Afternoons and Artwork

Miss Annabelle and I are getting used to our afternoons without Bennett. It seems so quiet without him. Annabelle is very good playing on her own. WHEN SHE'S BY HERSELF she's very quiet and content just hanging out. In a group it's another story...she's much more loud and outspoken :). We spent some of our time after Bennett left for school today at Jenny's for preschool. Bennett is able to make it for the first half then I take him to catch his bus. Annabelle stays behind to finish their craft and start lunch. But when we get home, we just patiently wait for our FAVORITE boy to get home. We both miss him and the house isn't the same without him.

And here he is just walking in the door. He must feel overwhelmed with all the hugs, kisses, and questions he gets the second he walks in. Oh we love him and miss him when he's gone!!

At preschool (at Jenny's) today, we practiced drawing people. This evening I asked them to draw a picture of their dad to give him when he gets home. Here is the result. Bennett went the extra mile and drew the whole family. I think their dad is going to love them :)!

I meant to do this on the last post...

THANK YOU Jenny for the blog makeover. It's so much better!

Getting Caught Up

Bennett:

Started preschool the second week of January. He loves it. We haven't had any problems with not wanting to go like we did last year. I can definitely tell he's older and more ready for it. He initiated asking to go because he found out a little boy named Jacob, who's in wrestling with him, would be in his class.

He was JUST old enough to be a part of our districts brand new MYWAY wrestling program. Darrin got it going and was the coach. He very much enjoyed the practices but we tried a competition and he wasn't as excited about that. We'll try again next year.

Annabelle:

We're in the process of getting her signed up for a dance class. The original classes are full but the dance teacher thought she had enough interested people to start another class. We haven't heard back from her yet but hope to soon. Annabelle often asks, "are we going to dance class today?" She loves to wear "tapping shoes" and leotards with skirts.

Her new thing is to wear a bathing suit around the house. And she would take a bath several times a day if I let her. She prefers bathing in her suit, but with or without, she loves her baths either way.

Darrin:

Started the MYWAY wrestling program at Colon this year. It's for children Bennett's age up through middle school. He had a good turnout and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. I'm used to seeing him coach older students so it was fun watching him with little ones.

The winter sports season will be *mostly* done at the end of February and that will be NICE. Spring brings a slightly better schedule for Darrin and means we're nearing the end of another school year.

Elizabeth:

I'm almost 14 weeks pregnant and feeling fine. I have been hungry and if I start to feel a little "off" it can be cured with some food. I better start slowing down soon otherwise I will be gaining more weight than I'd like :).

I just started reading a true life novel called Half Broke Horses. It's good so far. I give up on a book if it doesn't capture my interest quickly but I have a good feeling I'll make it to the end of this one.

The girls get so excited to wave to Bennett on the bus and Bennett loves to have them take pictures!

Our Little Girl is 3

Our precious daughter celebrated her 3rd birthday on December 29. She is such a joy and has been a total and complete blessing in our lives. She has such a neat sense of humor. One minute she's showing us a bit of her attitude and the next she's cracking us up. And those who meet her for the first time don't believe she talks much but with those she knows she's very comfortable saying whatevers's on her mind. We LOVE our Annabelle.

In addition, she had her 3 year well check on December 28 at 2:45. She was intially being stubborn about getting on the scale but we had a little chat and after that she did great and cooperated just fine. We saw Dr. Melendez with Annabelle this time. He doesn't chat as much as Ms. Amy. He was on his way to a C-section. But he was very enthusiastic with her and with her personality it took her a bit off guard. It was kind of funny. Pretty much all the info and talking we got from him was that she looked good and she hangs around the 95th percentile for both her height and weight.

Sorry Annabelle for not getting this posted sooner but we left our camera in Hamilton after Christmas and I didn't have any new pics of you. We love you sweet girl.