, shoemaker, tinsmith and print shop demonstrations, threshed grain, watched animals be harvested, dressed up as Doc for Halloween, and so much more. Needless to say, OSV was a big part of our year!

What else did we do? Bennett and Mr. Chris went sledding for the first time, we continued with ice skating lessons, had our 10th Annual Pinewood Derby, went swimming, potty trained in 4 days, had a great cardiology visit (Bennett’s heart continues to do well), celebrated 10 years of marriage, Bennett had his first haircut, we raised money for Boston Children’s Hospital, and Bennett turned three and had a Curious George birthday party.

Advent activities

Dinners for the past couple of weeks have felt very rushed.  We try to think of what we can make quickly so that we have time for whatever our Advent activity is.

Monday wasn't too bad.  Bennett got to watch Rudolph.  I tried watching with him, but he was really fidgeting and asking too many questions so I had to get off the couch.

On Tuesday we made birdseed ornaments to give as gifts. Some of them turned out better than others.  Later in the week I made some more since we didn't have enough from the first batch.  I've read some negative reports about these, so hopefully they don't crumble too much or grow mold.

Wednesday's Advent item was some winter pencils.  Kind of lame, but Bennett liked them.  We asked him to draw a picture for Santa of what he wants for Christmas.  He drew "a red present with a bow".

On Thursday we made a cotton ball snowman.  I made the face but Bennett did the rest.

On Friday I had my work holiday party so we enlisted Grandpa to babysit.  At 3:30 I got a call from school that Bennett had a fever.  Grandpa still watched Bennett but since Bennett was under the weather I don't think they were able to have much fun- pretty much dinner and bed.  

On Saturday we had planned to go take the "official" photos with Santa but Bennett was still not feeling well so we ended up watching lots of movies/tv-- Cars, Toy Story, and multiple episodes of Curious George.

Saturday night it snowed.  On Sunday Bennett went to Nana's house.  He helped shovel the driveway and then they went for a walk in the snow.  Later on Auntie Hanna came over and they all went to pick out a Christmas Tree.  They came home in time for nap and then later we ran some errands.

That wraps up the 2nd week of Advent!