The First of Many...

I'm thinking about a new trend...top ten lists every Monday. 

Now, I know Dave Letterman does one every night, but Jay Leno used to do Headlines on Mondays, so I guess that's where this once-a-week idea came from. 

For today, to get you into the spirit a little early, it's my Top 10 Favorite Lines from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

10. "Well, you see, the plate runs right underneath my part, here...and over here it's nothin...but here, if this gets dented, then my hair just ain't gonna look right."

9. "Well if that cat had nine lives he just spent 'em all..."

8. "Well why is the carpet all wet, Todd?" "I don't know, Margo..."

7. "Clark, that's the gift that keeps on givin' the whole year."

6. "Would it be indecent to ask the grandparents to stay in a motel?"

5. "Save the neck for me, Clark."

4. "It's a beaut, Clark, it's a beaut!"   "Dad, Dad, you taught me everything I know about exterior illumination..."

3. "Oh boy...this is a surprise, Clark. This is just a real nice surprise...just a real, nice, surprise."

2. "So, uh, when did you get the tenement on wheels?" "Oh that there? That's an R-V."

1. "You serious, Clark?"

So you can see, we've gone green...and red.

Well, I guess we are "those" people. 

You know the ones. 

The ones who listen to Christmas music while the air conditioning is on full blast. 

The ones who start planning their illumination heroics weeks before Thanksgiving. 

The ones who will put a wreath on the front of at least one SUV this year. 

We just love the Holidays. As soon as Halloween is over, we're in full swing. In both of our families, Thanksgiving is just as much about Christmas as it is about Turkey and Dressing. We stay on a couple of nights at my parents to help them with their tree. Jenny's family goes on a tree hunt searching far and wide through lots in Central Arkansas the day after Thanksgiving. Although, by Thanksgiving Day her mom already has her snowman scenes placed around the house. 

Our house and shrubs will be covered in white lights. We'll have a tree that's too big for our living room. We'll have both the Original Snow Village and North Pole Village scattered around. Ben will even have a tree in his room...this, and every year. 

So, as you can tell in our new blog color-scheme, and further discover by our new blog subtitle...we're ready for it. 

And if anyone knows the channel number of an xM radio station that plays continuous Christmas music, let us know. 

Falling Leaves

The weather is so beautiful right now, and the trees all over town are so perfect, we couldn't resist going out to take these:

Look who was sitting up in his crib this morning...

Good thing we lowered his mattress height yesterday. 

My wife and the dogs were all snug in our bed...

While visions of a leaf-free yard danced through my head.

Then it rained. 

I have a long weekend this week...as a staff member, if you don't use your vacation days at our church, you lose them. So, I had yesterday off...I have the day before Thanksgiving off, and then I have a week off between Christmas and New Year's Day. WOO HOO. 

Anywho,  Ben and I started the day off by playing while Mommy slept off more of her remaining flu symptoms, and we ventured out - still in our p.j.s, to grab some starbucks. Ben + Footie p.j.s + starbucks employees & customers = traffic jam at the cream and sugar bar. 

With the morning rain, I wasn't able to get my agenda accomplished...I had planned to vaccum and bag the six inch blanket of leaves in our front yard, and wash and clean out both cars. When the rain was over and the sun dried the driveway, I was able to at least blow off the drive and the front walk. I also got the cars cleaned out, but not washed. 

So, you ask, what did I do with the rest of my day off. Well, I did what any other red-blooded 30 year-old American male would do with his day off. I re-arranged the nursery. 

I haven't been happy with it since we finished it last spring, just because when you walk in you don't see the crib and the bedding we spent so much time fretting over. 

Here's how it looks now:

Now, when you walk in, the crib catches your eye. His small dresser is also to your left as you walk in, and the chair is now over by the windows. He has three large windows grouped together, so this way he can sit in the chair with his Mommy and hopefully watch the snow fall this winter. 

So, that was my day off. This morning we have an appointment for portraits with Santa. We'll see how that goes. 

And, as I sit here on my sofa watching the crews labor in the yards of our neighborhood's more affluent residents, and see the showers of leaves falling and nullifying their efforts, I smile and think to myself, Why not wait another week or so on those leaves?

Fortunately...Unfortunately

Fortunately, we were able to take some pictures of Ben today. Unfortunately, my camera died two weeks ago, so we were waiting on one of my brother's to arrive. 

Fortunately, the camera can be fixed. Unfortunately, it will cost over 250.00 to repair it. 

Fortunately, my brother's camera arrived Tuesday. Unfortunately, my lens didn't fit it. 

Fortunately, he had another one. Unfortunately, I had to wait for it to arrive. 

Fortunately, it arrived today. Fortunately, Ben is still as cute as he was last week. 

Enjoy. 

And, you've been waiting for it all year...wait no longer. 

The Bunch Halloween Picture. 

Annabelle was a hot dog. 

Bailey turned six this year and informed us that he's too old to dress up for Halloween any longer. 

Reunited and it feels...well, it was the right thing to do.

Okay, it turns out that I don't have enough to say that doesn't involve Benjamin to support my own baby-free blog. 

He's the most entertaining thing we have in our lives, and from sun-up to sun-down, he's all we think about and focus on. 

So, I'm back...I guess if you're one of our loyal readers, then you'll just have to deal with occasional rants and diatribes about things such as seeing a passenger in a yellow cab drive through Walgreens this morning and ask the pharmacist if they would go to the front of the store and pick up a pack of cigarettes and sell them to him through the window...

Or my semi-occasional emotional discourses on things such as going to the symphony at Christmas and the arrival of the red cup at Starbuck's each year (I had my first today). 

It only happens once a year...

I guess you just have to take the good...Benjamin...with the bad...a look into my thought process. 

On to more pressing issues...

Jenny has the flu. Her doctor said that if it is the flu, then she's one of the first cases in town. I'm pretty sure that's what it is...fever, headache, body aches, cough and congestion, etc, etc. 

So, I've been playing Mr. Mom to Benjamin. I took a sick day, and Ben and I went to vote first thing this morning. 

"Here I am making bi-partisan friends at Little Rock Fire Station No. 10. My buddy Craig O'Neill walked past me and video taped me waiting in line to vote. He said to me, 

"Stop being so serious, kid...it's just the president we're voting for."

I'm going to try and get Jenny up there before the day is over. The precinct is just around the corner from our house. 

Here's a picture of our little pumpkin at the Fall Festival at our church a week back. More to come.