Let it Snow!

Evan has really wanted to make a snowman this year. When we talk to Grandma Saunders on the computer we can see that she has snow at her house and Evan keeps asking me when the snow is going to come to our house.

It doesn't often snow here in Northern Virginia and, when it does, it usually isn't the right kind of snow.  If it actually sticks, there isn't enough to really play in. Needless to say, we were very happy to wake up Tuesday to find a winter wonderland.

While Bennet was taking his morning nap, Evan and Mommy bundled up, grabbed our sleigh, and headed outside to make use of the perfect sledding hill we have in our backyard. We made a very friendly snowman in our front yard. He kept falling over, but on the third try we got him stable enough to stay up right.


When it was time to wake Bennet up from his nap, Mommy discovered she had locked herself out of the house. The scariest part of the whole experience was when she discovered how easy it was to break back into the house.
After climbing through an unlocked window and waking up baby Bennet, we decided we weren't done playing in the snow.  We bundled him up and brought him outside to do some more sledding.

Our Friend Santa

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around the Kraczek house. We put our tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving and have since put up the rest of our decorations as well.


Evan has been so excited for Christmas this year. He was not happy that he had to wait till after Thanksgiving before it could be Christmas time. Now that it is Christmas time we have to discuss each morning what day it is and how many more days it will be until Christmas day.

Who wants a candy cane?

If you ask Evan what he wants for Christmas he will tell you that his friend Santa loves him and is going to bring him a snow globe, a candy cane and legos.



This is the first year he has gotten excited about Santa - and boy is he ever. Whenever we get to see Santa it is like meeting a celebrity for him and I love to see his innocent awe at getting to meet THE Santa.

Yummy! and other baby cuteness.

Bennet just started eating baby food and he is loving it. I haven't found anything that he won't eat yet, even the spinach rutabaga baby food pictured here.  He makes a huge mess but he is sleeping better at night, so I can't complain too much. 

We had Bennet's baby picture taken a few weeks ago. He is a very photogenic baby and we had no trouble getting him to smile for the camera. I bought a nice frame and, while I was debating on where to hang it, Bennet found it on the floor.  As you can see, he was very taken with the baby in the picture. He was so excited, he and the baby in the picture smiled and laughed at each other for a while before I took the baby in the picture away.  Once I clean the finger prints off of him, I will hang him up so he can smile at all of us.

Halloween 2013

We had a fantastic Halloween!  We went to 4 parties, with trick or treating at two of them, in addition to trick or treating around the neighborhood Halloween night.

 At our ward trunk or treat, we all dressed up for the fun.

We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins the Sunday before Halloween. Evan and Mommy carved a silly face into our pumpkin and Daddy carved a scary face into his. Evan didn't like the scary face very much, but it didn't seem to bother the squirrels as that is the one they decided to eat.

On Halloween Day after going to a friend's birthday party in the morning, we headed into the city to go trick or treating at Daddy's law firm. Evan loves taking the metro into the city. We counted all the stops till we got to Daddy's work.













All in all, Evan made off with more candy than we could eat in a year.

We pulled out the shark costume that Evan wore when he was a baby and, though Bennet isn't crawling yet, he still makes a very cute shark.


Happy Halloween.

A BYU Football Adventure

We were so excited when BYU announced that they would be starting their 2013 football season with a game against the University of Virginia. With Charlottesville being only 2 hours away from our home in Falls Church, Virginia, we knew that we had to get tickets and go cheer on our Cougars.


It was quite an adventure, besides having two young children we had some crazy weather too. The game included a two hour weather delay in the middle of the first half with heavy rain and lightning requiring the stadium to be evacuated.








During the lightening storm we took shelter in UVA's physical science building. Evan took a nice long nap and Mommy wished she had something else to eat besides popcorn.

After two hours we were let back into the stadium. The lightening had stopped but the rain hadn't  We didn't get as wet as Uncle Scott and Aunt Elizabeth because we hid out under the bleachers but we did get rained on a bit. We stuck it out and stayed to the very end. Even though there was crazy weather, even though we didn't get home till after midnight, and even though BYU didn't win, we still had a great time and can't wait for BYU to play another east coast team so we can go to another game.

A Visit from Uncle Christian

On his way to Kurdistan, Uncle Christian stopped off to visit us in Virginia. We were so excited to take him to some of the cool things we have here on the east coast. As soon as he got off the plane, we headed for the Air and Space museum by Dulles Airport. Evan had so much fun showing Uncle Christian all the planes and especially the Space Shuttle Explorer.

