What a Nice Brother to Share His Pear!

Alexander is growing up too fast. He climbed up on a wheat bucket to see what Benjamin was eating.
Benjamin gladly shared his pear with Alexander.

Car Accident

Ryan was taking Benjamin to the library to return some videos when they got into a car accident. The guy who pulled out in front of them couldn't see around the six foot snow drift on the corner of the intersection. Luckily he saw Ryan was sliding and not able to stop so he moved away from the door and wasn't injured. I'm sorry to say my first question was not "are y'all okay?" but "which car were you in?" Fortuitously it was our older car.
The sad thing is that it was the other driver's first car and a Christmas present so he'd had it less than a day.
Benjamin was excited to examine the damage and to be near the police car.

Alexander is Walking!!!!!

Alexander decided to walk at a great moment when all our parents could be there! Benjamin was in bed and we were sitting around the cleared dinner table (which had one leaf in it). Ryan stood Alexander on the table and it was almost like he was learning to ride a bike and thought Daddy was still holding on to the back of the bike... Ryan kept his hands up near Alexander and he walked across the table from Ryan to me. I was so speechless I couldn't tell our moms, who were in the middle of a conversation, not noticing what was going on in front of them. I finally had to tap both of them on the shoulders. Alexander did a bunch of repeat performances so that Ryan's dad, who was napping and closed his eyes every time Alexander did it again, finally got to see it. Benjamin was so excited the next day to sit with us and coax Alexander back and forth between us for a few steps.

Alexander and Santa's Lap Don't Mix.

Ryan's company's holiday party. The PFC wanted to be Santa about as much as Alexander wanted to be in his lap... but he was the heaviest soldier in the unit. Probably not the best criteria for delegating Santa duties?!?!Our ward Christmas party. Benjamin was being shy and forgot to tell this Santa what he wanted so he begged me to take him back to tell him he wanted a truck transporter toy for Christmas.

Santa's Swim with the Sharks

Santa visited the zoo for a swim in the aquarium. Benjamin didn't want to go at first because he was afraid a shark would eat Santa. Where do they get this stuff?... I've never told him about shark attacks. Once I convinced him Santa would be safe, he was okay with the idea. The 100 lb. sea turtle was more of an issue than any sharks. It positioned itself between Santa's crew and the glass while they were trying to take photos.
I'm not sure if we made it onto the evening news. The guy was filming Benjamin when Santa jumped in. Benjamin said, "Hey, that's the guy that's going to bring me presents."It ended up being a great day to go. The zoo was practically empty. I think people thought it was colder than it was. We were the second in line to get our photos taken. I was afraid we wouldn't have enough time to get to Fremont for Ryan's Army party, but we were an hour early, but that's a story for another day.

Alexander's New Doo

Alexander is very adamant about what he will and will not do. He will not wear a bib and he will feed himself. When he was done eating, on this particular evening, he decided to use the left over food goo in place of hair gel.