Our Swimming Pool Is Open!!!

Our Weekend

This past weekend our family experienced a few milestones. First, Jeff and I had a weekend away (without children) for the first time in 2 1/2 years. And it was also the first time Benjamin had been away from us. The kids stayed with my sister, Brenda, and she said she hated to disappoint me, but Benjamin did just fine without us. And Emily always has a great time at her BB's so she wasn't phased by us being gone.

The other milestone was my niece, Haileigh, graduating from 8th grade. They had a nice banquet and awards ceremony Friday evening. Isn't she just beautiful?? I feel like I should explain my appearance. We had Emily's school field trip to the zoo last Friday...it was 55 degrees, windy and pouring rain when we got there so I was sporting ball cap hair.

Here are a few photos of my little guy helping me weed a pathway last week. I swear he worked for a good 15-20 minutes, pulling weeds and putting them in the bucket. The only negative result...now he wants to pull up some of our ground cover that are NOT weeds.

Odds and Ends

Here are just a few shots of the kids from the past week or so. Last week we had a few days in the mid 80's. It was great! This morning it was in the mid forties when we went to the store, so it's back to jackets and pants, but hopefully just temporarily. We also had quite a bit of rain yesterday and our little water lover had to play in it.

I hate this dress. Let me explain. I bought it at a consignment shop last spring for Emily to wear at Easter (which she did). Back in January or February she started this thing where she insists on wearing a dress every day with her high heels. It didn't matter if it was 20 degrees outside. She wore the dress. Time to get ready for bed? She chose this instead of pj's. If we did go somewhere where she needed to wear different clothes (like to school) she would immediately go to her room and change as soon as we got home. She plays on the swingset in this dress. She rides her bike in this dress. This is how much she wears it...my neighbor told me a few weeks ago, "I don't know how much you paid for this dress, but you're sure getting your moneys worth out of it." I guess it was the best (or worse) $12 I have ever spent. She still wears dresses every day and she has others she can wear. But this is her favorite.

Here she is playing with her Don't Spill the Beans game. She has no interest in playing it like it's supposed to be played (believe me, I've tried). She just prefers to spoon the beans in and out of containers, etc. Whatever keeps her occupied!

My little man. Is he cute or what?

Benjamin with Zack. I'm not sure who was trying to kiss whom!

We think he looks a bit like Linus, the Peanuts character. This is one of several "lovies." I'm lucky he did not attach himself to one specific blanket. This is a white cloth diaper...we have lots of them so when one is dirty, it gets thrown in the wash and a clean one taken out of the drawer. Oh, and his thumb is always in his mouth when he has his lovey.

Playing in a puddle in the driveway after last evening's rain.

Of Daddy couldn't miss this opportunity to be a kid, either!

Benjamin then decided to sit right down in the water. Brrr...

Okay, it wasn't so fun anymore after he realized his pants were soaking wet and stuck to him. He went right in and had a nice warm bath.

Lastly, we took our little guy for a haircut yesterday. It was just his third one and he still hates it, although seemed to cry a bit less this time. After his bath, I decided to put use a little gel in his hair. I think it looks cute.

I Forgot!

Just a little brag on my daughter. She and I don't have the easiest of last names. For starters, it's 9 letter long. A few months ago she spelled it outloud completely unprompted. Then the other day she brought this to me. It's the first time she's ever spelled it on her own! There are a few letters a little messed up but I thought it was a great first attempt! She even underlined it. I don't know what the letters mean below the line.

Here she is being silly. I had this Barbie swimming pool when I was little and am letting her play with it now. It really isn't all that big. She wanted to pretend she was sleeping in it and wanted her photo taken all curled up. Either she's really tiny or has a future as a contortionist!! Oh, to be that flexible again! HA!

Easter Weekend

The kids and I traveled to my dad and sister, Brenda's, this past weekend for Easter (Daddy stayed behind at home...sniff sniff). The main reason we traveled this weekend was because my niece, Haileigh, was being baptised Sunday. Didn't want to miss that!!

Saturday my sister had her step kids and all their kids over for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. Neither of my two kiddos were feeling all that great (colds and coughs) so they didn't look all that enthused in the photos, especially Emily. I think Emily found the most eggs, as her bucket was heaping full. Benjamin was more interested in just running around the field and playing on the swingset than he was looking for eggs. But the Easter Bunny was very good to them! The bunny left a basket for them at BB's (my sister's) and they each had one waiting for them here at home. And my sister gave each of the kids a bucket of goodies on Saturday before the hunt. So they had plenty!

Sunday morning we all went to church as a family and got to see my niece being baptised. Emily had never seen a baptism before and was very curious about it. She asked me, "Mom, is Haileigh going to walk with Jesus?" Trying to keep things simple, I said yes, that's what this meant. Then Emily looked at me with a worried look on her face and said, "When will she be back?" Hee hee!

We ended our visit with a wonderful lunch at my sister's and then the kids and I got on the road for the almost three hour trip back home (during which they both slept nearly the entire way!). It was a great weekend. Here are some photos.

Our Little Rock Star

Benjamin was playing with sister's guitar yesterday so of course I had to snap some photos. Yes, it's hot pink. And yes, it's a Bratz guitar. But he didn't care (and neither did I)!

When he sees we have the camera he gets a big smile on his face and says, "Cheese!"

This is right before he smashed it and broke into pieces (just kidding but isn't this what some of the rock stars do?).

The other day I babysat a little girl whom we've watched before. She and Benjamin are about 2 weeks apart in age. The loved playing with each other. Here they are trying to hold hands at the breakfast table. (Please excuse Mommy's face...it was early)!

Spring Snowstorm, etc...

It's been quite a while since I've posted. We are doing okay here. At least the illness seems to be slowly ridding itself from our house. The latest, most exciting news is an unusual spring snowstorm that started Friday and lasted through the morning Saturday. We received 18 inches of snow!! Emily and I spent some time outside playing in the snow. Benjamin didn't play as he would have been up to his neck (or worse) in the snow. When we did bring him out later in the afternoon after it had warmed up, he wanted nothing of it! Jeff and I both picked up a bit of snow in our hand to show it to him. He very emphatically shook his head no and leaned back as far as he could. Maybe next year he'll be interested in playing in it.


In our backyard Saturday morning

Em and I getting ready to play

Mommy showing Emily the fine art of snow angel making

Don't think we'll be getting out of our driveway for a day or two

Dad and Benji...no, they aren't wearing coats...it really wasn't that cold later in the day, amazingly enough.

Daddy showing Benjamin the snow. You can see Benjamin leaning way back. :-)

Another shot of all the snow

Sunshine on bright white snow, plus light sensitive eyes equals...squinting. And I had just gotten out of the shower so no makeup or hair fixed, etc. It's the au naturale look!
Emily & Benjamin playing in her room...our little prince and princess

Taken a month or so ago...just a random shot of Benjamin really working really hard to use his fork. Unfortunately he hasn't progressed much. He still uses his hands for most of what he eats.