Where did January go?

My last blog post was updating you on our Christmas around Texas. And now I find myself on January 30th wondering...where did the month go???



In typical Benich Family Tradition, we have kept ourselves very busy just being a family of four with two working parents. Sadly, I'm not sure I've taken my camera out this month at all...I will pause for those of you who are in shock. But never fear, when my camera is not on me, my phone definitely is. So you will get a picture filled post. (My favorites anyways!)


We had the pleasure of spending New Years Eve with Craig, Cathy and her family. Brock thought the noise makers were pretty cool. Funny though, no idea where that noise maker might be now! ;-)

Aubree has started potty training. Well, let me re-phrase that. Aubree has started potty training AT SCHOOL. For a couple weeks now, she'll go at school all day long. Rarely wetting her clothes, and in big girl panties the whole day. She goes by herself some times too. As soon as Mommy is around, all progress takes a sudden hault! She does NOT want to go potty at home. I don't get it. I've tried nearly everything I can think of, but we're not making much progress at home. Here are a couple of my tricks.

...just sit on the potty and eat your cereal!

...sit on the potty with baby?

Did you notice the look of pure joy in both pictures? Yeah, there is attitude there. Regardless, she was so very excited to get her panties. In fact, the day we brought them home from the store, she took off her pajamas, and put all 7 pairs on. (We had to work on that concept.)

Another classic Aubree moment. She spills the cereal on the floor one Saturday morning. Sarge starts eating the cereal. Aubree breaks down and starts crying because Sarge is eating the cereal. When she found out she couldn't beat him, she decided to join him. She ate EVERY marshmallow off the floor as quickly as she could before Sarge got them! What a mess. Then, I made her vacuum. :-)

I wondered why she didn't follow me inside that day. I had to walk back outside and found this. Pull toys? No, we have coolers.

Another trip to the dentist for Brock! He is soooo good for the dentist! Now we're working on being that good when Mommy and Daddy help to brush, floss and use mouthwash.

And the week is never complete without a pillow fight in the living room. Dad enjoys his fair share of fun with those as well. :-)

So nothing terribly interesting in January...but we had a lot of family time, and family time is a good thing!

Merry(1) Merry(2) Merry(3) Merry(4) Merry(5) Merry(6) Merry(7) Christmas!

We survived another Annual Tour of Texas! This time totaling 7 Christmases. Trying to share each would be difficult, as well as time consuming, so here are the cliff notes!
We went to six different cities in 4 days. Over the course of those 4 days, we saw:
* 6 PARENTS
* 4 GRANDPARENTS
* 4 BROTHERS
* 5 SISTERS
* 6 AUNTS
* 6 UNCLES
* 17 COUSINS
* 4 BUNS-IN-THE-OVEN!!!!
* 1 NIECE
* 1 NEPHEW
* 2 GREAT AUNTS (My Grandma's sisters)
* nearly 30 Second Cousins and I won't even wager a guess on how many 3rd cousins I saw.

So, why do we travel? Because we are SO BLESSED with SO MUCH FAMILY!


Christmas #1 - San Antonio, our own Tom Benich Family Christmas. It was a great Christmas but what makes me laugh ( or perhaps shake my head) is knowing each of us got hand-helds. Aubree got the Fisher Price iXL which didn't make the picture. With all these hand-helds, we're going to have to make sure we incorporate lots of outdoor family time this year, but they were very handy for all our travels.

Christmas #2 - Conroe, with Tom's dad. Brock and Aubree had a great time playing with their cousin Avery. We walked to the park and had lots of fun. They also had a blast when Grandpa and Grandma took them to Build-A-Bear to make their own reindeer!

Christmas #3 - Houston, with Tom's Grandparents. Be sure to check out the dresses Aubree and Avery are wearing. Tom's mom made them. They are PRECIOUS! And smocked on both the front and the back!

Christmas #4 - El Campo, with my dad and our family, then with my Grandma Dornak and Many Many Many Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. Aubree got a cute coloring playset from her Paw Paw and E, but instead of coloring politely, she unrolled the thing as if she was showing Paw Paw her Christmas list!

A very special treat at Great Grandma's house was a visit from SANTA!! Brock knows the routine by now and was very excited. Aubree on the other hand, didn't want to sit on his lap......

.....but she insisted on showing Santa her *SPARKLE SHOES*!! I laughed so hard. That came out of no where. What a G-I-R-L!!

And won't this be fun in the years to come! All those buns in the oven!!!!!!! :-D

Christmas #5 - Victoria, with my Grandma and Many Many Many Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. The kids always love seeing GG and her dog, Tag. We "almost" got a good family picture.

And is Christmas really complete without a SNUGGIE???

Or, attire from BUCK-EES??? A buckees hat and tail...what a wardrobe accessory!

Christmas #6 - San Antonio with just Tom's mom and his siblings. Let's just face it...these kids are worn out from pictures by this point! Brock, Avery & Aubree were still ready to OPEN presents though! I don't think that ever got old.

Brock got two Nerf guns from Aunt Cathy, Uncle Craig, and Avery. I know he loves them...but not sure if Daddy and Uncle Craig love them more!! Words cannot describe the moves these guys were doing around the house!

Christmas # 7 - San Antonio with my mom and siblings. Again, the kids were done with pictures! We got a picture of Brock and Conner, and Brock and Aubree, but not Brock, Aubree and Conner! ;-)

And as for the gift of the year...a wii and Tetris Party for Mom! We had our very own Tetris party two nights in a row! With box wine, of course! ;-) Only the classy stuff here.

The Tetris gang: Lori vs. Mom vs. Dede vs. Jeffrey. Christa and Brock cheered us on!

Bless any of you who are still reading!