Day two was spent on the National Mall. We took the metro to the Capitol where we took a tour and had a nice picnic lunch before spending the next 6 hours walking from one end of the mall to the other visiting all the monuments and the national archives.

We spent day 3 at Bethany Beach. Going to the beach on a Wednesday meant that we didn't have any traffic or crowds at the beach, so we were able to spend all day there. Uncle Christian and Evan had a great time playing in the waves and collecting 'sandy' crabs. Bennet and Mommy enjoyed the sand on the beach Bennet even ate a fistful before mommy could stop him. When it started to get dark, we headed into town for a yummy crab feast. We had so much fun with Uncle Christian we hope he comes to visit again soon. 

Yay Bennet!

Bennet rolled over for the first time today. (8/17/13) We were all at the table eating dinner when he did it. We all cheered!  It is fun to celebrate his little milestones.

Uncle John & Aunt Marilyn's 50th Anniversary Party

Pictures taken by Jeffery and Michelle Kraczek

While we were in Utah for Uncle Scott's wedding, we were able to attend a party that celebrated Great Uncle John and Great Aunt Marilyn's 50th wedding Anniversary. We had a great time, nearly all our Kraczek family were there. What a fun way to celebrate eternal marriage with two wedding celebrations in one weekend.  

Unce Scott Gets Married!

The main reason we flew to Utah for our summer vacation was to attend Uncle Scott's Wedding on August 9th 2013 in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. We are so excited to have Aunt Elizabeth join our family. We are even more excited that they will be living in Virginia so we can have more family living close to us.

Evan was so excited when we told him that we were going to the temple today for uncle Scott's wedding he couldn't wait to get in the car and go.
It was a very nice ceremony. Both Paul and I were able to attend because one of Paul's cousins and his wife agreed to watch Evan and Bennet for us. I was so worried about Bennet but it was Evan I should have been worried about.

During the ceremony, all the kids were in a waiting room coloring pictures of the temple. As I was told later, one moment Evan was coloring his picture of the temple and the next he was missing and they couldn't find him. Paul's cousin and his wife were all over looking for him. He had gotten out of the building and had run across the grounds to the temple when they eventually found him he very proudly told them "I found it! I found the Temple! We need to go inside for the wedding!"

He was so upset when they brought him back as he wanted so badly to go inside and was very upset when no one would take him in to the temple. At least we know he is paying attention in primary.

Bennet however was the star of the show. Scott and Elizabeth's photographer just loved that he was wearing a white shirt and a tie and made sure the "cute baby with the tie" was front and center in all the family shots. He must have shot about a hundred more pictures of him at the reception too. I hope Uncle Scott and Aunt Elizabeth don't mind pictures of their nephew because they are going to have a lot of them.

Bedtime is more friendly with two.

Vacations can be hard. The kids were worn out and ready to go home by the time we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Kraczek's house and we were only half way done with our vacation. Our first night at Grandma and Grandpa Kraczek's house, I put the kids to bed in their separate beds but when I was getting ready for bed this is what I found. Evan had climbed into Bennet's pack-n-play and had fallen asleep snuggled up with his baby brother. It was so cute, I hope my boys always love each other. 

Despite being worn out, we had a lot of fun with our Kraczek uncles, aunts and cousins. 

Over lots of rivers and woods to Grandma's house we go

This year we went to Utah again to see both sets of grandparents for our summer vacation. Evan and I were so excited to go on vacation. Bennet being only 3.75 months old probably didn't know what was going on. We had been talking to Evan about our upcoming vacation for days. He was so excited that the night before we couldn't get him to go to sleep till almost midnight and when we woke him up at 5 am the next day he was wide awake and and talking a mile a minute about going super fast on a plane to grandma's house.











Both Evan and Bennet were so good on the long flight from Virginia to Utah. Evan was so happy to have a new Look and See book for the plane ride. That, a fruit cup, and some new kid friendly headphones to watch nickelodeon with, and he was in heaven. We met Grandma and Grandpa Saunders at the airport. Our coming was a big surprise for Grandpa Saunders who didn't know we were coming to see them before Grandma moved to Kurdistan to be with Grandpa while he works over there.

