Overdue

Wow, I think 5 days is the longest I've gone between posts so far! We had a fun weekend - a three-day weekend since Ben took a personal day on Friday. Woohoo! He has a couple to use before the end of the year so this week will be a short week as well. We had a great time hanging out as a family - Noah thought he was in heaven with Daddy around so much. Friday we did some Christmas shopping at the mall in the morning and after naps I ran an errand with Sam while Noah stayed home with Ben. At Noah's emphatic request they went outside to play with the tennis ball in the grass. He loves to throw it around with Ben and chase it when Ben rolls it on the grass (kind of like a dog I suppose, although I don't really like to compare children and pets). When they got tired they layed on the grass and looked for airplanes. Whenever they heard one Noah would get excited and say "it's WAY up there!" Between aircraft sightings, they had all sorts of fun conversations. At one point Ben asked Noah what he wanted to have for dinner that night and Noah pondered for a moment and then said "Hmmmm . . . I don't care." Apparantly he's learning indecisive behavior from his mom and dad. Pretty soon he'll have to join us in our veto game (which is the only way we can make decisions at our house).

Saturday we had another low-key family day. We went to the Sugar Land Town Square (so cute) for a bit, just to walk around and get some lunch (Jamba Juice - Noah's favorite!). Here are a few pictures from the day:

(The boys cuddling while watching some Saturday morning TV)

(Noah not quite sure about this jolly plastic guy)

(Ben helping Noah see that Santa's not so bad)

(Me and my cuddly Sam - Sam Houston in the background, protecting the Alamo)

(Sam resting during tummy time)

That night we went to a Christmas party at our church. It was a lot of fun. Before the reading of the real Christmas story there was a performance of How the Grinch Stole Christmas that Noah loved (me too, they did a great job!). He kept saying "Crazy Grinch!" He got pretty pooped toward the end though (it was past his bedtime). As we were getting ready to leave I started talking to a friend and Noah, fed up with the delay, pointed to Sam in his carseat and said "He's ready to go home!!!" (Sam was perfectly content but apparantly makes a good scapegoat).