Thanksgiving 2012

November was such a wonderful month. It was the month of visitors in our new house and it all happened around Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for everyone who made the drive or flight down to see us. BLESSED is all I can say. Although I've never changed so many sheets in my life!

The first wave of visitors included Mamaw and Papaw! Note: I was corrected the other day on my use of Mamaw. I've been spelling it wrong for almost 2 years now (Memaw), haha. Good to go now, however one Xmas present will need a correctional sharpie! They came down the week before Thanksgiving to bring a load of goodies to us and to snuggle bug with Mr. Jude dude. This was Richard's first trip down and the first for both in our new house. It was so wonderful to see them. We showed Richard the area, including the Razorback stadium, downtown Rogers, and the lighting of downtown Bentonville.

Most importantly, we finally made the attempt to take some good pictures of all of us together. Usually it's one at a time with Jude making funny faces. I'm not sure if it was the perfect fall day or the perfect camera man (Mr. John Bennet), but we managed to snag a few new ones for our fireplace and maybe Christmas presents! And of course, the Christmas card!!!

Yes Yes Yes! 

Yes!!!! 

It's not fall unless you play in the leaves.

Couldn't be happier.

Daddy in the leaf pile!

The lighting of downtown Bentonville was quite a sight. We got there JUST in time. Jude loved all the beautiful lights and the choir singing Christmas songs. And afterwards, we even ate a little festive pasta at Carrabba's. What a fun night!

Thank you for coming Mamaw!!!

Love you Papaw!

And then....Aunt Vanessa flew into town!

Here she is!

I'm gonna get you

Jude was so happy to see his auntie Nessa and so were we. She brought lots of goodies from Chicago. Little man got some cute shirts and a big bear and we got a beautiful bottle of wine. But that wasn't the best part. THANKSGIVING FEAST.

We worked all night and day on quite a feast for the 4 of us. It was a blast! Let's see...we butterflied a turkey, made the most delicious dessert, and watched the Barefoot Contessa a gazillion times to figure out how to tie a piece of meat together. Coming from a vegetarian, it was worth it. 

We got this.

Just a taste of some home cooking.

Did I mention dessert?

I think everyone had a good time...lots of love.

Vanessa and I even took part in a friendly race or 29 on the good old super nintendo. She did get better, ha! Mario Kart is not for the faint of heart. Also, we had quite the experience at Kohl's the day after. We'll leave it at that.

Did I mention we decorated for Christmas?

Thanks Vanessa for making this holiday so much fun!

AND........Great Grandpa stopped by! It was so nice to see Ron and Nola. They brought some goodies for Jude (that he'll be riding soon, thanks!) and yummy things for us. Jude was thrilled to show them all of his cool things and a little bit of the area. But of course, we forgot to get a picture. Next time!

We are so thankful to have such a wonderful family and get to see so many around the holidays...especially since we've moved so far away. All of you made it an extra special Thanksgiving this year. We can't thank you enough! Hope to see you again soon. 

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First Family Halloween Costumes!

We hope you had a fabulous Halloween. Ours was very special this year. First of all, we dressed up together for the first time. Not just as a family, but I actually got John to participate in "matching" me...and Jude of course. As of tonight, we've been together for 3 presidential elections. WOW. I still hadn't convinced John to dress up as a couple these past years? AND Halloween is my favorite holiday! Come on John.

Anyway, John was the best scarecrow I had ever seen (and created). 

Jude found out about a little movie called Wizard of Oz when his Memaw played it for him one visit...and every visit after. That was that. He has every dance scene down, from the lollipop guild to the scarecrow to the tin man. Jude is pretty amazing. So what else would we be for Halloween.

We present you....Wizard of Oz - Bennet style:

This particular day we went over to our subdivision Halloween Party. Jude played all the games and had fun with some other little goblins. And, unbeknownst to us, there was a prize for Best Family Costume. Can you guess who won?

This family!

I say it's because of our adorable little lion.

Next up...The Goblin Parade. On Halloween there was a trick-or-treat event downtown Rogers for little kids. It starts early so the tiny kids can go out in the daylight and in a safe environment. LOVELY! We took complete advantage of it. Jude hopped to the front of the line and trick-or-treated the candy out of the downtown square. He tried saying trick-or-treat most of the time, but always said Thank You (dank eww). He even got to eat candy this year.

Trick-or-Treat

Mom...I'm trying to open my toothbrush!

Love this little lion boy!

Come on Dad, there is a lot more candy to get.

Monkey Photo Bomb!

Roar!

What a great day with the family.

Choo Choo!

And look who we ran into - a familiar looking dragon. 

LANDON DRAGON!!!!

Word!

Candy....

.....is delicious.

And at the end of the day, we handed out candy from the comfort of our home. Jude loved it. He was chasing kids out the door with candy in his hands, trying to give them more. They were just scared. ha.

I did a little decoration with Judebug's input. Turned out pretty good for our first year.

 

Mickey Mouse Pumpkins

 

Jude Dude and our spooky house

Tearing apart the pumpkins for some awesome glow sticks!

 

Creepy bush and a milky ghost. YAY!!!!!!