3rd Time's The Charm!

Here we are...5 days before Christmas, what better to do then put up our THIRD tree of December 2009! If you read the previous blog entry regarding putting up our 2nd tree, I was really fond of that beautiful tree. Never wanted to see it to come to this.

The whole family has been fighting sinus infections for a long time now. The three kids are on their second round of stronger antibiotics to help kick and clear their sinuses. They each will be on the medicine for 20+ days. Brian and I have been having a sinus cold for a couple weeks now as well. Just this weekend it dawned on us, could we all be allergic to the real tree?!!! Everyone has some seasonal allergies so being allergic to the tree would not surprise us. Brian and I even talked about "toughing" it out till Christmas and keeping up the real tree (that is how much I LOVED my real tree!) But with all the kids coughing and blowing their noses (us too) we decided that we would take down our real tree and put up our artificial tree. Insert heavy sigh.

Tyler, Haley, and Jacob giving me one last smile in front of the tree.

Haley, please look this way!

No, no, please don't fall backwards! I need ONE good picture!

Taking the ornaments off the tree, again.

Tyler is barking orders to captain Haley to open the door!

Jacob was helping till he remarked, "Dad my eyes are itching." Hmmmm. Mystery solved?

Enter...3rd Christmas tree of 2009.

The boys did a great job of putting it together.

Working like a team of experts, which we all are by now, we re-dressed the tree. Haley painfully says "cheese" for me every time I ask :)

Hopefully we have learned something this year...no more real trees. I'll let you know in a couple of days! I also hope that my kids don't expect this every year, having 3 Christmas trees was pretty cool!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tree Do-Over

Christmas with the Benes family is always full of laughs and surprises. The weekend after Thanksgiving is when we put our tree up. We have always had an artificial tree due to the kids allergies. This year we decided that we would live on the edge and get a real tree...asthma, allergies or bust! We had planned a big outing of cutting down our own tree at a tree farm. Sleigh rides, hot chocolate, the works! Well, we did not plan on 2 kids having sinus infections, pink eyes, or 1 recovering from sinus infection. Hmmmm. The responsible parents that we are, chose not to do the fun tree farm, in the cold and rain, but instead took a trip down the road to Menards and bought our first "real" tree for $14.99!

Here we are with our "prize" tree! We did not know a spruce from frasier and ended up with this nice soft needled tree. After a couple days, the tree started to lean, spread out weirdly, and all the ornaments started falling off!

This weekend we broke down and decided to do something about it. Out with the old (future swag, wreaths, and firewood!)

And in with the new!

The boys were very big kid helpers.

Ahhh!

Now these are the smiles of a happy family with a happy tree!

The tree has spread out into the whole corner and we couldn't be happier about the beautiful tree! I have decided that this is a female tree whose smell is so fragrant and branches are so far reaching that I want to hug her.

Yes, these children are quite tried of posing for pictures in front of Christmas trees.
We did learn lots of facts about Christmas trees and will be very prepared for our adventure next year!

Caught the Christmas Spirit!

Brian and the kids took advantage of the wonderful November and broke out all the Christmas decorations, just in time for Thanksgiving!!! I have a feeling that Clark W. Griswald will be out buying more lights as the season gets underway. My husband loves Christmas too!

By the way, we are the first on our block to put up lights and turn them on. If you come for a visit, our house is easy to find!

I just can't seem to wait any longer and I have added Christmas music and a Christmas background just to help all you wonderful readers get into the spirit with me!

We Have "IT!"

We have "it." Yes, "it." We have the "unconfirmed" H1N1. It cost's waaaayyy too much to actually get it confirmed but this is the only flu that the doctors are seeing right now. It started with Jacob and hit Tyler and Haley yesterday and me today. We are having lots of fun laying around and catching up with our cartoons.

Haley is resting comfortably, thanks to Tylenol.

Tyler is struggling with coughing, asthmatic symptoms, and fever. Did I mention crabby!

It started with Jacob this weekend. He has broken his fever (for now) but continues to fight with his lungs and coughing. But I am now an expert in Lego building!

I made a trip to Target last night to pick up a couple prescriptions for my asthmatic boys. While there I swiped the shelves of 6 boxes of flu protector Kleenex, 3 bottles of Children's Tylenol, 2 bottles of Infant Tylenol, 1 bottles of Purell, and 1 bottle of Lysol.
Do not come to our house!!! It spreads fast!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween! Trick or Treat!

Jacob, the Blue Knight. Haley, Little Red Riding Hood. Tyler, Transformers' Bumble Bee.

Why is it so impossible for all three of my children to sit, smile, and say cheese all at the same time!!!???

Hope you had a Happy Halloween! I have already had too many Butterfingers! Mmmmm!

Halloween Week

Happy Halloween Week!

The boys are off of school till Monday so we are going to try to cram in a week's fun into a long weekend. Priority number 1 is to visit the tiger cubs at the zoo. Then...museum, mall, probably a Target, Walmart, Kohls, grocery store visit too. Wish me luck!

Happy 7th Birthday!!!

Happy 7th Birthday to Tyler and Jacob! Today is their actual birthday but tomorrow we will be having their birthday party. We celebrated as a family by taking the kids out for dinner, complete with a big birthday sundae!

Jacob showing off his seven fingers and Tyler showing off his sundae.

Boys are all about really good smiles!

Not wanting to miss out on the excitement, Haley shoveled in some whipped cream.

Till tomorrow.......