I'm not sure how this happened, but I just looked at my previous posts and saw that I didn't have an update for December! It seems like so long ago now!!!
It seems silly to recap how our Christmas and month of December were now, but I'll give you the snapshots. We had an absolute blast at Santa's Village with Jason, Karey and Karma Pelletier! Corinne and Ayla both got off the roller coaster and immediately got back in line to go again. Even Sophie liked it! They loved the bumper cars, the decorations and of course playing in the hotel room. We may have to make it a tradition to go every year. I had been before, but not since I was a kid and it was in the summer. It is a magical place in the winter!
We enjoyed a family Christmas party at the Butler's this year. Our yankee swap was entertaining as always and Aunt Karen made sure the girls all got gifts they'd be excited about, even though there may have been some disappointed adults. =)
Ayla had her first Christmas chorus concert and did a great job with all the other third graders singing her heart out! She'll have another one in the spring.
We had a great Christmas at home and enjoyed having family come to us instead of traveling. The girls loved their presents and we reminded them how lucky they are to have so many grandparents who love them! We were able to visit with some family in person, while others we skyped with.
We started the new year with a Benn sibling party. My sister and her fiance were here, so we had a big sleep over at my brother's house in Portland. The kids had a blast and Corinne loved being able to play games and count down with the adults.
Corinne's basketball season just came to an end. It had a different feel to it this year since it was a fifth and sixth grade boy/girl mix. The boys are pretty aggressive, but Corinne did well!
We've been skiing a couple of times this winter and it's great to see Corinne and Ayla becoming so confident. Sophie started this year and likes it, but gets tired quickly. She's just as content to play in the lodge as she is to make the long trek to the ski lift. I skied with her on a harness on our last trip and she did well. I realized that she is really too little to hold herself up, so it's a lot of work on my end. Carrying the babe in my belly and holding her up on the slopes isn't going to work much longer! =)
Corinne had her first band concert and did really well! She had a duet with a friend of hers and they sounded great! She practices on the clarinet without any reminders and is already talking about the next concert.
Ayla continues to enjoy Girl Scouts. She sold 168 boxes of Girl Scout cookies! We went door to door one cold Saturday morning and she did great! Hopefully the weather is warmer when we go back to all those houses to deliver the cookies! They're using the money they earned to go to Boston for a sleep over at the science museum.
I just started a prenatal yoga class and I'm loving it! It's late Sunday afternoon and a great way to end the weekend. It's hard to believe I'm already 8 months pregnant! I'm counting down the days until this baby arrives and I'm able to spend five months with him or her before returning to work! I definitely feel blessed!!
We're looking forward to Grandma Gay's arrival on March 13th! It'll be great to have her help with the girls and the new baby! Trevor is looking forward to spending April vacation with all of us this year and having some time off while Gay is here, too. We have a lot to look forward to in the next couple of months!!!
