Thursday, September 30, 2010

One

Dear Bennett,

Happy Birthday Baby Boy! Wait, are you still a baby? I guess not if you are one. One year olds are considered toddlers. I'm not ready for that so you'll have to be patient while I still call you Baby Boy. I'm going to drag my feet into this toddlerhood thing because this year has gone by way to fast.

Wow, a year. A year ago today your daddy and I stepped foot into the hospital anxious to meet you and find out who you would be. As you can see, I was ready to be done.

You are the light of our family. You have brought so much joy, happiness, laughter, chubbiness, smiles and excitement to our family that I can't even remember what it was like before you came. It seems like just yesterday that I was holding you for the first time, getting to know every square inch of you and enjoying your newborness.


You are the light of your brothers' worlds too. They want to eat you up as much as the rest of us. They have enjoyed watching your grow and learn new things. You so desperately want to play with them and do whatever they are doing. As a mother, there is nothing more sweeter to watch then three brothers learning to play and love each other.


At one you have 3 teeth. In fact, you just popped your 3rd one last week. It seems your a little slow in the teeth department but it hasn't slowed your eating down. You love food, any and all of it, and I haven't found a time when you're not hungry. In the last week you've also taken off walking. You still like to crawl but your getting steadier and steadier on your feet.

You can point. You give the best open mouth kisses. You love to twirl your hands through my hair when your tired. You fall asleep all by yourself. Your sleeping through the night. Your always happy. If you aren't getting attention for your smiles your getting it for your chubby legs and your donut arms....they are delightful!

Happy 1st Birthday Bennett! Your daddy and I love you so much and we are so blessed to have you in our life. We couldn't ask for a better baby boy!! May God bless you today and everyday. We look forward to the next year of your life and can't wait to see what it brings you. I only ask that it goes a little slower then this last one. Thankyouverymuch.


Love, Mommy and Daddy

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

A Weekend for Boys

How many boy related things can 3 boys, their daddy and their grandparents do in one weekend?

One: Climb a deer stand.

Two: Shoot a gun.



Is that my son putting bullets in a gun?

Three: Enjoy the fall scenery.

Four: Four wheel. Four wheel and Four wheel.

Five: Hang out in the woods with grandma.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Apple Orchard

We visited the Apple Orchard last weekend. We've been going to the same orchard for three years now. What a difference a year makes.

Last year when we went I was about ready to burst, literally. I was just a mere 11 days shy of a new little boy. Shudder...I was really uncomfortable in case that's not completely obvious in this picture.

And the year before that Declan looks like a baby, he was, its just hard to remember.

This year it was Bennett's first year and he was delighted.

If he had more then 2.5 teeth he probably could have eaten that apple whole.

Daddy's good for hoisting up big boys.

So they can rrrreeeeaaaccchhhh the apples way up in the tree.

Little boys who are almost 4 are good for carrying heavy baskets of apples.

Little boys who are almost 1 are good for cute pictures and banging apples together.

Kindergartners are good for asking to have their picture taken all by themselves.

We picked 35 pounds of apples.

We played with the new dogs, tasted our apples, ate caramel and drank hot cider. It was all delightful!

And we'll be back next year (or next week even).

Friday, September 17, 2010

Expression

Just 13 days till someone in this house turns 1. I may be living in some sort of denial about that. This is his new expression. It's priceless and I don't want to forget it. I'm not sure what it's about or why he keeps doing it but I think its adorable. Last night he slept almost 14 hours straight and today for lunch he polished off 2.5 waffles, without a crumb on the floor. I think he might be growing but again, I'm in denial about all that.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Speed up, no wait, slow down

The other day I attended my first PTA meeting. As I was sitting there listening to all the goings on in my children's school I couldn't help but think, "how in the world did I get here?" How am I sitting at a PTA meeting, for my kids? Some days it feels like I just graduated from college, got married and moved to the big city. But that was 7 years ago. Now I'm the proud mother of three crazy boys, sitting at a PTA meeting and I've been a stay-at-home mom for 5 years. Please someone, slow this all down.

Except today, I want it to speed up. Mostly because Trevor will be gone until 10pm tonight and I'm here alone, ALL DAY, with these three boys. That task can sometimes be very daunting some days, even for the most sane people. So speed up, no wait, slow down. Wasn't I just complaining that time was going to fast? So which is it? Speed up or slow down?