We had so much fun at Grandma Heather's house. Grandma took us to the ice cream store, the chocolate store, and the french fry store while we were there. Grandma even took Evan along with Jonny, Tommy, and Ethan to Evan's first ever movie in a movie theater complete with popcorn and bubble juice. We had lots of fun swimming in the pool at Jonny and Tommy's apartment complex before they moved out to go take care of Grandma heather's house while she and Grandpa are living in Kurdistan. At the aquarium we saw lots of fun fish, seahorses, and we even got to pet a stingray. Evan loved swinging on the big green swing that Grandpa Jon built and playing squirt guns with Jonny and Tommy in Grandpa Jon's backyard. Grandma Heather knew that Evan had missed the fireworks on the fourth of July because he was too tired to stay up and watch them, so she bought a big box of fireworks for the boys to share. Evan, Jonny, Tommy, and Ethan all took turns picking fireworks out of the box and Uncle Jon lit them for us. We have so much fun when we go to Utah to visit our family and we can't wait till we get to play with them again.

Bennet is given a name and a Blessing

We recently had the opportunity to give Bennet his baby blessing at church.  We are so grateful for the uncles, aunts, and cousins who came to share this special day with us.

Forth of July weekend and the Beach

This year for the Forth of July, we spent the day at Uncle Brent's house with Evan and Bennet's cousins. Uncle Jeff and Aunt Michelle along with Uncle Scott and soon to be Aunt Elizabeth were there too. We all had a great time together laughing, playing and Eating. Bennet had a great time being held by his aunts. Evan went through 3 pairs of clothes between the food and the water fight. He also wore him self out so much jumping on their trampoline that he was too tired to wake up for fireworks. With tears streaming down his face he told us that he just wanted to go home to his bed and blankies. Even though we missed the fireworks, it was a great day with family. 

on Saturday, all the Uncles, Aunts and cousins went to the "beach".  Gunpowder Falls State park has sandy beaches along the water with shallow water for the little kids to swim in. Although Evan loves to swim when I take him to the pool, all he wanted to do on this particular day was play in the sand.

Bennet enjoyed the water splashing on his toes. 

Best buds playing in the sand. 

Smiles

Bennet learned to smile this week.

We are still not sure who he looks like, but we love having him as a part of our family. His big brother Evan has adjusted to life with a sibling very well, he rarely complains about sharing his parents or all the time mommy has to spend with the baby.

At church today, a friend of ours was commenting on what a cute baby Bennet is, when big brother Evan piped up with a definitive: "That baby belongs to us!" Just in case she was getting ideas.

Bennet Paul Kraczek

Welcome to the newest member of our family... I can't believe we are now a family of 4!

Baby Bennet was born at 12:24 in the afternoon.  He was 8lbs 13oz and 21 3/4" long; he is a big baby. He was only 5 days late because I didn't want to wait any longer. Evan was 8 days late, so I guess late is just how I roll. 

Evan was so excited when we introduced him to his new baby brother. All he wanted to do was give him hugs and kisses. One of the first things Evan did after meeting his new baby brother was sing him "I am a child of God". Talk about a melt your heart moment.

I am so proud to be the mother of two beautiful boys. 

We are so grateful for all of the help and prayers that we have received from all of you as our family has gone through this time of transition.  We are particularly grateful for Grandma Saunders, who stayed with us for a while. She was especially helpful when Bennet had to stay in the hospital for a few extra days to work on his tan and eliminate his jaundice; we don't know what we would have done without her.

In re Banana - Commonwealth vs Evan

Ladies and Gentleman of the jury,

Today I will be representing the Commonwealth in a case of a most heinous act.  An act so heinous that it will leaves us all a little afraid to leave a bowl of fruit unattended.  And I will show that it was done deliberately and by a miscreant so at ease with his behavior that he did not feel the need to flee the scene before consuming the fruits of his crime.  In short ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I will prove to you that we are dealing with ... a banana thief.

First, I will be presenting to you eye-witness testimony from a Northern Virginian man who stepped out of his shower to see signs of banana carnage from not just 1 banana,

But two bananas,

We will also show evidence from the scene of the crime, where it appears that the bananas were dragged to the edge of the counter...

Something that would have been done from a shorter individual who could not just grab a banana from above.  You will also notice the height at which he ditched the stickers.

Finally,

We will show a picture of the Defendant as he attempted to consume the evidence:

So Ladies and Gentleman of the jury, today we will ask you to find the Defendant guilty!  Guilty of waiting for his dad to jump into the shower, so that he could pilfer bananas.