The transition into Kindergarten has gone fairly smoothly but it's not to say we've haven't had any bumps on this road. As a person who likes to plan and schedule this new school schedule has me in a tizzy. Nap times are different, lunch time is different, bed time is different (but earlier, MUCH earlier, so that's nice) but I'm slowly adjusting. Carson is too. Poor kid could use a nap or two during the week but there just isn't time. We're learning how to handle our after school time so that there is less fighting, less whining and more relaxing and unwinding. It's an adjustment. And some days I just want that after school time to be over, for Trevor to be home, for it to bedtime already. But then I think, I'm going to miss this. Someday I'm going to really miss these days of total chaos, of three little boys running wild in my house, of lazy afternoons discussing all the things we did in school. I'm going to be sitting at their high school graduation wondering where the time went. And so I want it to slow down. I need to learn to let it slow down, to savor these moments with my boys and to really enjoy this time as a mother of 3, five and under.

7.5 hours till bed time, 9.5 hours till Trevor's home. I can do this!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

One Step at a Time

Bennett has been taking a few steps here and there. I wouldn't say he's an official walker but he's getting close. Last night he took about 2.5 steps and then face planted into our stool. He must be a tough guy because he was laughing and smiling about 30 seconds later. It won't be long and he'll be walking, or toddling, all over the house.



Friday, September 10, 2010

Talents

Among his many talents,

is being able to sleep,

anywhere, anytime.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Washington DC

And now for the rest of the trip.

I haven't been to DC in about 16 years. I went on a school trip when I was in 8th grade. Trevor has never been there. So going to see the sights was very exciting but a little overwhelming. We weren't really sure what we wanted to spend out time seeing and we weren't really sure how much time each place would take AND we were on vacation, away from our kids, I wanted to relax....at least a little. So we hit the basics....

Like the White House which I couldn't bring my camera into. But funny story about that...as I was setting up the tour I noticed that pretty much nothing was allowed on the White House tour (understandably). I asked our state representative what people generally do with their stuff. She said they leave it at their office but our tour was at 7:30 am so that wasn't an option. She also said there was no lockers available. Hmmm, what to do? So the night before our tour Trevor went and asked our hotel if they had any ideas. Here is how the conversation went (according to Trevor).

Trevor: We have a tour in the morning at the White House. Do you know if there are any lockers either on the Metro or anywhere down there where we could store our camera and belongings?

Lady at the front desk: I don't think. But you know what you could do?

Trevor: What?

Lady at the front desk: You could just find a near by bush and shove it all in there.

Silence....maybe even the sound of crickets.

Lady at the front desk: I know your looking at like I'm crazy but its true. People do it all the time. Just find a nice bush that will hide it well.

Really lady? You've got to be kidding me? Can you imagine what would happen if someone saw us stuffing a big backpack in a bush, by the White House? I'm pretty sure we'd be the lead story on the news that night. So we left it all in our hotel, toured the White House and came back for it.

Have I mentioned we walked alot while we there. ALOT!

We toured the National Archives.


When we left the Archives we had about 15 minutes to get to the Capitol for our scheduled tour. It was quite a walk, we were a little late and sweaty.

Did I mention how far we walked?

We saw this statue while we were there.

And learned that the President is actually standing on part of the Berlin Wall. See that small strip there? That's the Berlin Wall.

When we left the Capitol we thought it would be a brilliant idea to walk back up to the Lincoln Memorial to check on the status of the rally. You can't see the Lincoln Memorial in this picture but its on the other side of the Washington Monument...about 10 miles from this point. Ok, maybe not ten, but it felt like it.

We got to the rally early enough that we experienced many of the Memorials in the dark. It was so neat. I can't urge you enough to visit them in the dark if you go. They look completely different and will take your breath away.

Lincoln looks so much different at night. It's hard to describe.

World War II Memorial

From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. See the Capitol down there? Told you it was a long walk.

Having fun with the Washington Monument

When we left the rally on Saturday afternoon we decided we hadn't walked quite enough. Actually, we knew the line for the Metro would be insane so we opted to walk, thinking it would be faster. It might have been faster but it was 90+ degrees with no wind and it was a 3 mile walk. But, lucky for us we did literally, run into the Iwo Jima Memorial.

Jefferson Memorial

And last but not least. Happy Anniversary to us! We celebrated by enjoying ourselves at Legal Seafood. Two Lobsters....just for Trevor. It was delicious.